Sorry about the wait, I've ever so busy. Please read, enjoy and review.
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Chapter 14
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Michelle Bridgewater was taking a risk. A risk that could not only cost her, her job, but also get her arrested for breaking and entering.
But it also seemed to be the only way to get to the bottom of whatever it was that was going on in Anubis House.
And it was this thought that led to her waiting around the corner from the boarding house for two hours until all the children had gone to school, Trudy had left to do errands and Victor had gone to do whatever it was the strange man did in his spare time.
After making sure the coast was clear, Michelle had snuck up to the house and used an eye glass repair kit and a hairpin to pick the lock on the door.
Once inside, she immediately noticed that the name of the house wasn't the only thing Egyptian related. Numerous artifacts from the ancient culture dotted the hallways and walls. A full sized sarcophagus even leaned against the wall of the foyer.
Taking out her camera, she began snapping pictures of all the different Egyptian artifacts, unsure if any of them had anything to do with the strange markings on the children.
She was still disturbed by them and was even more confused at how the markings had been added to the photos when she'd been the only one with access to the camera.
Either way, she was going to disregard the creepy warning and continue her investigation. She would find out what was going on in this house and put a stop to it before any of the children ended up dead.
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Eddie and Fabian were heading across the lawn afterschool, the same argument they'd been having since lunch was continued.
"All I'm saying is that since Nina is in the hospital, we should wait to initiate Mara and reinitiate Joy and Jerome," Fabian tried to reason with frustration, he really didn't need even more of the pesky students in his way. He had to get to the next trial before any of the others and disrupt them so they couldn't complete the tasks.
"And I'm saying that with Nina out of commission, the more people we have who are full Sibuna members, the better. Seeing as I'm the Osirian and you're not, drop it! We're initiating them tonight," Eddie snapped, tired of the argument.
Fabian had to turn his head away to prevent Eddie from seeing the red flash of his eyes. With a deep breath he turned back to the golden skinned boy, "Fine, I'll see you tonight then, I have to go to the library and get some homework done."
Eddie watched Fabian shrink into the distance of the lawn, unsure what exactly was wrong with his friend, but he had more important things to worry about. Mostly, he needed to ensure that the initiation ceremony was more binding.
Sibuna didn't need another Jerome betrayal or a Joy fiasco for that matter.
Heading back towards the house, Eddie hurried straight for Frobisher's study, knowing exactly which spell book he needed for tonight.
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Michelle had only just escaped the house before Trudy returned, she'd gotten all the pictures she could use and had found several weird eye shaped symbols in different places in the kitchen, attic and cellar.
The cellar itself had been particularly odd. It looked as if it had been recently cleaned but there was still one dark brown stain that seemed almost like old blood. Not sure what to make of it, she'd swabbed the floor with a Q-tip and put it in a baggy.
Now she just had to wait.
She knew that whatever the students were getting up to, it was most likely happening at night, as all three injuries had been reported in the morning but the students had been fine the day before.
And so she waited, and waited.
And waited some more.
In fact, everything about the boarding house seemed perfectly normal until the precise stroke of ten when the house suddenly became perfectly silent and all the lights turned off.
It looked eerily abandoned.
And so she waited a little longer, hoping to see something, anything that might be unusual; and sure enough at 10:30 on the dot, the caretaker, Victor, quietly unlocked the door to the silent house, and started silently walking towards the main school building.
Looking over at the building, Michelle noticed that a single light on the second floor was shining through the darkness of the mostly dormant campus.
She nearly followed the man, but not two minutes after the caretaker left the building, a light flicked on upstairs.
Slowly but surely each and every bedroom light was dimly light by what must be flashlights or cellphones by how little the light came through the blinds.
Then each bedroom went dark and once more the house was silent.
Unsure of what was going on, Michelle decided to wait a little while longer.
Ten minutes past and finally the front door opened once more and a student exited the building. Only the student wasn't alone. It seemed that nearly every student that boarded in Anubis House was in this wayward curfew breaking group. In fact, it seemed that the House mother, Trudy and the Headmaster's son Eddie, were the only ones who hadn't awoken and left the house in the dead of night.
Waiting until the children had gotten to the edge of the tree line, Michelle quietly opened the door of her car and began following the group at a distance.
After several minutes of following the students, they came to a stop in a clearing that was lined with marble posts that were connected with metal chains. In the center of the clearing was a large metal bowl of flickering fire.
A figure stood with the hood of his jacket covering his already shadow hidden face.
A bonfire?
Michelle sighed with frustration.
While breaking curfew and sneaking out to a bonfire in the woods was frowned upon, it wasn't overly unusual or dangerous.
Social services would chuck her out if she filed a report saying she stalked a group of children to a bonfire in the middle of the night.
Turning to leave a familiar voice echoed from the clearing to her.
"Hello initiates," came the easily recognized voice that had been irking her since the beginning of her investigation; the voice of Edison Miller-Sweet, "Have you brought something to sacrifice and prove your worthiness to join Sibuna?"
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"Stop being so dramatic, Eddie," Patricia growled at her ex-boyfriend, "Nina's not here, so there's no one you need to impress."
"Fine, but they really do need the items. The rest of us had to do it, so they do to," Eddie pouted unhappily.
"They've got them, we made sure they brought something before we left. Now can we please get this started, I wanted to get some sleep tonight," Alfie complained.
"I wouldn't count on sleep, I'm planning on reinitiating all of you with an oath," Eddie announced, "To prevent any betrayals from members, new or old."
"What? But I didn't bring anything to sacrifice!? And you're NOT getting these shoes!" Amber exclaimed loudly.
"AMBER!" the group hissed quietly, reminding the boisterous girl to be quiet.
"Alfie, keep your woman quiet, unless you want to get all of us caught!" Jerome teased.
"Enough squabbling, let's get started," Fabian's voice cut across the clearing.
"Thank you, now everyone needs to stand around the fire in a circle. The new initiates should stand in front of the fire," Eddie instructed as he pulled two small Tupperware containers, a glass bottle, a ceramic bowl with hieroglyphs on the side and a large leather bound book from the book bag at his feet.
"What are those for?" Fabian asked curiously.
"They're for the oath you're all going to take. It'll bind you to the society as a member and prevent you from willfully betraying us, for whatever reason," Eddie explained as he set the bowl in the middle and began emptying the contents of the two containers into the bowl.
"Bind us?" Fabian enquired suspiciously.
"Just loyalty wise," Eddie answered, "Now Mara as the newest initiate; what have you brought of value to prove your worthiness?"
"I brought my diary," Mara replied, holding up a light purple book.
"Place your left hand over your left eye and repeat after me," Eddie instructed, "I, Mara Jaffrey, do here by swear allegiance to the Sibuna Society and promise to keep its secrets for the good of the world and mankind."
"I, Mara Jaffrey, do here by swear allegiance to the Sibuna Society and promise to keep its secrets for the good of the world and mankind," Mara reiterated.
"Good, now throw your diary on the fire," Eddie inculcated, "Jerome, it's your turn now."
"I, Jerome Clarke, do here by swear allegiance to the Sibuna Society and promise to keep its secrets for the good of the world and mankind. I brought my favorite lock picking set," Jerome swore as he removed a small leather pouch and tossed it into the fire, the metal of the small tools clinking as they fell.
"Joy," Eddie announced simply.
"I, Joy Mercer, do here by swear allegiance to the Sibuna Society and promise to keep its secrets for the good of the world and mankind. I brought the key chain my father got me on our last vacation," Joy said as she reluctantly threw the memento into the fire.
"You three are now members of Sibuna and as such will work, even at risk to your own life, to protect the secrets of Anubis house and its treasures, serve the Osirian and the Paragon, obey the gods of old," Patricia intoned dramatically, "Don't worry though, usually it's Eddie and Nina getting hurt, and that's only because they're always in the center of the battles."
"Battles?" Mara squeeked.
"Yeah," Patria continued with a superior demeanor as if it was nothing, "In fact, last year, the spirit of a dead Egyptian Queen possessed Nina and threatened to kill her Gran and all of us if we didn't go on a quest to find a magical mask. The queen tried to kill Nina by taking her to the afterlife, but Eddie saved her by forcing the Queen out of her and putting the spirit in Rufus Zeno's body. It was really cool, Eddie opened a portal to hell pushed Rufus in it."
"Okay, we get it, you have dangerous adventures," Jerome cut in, "What I want to know is if you're going to wipe our memories again."
"Er, no," Eddie pulled down his hood and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "That's what the oath is for. You betrayed us to Zeno last time, and that's why we took your memories. We took Joy's because she asked us too, but the oath will prevent you from betraying us in any way, shape or form, so there would be no need to wipe your memories, unless you decided to leave the Sibuna.
"Wait, this is only for the new recruits right?" Fabian asked, suddenly on edge.
"No, everyone is going to take the oath, except me and Nina, so that we can tell any new members about Sibuna," Eddie explained, "I need everyone to get in a line, when you get up to the bowl, you will prick your finger and let a drop drip into the bowl. Then you will step to the side and pick a place in the circle. I will recite the spell and when the loyalty oath takes the mark I place on your forehead will glow for a moment. Understood?"
The group nodded and got into a single file line. Each of them quickly pricked their finger, although Amber had to have Eddie do it for her because she couldn't look.
Once they were arranged in the circle, Eddie allowed his magic to swell and his eyes to turn blue as Khai took over.
"On this night, I, Khai, son of Anubis, beseech my mother Ma'at, the Sacred and most Holy Goddess of Truth to bless those who have willingly given their loyalty to me and to the service of the Egyptian Pantheon."
Pouring the sandalwood oil into the ceramic bowl along with the blood, the sage and the crushed shell of a scarab he had gotten from Frobisher's ingredient cabinet, he swirled the mixture within the bowl.
"With this consecrated oil, I link you in oath to your fellow Sibuna members," Khai announced, "Once you are all marked, announce your oath as, This I do swear."
Walking around the circle he placed a thumbprint of the blood-oil and herb mixture on each of their foreheads. Once he was done, he placed the bowl with the remainder of the solution, carefully into the fire.
"This I do swear," they yelled in unison.
As the flames flickered around the bowl, the hieroglyphs that were etched into the bowl's glaze began to glow. With each mark that began to glow, one of the forehead markings would glow a golden-green.
One by one, the marks began to glow, until the circle reached the edge of the stone that Khai had been using as an altar…until they reached Fabian.
"Why is his mark glowing red?" Amber asked confused.
"That's a very good question," Khai asked, his face set in a serious grimace. Unzipping his jacket, Khai quickly pulled out a long golden dagger that was more a short sword than a knife of any sort. Shucking his jacket to the frost covered ground, he advanced on the now sneering Fabian.
"We have a predicament," Khai growled as he placed the tip of the sword against Fabian's throat, "If you were simply disloyal and didn't want to take the oath, the mark wouldn't have glowed at all. A red glow, however, would be my mother's way of pointing out a problem within our midst."
Fabian's eyes flashed red as he let out a derisive scoff, "I'm not the problem, YOU are. It was Nina, Amber and I that started Sibuna, It was Nina, and I who solved the clues that started the first quest. You didn't even show up until the very end of our troubles with Senkhara and now not only do you have Amber and the rest of Sibuna following your orders, you're sleeping with MY girlfriend. Since you arrived, you've taken everything that mattered to me as if it was your god given right!"
SMACK! Fabian's eyes flashed red again from his new place on the floor. He held the cheek that Khai had backhanded, "It IS my GOD given right! Not only to lead those who swear themselves to the gods service, but also to 'Nina'. You may have spent a few months with her, but I have spent three thousand years by her side. We were literally made as two halves of the same whole."
"It doesn't matter anymore, Ammut is coming, and when she arrives, she'll Devour your soul and Amneris'. Then Nina will be normal again!" Fabian spat as he rubbed his bruising jaw.
"Give me one good reason , why I shouldn't slit your throat for that threat," Khai snarled viciously.
"Because even though your angry, your still a good person and you also know that there is a chance, however small, that my soul could be placed back in my body. So killing me would mean that you personally destroyed any chance of my being saved. We both know that Nina wouldn't be very happy with you if you did that," Fabian reasoned.
Khai dropped his sword to his side, allowing Fabian to scuttle backwards away from him and come to a stand, "Run Rutter, the next time we meet I might not be so merciful."
Fabian glared over his shoulder as he ran to the edge of the clearing, where he came to a stop and turned back, the red in his eyes looked like swirling orbs of light in the darkness, "I bet it hurts. I bet it just tears you up inside that Nina still cares about me, even though she's with you!"
Khai reached an open palm into the fire pit, scooped out a ball of flame and launched it at Fabian as he turned on his heel and disappeared into the darkness before the projectile reached him.
"What just happened?" Mara asked confused. As the newest recruit, she had yet to be told anything poignant.
"Yeah, that's what I liked to know," Amber reiterated.
"Has Fabian always been a soulless, red-eyed monster, hell bent on revenge?" Alfie said as the glow wore off the marks.
"Why was Fabian like that Eddie?" Joy asked.
"And what did you mean you spent three thousand years with Nina?" Jerome asked his expression bemused. None of the three new members had been filled in on everything that had happened yet.
"ENOUGH!" Khai shouted, his patience for squabbling children hadn't quite met up with his current identities ability to deal with his friends, "Go back to the house and go to sleep, I have some things I need to take care of. Patricia, you're in charge until I come back and NO one is to talk to Fabian, act like he doesn't exist until I figure out how to deal with him."
The group silently began trickling out of the clearing as Khai turned to stare into the orange flames of the fire pit.
'How had he not noticed that the boy he shared a room with no longer had a soul,' Eddie ruminated, 'How long had it been gone? How many others didn't have souls because he was too busy with the trials to notice what was happening under his own nose?
Rustling alerted him to the fact that someone was hiding in the bushes outside of the clearing.
"I know you're there, come out or I'll set the bushes on fire with you in them," he bluffed.
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Michelle Bridgewater's mind was reeling from what she'd just witnessed.
The little group wasn't just some kids sneaking out to a bonfire. From what she'd just seen, they were members of a secret society that worshipped gods, and participated in weird 'magical' rituals.
It was textbook cult and she was pretty sure that it was led by Nina Martin and Edison Miller-Sweet from she could see.
From her position in the bushes a hundred feet away, she hadn't been able to make out most of what had been said, but the glowing chemicals he's put on the kids foreheads, the dramatics and the pyrotechnics were all classic tricks used by sensationalist priests who were trying to control their 'flock'.
The only real question Michelle had left was why.
Why would two teenagers even want to lead a cult? What could they possible gain from having their house mates sneak out and get hurt.
In the end it didn't really matter did it?
All that mattered was that Eddie had shown that he was violent, controlling and kept a weapon on his body.
Backing out of the bushes she tried to silently follow the group of kids, but her blouse snagged on a bush, causing her to trip.
"I know you're there, come out or I'll set the bushes on fire with you in them," A deep irritated voice threatened from the clearing she'd just tried to turn away from.
Freezing where she was on her knees in the icy mud, she hoped he wouldn't actually go through with his threat.
"You have until the count of three and I'm going to torch that whole area. Or you can come out and show yourself," Eddie threatened.
From where she was kneeling, she could just barely make out his glittering short sword through the leaves.
"One," he started.
She was debating on whether or not she should run for it.
"Two," he continued.
Wait a minute; this was just a teenage boy on a power trip, why was she running away from him.
"Thr-"
"I'm here," she called out to the boy. A boy she was really beginning to hate as she walked out into the clearing with her hands held above her head and her camera dangling from her wrist.
Eddie arched an eyebrow above his blue eyes in surprise when he saw who it was.
Blue? He must be wearing glow in the dark contacts for effect.
"Michelle Bridgewater? I wasn't expecting a call from Social Services at this hour. What brings you to our humble slice of the country so late in the night?' Eddie said calmly.
"I came to find out what was happening to the students of Anubis House and I did, you and Nina are leaders of some sort of cult and I'm going to uncover it before any more students get hurt!" Michelle exclaimed, her temper coming to the surface.
"Students getting hurt? The last time I checked, it was Nina and I who ended up in the hospital. Why would we hurt ourselves?" Eddie laughed derisively, his voice was still eerily deeper than usual.
"Alfie Lewis was hospitalized as well, if I recall," Michelle retorted.
"I wasn't even in the same country when Alfie Lewis was injured. I'm not exactly sure what you'd accuse me of in that case. Conspiracy to give a complete stranger food poisoning?" Eddie laughed as his eyes darkened to green and his voice became one octave higher and more boyish.
"What about the injuries I documented. The burns on Fabian and Patricia's hands and the cuts and bruises on the other?" she shot back.
"Reckless teenagers, we get hurt all the time. A couple cuts and bruises does not a case make," Eddie reasoned lightly as he leaned backwards again the stone 'altar' that was still littered with Tupperware containers.
"I also have video and pictures of you leading a cult initiation and doing a blood ritual, as well as threatening a fellow student with a sword! It's all right here!" she nearly shouted as she reached for the camera dangling from her wrist….only it wasn't there.
Looking down to see if she dropped it, she began patting her pockets, trying to find where the precious evidence was.
"Looking for this?" Eddie said, his tone teasing.
Glancing back at the boy she realized that her evidence camera was dangling precariously from his index finger….right over the fire.
Before she could move his fingertip dipped down and the camera fell into the flame, cracking the lens as it hit the metal basin.
"Oops, better luck next time," Eddie laughed as he walked towards her and put a hand gently on her shoulder. A bluish light flashed in his eyes as he leaned in to whisper, "Go to sleep, you'll feel better when you wake up-"
Blinking her eyes the familiar ceiling of her own bedroom came into view.
What?
No!
It couldn't have been a dream! It was too real!
Jumping out of bed, she ran out of her house to her car, still in her sleeping apparel as she pulled the door to the back seat open. Grabbing her camera case she ripped the Velcro opened only to find that it was empty.
It hadn't been a dream….had it?
Where was here camera if it was?
Running back inside she nearly tripped as she plopped herself into the chair in front of her computer and logged on.
Double clicking the icon for the photo gallery she was dismayed to find that it was empty. Not even the pictures of her family from last Christmas were there.
How?
How had Edison Miller-Sweet, teen cult leader, managed all of this?!
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Sorry about the wait, but it's finally updated. If you like it, please, please review with your thoughts and whether or not it's worth continuing. If you hate it, by all means tell me that too.