Chapter 7: Realizations

As Sadie and Amos looked at Carter they both felt relief, but the relief was short lived when they realized that they had no idea just how long they had been in the memory. On the other hand, Sadie was glad to see her brother again.

"Hey Carter," greeted Sadie

"Hey…so did you figure out what's wrong with me?" asked Carter

"Sorry Carter, but that memory wasn't close to the right one. It was your first real date with Zia." Answered Sadie

"But…I thought…so that means we get to go deeper into hi- my mind?" inquired Carter hesitantly.

"Yes, so I suggest we get going, we don't know how much time we have left." Stated Amos butting into the conversation.

"Okay." Said Carter as they once again began walking. Something Carter did though caught Amos' attention and really set his suspicions on edge. Amos knew that Sadie had missed it, but he was certain that Carter almost said his instead of my; causing Amos to wonder why Carter would've referred to himself in the third person. This lead to Amos once again beginning to think that maybe the Carter they were with wasn't THE Carter they were trying or needed to help. Amos kept his thoughts on the subject to himself, at least until he had more solid proof. Then and only then would Amos voice his concerns to his niece, as long as Carter was out of earshot, just in case of the possibility of making a bad situation worse. Amos was brought out of his thoughts by Sadie's' calling to him.

"Cle…Uncle Amos!" shouted Sadie from up ahead

"Wha…Oh! Yes Sadie?" asked Amos realizing that he hadn't been focused

"You've been standing there for a while now. Are you coming or what?" Sadie informed him curiously

"Ah…Yes, yes lets' go, sorry dear." Answered Amos

"It's ok…Carter was telling me that we shouldn't be too far away." Said Sadie

"Ok then, sounds like we should hurry, I do not know how long we've been here." Stated Amos

"Ok," replied Sadie turning around to walk with Carter again, while Amos began walking. Unbeknownst to the children in front of him; watching Carters' behavior in case something did happen.

They continued walking for a little while longer and realized that the doors were much closer than what they had been. Carter had told them that they were close, but refused to look at Amos, as if hiding something. Amos' suspicion was growing about as steady as their pace down the corridor. Finally, Amos and Sadie began to see a small speck of light similar to a street light on a foggy night when Carter stops in front of another door on the left side of the hall. It was narrower and was almost overlapping the doors next to it. Carter turned and it was then that Amos knew that this figure they had trusted was not Carter or at least the real Carter. How did he know this? It was finally given off by the slight change in eye color Amos saw for a brief half-second. Amos knew for a fact that it had gone unnoticed by Sadie, but he knew that when Carter turned away from Sadie to face the door his eyes darkened. Amos was sure that because of his heightened observations, it was the only way and reason he had noticed such a small change in this figure.

"Here we are, this time I'm sure," claimed not-Carter

"You're positive this time… right?" inquired Sadie looking from the door to her brother

"Yep… right through here," he said as he looked at Amos for the first time since after the last memory, but it was a look of slight disgust and anger that once again Sadie failed to notice as she moved towards the door, her hand reaching out to grab the handle.

"No…that's not the right door Sadie," stated Amos as he pulled Sadie away from the imposter.

"What are you talking about? It has to be if Carter says so," answered Sadie looking at her uncle as if he had lost his mind.

"That's not Carter," claimed Amos as he turned to face Sadie, watching "Carter" out of his peripheral vision.

"What?...Uncle I think you're overthinking this. It has to be Carter, he's here to help remember," replied Sadie

"Exactly, now if you could get going? That'd be great," butted in Carter with a dangerous edge to his voice as he listened to Amos' declaration.

Sadie glanced between the two not sure who to believe. She wanted her brother to be there helping, but she felt compelled to believe Amos. Sadie was broken out of her inner turmoil by her uncles next statement.

"Sadie, listen I know it's hard to believe, but that's not Carter; it can't be and you want to know why? I said nothing at first because I thought, what I know you're thinking right now. It has to be Carter, why would he deceive us, he needs our help right? Sadie, Carter wouldn't have made the mistake of wrong doors the first time, Carter wouldn't try to derail our task like that. Another thought, when has Carter ever seemed insistent or as irritated as he is now? I have never seen Carter act this way" stated Amos as Sadie looked troubled, from him to the imposter Carter, before continuing. "I know it's hard to see, but that is not Carter… at least it's not the real Carter. Sadie, you have to see and know that this is not really your brother." He finished, hoping that Sadie would believe him.

"Why are you saying those things uncle? I thought you cared for me? Please Sadie, don't believe him, he's done this before hasn't he? When we faced Set…he made us trust him, but then he was working with the god. Please…help me. I'm in pain Sadie, worse than you can imagine. You can make it stop…please, don't you want to save me?" questioned Carter feigning innocence and truth.

Painfully, it was then that Sadie realized the truth. This Carter wasn't her real brother. Her uncle was right Carter was never this pushy, insistent, or forgetful and it was his OWN mind. Sadie also knew that the real Carter would never stoop so low as to bring up past mistakes to use as a way of convincing her. She looked between "Carter" and Amos, before stepping closer to her uncle.

"I believe you uncle. And you are not my brother." Exclaimed Sadie while pointing at the fake.

It was then that they both saw a change in "Carter", his eyes became darker as did the peaceful aura around him. It changed from calm to fearful and insecure and it was then that Sadie and Amos got a look at what had really been leading them on for who knows how long. Right before them stood a taller form of carter, the only difference was that his Carter now seemed made out of shadows and darkness. He stared at Sadie with a look of pure hatred before speaking in a menacing tone.

"You will regret believing him, Sadie."

A/N: Hi everyone! Sorry it's taken longer than expected to update, but here it is and I hope you enjoyed reading. Please leave a review and let me know what you thought. Thank you!