Chapter 8: Trespassing, Darkness, and Childhood Nightmares

Isaac didn't know where he was. His eyes searched the premises frantically, looking for some sort of sign, some sort of light, but there was only darkness… the kind of darkness that made a person wonder whether or not their eyes were open. Isaac didn't like the dark. Something about it always seemed so cold and lonely. Maybe that's why his skin was crawling. Maybe that's why panic was bubbling up in his chest, but what could he do? Every time he tried to open his mouth, no words came out. He was forced to listen, and yet it seemed that it was just him and the darkness.

"Just open your eyes,"

The voice startled him and once again he was left to search his surroundings and try to figure out where the voice had come from.

"Open your eyes,"

The voice came out louder, more urgent, more frustrated. Isaac tried to oblige, but as far as he could tell his eyes were already open.

"DO IT!"

And that was when he felt it. Fingers wrapped themselves around Isaac's neck, squeezing the life out of him. He gasped and clawed desperately at the hands, but it was no use. They tightened and Isaac could feel himself slipping.

Isaac sat up instantly, his hand immediately making its way to his neck. His eyes ran across the familiar objects in his bedroom and he let out a quiet sigh as he threw his comforter off his body and rushed to the bathroom. Once there, he flipped the light switch and a bright florescent light illuminated the cold tiled space.

He turned the faucet and splashed some cold water on his face before looking up at his reflection. His dark eyes were lighter, appearing almost like a chocolate brown in the mirror and his dark brown hair was matted with nightmare induced sweat. His skin was paler than usual, droplets of water still dripping from it.

He hesitated for a moment before glancing at the tattoo on his bicep. At the sight of it, he frowned and he immediately switched off the light and headed back to his room, suddenly aware of the bright sunlight streaming in through his window.

Isaac glanced at the alarm clock by his nightstand. 6:17 AM.

(***)

"Tell me again why we're jogging this early in the morning?" Mick stifled a yawn and turned to the dark haired boy beside him who was currently stretching his limbs.

"Hey, no one forced you to wake up this early," Isaac smirked and he bent down to tie his laces.

Mick rolled his eyes before doing the same. "Still. Normal people don't wake up before 7 in the morning."

"Well, it's a good thing we're anything but," he replied.

Mick cracked a smile at his response and he nodded. "You're right about that."

Instead of responding, Isaac began to run and Mick chased after him, desperate to keep up.

Lately, Mick and Isaac had been spending a lot of time together whether it'd been jogging in the morning, grabbing lunch in the afternoons, or watching dumb action movies at night. Mick liked having someone around Anubis house that was into all the things he was into. Suddenly, he didn't feel like the dumb jock anymore. He had a friend that understood his love of sports and random explosions in movies. He had a friend that didn't make a face at him when he chose to drink a kale smoothie over a can of coke. He had a friend that saw the side of him that didn't just play sports and eat healthy, but cracked dumb jokes and secretly loved mystery novels. Isaac had quickly become one of Mick's favorite people in the span of a couple of weeks, and he hoped that nothing would come between the two.

"Can we just stop for a second?" Mick managed to ask between breaths. "I know I've said this to you before, but there is no way you aren't a mutant."

Isaac laughed and shook his head. "What? Never met someone that could keep up with the great Mick Campbell?"

"Umm, no, actually,"

Isaac laughed and patted Mick on the back. "Well, I'll do you one better. I can surpass the great Mick Campbell."

And then he was off again, and Mick had to suppress a groan as he wiped the sweat from his forehead and raced after him again.

"Did you slow down for me?" Mick asked after taking notice of Isaac's calmer pace.

He shrugged and looked over at him. "I decided to keep you company. Don't get used to it though. I don't slow down for just anybody. If you're going to jog with me in the mornings then you have to learn to keep up."

Mick suppressed the urge to roll his eyes as he playfully shoved Isaac away. "You sound like an arrogant prick."

Isaac grinned. "I thought we had already established that I am one."

Mick opened his mouth to reply, but before he could Isaac's phone began ringing and the teen stopped jogging.

"Who is it?" Mick asked.

Isaac tilted his phone screen towards Mick, revealing Nina's name.

"Give me a minute," Isaac said before walking a couple feet away.

Mick frowned and he crossed his arms over his chest, watching as Isaac accepted the call and raised his cell phone to his ear. Mick couldn't quite tell what they were talking about. All he knew was that Isaac was laughing and smiling at whatever it was that Nina was saying.

He sighed and looked away from his friend, pressing his foot into the mud and watching as it squished out the sides from under his sneakers. It had been raining constantly the past few days, making practice for sports miserable and dampening Mick's mood significantly. Perhaps that's why he felt as though there was a dark cloud hanging over him at that moment.

"Okay, see you in a bit," Isaac stated before ending the call and returning to Mick.

"Leaving so soon?" Mick asked.

Isaac nodded. "Yeah, I have to meet Nina."

"To think I woke up at 6:30 to be treated like this."

Isaac laughed and began to head in the opposite direction. "Don't be jealous. We'll hang later."

"It's fine mate," Mick insisted.

"Alright, see you." And then Isaac was off.

Mick's jaw clenched slightly and he shook his head a bit before continuing on his way.

(***)

"Did you bring them?" Nina asked as soon as Isaac stepped into her room.

He nodded and plopped his backpack down on her bed before unzipping it to reveal a cassette player.

Nina stood up from where she sat at her desk and walked over to him. "Have you listened to it?"

Isaac shook his head. "I haven't even looked at the thing since I brought it back from that cellar."

Nina accepted his answer and took it from his bag before retreating to her desk.

Truth was Isaac had been avoiding playing the tape that they had retrieved the day he had gotten shot. There was something in the back of his mind that told him that that tape would have the answer to a question he hadn't asked himself in years, a question that he had forgotten all about. He knew that the tape could help all of them make more sense of the strange circumstances surrounding them, but he also knew that everything that had happened to them was connected to him. He had found the jewels. He had been shot and strangled. He had known the myth of Ptah and Set without even batting an eyelash.

It was all too much to be a coincidence, he knew that… and he wondered if anyone else had figured that out too.

"You ready?" Nina asked.

Isaac nodded and he grabbed a notepad and pencil from her desk. "Yeah, I'm ready."

She let out a deep breath and pressed play.

Static filled their eyes before a scratchy voice could be made out. "Day 278. The subject is still unable to guide us to the site. We are looking into alternative methods as the fire treatment is not working as it should. It could be his age, but he appears to lack knowledge of it all. Perhaps he can not bring us to Eridres. Subject may be disposed of in a week unless he proves useful. Only time will tell. Sit Set se revelare."

The tape stopped and Nina furrowed her brow and opened up the cassette player. "Was that last bit Latin?"

Isaac didn't respond and Nina turned to him and found him kneeled on the floor, his hands moving rapidly over the page as he drew something. Nina knelt beside him and watched his eyes dart quickly behind his eyelids.

After a couple of minutes, the notepad slipped from his grasp and he took a large gasp of breath before falling forward and using his hands to catch himself. Nina placed a hand on his shoulder and waited for him to steady his breathing.

"I'm fine," he stated as he sat back and ran a hand through his hair.

Nina nodded and she waited for Isaac to grab the notepad from where it had landed. He brought the page close to his face and examined it carefully. He had drawn a large brick building with the image of a dragon breathing fire on it. A dark hooded figure stood in front of it and appeared to be in the process of painting it on the structure.

"Isaac, you're crying," Nina told him.

Immediately, Isaac wiped the stray tears with the back of his hand and handed Nina the drawing.

"Wait, this is-,"

Before she could finish her sentence, Isaac shot up and grabbed the cassette player. He shoved it into his backpack and zipped it up before swinging it over his shoulder. "I have to go."

"Isaac, we have to talk about this," Nina insisted as she walked over to him.

"I just, I need some time," he replied. "Don't show anyone the drawing."

"But-,"

"Please," he pleaded.

Nina's face dropped, but she didn't protest as she closed the notepad. "Okay, but you have to tell me one thing."

He hesitated for a moment before nodding. "What?"

"Why did you just draw your tattoo?"

"I don't know," he answered. "And I need that answer to be good enough for you."

Nina was quiet for what felt like a long time before she sighed and said, "I-,"

Upon the word leaving her lips, Isaac turned his back to her and left Anubis house.

(***)

Once he reached his room, Isaac threw his backpack to the floor and began to search his bookshelf for an old notebook. His eyes moved rapidly as he read the spines of various books before he came upon what he was looking for. He pulled a worn marble notebook from the third shelf and flipped to a page in the very back. Large red letters were written across the lined white paper spelling the word 'ERIDRES'.

As soon as Isaac had looked at what he had drawn after listening to the tape, he had felt a rush of memories flood his mind, drowning everything he thought he knew about his childhood. He didn't know what to tell Nina, so he had chosen to run.

He needed to make sense of everything first. He needed to know what it meant. And in the back of his mind he knew that there was only one person who would know the truth, so he ripped the page out of the notebook, rushed out of his house, exited the school's campus, and headed for the police station.

"Isaac, what are you doing here?" Officer Richards asked upon Isaac barging into his office.

The teen didn't say anything. Instead, he slammed the page down on Officer Richards' desk and watched as his smile disappeared and his eyes grew dark.

"Where did you find this?" he asked.

Isaac ignored the question and with a shaky voice asked, "Did you know?"

He was quiet for a couple of seconds before looking up at Isaac and shrugging. "Know what?"

Isaac scoffed and he took a couple steps back, both his hands on his head and his jaw clenched. "Don't play dumb. You're a police officer. You have my file."

"Isaac-,"

"Did you or did you not know?" He cut him off and walked back towards his desk.

"You don't want to cause a scene," Officer Richards advised him as he stood up and closed the door to his office.

Isaac's face fell at the words and he brought his hands down to his sides as he muttered, "Why didn't you tell me?"

He sighed and tried to approach Isaac. "You had forgotten."

Isaac stepped away and pointed a finger at him, his lower lip quivering as he spat out, "I didn't forget! It was just buried!"

"Your father thought it would be best to-,"

"To what?" Isaac asked. Tears were blurring his vision, but he refused to stop as he jabbed Officer Richards in the chest. "To not tell me that I was kidnapped when I was a child and that that's the reason I can't remember anything from before I was eight?"

"Isaac-,"

"Is that why he left me? Was it too much for him to handle? His son being taken for a whole goddamn year!" At that point, Isaac was full on crying and he felt his legs give out under him as he crashed to his knees and let out a choked sob.

"Why the fuck didn't you tell me? I trusted you!"

Officer Richards knelt down and he tried to place a hand on his shoulder, but before he could Isaac wriggled away from him, pressing his back against one of the walls in the office.

"Don't you dare touch me."

The words came out a low whisper, but they hit Officer Richards like a cold hard slap to the face. He lifted his arm in an attempt to reach out again, but before he could touch Isaac, a phone began ringing.

Officer Richards crawled over to Isaac's cell, which had slipped from his pocket upon him hitting the floor, and he answered it.

"Hello…? Oh, umm, it's Officer Richards… No, it's fine… Actually, if it wouldn't be too much trouble can you come down to the station to bring him home…? He's not exactly in the right head space… Okay, thanks."

(***)

"Isaac?"

The teen didn't lift his head at the sound of his name. He stayed put, his forehead pressed against his knees and his arms wrapped around his legs.

"Isaac, will you please look at me?"

He sighed and lifted his head up. "What are you doing here?"

Nina shrugged and knelt beside him. "You left in such a rush. I wanted to know if you were okay."

"He shouldn't have asked you to come," Isaac told her. "I'm fine."

Nina nodded. "I know you are. Let's just get you back to Isis house."

Isaac didn't bother protesting as Nina helped him up from the floor and led him to her car. They drove back to school in silence and as soon as they got to Isaac's room he went straight to his bed.

"I texted Danielle. She had class, but she'll be here soon," she told him.

Isaac didn't respond. He kept his eyes shut, his mind replaying the events of his year away on a loop.

"I don't want to pry-,"

"Then don't," he shot back.

Nina frowned at his words before walking over to him and taking a seat at the end of his bed. "I want to understand what happened. When I reached the station Officer Richards was shaken."

"Yeah, poor Mr. Richards," Isaac spat out the words as if they were poisonous before turning to face Nina. "He lied to me."

"About what?" she wondered.

"Everything… he knew everything and yet he let me go on with my life in blissful ignorance."

"Isaac, what is everything?"

Isaac's eyes met Nina's and he debated whether or not to tell the girl. They had only known each other for a short time and Isaac still wasn't completely sure if he could trust her, but there was something about the last week that made him want to believe that he could. She had been there for him. She had listened and she had noticed things that not even his best friend of ten years had. And then there was that voice in the back of his head, that damn voice that told him to listen to the tapes and told him that Officer Richards knew everything. That voice was telling him to share his secrets with a girl that was far too curious for his own liking. It had never been wrong, and so Isaac had to at least trust that.

He sat up and crossed his legs, giving Nina more room on his bed.

"When I was seven years old, I was kidnapped," he revealed. "My captors were a group of people that thought I was special and that I could lead them to some mystery location. To try and get me to share the information they performed rituals, ones where they burned me and even gave me this tattoo. After almost a year of not giving them what they needed, they planned to get rid of me, but I suppose one of them suddenly gained a conscience, because I was released before my execution and was found by a couple. I was returned home a week after I was found with bruises, burn marks, and a tattoo."

"You're the subject on the tape, aren't you?" Nina asked.

Isaac nodded. "Yeah, I am."

"And you didn't remember any of this?"

"I guess I repressed it or something," he sighed before running a hand though his hair. "Shit, I don't know."

"It's okay," she assured him as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

Isaac shrugged off her hand and placed his head in his hands. "It's not okay, Nina! Everything that has happened the past few weeks is my fault. I'm the freaking catalyst!"

"You didn't know."

He scoffed. "Didn't I though? Who found the jewels? I did. Who was there every time gunshots were fired? I was. Who was strangled by an ancient Egyptian god? I was. It's all too much and I knew that. I just chose to keep quiet about it hoping that no one would be able to put all the pieces together."

"This does not all fall on you, okay?" she insisted. "We are all at fault."

"That's not what Fabian and everyone else will think," Isaac replied. "They already think that the people after us only want me. What do you think is going to happen when they find out that they're right? They're gonna throw me to the wolves."

Nina didn't say anything. Instead she looked down at her hands and heard Isaac let out a strained laugh.

"Exactly."

At that moment, the door to Isaac's room opened and Danielle entered.

They're eyes shot to the blonde as she rushed over to Isaac. "What happened?"

"Nothing," he said before standing up and walking to his door. He opened it wider and waved his hand towards the hallway. "The two of you can leave."

Nina remained seated for a moment before standing up and exiting his room.

"Isaac-,"

"I mean it, Danielle," he stated. "I'm not in the mood to talk right now. I'm sorry."

Danielle pursed her lips before heading out of his room. However, before she left, she looked at him and said, "I know that you're going through things, but don't use that as an excuse to do something stupid."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

(***)

"Everything about this is a bad idea."

Isaac smirked at the comment and he gestured for Mick to continue. "Only if we get caught."

"Which we probably will," Mick pointed out.

"Not with your power," he informed him. "You can do this."

Mick let out a deep breath as he pushed the final button in the sequence and the door to the observatory clicked open.

"And we're in," Isaac stated before stepping into the large space.

Mick watched him for a moment before following him to the row of computers across from them.

Mick didn't know what to expect when Isaac suggested they do something to take their minds off of everything. He had assumed he wanted to go watch a movie or catch a game, not break into a locked observatory in the middle of the night. Upon reaching the building and Isaac telling Mick what he had in mind, the teen's first instinct was to run, but then he remembered everything that his friend had told him about his past and he had decided to push aside his fears and go along with his plan.

Mick knew that if he had told Isaac he didn't want to go through with it that the boy would have understood and they would have gone back to school and retreated to their separate houses, but the thing was that he also didn't want that. He wanted to help Isaac forget, if only just for a moment, about everything, so he had chosen the risky choice, the dumb choice.

"I think I found it." Isaac grinned and gestured for Mick to come to him before he pressed a button on the panel. The roof of the observatory began to split and Isaac took a seat on the ground and stared up at the star filled sky. Mick sat beside him and did the same.

"You want?" Isaac asked as he offered Mick a can of beer from his backpack.

Mick hesitated for a moment before nodding and taking the drink. He cracked it open and brought the aluminum to his lips.

"I'm assuming you do this often," Mick told him.

Isaac shrugged and took a long drink from his beer. "I guess… I don't know. It's actually been a while since I trespassed."

"Why do you do it?" he asked.

Isaac thought for a moment before setting down his drink. "I'm not entirely sure. There's a sort of thrill to it."

"A thrill to trespassing?"

Isaac laughed and shook his head. "No. A thrill to doing something that you're not supposed to do and getting away with it."

"Hmm," Mick considered this logic carefully as he focused his eyes on Isaac. The moonlight hit his face gently, illuminating and highlighting his face beautifully. One would think that he was sitting in the sun by the way he was lying back, but Mick knew that it was merely him letting go of everything, of relaxing and forgetting that the world was burning down outside the doors of the observatory. He looked calm and Mick envied him for that.

"So just the thrill?" Mick asked.

"Yeah, that and my fucked up childhood and extreme daddy issues."

Mick burst out in a fit of laughter and Isaac smiled as he watched his friend before also laughing.

"Is someone in there?" A loud voice filled the room and the two boys bolted up from where they sat on the floor.

"I thought you disconnected the security cameras," Isaac said as he rushed to the panel to close the roof.

"I did," Mick replied. "How was I supposed to know there would be a security guard on duty?"

"Okay, so what is your genius brain telling us to do know?" Isaac asked, a hint of humor in his voice.

"Run," Mick advised before a flashlight shined on them and they broke off into a sprint.

"Hey!" The security guard shouted.

Isaac and Mick quickly headed for the exit and rushed out into the night, the security guard chasing after them.

Isaac laughed and he sped up before turning a corner. Mick did the same before he too felt laughter bubble up in his chest and leave his mouth.

After another few minutes of running, Isaac came to a stop and he hunched over and placed his hands on his knees as he tried to steady his breathing.

"Aren't you glad I made you start jogging in the mornings?" Isaac smirked at his friend.

Mick rolled his eyes as a small smile appeared on his face. "Ugh, piss off."

Isaac chuckled and he stood up straight. "You okay?"

Mick nodded and glanced over his shoulder for a moment before returning his eyes to Isaac. "I think I get it. You know, the thrill. I've never felt more alive."

"Alright, take it easy. You don't want to end up with a record. Trust me."

"Okay, so what now?" he asked.

Isaac let out a deep breath before looking at his watch. 1:37 AM.

"Now… we go home."

Mick tried to hide his disappointment as he echoed, "home?"

"Yeah, you don't want to get caught by that Victor guy," Isaac told him.

"Yeah," Mick frowned slightly and began walking to their school. "I wouldn't want that."

Isaac bumped shoulders with him. "C'mon, you can be a delinquent tomorrow. Let's go."

The two walked in silence then, the only reminder that there was even another person beside Mick being the occasional brushing of their hands.

Mick gulped, a knot forming in the pit of his stomach. With that dark cloud hanging over him again, he suddenly regretted going to the observatory.

(***)

The next morning, Danielle waited for Nina at a small café, her hands wrapped around a coffee mug. As soon as she spotted the girl entering the shop, she waved her over.

Nina smiled at Danielle as she removed her scarf. "Hey."

"Hi," Danielle greeted. "I ordered you some tea."

Nina happily took the cup that the blonde pointed at. "Thanks."

"So…"

"So…"

"I wanted to talk to you about Isaac," Danielle stated.

"What about him?"

She took a sip from her drink before saying, "He hasn't been talking to me lately, but I can sense that something is wrong. You've been spending a lot of time with him recently, so I was hoping that you would tell me."

"I don't know if it's my place to say anything," she replied.

"I'm worried about him, Nina."

Nina considered this for a moment before sighing. "I don't want to betray his trust."

"I understand that, but you don't know him like I do," Danielle told her. "I can see him slipping and I want to help."

"I care about Isaac, Danielle and I'll be there for him until he decides that he wants to talk to you," she stated.

Danielle narrowed her eyes at Nina before she set down her mug. "You like him, don't you?"

Nina hesitated for a moment before shaking her head. "No, he's my friend. I just care about him."

"I know that you care about him, but you're lying to yourself if you think that you care about him only as a friend."

Nina was quiet for a couple of seconds as she played with the string of the tea bag in her cup. She let out a deep breath and looked up at her. "What if I do?"

Danielle's face fell a bit and she placed a hand over hers. "Nina-,"

Before she could finish her sentence, Nina's phone rang and she immediately picked it up. "Hello?"

Danielle sat back in her seat, her fingers drumming on the table as she waited for the brunette to finish her call.

"Wait, what…? Amber, you're talking a bit too fast… okay…we'll be there soon."

Nina ended the call and returned her attention to Danielle. "We have to go to Anubis house."

"Why?" she asked as they picked up their things and rushed out of the café.

Nina wrapped her scarf around her neck and dialed another number on her cell before looking at Danielle and saying, "Because, we got another letter and this one came with a surprise."

"A surprise?"

"Yep." Nina nodded. "Another jewel."

AN: It has been awhile since I have posted for this story, let alone this site. However, I do really love this idea and I'm going to try and finish it. The updates will probably not come regularly, but when I am inspired I will post. I apologize for the long wait, but it's been a long time since I've been in the right place to write. I'm only just getting back into everything. I hope that you liked the chapter and that you stay tuned because there is more coming.

-Karina