๐“€€Stranger Still๐“€€

"Hell, Marc," cried Layla. "I mean, I know we're divorced and all that now, but you still could of at least given me some sign that you were alive. I'm still your partner on this job, and we're not finished it yet."

๐“€€ ๐“€€ ๐“€€

"Ah, Evelyn. So glad you could join us. Welcome."

She was led into an old building. Not that that said very much, for several buildings in London were old. This one seemed to have been abandoned before this cult had taken it over.

"Yeah, super welcome. You again." It was the same man who had been confronting Steven in the Museum.

"Yes. I'm sorry I didn't have a chance to introduce myself before."

"Yeah, real shame."

"My Name is Arthur Harrow, but please, call me Arthur." He must be the cult's leader.

"Eva?"

"Steven?" He appeared through the dense crowd of cult members, looking as uncomfortable as before, more even. However, upon seeing her, relief washed over his face. "What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Forgive me, but it seems that you, Steven, need a little push when it comes to giving up the scarab," Harrow broke in. "Evelyn here is here to help with that."

A push? "W-what are you going to do to her?"

"Nothing, so long as you cooperate and hand over the scarab." Now he wasn't only targeting Steven, but those around him as well, people he cared about. "I know Khonshu is speaking to you Steven, I know that he is filling your head with nonsense, desperate pleas-"

"Khonshu?" Eva cut in. "The Egyptian god of the Moon?" It couldn't be, could it? How had Steven gotten himself caught up in all this?

"Precisely," answered Harrow. "But Ammit's way is the only way." He held up his cane, which he had been leaning on. "Do you know what this is?" he asked Steven.

"Yep. It's a cane, yeah."

"This is Ammit's gift to her first avatar-" He lifted the cane into his hands, the top with the crocodile heads glowing a dim purple. "-It contains in it a tiny sliver of her power-" The purple glow spread, growing steadily brighter. "-I don't want to use it. I don't."

"Then don't. I can't help you."

"Yes you can. I need to know: where is the scarab?"

Where is the scarab? Where is the scarab? He kept repeating himself, over and over again in the same tone, making Eva want to scream at him. STOP! All the while, the cult members pressed in further, tightly surrounding Steven.

Eva had no idea what scarab he was referring to, but racked her brain against the panic, trying to come up with some lie that might help Steven out.

"I have it!" A woman stood in the doorway holding a gold beetle up in her hand, high up over her head for all to see. All heads turned to her.

"You couldn't possibly understand the value of what you're holding," Harrow told her.

"Try me."

He extended his palm. "Let me have it, I'll keep it safe."

The cult members kept moving closer, surrounding Steven, Eva, and now the woman.

"Summon the suit," the woman hissed to Steven.

"Sorry, what?"

"Summon the suit."

"'Summon the soup?' What are you saying?"

"The suit!" she repeated.

"The suit?"

She shoved the scarab into his hands. "And keep this safe."

Harrow did not look amused. "So be it."

"Let's go - let's go!" The woman took off running, Eva quick to follow, grabbing Steven's arm along the way.

"Are you okay? They didn't hurt you? Oh Eva I'm so sorry you've gotten caught up in all this - whatever it is!" he cried as they ran.

Meanwhile, Harrow knelt to the floor with his staff, chanting.

"Don't be sorry - Oi!" One of the cult members grabbed her arm.

"Get off! Get off her!" Steven looked back and forth between him - cult members had confronted both Layla and Eva.

However, he quickly had both woman on either side of him, each beating up a guard.

"That was awesome!"

Layla led the way into a storage room. "Here bolt the door!"

"Oh my God," Steven cried. "We're going to die in an evil magicians man cave!"

"No, hey, listen to me, listen to me," Layla insisted. "There's a suit, I've seen you use it. You bring it out." Steven just kept muttering and shaking his head. "Where the hell are you?! We need you to fight!"

"Will you stop it, can't you see you're just freaking him out more!" cried Eva. She had no idea how this woman knew Steven, but again, something wasn't adding up. Khonshu was one part of it, and this woman was another.

"No no no! Stop it both of you! Just leave me alone!" Steven shouted. Was he speaking to both of them?

"Hey! You can do this, I promise," Layla insisted.

"I can't. I can't, I'm sorry, I can't."

Layla sighed. "Okay, it's fine, we'll just have to find another way-"

But they were out of time - the door burst open.

Steven cried out. "Jackal! Jackal - jackals! Oh God, he's sent two after me this time-"

But there was nothing. The door had supposedly burst open of its own accord. He was now in the same state she had seen him in that security footage from the other night. This time, he'd said. Could there be a connection there?

He slowly backed away, muttering, before he was suddenly thrown back, smashing out the window.

"STEVEN!" Eva rushed to the window. He must have plunged down to the street below. Oh God-

"Over here!" Layla was carefully stepping out of the broken window and on to the roof, searching for a safer way down.

"Sorry for shouting at you earlier. Hi, I'm Eva." She held out her hand to the other woman.

"Layla." She shook her hand.

"How do you know Steven?"

"I don't. I know Marc."

"Oh-" She took in the woman's, Layla's, words. "I'm sorry, what?"

But there was no time to explain. Below them, Steven was stumbling around - suddenly dressed all in white, face and all.

The suit.

The ladies climbed a ladder down the side of the building. As soon as her feet hit the ground, Eva sprinted over to him, Layla following. "Steven!"

"You look different," Layla told him.

"Stay away from me!" Steven was suddenly thrashed about by some unseen force. "There's two of them!"

Layla grabbed a discarded bottle from the street and smashed it over the unseen creature. Now a spill of liquid and small glass fibers gave a bit of a sense of where the creature was - one of them at least.

It obviously didn't like this and now Layla was shoved down by an invisible force.

"Stay back!" cried Eva, withdrawing the dagger from her bag.

"Where'd that come from?" cried Steven, nodding to the gold-hilted blade now gripped in her hand.

"A relic from my time as Khonshu's Knight."

I love how Layla and Marc are a badass couple team in the show! ;)

And cliffhanger! I've got some exciting reveals coming up ;) Can't wait!

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)