Chapter 15:

Kara

Fourteen hours later, after a good nights sleep and another series of tests, Mick and I returned home from the hospital. Upon our arrival, we were greeted by Trudy and a plateful of cookies.

"Oh, welcome back dearies!" She said, offering us the tray. Mick quickly grabbed a handful of the chocolate biscuits while I laughed and helped myself to one. I thanked Trudy and excused myself to go up to my room. She understood and was quick to tell Mick to accompany me up.

We reached my room and I made my way over to my wardrobe for a new set of clothes. Mick insisted that I try to get some sleep, but I was too happy about being home that I simply wasn't tired. After I was changed, we sat down on my bed and Mick's hand found mine.

"Are you okay?" He asked as he rubbed soothing circles onto my hand with his thumb.

"I'm totally fine Mick, honestly." I assured him. I shifted my position so I was lying with my head in his lap but our hands were still joined. He gave my a skeptical look but instead of arguing, he just rolled his eyes and started running his free hand through my hair. I closed my eyes in contentment as we sat waiting for the others to return home from school.

Nina

"What are we going to do now?" I asked Fabian exasperatedly as we walked hand in hand back to the house. "We hardly have anything figured out, and now Rufus is back! This is such a disaster." Fabian pulled me closer and put an arm around my shoulders, dropping our hands.

"It'll be okay Nina," he assured as he rubbed my arm. "Kara's still decoding the papyrus, and when she's done that, then we'll have something to go on!" I sighed and leaned my head against his shoulder.

"I sure hope you're right." I said. We turned the corner and just as the house came into view, I heard Amber behind us calling my name. We stopped and turned around to see her running towards us, dragging Alfie along behind her.

"Do you think Kara'll be back yet?" She asked excitedly as the two caught up to us. We continued our walk and Fabian answered.

"I think so," he said. "The doctor said they only had to perform a couple more tests before she was free to go. I can't imagine it taking longer than this." Before Fabian, Alfie, and I even stepped foot in the house, Amber was already in the door and running up the steps towards our room. As we entered and stood in the foyer, we heard a quick squeal and the click of a camera before Amber came barreling back down the steps, cell phone in hand.

"Look at this!" She chirped, handing me the phone. I looked down and saw a picture of Mick asleep on Kara's bed with Kara curled up and sleeping in his lap. I smiled and showed it to Fabian who let out a chuckle.

"Cute." He stated before turning and walking into the common room. I handed Amber back her phone and followed Fabian down the hallway.

"Wait! Don't you want to see? Aren't we going to wake them up and say hello?" Amber questioned, following us into the living area. Fabian and I sat down on the couch as I replied.

"Let them sleep Amber, they're probably exhausted." She huffed and plopped down on the armchair.

"Fine." She crossed her arms and folded her legs on the chair.

Two hours later, Mick came down the stairs and headed for the kitchen. He opened up the fridge and started shuffling around causing Fabian and I to look up from the table.

"Oh, hey Mick!" I greeted from behind my large book. He peeked out his head in response, waving to us with a piece of pizza hanging out of his mouth. "Is Kara awake yet?" I asked with a smile. Mick nodded and stuck his head back in the fridge as Fabian, Amber, and I exchanged looks. In almost perfect unison, we shut our books and hurried upstairs to greet our friend. Slowing to a halt in front of the door, I cautiously turned the doorknob and pushed forward.

"Yeah mom, I know. No it's fine. Yeah mum, I know. I- yes. Yes, I did. I swear I didn't mean to, I just- yeah, I know it is. Mother, please. Okay, I'm sorry. I know. Sorry. Right, I'll find something, I promise."

The three of us shared a look, deciding to wait until Kara was off the phone to enter. I peered through the small opening as she finished up her call.

"Sorry... Yeah, okay, bye." Kara sighed before she unexpectedly threw her phone violently at her bed, sniffling. Worriedly, I knocked on the door as I entered the room, Fabian and Amber at my heels.

"Kara? Is everything all right?" I asked, walking up to her. Her head jerked up and she wiped furiously at her eyes before offering us a smile.

"Yeah, I'm great! It feels awesome to be out of the hospital!" She said with a cheeriness that, had I not just witnessed her being upset, I would have taken as genuine. None of us answered and instead stood there expectantly, waiting for her to tell us what was wrong. Eventually, her smile dropped and she sighed, bringing her good hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Look," she started, sparing us a glance before she went and picked her phone up off the bed. "I don't really want to talk about it right now. I've had a stressful day, and I'd just like some time to wind down if that's okay."

The three of us exchanged glances, deciding whether or not it was worth it to pester her about it.

"Kara," Fabian started, stepping forward. "You know you can tell us anything, right?" Kara looked up at Fabian and attempted to smile. She sniffed and reached up her arm, using the sleeve of her sweater to wipe her eyes again.

"Yeah-" she said, her voice cracking. "Yeah, I know." Amber quickly ran up to the upset girl and wrapped her arms around her in a tight hug. After a moment Fabian and I joined in, offering our support as well. We stood like that for a few moments as Kara continued sniffling in the midst of us until there was a noise at the door.

"Sorry for interrupting," Patricia said with an audible clearing of the throat. "But Trudy sent me up to tell you that it's time for supper."

"We'll be right down." Fabian stated, none of us moving from our small huddle.

"Okay..." Patricia said as she turned and made her way back downstairs. We remained still for a few more moments until Kara gave one final sniff and weaseled her way out from under us.

"Thanks guys, but you should probably get down to dinner." She told us as she moved towards her wardrobe.

"What about you? Aren't you going to eat?" I asked as she pulled out a long sleeve shirt and a pair of plaid pyjama bottoms. She smiled and walked out the door with us.

"No, I'm going to take a shower. I need to rinse any and all trace of hospital off of me." She explained. We walked down the hall and she gave us a little goodbye as she turned into the bathroom and the rest of us continued down the stairs.

"I wonder what that was about." Amber said as we reached the last couple of steps.

"I don't know, but whatever it is seems to have her shaken up more than being in the hospital."

Kara

"I'm halfway across the fucking world, in fucking England, and you're still ruining my life!" I mumbled angrily as I turned on the taps in the shower. I turned to the mirror and glared at my reflection as though it was the person I was angry at. "Dammit mother! I'm all the way over here, in boarding school, away from you just like you wanted! Yet still I'm "being ungrateful and disrespectful"! I'm so sorry I got fucking jumped by a psycho and sent to the hospital! I hate to inconvenience you and make you pay for something. Next time I'll make sure it's something important!" Picking up my tooth brush, I aggressively brushed my teeth before throwing it into the basin and turning back towards the shower.

I stood under the cascading water, relaxing considerably in its warmth. My anger faded away, but was quickly replaced with hopelessness as I slid down the shower wall and pulled my knees up to my chest in a fetal manor. I tried to take a deep breath, but as I exhaled it came out as a sob. Before I knew it, I was crying my eyes out over something my mother had said to me- again.

I had spent the past sixteen years of my life with parents who cared nothing about me. I'm not kidding either, while there are kids who claim their parents dislike them and all that, mine really did. Nothing I ever did was good enough for them, and if I needed something I had to make sure I had a way of getting it without inconveniencing my parents. While it all hurt, it was the constant verbal abuse from my mother that stung the most. She knew how I felt about myself and called me out on all my weak points. It was terrible- especially because thirty seconds later she would turn to my sister and become the worlds nicest mum.

I sighed and leaned my head back against the porcelain tiles, letting the water hit my face. I was home now though, wasn't I? I had friends, and an almost boyfriend. That gave me enough of an excuse to move to England permanently after I graduated.

"You have to make it to graduation first." I told myself, opening my eyes against the water. I didn't want to be pessimistic, but there was so much danger in my life at that moment that the chances of me living to see graduation were slimming. I'd been at the school just over a week and already I had been targeted by one supposed to be dead person, and some other crazy spirit thing. I wasn't afraid to die- what was the point? We all die in the end. I just wanted to live a little bit longer.

Standing up and grabbing the shampoo, I allowed my mind to wander into more pleasant thoughts as I cleansed myself. I imagined attending the weddings of all of my house mates, and was even brave enough to envision one of my own. That quickly turned into me imagining a quaint little house outside of London where a little girl with blonde pigtails was frolicking in a puddle out front- I stopped short.

Shaking my head, I quickly rinsed off any excess soap that I had on my body and turned off the taps.

Where the hell did that thought come from? I asked myself as I towel dried my hair. I pushed the thought aside, dismissing it as an after affect of all the drugs I was pumped with at the hospital and proceeded to pull on my pyjamas.

After running my brush through my hair several times, I went and threw my stuff into my room before heading downstairs. To my luck, everyone was still at dinner so I just slipped casually into my regular seat beside Mick.

"Hey." He said with a smile, grabbing my hand under the table.

"Hey." I replied flirtatiously.

"Hi Kara," Nina greeted from the end of the table. "Did you have a nice shower?"

"Yes," I replied, resting my bandaged arm on the table. "Only problem I had was wrapping my cast, but I figured It out."

"Is your arm feeling okay? Actually, is all of you feeling better?" Mara asked politely. I smiled and nodded.

"It all feels much better now, thanks guys." I said, releasing Mick's hand to reach for a roll. Only having one working arm was a bitch, but I was starting to make it work. Amber gave me a knowing look as I reached for Mick's hand under the table having already finished my roll. I smiled at her and then turned to Mick, smiling at him as well.

"Are you doing okay?" I asked him as he stuffed a forkful of spaghetti into his mouth. "You didn't get much sleep sitting in that hospital chair." He finished chewing and smiled at me, giving my hand a reassuring squeeze.

"I'm great, don't worry about me." I smiled back and was just opening my mouth to say something more when I felt a poke on the back of my shoulder. Turning, I came face to face with a smiling Amber.

"Can you meet us upstairs?" She asked quietly. "We wanted to ask you about a few things." I sighed and, knowing I had to other choice, nodded in consent. "Great!" She squealed before turning back to Fabian and Nina. I hugged and turned back to Mick. He looked at me questioningly, but I just squeezed his hand in reassurance and stood up.

"I'll talk to you later, I just have to talk to Nina and Amber about some missed homework." I explained, well, lied. He shrugged and let go of my hand, turning back to his pasta. Quickly, I head upstairs and into my room. With a tentative look around, I lifted up my mattress and pulled out the withering old paper from behind the bed sheet. I sat down and opened it up, glancing quickly at the few hieroglyphs I already knew.

"Great." I mumbled to myself, discovering the one most reoccurring image- sacrifice.