Chapter 10: The Burn

The words 'twenty six days' kept flashing through Eddie's mind as he walked in fast paces along the path closely next to Patricia, with a firm grip on the box that they had just retrieved from the tomb in the mausoleum. Those three words acted as a worrying wake up call for Eddie. It now seemed more real to him that he could potentially loose his little sister in twenty six days, if he didn't solve the rest of this quest quick enough. The thought of losing his sister was absolutely devastating and if that did happen, he wouldn't be able to live with himself.

"Did you find anything out?" KT asked as Eddie and Patricia walked back through the gates.

"We found this in Senkhara's tomb" Eddie replied, showing everyone the box that had been found, getting a better look at it himself.

"Senkhara's tomb, that can't be possible" Fabian frowned. "Can I take a look at the box?" he then questioned and Eddie just nodded whilst passing it over to Fabian.

"Ahhhhhhh" Fabian immediately screamed, throwing the box to the ground as a burning sensation travelled to his hand. "Why didn't you tell me that it was scolding hot?" he asked, wincing at the throbbing pain that was now circling his hand.

"Because it's stone cold" Eddie replied, picking the box up off of the ground.

"Stone cold" Fabian repeated with his eyes wide open. "Look at the burns on my hand now" he instructed, confusing everyone. Why was the box cold for Eddie to touch but yet it burned Fabian?

"Maybe it's an Osirian thing" Patricia suggested.

"Someone else is going to have to touch it to find out" Eddie replied.

"I'll do it" KT volunteered nervously and she immediately asked herself why she had volunteered a second after she did so.

With that Eddie held the box in front of KT who forced her eyes shut as she slowly placed the tip of her finger on the edge of the box.

"Ouch" she screeched instantly, jumping back away from the box, feeling the exact same burning feeling that Fabian had.

"There is no way I'm touching that box" Alfie told everyone, backing away slightly.

"Me neither" Patricia agreed.

For now it defiantly looked as if the Osirian was the only one who could touch the box.

….

School was out for the day and all of the residents of Anubis house were sat at the dining room table, tucking into their dinner. Fabian was sat there hardly able to use his left hand as it was wrapped up in a bandage from being burnt so much. He felt like he wanted to chop his hand off, thinking that it would hurt less. KT had a plaster covering the burn on her finger tip and just by moving it slightly caused her a lot of pain. She never knew until now that one tiny little burn could hurt so much.

"Fabian why have you got a bandage on your hand?" Erica asked curiously. "Your hand was perfectly fine this morning" she added.

"Oh I burnt it" Fabian replied nervously, shoving another mouthful of food into his mouth.

"Burnt it on what?" Erica questioned.

"Yes, what did you burn your hand on?" Trudy asked from the kitchen, sounding rather concerned.

"Erm, ugh" Fabian stuttered.

"Hair straighteners" Patricia lied for him quickly.

"You use hair straighteners" Mara frowned, causing Alfie to snicker quietly to himself and all Fabian could do was nod in embarrassment.

"But you have hardly any hair" Joy pointed out.

"That's why I straighten it" Fabian replied. "To make it look like I've got more" he added, trying to sound convincing.

Erica certainly wasn't buying it.

"Victor, I need to speak with you" a voice suddenly called and the sound of footsteps then travelled through the hallway of the house until that person ended up in the dining room. It was Mr. Sweet.

Mr. Sweet's eyes immediately latched on to Erica's. As soon as he saw her fear ran through his entire body. It had slipped his mind that she was here. If he had remembered he would have stayed away as far away as possible for that matter. The room suddenly went silent and everyone's eyes were focused on Mr. Sweet's and Erica's. Erica sat there nervously chewing on the inside of her cheek for comfort, wondering whether the man who was supposed to be her Father would shout at her for no reason at all again. She didn't want the pain of that today; she didn't want the pain of that ever again.

"Wow. You can actually feel the awkward" Alfie commented, causing Patricia to kick him from underneath the table. "Sorry" he mumbled quickly and quietly.

Eddie sat there feeling rather uncomfortable himself. Mr. Sweet and Erica were two people that meant a lot to him. He didn't know what he could do anymore. Eddie just wanted his Dad to accept the fact that he had a Daughter and let Erica be a part of his life. Why wasn't that possible?

Mr. Sweet then suddenly broke the eye contact between him and Erica as he turned to look at everyone else in the room, now ignoring the fact that Erica was even there.

"Where is Victor?" he managed to ask calmly.

"In his office" Trudy replied as she watched Mr. Sweet run off to find Victor as soon as the words had escaped from her mouth. She then shook her head in disgust. After all of the years of knowing Mr. Sweet, she never would have imagined him acting this way.

"I'm not hungry anymore" Erica told everyone as she pushed her plate away from herself, got up from the table and left the room. Seeing her Dad made her loose her appetite. She didn't know what was worse, being shouted at or not being spoken to at all. She just wanted him to care about her; she wanted her Dad in her life.

"I'm going to go and finish some school work" Eddie announced, giving the Sibuna gang a look, telling them to join him when they could. He was really planning on figuring a way to open up the box. The box needs to be opened and Erica's life has to be saved.

A/N: Okay I am so sorry for not updating in two weeks, school has been absolutely crazy. I've only been back two and a half weeks and I'm already reading two different books for English Literature, I've written two essays and I'm constantly writing notes out of the text book for Sociology. Hard work!

Anyway thank you for all of your reviews on the last chapter, please review this one x