I am SO freaking sorry. I really don't have an excuse unless you look at my profile.
I do not own the Kane Chronicles.
Outside, it was bitterly cold. The snow felt like tiny daggers piercing her skin, even though she had a thick coat on.
Anxious, Zia looked at her watch for the third time.
Two thirteen.
Where was she?
"I'm surprised you actually went through with this," a voice said, sounding fairly amused.
Zia didn't turn around. "I called this meeting. Why wouldn't I show up?"
"Because," the voice said, taking a different tone, "you, Zia, are afraid to face the truth."
The girl snorted. "About what? I know you're just trying to get to me. It's some kind of stupid trick. Well, I'm telling you, it won't work."
"Is that what you think?" the voice asked, sounding hurt. "This isn't a disguise, Zia. You of all people should understand that."
She clenched her hands. "You're lying. She wouldn't do this to me."
"That was before you ran away like a coward."
"I am no coward."
"Tsk, tsk, Zia. So much has changed in the time I was absent. You should clean up that attitude of yours."
The girl whipped around, snarling, "You have no right to say that!"
There was no one behind her.
There weren't even any footprints. It was like no one was ever there.
"He isn't cooperating," Ette was saying.
"So you tied him up?" Aarya asked, sounding tired.
"What were we supposed to do?" Hunter asked defensivly. "He was throwing objects all over the place!"
Carter, who was struggling against his binds, shouted, "That's a lie!"
"Shut up," came Hunter's irritated responce.
Aarya sighed. "Guys, leave. I'm going to talk to him."
Paige nudged her friend in the side. "Remember the deadline," she hissed. "He's going to get impatient."
The girl nodded back. "I know," she whispered. "Just give me a few minutes. I can explain everything. Just leave. I think that above everyone, I have some of his trust."
Irma gave Aarya a sad smile. "Good luck," she whispered, before walking out of the room, followed shortly by Paige and Peter.
Ette rolled her eyes. "You're gonna need it," she muttered, adding onto Irma's sentance. "The guy's more stubborn than a mule. I can't believe we went through all that trouble in order to get stopped by a stupid spell cast by that stupid girl..."
Hunter said nothing. Instead, he just scowled and stomped off. Saul, who hadn't said anything, followed after him, sending Carter and Aarya and apologetic glance.
Once everyone had gone, Aarya sat on the edge of the bed, looking sheepish as she watched Carter continue to struggle with his bonds for several minutes.
Finally, Carter craned his neck to glare at her. "Would it kill you to untie me?"
"Huh? Oh, sure." Reaching over, Aarya yanked at a strand of rope and watched as it all fell apart around Carter.
The boy blinked. "How did you do that?"
"Classic trick. I offered to teach it to you, remember?"
He gave her a blank stare.
The girl sighed and shook her head. "Never mind. You don't remember, anyway."
"I wonder why," he muttered sarcastically. "Maybe because I never met you."
"Look, I know you don't believe me, or anyone else. But please, just listen to me. I want to tell you...I want to tell you the full story." Aarya kicked at the ground, looking gloomy.
"Forget it. I know you're lying."
"Carter, please, just listen."
The urgency in her tone took him by surprise. She sounded so...sincere.
When he didn't say anything, Aarya continued. "You see...you used to travel with your dad a lot. You moved from place to place all the time."
"My...dad."
That's right. He had a dad, didn't he?
"Yeah." She nodded. "Well, you were visiting your sister, Sadie. That day, I tried to approach you...but an evil girl named Zia stopped me. She was planning to kill you, and the man with her, Desjardins, was working along with her. They worked for the evil Twenty-First Nome, and they wanted you dead."
She proceeded to tell him everything, from when they made something called the Rosetta Stone blow up, and blamed it on his father, who had died in it. They took him and Sadie, his sister, to their Headquarters in Egypt, where they were to be executed. But the Chief Lector, Iskander, had sensed a great power in them, and he figured that if he could control it, he could take over the world with humans as slaves.
She went on, telling him how he defeated Set, the god of evil, who was in the way of the Nome's plans for domination. They discovered that their father had turned into Osiris, and were heartbroken. Carter frowned at that. His frown deepened when she added that they saw his mother, too, as a ghost, who was in on the evil plot, and lied to her children in order for them to carry out their bidding.
"She figured if you knew the truth, you would stop."
"How do you know all of this?" Carter asked suspiciously.
Aarya smiled weakly. "Scrying. I almost killed myself a dozen times using too much magic because I was trying to keep track of you."
She went on, explaining that he and Sadie built up their own little Nome, unknowingly teaching the trainees dark magic. It was months before she had the chance to approach them.
"I came in and explained everything," Aarya mumbled, wringing her hands together. "I tried to tell you what you were doing was wrong, and if you continued, you would only end up hurting millions of people. By that time, Iskander had died, and Desjardins had taken up his plans. He never liked you, and he exiled you, swearing to kill you. But you and Sadie were also determined to carry out Iskander's warped wishes, thinking that it was to help the world." She let out a sniff. "When I told them this, Sadie told me I was lying. She never wanted to see me again, and tried to attack me. It was too late for her. She had accepted the evil ways, and there was no changing her back."
There was a long silence. Aarya looked up at him shyly.
"You were different, though," she said quietly. "You convinced Sadie to calm down, and let me stay the night. It was a December evening, and it was bitterly cold. Even though Sadie didn't like it, she agreed on the condition that I would leave in the morning. You were so kind...and I knew then that there was still hope for you."
Carter said nothing.
"Peter, Ette, Paide, Irma, Hunter, Saul and I were apprentices of a man...he was extremely powerful. He was a force of good, and he learned of you. He became...interested, I could say. He was desperate to save you. Hunter argued, saying that you weren't worth it. You had crossed into the dark side, and that it was too late to save you..."
Her eyes grew sad, thinking about the man she was describing.
"You guys cared about him a lot, didn't you?" Carter asked gently. He wasn't too sure if he believed her, but he felt kind of sorry for her.
"Yeah. We did," she said quietly. "He was...misunderstood. He was amazing, but in the end, everyone rejected him, simply because they couldn't understand the need for a better future. They were so used to war...to fighting instead of peace...that change was horrifying to them. It was all too fast; they weren't ready to accept it. Because of one little mistake, he was ruined forever. But...he wanted to help you."
She fell silent after that. Carter felt sympathy overwhelm him.
"What happened after that?" he asked softly, just loud enough for her to here.
Aarya gave him the tiniest smile, but it looked forced. "He approached you one day. He explained everything much better than I ever did. He tried to describe the perfect world, somewhere where we were all united under one ruler. But..."
"But what?" he asked after a moment's pause.
Her look darkened. "A girl by the name of Zia was there. She was well into the evil arts, but she was never tricked. She was evil, right to the core. She would lie to save her own skin in a heartbeat. She would lie to get whatever she wanted, and she was ruthless. You...you..."
You liked her, Carter realized. That was what she was going to say.
"She manipulated you. You..."
Her voice was starting to crack.
"You killed him."
His eyes widened with horror. The raw emotion she was displaying was almost enough to convince him that she was telling the truth.
"That's why Hunter doesn't like me," he murmured. "He hates me because I killed your mentor."
"He sacrificed so much for you...and you slaughtered him without a second thought. Hunter hated you for it. He never really got over that. But...you changed."
He blinked at her. "What do you mean?"
She smiled softly. "The moment you killed him, you realized something was wrong. Your suspicions were proved correct when Zia finally told you the truth. They thought you were ready...but they were wrong. For that, I'm glad. You ran away, and you eventually found us two weeks later and told us the whole story. We...we grew close."
He had a feeling that there was a double meaning behind that.
"You and Peter because fast friends. Paige had fun irritating you. Saul was never one to really talk, but he did speak a few words to you. Irma is nice to everyone. But Hunter...Hunter never really forgave you. We understood you were under the influence of evil. Sometimes, when you got in fights with them, that old grudge would come up again. But other then that...we did forgive you. Maybe we were still bitter, but it was never your fault..."
Her eyes looked up and met with his. They were clouded with anger.
"It was that coward's."