House of Anubis: House of Mistakes

Part VIII

The morning was as tense as the past two days had been since Eddie first revealed that someone had turned on Sibuna. KT shifted uncomfortably in her seat next to Mara while she scanned the faces of her housemates. She'd only known them for a few months, but it seemed hard to believe that any of them— least of all those in the club— could ever be so two-faced.

She tried to catch Eddie's eye from where he was sandwiched between Patricia and Fabian, but he pointedly ignored her, instead asking Jerome to pass the milk.

KT frowned, taking another sullen bite of her cereal. He probably was nervous about exposing one of them. Who could it possibly be? Fabian, maybe. He could be aggressive sometimes, and he had seemed pretty adamant that he wasn't a traitor...maybe he was doing this for that girl, Nina's, sake? But that didn't sound like Fabian; he didn't seem the type to hold a grudge. Maybe it was Alfie. But... it was Alfie. Patricia, then?

KT looked closer at her and grimaced. She looked awful. Patricia had always been pale, but she was practically translucent that morning, with poorly concealed dark circles under her eyes. It looked like she hadn't slept in weeks. KT hummed sympathetically, scratching an itch by her collarbone. That was something she could relate to, lately.

But perhaps that lack of sleep was attributed to Patricia sneaking out to do Team Evil's work? It was certainly possible.

There was something else to be considered, of course. That whole Sinner business was almost too horrible to entertain; KT would almost rather if one of her friends had switched allegiances of their own volition. To have your mind and soul tormented like that...

She shuddered, and Mara looked over at her with concern. "KT?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

"Oh," KT said smartly, noticing that suddenly all eyes were on her, "I was just thinking about... a dream I had last night. That's all."

Mara's gaze cut across the table for a second, before she nodded gently. "It's been cold lately," she said. "You dream more vividly when it's cold. You're probably just not used to our British weather."

Well, that was a fun fact KT hadn't known. Add it to the random Jeopardy knowledge she had filed away. "Really? That's cool," she said, trying to be polite, but honestly more hung up on the fact that her whole world view was about to undergo a serious shift.

She looked back at Eddie and noticed that he now decided to look her right in the eye.

He was smiling.

—

During their lunch period, they all gathered in Fabian and Eddie's room. No one said a word, but KT noticed that Patricia was subtly rubbing Alfie's arm. He looked on the brink of tears and was struggling to keep his breathing steady. Fabian patted him heavily on the shoulder before they all fell into line.

Eddie stood before them like a judge before his court, his usually expressive face giving nothing away. "I know who you are," he said after a pregnant pause. "And I know what you've done." He began to walk up and down the line, and KT craned her neck to look down the row. Patricia locked eyes with her from the opposite end and gave her a weak smile that seemed to say 'this is it.' "And I can't believe you betrayed us..." KT was so caught up looking at Patricia that she hadn't noticed Eddie had stopped in front of her. "KT."

It was like being doused with ice water, then punched directly in the face. She took a step back, and for a moment she was speechless. Her subconscious mind acknowledged the fact that Fabian had put his arm out in a barrier between KT and the others, but all she was focused on was the piece of paper that Eddie held in his hand.

Match Found, it said, KT Rush.

She was going to be sick. "No," she rasped. "No, you've got this wrong."

Alfie was crushed. "I thought you were our friend."

"I am!" KT shouted, and immediately regretted it when everyone flinched. "I would never betray Sibuna." She desperately searched the faces of her friends. "I would never betray any of you. My mission— the reason I'm here— is to stop Team Evil. Not help them end the world!"

"Or," said Eddie quietly, "were you working with them all along? You are a Frobisher, after all."

KT looked at him, watching him watch her with those impassive brown eyes of his. "You've got this so wrong," was all she could say.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Patricia's hand come up to her forehead and her eyes screwed shut. "Maybe we should hear her out," she said through gritted teeth.

KT opened her mouth, but Eddie beat her to it. "No!" he snapped, hurt seeping into his tone as he strode across the room and wrapped a protective arm around Patricia. "This is all the proof we need. She's not one of us. Apparently she never has been."

A frustrated scream caught in KT's throat at Eddie's words. Eddie, who had been the only constant in her life since she'd gotten to this school, her best friend, the person who accepted her for who she was, had officially abandoned her.

Looking around the room, something dawned on her. She'd been set up. KT was always going to be the odd man out. Every. Single. Time. No matter what she could do, she was always going to be perceived as the outsider, the interloper, the weakest link of Sibuna. She blinked back tears; KT had finally thought she belonged somewhere. After years of being ashamed of how she was born, always hiding who she truly was, she'd honestly thought that she had a support system. Whoever's fingerprints those actually were knew that, and they had used her. She suddenly hoped they were one of Ammut's slaves and not someone who'd faked it all along— she might be able to hate them a little less.

She wasn't going to give whoever the bastard was the satisfaction of seeing her cry, so she turned and made her way toward the door.

Fabian's voice cut through the silence. "If you leave now, you'll only look more guilty."

KT hesitated with her hand on the doorknob. Anything you do will make you look guilty now that they've decided that you are, said the voice in the back of her mind. Setting her jaw and choking on a sob, KT threw open the door and slammed it shut behind her with a resounding bang. And like the shot heard 'round the world, the war had only just begun.