Two is Company (House of Anubis)

Chapter 49: Follow the Leader

The newly reformed Sibuna walked back to the house in silence, barring Fabian nattering away as he gave Eddie the rundown. Patricia and Joy had their arms wrapped comfortingly around Alfie, while KT hovered just behind Fabian, listening to what he had to say. She probably should be up there too since she was involved in this now, but Kira hung back several paces and watched the back of her brother's head through narrowed eyes, hugging her elbows as she trudged along behind them. Her brother kept looking back at her before quickly turning around to Fabian, and every time she could see the nervousness in his eyes.

Good, she thought bitterly, kicking a rock off to the side of the path, he should be nervous.

She was overwhelmed by it all. When she'd made the flash decision to follow KT and Eddie, at most she'd thought they were going to cause trouble, or be vandals, or something. Sure, she'd had plenty of mounting suspicions up to that point, but really why would the actual answer to what was going on ever actually be "your housemates are in a secret kinda-cult, fighting another secret kinda-cult that your dad happens to be a part of that's potentially going to end the world, and— oh, yeah!— your twin brother has powers bestowed upon him by an Ancient Egyptian god (because apparently that's the true religion) that he never bothered to tell you, his twin sister, about, and now you're also in the secret kinda-cult your housemates have been apart of for apparently a very long time." Why would that ever have crossed her mind? Kira had been under the impression there was something going on, but it had had very little to do with myths and legends and far more to do with, like, extortion or other typical illegal activities.

And the fact that the only reason she knew about any of it was because she decided to stalk Eddie and KT... it made her feel nauseous. No one would have ever told her a thing— not her friends, not her brother, not her father. They'd just left her to wonder why things continued to change for the worst, why everybody continued to lie, why—

"Hey," said KT in that gentle tone of hers, startling Kira out of her thoughts. She must have doubled back to walk with her. "It's a lot, huh?"

She raised her eyebrows. "Yep," she scoffed curtly. "Finding out my dad has a hand in trying to end the world and Eddie's got superpowers is kind of a big deal, thanks for noticing."

KT winced a bit at her tone, but it didn't otherwise deter her. "He was trying to protect you," she offered softly as an explanation, and Kira scoffed again.

"Really? Is that it?" She shook her head. "That just proves you don't know him. He wasn't protecting me, that's not his prerogative. He's never protected me. No, this— this not telling me anything about my own family— this is him protecting himself."

"Oh, Kira, I don't think that's—"

"Well, I'm gonna do a damn good job of being a... a... Sibuna or whatever it's called," she barreled on, cutting her newest housemate off. "Prove he was right to be insecure."

KT's brow furrowed nervously, eyes darting up to the front of the pack where Fabian was still lecturing. "Look, maybe it's not my place, but I don't think Eddie's afraid you're going to... outdo him or something." She hesitated before reaching down and gently taking Kira's hand as they walked, the two Sisterhood symbols pressed together in a sort of solidarity. She kept her voice low as she continued, "From what he said to me, it sounded like he just, I dunno, didn't want to worry you. He knows how much you love your dad; I don't think he wanted to rob you of that."

Kira looked down at their joined hands in silence, then back up into KT's kind face. "You're right," she said, working around the lump in her throat. "It's not your place." She shook her off, retuning her hands to her elbows and ignoring the way KT's face fell. After a moment, though, she sighed again. "I'm gonna help you solve this, you know," she said; KT blinked at her in confusion. "You were freaking out about a key right? I'm guessing you've got skin in the game beyond being Eddie's friend?"