House of Anubis: House of Mistakes

Part XXVI

Just as Robert made to rush his great-granddaughter and the menace who'd stolen the Osirian's powers, another one joined them— the whiny girl. With a hiss of frustration, he drew back into the shadows. He might be able to take on the two of them, especially with the failsafe Osirian already weakened by the displaced power, but he would have trouble with three.

"Thank you again," the whiny girl said as they made their way up the stairs. "I know there've been some problems between you and Eddie, but I'm glad you're giving this another go."

"Yeah," came his great-granddaughter's voice, now further away up the stairs. "I mean, a grade's a grade, right?"

Robert rolled his eyes at such an asinine statement and only just refrained from bashing his skull open in irritation. He was about to regroup and make a new plan, when a startled gasp drew his attention back to the stairs where a middle-aged woman stood, clothes heaped in her arms.

"Who are you?" she exclaimed, wide eyes darting around nervously.

Immediately, Robert forced his body language to relax, painting a charming smile onto his face. "Madam—" he started, but the woman cut him off again.

"How did you get in here?"

"I do apologize," he placated, "Victor said I could have a look around."

"At this time?" she asked dubiously.

The story unfolded quickly and neatly before him, the lies oozing off his tongue like honey. "I went to school here, you see," he said. "As a boy."

"Oh." She didn't look any less uneasy, so Robert continued to add to his fabrication.

"I have fond memories of the place," he explained, finding the closer he kept things to the truth, the better. "I've been traveling for many years. I got a fever and nearly died..." The memory washed over him, lying sick beside his wife with only her death rattle to keep him company. Once, that thought would have shattered his heart, but now the memory of that sound was like a lullaby. "In my fitful slumbers, I dreamed of these walls, my happiest days. Here."

—

After Mara grabbed a notebook and some pens, breezing out of the room with a "See you two at curfew!" KT practically launched herself on Patricia's bed, making grabby hands at her computer.

Patricia rolled her eyes and lumbered over to turn it on. She was suddenly exhausted, and the painful pushing against her insides was back. It had been coming and going in waves, but this was particularly uncomfortable, and it wasn't clearing up nearly as quickly as the other pains had. She felt uneasy, as though there was something wrong in the house; Patricia shrugged it off— it was probably Eddie— and shook her head to clear it, settling down next to KT on the bed.

"Piper had better pick up," she muttered as she clicked on the video-chat icon. The little green dot next to her sister's name signaled that she was online, and Patricia took a deep breath before hitting the call button.

It rang twice before Piper's face popped up on the screen, expression mildly surprised. "Trix!" she said. "You don't usually call me for no reason, what do you want?"

Patricia tried to smirk, but it ended up looking weak and lopsided. "Do I always have to want something?"

Piper gave her a deadpan look, but her attention soon shifted to KT. "Oh, hey! Don't think we've met," she said. "I'm Piper, Patricia's sister."

KT smiled. "Really? I can't see the resemblance," she joked, and Piper laughed out loud.

"Ooo, Trixie, I like her," she cooed, and KT felt herself halfway to a blush under Piper's approval.