Anything For You

19: Shock and Snake Demons

-Natalie's POV-

He gazed at me, his emerald eyes filled with electric fear. He took a step forward, as if to reassure me. "That's my brother."

I studied the picture. Castor looked nothing like Ahk, nothing at all. He had a pale, pinched face, a slight accent, and blue eyes.

The only similar feature they shared was the same black hair.

I glanced up, and found Ahk staring at me.

"I'm sorry, Natalie. I thought you would never have to worry about him. I thought you were safe," he said. "But it's unmistakable. That boy in the picture is my brother. The one who killed me." He looked as if he had just been struck with something very heavy.

"It can't be," I retorted. "Castor's just a friend. Besides, I though you said Kahmunrah was taken care of!" I said, panic beginning to lace my voice. "Castor would never hurt me. He wouldn't." I shoved my phone into my backpack, and stormed angrily away from Ahk. He was wrong. He was. He was just mistaking Castor for someone else.

I stepped over to Cara. I still hadn't told her what was going on, and she looked terribly confused. She was staring over at Aengos with a look of regret. And longing. I had seen that expression once before, and it mirrored the look on Aengos' face a few days ago.

A few days. It felt like my whole life has been on the streets and the museum. Just a few days had given me a full experience of what I had never had. I had spent countless times more memorable than a few days, but this would stick with me forever, how I looked at the people around me and marveled about the passing of time. How silly, how futile. How important.

It was strange, how easily I fit in. It was like I'd never been anywhere else.

"What's going on?" Cara asked. "Why is he so affected by anything I do? And why did he save me like that?" She turned to me. "Do you know?" I nodded. "Tell me!" She was eager and anxious, a bit afraid.

"Okay. Cara. I'm going to explain what's going on. This explanation will probably suck. But I'll try my best." Cara nodded.

"Somewhere, somehow, sometime in the beginning of the world, something or someone did something to certain people and roles. They made sure that the faces of people who played a certain role would be passed down to others. That person would have to play the part of the person who originally owned their face. So faces and roles are passed down to certain people. Let me explain better.

"It's like being cast for a play. Certain people get saddled with roles, and the faces of their character in Fate's bloody play. They will unknowingly do things the original person did. They will save the same lives that their character did, and kill the same people. So it sucks, and if you try to rebel you end up doing your role. And if you don't, you still do. There isn't a way to escape it, as far as I know.

"My character is Raaya. She's a girl from ancient Egypt. She was murdered by Ahk's older brother Kahmunrah, which, according to Ahk, is Castor. Ahkmenrah is Ahkmenrah, obviously, and Castor is Kahmunrah. Aengos is Aengos, and his family all are copies of themselves. Apparently my dad is a jester named Eric who wore a foolish hat in the court of King Arthur. And you are Ryanne, the person who killed Ciara." I saw the shocked look on Cara's face. "I know. It surprised me too."

"What else did I do? Who else did I hurt?" Cara whispered. I winced.

"Sooooo....Ryanne was-wait for it-Aengos' girlfriend. She looked exactly like you, minus the glasses. She never showed any hatred towards the royal family, until the day-night, actually-she murdered Ciara the day before her seventeenth birthday. She even said she never meant to, even when she was executed."