"Remember, I don't want anyone to know who our dad is," Eddie was saying for what felt like the millionth time since they'd been informed their mother was shipping them off to boarding school. It was one thing to connect with an estranged father over a state line, but entirely another thing to fly over an entire ocean to reconcile with a man who left them before they'd even gone to pre-school.

"I already agreed to that," Kira replied, her patience wearing thin. The jet lag was absolutely killing her and judging by the look in her brother's dull, exhausted eyes, he was on his last legs too. "The more you bring it up, the more I want to just bust in there and give a presentation on our family tree."

"Please," Eddie snorted, calling her bluff, "you'd just stand there like a dead fish."

"Shut up, dick," Kira mumbled, ignoring the way the cab driver chuckled. "Maybe we'd ought to pretend to not be related too while we're at it."

He perked up and nudged his twin excitedly. "That's not a bad idea!" he exclaimed, and Kira fixed him with a disbelieving stare.

"Are you stupid or something? I was joking. You're literally the boy version of me and we have the same last name."

Eddie had the audacity to look offended. "Um, actually you're the girl version of me," he said. "Get it right."

"While I'm older, so technically that means I was here first. Get it right."

"Well, kids, right or wrong, we're here," the cab driver informed them, and the twins abandoned their semantics in favor of gawking out the window at the impressive towers of Amun Academy.

"It looks like Hogwarts," Eddie said flatly, and Kira rolled her eyes.

"Not even close," she said. "Eddie, I'm begging you not to make a bunch of Harry Potter references; I'm willing to bet they don't think that shit is amusing, and you're going to look like a total loser which will make me look like a total loser."

"You don't need my help making you look like a loser. The fact that you're double-fisting two German novels is enough to do that."

"They're not German," she informed him sharply, getting out of the cab and passing the driver his fare. "They're Russian. You literally read them for school last year in Mrs. McCarthy's class."

Eddie opened the trunk of the cab and lifted out both his and Kira's luggage. "Hilarious that you think I read."

She took her suitcase from him and started up the steps toward the school. "Oh, that's right, I forgot you didn't know how," she called over her shoulder sweetly.

—

After a brief and undeniably tense meeting with their father and headmaster, the twins made their way to what the little sign outside called the student lounge. It seemed as comfortable a place as any to rest while their rooms got prepared at Anubis House. The jet lag really was brutal—Kira had been up far longer than her brother had, but they'd both been up for nearly a day in total, including the twelve hours of travel.

She was just drifting off when Eddie jolted awake, startling Kira in the process.

Some people were having an argument, and it took her a groggy minute to realize one of the people in question was Eddie.

Kira wondered if she should just pretend to be asleep and maybe avoid this humiliation, but the girl Eddie found himself in a verbal spar with had decided to pounce on her next.

"You and your little girlfriend can go sleep somewhere else. A lounge is for lounging, not sleeping."

Kira shot up so fast, her head spun. "Ew! Oh my god, he's not my boyfriend he's my brother!" she exclaimed before her brain caught up to her.

Now that she was up, she could properly take in the scene. Two girls were standing over them, one with dyed hair and sharp light eyes, and the other shorter with a dark complexion who looked like she couldn't decide if she was amused or embarrassed.

The shorter girl caught her eye and winced apologetically; Kira caught her breath— that girl was, like, really pretty.

Eddie, having clearly decided to hurtle past the disgusting insinuation, snorted. "Look, we were on a plane for eight hours, and then in a train for four more. Now, we're in Borseville, UK, and we don't need a lecture, 'kay Hermione?"

The two girls gasped, and Kira wanted to strangle him. Instead, she buried her face in her hands as the angry girl started in on him.

"Great, that's all we need another patronizing American whose only reference to the UK is Harry Potter." Kira was grateful to have been left out of that distinction. "Who are you anyway?"

"Who're you?" Eddie fired back, and judging by the tone in his voice, Kira could tell he was having fun riling this girl up which only meant trouble.

"I asked first," the angry girl retorted.

Eddie scoffed. "Really?"

The shorter girl and Kira locked eyes again and there was a sparkle of amusement reflected there. She was struck once again by how pretty this chick was.

"Next time you trip someone up, remember it's considered polite to apologize in this country." Jesus, were they still not done?

"Do you ever stop talking?" Eddie asked, and if Kira wasn't so exhausted, she'd be mortified by how rude her brother was being. "I should call you Blabs. Or Yacker." Kira saw the exact moment Yacker's fate was sealed as she wrinkled her nose in obvious disgust that Eddie immediately picked up on. That was how Kira had been labeled "Chicken Nugget" for about seven years. "Ah, Yacker."

"And maybe I should call you a cab back to the airport."

Ooo that was a good comeback. Kira and Yacker's cute friend shared a small nod of appreciation as though they were some sort of critics.

Eddie laughed in what Kira knew was his 'I'm being purposefully obnoxious because I've run out of things to say' laugh and clapped his hands slowly. "Ooo," he cooed. "Devastating."

"Well, as much as I'd love to stand here trading stereotypes, I think I'm gonna go hang somewhere else," said Yacker and she jerked her head to the other girl. "Come on, Joy."

So Joy, that was her name... Kira watched them go with interest, even managing to catch Joy saying "They're kind of cute, aren't they?"

"Psh, he likes to think he is."

Eddie just grumbled and settled back down, but Kira didn't miss how his eyes followed Yacker as she left the room.

"Way to go, Romeo," Kira quipped, shutting her eyes and using her twin's indignant spluttering as a lullaby that sent her down into a jet-lagged slumber.