He'd had a breakthrough. He'd actually had a breakthrough. Eddie lied to Fabian he was using the restroom and slipped past Victor on the way up to the girls corridor. KT and Patricia were whispering fervently to each other, and Eddie managed to catch KT's eye without alerting his ex.

"Um, I have a headache," KT lied feebly to the brunette. "I'm gonna, um grab a glass of water." Patricia narrowed her eyes, brushing past her down the hall, while KT scurried over to Eddie. "Do you have any idea what time it is?" she hissed, making sure the coast was clear.

"Look," he said, "there's only four boarding schools on the Isle of Wight!"

KT pursed her lips. "I don't get it."

"Denby said she taught there, remember? Well, I just phoned and emailed every school on the island, and none of them had even heard of Ms. Denby.

"So... if she's not a teacher, who is she?" his fellow American asked once she recovered from the weight of the news.

"That's what I want to find out," replied Eddie gravely.

—

Amber hadn't made it home that night from her 'off-campus party', but Kira hadn't really given that much thought, considering she'd spent most of the night sneaking around the kitchen like a half-rate baking ninja trying to finish an acceptable batch of pastries and decorate them. She'd managed to do it, but she was going to kill Eddie when she got the chance.

Freeloader, she thought bitterly, putting the Saran wrap over her precious baseball cream puffs and hot dog eclairs. "Eddie, I hope you know I'm telling Ms. Denby you didn't do jack-shit," she complained, walking over to the breakfast table once the product was secure and scooping cereal into her breakfast bowl.

"Jack-shit for what?" Eddie asked, clearly beyond distracted. Most of the house wasn't even in the room, quite literally only, Mara, KT, and Eddie were there apart from her. Jerome had gone over to the school early, and Patricia, Joy, Fabian, Alfie, and Amber were nowhere to be found

Kira gaped at him. "Um, hello?" she snapped. "The business project? The business project we're supposed to be partners for? Eddie, what the hell is with you?"

"Shit, that's today, isn't it?" he gasped, and Kira thought she was about to get an apology. Instead, he leapt to his feet. "I have to get my costume ready!"

Before she could say anything, Eddie made a beeline for his room, leaving Kira seething.

"Is he for real?" she ranted, egged on by Mara and KT's poorly stifled laughter. "J'en ai marre! I could kill him! Don't laugh, either of you, especially you, KT, because he's been spending time hanging out with you instead of baking with me!"

The girl in question held her hands up in surrender. "I promise that wasn't my intention," she assured her, but her lips were twitching in amusement even despite the worry lines on her face for some odd reason. Maybe stress? "For what it's worth, Kira, they're really cute. You definitely have a shot in this competition."

Kira deflated. "No, I don't," she sighed, chuckling a bit as her irritation with Eddie subsided for a bit. "As long as I get a good grade, I'll be pleased."

"Same, honestly," KT agreed.

"Well, frankly, I'm in it to beat Jerome," Mara laughed, popping a blueberry into her mouth.

"I don't think you'll have much trouble. I thought Trudy was gonna have to call in a biohazard to the authorities," quipped Kira.

"Was it really that bad?" KT asked, having only heard a snippet of the story.

"Try taking the grossest thing you've ever seen, multiply it by ten, and then imagine it everywhere," Mara explained, eyes twinkling with mirth at her boyfriend's misfortune. It was a competition, after all.

"Ewwww!"

"Exactly. I thought he was trying to create life or something in that pot." Kira finished her cereal, scooping up her bag and hollering down the hall, "Eddie, if you don't get your ass out here in five seconds, I'm actually gonna tell Denby to give you a zero on this project!"

"Jokes on you!" he yelled back from inside his room before opening the door to reveal what was still the stupidest costume she'd ever seen in her life. "She's probably already gonna give me a zero!"

"Why? Because you look like a walking United States Army advertisement? Make sure not to look in any mirrors on the way out, Uncle Sam," his sister snarked, beyond annoyed that his only contribution to the project was an ugly costume. "You'll break them."

"That's the price of freedom," he replied suavely, resolutely ignoring the laughter from Mara and KT. "Let's get this over with okay?"

—

Kira forced Eddie to set up their food stalls on pain of death, which he cited as treason to the United States of America, to which she responded that she'd be more than happy to emigrate. It ended up being quite cute after all the blood, sweat, and tears: a blended French and American flag she'd made and printed out on photoshop— with a bit of help from KT— adorned the top of their booth, and atop a star-spangled table cloth was their (her) baked creations.

Eddie had managed to wrangle Kira into a beret and striped shirt, similar to how one might try to dress up their particularly reluctant cat, with the excuse that brand image was half the battle.

She felt beyond stupid, but since others had dressed up on theme, she figured she should at least try. And that was the only reason she'd allowed him to stick the stupid outfit on her in the first place. It had nothing to do with the fact KT— who was herself dressed up in an outfit vaguely reminiscent of Chinese-inspired fashion— had actually cooed over how cute Kira looked when she walked out of the bathroom. Please, she was above that sort of thing.

Mr. Millington would be there to judge soon, and the room was abuzz with anticipation. The younger years were already flitting around the stalls, gladly indulging in the free samples where they were provided.

Eddie was too busy flirting with a pair of girls in the year below who were dressed up as cheerleaders to man their stall, which once again left Kira to her own devices. In the stall nextdoor, Mara and Willow handed out snacks from their Fregtable Bar while Jerome looked on miserably, and across the way, Joy and Fabian were dishing out sample after sample. Their stall was clearly more popular than they'd anticipated.

Maybe I was too quick to judge their little obsession, Kira mused as she passed a small piece of eclair to a boy two years below her. Clearly it's working out for them.

She scanned the rest of the room, eyes landing on an all-too-familiar sight: Patricia sat off to the side with her hand propping her head up, watching miserably as Eddie schmoozed the girls. Meanwhile, Eddie continued to make sure Patricia was looking at him while he did it. This, of course, left KT to man the booth herself, and she was hard at work, too. Next to Ancient Egyptian snacks, the misfortune cookies were clearly a big hit. The girls locked eyes for a moment, and they both chuckled over the scene. Didn't take a love doctor to notice how still so smitten they were with each other.

"Mademoiselle Kira!"

She was jolted back to business by a trio of her favorite underclassmen, Erin, Cassie, and Dexter, zooming up to her table. "Ah!" she greeted in delight. "Salut, mes petits amis! What can I get for you today?"

Before Cassie or Erin could say anything, Dexter shoved his way to the forefront. "Hi, Kira! Can I have one of each?" chirped the thirteen-year-old eagerly.

He yelped when Cassie flicked him in the ear. "We were supposed to ask her in French, dummy!" she chastised him, barely flinching when Erin squeezed her arm in warning. It had always been obvious that sweet, smart Erin had a bit of a thing for her housemate.

It warmed her heart to see her former students so eager to show off what she'd helped them learn, so she decided to bend the rules a bit. "Well, I'm supposed to only give each person one sample, but if you ask me again in your very best French, I might be willing to be a bit more lenient," she replied, tossing them a wink.

Dexter beamed. "Awesome! Uh, I mean... Mademoiselle, puis-je avoir deux échantillons de vos pâtisseries?" he asked, stuttering through a few of the clearly rehearsed words.

"Oui! Moi aussi s'il vous plaît," added Cassie, preening at how far she'd come with her French. Indeed, she must behave been practicing over the summer if her accent was anything to go by.

"J'en veux juste un, si ça te va?" Erin told her shyly.

"Just one for you, Mademoiselle? I think I can manage that," Kira said warmly, handing off a quarter cut of a cream puff to her.

For Cassie and Dexter, she handed them each a cut of eclair and cream puff. The decorations were hard to make out on the small slices, but the pastries saved for judging were proudly on display.

"I love the baseballs," complimented Cassie.

Erin nodded. "And the hotdog eclairs are so cute! Ugh, I've always wanted to go to America."

"America's huge," Kira laughed. "You mean New York? It's pretty cool— can get gross at times, though."

"Well, we live with Dex," remarked Cassie. "Can't get grosser than that."

"Hey! I resent that," said the tween around a mouthful of pastry. As of to prove her point, a bit of cream sprayed out of his mouth and into the open air. "Oops."

"Dexter!" Cassie squealed in disgust, ducking behind Erin in an exaggerated attempt to avoid the spittle. "Chew with your mouth closed!"

Dexter had already turned his attention elsewhere, though, lighting up at the sight of another girl across the room. "Sophia! Sophia, come over here!"

The girl in question cocked her head in their direction and jogged over to them. She was a pretty young thing, with long strawberry blonde hair and piercing hazel eyes. Dexter was obviously infatuated, much to Erin's equally obvious dismay.

"What's up, Dex?" asked Sophia, turning on a megawatt smile.

Dexter gestured toward Kira. "Sophia, this is Kira! She used to teach us French when Mr. Sweet hadn't hired a teacher last year. Oh, and, Kira, this is Sophia. She's new this year!"

Kira smiled fondly at the smitten young man, and turned the same fond smile onto the new girl. "It's nice to meet you. You're living in Ra House with these troublemakers, I suppose?"

She chuckled and nodded. "Yeah! This place is so nice and friendly!"

Erin actually rolled her eyes while Cassie stifled a snicker; Kira gave them both a warning look.

"That's great to hear," she said, turning her attention back to the new girl and offering her a cut of eclair. "If you ever need anything at all, I'm in Anubis House. Don't let Victor scare you off, okay?"

"You live in Anubis House?" Sophia asked, her interest piqued. She took the eclair and popped it daintily in her mouth. "Good to know. Well, it was nice meeting you! I wanna go take a look at the Ancient Egyptian stall."

"I'll come with you," exclaimed Dexter, already trotting after her.

Once they were well out of earshot, Kira turned to the pair of underclassmen with a knowing look. "Here's a piece of advice, mes petit amis: crushes at your age change on a dime. Don't worry too much about Dexter. Okay, Erin?"

She sighed. "I guess you're right."

Cassie was already on another topic, though. "Hey, Kira? You and Eddie are turning eighteen soon, right?"

"Not exactly soon," she laughed. "November."

"Right, so soon. Can we come to the party?"

Kira snorted, shaking her head. "I wouldn't mind, but I don't think Eddie wants the lot of you running around sipping on illegal substances."

"Oh, come on!" Cassie begged. "Please? We wanna see a real Anubis House party!"

"Mut is the party house," Erin reminded her best friend.

"Yeah, but Anubis is the coolest house."

"I'll tell you what," said Kira. "You guys can all come to the graduation party."

"But that's ages away!"

"It'll be here before you know it," she replied patiently. "Now, you guys go off and enjoy the rest of the business projects. There's more samples to be had."

"But—"

"Shoo! I love you guys, but I've gotta keep working, since Eddie over here is being a lazy bum."

Erin furrowed her brow, glancing in the direction she gestured in. "Um, Kira? Eddie's not over there."

Kira blinked and sure enough Eddie was nowhere to be found. When she looked over at KT next, she was having what looked like a super secret conversation with Patricia, Fabian, Joy, and Alfie. "Ugh, you've gotta be kidding me," she muttered exasperatedly.

—

While his twin sister was preoccupied by her gaggle of thirteen year olds, Eddie slipped away to talk to KT who had been looking anxious for quite some time now. They'd both noticed how Patricia, Fabian, Joy, and Alfie had arrived later than the rest of the class and how they were noticeably Amber-less. She was obviously still in trouble, and it seemed as though Sibuna was stumped. And if the almighty, unbeatable Sibuna club was stumped, then that spelled trouble for the two rogue Americans. Truthfully, Eddie felt a little bit out to sea here, but that didn't seem to stop KT.

"We need to do something about Denby," she said under her breath. "And with Amber missing... Eddie, the more I find out about this place, the more I feel like we can't do this on our own."

"I hear you, alright?" he whispered back, biting his lip thoughtfully. Sibuna seemed reluctant to cut any sort of deal with the two of them, most likely cautiously dubious of KT's involvement in everything; he could understand their hesitance, but did they really think Eddie was so stupid as to ally himself with someone evil? He knew his sister would help them, but the thought of Kira snooping around the Gatehouse with him and KT made his stomach turn over. As much as he hated her getting any sort of spotlight, the thought of her getting caught up in what KT's grandfather had described as a Great Evil was even worse. His dad could be an option, though if he could just get proof he was in the dark about the worst of whatever was going on. "If I can prove my dad's innocent we'll tell him, okay? He can help us."

KT didn't look comforted by the assurance. "What are you gonna do? Search his office?"

He offered her a weak half-smile. "You got it," he replied, dashing across the room and out the door before she could get a word in edgewise, narrowly avoiding crashing into Eric himself as he came in with Mr. Millington. He didn't stick around to see what bullshit excuse Sibuna would come up with to explain away Amber's disappearance, instead making his way down the hall and into his father's thankfully unlocked office.

He sat down in his father's chair and rummaged around for about two minutes, finding nothing of substance that could point him in either direction on the Is-My-Dad-Unspeakably-Guilty-or-Just-Mildly-Problematic? scale. Giving up on the desk, he scuttled over to the filing cabinets, attempting to open the top drawer; it didn't budge. He tried the next one down; it was locked, too. "Shit," he muttered, leaning over the top of the cabinets in the hopes of finding a spare key or something else relevant to his search.

Instead, he accidentally knocked the photo of him and Eric's fishing trip onto the floor, and the back of the frame popped off, sending the contents across the floor. He swore again and dropped to his hands and knees, ready to fit the pieces back together. Leaving a trail of destruction wasn't exactly a good cover. When he lifted the back, however, a flash of silver caught his eye, and he lifted a small key from the back of the picture frame. Without hesitation, he stuck it in the lock on the bottom drawer and turned it with a satisfying click. He was in.

Eddie pulled it open similar to how one might yank off a bandaid, and his heart plummeted at the sight. Inside the drawer, laid out on a piece of burgundy satin, was a jackal mask covered in a fine layer of dust.

—

When he walked back into the lounge, Denby and most of the students, including Sibuna, had cleared out for lunch. KT was putting some of her extra misfortune cookies into a plastic Tupperware container when Eddie approached her. "Where's Denby?" he asked.

KT shrugged, troubled by the dull, hurt expression that must have been painted on his face. "Um, gone to lunch? Canteen, I guess. I think the others went out to search for Amber again."

"Okay then, come with me," Eddie jerked his head for her to follow, and he started off without waiting to see if she would.

"Eddie? Eddie, what's wrong? You look awful..." she said as they ground to a halt by a row of lockers. When he didn't answer right away, her eyes softened into something painfully sympathetic. "You found something, didn't you?"

He scoffed bitterly. "All this time," he rasped. "All this stuff about him wanting to be a proper dad was just lies."

"Oh, Eddie..." KT whispered. "I'm so sorry."

He punched the wall, startling both of them. "It's Denby!" he insisted, clinging to the fact that that horrible mask was covered in dust. Clinging to a scapegoat; it was easier than confronting a very plausible answer to his questions. "It's her. She's using him."

"Eddie, Fabian and Patricia told you that the Society had been going on way before Denby came along," she pointed out.

"Yes, but what's going on in the Gatehouse right now— that's Denby. Okay? She's the key to everything."

"Okay..." Once again, KT didn't look convinced. "But what about your dad? Should we warn the others?"

"No! Not before we know everything about her." If they said anything about Eric's involvement, Sibuna would assume the worst. Patricia was the only potential ally Eddie could think of considering her sympathetic defense of his dad, but he knew her well enough to know that if she caught wind of his recent shady activity, that that reassurance would go up in smoke. He wasn't quite ready to let go of her comforting words. "We can't tell anyone."

"Not even Kira?" KT asked, continuing before Eddie could shut her down. "Eddie, he's her dad too. She deserves to know."

"Do you really want to be the one to tell her that our dad is potentially an unforgivable person?" he retorted; KT withered. "I once broke something he gave us, and the look on her face is something I'll never forget. Ignorance is bliss, KT. We aren't going down that road."

She didn't say anything more about it, merely nodded.

Satisfied she wasn't going to push the subject, he sighed. "Let's go check Denby's classroom. Maybe we'll find something there."