Kira's jaw dropped, for there, standing in the foyer with the wildest smiles on their faces, were none other than Liz and Beth, along with one of Eddie's friends, Matt. "Holy shit!" she exclaimed, worries immediately pushed to the back of her mind as she raced inside and threw her arms around her friends. "What the hell are you guys doing here?!"

"Um, hello? We've only been saying we were coming for, like, a year!" Liz laughed. "Did you think we were kidding?"

"Yes, actually!" Kira laughed.

"We all decided to take the whole of next week off since it's Thanksgiving break anyway, and come celebrate with you and Miller," Matt explained, giving her a side hug. "Where is that dick, anyway?"

"He's working on a project at school," Patricia chimed in. "He'll be back eventually."

The three newly arrived American's looked over Kira's shoulder at the quartet of British girls hovering by the doorway, and almost immediately, Patricia was being tackled into a hug by Beth. "Oh my god, I thought we'd never see you again after you shattered Eddie's heart and fled the country!" she laughed.

"Oh my god, Beth," Liz groaned.

"What? I'm joking! Kind of." Beth released the very stiff Patricia and fixed her with a radiant smile. "But seriously, it's great to see you again. And so nice to meet the rest of you in person!"

"We've heard so much about you," gushed Liz, zeroing in on Joy with a devious smile. "Especially you. Joy, is it?"

"Liz," Kira hissed warningly, embarrassment coloring her cheeks.

"That's me," giggled Joy. "All good things, I hope."

"The best things," Beth promised, and Matt rolled his eyes.

"Right. Let me guess based on who we were messaging... Joy, Mara, and... Willow?" he guessed, pointing between each of the girls. "Obviously, we all know Patricia."

She shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah, hello again," Patricia muttered.

"Wait, wait," Kira said, waving her hands as she tried to take it all in. "You guys brought them all here?"

Mara nodded proudly. "I know how much you and Eddie missed your friends back home, and from Skype calls I know how much these two"— she pointed between the Elisabeths fondly— "were desperate to see England, so I figured if I found them an Airbnb..."

"Because there was no way in hell Victor was going to let guests stay," Joy chuckled.

"Least of all any of our guests," Patricia added.

"And here we are!" cheered Liz. "All thanks to Mara... and Airbnb."

Kira teared up a little. "You guys!" she cried, opening her arms for a group hug. "Best birthday surprise ever!" With a few good natured eye-rolls they all hugged her back. "Sorry you probably flew out here for nothing, though. Our caretaker really hates our guts right now; doubt we'll be able to have any sort of party."

Mara and Joy exchanged subtly sly looks. "Don't worry about that," said Joy with a wink. "For now, why don't you lot head into town before Victor notices us loitering?"

"Yeah, you can show us around!" Beth exclaimed, smacking Kira lightly on the arm. "I saw some shops when we were dropping our stuff off that I gotta stick my nose into."

"Youse guys aren't gonna make me sit around while you try on shoes, are you?" Matt groaned.

"Boo!" crowed Beth. "You're no fun."

"I'll stay here, just the same. Maybe I can help with the... you know?" he trailed off, casting a questioning look at the other girls.

Mara's face, which had been shrouded all day since she'd learned of Jerome's deception, lit up, and she nodded. "Affirmative," she answered him, clapping her hands together. "Kira, you should definitely start showing your friends around town."

"But what about..." Kira trailed off and pointed to her palm where the Sisterhood symbol still stood out against her pale skin, albeit a bit smudged. "The operation?"

Willow shook her head so quickly, it almost looked like she was vibrating. "No worries about that! We've got everything covered!"

"Go have fun," Patricia ordered, grabbing Kira by the wrist and tugging her toward the door. "If Victor asks where you are, I'll just say that you and the others are in the library."

Kira assumed "the others" meant KT, Fabian, Eddie, and Alfie, so she nodded. "Yeah, I think he'd flip if he knew there were more Americans here," she chuckled. "Alright, fine. Thank you, guys. Really. Best birthday surprise ever."

"Don't speak too soon," Joy giggle secretively, ushering them out the door. "Bye, ladies! Have fun!"

Once they were outside again, Beth grinned. "So," she said, clapping her hands together, "show me all the hot British men!"

Liz and Kira rolled their eyes.

—

Once Alfie had proven his spy cameras were up to snuff, all that was left to do was plant them. Fabian was insistent that they make it the quickest mission they'd ever undertaken. "In and out," he'd stressed to them as Eddie had punched in the code. "Don't waste time with nonsense. Plant your bug quickly and quietly. Got it?"

"Yeah, dude," Eddie whispered, the door unlocking with a subtle buzz. "Obviously."

"Who's ready for Operation Fly-On-The-Wall?" Alfie whispered excitedly as they snuck into the entrance hall of the Gatehouse. Despite his obvious unease, even he couldn't resist a good spy story.

It was eerily quiet in the building, and besides their own footfalls and whispering, there was hardly a draft. Eddie couldn't help but dwell on all the possibilities of what could be lurking in the uncertain maw of the all-encompassing silence.

Fabian wasn't amused. "Alfie, will you please be quiet," he hissed anxiously, eyes darting around the bottom floor.

"Okay, Denby's out now, but she could be back any minute," KT reminded them in a hush, "so enough talking and more doing!"

Eddie nodded sharply, happy for once to stay focused on a task. After all, Denby might be out, but who knew if they were actually alone. "Fabian, you and Alfie take the Great Hall, and I'll plant a camera on the stairwell, and, KT, keep watch."

"Roger that," Alfie said with a little salute, scuttling up the steps to the drawing room with an exasperated Fabian right behind him.

Eddie wasted no time in setting up the tiny camera on one of the picture frames along the staircase His had a microphone built into it, but the one Fabian and Alfie took was a bit more complicated, hence why the two of them went up together. Once his camera was set in place, he offered KT a victorious smile, which she returned nervously.

"They're taking their time," she whispered after a minute went by.

"The mic isn't included on the second camera," Eddie explained, trying to quell his own unease. "They're probably tinkering with it as we speak."

As soon as the words were out his mouth, Fabian and Alfie came barreling onto the stairs. "Let's move," Fabian ordered. "I don't like this place a bit."

"And here I thought you loved it," KT retorted as they zoomed back out into the night air.

"I swore I thought I heard something," Alfie exclaimed once they were a safe distance away. "Like a thump or something."

"Or footsteps," Fabian added grimly.

"Okay, well, soon enough we'll be able to see exactly what's going bump in the night," Eddie replied, casting one last dark look over his shoulder at the Gatehouse tower that stretched above the tree-line.

"What if..." Alfie trailed off, wetting his lips. "What if it is Frobisher?"

He pursed his lips and tugged his jacket tighter around his shoulders. "I'm not sure," he admitted.

—

Patricia was waiting in the living room when they got back to the house, and she leaned over the back of the armchair to greet them. "How'd it go?" she asked.

Eddie smiled tiredly at her. "In and out," he replied. "No one knew we were there."

"Like ghosts!" Alfie said, in better spirits now that he was safe at the house. "Or ninjas!"

"Right," said Patricia bemusedly, joining them in the foyer. "So are we going to turn these bad boys on or what?"

"That's what she said," he yelped at the same time as Eddie, which earned them both withering looks from the others. "What? Come on, Trixie, you walked into that one."

"Hey, it's quiet here tonight," KT remarked while they trudged down the hall toward Eddie and fabian's room. "Where is everyone?"

Patricia checked her watch. "Well, it's almost seven, so the girls are still... you know, working on that thing at the place," she said, and Eddie didn't miss the pointed glance she sent his way, "but they'll be back soon. And Kira's out with... some friends."

KT's eyes lit up in understanding. "Ooooh," she said. "Right. Never mind."

"You're still not good at talking in code, Yacker," he whispered to her once they'd settled down in front of Fabian's computer monitor.

She sniffed indignantly. "I don't know what you're talking about," she dismissed with a wave of her hand. "So shut up, Weaselface."

He grinned and was about to press her for the details she was clearly hiding from him, when Fabian cleared his throat, jerking his head at the screen which was now live with the footage from the cameras. It was admittedly grainy and choppy, but they would do the trick.

"Amazeballs!" cheered Alfie, and KT chuckled at his excitement. "Uh, I mean, it's cool-ish; I totally knew they'd work."

"It doesn't look like anyone's home," Patricia said.

She was right. There was no movement on the screen, the staircase and Great Hall completely devoid of life. And yet...

"Well, someone is," said Fabian. "We heard footsteps, and they weren't Denby's because there's a staff meeting tonight."

"It's Frobisher!" Eddie exclaimed. "It has to be!"

"I don't want to think about this right now," Alfie announced, hopping to his feet. "Plus, I've got to take out my laundry. Let me know if anything crazy happens."

Fabian rolled his eyes. "Sure thing," he called back.

Suddenly, KT froze. "Turn it up," she demanded, smacking Fabian aggressively on the arm.

He swatted her away, but did as she asked. "I don't hear anything," he said, clicking the volume button up a few notches, but he ate those words almost immediately.

A distinct and desperate wailing ripped through the speakers, chilling Eddie's blood immediately. It was such a pitiful sound, he had the urge to clap his hands over his ears to keep from hearing it ever again.

"Are you sure the camera's not faulty?" Patricia reasoned, but there was a note of anxiety in her voice.

"Y-Yeah, maybe it's just feedback," agreed Eddie, resisting the urge to take her hand.

Fabian looked at them like they were crazy, tilting his head toward the speakers where a clearly human voice was caterwauling miserably. "No, I'm pretty sure it just said 'Help me, please let me out'," he deadpanned.

"Guys, look!" KT exclaimed, pointing at the drawing room camera. Sure enough, there was Denby, home from her meeting. She walked deeper into the room and disappeared down one of the side hallways.

"She's going into the hall with all the guest rooms," Patricia noted. She sat silently for a moment, listening to the crying until she suddenly exploded, "Okay, who the fuck is that?!"

"Shh, I can't hear!" Fabian snapped.

"Be quiet!" Denby shouted. "Stop your sniveling, or I'll put you back on rations!"

"That was definitely Denby," Eddie said uneasily. "And she's starving them..."

"My great-grandfather," KT breathed in horror. "What if we have it all wrong, and he's the one Denby's got locked up?"

"KT," Eddie attempted gently, "if he's awake, he's gonna be evil." He wished Kira was here, because she would have way better luck than him talking her down. "Remember what your grandpa's book said? 'Woken into servitude to the underworld.'"

"He could have been wrong!" KT protested hesitantly. "I failed my family once, you guys, I can't do it again."

"Either way, whoever's locked in there is in trouble," Fabian interrupted. "They need our help."

"Let's check it out, then," Patricia said, jumping to her feet. "I spent the night in one of those guest rooms, and they might as well be coffins. If she's got someone trapped in there on rations, they need more than our help."

"We'll go after lights out," Eddie decided with a sharp nod.

"I'll text to see when Kira's getting home. Shouldn't be long now," KT said, gnawing on her bottom lip while she typed out a message. "We might need all hands on deck."

"Let's hope not," he murmured. Then, he covered his eye. "Sibuna?"

His friends smiled weakly, retuning the gesture. "Sibuna."

—

"And then Mrs. McCarthy actually told him to his face that he was a complete and total douchebag!" Beth crowed in delight over her pumpkin muffin. They'd walked around town for an hour, making a special stop at Fabian's uncle's antique shop, before settling down at a student-frequented coffee shop by the strip mall.

"I think her exact words were, 'Benjamin, if you don't fix your attitude, someone will fix it for you,'" Liz said with a smug smile on her face.

Kira clapped her hands, laughing hard enough that her sides ached. "She really said that?!"

"Of course she did! She hates him, not to mention loves you," laughed Beth. "You know, she asks about you, like, all the time. You need to write her a letter or something."

"'Dear Mrs. McCarthy,'" Liz said in a posh British accent, "'my time here in England has been positively smashing. I drink tea and eat crumpets, and I love beans on toast and drive on the wrong side of the road now. Cheers, Kira.'"

"I don't even talk like that!" Kira protested, smacking her friend playfully. "And I don't do any of those things! I'm not even allowed to drive here yet!"

"But you will be," she pointed out. "In a matter of days!"

"And drink too," Beth added. "I'm so jealous! Ugh, I want to steal your life."

"I think you'd hate it, to be honest," Kira replied, thinking about all that had happened recently. "Not the drinking part, though."

"I'd take on anything to be legal," she said seriously. "An-y-thing."

"My god, you're an alcoholic," Liz tutted, but she was grinning ear to ear.

"I'd like to be! That's the problem," Beth exclaimed, taking a large bite of her muffin. "Yo, Kir, so you're telling me you've got a girlfriend, and she's not even the one you've been crushing on for a year?"

"Yep," she said, popping the 'p'. "Her name's Kara Tatiana, but we all call her KT."

"Kira, only you would move to England, be surrounded by hot British people, and somehow score an American beau," teased Liz.

"An American beau with practically the same name as her!" Beth said around her mouthful. "I need to meet this girl, because if you gave up on Joy, she'd better be amazing."

"She is!" Kira defended, nursing her hot chocolate. "I really like KT, like a lot, and besides, the Joy ship sailed long ago... It was time to move on."

Beth swallowed and smiled genuinely at her friend. "Hey, as long as you're happy and secure, I'm happy and secure."

Kira's phone dinged again. She'd gotten a text a few minutes ago in the Operation Vengeance group chat announcing that the plan was underway, and another text from Matt telling her that he was going back to the Airbnb and not to tell Eddie that he was in town until he managed to surprise him the following day. Now, though, it was a text from KT. "Speaking of..." Kira chuckled fondly, clicking open the message. Her smiled faded as she read the contents, however:

KT ☀️💕 : Hey sorry to interrupt your evening with you home friend, babe, but do you know when you're going to be home? We picked up some really concerning audio on the spy cameras and we're gonna check it out after lights out. Might be Frobisher? Idk... if you can't come that's fine, just let us know! ♥️

"Ooooooo, is that your bae?" Liz crooned, craning her neck to see the screen.

She put it away quickly. "Um, yeah, she just wanted to know when I'll be back," she said as casually as possible.

"Oh, does she?" asked Beth, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. "Well, we don't want to keep you from a little pre-birthday romp!"

"Oh my god, Beth," Kira groaned, covering her suddenly burning face with her hands. "You're simultaneously the biggest menace and the—"

"Smartest, bestest person to ever grace England with her presence? I know," she interjected, fluffing her hair primly.

"Yeah, that's it exactly," she deadpanned while Liz snorted. "But, uh, I should be getting back before curfew. Like I was saying earlier, Victor kind of hates my guts right now."

"I still don't believe you could ever piss off authority enough to receive the shade you say you're getting," Liz remarked. "You cried in my arms for, like, five minutes when you accidentally stole Mr. Horowitz's pencil after the PPSATs."

"It was his favorite!" Kira cried.

"It was a No. 2 pencil, Kir," Beth retorted with a fond eye-roll. "But seriously, you guys should, like, press charges."

"For what? Getting detention?" she parried. Granted, if there hadn't been ancient magic involved, she probably could have. Not that they knew that.

"Well, you did break your thumb doing detention," Liz pointed out.

"Not broken, just sprained," she corrected, draining the last of her hot chocolate and standing up. "I do have to get home, though. I'll see you guys tomorrow, right?"

"Definitely," promised Liz. "We're gonna stay out a bit longer, I think, but don't let us keep you from your 'pre-birthday romp!'"

"Oh, shut up," she spat good-naturedly over their raucous laughter and exited the shop into the chilled night air.

Kira managed to catch the last Amun Academy shuttle back to campus by 8:30, and rushed up the stairs two at a time. She only slowed down when Victor yelled at her, and that was only because she did not want to spend another detention shredding papers.

She poked her head into the room she shared with Mara and Patricia, pleased to find her roommate there, along with Willow and Joy. Patricia must have been either upstairs with KT or downstairs with the boys. "How did the plan go?" she asked, dropping her belongings off. "I wish I could have seen it."

"These two were amazing," Joy gushed, gesturing with a flat palm to Mara and Willow. "I've never seen Jerome look like such a fool in my life!"

"Only problem is, Alfie knows what we've been planning now," Mara sighed, rubbing a hand across her face.

"Oh, Alfie won't tell!" Willow cooed, giving Mara a comforting side-hug. "He promised he wouldn't."

"He won't if he knows what's good for him," Kira said darkly.

Joy eyed her up and down with a smirk. "After he watched you beat the snot out of Jerome? I think we're good."

"Wait, you fought Jerome?" Mara asked, eyes wide as she looked at her best friend. "For me?"

"Denby had to pull her off," Joy explained proudly.

"It wasn't much of a fight," she admitted shyly under Joy's praise. "And of course! That asshole deserves more than what I gave him for hurting you."

"Well, normally I'm all for peaceful confrontation," Willow said, "but I'm grateful in this one particular instance."

Mara gathered Kira into a tight hug, followed swiftly by Willow and Joy, and soon the Sisterhood was embracing in the center of the room. "Thank you," she sniffled. "I know you can't fight to save your life, so this means a lot."

"Come on, I'd fight the world for you, Mara," Kira mumbled into her best friend's shoulder, earning an 'Awww' from Willow. "Are you guys going to be okay? I'm, uh staying in KT's room tonight."

Mara pulled away and wiped her eyes. "Mhm," she mumbled. "Yes. This weekend, I'm putting this aside and just plan on having some fun. And relaxing."

"You guys deserve it," Joy said, rubbing Willow's shoulder. "And you, almost-birthday girl, go have fun with your girlfriend."

I wouldn't call investigating scary noises fun, Kira thought, but didn't voice her worries. Instead, she smiled, bid them goodnight, and hustled up to the attic.

Patricia and KT were both there, playing cards on her bed. KT was winning.

"You have a bad poker face," KT was saying around a smug smile as she took the sticks of gum she'd won.

Patricia threw her hands up in exasperation. "I do not!" she protested loudly.

"Well, the winnings seem to say otherwise," Kira chuckled, alerting them to her presence when she sat down at KT's vanity.

Patricia crossed her arms in irritation. "I have won plenty of poker games, thank you very much."

"Then everyone in this house is bad at poker," her opponent replied with a snort. "You go all in, like, every time."

"So does Eddie," Kira chimed in with a shit-eating grin. "And he's always wrong."

"Aww, look at that! Yet another thing you guys have in common," KT teased, barely dodging the hand of cards thrown in her face.

"I refuse to take shit from you two and from Matt," she said, flusteredly. "Leave me and Eddie alone, for the love of god!"

"Why are we being left alone?" Eddie asked bemusedly, entering the room with Fabian in-tow. Alfie hadn't joined them.

Kira couldn't help but laugh at Patricia's flushed expression, which started KT laughing. "I will get you both," she muttered embarrassedly. Louder, she said, "They were saying we're bad at poker."

"Um, rude! I'm great at poker!" he exclaimed.

"No, you're not," Fabian said dryly, ignoring his roommate's indignant spluttering. "Anyway, we have a few hours till lights out. Kira, I don't know what you've been filled in on, but we bugged the Gatehouse and we picked up audio of someone crying for help."

Immediately, her smile dropped. "Are you sure?" she asked. They all nodded. "Is it a trap, you think?"

"Hadn't even thought of that," Eddie admitted.

"I did," said Fabian. "That's why we all should go. There's strength in numbers."

"Until they start picking us off," Patricia grumbled cynically, still licking her wounds from being teased.

"There's that sense of optimism we all know and love!" Eddie drawled, chuckling when she stuck her tongue out at him. "Hey, we still have, like, an hour before Victor's pin drop..."

Kira smirked, crossing the room and hopping onto the bed beside KT. "Care to prove to us that you're not so bad at cards?" she said innocently. Both he and Patricia took the bait, naturally, because they really were the same type of person.

"You're so on!" she said.

"Bring it!" he challenged at the same time.

For the hundredth time that night, Fabian just rolled his eyes. "Fine, deal me in."

—

"How is Fabian the best at poker?" Eddie complained as they approached the Gatehouse for the second time that night.

Patricia sighed, crossing her arms. "I've lost too much gum to those nerds," she lamented, scowling at the other three Sibuna's backs as they lead the group along the road. "And now I've lost my dignity, too."

"Same," he commiserated, "but hey! We can be bad at poker together, right?"

She looked up at him through her lashes with a small smile. "Er, yeah," she said. "Together."

"Hurry up, you two!" Kira called softly over her shoulder. "Eddie, what's the code?"

Eddie tore his eyes away from Patricia and noticed that while they'd hung back even further, his sister, Fabian, and KT were already at the front door. "Sorry, uh, 1-9-2-2."

She nodded and punched it in. The club moved silently through the Gatehouse, and Eddie found himself wishing for the silence they'd faced earlier. Anything would be better than the wailing, which only got louder and louder as they got to the drawing room.

Eddie let Patricia take the lead once they arrived at the side hallway. She pushed ahead of all of them, pressing her ear to the door where the crying seemed to be coming from. The rest trailed in behind her, but Eddie stayed firmly at her back with an almost subconscious need to block her from any danger that might jump them from behind. He could try to blame it on being the Osirian, but Patricia was no Chosen One. He was just whipped.

A loud bang on the door from the inside made Patricia jerk backward into his arms, and she looked up at him with round, startled eyes that gleamed in the low light.

The others had also leapt about a foot in the air at the sudden noise, but KT recovered first, taking Patricia's place by the door. "Hello? Who's there?" she called hesitantly, trying the doorknob. "Damn, it's locked!"

Eddie groaned, leaning on the table against the wall while he tried to come up with a solution. Maybe he could pick the lock? He looked down, and laughed nervously, for there, in a glass bowl on the table, was a set of keys. He grabbed the one on the top and jammed it into the lock, jiggling it a bit till it turned over in his hands. They group watched him with wide eyes and the breath caught in his throat.

"Did it work?" Fabian whispered.

Eddie nodded mutely, counted to three in his head, and threw the door open.