"Do you think KT was there?" Eddie asked once they were back at the house. The girls' corridor was mostly empty, and the plan was to hole up in Patricia and Kira's room for a bit to strategize about where to look next for KT, since Mara was out with her parents for the night.

Fabian shook his head. "No, there didn't seem to be any sign of her."

"But we didn't check the tank room!" Kira pointed out, ashen with worry. "Guys, I'm freaking the fuck out. Where is my girlfriend?"

"We'll find her!" Eddie snapped, his sister's worry making him worried. "Please relax."

"She's right, though," Patricia said as they made their way down the hall. "We didn't even check."

"So you both think we should have gone up there, and... what? Said 'Hi, Mr. Frobisher-Smythe! Have you seen your great-granddaughter around here recently?'" Alfie snorted, but no one thought it was particularly funny.

"Forget about Frobisher. What was Victor doing there?" asked Patricia.

"Maybe he and Ms. Denby are dating," Alfie joked again. "Or something worse? Yeah, definitely something worse."

"Okay, well if she's not there, then where?" Eddie carded his fingers through his hair. "At this rate we need a bloodhound to find her!" He looked over his left shoulder into Joy's and Willow's room, then did a double-take. There was good ol' Letdown sprawled lazily across a hot pink towel.

Well, when life gives you lemons...

Fabian followed his line of sight and grinned. "Hey! Um, Joy, do you think Mara would mind if we borrowed Letdown for a minute?"

Joy looked up from her book and shrugged. "I guess not," she said slowly. "But please be careful with him. She'll kill me if anything happened to that dog."

"Don't worry, Joy!" Patricia chimed in reassuringly. "We'll take good care of him!"

"I'll go grab a shirt of KT's," Kira whispered to Eddie, and she scampered off in the direction of the attic.

"Oh, he smells nice!" complimented Fabian as he picked up the leash.

Joy smiled privately. "Like flowers..."

"Okay... well, thanks!" Alfie chirped, and they tugged the dog into the corridor, leaving Joy to her book. Then, he sneezed. "Ugh, I seriously need to take my allergy meds."

Kira burst back through the attic door with a tank top in her hands and tossed it to Fabian. "Are you sure this'll work?" She asked.

"Nope!" he answered while he held the top up to Letdown's nose.

The dog gave a short bark and took off, dragging Fabian along behind him. The others shared wide-eyed looks before running after them. "He's doing it!" Fabian exclaimed. They thundered down the stairs with Letdown in the lead, and the dog began sniffing around the front door and coat closet. "C'mon, boy, where is she?"

Naturally, Victor chose this moment to come in the front door and the five students froze like maybe if they didn't move, he wouldn't see them. "What is that?" the caretaker asked icily. Letdown took one look at Victor and growled, pressing back into Fabian's legs with his tail between his legs. "Pets are not permitted at Anubis House," he growled back.

Alfie chuckled nervously. "See, it's actually not a pet," he explained. "It's Mara's inheritance!"

Victor raised a menacing eyebrow and extended his hand toward the leash. "Give it to me," he ordered, leaving absolutely no room for argument.

Eddie watched helplessly as Fabian handed off Mara's dog. Kira and Patricia looked like they wanted to melt— Mara was going to kill her roommates first, before coming after the boys.

"Now, go to your rooms," said Victor, flexing his fingers.

"But..." Kira began.

"I said now!" he sneered, and they scattered.

Eddie lingered by the stairs for a moment and whispered up to the girls, "Cover for KT until we can find her!"

Patricia gave him a thumbs up, while Kira bit her lip and nodded; they scuttled up the stairs with Victor close behind.

"What're you going to do to him?" Alfie asked in a small voice. He might have been allergic to dogs, but he still obviously cared for them.

Victor tugged on the leash and the dog went up reluctantly, evidently terrified of him. For good reason, too, because Victor answered, "Have it stuffed."

Alfie whined in the back of his throat, and Eddie tugged him down the hall by his shirt sleeve before he could say something he'd regret. They'd just have to resume their search later.

—

Sometime in the middle of the night, Eddie and Fabian shot awake to the sound of screaming. It took Eddie a second to get his bearings, but eventually he caught Fabian's eye in the darkness, and the two stumbled out of bed, threw on their slippers, and snuck quickly out of their room.

Victor was playing loud opera music upstairs, and judging by the fact he hadn't also come running, it was loud enough he hadn't heard the shouting.

Good, thought Eddie as the roommates tip-toed toward the muffled cries coming from the... coat closet? He unlocked the door slowly, and waited for Fabian to nod his assent before throwing it open.

They were greeted by a gaping hole in the floor that had definitely not been there earlier that day, and the boys stared at each other in shock for a moment. "KT?" Eddie asked hesitantly.

There was a shuffling sound and suddenly they could make out KT's face peering up at them through the darkness. "Down here!" she called.

"KT!" Eddie repeated, relief flooding him. "We thought you might have been kidnapped!"

She shook her head. "Thank god, no. Am I glad to see you guys!"

"You found the secret room," Fabian breathed excitedly. "Way to go, KT!"

She didn't look particularly excited; in fact, she looked like she'd seen a ghost. "Yeah, yeah, that's great," she said. "A little help here? Get me out of here."

Eddie blinked. "Oh, uh, yeah," he stuttered. "I'll grab a ladder."

"Laundry room," informed Fabian.

"Got it," he replied, tip-toeing as quickly as he could to fetch the ladder. It clattered against the wall a bit as he was bringing it back, and he winced, scared that Victor might come running. It seemed like the coast was clear enough, though, and he hurried back the rest of the way.

"How did you even get down there?" asked Fabian as they lowered the ladder for KT to climb up.

"I don't know," she admitted. "Last thing I remember I was going to get the blueprint... and my head kills."

"You might have a concussion," said Fabian. "It looks like you fell through the floor."

"I'm fine... the memory's just a little foggy." KT shrugged a bit as she climbed, and once she was back on solid ground, she nearly collapsed from relief. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," she said.

Eddie was beyond elated— they'd found it! The answer to all their problems was finally accessible, and he couldn't wait to take a look. "Let's go down and check it out!" he whispered.

"No!" KT said immediately. "Stay away from there! Someone's down there..."

"What?" Fabian asked, nose wrinkled in confusion. "How could—"

"What is this noise?!" Victor called from the top of the stairs. "I shall give you until the count of three! One... two..."

With a grunt, they peeled off from each other to their respective rooms. There'd be time to talk in the morning.

—

"Oh, I was so worried!" Kira cried, throwing her arms around her girlfriend's neck when she came down for breakfast.

Kira and Patricia hadn't slept at all. Thankfully, Mara stayed the night with her folks in a nearby hotel, so they didn't have to worry about explaining the dog situation quite yet. Even so, the girls had stayed up all night, not even really talking, just shifting restlessly until the sun peaked through their window.

"It's like when Joy vanished," Patricia had murmured once into the quiet.

"I hope not," Kira had whispered back.

So it was a miracle when they woke up to find KT safe and sound, despite a pretty gnarly bump on the head.

"I found the secret room," KT whispered, hugging her back before they sat down with the others. "Under the coat closet."

"Really? That's amazing!" she gasped.

"And you said someone was down there?" Fabian prompted, speaking some butter on his toast.

"Frobisher," KT answered quietly after a moment.

Eddie choked on his milk. "Frobisher? Are you sure?"

"It looked like him... but it was dark," she replied, her grip on Kira's hand tightening marginally.

"And he spoke?" Patricia said doubtfully.

"What did he say?" Alfie asked around a bite of croissant.

"He said 'Stop,'" she replied.

"Stop?" Kira repeated, running her thumb over the back of KT's hand.

Alfie laughed. "See I, for one, am willing to take that advice."

Patricia's brow furrowed and she drummed her fingers across the table agitatedly. "And then he just... what? Disappeared?"

KT smiled wryly. "No, I disappeared," she said. "I was so scared, I just pushed up against the back wall until Fabian and Eddie showed up. He just seemed to fade into the darkness..." They all shifted uncomfortably at that. It already felt a little like they were jumping at their own shadows, and this revelation certainly didn't help.

"Are you okay to go back in?" Kira queried gently. "You don't have to."

KT smiled appreciatively and leaned forward to give her a warm peck on the mouth. "I'll be okay... Besides, with you guys, I'd feel a lot safer. It might not be so scary during the day."

Fabian nodded decisively, which still struck Kira as a novelty. "After school," he said.

Eddie shook his head. "Before."

"Um, hello, people? Where's Letdown? Mara's gonna kill me," Joy said as she came into the living room with Willow.

Kira immediately looked down at her glass of orange juice. In the excitement of finding KT and the secret room, she'd sort of forgotten about her best friend's dog. This was going to be ugly.

"Um... about that," Patricia said, braver than the rest of them. "Victor took him."

"What?" Mara asked from the doorway, and Kira felt her soul shrivel up at the dismay in her voice. "How could you? I love that dog!"

She was addressing all of them, but her focus was on Joy. Kira felt supremely bad for inadvertently throwing her under the bus, but, truthfully, she was glad she wasn't catching smoke... yet.

"Really?" Joy said frustratedly, once Mara had stormed away. "Like, really?" They shrugged sheepishly. "Well, you all really need to get a new hobby," she snapped, jogging after her.

—

Eddie descended the ladder first, hit by vaguely rotten, musty smell of decades untouched air. It was definitely eerie down there, even with the murky sunlight from above.

He held the ladder as Patricia climbed down, and he was happy to note that her knee was a lot better that day. Still, she winced when she hopped down the final rung and onto the debris-strewn stone floor. Next was Fabian, then Alfie, followed by Kira, and then, finally, KT. She hung back a bit, eyes nervously darting around the old stone and brick-work. "Through there," she whispered and pointed to a curtained off doorway. "That's where all the stuff is... and Frobisher."

"Sort of looks like the tunnels," mused Alfie, looking around the barren antechamber.

"Smells like it too," grumbled Patricia.

Fabian chuckled, then jerked his head toward the curtain. "Shall we?"

Eddie steeled himself, and lead the charge, pushing back the deep red, dusty velvet and venturing deeper into the room. The short hallway they entered had a few various knickknacks, but there was another curtain, green this time, up ahead. He approached it slowly, Fabian drawing up alongside him, and the boys startled when they nearly tripped over what looked like thin air but appeared to be a wire.

Suddenly, the faded curtains pulled away to reveal a room full of old crap: yellowed blueprints, weathered books, tables and desks laden with bottles and dried ink wells, something that looked like a trombone attached to a music box, and a massive mirror so grimy it no longer reflected anything but murky outlines. However, in Eddie's opinion, the most eye-catching item in the room was the black armchair on a platform that spun around to face them. In the chair, sat a wax dummy that looked vaguely like Frobisher, with vacant glass eyes that sized them up as they entered.

"That's not Frobisher," Eddie observed.

Kira peered over his shoulder, squinting in the low light. "It's made of wax."

"Stop!" it ordered, the crackly, recorded voice seeming to come from within the dummy's head. "Heed this message: in the event I have awoken and am under the control of the god Ammut, herein you will find the information necessary to reverse my betrayal. Do not confront me, and please, forgive me for my actions..."

The six Sibunas crept forward uneasily as it spoke, making sure to step over the wire so they didn't fall flat on their face. "So fucking creepy," Patricia whispered as the speech came to an end.

"Explains why he's not so nice anymore," said Alfie grimly.

"He would hate what he's become," KT murmured, gazing sadly at the wax figure.

Kira put an arm around her shoulders and squeezed comfortingly. "Well, now we have the information we need to save him and all of us," she said optimistically. "And you found it."

"Yeah, we've got this," assured Patricia, but she sounded less optimistic.

"What's with the dummy?" Eddie asked, poking its face cautiously. "He couldn't have just put it in a note?"

"Yeah, it's definitely a bit extra," laughed Alfie.

"I've seen pictures of this," Fabian recalled in awe. "It's from a museum back in the 20s, celebrating archaeological finds of the 19th and early 20th centuries! He must have adapted it." He chuckled wonderingly. "This man really knew how to get people's attention."

Kira drew a finger along one of the desks, coming back with a thick layer of dust. "More like a flair for the dramatics," she replied, wiping it off on her skirt. "Damn, no one was supposed to find this place."

"He must have really thought his original plan would work," KT hummed sadly.

"Yeah, he probably didn't account for chemically imbalanced adopted sisters," Eddie remarked dryly. "Look at all this stuff, though! It's gonna take forever to get through it."

"Well, we don't have forever," Patricia pointed out, a little too cynically for Eddie's taste.

Fabian was fiddling with the trombone looking thing, and KT cocked her head curiously. "What's that?" she asked.

"A phonograph," he answered. "It plays recordings, but it doesn't seem to work."

"Maybe it's out of batteries?" suggested Alfie, and they all turned to look at him. "Or maybe not. Jeez..."

A large, floppy book on a lone stool caught Eddie's eye, and he walked over to investigate. It was covered in a layer of dust so thick that when he picked it up, the dust shifted around like fireplace ashes. For it to have been set apart from the other books and folders, it had to be important, right?

"Uh, guys, I hate to be a killjoy, but we need to get to school. We already missed first bell," Patricia reported.

"That's okay," he said. "We've got plenty to read, anyway."

"We can meet up again at lunch to give it a skim," suggested Kira.

"Lunch it is," agreed Fabian.

—

Morning classes absolutely dragged on, and the book was practically burning a hole in Eddie's book bag. He was dying to read it, and when he mentioned that to his sister, she laughed at him.

"You dying to to read a book?" she'd teased. "The world really must be ending."

Finally, the lunch bell rang, and Sibuna zoomed into the common room while most of the other students headed to the canteen. They pulled up cushions and pillows and sat in a circle around the book. Surprisingly enough, the book wasn't written by Robert, but instead Louisa. Her handwriting was scrawling and a bit hard to decipher, but Eddie stumbled through reading it out loud:

"Okay, there's a lot of random notes in here, it looks like," he relayed to his audience. "But it looks like it goes into more depth about the Curse of Ammut, like your grandpa wrote about, KT."

"Well, what does it say?" she asked, curiosity piqued.

"It says here, that 'Ammut was known as the devourer of souls,'" he read.

"So... not a nice guy," Alfie deduced.

Eddie shrugged awkwardly. "Well, girl, actually. 'She is traditionally at Anubis' side in the Hall of Two Truths in the Egyptian underworld.'" He flipped the page and the group collectively sucked in a startled breath at painting of a monstrous creature with the head of a crocodile, the mane of a lion, and the body of a hippo. With one paw, she sliced open a ghastly human's chest and held their dripping, bloody heart between her jaws.

Patricia took his hand and squeezed it so tight, he thought she was going to break it. "What the fuck?" she said.

"Ditto," said Kira, physically shying away from the painting. "Graphic much?"

"She's also known as the 'Eater of Hearts'," he continued, holding back bile. "'Ammut would devour the hearts of a person deemed impure; their soul would wander restless forever, unable to complete their voyage to immortality.'"

"What, so she was like a judge?" Alfie clarified.

"More like an executioner," he replied. The statement hung in the air for a moment, and when no one said anything else, Eddie returned to reading: "'However, Ammut became angry and grew frustrated with the gods Anubis and Osiris. She considered herself their equal and wanted more than just the impure hearts of the dead.'"

"Got too big for her boots," Alfie interrupted again.

Patricia shifted uncomfortably, and Eddie gave her hand a reassuring squeeze before continuing, "'Ammut's dark ambition was to cross into the human realm and claim the hearts of the living.'"

"That sounds horrifying," KT commented uneasily.

"Yeah, I'm gonna be honest, I hate everything about this," concurred Patricia.

Eddie had to agree. He flipped the page and there was another illustration of the wrathful goddess set against the backdrop of a stormy sky, buildings crumbling under her talons. Generally bad vibes. "'It is said that if Ammut were to ever succeed, her strength and power would grow to make her equal to that of Osiris... god of all the underworld.'"

"Can you maybe just skip to the end?" Kira asked through gritted teeth.

"Yeah," said KT, "maybe there's a happy ending, or something."

He rolled his eyes but obliged, skipping ahead a few pages to an eerily familiar photograph of what looked like the tank room back in the day.

"That's not that scary," Alfie mused and pointed to the picture.

"It says, 'To cross over, Ammut must claim five human sinners who embody the greatest flaws of mankind.'" The words tasted like ashes in his mouth, and he wet his lips so he could continue, "'Ammut will enter the human realm when all are taken.'"

Alfie's eyes widened exponentially. "O-Okay, I was wrong, that's very scary. That's actually terrifying."

"On the recording Frobisher said he was now under the control of Ammut," breathed Fabian, staring down at the book and looking a little green around the gills. "He... He must be capturing Sinners."

"So... they really are trying to kill us," Kira said, voice quivering violently. "I think I'm gonna throw up."

"What are you all doing in here by yourselves?" Denby suddenly barked from the other side of the room, and they all leapt out of their skin.

Eddie shoved the book into his bag and slung it over his shoulder. "We were just going!" he announced in a high pitched tone, zooming out of the room with hopefully the rest of his friends in tow. The last thing any of them needed was to get frisked by their evil teacher and find anything incriminating.

Once they were out in the hall, Eddie was immediately distracted by his sister, who made good on her word and threw up in the nearest barrel.

"Oh my god?" KT gasped, rushing to her side. "Are you okay."

Kira shook her head, looking pale. "They're going to kill us," she coughed, and Eddie rubbed her back anxiously.

"No one's trying to kill anybody," KT said, but she wasn't particularly convincing.

"Eating someone's heart and soul sounds very much like murder to me!" she fired back, on the verge of a panic attack. "Oh my god, Eddie, is that why they tried to kidnap you?"

Eddie shifted uneasily at the suggestion. Yeah, actually, that was probably exactly what they were trying to do... he sort of felt sick now, too. "I-I'm sure it's fine," he stammered instead, a poor attempt at comfort.

Fabian sighed. "I'll get you some water," he said gently, doubling back toward the common room. On his way, he passed by a hesitant Patricia who was clutching something to her chest, before she darted into the girls' bathroom. Hopefully she wasn't also about to be sick.

Eddie sighed and let KT and Alfie handle calming down his sister, and put Louisa's book into his locker for safe keeping. This update was making his head hurt, and all he wanted to do was go to bed and not think about their dire situation for a few hours.

Alas, the universe would never let his sorry ass catch a break, because suddenly there was a tap on his shoulder. He half-turned and glowered at the sight of Benji. "What do you want?" he asked suspiciously.

He shifted in discomfort, looking between the two twins. "Look, can I, uh, talk to you two? Privately?"

Kira was still in a bit of a state, and Eddie wasn't exactly sure that having a talk with Benji of all people was going to help much with that. He opened his mouth to say as much, but Kira cut him off.

"What is it, Ben?" she sighed and wiped at her mouth.

KT mouthed, "Talk later," at Kira. Her and Alfie exchanged awkward glances, before wisely bowing out in the direction of the vending machine.

"I just wanted to... wanted to say that I'm leaving," he said once the others were out of earshot.

"So?" Eddie drawled. "We know the exchange was only for a little while anyway."

"You didn't let me finish," he continued, running a hand through his hair. "I'm leaving early. I guess I also, I dunno, wanted to explain myself? And apologize. For everything."

His sister pursed her lips, and Eddie could tell she was a little more preoccupied with doomsday than any conversation with her ex. "Ben, it's a little late for that, don't you think?"

"No," he replied. "It's never too late to clear the air. What I did was... unacceptable, but I need to be honest." The twins watched him expectantly, and after a moment, Ben finally mustered up the nerve to blurt out: "I'm gay."

Eddie blinked at him, not expecting that at all. "Um... proud of you?" he offered lamely. "Not really sure what—"

"Kira, I'm sorry for ever hurting you," Ben bulldozed on. It occurred to Eddie that maybe behind the bravado, this was something that had been weighing on him. "You're great, and I wish I'd just had the courage to tell you outright that I wasn't into girls. Maybe we could have been friends. I was stupid and scared, and you didn't deserve to be something I could hide behind."

Eddie watched his sister's face, but to her credit, her expression gave nothing away about how Ben's admission actually landed. "No," she said after a moment, "I didn't. At all, actually... but I'm sorry you felt like you had to hide. I know what that's like."

He wet his lips nervously— Eddie had never seen him nervous before. "Can you ever find it in you to forgive me?" he asked hopefully.

Her eyes raked him up and down, then settled back on his face. "For dating me even though you weren't sure you liked girls? Yes," she said cooly. "For cheating on me with my drunk brother at a party? No. Ben, I sincerely hope you find whatever it is you're looking for, but honestly, I hope you find it somewhere far away from me. Good luck."

With that, she readjusted her bag and stalked over to meet Fabian who was coming back over with the promised cup of water.

Ben and Eddie watched her go, and after a beat, the former laughed just once through his nose. "I can live with that," he murmured. "She's right... which leads me to my next apology."

Honestly, Eddie wasn't sure he really wanted to hear whatever he had to say. "Look, dude, you really don't have to," he began, but Ben shook his head.

"I really do. I'm trying to be mature here, and I owe it to you," he replied. "Just hear me out, please? When I first met you, I thought you were a jerk. You had... everything. I mean, the popularity, the athleticism, the looks— everything!"

"Uh, thanks?" What the hell was going on?

"And everything I did to try to get on your level," he rambled on, "just made you look better. And I guess what I'm trying to say, Mill— Eddie... is that from the moment I met you I really liked you, and then when you just saw me as competition, I guess I just leaned into it. I didn't know how to deal with it, and so I just played up the rivalry, you know? And then with your sister, I... there's no excuse for what I did. Or for coming onto you like that when we were both drunk, but I needed you to know that I really, truly never meant for anyone to get hurt."

The confession hug in the air like fog, and Eddie was forced to process the absolutely insane bomb-drop. Ben had had a crush on him? Sure, Eddie had known there was some tension— obviously it had culminated at that disastrous party— but it had never occurred to him that their rivalry stemmed from Ben's inability to process a crush. A crush on him, for that matter!

"Wow," Eddie said after the silence had lasted just a little too long. "That's... wow..."

"I'm not expecting anything," his former rival assured him. "I know I missed my opportunity a long time ago, and you've got your girlfriend— she's great, by the way, Patricia. I really need to apologize for knocking her over during the tournament, but... yeah."

"Was that why you were sending me love letters?" Eddie blurted out.

Ben let out a startled laugh. "Huh? Love letters?" he asked. "I told you I fancied you freshmen year, not now."

"I thought maybe you were doing it to make me look like a fool in front of my girlfriend," he admitted, slightly thrown. If it hadn't been Ben writing them, as a joke or otherwise, then who the hell was sending him notes?

"No, uh, definitely not" he remarked. "Guess you're still as popular as ever, then, eh?"

"I guess..." he mumbled distractedly.

Ben stuck out his hand. "Right, so... friends? Or at least, not enemies?"

Eddie looked past him at his sister, who was watching him from the other end of the hall. Almost like she could read his mind, she rolled her eyes and nodded her blessing. "Not enemies," he answered, shaking his hand firmly. "And for what it's worth, I'm sorry for being a poor sport. I guess I just felt... intimidated by you."

"Really?" he laughed. "I mean, yeah, I'd be intimidated by me too. You know, if I wasn't me, that is."

"Right," Eddie snorted.

"Well, I'd better go," said Ben with a genuine, but small smile. "All things considered, it was good to see you, mate."

He clapped him on the shoulder. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves," he replied, trying for a joke. "See you around, Ben."

"Bye, Eddie." On that note, he headed down the hallway and turned the corner, disappearing from view.

Well, that put one situation to bed. He wasn't exactly sure how he felt about the whole thing, especially given that Kira seemed only half okay with it, but at least he didn't have to carry it with him anymore. But that still left the mystery of the love note that had thrown his and Patricia's dynamic into a bit of a tailspin. Maybe he really did just have a secret admirer... or maybe it was just an unfunny prank. Even if it was a real secret admirer, whoever it was didn't stand a chance— not with Patricia.

As if summoned by his musings, Patricia came breezing out of the bathroom and turned down the corridor away from him. He smiled fondly at her back and jogged to catch up with her.

"Yacker, wait up!" he called, drawing up alongside her. "You'll be happy to know that— Hey, what's wrong?"

Patricia's face was red and blotchy, like she'd just been bawling her eyes out, and his first thought was that she'd been more shaken up by the information in the book than he'd anticipated. Then, she shoved something hard against his chest, and it took him a second to register that it was his laptop. Where had she gotten it? And more importantly, when had he lost it in the first place?

"How could you?" she cried, her voice coming out choked and mangled. She tried to swallow a hiccup, but it escaped past her lips as a loud, sharp sob that drew some eyes their way.

"What?" he asked, taken aback by her vitriol. He didn't know what he could have possibly done to make her so upset and the confrontation was so out of left field, that all Eddie could do was stand there stupidly. "W-What do you mean?"

"You're a creep!" she snarled at him, fresh tears dribbling in jagged rivulets down her cheeks; she wiped them away furiously and pushed past him.

Eddie and Patricia had fought before, that was a fact that just about everyone under the sun knew. But he'd never, ever, ever seen her so upset. Ever. He wanted to hug her, or hold her hand, or do something, but obviously that wasn't the best course of action. Instead, he ran after her for a few steps, reaching out with the hand not holding the laptop.

"Patricia, wait!" he exclaimed, only half-processing the crack in his own voice.

She whirled around to face him fully, her curls smacking him across the face like a lashing. "Just leave me alone! Look, I saw the messages!" Patricia looked him up and down like she barely recognized him, and it was all Eddie could do not to shrivel up and die under her incandescent gaze. Then, she said something that she'd never even said during the fight that broke them up in the first place— three words that made him feel as though he were being held under water: "I hate you."

Patricia backed up a few steps, till her back hit the edge of the wall, then she turned the corner and retreated down the corridor and out the door.

Every instinct screamed at him to go after her, but it felt like he was rooted to the floor. All he seemed capable of doing right then was watching her go. Stunned was the only word that came to mind to describe what he was feeling, and he dully looked down at the laptop in his hands. Messages? What messages? What was she talking about?

"Eddie? Eddie, hello?" Kira's voice finally broke through the turmoil of his thoughts. "What the hell was that?"

He looked over his shoulder at Kira and Fabian, who were staring at him with wide eyes. "I- I have no idea," he croaked honestly. "She just—" Eddie wiggled the computer in a helpless sort of gesture. "Should I go after her?"

"Um, yes?!" Kira exclaimed, at the same time Fabian vehemently disagreed, "No way!"

At Kira's incredulous look, Fabian rushed to explain, "Look, I've seen Patricia get upset like that before, and I promise you the best thing you can do is give her some space. Especially if you don't know what you did."

"Well, are you sure you don't know what you did?"

Eddie pursed his lips and looked down at his laptop again. "She mentioned that she saw some messages, but I don't have any clue what she's referring to," he replied. He just felt so empty, her parting words bouncing around in his head like a rogue dodgeball. She hated him.

"Okay," Fabian said patiently, probably noticing that Eddie was starting to spiral, "let's take a look and see if we can figure it out, okay?"

"In the meantime, I'll try and call her, okay?" Kira promised. "I'm sure it's a misunderstanding."

Misunderstanding or not, Patricia hated him. Not just didn't want to be with him anymore— hated him. How could he have let this happen again? How could he have just let her go? Why couldn't he just move?

As Fabian guided him into an empty classroom, Eddie swallowed back a lump in his throat. One step forward, two steps back.