Ch 15, House of Anubis, opowiadania, Paragon & Osirian, Surviving Ouroboros
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Chapter 15: The Screaming Box
Perhaps it was the stress.
Or perhaps it was the fact that the Journey had been halted by her stay in the hospital.
Either way….
…The nightmares had returned.
Prince Louis cringed in disgust as a plain girl in a gaudy velvet gown entered the guest parlor.
His father had told him upon his arrival at breakfast that morning, that the Duchess of Aquitaine was to be his wife and that not argument was to be brooked.
He had spent the few hours before his unwanted bride-to-be arrived, sullenly sulking in his room, only to be scolded at by an advisor for wrinkling his clothes before such an important meeting.
Looking the simpering girl up and down, he nearly groaned allowed in exasperation.
"Duchess," He greeted with all the politeness that had been bred into him.
She giggled again, "I beg your pardon, your highness, but I am just a lady-in-waiting. The Duchess is over there."
Turning his head to look at the suddenly occupied doorway, he mentally thanked his father for having such good taste.
The girl looked to be a year or so younger than his own seventeen years of age. She had long golden blonde hair that cascaded in intricate waves and ringlets over her shoulders. Her lithe body and perfect physique was emphasized by the dark lavender satin gown that cinched in a corset at her waist and draped lazily from her arms, leaving her golden shoulders bare and an ample amount of cleavage exposed.
It was her eyes that caught his attention the most however, they were a bright purple that shone with intelligence and power.
"Pardon the misunderstanding, milady," he amended, "It is a pleasure to meet you."
"An easy mistake to make," she accepted, "The pleasure is mine."
The nearly plum hue of her eyes faded to a more natural lavender-violet mixture, that suited her just as equally as the previous color. The abrupt change caused a swelling of familiar affection to well in his chest.
"This is going to sound odd, but have we met before?" Louis asked.
"No, I cannot say that we have," she replied, "Although it feels as though I have known you for my entire life. Perhaps this union has been blessed by the lord and as such will not be one of mere political advantage."
She smiled prettily, as if she had just announced some great secret that neither of them truly understood.
Eddie sighed contentedly as he lay in bed before the sun rose and remembered the dream in detail. He hadn't recognized his wife for who she was in the memory, just as he had not recognized her when he had first arrived at Anubis House.
Was he cursed to live life after life, having to find her and rekindle the romance? What if in the next life they were born on opposite sides of the world and never met?
The last thought caused his to shudder, no he couldn't think like that. He had to be optimistic.
Returning his thoughts to the new memories he had unlocked he pondered the names he had learned.
Why did the Duchess of Aquitaine sound so familiar?
4 AM
"It's bloody infuriating," Fabian complained to Patricia.
"Don't you think I know that," she snapped at him, "I have to act like he didn't rip my heart out and step on it. At least you get to avoid them without making it suspicious. I still have to pretend that all is well with Team Nosy Egypt Obsessed Brats."
"It HAS been pretty cathartic to not have to deal with their constant whining about that stupid ques- Here!" Fabian cut his own rather hypocritical whine short as he found what they'd been looking for.
Without answering, Patricia pulled the key Frobisher has given her and placed it into the easily missed key hole that was camouflaged by a crack in the wall.
As she turned the key, a slow grinding sound filled the corridor and the floor of the tunnel suddenly fell out from beneath their feet.
7 AM
Eddie tripped on his way down the stairs to breakfast as he felt his leg inexplicably turn numb.
"What the hell!" he gasped as he quickly grabbed the banister, to prevent himself from tumbling down the flight of stairs.
Shaking his leg to rid himself of the numbness he tried to figure out why it suddenly felt as if his leg was no longer connected to his body.
6:54 AM
"OW! Bloody hell!" Patricia gasped in pain as she woke up from where she had landed in a heap of limbs with Fabian at the bottom of a dark pit, "Geroff me!"
Checking her phone she growled as she realized that they had been knocked out for nearly two hours. They'd have to hurry if they wanted to finish their goal in time.
She could already feel her side bruising. These tasks were meant for beings a lot more sturdy than a mere mortal.
Kicking the disoriented boy off her legs she pulled herself to a stand and looked over at the incredibly steep angle that had been created when the stone floor of the level above them became a sixty degree ramp.
'At least we can get out,' Patricia thought to herself as she turned towards the opposite wall.
"Is that it?" Fabian groggily asked as he dusted himself off and joined her.
"Yeah, it's one of the yellow gems Amneris and Khai need," Patricia grinned mischievously. Pulling a small box out of her pajama pocket, she pricked her thumb on the provided needle tip and smeared a drop of her blood over the symbol of Ammut. The box immediately flipped open with the moaning keen of a thousand damned souls.
Approaching the gem that was embedded in the wall, Patricia handed Fabian the box and proceed to use the Moon key to pry the sun colored jewel from its place.
With a final, deft flick of her wrist the stone came free in her hand.
"AAAAAAH FUCK!" Patricia shrieked in pain as she tossed the jewel at Fabian who scrambled to catch it.
Black thistles had erupted from the wall where the jewel had been and were wrapping tightly around her arm, ripping into her skin as she fought to free herself.
"Put it in the DAMN BOX!" Patricia ordered the wide-eyed boy who had frozen behind her, her own eyes turning crimson as she shouted angrily.
Fabian immediately dropped the quarter sized stone into the bottomless pit of a screaming box and slammed the lid shut.
The thistles that were now all the way up to Patricia's shoulder, withered and turned to ash in seconds freeing her still bleeding arm from the potentially deadly trap.
"Fuck, that's going to need stitches," Fabian growled as he pocketed the box and examined his partner's arm.
"Good job captain obvious!" she snapped back, "Now how the fuck are we going to explain this?!"
7:03 AM
Eddie stumbled into the dining room, feeling more than a little dizzy as he took his place at the breakfast table.
"Whoa!" Alfie commented, "You do NOT look good! What happened?"
The Osirian glared at the boy, "I'm not sure, my leg just went numb as I was going down the stairs. It doesn't feel like it belongs to me anymore. I can't even feel pins and needles."
CRASH
"ALFIE LEWIS! If you're stealing cookie dough again I swea- OH MY GOODNESS!" Trudy's voice came from the kitchen.
Everyone at the table turned towards the kitchen in curiosity, wanting to know what the commotion was about.
Patricia and Fabian seemed to have materialized in the kitchen while the house matron was attending something in the hall.
"Patricia? Dearie, what happened?" Trudy asked frantically as the woozy looking girl stumbled past the matron and clutched onto the door frame of the dining room.
It became obvious what had caused Trudy's fright.
Patricia's arm, from shoulder to fingers was covered in numerous jagged gashes that made it look as if her arm was a sausage filled with raw hamburger.
"Oh god!" Amber gagged as she put a hand to her mouth.
Eddie's eye's immediately turned on Fabian who was standing behind their bleeding friend.
"What the FUCK did you do to her, Rutter?!" Eddie demanded, trying to bring Khai to the surface for back up.
His leg gave a twinge, but his older persona refused to make an appearance.
"How about instead of squabbling, we call an ambulance? That'd be lovely," Patricia quipped weakly as she sank down against the wall weakly.
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