Two is Company (House of Anubis)

TOUCHSTONE OF RA (Part III) - The Stone & The Chandelier

The cool, summer night air managed to perk Eddie up, the pain from cracking the back of his head against the window slowly but surely receding. As he tore down the back path toward the school after Dexter, he tried to walk himself through all that had happened up to this point: Sophia had betrayed his trust and wanted Ra's gold for herself; she had possession of the Touchstone, and used its power to control Dexter's mind; and no one but him had any idea that this was going on.

Granted, Patricia and Nina suspected Sophia was no good, and they were both clearly smarter than Eddie, so maybe they could piece it together themselves if something happened to him before they could reconnect. The others were probably halfway back to Anubis by then, but since they'd be taking the main path to the front of the house, Eddie doubted he'd intercept them. They might encounter Dexter, though, which could buy him some time to warn his dad that the boy was after him and the canopic jar.

That was another thing he felt supremely bad about— not only had he brushed off Patricia's concerns about Sophia, he'd also totally thrown Dexter under the bus. And now he was in real danger, all because Eddie refused to listen... again.

Though, to be fair to Eddie, how was he supposed to know Sophia wasn't just some awkward little kid? Then again, why had he assumed Dexter wasn't an awkward little kid, too? It was all so confusing! And look, maybe he didn't have the best track record of knowing who his real enemies were, but his heart was in the right place. Sort of.

Well, it didn't really matter who right or wrong, however, because while Eddie stunk at sussing out the mole, he had an unbeaten record of ultimately stopping the problem. He just had to believe this time would be no different.

Thankfully, the school was dark and empty when he arrived, which meant his dad must have finally gone home for the night. At least he was safe for now. The bad news was the front door was ajar; that probably meant Dexter was already inside collecting the jar on Sophia's orders. He raced through the unlit halls of his soon-to-be his alma mater, just catching the bright blue hem of Dexter's sweatshirt as it disappeared into the history classroom.

Eddie gritted his teeth and continued his pursuit. Dexter had his back to him, lifting the canopic jar reverently from its new home in one of the glass display cases at the back of the room. The boy's posture was stiff and unnatural, like a wound-up automaton. The rigid control the Touchstone had over Dexter was a far cry from the almost languid influence Ammut had over her puppets, but it still set Eddie equally on edge.

"Dexter!" he grunted, drawing the boy's attention. His expression was slack and unresponsive, and if Dexter hadn't physically turned to look at him, Eddie would have assumed he hadn't heard him at all. Eddie faltered, unsure of what else to say except: "Put that back."

Suddenly, the tween's eyes burned an unnatural gold, and Eddie instinctively flinched back. His moment's hesitation gave Dexter the opportunity he needed to run, but luckily, Eddie managed to pull himself together in time to tackle him to the floor. The jar flew from his grip and shattered against the base of the classroom wall seconds before the boys hit the floor.

"Dexter, snap out of it!" he shouted, attempting to wrestle him into a headlock. However, Dexter was surprisingly strong for a boy his age, and he caught him off guard as he wrestled Eddie right back, wriggling free from his grasp. He even managed to land a sharp kick to Eddie's ribcage that left him winded and wheezing. By the time he recovered, Dexter was already sprinting out the door with something clutched in his hand.

"Shit!" he growled and pushed himself up off the floor to rush after him, leaving the shattered remains of the jar behind.

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