Eddie, Patricia, Amber, and Alfie came back. "We got the handle!" Eddie announced.
"We found out Sihafa's intentions." Fabian added.
Then, Chris appeared with Nina. Nina let go of his hands.
Everyone stood up. "What are you doing with her?" Fabian demanded to know. "Oh, I don't know--saving her life!"
"Thank you, Chris. But you should go." Nina told him. "You never have to thank me, Nina. I'd do anything for you." Chris glared at Fabian. "So would I." Fabian glared back.
Chris disappeared.
Nina breathed. "I'm so happy to see you guys again. We can't let Rufus get his hands on this again." Nina put the dagger in her underwear drawer.
Fabian kissed Nina. He hugged her. "I never want to lose you again."
"Me either."
"Okay, lovers. It's nice that you two have been reunited and such, but we have a time-traveling ghost to deal with."
Nina frowned. "Time travel? What are you talking about?"
"The mirror grants ghosts their bodies back. Not only that, but it lets you travel back in time and come back--once. But only with the right intentions."
"That's why he wants it." Nina whispered to herself. "Why who wants it, Nina?" Fabian asked.
"Rufus. He wants the Mirror." Nina told them. "What? For what?" Patricia asked.
"Who knows." Nina shrugged. "He's not a ghost, so he must need to go back in time."
Fabian stood up. "If that really is what he plans to do, we could all be in serious trouble."
"Why, what could he do?" Amber wondered.
"He could warn his past self of the Mask or that I switched out the Elixir. Who knows which time period he could go to."
"Wait a minute--I thought that with the whole time-travel situation, you couldn't interact with your past self without doing something to the time continuum or something like that." Nina wondered.
"We all know that Rufus doesn't care about rules." Jerome chimed in.
"Alright. Stop Sihafa. Stop Rufus. Sibuna?"
"Sibuna."
All of Sibuna went their separate ways, but Patricia caught up with Eddie.
"Eddie?"
Eddie turned around. "Hey."
"So, how are we--" Patricia tried to start a conversation, but Eddie stopped her.
"Get to your point, Yacker."
Patricia sighed. "Fine, Weasel. I just feel like we've finally gotten to a place where we can be friends again, and I don't want to jeopardize that. So, if you think that I've been falling back in love with you..."
"Geez. Harsh." Eddie told her.
"I'm sorry if you--"
Eddie huffed. "You know, I actually thought we had gotten to a place where we can actually act like we're a married couple. But you want to be childish and hold this grudge! I've apologized over and over again for what I did. Sure, I deserved your coldness for a while, but you need to get over it."
"Childish? You left me. For months! No texts. No calls. No nothing."
"I needed to find my parents!"
"Why did you leave me at Anubis? Why couldn't you take me with?"
"B-because--"
"Because you need to be alone. You wanted to do it alone."
Eddie gulped. "Patricia, I can't do this anymore. I can't be with you everyday without actually being with you."
"So what, you're quitting Sibuna? Quitting Nina?" Patricia frowned.
"I would never do that." Eddie took off his wedding ring. "I'm quitting you." He put it in her hands.
He walked off.
Tears fell down Patricia's face. Joy and Mara were talking and saw her. "Patricia..." They walked over to her.
"What happened? We saw you two fighting, but we thought it was just another squabble." Mara asked.
"He's done with me." Patricia showed them his wedding ring. "What have I done?"
~~~~~
Nina was cuddling with Fabian, when all of a sudden she got a sinking feeling in her stomach and a broken heart.
Nina sat up. "Is everything okay?"
Nina felt like she was going to cry. "Yeah. I'll be right back." Nina kissed his cheek. She was getting sadder and sadder by the second. She left the room.
"What's happening to me?" Nina asked herself. Then it hit her: Eddie.
She could sense where he was. Nina went down to the hotel cafe.
She found him sitting alone, eating a stack of pancakes.
Eddie looked up. "Nina!" Eddie got up and hugged her. Nina hugged back. "Are you okay, Eddie? Did something happen between you and Patricia?"
They sat down. Eddie showed her his hands. Nina widened her eyes. "You're not getting a divorce, are you?!"
"No. I told her that I was quitting her. I was done waiting around for her to forgive me." Eddie sighed. "Nina, this isn't high school. We're all adults now. I can't just kiss and boom! She's not mad at me anymore. I really screwed up this time. God, I should've never left her there. Or any of you."
Nina smiled. "Eddie, it's okay. I was never upset with you. Disappointed, yes, but I was never mad."
Eddie chuckled. Then he frowned. "How did you know to come looking for me down here and ask about Patricia?"
"I guess I've unlocked a new power. I can sense your emotions."
"Eddie? Is that you?" A grown woman's voice said. Eddie saw that there was a man next to her, too.
"Do we know each other? What's your name?"
"Alice a-and Angus Jackson. We found you!" Eddie got up. "Mom...Dad?"
They nodded. Eddie, Alice, and Angus hugged. "When 'Kek' took you, we didn't know what to do without you."
"Why did he take me? And why didn't you call the police?"
"We were still in Liverpool, when 'Kek' banished us. As punishment, he took the thing we loved most: you." Alice explained.
"As for the police, they wouldn't have believed us. A man a in cheap Egyptian God costume took our son from the hospital as punishment for not leaving town. Would you believe that?" Angus chimed.
Alice looked over to Nina. Nina waved. Alice gasped. "Who is this? Wife, girlfriend, fiance?"
"Friend, actually. I have a wife, but she, uh, we have been having problems. It's complicated."
Nina waved goodbye. When she walked outside of the cafe, she was pulled to the side. "Patricia?" Nina asked.
"You actually believe that load of crap?" Patricia wondered. "Patricia, those are his real, actual parents. I can't believe you're not happy for him after everything he's been through--everything he had to give up--to get to them."
"How did they find Eddie? How did they know that he was here? Why are they in Egypt? No sane person comes here for 'fun'."
"I guess you're right." Nina shrugged.
"Help find out."
Nina nodded.
•••••
When will Eddie and Patricia make up?
What will Nina and Patricia find?
Will Sihafa and Rufus succeed?
Sibuna.