Mrs. Seto said at once, "I know he's always excited when all of you are here. He reminded me almost a thousand times of your arrival."
Kai gave her stern look for disclosing his secret. Sara nudged at him from the side.
Tom and Charles were busy with watching the tv.
Mrs. Seto asked them to stay a bit longer. "You can have breakfast with us and here's some sweets for your family memembers."
"Thank you so much." All of them replied.
Then, Kai and his friends went to the terrace just above his room.
They were seated on the chairs, and again went on about their project.
Cynthia asked," Kai, do you know someone who can help us?"
Kai replied," Apparently, no but one of my dad's friend is an archaeologist. He might be able to provide us information about some famous places to start with. I think Egypt will be a great place. What do you guys think? But wait till we get the required information. Let's see what he says."
Tom added, "Well, in my opinion, Egypt is a wonderful place. It is the type of place if you're on the lookout for some mysteries. I don't know about you guys, but I want to go to Egypt."
"Yeah, count me in." Genus smirked."I love mummies and I hope I will meet some of them chasing me out of some bizarre pyramid."
Tea scowled at him, "Always looking for trouble, eh?"
Sara added, "In that case we should go to Egypt if no one has any objection."
"Okay." Kai finally spoke."I'll be getting the maps and a book on Egyptian mythology. You guys search for any useful things that can aid us, alright?"
That day, they spent all their time gathering information on Egyptian history. They scheduled to meet in the evening. They arrived at Kai's personal dino-park, his father had gifted on his birthday the previous year. There was a gigantic simming pool at the centre, surrounded by numerous chairs. They settled down at one side that had a huge umbrella roof.
Everyone was excited about the project.
Kai gestured them to listen to him. "Well, all the arrangements for the trip has been made and I bought the articles needed for the trip. It's going to be a long flight from Seattle. So, you guys ask your parent's permission. Have you managed to get more information?"
Charles said,"My uncle has given me a descriptive book on Egyptian history. It has got many mysteries of the place and also meanings of different symbols which may help us a lot."
"That's super cool. Awesome, dude!" Tom smirked and added, "I've collected hoards of things from the internet. I attended some of the cool talks on Ted. I listened to some of the world's famous archaeologists. That ought to give us an edge."He made a teasing face at Maria.
"Well done Tom", was all Maria replied.
Then Cynthia spoke up," I was busy at the state library. Browsed through some ancient collections of Egyptian myth in the restricted section."
Everyone gaped at her.
"How on earth did you do that?", Sara was bewildered.
"You could have been caught." Kai was concerned."That was a risky move."
"Yeah I'm sorry guys but I wanted to be useful." Cynthia looked sober.
"Hey, cheer up buddy." Sara gave her a hug."You are always and will always be an important member of 'The Freaks' and never forget that."
Everyone gave her a reassuring look and Cynthia at once smiled.
Kai put on his wide grin and continued, "I have the compasses, assorted instruments and navigation gadgets from my dad's lab."
Tom high fived him and exclaimed, "Awesome! Then, we are all set for the trip."
"We'll be leaving for Egypt in two days." Kai announced.
"That's the benefit of having the son of the Managing Director of Cloyster systems, on our team." Tom put his arm around his shoulder.
Kai winced a bit. He didn't like when his identity was given an importance.
"Oi Tom!", Maria kinda growled."He's uncomfortable with that."
"Yeah, shut up Tom." Sara was fed up of his jokes.
"Aw! Why is everyone against me?" Tom made a face.
Kai's face brightened, "It's alright guys. Let's go paintballing Tom. You guys wanna come?"
"Oh, sure. Anything to make you happy." Sara closed her mouth as she didn't mean to blurt it out. She was blushing a thousand shades of crimson red.
Charles handed her a rose out of nowhere."Come on, give it to him."
All of them, except Kai of course, looked at her pleadingly.
Kai moved towards Sara and said softly, "It's her choice guys. Why are you making her uncomfortable? Besides, we are best friends. It's natural to say something like that."
"Then why did she blush.." Tom was about to begin his usual prank but just then Kai shouted,"HEY!"
That silenced him. Genus put a consoling look for Tom and headed with him towards the paintballing club.
Sara was speechless. Tea comforted her saying, "Don't worry Sara. We are always there for you."
Kai put his hand on her shoulder and everything seemed calm again to Sara.
"I guess I'll leave you two alone."Tea cheerfully said as she headed off with the rest of the group.
"The last thing I would want is to make my friends uncomfortable." Kai said in his soothing voice as he made her sit down beside him at the edge of the swimming pool.
"I'm sorry Kai. It was my own over reaction.."
"Hey, don't blame yourself with that. You were just being concerned about me. And Tom was kidding as usual. Please don't mind him."
She knew that there was more in her heart that she wanted to express but she wasn't sure of it.
"Yeah, hey, thanks for making me feel better. I know Tom is always like that but he also has a side of him that cares for us. I still remember how he stood up against those bullies from another school last year when they were taunting Cynthia. He was serious for the first time in his life, I think."
"Yeah he had a bloody nose after that."
Sara let out a gentle laugh, tears flooding her cheek. All of a sudden, Kai gave her a hug. She hugged him back saying, "These are tears of happiness. You've always been there for me, Kai. And don't you dare leave us, okay? "
"I won't. What made you think of such a thing?" Kai pulled back from the hug.
Sara's face lit up. "You promise?"
Kai gave her his best smile."Yeah, I promise."
Just then Cynthia arrived at the spot. "Hey guys, let's go have fun." And pulled them up from where they were seated.
She said to Sara, "Hey, our team is losing. We need you Sara. You are our sharp shooter. "
"Okay!" Sara said with renewed enthusiasm. "Let's show the boys who they are messing with." Just then she realized Kai was beside her. "Whoops!"
Tea grinned. "Get ready to lose Kai."
Kai just smirked and head off towards his team and pick up his own shooter.
The match was a complete fresco the difference being that they painted their clothes instead of the wall. It ended in the defeat of the boys.
"Why did you let them win?" Tom was fussing about.
Apparently, it was Kai who let the girls win. The rest were eliminated except for Kai and Sara. It resulted in a fierce battle. Kai kept on dodging her paintballs while at last his gun was pointed to her head. But she made such a cute face that he hesitated to shoot. Sara took the opportunity and quickly shot him on his chest.
"Relax. It's alright!" Genus consoled him.
Charles trailed by quite lost in his own thoughts.
Kai called it a day and they departed towards their respective homes.
They were busy preparing for their journey the whole night. Tea was the most excited of all. Her chubby face grew pink on remarking this, "This time I'll be preparing valgeromorgus(a Spanish dish) for my friends. They'll love it." She sure had a surprise for them tomorrow.
The next evening, Genus and the others were already at the front door of Kai's house. But, before they reached, Kai had already been waiting for them. He had a surprise for his friends. Well, what could the surprise be?
When his friends reached, He waved to them. They also waved back at him and went running to Kai's house. Kai cheerfully said to his friends,
"I have a surprise for all of you. Can you guess what it is?"
Genus said with a puzzled look, "Hmm I think you might have got more valuable information about the Egypt trip."
He shook his head. "Nope."
"A box of chocolates?" Tom smirked.
"Someone else coming with us?" Charles asked half expectantly but Kai said no to both of them.
Tea saw something that caught her attention while the others were baffled.
"Hmm let me see." She had spotted a blue spot on his index finger, like that of a water color. "You have painted a picture for us. This was the surprise wasn't it?"
Kai's grin vanished, replaced with that of stupor. "Yeah...but how on earth did you find out?"
"Goodness!" Cynthia exclaimed.
"Well", Tea said with a soft giggle, "That blue spot on your finger tells me the whole story." Everyone cheered for her.
"I guess so." Kai admitted.
He led them towards his room. As they neared his room, he said,"Okay, now you know what the surprise is but you still don't know whose picture it is. Can anybody guess what it could be?"
Since, none of them spoke, he lead them on. Sara knew at heart, what that surprise really was, but kept silent.
Then Kai showed them a large red curtain on the wall. Then he said, "Now, behold my friends for the surprise is going to be revealed. One...two...and three."
The giant curtain brushed aside and there was a complete aura of amazement prevailing in the room as they saw their own pictures instead of some famous persons. They all smiled meekly for they had thought that they would see a portrait of great men like Leonardo da Vinci or a beautiful scenery. They were at a loss for words. They hugged him turn by turn, tears of happiness erupting in everyone's eyes.
Kai briefly announced."I've procured the tickets to Cairo, the capital of Egypt. We can start for Egypt tomorrow. The flight is scheduled at 4 pm"
Mrs. Seto entered the room just then and said, "I know it's too fast but the sooner the better, right kids? Are you sure your parents have agreed to this?"
All of them nodded in return.
They didn't notice Kai slipping out of the room. He returned in a short while with some breadfruit and sandwiches. The group chatted for a while and then departed from Kai's home, or rather a mansion as it had gotten dark.
Sara was as usual on her way home with Maria. They walked slowly, enjoying the cool evening breeze.
All of a sudden, Sara spoke. "Do you remember when we met Kai before he joined our group?"
**A/N: So, Kai wasn't originally in the group? Maybe, more of his life would be revealed in the next chapter. Stay tuned readers!**