I woke up to the sound of my phone buzzing. My alarm caught the corner of my eye and I noted I'd only had a few hours of sleep. This better be important. Groggily I grabbed my phone and held it to my ear.

"Odie, get up, we've got another one." My Dad's voice said rather calmly down the phone. I felt my body jump-start as my desire for sleep was instantly demolished at his words.
"Where?" I asked, sitting upright in my bed.
" Meet me in the British Museum."
"OK." I jumped out of bed, running over to my wardrobe. I grabbed jeans, a shirt and a warm jacket. I quickly threw my long unnaturally red hair into a messy bun. I grabbed my car keys, wiggled on my shoes and set off.

Upon arrival, I was met by men in black carrying guns. I was directed inside towards the reason I was here. The anomaly. I wandered through the museum. I didn't know where the others were but I'd either stumble into them, an anomaly or a creature sooner of later. I halted as I heard feet pounding on the floor. I crouched behind an exhibit, my hand gently stroking the pistol grip of the weapon attached to my belt. I poked my head out, hoping for a better look. It was a woman. Her long brown hair flew behind her along with her coat. She had terror written all over her face. I could hear more footsteps as they began to echo around the room. I had to help her. I jumped up as she reached me, causing her to scream.
"It's okay. I'm a friend." I announced, holding my arms up in surrender. She grabbed my hand, pulling me along.
"They killed her. They killed Marion!" She screamed as we ran. She led me to a storage room and blocked the door so it couldn't be opened. Upon seeing what was in the room with us, I couldn't decide if it was a wise move or not. There was the anomaly here and what I assume is a creature out there. Surely we were safer here.

"Who's there? Who's there?" The woman called out as a low growl came from behind some boxes. I put my finger to my lips, praying she'd be quiet. I walked past the boxes, searching for the creature. The woman started to screech. I ran to her, finding her clutching some form of staff and trying to keep a creature at bay. From a quick glance, it sort of resembled a crocodile. It opened it's mouth and let out a mighty roar, giving me a good enough inspection of its teeth to know it was definitely a carnivore.
"Throw me that." I shouted, watching her awkwardly jab at the creature. She looked doubtful but gave it to me anyway.
"Oi, ugly." I shouted, poking the creature," come and get me."
This certainly caught its attention. It lunged for me,jaws snapping. Walking around the room, I gave the woman time to escape.
"Run!" I shouted at her, only for her to shake her head. The creature was so close I could feel its breath on my skin.

A metal door began to open. It opened slowly, creaking and moaning, thus catching the attention of the creature. Opened, the door revealed a man stood beside his lorry. He had his back to us, unaware of what was lurking inside. The creature tore away from me, into the world taking the man with it.
"You OK? I'm guessing not." A familiar voice spoke. A smile split across my face. At least the team was here.
"What did you see?" Abby asked the woman. I walked closer, until one of the guards shot me a look. I stopped in my tracks and he broke free of the group. He walked over to me, his eyes scanning me and inquisition etched upon his face. He was tall, 6 foot at a guess. He was rather muscular and had intense brown eyes. His hair was rather neat and jelled. He had the tiniest trace of stubble grazing his upper lip.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" He asked, looking down at me, one eyebrow raised.
"I'm Odette Cutter and you are?" I smirked. A smile momentarily seemed to grace his face before disappearing as quick as it had appeared.
"As I just asked, what are you doing here?"
"Joining my team." I smiled, walking forward. As I walked past him he grabbed my upper forearm.
"Your team?" He asked, his head slightly cocked.
"Well pretty boy, I'm assuming you work with us since you're escorting them around and I haven't seen your face before so tell me, who are you?" I smiled at him. He seemed to let his guard down a little and smiled at me.
"I'm Captain Hilary Becker." He informed me, his voice serious.
"Well, Captain, you're going to be seeing a lot of me." I smiled., turning around and joining the others.

"What took you so long?" Jenny asked.
"I was kidnapped by this woman, found an anomaly , was attacked by a creature which has now escaped in that direction and been challenged by a man in black." I shrugged, pointing towards the exit, "I'll try to keep any distractions to a minimum."
"Good to see you're okay." She smiled. I saw Abby head towards the door I'd just indicated towards.
"What's with the pretty boy?" I asked Jenny, nodding discreetly towards Becker.
"Do you mean Becker? My, your father will not be pleased." She laughed, nodding at my father, Nick Cutter. I snorted at Jenny's response.
"Neither of you have to worry,men who like big guns aren't my type." I said, earning a snort of laughter from Jenny. "But what is he doing here?"
"Here's here on Lester's orders. He's supposed to keep us safe. He'll have his hands full with you, let alone the rest of us." She smiled.

"I've found tracks. Biped and quadruped. It's heading south." Abby informed us after surveying the area.
"I've got to get back to the ARC." Jenny said, realisation washing over her features.
"The ark?" The mysterious woman asked.
Connor cheekily smiled, " Not that one."
"I'm gonna brief Lester. Becker, can you secure the area?"
" Connor? Stay and work out what period the anomaly's linked to and find out what Dr Page knows about the Sun Cage. Abby? You're with me." My father nodded, dishing out orders.
"And what about me?" I asked, neither directing it at my father nor Jenny.
"Just keep yourself out of trouble and help 'pretty boy' watch the anomaly." Jenny winked. I shuddered and she laughed.

He got to work instantly, posting his men in specific places and closing the door which the creature escaped from. Delegation meant all he had to do was watch the anomaly. I sat on a crate, by Connor and the woman. My legs were crossed and my hands in my lap. I felt like a child being told to sit still and wait.
"So, Dr Page. What do these hieroglyphs refer to?" Connor asked, pointing at some sort of cage. I assumed it was the sun cage my father referred to.
"That's what I've been working on but there are so many unanswered questions. Key fragments that are missing and I've been trying to figure it all out. If Marion had let me finish Ammut would have got me and not her." Dr Page said, letting her glance flicker between me and Connor as the pair of them were crouched and studying the hieroglyphics.
"I'm sorry. She was your friend?" Connor apologised.
" Oh, no. Not at all. But, you know, given a choice, I wouldn't want her dead." She shrugged, straightening up.

" Right, let's see what we've got here." Connor said, opening a tool box for a spanner to come flying out and breaking the cage. A large chunk fell off and landed on the floor for Connor to go and pick it up. "I didn't do it."
"So, it just fell off by itself." Dr Page asked, eyebrows raised.
"Yep." He nodded, a nervous gleam in his eyes.
"The Sun Cage is cursed. Anyone who touches it is is doomed for life." She said seriously.
"Really?" He asked, dropping the piece of the sun cage like it was a red hot poker. Becker and I shot each other a glance, amusement clear on his face.
" Marion was the last person to touch that." She shrugged.
"The dead one?" Connor asked, wiping his hand on his jacket as if it would wipe away the 'bad luck'.
" Should have told you that earlier, right? Sorry about that." She shrugged, turning away. "Bad luck."
"Bad luck." Becker smirked behind Connor's back. Connor sighed and sat down on a black box and knocked off a vase which was perched beside him, causing Dr Page to let out an exasperated sigh.

Connor jumped up and a smile lept onto his face when his phone rang. He lent over, his face so close his nose was scraping the nose of a Pharaoh statue in front of him. Becker leaned in as well as Dr Page and I intently listened from a distance.
"Yo." Connor smiled. We listened but Connor didn't say another word, he simply turned to us.
"What was that about?" I asked, watching as Becker straightened up and rested the butt of his weapon on he floor.
Cutter told me about the creature. It's fast, strong, switches from two legs to four and it's carnivorous. He told me to search the databases, profile him some creatures." He smiled.
"Fun." Becker said sarcastically, a bored expression settling on his face.
"They think they've got the creature." Connor smiled.
"Tell him I'm on my way." Becker said, pulling his weapon up and into his shoulder.
"You can't let pretty boy have all the fun, I'm going too." I smirked, jumping up from my perch and following Becker up the steps.
"Action Man said he's coming." I heard Connor say, causing me to laugh.

As I reached his side, Becker turned to look at me.
"What do you think you're doing?" he asked seriously, staring down at me.
"Joining you." I shrugged, "Why should you have all the fun?"
"Because i know what I'm doing."
"Now then pretty boy, so do I. I'm just less professional about it." He snorted, something gleaming in his eyes which wasn't there before.
"Aren't you a bit young for this sort of a thing? Aren't you still in college?" He asked as we reached the car. I shrugged, opening the door and climbing in. He started up the engine.
"I'm not in college. How young do you think I am?" I asked, pulling my seatbelt on.
"17 maybe." He shrugged.
"I wish." I laughed.
"So how old are you?" He asked, curiously.
"I'm 22 if you must know." I smiled. "and how old are you?"
"26." he smiled back, turning his attention away from me.

Upon seeing my father and Abby, he slowed the car down before we jumped out, rushing over to our companions.
"Professor." Becker nodded, announcing his arrival. My father nodded back in acknowledgment and bent down.
"What have we got here?" He said as he bent down,picking something up. " Abby? Odie? What do you make of that?"
He threw it to Abby who in turn passed it to me.
" Crocodile tooth." Me and Abby said in unison.
"The river." I said. It would kill again. We had to get there.
"Come on." I shouted, breaking into a run, shortly being followed by my team. We reached the river, just on time to see its tail slither in. As we ran Becker kept his rifle aimed.
"Crocodiles usually drag their victims into water to finish them." Abby said, confusion clear in her eyes.
"So, why did this croc attack on land?" Becker asked us. I shrugged, not sure on the answer.
" Why is it walking on two legs?"

I turned around to find my dad on his phone. Becker shot me a perplexed look.
"I think I know where you're gonna find it. His name is 'Pristichampsus."
"So, it's in the Thames but it won't be for long." Abby said, running back up the steps and sitting beside me. "It's gonna come ashore, looking for warmth."
"And don't forget food!" I grimaced.
" If it's been living in Egypt the Thames will be much colder than what it's used to." Abby said, realisation hitting us in the face.
"It'll be looking to get out pretty soon. We don't have much time..."
"Make that right now." My father said, lowering his binoculars and pointing across the river.

"Back to the cars. We have to find it and quickly." I ordered. Everybody nodded. My father and Abby went in a slightly different direction to us as they'd parked at the museum. As we ran, Becker called for back up. He unlocked the car before we even reached it and I jumped in the drivers side.
"What do you think you're doing. This is mine." He said, eyebrows raised as he stood by the door.
"Hand me the keys, we don't have time for this." I smiled sweetly. He sighed and handed them to me, running around to the other side of the car. Before he could even fasten his seatbelt, I'd started the ignition and was half way down the road I was a pretty good driver if I was to say so myself.
"Do you have a weapon for me anywhere?" I asked, quickly glancing over at him before turning my attention back to the road.
"First you steal my vehicle and then you try to steal my weapons?" He laughed.
"There's other things I could steal but trust me, you wouldn't prefer them." I winked. He laughed at me and didn't stop until I pulled up beside the vehicles also from the ARC. We climbed out and I saw Becker fumbling with something in the back seat.
"What's that?" I asked, trying to look into the car. I couldn't see through the black box he had open.
"I thought you wanted a gun." He said, eyebrow raised at me as he peered at me over the car. He shut the door and I locked the car, stuffing the keys into my pocket.
"Take this." He said, handing it to me. It was loaded and a smile split across my face.
"Thank you." I beamed, making him laugh at me again. I was like an over excited child. I quickly checked the safety catch was on, not wanting to make any stupid mistakes.

Becker and I joined Abby and my father, running in front of everybody else. We stopped when we saw a large patch of blood on the ground. it was fresh. The creature had to be close by.
"If your first tranquiliser dart doesn't floor this thing, we have no option but to use live rounds." Becker said, loading his own weapon and readying it. "OK, Professor?"
" Please - tell me we haven't lost it again." Jenny sighed, appearing behind me. She didn't look impressed.
"Apparently not." My father said. I followed his gaze and screams and saw people pouring out of the building opposite us. We walked in slowly, Becker and his men forming an ark of protection around us. It was silent for a moment.

"Where is it?" Abby asked. Before we had time to answer, a chorus of screams answered her question. We followed them, running along a corridor until we reached stairs which people were cascading down.
"Upstairs?" Abby said, her answer becoming more of a nervous question.
" Yeah." My dad nodded as we watched people run towards us.
"We need to get these people out. Ladies and gentlemen, can you follow us, for your own safety? Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you'd just follow me. I promise you, there's nothing to worry about. You know how these charity fun runs can go way out of control." Jenny said as me and Becker walked behind everyone, making sure everybody got out. I glanced behind me nervously.

"Are you okay?" Becker asked, glancing down at me.
"Just worried about my dad and Abby..." I trailed off.
"Your Dad?"
"Yeah sorry. Should've cleared it up but I thought my name gave it away. Nick Cutter is my dad."
"Come on then, we best get to his rescue." Becker said, turning away. I followed him as we ran into the building. Our footsteps echoed around the now empty space as we ran to save the others. They had no real weapons so if everything had gone belly up, they were as good as dead. We checked each room on the upper floor until we reached an open door. It was empty.
"There." Becker said, pointing at Abby on the balcony through the window.

" Are you OK?" Abby called over the balcony. Me and Becker ran to her side. My stomach did a flip as I saw my dad hanging over the edge, a hose pipe wrapped around his waist. I took a step back, feeling dizzy. A hand on my back steadied me. I followed the arm to see it was Becker's hand.
"Yes. Just enjoying the view." He said, slightly relieving me.
"Seems it's heading for the river." Becker observed. I'd forgotten about the creature as I was distracted by fear for my father's life.
"It probably wants to go home." Abby said.

"It's heading towards the museum." I shouted. Abby smiled at me. "It's over."
"You might want to get me back up." My father shouted. We all grabbed the hose pipe, pulling to our best ability. Relief washed over me as Becker helped the woman and then my father over the edge. I rushed into him, squeezing him tightly and pressing my head against his chest. I let out a sigh of relief and closed my eyes as a sense of bliss washed over me.
"You okay?" He asked, wrapping his arms around me. I opened my eyes and saw him peering down at me.
"Just worried I'd lost you for a second." I admitted.
"I've promised you before, I'm never going to leave you." He smiled. I nodded into his chest.
"Sorry to break this little family moment but we should be following his creature." Becker said. I broke away from my father and nodded.

We ran, hot on the creature's tracks. We'd lost it but surely it had to be headed back. We saw the door to the storage room semi-open, ducked underneath it and walked in to find Becker's men with their guns raised at the creature which was slowly advancing towards them. I held the gun down but Becker raised his, aiming at it. It's body language didn't suggest it was going to attack. It wanted to leave peacefully.

"Don't shoot it." My Dad said sternly, looking at Becker who continued to firmly hold his weapon in his shoulder.
"It's my job to keep you alive." Becker hissed, not lowering his weapon.
"Aargh! I'm too young to die." Connor screamed. I looked up and saw him hanging from a chain as his feet precariously balanced on the boxes that had been piled around the sun cage.
"It's injured. It wants to go home. Becker, order your men not to shoot. It'll leave us in peace." I pleaded him. his gaze softened for a minute before his serious expression returned.
"I don't know how long I can hold on, Cutter." Connor shouted, his voice thick with panic.
"Bow! " Doctor Page shouted.
"What?" My dad asked.
" Bow down."

"What are you talking about?"
" This creature is used to being treated like a god. They would have bowed as a sign of respect. If it doesn't think we're a threat it might not attack." Abby said,
"I'm not bowing." Becker said, looking at us as if we were crazy. He didn't look impressed.
"Get down on the floor." My father insisted.
"What?" He scowled.
" Do it. Keep the gun handy."

Reluctantly Becker followed. I held the weapon up to my shoulder. My breath hitched in my throat as I waited for the creature to slowly shuffle past us. It climbed up the boxes and calmly went through the anomaly.
"Aargh! Ow!" Connor shouted, falling to the ground with a thud.
" Nice call." My father smiled.
"Thanks." Dr Page smiled back.
"That's gotta be the end of the curse now." Connor said, causing me and Becker to look at each other again before we both snorted with laughter.
"Is there something going on between you two or something." Connor said, pointing at us.
"Don't worry, there's nothing going on between me and pretty boy." I smiled, clasping Becker on the back.
"Right? Here's hoping." Connor said, eyeing us suspiciously.
"is he always as stupid as this?" Becker asked me.
"He's pretty intelligent really." I laughed.

"We better get going." Jenny said, winking as she caught my eye. "Odie, you're coming with me. I could do with the company."
"You might want this back." I smiled, handing the weapon to Becker. My Dad span around, an amused smile playing on his lips.
"You trusted her with a gun?" He said, eyeing up Becker.
"She seemed to know what she was doing."
"Wow. I must keep an eye on you. You gave 'trouble' a gun. I thought you were supposed to keep us safe."
"I am. I have. No harm was done."
"I'm joking with you. She knows how to handle herself and weapons."
I smiled at Becker sheepishly, mouthing 'sorry' as I followed Jenny.

"I want you to set up a research program into magnetite. Its effect on anomalies, how electricity can be used to lock 'em." My Dad said, our original team plus Doctor Page walking down the corridor.
"Cool." Connor nodded. We reached the centre of the ARC and it was good to be back.
"Please tell me you got that bad-tempered reptile back in his box." Lester's voice said. We all looked up at him as he ascended the stairs towards us.
"Yep." My dad nodded. Lester turned to our guest, Doctor Page.

"Excellent. James Lester. Home Office."
"This is a government facility? " She asked. We all disbanded, staying close but getting on with something. I sat next to Abby, picking up a magazine.
"What did you think it was? The circus? You're Sarah Page."He said,his sarcastic attitude shining through as always.
"Dr Page." She corrected him.
"Yes. PhD in Egyptology promising academic career, veteran of archaeological digs all over the Middle East. Now you're giving lectures to kiddies at the museum. How did that happen? "
"Just not very good at taking orders."
"You should fit right in, then." We all looked at her then exchanged looks with each other. We had a new team member.
"I've got a file? "
"Everyone's got a file."
"Dr Page, you can't say anything about what you saw today. Do I need to repeat myself? Or should I have you arrested for your own protection? Might need that."
"Is he always that rude?" She asked as he walked away.
" By his standards he was actually being pretty nice." Connor said, causing me and Abby to laugh. That was an easier job today than expected.