Night.

Cold.

Dark.

She shivered, though whether from fear or from the chilling wind she could not tell. The breeze whipped past her and through the tangle of branches and leaves surrounding her, creating eerie whispers that murmured warnings. She could see nothing familiar about the trees around her; she could see nothing at all. The dense forest canopy above her blotted out the moon's light, covering the ground with a single, black shadow that seemed to choke everything it touched.

To say that she was unnerved would be putting it lightly; haunting stories of dragons, trolls and other man-eating beasts filled her mind, and though she paid them little heed in the daylight, they seemed much more frightening in the dark. Cursing herself once more for being so foolish as to wander this far away from home when it had been so late, she was startled out of her scolding by the sharp sound of twigs snapping nearby. Through the muttering wind, she thought she heard a low growl coming from her left, but she was unsure. Hearing it once again, she turned around, half expecting to see a pair of slanted, yellow eyes glaring out at her from the darkness.

Seeing nothing, she momentarily relaxed before the sound of snapping twigs returned, closer than before. Her heart in her throat, she stumbled backwards, then turned and ran as she thought she perceived an ominous shape rearing up in front of her. Her chest heaving as she ran, she paid little heed to where she was going. A sudden cramp in her side caused her to totter slightly, but she continued on, her mind clouded with fear of what could be chasing her.

She ran on and on, only finally stopping to rest after what had seemed like hours. Leaning against a tree, she looked around once more, grateful to see the moonlight illuminating more than finger-width patches on the ground. While it still did not lend enough light to see much clearly, it offered her comfort as she calmed her mind and steadied her heavy breathing. No beasts charged out of the shadows, and no trolls appeared to steal her away for their dinner. She was safe, at least for the time being, though she still had no idea where she was. Resisting the urge to cry, she squared her shoulder and made her way towards the lighter area of woods, hoping to see something- anything- familiar. One tree, twisted in a way that made it seem as though it were a pig's tail, caught her attention, and as she stepped closer to get a better look, she felt her foot falling on empty air. With a gasp of surprise, she fumbled for better footing, breathing a sigh of relief as she stabilized herself. Looking into the dark pit in front of her, she searched for a way around it. Finding one, she made her way along the side, keeping a careful eye on where she set her feet.

After a few more slight stumbles that were quickly corrected, she was close enough to the crooked tree to see that it was, in fact, not familiar at all. Venting her frustration as she kicked at the tree's trunk, she felt hot tears stinging her eyes as her breath hitched. She did not want to wait for sunrise to find her way back home; it had only been a couple of hours since sundown, and she had no desire to continue roaming the strange, frightening woods for eight-or-so more hours. She already knew that she would get no sleep on the cold, hard ground, though her energy was far too drained for her stay awake. As the tears flowed, she cursed herself much more vehemently than before for her stupidity and kicked at the truck once again, angry at it for getting her hopes up.

The wind howled once again, a long, mournful sound that cut her right to the bone. Startled, she realized that it wasn't the wind- it was a wolf. A rather angry-looking wolf glaring at her from the other side of the crooked tree, so close she could the drool hanging off its lower lip. It snarled, and she felt its hot breath on her face. More howls chorused around her, filling her to the brim with sharp, cold fear that all but froze her body as she tried to take a step back. Then another, and another. She couldn't feel her feet moving beneath her- she didn't even notice when her ankle caught on a root and she fell off-balance, barely straightening up in time to avoid falling over. All she knew was that there was a wolf in front of her, it was growling, and it was going to kill her. If it didn't, then one of the others would. She was going to die.

Then she was falling. Backwards, over the edge of the small cliff she had noticed before, and into the darkness. A wolf leapt at her, twisting in the air to change its course before it, too, fell into the void.

She was airborne for only a few seconds, and by the time she noticed what was happening, she was knocked unconscious as her head collided with a particularly large rock jutting out of the ground. She felt a sharp, sudden pain, then nothing as her mind slipped off into total darkness, leaving the rest of her body to fend for itself as it sunk slowly into the cold, wet, murky marsh in the shadows.

"Alright, everyone," Larry Daley scanned the room, double-checking that everything was in order, "Uh, we're just going to do a quick review of what's going to happen tonight. We all know how crazy everything can get with new exhibits, so let's just go over everything one more time-"

"Hold up now, hoss," Jedidiah Smith, the pint-seized cowboy, piped up. "This ain't our first rodeo."

"His is right, Larry. We know our duties, and we shall perform them valiantly." Octavius, Jedidiah's Roman best friend, declared, adding in the dramatic hand-flourish that seemed to accompany every sentence he uttered. At least he wasn't staring off into the distance again.

"Don't-don't give me that, Oc. Remember the last time you carried it out 'valiantly?' Remember that?" Octavius hung his head, thinking back to a few weeks before when, as a joke, he and Jed had somehow managed to stuff all of the birds- including the ostrich- into the Lewis and Clark exhibit, which resulted in an inch of bird droppings and two traumatized explorers.

"You said they needed to stop arguing, and the birds got them to stop. You owe us one darn big 'thank you.'" Jed challenged, widening his eyes in what he hoped was an innocent expression. "Do you know how hard it was to round them up?"

"Probably not as hard as it was to clean up after them." Larry countered. Jed started to retort, but whatever he had to say was muffled by the Roman's hand covering his mouth.

"We are truly sorry for the inconvenience we caused. We have learned from our mistakes and have decided against any more idiotic acts for the near future." Octavius spoke quickly, ending with a yelp of pain as teeth bit into his wrist, leaving angry, red marks.

"I'm glad that at least one of you has decided to grow up. I'd hate to have to stick you in the Mayan diorama again." Whatever Jed's next sentence was going to be died on his lips as he realized what Larry was insinuating. He nodded quickly, his eyebrows raised and his mouth set in a serious line.

"Lawrence," Teddy, ever the voice of reason in this crazy circus, scolded, "They've learned their lesson, now let them be. There is no honor in kicking a dead dog."

"Did you just-" Once again, Octavius' hand covered the cowboy's mouth before they could get in any more trouble.

Ignoring the outburst, Teddy continued. "We know what needs to be done, Lawrence. There is no need to review everything again."

"Okay, fine, but I don't want a repeat of the last time we had a travelling exhibit. Those dinosaurs nearly got me fired!"

"Relax, my boy. I will keep an eye on our exhibits while you and Sacajawea greet the new ones. We will not let you down." He gestured around at all those assembled as he added the last bit, smiling broadly as was his nature.

"Sure, yeah, yeah. I'll relax. I'm relaxed." A look from Teddy made him roll his eyes, "I am. Just don't let things get out of control, okay?"

"I will not."

"Good. Jed, Octavius, I want you both to stay with Teddy. Teddy, keep an eye on them. Don't let them out of your sight. Attila, you and your huns guard the exits; we got lucky last time that none of the velociraptors figured out how to open the doors. Sacajawea, come with me." Larry headed off at a quick pace- the usual for him. Sacajawea trailed behind, catching up with him easily. As the crowd's volume increased to normal levels and the exhibits began to dissipate back to their normal routines, only one was left with nothing to do.

"What seems to be the issue, boy?" Teddy's voice rang out through the clean-cut halls as he clapped the young Egyptian on the shoulder. "Stuck with nothing to do?"

"Yes, that's exactly it, sir." Ahkmenrah answered, ignoring the jolt of pain the stronger man had inflicted upon his shoulder. "I was given no duty to fulfill this night."

"Well, what would you like to do? I'm sure we can find a job befitting someone of your lineage."

"I was wondering if I could be allowed to accompany Larry and Sacajawea to the travelling exhibits, but I was not chosen for that honor and could not ask before he left."

"Then go on and join them! I'm sure he would appreciate the help, and I believe that they would strongly benefit from you being there as a translator if a situation should occur."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure! Now get going, they may have need of you yet!" Teddy smiled again as he turned on his heel, marching back to where his horse was nibbling on a potted plant's fabric leaves. "Now where have those two miniatures gone off to?"

Smiling slightly as he saw the two said miniatures giggling as they sat atop the president's hat, Ahkmenrah hurried off to the storage room, thankful to have finally been given a job to do, even if it was something as simple as translating.