Nick dropped the mask off at his tent and scrambled into his costume. Lumbering around, roaring and snarling, he stumbled across Professor Demetrius and gave chase for a few minutes before giving up and going off to find the sleuths.

As luck would have it, he ran right into the tall lanky sleuth with the dog and frightened them off as well. 'This might be easier than I thought,' Nick murmured to himself as he shrugged off his costume and went off to formulate an alibi.

Professor Demetrius? Check. Lanky dork and bloodhound? Check. Hot chick, brainiac girl and blonde leader guy? Un-check! Something told me they wouldn't scare too easily, so I thought I'd play it sneaky. I planted my incriminating evidence to frame Tiger and then put my brilliant plan into action.

Nick grabbed at his black sweatpants and yanked as hard as possible. The fabric split, sending a jagged rip down the side. Nick grinned at his handiwork and slipped off his grey tank top. Bare-chested, the young man took a match to the ribbed grey fabric and grinned as it scorched easily. He blew out the match, crumbled the charred end and smeared the soot over his face and chest before putting his shirt back on. He mussed up his hair and raced out of his tent for the performance of his life.

"What happened, Nick?" asked the professor with concern.

"I was attacked!" Nick lied through his teeth, fabricating an imaginary attack for the listening sleuths.

"Can you take us to where you saw the Minotaur?" asked the brainiac girl.

Nick pretended to worry before relenting. "Fine. I'll take you there." He led the sleuths to his planted evidence and excused himself to watch the fireworks.

They'd bought it! I could barely hide my grin as I watched Tiger, protesting desperately, get dragged away by that blonde Ted guy. But there was a little snag that I hadn't envisioned, one that quickly led to my downfall.

"I can't thank you kids enough for solving the mystery!" Demetrius exclaimed. "I'll call all my employees to come back and help get this dig back on track!"

Nick bit into his arm to keep himself from crying out in horror. Tiger was in jail, but that meant that the dig would continue. 'I can't let this happen,' Nick thought, racing off to scramble into his costume.

With a vicious snarl and a burst of fake flame, Nick roared onto the scene and gave chase. As he raced through the dig site in hot pursuit of the meddling sleuths, he suddenly felt himself being hoisted into the air as a net closed around him.

I knew I was trapped, no wiggling my way out this time. After I was unmasked and my plan exposed, Demetrius berated me furiously for an hour or more on my stupidity. Once the carnage was over, he softened up and promised that I wouldn't receive a one-way ticket to prison like I deserved. However, once I saw the punishment he'd dreamed up, I think I would've taken jail any day.

Adonia grinned broadly, pulling the bull mask cheerily over Nick's scowling face. "Perfect!" she giggled. "Now give me a growl." Feeling exceptionally foolish, Nick reluctantly complied. "Good, good, now a roar. Excellent. It's almost like you've done this before!"

"Yeah, yeah," Nick murmured under his breath.

"Now get in there! We'll be sending in guests any minute now. Spook it up just like we practiced."

Nick mumbled a few choice curses as he made his way into the center of the attraction.

Once the summer was over, I returned to the United States for the start of the semester. I worked my tail off to get back into Demetrius' good graces and prove that I wasn't a worthless thief with no future. It must've worked, since after graduation, Demetrius hired me as his full-time assistant! Since then, I'm proud to say I've excavated millions of dollars in rare artifacts and stolen nothing since!