As the cart owner started to bring the sword down, a black-haired boy seized his arm.
"You found her! Thank you so much, sir!" The boy turned to Lucy. "Where have you been? I looked everywhere!" he exclaimed, surreptitiously handing Lucy the sword before the cart owner noticed it was missing.
"What are you doing?" Lucy whispered.
"Play along with me," Gray whispered back, ignoring her question.
The cart owner's hand rested suspiciously on Gray's shoulder. "You... know this girl?"
Lucy quickly put the sword behind her back while Gray spoke to the cart owner, doing a fine job of acting.
"Well, yeah. She's my sister." He leaned toward the cart owner and added in a low tone, "If she seems like a weirdo, that's 'cause she's not quite right in the head."
Lucy looked offended, but the cart owner wasn't watching her. "She said she knew the sultan!" he barked.
Gray nodded and waved a hand toward Happy. "She thinks our cat is the sultan, and he won't correct her. He likes it when she bows down to him."
Lucy didn't want to take the hint, but she figured it was better than having the cart owner mad at her. She fell on her knees in front of the cat, saying respectfully, "Oh, wise and powerful Sultan, what command do you have for your humble maidservant?"
Happy brightened. "Can you get me some fish?"
Fortunately, Gray went on talking before Lucy had to answer that. "It's just too bad, isn't it? No harm done, though." He handed the cart owner an apple he had snitched while the man was watching Lucy bow to the cat. Then Gray walked over and patted Lucy's head. "Get up, sis. We gotta go see the doctor now."
Lucy got up and followed him, pausing as they passed a camel. "Hello, doctor! How are you today?"
"Not that one," Gray said through his teeth, taking Lucy's arm and pulling her along. "Come along, your majesty."
Lucy took a sharp breath, then realized he was talking to the cat, not her. Happy scampered after them with his paws full of apples he'd stolen.
The cart owner yelped. "Hey! Come back, you thieves!"
But the three of them were already running.
Pantherlily disliked hamster wheels.
Laxus said this wasn't a hamster wheel, but he couldn't convince the cat to believe him. Fortunately for Laxus, it was much easier to convince Pantherlily that the wheel needed to be turned, and the best way to turn it was by having a small creature run inside. Small like a cat.
Pantherlily supposed he could be grateful that they were in Laxus' secret chamber, so no one else would see him making a fool of himself. A cat's dignity was important.
"Faster, Lily."
"You're impatient. Waiting for a real storm would be easier than this."
"My patience is limited, so I'm saving it for the important things. The faster you run, the sooner you can stop."
"Oh, very well," the black cat grumbled. He ran faster, and the mechanism attached to the wheel began to crackle with electricity. A bolt of lightning shot through the blue-jeweled ring and into an hourglass. The sand in it began to swirl.
"Part the sands of time," murmured Laxus. "Reveal to me the one who can enter the cave."
The sand in the top half formed a dragon's head, like the one they had awakened in the desert with the fairy relic. Then the sand fell to the bottom in a cloud.
Laxus leaned in closer. In the hourglass, he saw a vision of a black-haired boy climbing a ladder. The boy turned back, offering his hand to someone with him. "The diamond in the rough," said Laxus triumphantly.
"So we're done here." Pantherlily leaped from the wheel and gave it a disdainful look as it slowly ceased spinning.
"Yes. Now I'll have the guards 'invite' him to the palace," said Laxus, heading for the door.
