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Five

A Turn For the Worst

Everything had been going so well when suddenly, it all went from bad to worse. First, chaos had settled amongst the exhibits: first, he had forgotten to lock up the lions, so there were a bunch of animals roaming freely. Then, Attila managed to see though his magic tricks, and he'd almost had all of his limbs ripped off. Dexter stole his keys again, and while he had been distracted with putting out the fire the Neanderthals had started, the monkey had used the keys to open a window. One of the Neanderthals had wandered off and seen this, and had been outside when the sun had risen, consequently turning to dust.

This, of course, hadn't gone unnoticed when McPhee had come in to work, the absence of one of the Neanderthal statues. McPhee had declared him fired, but thankfully he had managed to get one more night's trial.

He hadn't realized Nicky had come in that morning on his way to school, only to see him get fired. However, he had ensured him that it had just been a misunderstanding, and had persuaded Nicky to come to work with him.

As if that all hadn't been enough. Then he'd unintentionally offended Rebecca by trying to tell her about the museum coming to life, but she had thought he was making fun of her and her obsession with Sacagawea.

And now Cecil, Gus, and Reginald had stolen the tablet. Just as he was about to share the museum's secret with Nicky, it had all fallen apart. Now, here they were, trapped in the Ancient Egypt exhibit. It all seemed like a blur.

Larry tried to stay calm for Nicky's sake, but it wasn't working so well. He was out of ideas.

"Teddy!" he yelled. "Teddy if you're out there I need you pal!" He gripped the gate rails tightly in his hands, awaiting any sort of answering to his call. At last, he heard the clicking of a horse's hooves and the former president rode up on the back of his trusty steed.

"Someone called?" he grinned. "Theodore Roosevelt, at your service."

"Whoa," breathed Nick.

"Teddy I need you to help get us out of here, break down the gate, something!" cried Larry in desperation.

Teddy shook his head. "Can't do it man. This is your moment."

Larry was shocked. He wasn't going to do this now of all times, was he? "Will you save the lectures, please? I'm not you, okay, I didn't build the Panama Canal, I wasn't President of the United States."

"Actually," sighed Teddy, removing his glasses. "I never did any of those things, Teddy Roosevelt did. I was made in a mannequin factory. I never shot any wild beasts, I'm not even brave enough to tell that beautiful woman I love her. You've got to finish the job this time, you can't quit. I'm made of wax Larry, what are you made of?" With that, he and Tex took off.

"Hey, wait a minute, wait!" Larry cried. "That's it?!"

"That's it!"

"Dad!" Nicky suddenly gasped. Larry turned to see the two giant jackal statues who guarded Ahkmenrah's tomb threatening them with their spears. At the far end of the tomb, the pharaoh yelled for someone to free him.

Larry got an idea.

Natasha was sitting at the bust stop waiting for her ride home when she felt her phone buzz in her pocket. Taking it out she found she had a text message. It was from Larry.

Need help. Any chance you can come to the museum? Urgent.

Pocketing her phone again and without another thought she left the bus stop and began heading back to the museum, a gentle snow beginning to swirl around her. She was about fifteen minutes away.

She cut through Central Park. As she got closer she saw a strange sight: animals running loose in the park, as well as people, all of which she recognized to be some of the exhibits. They had escaped. She broke out into a run. Something had obviously gone terribly wrong.

When at last she arrived, she found the museum in a state of total chaos. She hurried through the halls, searching for Larry.

"Larry?" she called. "Larry?"

When she reached Ancient Egypt a baffling sight met her eyes: a huge stone had been thrown out the entrance, along with the gate, and it had smashed into a display case against the wall opposite. Turning into the exhibit she found the tablet gone and Ahkmenrah's sarcophagus open and empty.

Hearing a deep rumble she looked up and froze when she found herself staring into the faces of the two giant jackal-headed statues who guarded the entrance to the tomb. They stared down at her for a moment before both stretched out their arms, pointing to the left. She caught on. "Thank you!" she called, and took off in that direction.

Finally she found Larry by the lobby, with the Huns, appearing to be comforting Attila. They seemed to have come to some sort of understanding.

"Larry!" she called, rushing over.

"Natasha!" He ran over too. "Oh thank goodness. Thank you for coming."

"No worries. What's going on?"

"Long story, but basically, Cecil and the others stole the tablet and we've got to get it back."

Her eyes grew wide, but there obviously wasn't much time for asking questions.

Two boys stood with him, neither of which she recognized. One was younger and had curly hair and wore a flannel shirt with jeans, and the other, older, was dressed in Ancient Egyptian costume. Wait…

"Oh," Larry said. "Natasha this is Ah-"

"Ahkmenrah!" she cried before he could finish, her face lighting up with excitement. "Fourth King of the Fourth Kings." They all stared back at her. "Sorry."

"So you're the one who has been taking such good care of me over the last few years," said Ahk with a smile. "I am forever in your debt."

"And this is my son, Nick," Larry said, putting an arm around him.

"Hi Nick."

"Hi." He smiled and waved.

They were interrupted then and reminded of the chaos happening down in the lobby.

"Come on guys!" Larry cried as he watched the battleground that was the lobby. "Guys! GUYS!" But it was too loud for them to hear.

"QUIET!" Everyone was silenced, however, at the shout from the Easter Island Head.

"Thanks," said Larry. "Now this here is King Ahkmenrah. His tablet is what brings you to life every night. And those old night watchmen, they stole it. Now we need to find those guards and get it back, and we need to do it before morning. Civil War guys, head over to the Planetarium Wing," he instructed. He then gestured to the statue of Columbus. "My explorer friend who's name escapes me…"

"Columbus," Nick whispered.

"Oh, Columbus, right! I'm sorry, there's no nameplate. Columbus take the Neanderthals and do a sweep from Invertebrates all the way to Reptiles. Jed and Octavius, their van's parked out back, I need you to go take care of it."

"Oh no, no," began Jed, shaking his head firmly. "Oh no I ain't working with Toga Boy, no sir."

"Romans work alone," agreed Octavius.

"Guys come on!" cried Larry. "Take away the fact that you both were born two thousand years apart, you guys aren't that different. You're both great leaders, and you just want what's best for your people right?" They nodded in agreement. He turned to the Civil War men again. "Civil War dudes, you guys are brothers for God's sakes, you have got to stop fighting. North wins, slavery's bad, sorry. But South you guys get a lot of cool stuff, don't get me wrong, so just chill." He shook his head. "Without that tablet, all this, this whole coming to life at night thing, it all ends. Now I don't want to let that happen but I need your help. We can get this done but we need to do it together. So who's with me? Who's with me?!"

Cheers rose up through the crowd in response. Larry smiled. "Alright. Let's do this people – and animals, and weird, faceless, puppet-creatures, come on let's do this!"

And we all know what happens next! :) Well, that's the end... of Part One! Sorry if it feels kind of choppy so far - I was trying to write scenes with my character in them so I could introduce her to the story. Hopefully it won't be so choppy anymore, and will flow better! So without further ado, onto Part Two! Thanks so much for reading! :)