The next day, the Medjai and O'Connells started to prepare themselves for the day's events. Alex was jumping up and down as they started out the door.

"Yippee! The kids at school are going to be so excited when we get there. I can't wait!" he cried, standing in front if his parents.

"Yes, we know Alex. You couldn't stop talking about it yesterday," Evie told him.

Jonathan looked around at the small group.

"I still can't see why I'm going," he said to no one in particular.

Everybody looked at him with curious stares.

"Jonathan, this is your nephew we're talking about. You don't want to go to own nephew's school for a lecture that's by someone he knows?" asked Evie.

"Though I guess it would be interesting," Jonathan quickly said with a smile.

Rick gave a sigh of disgust as he helped Ardeth out the door. The Medjai looked at him with curiousity in his eyes.

"O'Connell, what's wrong? You don't seem yourself today, or any other day that I've been here," he mused.

"I have a bad feeling about this, that's all. But don't worry about me now, worry about yourself. You need to get better," Rick replied as he helped Ardeth into the car.

Isis jumped into the seat next to him, purring happily. Rick was very surprised by this action.

"Rick, she's going with to help Ardeth. I know the last time she was there, it wasn't that good of an impression but this time she's going to be on her best behavior, believe me," Catlanda told him with a wide smile on her face.

He stared at her as she did so. He was still a bit upset over everything with her as she climbed on her horse. He appeared startled.

"You mean you're actually taking that thing with you?" he said with the shock evident in his voice.

"Of course. They might want to see him again after what happened," she replied as Marok climbed on his horse.

00000

At the school, the students already there were excited. The desks were prepared and they eagerly sat in them, waiting for the day to start.

Ms. Langrid was sitting in her chair, Pyram standing behind her. He was impatiently waiting for the prize that was about to be delivered to him. He started to pace back and forth.

"You'd better stop or else make a hole in the floor. They're coming and we'll claim our prize," she quietly reassured him.

"I realize that though it's getting harder to wait by the passing minute. It's so close I can actually taste it," he replied.

They heard the door open and they looked to see the object walk into the room. Ardeth sat down in a chair as Marok kept an eye on Catlanda as she walked over to the desk.

"We're here, is there anything we need to know?" she asked the teacher.

Ms. Langrid glanced at Pyram before answering.

"No, there's not. You can tell the kids about your homeland and maybe something about its history," she replied.

"Alright," Catlanda said in agreement before walking back to her small group.

"So, what are we talking about?" wondered Marok, crossing him arms.

"Our homeland and its history," she replied.

Ardeth watched the man behind the teacher. The two men soon locked eyes and it subsequently turned into a staring contest. Ardeth soon broke his stare and faced the ground.

'It can't be. It possibly can't be him. He's dead,' he told himself, unconsciously holding onto his wounded arm.

Evie noticed his uneasiness and placed an hand on his uninjured shoulder.

"Ardeth, what's wrong?" she quietly asked him.

He shook his head as more students walked into the classroom and sat down. They looked at the Medjai as they did so and smiled. At the desk, Ms. Langrid noticed Pyram's stare and gave a confused look.

"Who's that?" she asked.

"A old friend of mine. Someone who I never suspected to be here. I will have much fun today with those two," he replied, snickering.

Erin and Kari walked into the classroom and saw the O'Connells and company. The two headed in their direction.

"Hey, how're you feeling?" Kari wondered.

Erin was watching Ardeth as he rubbed his arm.

"What's with his arm?" she asked Evie.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. It's a wound from a few weeks ago that hasn't fully healed yet. It's still a little sore," he explained.

Kari watched the three in awe at their clothes and and everything else in general. Her stare came to the Spire and her face turned to that of confusion.

"What's that thing?" she asked, pointing at it.

Catlanda lifted it up and her eyes looked away from the young woman.

"It's an artifact my father found several years ago. He left it with me for safekeeping," came the reply.

"Oh," Erin said.

As soon as everybody was inside the room and sitting in their seats, Ms. Langrid stood before the students.

"Good morning everybody. I'm sure you all remember the young woman and man who were here a few days ago. Well, by popular demand, they have come back to talk to us about their homeland. Please welcome Catlanda and Marok," she introduced, starting to clap and move out of the way.

The two walked to the front of the room and she placed the Spire on the table behind her.

"Well, how can we start? We come from Egypt. It's a country far from here in northern Africa. It's full of sand, some animals and lots of people," started Marok, stepping forward.

"He speaks true," agreed Catlanda. "One might think that there's nothing interesting there but we've already seen a few exciting things there already."

"Although we couldn't possibly tell you all of them, there's so many," Marok put in.

Catlanda smiled at the comment.

"In Egypt, we come from Cairo, the capital of Egypt. Busy place. We speak Arabic there," Catlanda added.

"Well, there's not much more we can tell you about our home right off the top of our heads. Any questions?" asked Marok.

The questions flew through the air and they started to answer them as best, and as fast, as they could. From the back of the room, Pyram lifted up his gun and aimed it at the distracted Catlanda.

"Now, you will be dead and the Spire will be ours," he whispered, putting his finger on the triggor.

Ardeth looked at the back of the room from watching his daughter and immediately put on a look of terror as he quickly stared at the place the gun was pointing at...

TBC...