The Egyptian Exodus
Chapter Five: Stealing, Snakes, and Sanctuary
"Have you seen Darius and his crew lately?"
"No, they must be off getting cultured."
"Ha ha. Give it a rest, this is much better for them than frying on the beach all day."
"Of course it is, now they can fry in the sun without the water to cool off in."
"See what a little culture does for your wit?"
"I'd rather be wet, preferably with one of those little drinks with the umbrellas in it resting in my hand."
"I'll see what I can do about the drink later. Have you seen Zahra?"
"I think they went to see a musuem, or a temple, I'm not sure, they had a couple dozen left."
"I don't recall you having such a powerful aversion to this place."
"I don't, it's just a little bit European for my tastes."
"European is bad?"
"The psychos who are currently trying to kill us and take the kids are European, is a loose association, I suppose..."
"Then they wouldn't expect us to come here, would they?"
"You know, that exact same logic could be use in favor of going home."
"We promised we wouldn't."
"We didn't realize how long we'd be out here."
"How long has it been?"
"We officially passed Noah's flood two weeks ago."
And for her part, Lucy would have preferred forty days and nights of storm and thunder to this endless migration.
Diego whistled.
"Geez, see how time flies when you're having-
"-a breakdown? I'm supposed to be back in England September 1st!"
"You're worried about that place at a time like this!"
"I have people there that are counting on me Diego, I explained that. Besides, in light of recent events the Circle needs my eyes and ears more than ever."
"Well, yeah, but still, you can't go until this is resolved."
"No I can't, so what happens then?"
"We'll figure it out. Are you sure you can't see Darius?"
"I'll check again."
Theirs was probably the only place on the Acropolis that wasn't swarming with tourists. Of course, that was because most tourists didn't frequent the roof of the parthenon. Lucy crept out from their hiding place behind what must have once been a statue, and using the Sight scanned the crowd. She found Regina's flock imitating the poses of the statues on the Porch of the Maidens, Perseus and Omiri were not far off, tagging along with a tour group, Ahkmed and Mikos were collecting bugs on the hillside, and she sensed about eight of their charges somewhere near the temple of Nike.
"How many went with Zahra?"
"Eight, I think."
"That leaves us about ten or so unaccounted for hellions, in the Agora I'll bet."
"You go find them, they like you better anyway, I'll keep an eye on the little darlings here."
"Me? You were the one who wanted me to find Darius."
"Yes, because he's becoming a ringleader, and I think he was starting to pick pockets in Rome last week."
"What!"
"Well he was definitely fleecing tourists at Delphi on Wednesday."
"How is this my fault?"
"I don't know, give me time and I'll think of something."
"Fine. But this means I get to pick the next destination, and it's going to be ruin-free. Two weeks of culture is about all I can stomach. And you had better keep an eye on Ari and Ashok, they tried to leave Jasmine in the maze of the Minator on Crete."
"Well that's not so terrible."
"I meant for their own safety. Regina's going to do something terrible to them and I'd like to make sure we can still return them in working order when this is all over."
"Sturdy girl that one."
"Very."
With a final wave Lucy made her way down a crumbling collumn, careful to avoid the snapping cameras of tourists.
She felt the prickles of aprehension crawl up her spine as she hit the ground, but she wasn't exactly sure why.
Darius and his gang did tend to break their leashes every so often, but they had never done anything that wasn't fixable, not really. Then there was the fact that she was uncomfortable bringing the kids to Europe, which was true, but surely in Athens of all places it would be impossible to distinguish a bunch of Egyptians and Arabs from the locals, especially since a few of their charges were Greek themselves.
Despite the foolishness of it, she set off for the market agora at a run.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she found most of the kids gathered around the food market, munching on sweets, which, since no one was chasing them, she assumed they had bought legally.
She sucked the air back in immediately when her gaze shifted to the left to the impeccably well dressed blond figure across the street.
Of all the marketplaces in all the cities in all the world....
Drace Malfoy had to walk into hers.
Draco didn't bother her, he was a spoiled bully that she was confidant she could take in a fist fight. What bothered her was that it was highly unlikely he was here on his own.
She'd heard all there was to hear about Lucius Malfoy, and from what she had overhead on a night months ago when she was a guest in his house, she was more than certain that he knew too much about her.
He'd have known about the attacks, hell, he could have lead them.
If he saw her with the children, it wouldn't be hard to figure out that they were exactly what his master wanted.
Her gaze flicked up and down the street, but she saw no sign of Mr. Malfoy, there was only Draco, looking board and staring disdainfully at a troupe of street performers who were juggling a variety of fruits.
Even a sheltered wizard ought to have more sense, she sniffed. Everyone knew that most of the street artists worked with the pickpockets, distracting gullible tourists long enough for their nimble fingered co-conspiritors to relieve them of their wallets.
As a matter of fact, she could see a set of urchins closing in on Draco now, having relieved the sunburned grandmother of most of the contents of her purse-
A second glance revealed that these were no local urchins.
It was official, those boys were going straight to hell.
And they were going to go there a lot faster if they tried to fleece Draco Malfoy.
But she found herself powerless to act as Jabari and Baal made their way past the now penniless elderly couple, the nuns, the dirty backpackers, and greedily eyed the obviously foreign boy in expensive-looking clothing.
Yelling would only draw attention to them, and while she was mindcalling with all her strength, the ten year olds were not particularly gifted in that area, so it seemed.
Some of the students lounging around the fig vendor, however, were much more adept, and as Lucy was broadsending as loud as possible, it didn't take them long to understand what was going on, although they didn't seem to see what was so dangerous about the blond stranger.
They soon found out. Only a few moments after she had spotted the delinquints, Baal went for Draco's back pocket. He was a clever theif, but it wasn't for nothing that Draco had managed to maintain his spot on the Slytherin Quidditch team, and before Jabari could even draw his hand away from the bag slung over Draco's shoulder, he had an arm of each boy in a vise-like grip.
They protested, they yelled in Egyptian and Greek, but Draco had murder in his eyes, and Lucy saw the reason: Baal had bypassed the wallet, and curiosity had led his slender fingers to lay hold of Draco's wand.
Draco now had the wand crushed in his right hand, along with Baal's left, and he strode out of the agora, dragging the two children behind him.
A wallet would have been bad enough, but Baal had tried to disarm a Slytherin.
Shit.
Lucy took off at a run, following Draco's out of place blond hair through the bustling crowd.
Get over here!
She heard Diego's puzzled voice in her head.
What's wrong?
Two of the kids just tried to rob a wizard.
What? What happened?
They tried to pick his pocket and he caught them!
Well, where are they?
I don't know, he's dragged them off, and from the look in his eyes and the fact that he was most likely terribly bored beforehand, I doubt he's taking them somewhere to have a nice talk about respecting their elders.
Can't you talk to him?
Well, there's a problem.
Aside from the fact that you're babysitting the kids who picked his pocket?
They tried to fleece his wand actually, and yes, it's bigger than that. Remember when I told you about Lucius Malfoy?
They tried to steal from him?
His son. And seeing as he's no longer underage, there's no restrictions besides his imagination on what he can do out of term.
I'm on my way.
Malfoy turned down a small ally. Lucy stopped short to avoid being seen.
Someone bumped into her.
She turned around in surprise to see Ubaid, a quiet but generally reliable 12 year old, at the head of a mob of ten Cairo students.
"What are you doing?"
"Following you."
"No, you need to go back and wait at the temple, we'll find you later."
"But we dared them to do it! We can't just sit back and-"
"Shhhh!" Lucy clapped a hand over his mouth, afriad that in this quieter section of town, Draco might hear them.
"Listen to me, all of you. That boy that Baal and Jabari tried to rob is a wizard, a wizard like the ones who attacked the school. They tried to take his wand, and that is going to make him very, very angry. So we can't just go charging in and-"
"Let me go!"
"Stop it!"
At the sound of the boys yells, Lucy fell silent and drew her own wand.
"Stay here," she growled. "Wait for Diego, I'm leaving Ubaid and Onur in charge."
She stepped into the ally, hovering a few inches from the ground to silence her steps, and cautiously peered around the corner.
Draco seemed to have hit Baal with the JellyLegs curse, and Jabari with something that had resulted in his hands swelling red and apparantly sticky, as he seemed to be having difficulty pulling them apart.
She might have gotten away with disarming him too, if Baal hadn't seen her first, alerting Draco with his surprised expression and shout of "Lucy!"
Instead she ended up dodging his curse by tumbling behind some boxes.
She popped up, her wand pointed at the scowling Slytherin, who was pointing his right back at her. Not that Lucy was any match for Draco in dueling, but if she could make him think that was where the attack was going to come from, she might buy some time to figure out a plan.
"Where in the name of Merlin did you come from, Montero?"
"I might ask the same of you. Isn't this all a little too muggle for your tastes Draco?"
"If I had a choice, I wouldn't be here. Now, if you know what's good for you, you'll leave me to deal with these urchins in my own fashion."
"You are truly courageous against a pair of unarmed pre-adolescents."
They had been circling each other slowly, and Lucy had managed to position herself between Draco and the boys. However, this also put Draco directly between themselves and their escape.
"They're theives you idiot. They deserve what they get."
While he was scowling, Lucy quickly flicked her wand sideways and reversed the boys curses. They scrambled to their feet behind her.
"Isn't using magic in front of the muggle public a violation of something?"
Draco sniffed, "You're one to talk."
Lucy shrugged, "You did it first."
His eyes narrowed, "What are they to you anyway? How did they know your name?"
They had stopped moving, and Lucy found herself at an impasse. To get past Draco and safely away would require disarming him. However, she was fairly certain that she would never out expelleramus him, and that a simple mental tug wouldn't do the trick. She needed to overwhelm him in some way.
Where are you?
Did you find Ubaid?
Yeah.
Good, tell the kids to charge.
What?
Now!
She really ought to have a camera, but she was quite sure that the image of a dozen or so small children bearing down on Draco Malfoy like a human freight train would live on in her mind forever. She'd never seen them so perfectly focused unless the prize at the bottom of the pile was the final granola bar.
As he fell under the onslaught, Lucy neatly nipped his wand from his outstreatched fingers.
"Everybody off!"
This took a little more time, but with a stern admonishing in Egyptian the students scrambled to their feet, pulling Baal and Jabari protectively behind them.
Diego jerked Malfoy to his feet, holding his struggling form easily in his arms.
"Baal and Jabari, come here."
The boys looked at each other apprehensively, but seeing as Lucy had two wands on the wizard, it seemed safe enough.
Lucy didn't remove her gaze from Draco's eyes.
"Now, apologize for trying to steal from this boy."
"What?"
"Apologize, or I'm giving him back his wand."
The boys muttered what might pass for an apology, glaring at Draco all the while.
"Now, Draco, apologize for cursing the children."
Draco scoffed, "Never."
Lucy shrugged, she'd known he'd sooner face a Norweigian Ridgeback, but fair was fair. "Stupify!"
Draco lay stunned on the ground. The children looked at Lucy with new found respect.
She turned back to Baal and Jabari. "All right, give me your stash, now."
They quickly emptied their pockets of all they had "collected" that day. If she hadn't been so furious she would have been forced to admite that it was rather impressive, as it was she simply collected it and placed it in Draco's bag. Together they dragged him to the head of the ally and leaned him against some trash cans.
"What are you doing?" Diego asked, as they arranged Draco's legs.
"He tortured defenseless children. A punishment is in order."
It took less than five minutes for little Tum, with the face of an angel, to spread word that a pickpocket had been caught in the market and that everyone should check for missing belongings.
Draco was just coming to as the angry mob converged on him. By that time Lucy, Diego, and the children were fast on their way to meet Zahara on the Acropolis and get the hell out of there.
"How much longer do we have to do this?"
"Until you fully understand the consequences of your actions."
Baal sighed and whispered under his breath to Jabari, "So, is that five more minutes?"
Jabari shrugged, he'd learned that asking questions would only prolong their sentance when he had started bugging Lucy an hour ago.
When discussing punishment, Diego had wanted to hold the boys' heads underwater until they started to turn purple. While Lucy agreed that this was an effective method in scaring the pants off them, both she and Zahra agreed that it did nothing to emphasize the fundamental wrongness of stealing, especially from the elderly and the clergy.
Zahra had suggested that they write out "I will not steal," until they had learnt their lesson.
Diego had told her it would require several thousand chalkboards before that was accomplished.
Then Lucy had remembered where they could find a surface long enough for the boys to write on from now until doomsday.
Despite its being summer, it was a little cooler than Athens, and they had been forced to stop and buy a few more clothes for the kids, but they felt it was worth it. Not to mention that word had got out they had bypassed the beaches of New Guinea so that Baal, Jabari, Darius and the gang could learn their lesson; needless to say if the actual punishment wasn't getting to them, the focused anger of their classmates was.
They weren't about at the moment, however. In this isolated piece of the Chinese countryside, too far for tourists to stray and sheltered by hills and trees from the eyes of the locals, Diego had arranged them in a fiercely competitive game of capture the flag. Occasionally a cry could be heard from somewhere on the other side of the wall, usually when the jail was liberated.
From her perch atop the wall Lucy glanced back over her shoulder, shading her eyes with her hand and watching the specks below scramble about. She then faced forward and leaned down to watch her charges writing "I will not steal, especially from old ladies and nuns," on the Great Wall of China in purple chalk. To make the experience even more educational, she was making them write it in Egyptian, English, and Quechua. They were now about a hundred yards down the wall from where she had started them at.
And when they had written it enough there were buckets and sponges for them to go back and wash it all off.
Lucy grinned, pulled her sunglasses back on and stretched out. It was going to be a long, lazy afternoon for her at least.
An hour later, as she was about to turn over to tan the back of her shoulders, a muffled sound came from her pocket.
"Lucy? Diego? Zahra?"
She jerked upright and fished the communication mirror from her jeans, flipping it open to see the anxious face of Mr. Sharif.
"Mr. Sharif?"
"Lucy, is everyone all right?"
It was always the first thing he asked. Like he feared to find the children in pieces or something. It was completely unnecessary, the only pieces of children that had gone missing had been a dozen or so baby teeth, and they weren't missing, Lucy had saved them in a bag to save on materials she had to buy for potions class.
"Yes, we're all fine."
"Where are the children?"
Lucy looked down to find that her work gang was several meters further down the wall.
"They're playing."
"You need to gather them up quickly then."
"We can come home?"
"No."
"Mr. Sharif, you have to stop doing that to me."
"I'm sorry Lucy, I didn't phrase that well. You are coming back, but none of you are going home, I mean, as far as I can tell. Espiritu is still abandoned, after all."
"But the children?"
"We've found a place for them, but I can't say anymore than that. Tell Zahra that you are to meet us at Frowning Rock, she'll know where I mean."
"Frowning Rock?"
"Yes. As soon as possible."
"I don't under-"
"I can't explain right now Lucy. Mirrors can be watched, you know. I will expect you all soon."
And with that the image shimmored and faded, and Lucy was once again left staring at her own frustrated reflection.
They had found a place for the kids.
Lucy leaned forward, craning her neck to the left to watch Darius frown as his piece of chalk broke. He seemed to think this made a wonderful opportunity to avoid work, and chucked it at Baal's head. Within seconds all thoughts of the punishment went out the window as chalk flew and a wrestling match commenced.
Turning around, she looked down at the "battlefield" and saw Jasmine pacing back in forth, apparantly in jail, guarded fiercely by Omiri. But fleeting glimpses of movement in the trees suggested that her teammates were already on their way back to get her, and the flag that hung in a nearby tree.
She'd let them play until the game was over.
"Frowning Rock" turned out to be little Zahra's name for a spot on Easter Island near a cluster of the foreboding stone faces. It was near sundown when their rag tag group stepped over the gate threshhold and landed on the cliff by the sea.
And they were not alone.
Zahra broke into a run and withing seconds of coming across the gate was caught up in a bear hug by a haggard looking Mr. Sharif, whom she led back to the children, who were excitedly chattering on all at once about what an exciting time they had been having.
That is, they were chattering, until Lucy whistled sharply throug her fingers twice. Then they were silent and attentive.
Diego shook his head incredulously.
Mr. Sharif beamed, and Lucy and Diego found themselves simulataneously caught up in a bear hug.
"Everyone seems more or less intact, I trust they behaved themselves?"
Lucy cast a glance around at the concerned faces of children who aren't quite sure if they are going to be ratted out. She thought about Ahkmed's snakes, about Isis's ongoing feud with Abu, Darius's criminal tendencies, and the future misdemeanors that could be expected from Baal and Jamabari.
She shrugged, "More or less."
Mr. Sharif gave them a knowing look, but smiled. "I am very glad to hear it. And today we will be travelling together, to a very special place. I trust you will contain yourselves while I have a word with your babysitters."
The children scattered to explore the area, and Mr. Sharif drew Zahra, Diego, and Lucy aside.
"Where are they taking them?" Diego queried.
"To Sanctuary."
"But where?"
"Sanctuary."
It began to dawn on Lucy. Sanctuary. It wasn't a place as much as a protected state of being. It was as close to an eastern spell as ever the western world would come, but it still didn't involve magic. Sanctuary with a capitol "s" was a place in the physical world that wasn't necessarily hidden, or isolated, it could be in the middle of a bustling city if you wanted it to. But the protection involved an energy concept that could only be defined as intentional ignorance. By concsiously not knowning where it was, the rest of the circle protected those within Sanctuary from being found, even if they were being sought. The mental contributions of everyone provided enough of a sheild to cover relatively few from the strongest magic.
A similar spell had been found in Hogwarts that spring, a spell to prevent anyone from noticing the locus stone at the heart of the school. However, that spell had been based on the unconscious ignorance of the Hogwarts students and faculty, and once the knowledge that the stone existed resurfaced, the spell had slowly collapsed.
That wouldn't happen here. They knew the students were being sought, that was why a Sanctuary had been formed.
Of course, one of the conditions of Sanctuary was that no one except those inside it knew where it was.
"Lucy?"
Lucy jerked her thoughts back to the conversation at hand, apparantly Mr. Sharif had reaquainted Diego with the concept in the meantime.
"How long?" She asked.
Mr. Sharif sighed, "Until it is safe. This isn't a prison my dear, and it isn't the Void. The children will be able to learn and grow just as they would at the school, the only thing that has changed is the isolation from the Circle."
"And their families," Diego added.
"Yes," the librarian sighed. "But the situation had been explained to their parents, they realize it is the safest option."
There was a solemn pause.
"So, if you two would like to say your goodbyes to the children-"
"Two?" Zahra turned on her father.
"My dear, Cairo is no longer safe-"
"I'm too old to hide father." Zahra stepped forward and took Diego's hand. "After all of this I couldn't just run away and leave the fighting to everyone else."
Diego made to say something in protest, but a pair of Egyptian black eyes bore into his with an expression that would hear no arguement. He settled for simply squeezing her hand.
Mr. Sharif's eyes were beginning to water. "I was afraid you would say that. In that case I am entrusting the library to you. You knew all there was to running it long ago in any case."
Now it was Zahra's turn to be confused. "To me? But surely you arent'-"
"This is my schoo,l child, my students. And I have left their safety and care entrusted to others for long enough. Where they go, I go."
Diego and Lucy took that moment to begin rounding up the children, leaving Zahra and her father to say goodbye.
Three shrill whistles and Lucy's group was lined up before her, while Diego was still fishing his miscreants off the cliff and down from the rocks.
As he headed back with Persues firmly tucked under his arm, the tall Mexican shook his head, how did she do that?
As they came neared, he heard the end of the discipline speech she had apparantly decided to leave them with.
"And I'm leaving my group leaders in charge. You look after your charges, you stick together, no matter what. And as for you two, if I so much as hear a rumor that you have been fleecing the clergy, no Sanctuary on earth is going to be safe enough to protect you from me, got it? What else? Don't forget to change your underwear, brush your teeth, and avoid red and yellow reptiles, Ahkmed that goes double for you. Leaves of three, let it be; wait and hour before swimming; shake out your shoes in the morning; and Jasmine if you keep making that face it's going to stay like that."
Having finished her remarks she turned to find Diego staring at her.
"What?"
He didn't say anything, just pulled her into a hug.
"They're going to be fine."
"Of course they are, I taught all the girls exactlty how to kick a guy in the-"
"We really need to be going now," a red-eyed Mr. Sharif interrupted. He handed Zahra over to Diego with a knowing smile. He slowly looked from his daughter, to Diego, to Lucy.
"Take care of each other."
Lucy was about to respond when she felt a tug on her tee shirt, and looked down to see and anxious Omiri staring up at her.
"What is it?"
"But you're my gating buddy!"
"What?" Mr. Sharif looked puzzled.
"I was his buddy," Lucy tossed back absentmindedly, as if that would explain everything. Hmm, this was a problem...
She drew the boy aside. "Now, you can't tell anyone, but you are better at it than most, so I would say that you were good enough to cross by yourself, but then everyone would want to do it. So I'll tell you what, you tell Regina and Jasmine that I said you three were going to be buddies together, and that way you can help them, since Jasmine isn't very good at it. But don't tell her that part ok, it will be a secret?"
Omiri nodded. But he still looked worried.
"Are you ok?"
"But, who's going to be your gating buddy?"
Lucy decided this was not the time to tell Omiri that she had made and used her own gates solo many times in the past. She simply rolled her shoulder toward Diego and Zahara.
"That's what brothers are for. We stick together."
This seemed to placate the small boy, and after a fierce hug he trotted back and joined Jasmine and Regina in the ranks.
At Mr. Sharif's puzzled look, she simply shrugged, "Crisis averted."
"Right, then I'll make you a gate back to Egypt?"
Diego nodded. They couldn't be there when the children left for Sanctuary, however it was they were getting there.
Mr. Sharif wasn't the best gate maker, his structure certainly lacked Diego's grace or Lucy's strength, but it would serve for three resonably advanced and experienced individuals.
Diego made to cross first, but Lucy grabbed his hand quickly, then Zahara's.
At the raised eyebrow she simply shrugged, "I told Omiri..."
Zahra grinned, turned and waved with her left hand. Lucy and Diego waved with their joined hands before the three of them stepped over the threshold, back to the room they had escaped what seemed like a lifetime ago.
Three days later....
"You would leave the packing to the last minute."
"In case you have forgotton, I was a bit preoccupied this summer, thanks very much. Now where is my amulet?"
"You don't have it?"
"Would I be asking if I had it? I'll check the dresser, you check my pack."
Diego eyed the dirty knapsack that Lucy had carried all around the world as he migh a biohazard bin. She had refused to throw it away.
"Nevermind, I found it."
Thank god, he didn't even want to think about what was growing in that thing.
There was a knock on the open door. Zahra was smiling on the threshhold, a pile of crisp Hogwarts uniforms in her hands.
"How's it going?"
"Not nearly fast enough. But thank you for helping with the laundry."
"I'll just put them in the trunk then, all right?"
Lucy nodded absentmindedly as she dived under the bed. Their relative positions being what they were, she never saw Zahra slip a small package between her newly folded shirts.
"Found it!"
Lucy came out from under the bed covered in dust, triumphantly clutching a battered State of New Mexico license plate, which she tossed on top of the freshly cleaned clothes.
Zahra cringed, and Diego quickly slipped it off the laundry, shoving it down near the sides.
"So, you're really going back?"
"Why wouldn't I be going back?"
"Oh, I don't know. The weather, the snobby wizards, the food, the homicidal maniac running loose, the cult of the homicidal maniac running loose, the constant threat of being arrested, the weather..."
Lucy smiled and gave Diego a smacking kiss on the mouth and a tweak on his nose.
"I don't think I've thanked you enough for being so supportive."
"Hey, I'm just doing my job here. Big brothers are supposed to be protective."
"And, as I recall, sisters are suppose to be appreciative."
"Exactly!"
"I said appreciative, not necessarily obediant."
Diego frowned.
"It's only one more year, and I'll have Faustas to look after me."
Diego snorted, "The way he comes and goes these days, he's hardly any protection at all."
"Well, I'll be sure to pass along those sentiments whenever he decides to show up."
"Hopefully that's before they arrest you."
"That is very unlikely."
"Which part, the part where he shows up, or the part where you get arrested?"
"Both, I imagine. He's involved in some big pow-wow in Peru I think, little gods only know when that will be done. Until then I guess I'm on my own. Not like I haven't done that before."
"And do you want the complete or the readers digest version of just how well that has turned out?"
Lucy chose to ignore the final comment, making her point instead by slipping her wand in her pocket and using her left leg to hold down the trunk lid while she secured it.
Diego was still pouting, Lucy simply wrapped her arms around him and turned her face into his shoulder.
You didn't really think you were going to convince me to stay this time, did you?
Not really, but I had to try. Those people aren't stable.
Lucy gave him an extra squeeze. I know, I think it's the only part that I understand.
Well, don't get too comfortable, keep your head up.
Lucy pulled back and gave him a look, "Don't I always?"
Diego grinned, picked up her trunk, and he and Zahra escorted Lucy through the now empty halls of Imhotep Academy in a much more serene version of the path they had raced through once before, the shortcut to the library.
It was strange, standing in that room again. The last time it had been full of kids, chattering, frightened, chaotic.
Diego seemed to be reading her mind. He had set the gate for an ally near the train station, then waited while Lucy gave Zahra a final hug, then him. As she turned to grab her trunk, he took her arm.
"How did you do it?"
"Do what?"
"It's been driving me crazy. The kids, how did you get them to behave like that?"
Lucy burst out laughing. "Are you serious, it bothered you that much?"
"Yes! What the hell inspired such fanatical loyalty?"
Lucy smiled, patted him on the head, reached into her pocket, and pulled out a handful of Jolly Ranchers.
"What's that?"
"The secret of my success."
Diego turned red, then purple.
"You bribedthem?!"
"I was their dealer, live with it."
"You bought their loyalty with candy?"
Lucy shrugged, "It was for sale, and I wanted it. Of course, by the end I didn't need to pay them off anymore, but how else do you propose to keep 14 kids in line in a Thai marketplace? I'm a lot shorter than you!"
Diego shook his head. "I was wrong, I take it all back."
"What?"
"You shouldn't go."
"We already talked-"
"No, not because it's dangerous. I mean, it is. But frankly, I just don't think they're ready for you over there."
Lucy grinned and grabbed the end of her trunk.
"No one ever is."
With a smile she popped a candy in her mouth and stepped over the edge of the gate, and back into London. For the last time, with any luck....
The End