The old oak door of the English mansion creaked open and into the hallway stepped Mr. O'Connell, followed by his wife and son. Evie put down her dusty suitcase and stretched.

'You were right Rick, I did need some time off,' she said happily. Rick responded with a glare. She kissed him better and then ruffed up Alex's hair. 'And you must be tired.'

'No, not really,' assured Alex.

His mother smiled. 'You should really get some rest. Now, where did you put the ankh?'

Alex slipped his hand inside his jacket and produced the untarnished item. It was shining as bright as ever.

Evie took it gently from his hands. 'Amazing. This will definitely make a wonderful attraction for the museum.'

There was a resounding smash and all three turned towards the living room.

Rick pulled a gun from one of his many holsters and moved over to the outer wall of the room and quickly peeked around the side. He could see some movement on the couch and a hand feeling the floor for something. Maybe a gun or a knife. Rick leapt forward and pointed his guns at...

A hungover Johnathan.

'Rick? You back, old boy? I didn't hear you come in,' he said sluggishly.

Rick looked around in disgust. There were empty bottles, crisp crumbs and cards all over the table and surrounding floor.

'Oh Johnathan!' said a dismayed Evie as she looked around. 'You were only meant to check on the house, not move in!'

'I did not move in, I just needed a place to play cards with a few of the chaps.'

Rick dragged Johnathan up by his shirt collar and pushed him towards the door. 'Time to go, Johnathan!'

'Yes, right, well, I'll, er, just be going then.'

Rick left his babbling brother-in-law at the door and went to help his wife.

Johnathan had his hand on the door handle when he heard a whisper.

'Uncle John!' It was his nephew.

'Why, hello there Alex. Have a nice trip?'

'It was absolutely smashing, just like you.' He smiled.

'Aww, well thank you.' Johnathan hadn't caught on to the joke. He looked around to make sure his sister wasn't nearby and leaned in, asking softly 'Did you, er, bring me back anything?'

'I sure did.' Alex ruffled around in his backpack and pulled out the statuette of Sekhmet. He handed it to his uncle.

Johnathan let out a low whistle. 'Well I say old chap, jolly good show! This is just the thing I need to get my poker streak back on track.' He then looked at the item in his hand, frowning.

'What is it?' Alex asked.

His uncle weighed the statue in his hand, a movement similar to using weights. 'I don't know. It feels a bit light to be solid gold. It might just be hollow.' He brightened. 'No matter. What the pawn shop doesn't know...' He tapped the side of his nose. 'Right! Must be off now. See you later Alex.'

'Bye Uncle John!' Alex waved to his uncle. He shut the door. Funny, how he hadn't noticed that the statuette was lighter than usual statuettes. But then, his uncle was a professional antiquities gambler and would know things like that.

On the way to the staircase, Alex passed the living room. It was clean now. His mum was planning the exhibition while his father mumbled about Johnathan.

'Why do we always leave the house in his care?'

'Because he's my brother. Now, what to call the display?'

'That just means we know where to look if anything goes missing. Why can't Alex's cousin do it?'

'Because she's running a museum! A curator has a lot more responsibilities and I don't want to add to it. Hmmm, what about The Lost Ankh of Ra?'

Alex smiled and kept walking. He was tired, now that he thought about it. It would be nice to sleep in a bed again rather than on a tent floor. He took one last glance at his parents before he trudged up the stairs and flopped on his bed. I wonder what it would be like to stay with Uncle John, he thought sleepily. Loads of fun, definitely.

NOTE: for everyone who's wondering about Alex, he doesn't go to school. He's on holidays are far as this story is concerned. He got the library book out a few weeks before his holidays started and the dig was basically as soon as the holidays started. That, and I have no idea about school in England.