The next day, Amina was ready to socialize.
"I'm glad you're going to hang out with us, and I hope it's often." Murray smiled. "There's always something fun going on here, especially after Johnny improved the entertainment."
"Well, I can't resist a good time. Especially a good party." Amina actually smiled.
"Hey I like parties too. Then again, who doesn't?" Murray chuckled.
"A stick in the mud?" Amina smirked.
Murray laughed.
"Exactly!" He agreed.
Fortunately, after learning about Amina having been fired Dracula instantly decided to plan a few fun events for the next day to cheer her up. Monster Ball for one, and definitely a party later that night. Nothing too elaborate since there wasn't really anything to celebrate, just Johnny the DJ putting on various dancing songs, three giant snack tables, and the freedom to dance, socialize, or chow down.
Amina and Murray were two of the ones who decided to dance, and Amina actually laughed pleasantly at Murray's dancing. This happily surprised Murray, since even his best friends sometimes stared at him whenever he danced; especially whenever he got extra joyful about it.
After the party, his friends couldn't help bring this up.
"So you and Amina have been getting along pretty well despite her having just arrived yesterday." Frank smiled.
"Well, she is one of the few girls I've known who really likes to party and have fun." Murray shrugged, smiling.
"Hey come on, we can see your smile." Wayne smirked.
"What do you mean?" Murray looked confused.
"Oh come on, you're not in Egypt anymore so quit being in de-Nile." Griffin playfully nudged Murray.
"Well you're not being very clear right now" Murray shot back.
That shut Griffin up. Frank, Wayne, and Dracula hid their amused smiles behind their hands and barely managed to keep from even sniggering let alone laughing.
"To be blunt: have you zinged with Amina yet?" Dracula asked after he recovered.
"Ohhh..." Murray now got what they were talking about, and became sad again. "No. Come on guys you know I would've told you if I had."
"Oh yeah..." Wayne drooped a bit.
"Well cheer up. Maybe you will later." Frank said encouragingly. "I mean Amina's the first girl who has really enjoyed your company like this, so that's a good sign."
"True, but I'm not going to get my hopes up this time. I've been disappointed so often that I can't handle another heartbreak."
Sadly, no one could argue with that.
A few days passed, and Amina did seem to be feeling better. She and Hana were having fun hanging out with everyone, Murray especially in Amina's case. However she only thought of him as a friend due to having decided to give up on dating. Murray in turn decided to just think of her as a friend because he figured that there was no way she could love him as more than a friend.
Then, due to having grown closer to Amina, some of the girls decided to take a chance with a personal subject while the main group was hanging out in a study (either reading or playing board/card games). The girls were playing poker without gambling:
"Um, Amina, is there any other career you'd like to have? I mean...maybe you could try applying somewhere else?" Mavis suggested awkwardly.
"Thanks for the thought, but I'm afraid the reason why I was fired will make it near impossible for me to be hired anywhere else." Amina shook her head.
"Really? What happened?" Wanda asked concernedly.
The guys pricked their ears up at this. Murray especially, in hopes that he could figure out a way to help Amina.
"There was a robbery in the museum the same night I was working late." Amina admitted.
"Did they honestly think that you had anything to do with it?" Eunice frowned.
"Yes, because they recognized one of the thieves through a hidden security camera. He was my ex-boyfriend." Amina frowned. "I think he only dated me so that he could gain enough info to rob the place."
"WHAT?"
Startled, the girls turn toward the guys. Murray blushed.
"Er, sorry, couldn't help overhearing." He admitted. "But seriously how could anyone do that?"
"Well, some people are jerks. Either way I should've known better, no guy has ever really liked me that way."
"I find that surprising." Murray couldn't stop himself from saying. "I mean you are a really nice woman and you're fun to hang out with."
Amina looked at him with surprise.
"Um...thanks..." She said awkwardly
"You're welcome. Now about that robbery...I do NOT like it when Egyptian artifacts get stolen, I mean they're technically personal property. Okay yeah the owners are dead, but even so the artifacts should either be left alone or kept safe in museums. We have to do something about this."
"Like what? The robbery took place on another continent let alone another country and who knows where the thieves ran off to." Wayne pointed out. "There's no way even Winnie can easily track them."
"True...I got it." Murray snapped his fingers. "My pet locusts. Normally I use them to scare away thieves, but I'm sure they'd be happy to help. They can fly and they have a good sense of smell, so I just have to tell them to locate Egyptian artifacts that aren't in a tomb or museum."
"Also tell them to smell for a pine scent on a dark-haired man with blue eyes." Amina added. "The pine scent is his cologne."
"Right."
Murray then whistled, and a small swarm of locusts appeared and looked at Murray questioningly. Normally he only summoned them when he wanted them to scare away thieves - since they could fend for themselves - so they weren't sure what he wanted.
"Hey guys, we need to track down some thieves. Keep an antennae out for Egyptian artifacts that aren't in a tomb or museum, and are near a dark haired man with blue eyes who smells like pine." Murray said.
The locusts bobbed up and down - their way of nodding - and flew away.
"Hopefully, this will get your job back as well as return the artifacts to the museum." Murray smiled before going back to his book.
Without even Amina herself knowing it, she suddenly zinged for Murray. No guy had ever cared about her like that before, at least no guy outside the family. However she didn't know what a zing was - no one ever told her - so she only thought she had gotten a strong crush on Murray. Because of that and her past bad luck with romance, she decided to not even tell Hana about her feelings for him.
Then to everyone's surprise, the locusts came back a few seconds later (to explain: they're supernatural locusts).
"Boy that was fast. Don't tell me the thieves are already here?" Griffin remarked.
The locusts buzzed something.
"No, but they are on a train on their way here." Murray translated. "They knew that trying to sell the artifacts in Africa would get them arrested, so they wanted to take them out of the continent. So, now what?"
"Well I'm definitely willing to help get the artifacts back, but the thieves might catch on to us if too many help so..." Dracula thought it over. "Well I'll definitely help, and Murray since these are Egyptian artifacts we're talking about. Johnny and Mavis can come, but only as backup. And I don't want to put a guest in danger, but Amina is the one who lost her job over the robbery so if she wants to help..."
"Definitely. If nothing else I at least want to punch that ex of mine in the face." Amina nodded.
Everyone smirked understandingly.
"Okay. You stay in the background and take care of calling the cops after we get them tied up." Dracula agreed. "Now how should we go about it...I don't want to risk the safety of anyone in the village either."
"Say...I still look very human...if I keep my fangs hidden as much as possible, maybe I could trick them." Johnny smiled a 'getting an idea' smile. "I could pretend to be interested in buying one of the artifacts, and have them meet me in the forest late at night where dad and Murray can ambush them."
"That's...brilliant." Vlad was stunned.
"Don't be surprised, our bro actually is smart he just doesn't like to show it off." Drake chuckled. "He'd rather chill out and have fun than put his brain to use working hard at something."
"Yup." Johnny confirmed.
After that they decided to worry more about the plan later, since the thieves wouldn't arrive for another week.