Chapter Three
Varg roared ferociously. "Curse the hag Crowe! I should have obliterated her while I had the chance!"
"She has stolen the Hope Diamond!" fumed Lyzera. This called for serious measures.
While Varg swanned off to see whether the prisoners had transported within near proximity, she fingered her regal necklace and whispered a spell that would soon put their enemies to the test.
...
"Where are we?" squeaked a startled Blackman. His question was soon answered, however, as he caught sight of rows upon rows of elaborate mummy cases, sometimes leaking their disturbing contents.
"The Egyptian room, from the looks of it," answered Ursula.
"Wait! How did you...?"
"Cover your ears, Michael," whispered Gran into her son-in-law's ear. He promptly obeyed.
"Hang on a minute!" Rogers pointed in her direction. "Didn't those monsters say you were...?"
Mrs Crowe hissed an incantation. Rogers' eyelids started drooping, alongside every other unenchanted in the room, except for Dad, who was wondering what on Earth she was up to. One by one the security men were lulled into a deep sleep, collapsing to the floor. Michael unplugged his ears as soon as Granny finished chanting the spell.
"You sent them to sleep!" exclaimed Tom, checking to make sure no-one was stirring.
"I also wiped their memories of the last half hour," corrected Ursula, "Hopefully it should also work on anyone monitoring the cameras. We must get a move on, before they wake up!"
"Wait a minute," said Tom, "If there are cameras everywhere, doesn't that mean they'll have filmed everything that just happened?"
Gran paused. She hadn't thought of that. "After we have sorted out the Nekross, I think we ought to pay them a visit." She held up the Hope Diamond for observance. "I can feel the deadly magic inside this gemstone. The Nekross must never get it back, no matter what!"
Suddenly, the jewel was snatched from her hand.
"See ya," taunted Jeremy. He turned and bolted.
"HEY!" shouted Dad. He dived after him.
The burglar charged into the dinosaur hall, the others hot on his heels, relying heavily on Gran's cane to see where they were going.
"I should have known that man would be trouble," realised Granny, "Why else would he have gone into a museum in the middle of the night dressed completely in black? He was after the diamond!"
"You mean we're trying to stop a real live jewellery thief!" said Tom excitedly.
"A real live jewellery thief clutching one of the most dangerous items on the face of this planet: the Hope Diamond was allegedly stolen from an Indian temple and passed from owner to owner over the centuries, but each and every one of them met a grisly fate. They say the diamond is cursed - there is destructive power emanating from deep inside of it."
"You're not saying you believe all that, Ursula?" interjected Mr Clarke.
"Perhaps I wouldn't if I were an unenchanted like you, Michael, but I could feel the enchantment it contains, as has every other wizard that has got close to it. We have come to believe that before the jewel was placed inside the Indian temple, it originally came from the Netherside. Goodness knows who or what created it, but if there is one thing I know, we cannot let this thief have it any more than the Nekross!"
Jeremy hurtled round a corner, but he didn't lose his tail. He desperately scoured his path for something to distract his pursuers. The eyes of the scale dino models seemed to be watching him in the gloom, almost as if they knew of his theft and were angry they could not stop him. Even the hollow eye sockets of the skeletons occasionally flickered with life. He turned another corner and leapt into an exhibit.
Tom's family raced after him, only to find he'd disappeared. They stopped in their tracks.
"Spectacular!" cried Thomas, "We've lost him now!"
"He must be here somewhere," whispered Mrs Crowe.
She wondered over to a series of cabinets in case Jeremy had crouched behind one, whilst Tom investigated an archaeological display featuring dummies pretending to dig up some dinosaur bones in case Jeremy had disguised himself as one of the characters.
In actual fact, Mr Wren had concealed himself inside the archaeologists' canvas tent, and was keeping himself very still in case the others looked in his direction. If he waited long enough, it was possible they would lose interest and move on.
"Erm...Gran..." Tom edged away from the exhibit.
"What is it, Thomas?"
"You might want to see this."
Ursula turned round.
"Now...look very carefully..." Tom pointed toward part of the display.
Jeremy's heart started thumping furiously. He refused to move, breathe or even think.
"Oh, my..." whispered Granny, "I think we might be in more danger than I thought."
"What's wrong, Ursula?" said Michael anxiously.
"The curse has started working - and it is more deadly than I ever imagined."
Dad probed the display frantically. What was she talking about?
"Hang on a minute," he said all of a sudden, "Did that model's eyes just...move?"
There was silence.
Abruptly, the figure's arm jerked upward. His head turned toward them. Mrs Crowe backed away slowly, gesturing to the others to retreat.
Without warning, the mannequin swivelled round and struck a blow at the canvas tent, knocking it flying. Jeremy screamed at the top of his lungs when he saw the person who had discovered his hiding place, and shot out of the exhibit like an arrow. Several of the other dummies began facing them. One of the explorers stepped right out of the enclosure.
"RUN!" shrieked Dad.
Everyone sprinted for their lives. The mannequin army gave chase, marching regimentally to begin with, but quickly gathering speed.
"There must be somewhere for us to hide!" said Ursula, desperately looking left, right and centre for any possibilities but to no avail.
Models all around them were twitching now - and not just human models either. Skeletal limbs started creeping over the guardrails, and spine-chilling roars echoed from deep within their long-disused throats, sometimes right above their heads.
"How do we stop them?!" cried a petrified Tom, as a dinosaur craned its neck in their direction.
"I don't know!" shrieked Mrs Crowe, "The magic is probably too powerful for our spells to have any effect on them."
Michael caught sight of the upcoming section. "I don't know about you, Ursula, but I don't think we're going to need magic to stop them..."
They had made it now into the Korean culture hall, which displayed all sorts of artefacts from different eras in the country's history, including a few models dressed in full oriental getup, clutching blunt but effective-looking wol-dos. Dad leapt over the guardrail, and seized one of the weapons, throwing it to Thomas.
"We're going to sword fight them?" he exclaimed in astonishment.
"Are you certain this is a good idea, Michael?" asked Granny.
"Have you got any better ideas?" responded Mr Clarke, swinging a blade for good measure. He chucked it to his mother-in-law.
Several of the explorers had caught up with them. Tom lunged straight for them with a furious battle cry and whacked the nearest one with all his might. The model went flying. He landed sprawled across the floor with his head and both arms missing, still kicking his legs in the air.
"Nobody threatens a seventh daughter of a seventh daughter of the magical line of Crowe!" bellowed Ursula ruthlessly. She swung round her sword and with a tremendous blow chopped the torso off one of the dummies, which tumbled to the floor noisily, whilst the poor confused legs tried to figure out what on earth they were supposed to do now they were unassisted.
Dad cast Jeremy a wol-do, before grabbing one himself, just as the Korean figures started to twig there was an uninvited guest in their exhibit and reached out to grapple him. Michael rammed one of them with the weapon's handle. Granny had to dive out of the way before it came crashing down into her path. However, she was not quick enough to stop one of the mannequins wrenching her blade from her hand.
"Help, Thomas!" she cried as two explorers seized her arms.
Tom swivelled his head to see her being forcefully dragged away. He stopped what he was doing and raced after her.
Dad was up to his ears in a heated battle with a Korean warrior, powerless to help her. The model had him pinned to the floor, continually moving the fake sword nearer his throat. Michael was fighting it intensely. The metal was just about to touch his skin when suddenly he had a surge of strength and knocked the dummy into the middle of next week.
"I'm glad that's over," he said in relief.
He didn't notice the burly mannequin behind him brandishing a poleaxe. The soldier was just about to strike when Jeremy sprang over and wrestled him to the ground.
Tom chased after his gran, dodging models along the way, when without warning his sword was whipped out of his hand. He peered upward to see a towering diplodocus skeleton, now dangling his weapon in its mouth. The creature growled darkly. A couple of explorers took the young wizard into their custody, yanking him in the same direction as Ursula.
"Dad!" he yelped in terror.
Mr Clarke was busy struggling with a pair of warriors, whilst Jeremy was still engaged in a skirmish with the poleaxe-bearer. Dad ducked abruptly and the models' weapons collided with each other. He rushed out of the enclosure after his family.
Jeremy had just managed to cast off his opponent when a deafening roar made him jump out of his skin. Right above him was a bony dinosaur, bearing its aged but needle-sharp fangs. The burglar screamed at the top of his lungs and ran for all he was worth. The diplodocus pursued him, snarling and snapping its jaws, and as if things couldn't get any worse, the dummy squadron managed to grab both his arms and legs and haul him onto their shoulders. Though Jeremy thrashed and kicked, there was no escape.
The dinosaur stomped and growled behind the crowd of mannequins that were marching Mr Wren to what he concluded must be certain doom...
...
Lady Lyzera was surrounded by writhing snakes of magic.
"Come to me...come to me..." she whispered.
Her necklace gave off even more streams of misty enchantment. They floated down the corridor, dissipating into the air. It would not be long before the Hope Diamond and the wizard halfling would be right within her clutches.
"There is no trace of them, my lady," interrupted Varg out of the blue. Lyzera just about managed to hide the swathes of magic before her husband strode on scene, scowling in frustration.
"How unfortunate, Varg," she responded.
"Raargh! They are as slippery as the king's saliva! They must have transported to another part of the museum. We will have to call down a search party."
"Why do you remember the ways of the old king, dear husband? You are in his place now, my valiant and victorious Varg. If you desire, we could storm this establishment from top to bottom, never settling until we have hunted down every last wizard and ripped the magic from their very flesh!"
Varg chuckled. "If we at last track down the wizard half-form, then you, my lady, may be the first to sip his exquisite magic through your soft magenta lips, from which I have already stolen countless numbers of kisses."
He bent toward her and closed his eyes. Lyzera waited for the impact of his warm, black mouth on her own...when she heard the sound of a door bursting open in another room, and the shrieks and shouts of several familiar voices. The dummies had brought her their enemies.
Varg paused and turned his head. "What is that?"
Whilst he marched into the adjoining section to investigate, the Lady muttered an incantation. The mannequins dumped the captives on the carpet and quickly departed from the jewellery wing, right before the king regent burst into the room. Tom groaned and tried to get up - only to find himself peering into the barrel of Varg's blaster.
Not again, he thought, slumping back to the floor in defeat.
"Consider yourself a prisoner of the Nekross." Varg's eyes narrowed into dark slits.
Lyzera stomped fiercely toward Jeremy, and heaved him onto his feet. She rifled through his black jacket until she grasped a cold, hard object and drew it out, cackling. She was astounded to find that Hope Diamond had inexplicably turned bright red and become wrapped in a small piece of cellophane. Growling in frustration, she threw the sweet over her shoulder and searched Mr Wren's pockets even more
A wicked smile crept upon her face. She slid out a long silver chain, at the end of which was the exquisite blue jewel, twinkling in the little light given by Ursula's cane.
"At last!" she cried, "Within my hand is the key to domination of the universe!"
"Do not be concerned about universal domination, my lady," interjected Varg, "Our primary duty is to provide sustenance for our people."
"Of course, dear husband," replied Lyzera with an uneasy giggle. She slipped the necklace over her head.
"Varg to Zarantulus," said the king regent into his communicator, "Five to beam up."
The Lady stepped out of the way.
The next thing they knew, Tom, Ursula, Michael and Jeremy found themselves on the Zarantulus' transporter pad. Behind them was the massive window displaying the face of the Earth.
"Say goodbye to Earth, enemies of Nekron."
This can't be happening, thought Tom in horror.
One of his deadliest foes had in her possession the entrance to a dangerous magical dimension, and if she found a way of opening it, there was nothing he could do to stop her...