Chapter Five
All of a sudden, Lyzera clutched her stomach. A choke sounded from her lips, and she collapsed to the ground, completely lifeless.
"She's been poisoned!" cried Granny, rushing to her aid. She bent over her to check whether she was still breathing. No sound came from the Lady's windpipe. Gran took a deep breath, and sealed her mouth over her lips. Tom took hold of her hand, and pulled up her sleeve, pressing his thumb to her wrist. There was no heartbeat.
"Her pulse has stopped!" he informed Mrs Crowe.
Ursula clamped both her hands over Lyzera's upper chest and pressed down several times, counting aloud. She went on to perform another round of artificial respiration, and then repeated CPR. The Lady groaned and stirred, rolling over. She turned slightly green, and promptly threw up. Tom could sense the deadly magic infused with her vomit.
Dad had taken off his helmet. "Tom? Ursula? Is it just me, or is that portal getting bigger?"
Gran's eyes leapt to the gateway. Indeed it was enlarging, and rapidly so! She scrambled up off the floor, gazing at it in utmost horror.
"I don't know how to stop it!" she shrieked.
"Lyzera!" shouted Thomas, "You have got to shut the portal NOW!"
"I don't know how!" replied the trembling Nekross, looking more like a frightened schoolgirl than a magestic alien monarch.
The light from the circle had grown so bright everyone had to shield their eyes.
"We've got to do something!" cried Tom.
Michael marched over to Lyzera, wrenched the diamond from her neck, threw it on the floor and blasted it into oblivion with his handgun. A blaring inferno erupted from the carpet. Jeremy sprinted to a nearby wall, grabbed a fire extinguisher and buried the flames beneath a mountain of foam. The portal vanished in an instant.
"Problem sorted!" exclaimed Dad, whilst everyone caught their breath back.
"You destroyed a priceless gemstone..." Mrs Crowe didn't know whether to laugh or cry!
The mass of foam had shrunk enough to reveal the shattered remains of the famed Hope Diamond. Gran picked one up and studied it. "I cannot feel any magic," she reported, tossing the fragment back to the ground.
Lyzera had just managed to figure out what had happened and clawed at the remains of the diamond. A terrible wail burst from her lungs. She kicked and punched the floor like a tantruming two-year-old.
Ursula turned to her grandson. "I have a few tasks for you, Thomas. Firstly, you will need to perform a spring cleaning spell, otherwise the caretakers will have a nightmare of a job when they find the state of this place tomorrow morning."
Tom glanced at the scorch marks on the carpet and knew she wasn't joking. "Sprash-afalla-wan-dah!" Snap!
They were briefly encompassed by a surge of rainbow light. When it cleared, the room looked the same as before, except the burns had disappeared, alongside the pile of foam and the chunks of glittering diamond.
Rather, a few centimetres away from Lyzera's head, he spotted something that sent shivers down his spine.
The spring cleaning spell had not only tidied up the museum - it had restored the gemstone!
Four pairs of eyes (and one triple) were transfixed upon the killer necklace, in case the magic Lyzera had unleashed started to escape once more.
"Gran?" mentioned Tom after a few minutes, "I don't think it's doing anything."
Ursula paced toward the jewel slowly. She bent over to pick it up and dangled it in her fingers. Gradually, she started beaming. "There is no need to worry! This gemstone is but a replica of the original diamond." She frowned. "How is that possible?" She thought about this for a few moments. "Of course... The Hope Diamond may have been fashioned from dark magic, rather than natural diamond. Your spring cleaning spell has transformed it into the real thing!"
Jeremy flung off his helmet. "Oh boy! You guys were AWESOME!"
Gran turned around, glaring in his direction.
"What?" defended Mr Wren, "I didn't hurt you! I'm on your side!"
"I'm afraid I have no tolerance for jewellery thieves."
Jeremy laughed it off. "Come on! Surely you can't turn me over after all I've helped you with! You couldn't have done it without me!"
"Perhaps not." She looked away, a darkly mischeivous expression forming upon her face. "Michael - could you escort him to the broom cupboard please?"
"You're gonna lock me in the broom cupboard?"
Dad clasped his wrist tightly.
"Please! Let me go! I promise I won't do anything to harm you!"
"Oh, don't worry! " reassured Mrs Crowe, "It's not as if the guards will actually know you tried to steal from the museum..."
Jeremy groaned. Mr Clarke herded away the well and truly defeated wizard burglar.
Lyzera tried to get up, but was she still too weak from the shock of being poisoned. Tom offered her his hand. She took it begrudgingly and soon rose to her feet.
It was then Ursula remembered that she still had a world-famous diamond in her hand. "I must put this back in its case," she muttered to herself, trotting off to the adjoining section.
She couldn't have missed the gemstone's case - it was positioned right in the middle of the room, the glass having been restored to its former state and the security beams surrounding it just as protectively as ever. There was no way she could simply place it back on its cushion! Granny resorted to setting it as near to the cabinet as possible, a few inches away from a laser beam. "There! That should do it."
She was about to head back to the other room when she discovered why Jeremy hadn't tried to threaten Michael with his gun when he was taken to the cupboard - he must have dropped it on the floor, and now Lyzera was holding it at Tom's neck
"Surrender, hag, or watch your grandson - in the words of my darling husband - be instantly obliterated."
"Don't, Gran!"
"I'm afraid I might have to-" Granny broke off.
Somewhere in the museum, a door had opened, and as far as she was concerned, it wasn't in the direction her son-in-law had taken.
"Who was that?" called a male American voice.
"The sleeping spell..." whispered Ursula, "It must have worn off."
"We've got to get out of here," hissed Thomas.
"If you don't show yourself now, I'm going to have to come in there..."
Lyzera diverted her eyes to see who was talking, before strolling toward the visitor, still holding her captive at gunpoint. "Who dares address the Lady Lyzera, Queen Regent of Nekron?" she boomed.
"Oh boy..." said the guard, dropping his weapon.
Lyzera aimed her own gun at his head. The officer raised his arms, breathing heavily.
"Move, and you will be destroyed."
"That's...not...real...is it?" worried the poor chap.
Mrs Crowe stared in absolute dread. There wasn't anything she could do to help him.
Then at that moment, Dad tapped her on the shoulder, handed her a cloth and gestured to her mouth. He went over to Tom, handed him a scarf, pulled on his Nekross helmet and cast down a canister just before Lyzera twigged what he was up to.
The Lady's eyes rolled upward as the substance reached her nostrils, and the handgun slipped from her grasp whilst her body toppled to the ground. The confused guardsman also collapsed into a relaxing slumber.
After the gas had dissipated, Mr Clarke removed his helmet. "Sleeping gas. Got it off the thief. I overheard Lyzera and thought you might need a diversion. Not sure how long it will hold a Nekross, though. We better get out of here!"
"Wait a second, Michael!" Granny restrained him. "Thomas? Would you please?"
Tom looked upward at the jewellery wing's security camera. He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate. "Wan-mal-ayesha-dah!" Snap!
A few moments passed.
"...and...what did that do?" asked Dad skeptically.
"I wiped the video cameras' memories of what happened in the last hour."
"All of them?" Gran looked around.
"All of them."
"It's time we head home," decided Michael.
Tom raised his fingers, and cast a passing charm. All three of them vanished in an instant.
Meanwhile, inside the television room, Morecambe stirred slightly and glimpsed a most alarming sight on the viewscreen. He immediately leapt up to check whether he'd seen what he thought he'd seen but by that time, the unusual visitors had completely disappeared.
Must be a trick, concluded Morecambe, and nestled back down on his desk for a further snooze.
...
"Varg!"
One of the king regent's tentacles wiggled slightly. He made a few grunts.
"VAAAAAAARG!"
The Nekross sprang to his feet.
"There is no escape, wizard half-form!"
He then caught sight of his wife standing a few metres away from him, hands on hips, a putrid scent coming from some disturbing brown stains on her bodice.
"Did you let the wizard halfling slip from your clutches again, husband?" she asked interrogatively.
"No, my Lady, I-"
It was then Varg noticed that the magic extractor was looking awfully empty.
"WHAT?!"
He had been there a minute ago!
"Imbecile!" cursed Lyzera, storming off the flight deck.
"Did you enter the portal?" attempted Varg.
The doors slammed shut behind her and the king regent decided it wasn't safe to ask any more.
...
Early the next morning, before the Natural History Museum opened to the public, a pair of guards were patrolling the Korean culture hall. Of course, Tom's spring cleaning spell had set all the models back in their original positions, but that didn't stop them from spotting something out of the ordinary.
"Um...Sawyer..."
"Huh?"
"You know those pretend swords?"
"Yeah?"
"Well...don't they look a little...sharper than usual? Anyone would think they were real."
"It's nothing, Rogers. Get back on track."
"Understood, sir."
THE END