Larry sat on his desk, tapping the table and staring across as Ahkmenrah and Teddy, who sat in two chairs which they'd pulled up for the purpose of conversing. Beside him, on a stack of papers, sat Octavius, quiet and solemn, listening to what the bigger exhibits said, but unable to keep his mind from wandering to his friend and what must surely be a nightmare for him.

"Alright guys," Larry said, folding his hands in an attempt to keep from taping. His foot started to move instead. "Tomorrow is when I'm supposed to pick up the artifact I ordered. Now. This man is illegally buying and selling artifacts, so we have to be careful since we could be arrested by being in his presence. But we have to get Jed."

"That is quite obvious," Teddy stated, nodding. "And you are very much right, Lawrence. But how do we get to our little friend? We do not know where he's being held."

"True, so that's why we should split up into teams. You and I, Teddy, will confront the man, and Ahkmenrah will see if there's a back entrance and look for Jed. Octavius,"

At the sound of his name, the little Roman looked up, staring at the night guard but only half listening.

"You can take a small group of men and scout out the places Ahkmenrah can't get to. That way, we'll have eyes everywhere. Teddy and I will keep our eyes peeled too. Sound like a plan?"

Octavius absently nodded, staring off into space.

Larry nodded a quick, curt nod. "Good. Have them ready tonight to !eave as soon as possible tomorrow-" Larry paused as he was cut off by the sharp ring of the phone. With a puzzled expression as to who would be calling at such an hour, he picked it up, and the others, even Octavius, waited in full blown, curious silence. "Hello?" Larry said, holding the phone to his ear.

"Hi, Mr. Wilkins?" A man's voice said, loud and ringing. Larry dropped the phone, surprised it was on speaker.

"Yes? Who is this?" Larry asked.

"It's Mr. Hodgkins, the man who sold you the Stetson?"

Everyone froze, and the exhibits listened intently.

"Can...can I help you?"

"Yes, you can. I was wondering, Mr. Wilkins, if you would like to consider a trade?"

"A trade?" Larry asked, confusion on his face. "For what?"

"Well...I have something far more interesting than a Stetson. If you really want a nice gift for your "son," I am willing to trade you your little cowboy for your Tablet, Mr. Daley."

A gasp came from Ahkmenrah, and anger flared in Teddy's eyes. Octavius stared at the phone with a look of horror, and Larry froze.

"Oh, don't think I don't know who you are, Daley. I do. The clues mounted easily enough. A tiny, living being from your museum, a phone call from someone, with the museum's number, I should mention, wanting a Western artifact. It was easy to tell."

"Now listen," Teddy said, unable to keep himself from chiming in. "You best release him, or else."

"Or else what, Mr. President?"

"How did you...?" Larry asked, unable to find the words to reply.

"Larry," Ahkmenrah said, looking at the night guard. "We cannot let him get the Tablet."

"Oh, but you must give it to me, dear pharaoh," The man said, startling Ahkmenrah. How did this man know...? "Unless you want your friend back dead."

"No..." Octavius breathed, but was quickly silenced by Larry.

"You can't have the Tablet," He said, his voice the tone of a final decision.

"Oh well. I suppose you're little cowboy friend will meet his end in the light of the sun."

"No!" Octavius cried.

"Lawrence there has to be something we can do," Teddy said almost at the same time.

"But we cannot give him the Tablet," Ahkmenrah said urgently.

"What will it be, Mr. Daley?" As the man spoke, a cry came from the background, followed by a strangled cry form help. "The Tablet, or your friend?"

"How do you even know this!?" Larry exclaimed, still confused.

"He told me." The man said.

"Jedediah would never tell," Octavius said, his eyes full of disbelief.

"Oh really?" The man asked, chuckling wickedly. "How would you like to ask him yourself?" A second later, hard panting could be heard through the phone, and the man's voice said-"Go head. Tell them."

Larry nodded, and Octavius slowly approached the phone, his heart clenching and his stomach doing summersaults as he neared. Hushed sobs were coming from the other end, and he tried to calm his shaking. "Jeded-"

"I'm sorry." The voice said, strangled and tear tainted. "I didn't mean to tell..."

"Jedediah," Octavius said, his voice shaky. But he pressed on. "It is okay..."

"I couldn't help it," The voice sobbed softly, full of pain and despair. "It hurt so bad..."

As the crying reached his ears, Octavius lay his hand on the phone's speaker, as it was as close to his friend as he could get. "It is not your fault."

"Please...please help me..." The voice said, teary and desperate.

"Jedediah, I promise help will come soon. Just hold on a little longer-"

"He's gonna kill me..." The voice cried, terrified and pained.

"Jedediah I promise, we will come for you." Octavius whispered, his hand still on the speaker, his only connection to his suffering friend. "We will find you. No matter what it takes."

"Aw, how cute." The man said, Jedediah's voice disappearing.

"We will save him, you know." Larry said fiercely, his fists clenching.

"Unless you bring the Tablet to me by sunrise, I will kill him. And no tricks." And with that, the man hung up, with one final cry from Jedediah.

Larry and the others sat in shocked silence, the weight of their new situation weighing heavily on their shoulders. Ahkmenrah, who'd brought his tablet with him, was hugging it tightly to his chest, muttering something under his breath in Egyptian, and Teddy was sitting there solemnly, his eyes a mixture of anger and worry. And Octavius stood rigid, fear in his eyes and a few tears forming in his eyes.

"What do we do now, Lawrence?" Teddy asked softly, his eyes landing on the night guard.

"I...don't know." Larry said, staring down at his hands.

"We must help Jedediah," Octavius said, his voice quite and sad.

"We cannot give him the Tablet." Ahkmenrah said, hugging it tighter.

"But he is going to kill Jedediah!"

"And if he gets the Tablet he could kill us all!"

"Enough!" Larry shouted, startling all three of the exhibits. They all stared at him in surprise. "Now listen. We've got two options..."

"Larry we cannot let him get his hands on the Tablet. If he does, who knows what will happen?" Ahkmenrah said, hoping to sway Larry in his direction.

Larry looked at Ahkmenrah, who stared back at him worriedly and clutched his Tablet. He looked at Octavius, whose eyes were watery and who looked ready to cry.

"Please," The Roman pleaded, his eyes begging. "We have to save him..."

With a sigh, Larry rubbed his face tiredly. He glanced at his watch. 12:00 am, midnight. They'd only have about five hours of darkness until the death the cowboy. But was it worth it? Was it worth putting every living thing in the museum in such danger to save one, tiny life? If they had to leave him to die in the sun, could he do it? Could he live with the guilt of letting him go so easily? The guilt of dooming poor Octavius to a life of grief and sorrow? Could he?

The answer was simple; no, he couldn't. "Ahkmenrah," Larry said, looking up finally. "We're going to give him the Tablet." He quickly held up his hand as Ahkmenrah went to protest, and took a deep breath. "We all know we can't leave him in that man's grasp. Here's what we'll do. Ahkmenrah, you and I will confront him. We'll try to stall as long as we can. Teddy, you'll have to stay here and keep things under control in case something goes wrong and the Tablet is effected. Octavius,"

But the Roman was already on the floor, running out of the room for his own exhibit. He was not going to waste his friend's precious time. He knew what he had to do.