"Morning baby," Henry paused at the tank of murky water until a silvery face appeared. "Yeah, I know you love me," he whispered at the mermaid who flicked her hair gracefully. Her features shimmered as the light struggled to get a hold on her skin.

Her deep eyes kept him there, staring dumbly at the tank. Henry often caught himself lingering here on his way through to the main office. The floor was full of all kinds of unimaginable creatures staring out from their enclosures yet he always ended up here, with his hand to the glass.

"Brought you something," he muttered, breaking her mournful gaze. Henry opened his laptop, balancing it awkwardly on his arm. The screen flicked on revealing a grainy image of something remotely human. "Sandman," he grinned, outlining the human figure with a finger.

She pulled away at first, swimming back into the safety of the water with a flick of her tail.

"No, it's okay!" he put the laptop on the ground and pressed his nose to the glass. "Please..."

The mermaid tilted her head to the side before drifting closer.

"Just a picture," Henry continued to whisper, until she was back in front of him.

*~*~*

Helen ran her hand along the wall as they walked forward, carefully placing one foot in front of the next. "The Egyptians weren't just smart," her voice had already begun to lower as they moved further into the tombs. "They were paranoid. Sand traps and spiked drops are the most common form of obstacle in places like this," she held an arm in front of Will's chest, preventing his forward motion.

Will raised an eyebrow curiously as she tapped the ground lightly with her foot where his next step was going to be. The ground fell away at once with a miniature avalanche of sand. Will coughed and leant over to the hole with his flashlight. A rather nasty set of spikes protruded after a short drop with sinister looking tips begging to stab something.

"Point made," he said, stepping around it.

"You should have been there in Rome when we did the Colosseum. We had wild cats as well as ShiftCreatures – you know," she put her hands up, "those things that grab you by the head?"

"What sort of coffee do you like?"

Helen stopped and frowned. "Creatures that grab you by the head and what sort of coffee do I like?"

Will shrugged. "Either you tell me what sort of coffee you like or I run back down that corridor and hide."

"I hate coffee," she sneered, "but I would be happy to discuss the long and magnificent history of tea if you –" Helen raised a fist in front of them and stopped dead.

Will had no idea what that meant but presumed that he was supposed to stop. Feeling very naked, he raised his flashlight aggressively as Helen withdrew a long knife.

"What?" whispered Will, sinking behind.

Helen flashed her light across the ground. "Footprints," she pointed at the dips in the sand in front of them. They were small but far apart, made by something running.

"They just begin," she whispered, stepping forward. "Unless –" she lifted her eyes to the ceiling and found a small opening. "Ashley came through here."

"This is Ashley?" Will asked, wondering how some non-descript indents in the ground could be identified.

"Size six-and-a-half, slight in-turn on the left foot; can't tell you how many times I've told her to wear her orthopaedics." Helen picked up the pace to a brisk walk. "Wherever she's going, she went there in a hurry – and with company..." she pointed to a second set of prints which appeared every ten metres or so in a tight bundle of three.

*~*~*

ERROR – search results = 0

Henry glared at the screen - Google rarely failed him so spectacularly.

"But I don't want to go upstairs," he mumbled, sliding out his chair and grabbing his coat. Henry blew a kiss at the tank as he left, warmed by the flash of silver.

Three flights of stairs (because he refused to use the lift while alone) took him to the library. A level exclusively for books, many protected behind wire framed cabinets or hidden in wall crevices, circled a central desk. He tried his search again at the lonesome computer and this time was directed to a small row of books at the south-east end of the room.

The city shimmered outside with a thousand trembling points of light. They would start to go out soon as the hours lagged on, the office buildings first and eventually the angry taillights of cars. It was almost time to let the wanderers out – the abnormal allowed to roam freely. Henry preferred to call them 'pets' but was usually clipped sharply over the ears for doing so.

Tucked away in a dark corner, Henry found what he was looking for. Grunting, he extracted a dusty A3 book and flopped to the floor with it. Deciding that 'here' was as good a place as any, he flicked to the index and scanned for anything scary.

"Mummies..." he repeated, finding something interesting. "Close enough. Yo Bigfoot," he spoke into his earpiece. The simple looking communicator was actually a complex set of relays connecting him directly with his colleagues at the scene in Egypt. He waited patiently for the satellite delay, skimming through the text.

"Foss," the signal was a bit crackly, but it was defiantly the big man. "You took yooour tiime."

"How's the sand?" Henry smiled, scratching his chin. He'd forgotten to shave and appeared, by his standards, a bit scruffy. He made a note to look into that before the boss got home.

"Good for the liice," Bigfoot joked, although he really wasn't much for jokes so it could have been a serious comment. "Did yoou find that book?"

He winked though there was no-one to see it. "Tell her to load the heavy stuff, these things she's onto aren't very friendly. This book calls them, 'wall climbers' but I think they're the same thing. Claws and teeth – sensitive to light, the usual aggressive temperament of an abnormal..."

Bigfoot growled a little, resulting in a smile from Henry.

"Cool it fuzzy, you don't count, obviously." He flipped over to a random page. "Oooh... hope you don't run into any of these."

"Goodbye Foss," the radio crackled out.

"Nasty little beasts with fangs and everything ouch," he ripped the device out of his ear as it pitched. "You could've said you were hanging up..." he pouted, rubbing his ear.

"Maybe I could help with that..." the silken voice trailed off as its owner paced out of the shadows. John Druitt's leather coat caught a few traces of the city light filtering in through the cob-webbed windows.

Henry dropped the book and spun around to find Helen's creepy ex lingering by the window.

"She used to keep this place better," John dragged a slender finger through a trail of dust on the top of a low shelf. "Many things change over time."

*~*~*

"And what are you planning to do with that?" Helen watched curiously as Will rolled his thumb over the lighter's metal wheel. A sharp spark later and a slender flame dented the torchlight.

"I lied before – when I said I only brought batteries. I have this too."

"All our problems are solved – we can finally go home because Will possesses a lighter." She shook her head in amusement. "Seriously, what are you doing with that other than wasting time?"

"This..." he grinned, holding it up to a small crevice in the wall beside. For a few moments the flame did nothing except tremble. Then, in a sudden rush of light, it caught hold of an accelerant and zoomed off in a trail of light illuminating their surrounds.

Helen clicked her flashlight off, highly impressed.

"You're not going to say anything?" Will failed to conceal a proud grin. "It's okay, I know when I'm brilliant."