Chapter One

Jedediah sighed, looking out over the diorama room. In some ways, he really did like the absence of people, especially when Octavius came around, which he invariably did. That's about the point he kicked himself for being surprised when Octavius snuck up behind him and pulled him into a hug. "Good evening, my love."

"Hey, Octy. How you doing?"

"I'm well. How're you?"

"Doing pretty good now that you showed up."

"Thank you. That makes me feel special."

"You are."

"Thank you." Octavius squeezed Jed rather firmly and kissed the hollow between the cowboy's neck and his shoulder. "Do you want to go somewhere tonight?"

"Oo, sounds fun. Where? Where?"

"How do you feel about a window overlooking the city?"

"Which one?"

"New York, of course."

"That sounds nice."

"I'll even let you drive, since last time I drove, Larry had to foot the bill. You're much better at it."

"Thanks."

"So, shall we begin?" Jed led Octavius to the car, just as the late show was over for the night.

Ahkmenrah cast a few glances in Tally's direction between tour groups until the late hours were over and all the tourists filed out, at which point he walked over to her. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, just that some of the rumors are true," Tally replied, scanning McPhee as he walked out of the building.

"What rumors?"

"The ones about a transfer, except this one's from Berlin."

"What could we want with something from Berlin, Germany?"

"Waxworks of Hitler and a couple Nazis."

"Oh, that sounds like a lovely new addition."

"Yeah, I know, right? Problem is, we're expected to put them on display for at least a day, during which time, the halls of the museum could flow with blood after sundown."

"Or hot wax."

"Or hot wax. Point is, it's not good, and we have to at least keep them locked up until we can lock them out."

"This is your grand scheme? Turning them to dust?"

"Why not?"

"Alright, you win this one, but I still say we should be fully sure that they are dead."

"That is how you be sure. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust."

"Alright, then."

"Remember when I told you a storm was coming? This is the storm."

"I thought it was you being pregnant."

"Nope. I'm right on schedule, anyway."

"Well, I assume that's good news."

Tally closed her eyes and rolled her head back. "The pickle gets worse, I feel it."

"Worse? How? I've heard very bad things about Adolf Hitler."

"Well, I don't specifically know how it could get worse, but what Jed said comes to mind."

"His dream about you meeting a terrible end?"

"Yeah. It was just a silly old dream, anyway, but sometimes people's dreams come true."

"Does this bother you?"

"No, not really. I've just been around the block a few times."

"How many times?"

"Once or twice, maybe a third." At Ahkmenrah's strange, quizzical look, she said, "What? It was an interesting block."

"Are all the members of your family like this?"

"Yeah."

During his midnight rounds, Larry felt a strange force pulling him to the basement. Seeing little he could do to fight it, he went anyway and followed the tug and pull of the force to...

"Basement Thirteen?" he whispered. He shook his head, muttering, "No way," and turned to leave, but the invisible force wouldn't let him. "Okay, what do you want?" he asked, but there was no answer. Or rather, no verbal one.

A hole began to form in the door, with acid dripping from it, making it grow wider. Larry finally turned tail and ran for the nearest exit. He didn't stop running until he reached the lobby, where he found Tally. "There's a...there's a..." he panted, pointing in the general direction from whence he came. "There's a...thing...acid...Basement Thirteen."

"Basement Thirteen?" Ahkmenrah and Tally asked at the same time, attracting the attention of any nearby exhibits.

"I thought I locked it."

"So did I, and didn't you destroy the key?"

"I tossed it into the boiler."

"The...boiler?"

"What, you don't know we have a boiler? Wow, Larry."

"There's a thing eating its way out right now."

"Told you a storm was coming," Tally muttered to Ahkmenrah.

Larry led them down to the basement, where acid was still eating a hole out of the door to Basement Thirteen. "This isn't a run-of-the-mill storm," Tally whispered. "It's a maelstrom."