There came an agonised scream. Several more agonised screams followed the first. Yanit found that she could breathe again. She pulled the remaining webbing away from her eyes and collapsed into Alex's arms, her lungs drawing in as much air as they could.

'Oh, Alex!' she exhaled into his chest. 'I... I let it trick me! I'm a simpleton! I'm a dolt! I don't deserve to be a Medjai warrior!'

'Don't be silly,' said Alex, patting her on the back.

'That's the second time you've saved my life since you came back here,' said Yanit, 'and I haven't done a single thing in recompense!'

'That's nonsense,' said Alex. 'Just to be with you is all the recompense I want, Yanit.'

With her breathing almost back to normal, Yanit pulled away slightly and smiled at Alex. He smiled back, and kissed her on the forehead. Yanit then turned to see what had become of the Black Tarantula. It was now lying on its back in the middle of the corridor, devoid of all eight of its legs, which were scattered around like driftwood.

'You cut its legs off,' Yanit remarked, sounding more than a little amused.

'I sure did,' Alex grinned at her. 'I figured there's no danger from a legless spider.'

The body of the Black Tarantula suddenly started moving, and a gobbet of web was launched at Alex's foot. Alex scowled and kicked the floored spider, which screeched in pain. Fadil then appeared from the doorway of his room, holding the two halves of the Black Egg out in front of him.

'Here they are!' he said. 'They'd rolled under the bed.'

Alex took the two halves of the shell and held them towards the defeated spider.

'Return!' he said. 'Return now, I command you!'

The Manacle of Osiris started to emit a golden glow, which quickly spread to the Black Egg. The Tarantula and all its severed limbs seemed to evaporate into thin air, and the Egg joined itself back together in Alex's hand.

'Well, that was easy enough,' said Alex, grinning at Yanit and Fadil. 'Now we just need to get this thing back where it belongs.'

Alex entered the Great Cavern, went up to the Minotaur and placed the Black Egg into his hand.

'This needs to be sealed in concrete too,' said Alex. 'Put it with the... other one.'

The Minotaur nodded, and went to do so. Ardeth's eyebrows raised as he saw the expression on Alex's face.

'Did the Black Tarantula escape?' Ardeth asked.

'I'll say it did!' said Fadil. 'It very nearly suffocated me!'

'Yes, and me,' said Yanit.

'Wow, that's... unfortunate,' said Jack. 'I'm sorry for bringing trouble to your door yet again, Alex.'

'It's okay, Grandpa; it's not your fault,' said Alex. 'It's just one of those random things that always happen in life.'

'Yeah, but even so...' said Jack, looking troubled.

'Don't give it another thought,' said Alex. 'Let's just put it behind us and get on with the rest of our lives.'

Jack opened his mouth to say something else. He closed it again. He cast a look towards the staircase, then he made a dart for it.

'Where does he think he's going?' said Fadil.

'He's not going anywhere,' said Alex, 'if I have anything to say about it!'

Alex caught up with Jack at the halfway point of the staircase; he had been forced to stop there because he had met Rick coming down from the level above.

'Well, look at that,' said Jack, moving his gaze between his son and his grandson. 'Caught between a rock and a hard place.'

'No prizes for guessing which is which,' said Rick, folding his arms across his chest.

'Where are you going, Grandpa?' said Alex.

'I'm going to pack my things and get out of your hair, sport,' said Jack. 'This is no place for me.'

'What are you talking about?' said Alex. 'This is your home now.'

'This has never really been my home,' said Jack, 'and it never will be.'

'Even though it's my home now?' said Alex.

'Look, Alex,' Jack sighed, 'you don't want me hanging around here, causing you problems. I released a monster that almost killed your Supreme Council, for God's sakes!'

'You want to know what I think?' said Alex. 'I think you were always planning to slope off after you'd delivered the artefacts, and you're just using this Black Tarantula thing as an excuse.'

'You always did have a gift for telling it like it is, Alex,' said Rick, smiling slightly.

'Alex, I... it's not that I don't want to stay,' said Jack. 'I just... I can't, okay?'

'No, that's not okay!' said Alex. 'Here we all are, Grandpa – three generations of O'Connells, all in one stairwell at long last. Why would you split us up again?'

'You have a chance here to be part of a family for the first time in a very long while,' said Rick. 'What about meeting Evy, and being a part of your new grandkid's life? Doesn't that mean anything to you?'

'Look, son,' said Jack, 'you don't need me to tell you that I've never been a family man.'

'Ain't that the truth,' said Rick.

'I know it's the truth, and I'm not proud of it,' said Jack. 'But I'm too old and set in my ways to change now.'

'That's nonsense,' said Alex. 'Plus it's lazy and it's cowardly! Maybe I was wrong about you, Jack – maybe you're not worth impressing after all.'

'But Alex, you've impressed me more than anyone else I've ever met in my life!' said Jack. 'I'm proud to have you for a grandson, and of course I'll be back to see you from time to time, if you'll have me... but I just can't stay here permanently. I turned my back on the Medjai life almost forty years ago; I can't just come back and pick up where I left off.'

'You should at least stay a couple of days, so you can meet my mom and make some plans to get acquainted with the baby when it comes!' said Alex.

'Yeah,' said Rick, 'surely that's not too much to ask. I thought you said nothing would please you more, Dad.'

'Well, I...' said Jack, still sounding far from enthusiastic.

'At least sleep on it!' said Alex. 'Stay here for one night and think about everything we've said, and if you still want to leave in the morning then... well, you can.'

'All right, Alex,' said Jack. 'I'll stay the night... for you.'

'You promise you won't sneak off?'

'I promise.'

Rick stood to one side, and Jack continued his journey up the stairway. Alex came up to Rick, and put his arms around him.

'I hate to see him do this to you, sport,' said Rick, patting Alex on the back. 'Perhaps now you can see why I was so strongly against him being a part of your life in the first place.'

'I can see it very clearly, Dad,' said Alex. 'But hey, maybe he'll still come through for us.'

'Yeah,' said Rick, 'maybe.'

Yanit entered Fadil's room to find him sitting up in bed with a book in his lap.

'Hey,' she said. 'I just wanted to check you're okay after what happened earlier.'

Fadil looked up at her and smiled.

'Yes; I am fine, thank you,' he said. 'How about you?'

'Oh, I've had worse,' said Yanit. 'What is it with you and giant spiders, huh?'

'I don't know,' Fadil said with a laugh. 'I guess they're just uncontrollably attracted to me.'

'I don't know what either of us would've done without Alex,' said Yanit.

'Yes, he is quite incredible,' said Fadil. 'Well, I suppose I don't need to tell you that.'

Yanit smiled, and looked down at her feet.

'I don't think I trust Jack even to a small degree,' she said. 'I hope Alex doesn't get hurt.'

'I believe that Alex would be better off without such a person as Jack in his life,' said Fadil. 'My father hurt me more than I can put into words... not so much physically, but in my mind... and I know it is wrong of me, but I can't help feeling glad that he is no longer around.'

'That's not wrong of you, Fadil.'

'It is not so much for myself that I am glad; it is for Safin, my little brother. I hope to learn from my father's mistakes; I want to be someone Safin can look up to and feel inspired by.'

'I don't think you'll have a problem there,' said Yanit, smiling at him. 'I'll leave you to your reading now.'

'Thanks for stopping by,' said Fadil. 'I'm so glad that we can still be close friends, Yanit, even after... well, even after I made such a fool of myself to you.'

'Fadil, you didn't make a fool of yourself,' said Yanit. 'You were sweet and honest and lovely, and I've never felt fonder of you than I did in that moment. You obviously have a lot of love in your heart, and I know that someday you'll find the right person to share it with.'

'Let's just hope those hordes of female recruits start arriving soon,' Fadil grinned at her. 'Ones that are older than twelve or thirteen, obviously.'

'Yes,' Yanit said significantly, 'I should think they'd have to be at least fourteen.'

'Oh!' said Fadil. 'I'm sorry, Yanit – I didn't mean to imply that you're a cradle-snatcher!'

'That's okay, Fadil,' Yanit smiled at him. 'I know what you meant. Goodnight.'

'Goodnight, Yanit.'

Alex was sitting on the edge of his bed, feeding Tut titbits from the palm of his left hand, when Yanit suddenly barged into the room.

'Oh, hey,' said Alex, reaching out to stroke his mongoose with his right hand. 'What's up?'

'Your grandfather just went up the passage from the assembly hall to the main entrance,' Yanit blurted out in a rush. 'I saw him coming out of his bedchamber and I followed him. He looked like he'd got all his stuff.'

'What?!' said Alex, jumping to his feet. 'Are you sure, Yanit?'

'Completely sure, I'm afraid,' said Yanit.

'But he made me a promise,' said Alex. 'I can't believe he'd just...'

With that, Alex dashed from the room. Yanit stared after him for a few seconds, then she sat down on the bed and started stroking Tut.

Alex burst out of the main entrance, into the moonlit desert. He quickly caught sight of Jack, walking away from the Medjai Academy across the sand. Alex ran after him, covering the distance at incredible speed with a few carefully timed leaps.

'Jack!' he called out shrilly. 'JACK! GRANDPA!'

Jack turned to face his grandson, looking uncomfortable and guilty.

'I kinda knew you'd catch up to me again, sport,' he said.

'You made me a promise!' Alex said accusingly. 'You lied!'

'Yes, I lied,' said Jack. 'You see, I never keep my word. I'm an incredibly unreliable person, Alex. Haven't you realised that by now?'

'But you don't have to be!' said Alex. 'Why don't you just stop it? Why don't you let yourself be settled and happy and part of a real family?'

'Because that's not who I am.'

'Then who are you, Jack?'

'I'm a wanderer,' said Jack. 'I roam from town to town, living life without a care.'

'You can't do that forever,' said Alex. 'Don't you think it's time you settled down, especially now that you've been given the ideal opportunity to do it! How the hell old are you, anyway?'

'I'll be sixty-five next year,' said Jack.

Alex smiled, looked down at his feet and said, 'You're pretty much exactly fifty years older than me. I didn't know that.'

'Neither did I,' said Jack, 'but I guess it makes sense.'

'Yeah,' said Alex, 'I guess it does.'

'Look, sport,' said Jack, 'I'm not saying it'll never be time for me to settle down – I'm just saying I'm not ready right now.'

'But... but... we're ready for you to do it, Grandpa.'

'My skills are better used in the field. Look; Ardeth gave me this map. He wants me to find the lost Cauldron of Glidno-Eldin at the centre of a labyrinth on Mykonos.'

'And... and bring it back here, right?' said Alex.

'Of course,' said Jack.

'So you really are planning to come back, then?'

'I always was, sport.'

'Why didn't Ardeth include this cauldron thing on the original list of treasures he gave you?'

'I guess he just forgot. So you see, Alex, I'll be back soon; just as soon as I've got hold of the Cauldron of Glidno-Eldin, in fact!'

Jack held out his right hand to Alex. Alex grasped it firmly and shook it, then he pulled his grandfather into a tight embrace.

'I can see I missed out on something special by not being around for the first thirteen years of your life, Alex,' said Jack. 'I won't make the same mistake with your little brother or sister – I give you my word on that.'

'But you never keep your word,' said Alex.

Jack pulled away from Alex, gave him a wistful smile, and then turned his steps back towards the open desert. Alex stared after him for a while, then he headed home.

When Alex entered the assembly hall, he found Rick, Ardeth and the Minotaur waiting for him.

'How was the first-hand experience, Alex?' the Minotaur asked.

'Not so good,' Alex replied.

'We saw you leave,' said Ardeth, 'and we filled in the gaps for ourselves.'

'Jack's gone, right?' said Rick.

Alex nodded, then he stuck his hands in his pockets and looked down at the floor.

'Alex, I hope you don't think that I persuaded him to go,' said Ardeth. 'I gave him that map because... well, because I figured...'

'I know exactly what you did, Ardeth,' said Alex. 'Jack was always going to leave – you gave him a reason to come back.'

'As if he didn't already have enough of them,' said Rick.

'That cauldron is actually worthless,' said Ardeth. 'It's really nothing more than an old, cracked pot.'

'But it'll bring Jack back here,' said Rick, 'and then... well, who knows?'

'He says he wants to be around to meet his new grandkid,' said Alex, 'but I'm not sure I believe him.'

'Sometimes what we want is overpowered by the fear of what we don't want,' said the Minotaur.

'It's a little late for philosophy,' said Alex, looking up and smiling slightly. 'I'll see you all in the morning, okay?'

They all said their goodnights to Alex as he went on his way.

'I hate that man for what he's done to Alex,' said Rick. 'I don't really have any hatred left for what he did to me, but... well, this is different.'

'Hatred is a futile emotion, my friend,' said Ardeth.

'But a very strong one,' said the Minotaur.

'You know,' said Rick, 'sometimes I wonder whether I've really done right by Alex. When he was very young, Evy and I used to be so wrapped up in each other that we barely knew what he was doing... and should I really have let him come all over the world with us on those incredibly dangerous missions, risking his life on a daily basis? Heck, if we'd kept a better eye on him, he'd never have put the Manacle of Osiris on his wrist and... well, none of this would've ever happened!'

'Alex would still have become the Supreme Medjai, even if he had gone on a different journey to reach his destination,' said Ardeth. 'The boy's fate is not your responsibility, Rick.'

'Do you really believe all that fate stuff, Ardeth?' said Rick. 'I'm still convinced it was just coincidence that we happened to find the Manacle of Osiris.'

'And that Alex just happened to decide to put it on his wrist,' said the Minotaur.

'As I believe I told you once before, my friend,' said Ardeth, 'there is a fine line between coincidence and fate. I certainly don't think you can blame yourself for Alex's insatiable tendency to put a golden manacle on his wrist every time he sees one.'

'Yeah, well, I guess not,' Rick sighed. 'But I still think Alex might wake up one day and realise that I'm just as much a failure as a father as... well, as my own father is.'

'You are talking nonsense, my friend,' said Ardeth. 'Being a father is a job that not all men are capable of – emotionally and practically, I mean, even if they are capable physically. My father was a violent drunkard. He drove my mother into an early grave, and he abused me both physically and emotionally for the first fourteen years of my life. When I was preparing to leave to join the Medjai, my father told me I shouldn't bother because I was just as much of a weak and feeble woman as my mother had been, and the Medjai would turn me away just as they had her. I have never felt such hatred and anger as I felt in that moment. I hit my father... then I hit him again... and then again... and again. I left him lying in a pool of his own blood... and I never saw him again. I don't think I actually killed him, but I never felt the slightest desire to go back and find out.'

'I'm sure all of us have experienced such a moment of madness in our lives,' said the Minotaur.

'After my Medjai training had begun, I quickly came to realise how weak I had been to give in to my base emotions in such a way,' said Ardeth. 'I vowed that I would never allow myself to behave in that way again, and I really don't think I have... but somehow, I've never been able to feel any sense of regret about what I did to my father. He must be dead by now, I suppose... he eventually drank himself to death, I should think... but quite honestly, I really don't care what happened to him.'

'What exactly are you saying to me, Ardeth?' said Rick.

'I'm saying that some men do not earn the respect of their sons,' said Ardeth. 'And I've never seen that being a problem for you, my friend.'

Alex entered his room to find Yanit sitting on his bed with Tut curled up against her left hip. Alex came over to the bed and sat himself on Yanit's right.

'You've been waiting for me this whole time,' said Alex.

'Of course I have,' said Yanit.

'Jack's gone,' said Alex.

'I'm sure he'll be back,' said Yanit.

'Yeah,' said Alex, 'I'm sure he will.'

Alex leaned his head on Yanit's shoulder. Yanit reached up to touch his face, and found that her fingers came away wet.

'Oh, Alex,' said Yanit, sounding very distressed on his behalf.

'It's okay, Yanit,' said Alex. 'I don't even know why I'm getting so upset about this. I mean, if he doesn't come back then it's his loss, right? It won't be any skin off my nose. In fact...'

'In fact what?'

'In fact, everything I really want in the world is right here, right now.'

'You mean the Medjai?'

'No.'

'You mean your closest friends?' Yanit persisted. 'Ardeth and Fadil and the Minotaur and your father and... and anyone else you might feel particularly close to?'

'No,' Alex said again, raising his head and looking into her eyes, 'I don't mean them.'

'Oh, Alex,' Yanit whispered, taking his hand in hers. 'What exactly are you saying to me?'

'I'm saying I love you, Yanit,' said Alex. 'I meant to tell you that a while ago, but then you got kidnapped by the Scarab and everything went crazy and we came back here and became a couple and... well, I guess I kinda thought it went without saying. But I was wrong – I needed to say it, and you needed to hear it. So, I'll say it again. I love you, Yanit.'

'I love you, Alex,' said Yanit, wrapping her arms around his body. 'I just can't tell you how much I do, but it's... well, it's a whole lot.'

They both laughed, then they looked into each other's eyes again.

'I need to go back to my room now,' Yanit said, after a few seconds had passed in silence.

'Don't you want to stay a little longer?' said Alex. 'We could talk some more... not necessarily about my grandpa.'

'I do want to stay... but I really think I need to go.'

'You're starting to sound like Jack.'

'Believe me, I'm not like Jack,' said Yanit. 'There are very few certainties in this world, Alex... but I do know for certain that the one thing I'll never do is leave you.'

With that, Yanit snaked her arms around Alex's shoulders, pressed her lips to his, and kissed him with a passion that she had never allowed herself to fully unleash before.

'Do you believe me, Alex?' Yanit asked, as she finally pulled away from him.

'Yes,' said Alex, 'I believe you, Yanit.'

Yanit smiled, rose to her feet, kissed Alex on the cheek and then left the room. As Alex settled himself down to sleep, Tut came to snuggle up next to him.

'What am I feeling here, buddy?' Alex whispered, as he stroked the mongoose's belly. 'Can you explain it to me?'

Tut chattered nonsensically for a few seconds, then he pointedly closed his eyes.

Alex smiled and said, 'That's your answer to everything, pal.'

Then he blew out his candle and closed his eyes.