CHAPTER 16

She found him inside his 'tomb' inspecting his tablet carefully, running his hand over it. Being cautious of the statues, although they knew she was not a threat to their king, she made her way into the room. She hesitantly walked the way until she was a respectable distance from the king. Should she bow and be all formal? She had a flashback to early on in the evening when they were trying to set him free. She shuddered as she remembered those screams.

"Um, excuse me? King Ahkmenrah? Might I have a word?" She was as timid as a mouse, especially now that his full attention was on her.

"Of course Miss Daniels, honorary Guardian of Brooklyn."

"That title's a mouthful! Just Avery is fine! But anyway I wanted to thank you for pulling me out of the way when Cecil's carriage came flying at us. For some reason I couldn't move and the next minute I was pulled out of the way. I'm sorry I haven't formally thanked you until now, I'm just merely surprised that you did what you did. I mean you seem like a good person for sure, so of course you saved me! What I mean is, you barely knew me! I was and maybe still am a stranger to you! And yet you reached in and put yourself in a dangerous situation…for me." No one has ever done that for me before.

Boy was she rambling. Maybe it was the cold that had affected her for she was still desperately trying to warm up her hands. But King Ahkmenrah waited patiently for her to finish her messy trail of thought before speaking.

"Avery, yes you were a stranger to me. But who else helped the Guardian of Brooklyn to release me from my prison? Yes I have only known you a short while but I sense you are a good person deep down. And for me to stand idly by as you put yourself in harm's way, I could not have allowed myself to think if you were hurt on my watch. As I said before, I am forever in your debt!" He smiled and approached her, grabbing her hands in his to show gratitude and compassion. Avery could feel the warmth of his skin against her cold hands. She looked up and at a loss for words merely smiled at him. But suddenly feeling self conscious she carefully removed her hands from his and stuffed them in her coat pockets.

"But seriously thank you King Ahkmenrah. Um I should get back to helping Larry attempt to clean up this place." Oh god that was so lame Avery! Before she left he called back to her.

"Avery, please call me Ahkmenrah." He smiled warmly at her and watched as she retreated.

I look forward to getting to know her.

As the sun was beginning to rise, Avery found herself in the middle of the lobby trying to clean up the various messes. She heard Teddy talk to Larry and she could hear the pride in his voice.

"Miss Avery! Thank you again for your bravery in bringing back our Jedidiah and Octavius!"

As the sun rose higher she watched in fascination as Teddy's skin turned more pale and waxy.

And with that, the four living occupants resumed cleanup. Through their exhaustion they were able to make the museum look somewhat presentable. Avery had even managed to place the missing artifacts in their rightful place just in case. But that all changed when Dr McPhee entered the building and waved a finger in Larry and Avery's direction.

"You two, my office. Now!" Was all he said as he stormed off.

Avery got a bad feeling about this. If she could audibly gulp like cartoons did, then that's what she would have done.

"Larry, what are we going to do? I can't lose this internship! I need it to graduate!" Her mind was starting to spiral out of control until Larry, like the night before, put both hands on her shoulders to ground her.

"I'll take the fall for this. Afterall I am the night guard. It was my job to keep everything under control."

Inside McPhee's office was a news report on the television showing various reporters talking about the weird happenings throughout NY. Cave paintings in the subway, neanderthals atop the roof, giant t-rex footprints in the fresh snow. McPhee was watching them both with a displeased expression. He shut the TV off.

"Any explanation for all this nonsense?" He had directed the question to Larry.

"Nope, none at all."

"And you Miss Daniels, if you have had any involvement in this incident which I'm sure you did, I will have no choice but to terminate your internship here at the museum. You see this note here?" he held up a small note, "a little birdy told me that you've been sneaking into the museum after hours. This not only violates the terms of your internship agreement and the museum's security, it also violates my trust in you. What on earth were you thinking when I gave you the key to the archives, that you could get away with sneaking in and-and throwing a party? I will be contacting your school and furthermore you will not be allowed on the museum's property ever again!"

A note? But who would've told him I snuck in at night?... Cecil! Avery was understandably angry but she was also terrified of the next few minutes when McPhee would call her advisor and tell them that she had broken all the major rules and trust. She thought Cecil was going to ruin her future career, well McPhee was about to.

"Dr. Mcphee, I want to apologize-" she was cut off by a raised hand.

"Save it Ms Daniels. I don't want another word out of you, just give me back your key to the archives room. As for you Mr Daley, hand over your torch and keys. I will personally escort both of you off the premises."

As they walked out to the lobby, they stopped and marveled at the amount of people that were entering the building and milling about. Attendance seemed to have skyrocketed following their crazy 'stunts.' Without a word to Larry, McPhee gave him back his flashlight and keys.

"Ms Daniels, I apologize but it looks like we will need your assistance as an intern after all." He handed her back the key. Avery felt immediate relief, she could keep her internship! She just went from 0 to 100 and back. But the exhaustion was finally starting to set in. She let out a yawn and rubbed her eyes. The sunlight streaming in was giving her a headache. That's what I get for staying up all night and saving the museum.

She looked towards Larry and saw him making eye contact with Rebecca. Rebecca had excused herself for a moment to approach them.

"Can you believe it? Look at this crowd- it's incredible! But I believe I owe you both an apology for my behavior last night. I don't know how you managed to do it but I was in a taxi when I saw this herd of animals and the rex skeleton walk by. I am so sorry for my words."

"Apology accepted! Now if you'll excuse me I think I'm gonna go to sleep for 12 hours! But Larry, I'll be back later tonight." Avery bid them goodbye, collected her bag and hailed a taxi to the dorms. She barely registered the ride as she was half asleep. The vibrations of the cab made it all the more tempting to close her eyes. But thankfully she made it to her dorm before crashing. All the stress and exhaustion had finally caught up to her. Sleep came easier that night.