AN: Dear Reader,

I apologize for the long delays between chapters. It has been difficult to find time to write with my kids back in school and real life getting in the way. I haven't abandoned my story though! As always, I love a review, even if it is critical!

Allegra

It was not particularly difficult for Bonnie and Fiorella to sneak past the tired custodians leaving from the staff exit in the underground parking garage. The security guard sat on a large crate, which propped the black metal door open. His glazed eyes were glued to the screen of his phone as he took a drag from his cigarette. The two little girls crept past him and slipped into the dimly lit, dingey looking corridor.

Hurrying away from a worker pushing a large, squeaky bin of trash down the corridor, they turned a corner and Bonnie pried open another metal door that led to the stairwell. They ascended several flights, until they were stopped at a gray door with a yellow and black striped sign across it. Bonnie couldn't make out the words, but boldly opened the door and peeked through.

"Whoa!" Bonnie exclaimed excitedly, and Fiorella nervously followed her into an enormous hall. Curiously, Bonnie had never been to a proper museum. Elisa would have been the one to take her and with the fatigue caused by her illness, along with Bonnie's often difficult-to-contain enthusiasm and penchant for running off, such an adventure had never been planned.

Still, the Xanatos' kept many elaborate displays of their various collections around the castle. Through a series of unfortunate incidents, she and the other hatchlings had come to an understanding that the artifacts in glass cases were not to be touched or played with, but the vast collection of intriguing items and curiosities was a constant temptation for the talons of impatient hatchlings. Bonnie could easily comprehend why a human would wish to acquire model cars, artwork, medieval weapons, and ancient drums, but she couldn't quite wrap her young mind around why she was now face-to-face with a lowland gorilla.

Freezing in discomfort before the intimidating creature's lifeless gaze, Bonnie took a timid breath and looked around her. She frowned as she scanned the shadowy hall, catching the sight of taxidermied giraffes, beaver, and wallabies, all staring blankly at the two living girls, as if they were quite out of place in their sanctuary.

"Is everything dead in here?" she complained to Fiorella, who shrugged uncomfortably. She had been to the museum a few times before. Her family had been given passes as a "gift" from someone her father associated with, and her mother and aunties often brought a gaggle of noisy, boisterous Draconi children there on a Sunday afternoon. She had always enjoyed the outings, but now she found the death stares of multiple animals coming at them from every angle to be quite unsettling, particularly in the dark, abandoned gallery.

"Come on!" Bonnie declared finally, "Let's find that emerald necklace!"

The museum was filled with gallery upon gallery of exhibits and Fiorella guided Bonnie through them with a timid uncertainty. Bonnie suspected that the girl didn't know exactly where they were going, but she seemed determined that what they were looking for was there somewhere. They ventured through a dark gallery of various plants and into a massive hall with a glass ceiling high above them. The external lights cast strange shadows on the marble floor and the girls looked up in surprise to find the figure of a giant fossil of an ancient raptor looking down at them.

"A dinosaur!" Bonnie exclaimed gleefully, and Fiorella shushed her immediately, glancing quickly over her shoulder to see if anyone had heard and come after them. Relieved to see no one, Fiorella led Bonnie along the perimeter of the hall, as if they were mice, not wanting to stray far from cover should one of the creatures above them swoop down to grab a treat.

Fiorella tugged on Bonnie's sleeve and pointed to the stairs on the opposite end of the hall, indicating that was where she thought they should go. They made their way down the hall until Bonnie suddenly screeched to a halt.

"Look!" she cried with delight, and Fiorella turned her gaze to follow the direction of Bonnie's small, excited finger. In the darkness, Fiorella could make out a strange, stone structure in the center of the gallery. An eerie, orange light barely illuminated a menacing, man-like shape in the corner, but Fiorella couldn't see much else. Bonnie suddenly raced forward toward the structure, and in somewhat of a panic, Fiorella pursued her.

"It's a pyramid!" Bonnie cried with excitement, "We're in Egypt!"

Bonnie had been a dedicated student of Egyptology for over a year, ever since the Xanatos' had returned from a trip there and brought home a huge volume filled with page after page of fascinating photography to add to the clan's library in the rookery. Bonnie had dedicated hours to examining this book and relentlessly tagging after anyone who didn't run away fast enough, bombarding her victims alternatively with the facts she'd learned and endless questions about ancient pharaohs, mythology, and hieroglyphs. Broadway joked that she was bound to be New York's premiere research archeologist, just as soon as she learned to read!

Now she was wonderstruck, bounding around the maze of what looked like a very real Egyptian pyramid, taking in every detail while her friend looked on in silent apprehension. Bonnie raced up to the tall, round-shouldered figure in the corner, which turned out to be an upright sarcophagus.

"Wow!" she whispered, awestruck by the intimidating figure, "Is this place real?"

Fiorella shook her head wildly, secretly hoping she was right.

"It's just pretend?" Bonnie asked, not sounding completely convinced, "But look! Look!"

The small girl raced around a corner and stopped at a backlit display of figurines.

"It's a story!" Bonnie told her as she drank in every detail from the series of dioramas. Fiorella approached her anxiously and tugged on the sleeve of her dress.

"I know! I know!" Bonnie replied, as she gazed forlornly at the Egyptian princess riding atop her royal riverboat, staring grandly at her kingdom while her subjects toiled about her, "But pyramids usually have treasures, don't they? Maybe the emerald necklace is hidden somewhere in here?"

Fiorella shook her head again, pointing adamantly in the direction of the main corridor.

Bonnie gave a frustrated look, glancing between her friend and the dark corridor which led further into the tomb.

"Just one more chamber!" she declared gleefully, "Just in case!"

Fiorella sighed as Bonnie disappeared into the shadows and soon squealed again, once more forgetting the need for stealth. Quickly Fiorella followed her, shushing nervously as she eyed the glowing shadow boxes which showcased strange-looking sculptures with frozen gazes and mysterious artifacts hewn from stone, clay, and metal.

Bonnie was crouched on the floor, gazing down at a large pane of glass that was installed in the floor.

"Look! Look!" she cried, pointing at something below the floor. Fiorella peeked through the pane of glass and was quite surprised to see a painted face staring back at her. Even more excited by her friend's gasp, Bonnie clapped her hands.

"It's the pharaoh!" Bonnie exclaimed, even as Fiorella gave her a pleading look to quiet down, "Maybe the emerald necklace is down there!"

Fiorella shook her head again in exasperation, but Bonnie wasn't paying attention. She had returned to her gargoyle form and had dug her talons into the edge of the window pane.

"No!" Fiorella cried finally, but the damage had been done, and a loud alarm sounded.

"Run!" Bonnie cried and the two girls hurried through the corridor, only to catch the sight of two security guards hurrying their way.

Backtracking, they returned the way they'd come and they each ducked behind a display as blades of light from the security guards' flashlights sliced through the room.

"I caught them on the camera!" came a voice from their radios, "Looked like two kids!"

Fiorella ducked further back behind a display as a third security guard strode purposefully past her.

"Come out!" she commanded the empty corridor, while the other two continued to shine their lights. Slowly, Fiorella lifted her head to peek from around the display case, wondering where Bonnie had gotten to. She couldn't see her now, but the guards were advancing toward the end of the room where she had been prying up the plexiglass pane.

"Someone's done some damage here," one of the guards announced, stepping lightly on the edge of the pane, pressing it back into place, though it wouldn't fit properly as Bonnie had destroyed the corners where it had been screwed in place. Suddenly, the guards whipped around at a slight sound coming from the corridor beyond.

"Come on!" the third guard commanded and they hurried in that direction, leaving Fiorella alone, with the sound of her own anxious breathing and racing heart. She heard the loud voices gaining distance, and she slowly crept out of her hiding place, looking around for any sign of the little gargoyle. Only the stern, lifeless faces of the many ancient figurines greeted her.

Fiorella took a few more steps, listening carefully and trying desperately to think of what to do. At last, she turned toward the exit and ran, only to find herself clutched by the harsh hands of one of the security guards.

"I got one!" he called to the two others and Fiorella could hear the sound of their boots approaching.

"That's the kid?" the female guard asked in a genuinely confused tone, "She's so little! She don't look like a vandal!"

"Hey, kid!" the other guard demanded in a gruff voice as he grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to look at him, "Who put you up to this? Your ma? Someone else?"

Fiorella said nothing, but stared back at the man with a gaze as cold as the figurines behind the panels of glass.

"Did you hear me kid?" the man demanded again, his expression growing more threatening.

"Be a good girl," the other guard added in a slightly gentler tone, "Tell us who sent you in here to steal and you won't get in trouble."

Still, Fiorella did not speak, or even react at all.

"Hey! What's wrong with her?" the first guard demanded uneasily, "Can't she talk?"

"Come on, girl!" the gruff-voiced guard said with an angry timbre rising in his voice, "Who was that other kid with you? Where'd they go?"

Fiorella set her jaw and lowered her eyes to the floor. It was the pose that came almost automatically to her now, whenever someone was trying to intimidate her. Her face and body froze up, going blank while her insides raged with anxiety and shame. It was often an effective strategy. Most grownups gave up trying to get Fiorella to respond fairly quickly, assuming she was slow or unable to understand. Even now, the guard was desperately trying to speak to her in broken Spanish. If Fiorella's eyes hadn't been fixed in a panic coma, she would have rolled them. Why did they always think she spoke Spanish?

Fiorella's mind drowned out the voices of the three adults, who were now beginning to argue amongst themselves. Her gaze slowly drifted around the gallery. She scanned the dioramas, the shelves of artifacts, the computer screens installed in the wall to tell guests the story of the ancient pharaoh, but then her gaze fell on the pane of plexiglass, laying on the floor. This caught her attention as she was quite certain she had seen one of the guards replace the glass over the tomb. But now it was lying haphazardly beside the opening, and as Fiorella pondered how it might have gotten there, she saw a flash of red near the opening of the tomb.

"Hey, kid!" the guard called her back, "Pay attention, will you?"

Fiorella's gaze snapped back to the guards around her, who were still talking at her, trying to figure out who she was and what she was doing there.

"Kid, if you don't work with us, we're gonna have to have you arrested and charged," the female guard threatened, and Fiorella's stomach sank a bit, "Where is the other kid who came in here with you?" Fiorella shook her head.

"You really don't wanna do this, girl! Tell us who put you up to this! How did they get you in here?" the other guard demanded.

As Fiorella frantically tried to come up with some sort of plan, a loud, strange, scraping sound echoed from the opening into the Pharaoh's chamber, followed by an awkward thud. They all froze.

"Well, that must be where the other one is hiding!" declared one of the guards with a snort.

"Come out of there, kid!" the female guard ordered, pulling some sort of weapon from a holster on her vest, "We know you're there! You come out of that hole…carefully! That artifact is worth more than your life!"

Anxiously, Fiorella did the only thing she could think of to distract the guards from where the little gargoyle hatchling was trapped in a tunnel that couldn't be much wider than her shoulders. She struggled! And to her surprise, the distracted guard lost his clutch on her almost immediately. Running almost on instinct, Fiorella ran between the two guards and bolted for the corridor to the main hall.

"Grab her!" the female guard cried, and one of the others dove for her, but lost his balance and crashed to the floor. Fiorella almost did the same as she reached the slick marble floor of the main hall. Frantically, she looked around, trying to think of a place to hide. As she heard the guards' pounding footsteps behind her, she decided to head for the grand staircase, leading two of them away from Bonnie as they angrily chased the young girl through the museum. She had a good headstart on the stairs, but she made sure they saw her, so she knew they would follow.

Meanwhile, in the sub level of the museum, Bonnie shook herself off after falling through the tunnel and landing most irreverently on the sarcophagus of an ancient ruler. The enthusiastic, would-be grave robber's eyes widened as she took in the burial chamber with all the wonder of an obsessed child. The sarcophagus was protected by a box of plexiglass and she was pleased to see that she hadn't harmed it when she'd fallen.

"It has to be here somewhere!" she whispered to herself eagerly, as she searched among the many treasures displayed for a sign of an emerald necklace. She found some gemstones of various colors, but none a pure green. And while there were many elaborate collars and breastplates in the collection, there was nothing Bonnie would consider a true necklace. Not ready to be disheartened, she looked around again. In a corner of the room was another sarcophagus, shaped like a woman with her arms folded. The tools she clasped in her hands and the headpiece she wore shone with a brassy foil, and her painted face stared down at her, surrounded by jewels. Around her neck was an elaborate collar, decorated with more gems, including a large green one.

"Is that it?" she wondered out loud, "Is that the emerald necklace? But it's painted on!"

Bonnie couldn't see how a painted necklace could be of use to them. She giggled to herself as she imagined Orion and Lyra, trying to lug this giant artifact onto a subway train to take it up to the place called "Loyola", where Alexander lived. But then it occurred to her that a sarcophagus was made to contain a mummy. Her eyes widened. Perhaps there was a real necklace inside? Bonnie hesitated. Photographs and x-rays of mummies were one thing, but the idea of peeking inside and possibly seeing a real dead person was quite creepy. But if they needed to find the emerald necklace to proceed?

Bonnie swallowed and dug her talons into the stone wall of the tomb. She was acquainted enough with security systems to understand that the thin red beams of light would trigger an alarm somewhere, so she expertly climbed up the wall and over the lazer. With a deep breath, Bonnie opened the latch on the sarcophagus and opened the cover. To her surprise and relief, she found it empty. Staring at the empty space, Bonnie slowly began to lower the lid, but then she heard the sound of approaching footsteps.

"Come on! They're in here!" a voice shouted and Bonnie's face scrunched up mischievously. The guards arrived just in time to miss a slender, lavender tail disappearing into the sarcophagus.