Fulk took the stairs, two at a time, and walked down the very long hallway to his father's favorite place to be, his study. The man hardly ever left it, unless he was on some important business or to one of his meetings. Fulk normally would have to wait to be announced by his butler, Edwin, but he just stormed right in, not caring what he was doing or who might else be in there with him.

He found him alone at his desk writing into his journal, a journal that was so old with age and hardly ever left his sight. He didn't bother to look up at the intrusion of his privacy or any indication that he was annoyed by the mannerism of his only child. Fulk stormed to the desk and demanded quite surprisingly, to them both, but even more so to himself.

"I want you to give permission to have Sky go on the field trip to Egypt next week." His eyes widen at the unexpected words, that wasn't what he wanted to talk to his father about, but it seemed important to do so.

His father laid his pen down, gently closed the book and tied the old leather strap to keep it shut. He raised cold eyes to him. "Why would I grant permission to do such a thing?" he asked just as coldly.

He wasn't fazed anymore by his father's intimidation streak and said stiffly, "Because at the meeting you told me to make sure she stays happy and she's been wanting to go to Egypt since the sixth grade."

"And a fine job you have done by the way." he said sarcastically. "I also told you to keep her safe and protected, as well as to keep the knowledge from her of what her actual surroundings were. Yet, you seemed to have failed those as well."

He tensed at the accusation in his voice. "She's safe and unharmed now."

"Yes now, but she almost wasn't." his father said harshly.

"Almost father, it won't happen again. We were unprepared that anyone would actually attack during school hours and at a place full of people that were around." he explained, not understanding why he had to feel that he must defend himself in front of this man.

"It cost her a broken hand and a splintered arm!" His father yelled angrily to him, anger that Fulk knew he was holding in check.

"Something that she did on her own accord!" he said just as angrily.

"It should have never happened in the first place. Tell me son, where were you when she was alone? Where were you when I specifically told you to watch over her?!" He stood up with his hands on his desk, looking at him with intense cold eyes.

He felt the shame wash over him, making him stiffen. "So, I haven't exactly taken my duties seriously, but you haven't exactly told me what it was I needed to protect her from, and you still haven't father." he threw back at him.

His father didn't say anything and slowly sat back down in his chair. Fulk's eyes became hard when he realized that he still wasn't going to tell him what he needed to know.

"What is it that your refusing to tell me? What is she, that she is so damn important to you?" When moments passed and there was still no answer, he stormed out of the room with anger building within him that he literally wanted to punch his father in his face. But before he slammed the door he halted as his father said behind him,

"Don't ever leave your duties where she is concerned, as long as you go with her, I will give my permission to let her go on the trip, but only if you go Fulk and stay with her until your return, is that understood?" he said in a hard tone.

He gritted his teeth, sighed inwardly and just gave him a curt nod. He slammed the door behind him as hard as he could, which caused it to shatter with the force, but he didn't care, he wanted the bastard to know how angry he truly was.

********************

Sky looked out of the private plan window. She looked at the semi white puffy clouds and the stars that shone more brightly up thirty thousand feet from the surface of the earth. It was a beautiful sight, and she couldn't believe that she had actually gotten permission to go on the trip, and she knew it was Fulk's doing.

She looked over to him on the other side across from her. He was sitting alone as usual and he had his eyes closed as if he was asleep. But somehow, she didn't think he really was. He wore faded blue jeans with his signature black thermal, long-sleeved, shirt that defined his outline perfectly.

She smiled and looked over to the twins, Trevor, and Troy. They were making obnoxious noises to make Mei, Lucy and Vivian laugh. Sometimes, she couldn't help but laugh as well, they were really horrible sounds.

Her smile faded as her eyes landed on Rose. The girl seemed completely pleased with herself. She wondered what her problem was.

Mr. Lasota came in and sat down by her. "How is everything doing?" he asked her with a small smile.

"I'm doing alright now." she told him.

Earlier, when the plane first took off, she became almost hysteric over the turbulence. She had never flown before, so she wasn't quite prepared for it, and then to top it off, she began to feel sick and it lasted for a good hour. Lasota and Souza, who was also aboard to chaperone the students, were quite worried about her.

It didn't help that Trevor and Troy would comment about disgusting things to make her throw up. They were merely trying to help. They had said that she would feel a whole lot better once she got it out of her system. Lasota completely banded them to the cockpit until she had gotten it under control. It was going to be a long flight to where they were going, almost twenty hours at least and Rose was very impatient about that.

"I still don't understand why we can't travel on foot, it's not like she doesn't know what we are now." she had said to no one in particular, looking down at her nails.

"Do you ever shut up." Fulk said, feeling annoyed by her.

"I don't think I will, besides it would be a lot faster if we were on foot, also..." She stared him down with a mischief smile playing on her lips, "...with your special abilities Fulky, I'm sure you'll have no problem carrying her across the sea, while the rest of us just runs."

Sky frowned at that. "Special abilities?" she asked.

"Oh, excellent question sweetie, go on Fulky, what are your special abilities? I'm sure you're just dying to tell her." Rose taunted with her soft voice.

He stiffened and jumped out of his seat. "I said to shut up!" he yelled angrily at her, his face consorted in rage.

"Aw, what's wrong Fulky, afraid she might not find you so...attractive." She still taunted, risking his wrath.

Lasota quickly blocked Fulk from attacking the obnoxious girl. "That is enough Rose! You're pushing it too far! It is Lord Sayles's wish for Ms. Contour to travel as normal as possible, so drop it." he said harshly to her, not liking the way she was taunting the young prince.

Sky didn't know what was going on, but it was clear that Rose knew something about Fulk that he seemed to be hiding. What did she mean by what she was saying? Less attractive? How could he ever be? She knew he was stronger than the others because he was a pureblood. Was there other qualities that he possessed that he wasn't so proud of? She hated not knowing things, but it was his personal business whether he wanted to share it or not. And Rose had no right to force him to admit anything he didn't want known about himself.

She looked at her and saw she had a smug smile on her face, loving the fact that she had put him in an awkward state and loved watching him suffer over it. Sky got angry, her protective instincts came to the fore and she scowled.

"You know what I think Rosy, I think your jealous and just being a dedicative bitch because he can't stand to be near you, and that rubs you raw, am I right?" she bit out to her and she actually saw her cheeks flame with color, was that possible for a vampire?

Sky had no idea how close she really was with that remark. Rose stood up stiffly with anger flashing in her eyes. "You don't even know what you're talking about, just because you know what we are doesn't mean you know everything." With that she stormed to the cockpit.

"Woo! That was sweet." Blase laughed behind them and they all turned in his direction.

"Blase!" Sky said in surprise, with a big smile on her face as it lit up at seeing him there.

Fulk gave her a scowl that she didn't see, but Blase did and it made him smile all the more. "Why hello sweetheart, miss me?" He winked at her and received that scowl instead.

"Where the hell did you come from?" Vivian asked accusingly as she was also scowling at him.

"Why hello Vivian baby, did you miss me as much as I missed you?" he asked as he slid down next to her and put an arm around her, giving her his disarming grin.

Vivian pushed him away. "Dream on lover boy, I haven't had a single thought about you. In fact, I completely forgot you were even gone." she said sweetly as she moved across to the other side.

Sky knew that was a complete lie. Every once in a while, she would see Vivian stare out the window with a frown on her face. She let slip of her concern about him, wondering where he went off too. But Sky didn't say anything about that, and she just smiled. Blase slapped his hand against his chest in fringe dismay.

"Aw, my sweet love, you have no idea how much you just wounded me with that hurtful statement." he said in a false pout and Vivian rolled her eyes at him. He gave her a huge grin.

"Really Blase, where did you come from?" Fulk asked, wondering how he got on the plane without anyone knowing about it.

If he could get on without anyone noticing, what's to say that an enemy couldn't? Blase shrugged and said, "I've been on the plane since it took off in Vamcult, was with the pilots learning some new things."

"You have been on this plane this whole entire time and didn't even bother to let us know?!" Vivian asked harshly and Blase raised his eyebrows at her.

"And here I thought you didn't care."

"I don't!" she said quickly, crossed her arms and looked away. He just gave her a long heartfelt look.

"Well, I'm glad you're with us Blase." Sky stated, feeling a whole lot better knowing that in case anything happened that they had even better protection.

"Why, thank you Sky." he said with a smile.

"It's nice of you to grace us with your presence, but we need to discuss a few things before we land in Cairo." Lasota announced to everyone.

"I'll go and get the twins." Vivian mumbled as she got up and went into the cockpit.

"Why does she hate me so much?" Blase sighed dramatically

Fulk snorted at that. "She doesn't hate you and you know it."

Blase grinned. "It's fun to mess with her, I love it when she gets all sassy and sarcastic with me."

Again, Fulk snorted. "You're the only one who does Blase." Blase laughed at that.

A moment later Vivian came back in with the twins and Rose. "Alright, so we all are here; first thing is, we all understand that we have one week in Egypt and one week in Scotland correct?" Lasota asked everyone as he looked around at them and they all nodded their heads.

Rose crossed her arms in irritation. "I don't! I don't understand why the groups can't split up like normally. We were able to get two weeks to do our project now we have to split up the time. It's not fair!"

Lasota rubbed his eyes and Blase frowned. "What is she talking about?"

"That we all have to stay together to do our project search, it's a competition." Troy said, not really caring one way or the other.

"Okay, that didn't really answer my question." Blase said, still puzzled.

"Every semester we do a group project, we decide on an ancient artifact and do research on it, then we find its source and take a field trip. Normally, each group gets two weeks to do the search, but since we can't split up, we are forced to do one week each." Mei said in her happy go attitude.

"Okay, that's much better and how come I've never heard of this before?" he asked fully understanding the situation now.

"Because when we do it, it's normally when you're gone doing whatever it is the hell you're doing." Vivian snapped, a bit annoyed at him.

Blase looked at her with an upraised brow.

"And like I explained to you Rose, I'm not splitting up everyone. The more of us around Sky, the better." Lasota said, feeling like he was talking in circles around the girl.

"Rose, quit complaining and deal with it." Fulk said, getting annoyed by her all over again.

"Now about the actual search, Scotland won't be any problem for us except for Blase, Rose and McRaven venturing out in the daylight. However, Egypt is a bit of a problem. The thing is, we completely chose the wrong time of year to visit. It's hot, like really hot, which means the sun baring down is more intense." Lasota said to them all.

"So, we go out at night." Lucy said, finding this not a problem.

"Well yes, we'll have too. However, that cuts down a lot of time and most places will be closed during the nighttime." he said to her.

"Well, since me and Sky are the only ones that don't need covering and can actually go out into the sun, I guess we can search during the daytime." Fulk said to them all.

"Oh, I get it now." Blase chuckled, making Fulk give him a stony glare.

"Shut up Blase, it's not like that at all."

Blase raised his hands at him and smiled, saying nothing further.

"Just the two of you? And what about the rest of us? What are we supposed to do?" Rose demanded, not liking the way things were going.

"You're the one who really wanted to do the necklace, Rose." Vivian put in.

"Yeah, but in Italy not Egypt." she huffed.

"That's where it's originated from Rose. So take it or leave it and since you're already on the plane, I guess you're just going to have to take it." Fulk snapped and Blase became curious.

"What necklace?" he asked.

Trevor and Troy started laughing at that, making Blase look at them. "What's so funny?" he asked them.

"The fact that it's more likely a waste of time for them, they are never going to find it." Trevor said.

"It's a fool's errand, a pointless journey." Troy added.

Mei rolled her eyes at them. "Geez, it's the Sliver Aztec Contour necklace."

Blase inhaled so sharply that he started coughing uncontrollably. Everyone looked at him with concern and bewilderment.

"Are you alright?" Sky asked, a little worried.

"I'm fine." he choked out. "The twins are right though, you're never going to find it in Egypt or Italy, it's a big waste of time." he said seriously.

Fulk threw his hands up in exasperation. "And yet, no one wanted to listen to me." he mumbled.

"How are you so sure?" Rose wanted to know.

"Because it doesn't exist, duh." Trevor said sarcastically.

"Oh, it exists. In fact, I knew the last person who ever owned it." Blase said, then looked at Fulk. "And so did you." he said to him.

Fulk looked just as shocked as the others. "What?"

"Well, you did say that you knew a guy who had it a hundred years ago remember." Sky said.

"Yeah, but that was just hearsay that he had it. I never actually seen it with him." he told her skeptically.

"Guy? A guy never owned it; it was specially handcrafted for a certain woman as a gift for the birth of her son." Blase said, looking pointedly at Fulk.

Fulk widen his eyes at the implied meaning. "Are you saying that the necklace belonged to my mother?"

Everyone became speechless at the news. It was amazing in the turn of events of things. Fulk then realized something. "Oh my god." he sighed as he leaned back in his seat, completely amazed that he didn't put the two together.

"What? What is it Fulk?" Sky asked him, wondering what was going through his mind at the moment.

"I know exactly where it is. I had wondered why that crude drawing you and Vivi presented looked so familiar to me, it's because I have seen it before." he said to her.

"Of course it would seem familiar to you, your mother wore it every day until she..." Blase trailed off, letting the sentence fall as a sad look crossed his face.

Fulk looked away for a moment and then back at him with a frown. "No, it wasn't that, I've seen it recently." he said and at that statement everyone looked at him.

"Where? When?" Rose again demanded.

He looked at her and scowled. "You know, now that I know it belonged to my mother, I don't think I want to research it anymore as a project for school." he said flatly.

"What?!" Rose said angrily.

He actually got angry. "If you think, after knowing that it was my mothers, specially made for her, that I would still do the project on it, you're dead wrong Rose, it's personal now."

Nobody said anything, and Vivian was staring at Blase with a blank look.

"How do you know all of this Blase?" she asked him, and everyone turned to look at him, making him uncomfortable as he rubbed his jaw in thought.

Fulk figured Blase knew because he was around his mother when she was alive. He was there when his parents got married, knew her when she was a human, even at his birth. Was there when she had died. He knew more about Vanessa than anyone else, even more so than Fulk's father did. So, it shouldn't have surprised him, as much as it did, when the next words came out of Blase's mouth.

"I know, because I was the one who had gotten it specially made for her."

Everyone gasped at that, except for Vivian. "Oh." she said stiffly, and he sighed.

"It was gift that I had given her when she made me Fulk's Godfather." he continued.

"Fulk's Godfather?!" Sky asked in shock.

"I thought I mentioned that to you?" Fulk asked her, frowning in puzzlement.

"No, you didn't, only that he was your father's best friend and-"

"You told her that?!" Blase asked, as he shot up in his chair with disbelief.

"I didn't know that." Trevor said as Troy nodded his head in agreement with his brother.

"That's so awesome!" Trevor said in excitement.

"Actually, I didn't know that either." Lasota exclaimed with a frown.

"No one did Mark, the only ones who knew were me, Fulk, Vanessa and that scumbag she was married too." he said with a hard look.

Vivian watched him very closely as she became stiff.

"I take you are no longer friends with the Duke then?" Lasota asked him and Blase just grunted.

"Why not?" Vivian asked, not showing any emotion at all.

Sky saw how stiff she was and wondered what was wrong with her. Why she was looking at Blase as if he could burst into flames right there, and wouldn't care if she watched him burn. She also sensed that the subject was getting intense and heavy. And judging by Blase's face, unwanted.

"Because I'm not, alright." He got up and walked to the little cubicle that was the restroom and slammed the door.

Vivian huffed angrily. "Figures." she mumbled.

Sky figured that maybe she will talk to her later and see what was going on with her.

"So, does this mean we aren't going to Egypt then?" Mei asked Mr. Lasota and he sighed.

"There really isn't any reason too now, might as well head for Scotland."

"Ugh! What's the point in going at all?! We no longer have an object, so having the other team find theirs is pointless, isn't it?" Rose asked, completely put out now.

Sky was disappointed. She had really looked forward to the two trips, but Rose was right, what was the point now?

"Can't we just find another one that is a rare object in Egypt?" she asked hopefully and that was when Ms. Souza came out of the cockpit and smiled at them. She frowned at their dismal faces.

"What's wrong?" she asked around, wondering what it was that she had missed.

"I'll fill you in later, but Sky that is a great idea, your group can start researching during the rest of the way." he said, feeling a bit better knowing it wasn't all just a waste of time.

Besides. they used the school's resources to make these two trips, courtesy of Lord Sayles, special treatment for Sky. Considering what had happened last week and he too didn't want to see it go to waste.

He nodded his head to Fulk, then him and Souza went back into the cockpit. During the rest of the eighteen hours of the ride they researched on the laptop that Vivian had brought with her. Sky, Fulk and Vivian pretty much did everything as Rose did as she pleased, which was pretty much nothing.

The others found ways to entertain themselves. At one-point Blase finally came out of the bathroom and it was all Sky could do to hold herself back from running him over to take a pee. He was in there a really long time. He at first tried to help them research, but then him and Vivian got into a heated argument over something so trivial as to what artifact belonged to which Pharaoh and what time period.

Eventually, Blase walked away in frustration to the cockpit and they haven't seen him since. Vivian was then angry and didn't show any more interest in the research anymore, although she did throw in some suggestions.

At one-point Sky started to nod off to sleep and when she woke up it was bright outside the tiny window that was left open, as all the others were closed. She looked around and saw that it was only her and Fulk, who was still on the laptop.

"Where is everyone?" she asked as she rubbed the stiffness from her neck.

"In the cockpit." he answered as he shut the laptop and stood up to retrieve a sliver tray and handed it to her. "Your breakfast, I made sure the pilot supplied food on the plane for you." he said.

"Oh, thank you." She opened it up and saw a gourmet dish of pancakes with fresh fruit and whip cream, scramble eggs, hash browns and sausage. She inhaled the aroma and dug in.

He sat there watching her eat. He couldn't help but look at the way she savored each and every bite. Most of the time he had just sat there and watched her sleep when no one was looking and again he thought how innocent she looked.

He wondered what it would be like to really hold her, to kiss her senseless, to actually make her happy, but then it would all fade when he thought what she would think of him if she knew his dark secret. She would never except him for who or what he really was and that alone assured him to stay away from her. While she was sleeping, Blase and him had a serious talk. They had sat in the luggage department underneath.

"What are we doing down here Blase?" he had asked him.

"Shh, I don't want anyone hearing us, what I'm about to tell you is very important."

Blase's face got really serious and he looked around as if someone might be spying on them. When he was content, he looked back at Fulk. "It's about where I've been the last week after I left that night that we got attacked."

Fulk winced at that.

He still couldn't get over the fact that he had let that happen. Sky's arm was still in a cast and it was a constant reminder for him to never leave her alone unprotected. He could tell that she was still in some discomfort and since she was right-handed, it was difficult for her to do things with her left. He wished there was something he could do to make her situation better.

"Okay, so where have you been and what is so important?" he whispered as he moved a bag that clearly belonged to Rose, considering how expensive it was, and moved it out of his way to give him more room.

"Well, I thought about what that guy said in the clearing. I didn't recognize him at the time, only because his appearance was way different, but I know who he is." Blase said to him fiercely.

He snapped his head up at that. "What?! Well, who is he?" he demanded him.

"His name is Maximus Gustave, he is from the 12th century, yeah he's that old." Blase told him.

He frowned. "That's older than you." he whispered.

"Yeah I know. Him and your old man has been enemies for centuries, do you know the story of your grandfather?" he asked him.

"Of course I do, it was all my father drilled into me about making sure I knew our place in our existence." he said a bit bitterly.

"Well, let's just say Maximus's father had the same thing happen to him, only not exactly a vampire." Blase watched Fulk closely as he absorbed that.

"Wait, your telling me that his father was also cursed by a powerful witch and he became something like my grandfather, only...not like my grandfather?" Fulk looked confused and then he looked comprehensive. "Don't tell me there really are things such as werewolves."

Blase laughed at him. "Not that I know of no, but Maximus is well...totally different. I think the witch cursed his father as something more different than us. He looks normal. except the eyes are always black, their strength matches our own, only Maximus isn't just a typical one. He's a lot stronger because he is older and born bred like your father. They don't change by getting bitten, they change by blood. The human only needs one drop, and they survive on human flesh, not just their blood, but their actual...well, like eat them...kind of." Blase said a bit disgusted by that knowledge.

"How come I have never heard of them or seen them before?" Fulk asked, becoming a bit more afraid knowing they wanted and tried to come after Sky and had almost gotten her.

"Because they don't like to venture out as much and they try harder than we do to keep hidden, to stay secret." Blase rubbed his eyes. "They are really dangerous Ambrose, and they're after Sky for a reason."

He became lost in thought. This wasn't looking very good and if what Blase said was true then this was something that may be out of their league. Why hadn't his father ever told him about this man Maximus and his kind? That there was even another kind for that matter? What do they want with Sky?

He understood that he may have found his match in strength. The guy wasn't even hurt, other than his face being crushed, but it was as if he wasn't even fazed. What the hell was it that they all wanted with the girl?

He looked over at Blase. "We need to find out why they want her Blase, we need to know what they are after."

"That's not all Ambrose, we have a slight problem."

He frowned at him and became suspicious at once. "What's wrong?"

Blase gave him a hard stare as he said, "They can come out during the day."

He stared at him and he felt a slight weariness overtake him. That wasn't good at all. If they decide to attack during daylight than Fulk was the only one who can protect her, and he didn't know if he could do it alone. His reserve to keep her in his sight at all times became ten times stronger within him. After their talk they went back up and now here he was watching her, the girl in question, eat her food.

"We land in Cairo in two hours." he told her, and she looked up at him.

"Really?" She smiled, and he couldn't help but smile back at her.

"Yeah, but unfortunately, we have to wait a couple of hours to leave the plane. It's four in the afternoon and we can't leave till it's dark."

She got up and stretched. "That's fine, it's just the thought of being there." She sighed.

A knock sounded at the door and someone said, "Coming in!"

Fulk quickly got up, closed the remaining window, and cast the room in gloom, then Souza walked in and gave Sky a big smile.

"Oh, hello dear, your awake, good! I wanted to go over some destination points with you two for your day trip on the research." she said as she came over.

"Oh, did we find an object then?" Sky asked in surprise.

"Ugh yes, and a stupid one at that." Rose huffed as she came in the room and sat down on the other side.

"I don't think you have any right to complain about it since you didn't bother to put any effort in looking for one." Fulk said, always and forever annoyed with her.

"Why look for something that holds no interest for me?" she asked, as she looked down at her nails.

"What is it?" Sky asked him, ignoring Rose.

"We have decided to do the Golden Scarab." he answered.

Sky gasped and smiled. "Ooohh which one?" she asked eagerly.

"Um, the one found in a 3,300-year-old coffin of-"

"Egyptian Pharaoh Seti!" she exclaimed in excitement. "I read all about it in the discovery articles, are we going to search for it?"

Rose groaned. "Oh great, geez Fulky, you could have warned us she was an Egyptian nerd, now we're never going to leave that awful place!"

"Stop calling me that!" he yelled irritably.

"I'm not a nerd." Sky said with a frown.

"Don't listen to her Sky, she just loves to complain about everything. Besides, we won't have to deal with her during the day." Fulk said, a little happy at that knowledge.

Rose rolled her eyes and looked away from them. The next two hours seemed to go by slow for Sky. She was so excited and couldn't wait to get there. She couldn't wait to see all the sights and all the history of such a great culture. She hoped they will be able to see the Nile River while they were there, and she wanted to see so many things. But they only had a week and should only venture in areas that were related to the Golden Scarab. Either way, she felt that she was going to have the time of her life.

********************

They landed at the Cairo airport. Sky was anxious to get off the plane and explore the area. She kept peeking out the window when no one was near and kept pacing back and forth on the plane, more often than she needed too and it made Rose become irritated with her.

"Could someone please make her stop!" she said angrily.

"Nope, if it's driving you insane, I'd say let her keep at it." Vivian said as she flipped through a magazine.

"Dude, it's already eight in the evening and the sun is still up." Trevor whined.

"Alright, I can't take this anymore, come on Sky we're getting off this hellhole." Fulk said as he got up from his seat.

She jumped from the window like a little child and jumped in the air. "Yes!" she said excitedly.

"Where are you two going?" Lasota asked as they passed him by the cockpit door.

"Going outside, it's getting too damn stuffy in here for me." Fulk told him.

He didn't want to admit that the only reason he chose to leave the plane was just to make Sky happy. Lasota looked back into the room at Rose.

"Oh, I get it." He smiled, thinking that they just wanted to get away from the obnoxious girl.

"Well, have fun and don't go too far." he chuckled.

Fulk and Sky didn't go ten feet outside when all of the sudden they heard Vivian yell in the plane.

"Hold up! You are not leaving me here in this cramped-up plane with these annoying people!"

"Vivian, what are you doing?!" They heard Lasota say and they saw her push him back as he tried to bring her back inside.

The sun was still bearing down with intensity and it was already making Sky sweat with the heat. She looked over at Fulk, who was wearing his long sleeved dark grey shirt. His skin was still pale, and he hadn't even broken out in a sweat.

"Aren't you hot in that?" she asked him as she tried to fan herself with her hand.

He looked over at her and gave her a shy smile. "No, the weather doesn't affect me the way it does you. I could be in weather with really intense heat or I could be in the coldest, it doesn't matter. I'll always stay the same temperature." He looked back over at the plane where Vivian and Lasota were in a battle of strength and argument over her leaving the plane.

"Let me go!" she yelled.

"Not until you get some sense into your head and grab something to cover yourself!" he yelled back.

Vivian stopped struggling. "Oh, well then." She walked back towards inside the plane and Sky looked back at Fulk.

"So, when you say you could stand intense heat, does that mean fire included?" she asked.

He widen his eyes at her. "You know, I've never really thought about that."

They both turn back when they heard Vivian say, "Alright, I'm coming out!"

Vivian was completely covered from head to toe. Every inch of her skin was gone, except the portion of her face. She also had an umbrella with her. She opened it up before she stepped out.

"Vivian, maybe you should let me try it first." Lasota told her worriedly.

She just gave him a stony glare and he backed up. "All I'm saying, is that I will never be forgiven by my brother if you chance to burst into flames." he said.

She snorted at that and, without another thought, she stepped down from the little staircase and stood there. "Hmmm." she hummed, and decided to take one of her gloves off.

"Vivi." Fulk warned her with a scowl.

In a side whisper to Sky he said, "Unfortunately, the half-breeds take that human part of their human parent."

"I heard that." Vivian mumbled, as he referred to her stubbornness.

Vivian slowly took off the glove, but carefully kept it underneath the shade of the umbrella. "Are you alright?" Lasota asked, still inside the plane, watching her with a worried expression and Vivian smiled.

"Yes, Uncle Mark, everything is fine." She took her other glove off and walked up to Sky and Fulk.

She was about to say something, when all of the sudden they heard a crash in the plane. "We're coming too!"

Both twins, dressed ridiculously in their covered-up clothes and umbrellas, emerged from the plane. Trevor sighed in relief at being in the open space.

"Aw, man it's so hot!" Troy whined, and Sky tried really hard not to laugh at them.

They really did look funny in their get up of black matching pants, oversized winter coats and they each had their heads and faces, except for their eyes, covered in what looked like scarfs with beanies. They even had snow gloves on.

"Why are you guys dressed like that?" Fulk asked, shaking his head at them.

"Because somebody only packed winter clothes." Troy replied, giving his brother a pointed look.

"What? We're going to Scotland, duh." he said defensively.

"It's summer in Scotland too, you dolt." Troy said, feeling annoyed.

Trevor laughed and stopped. "Oh yeah." Then he frowned as he really thought about it. "Well, at least we can take these things off." He said. He striped the gloves off and threw them over his head behind him.

"Come on, let's get inside the airport before I completely sweat out all the fat in my body." Vivian huffed, as she went ahead of them.

As soon as they got in, they all sighed at the blast of cool air that hit them. There were tourists everywhere and some locals. The place was busy with activity and more than a bit noisy as people talked, yelled, laughed, and complained about one thing or another.

"Oh look, there are gift shops!" Sky exclaimed excitedly, seeing all the things Egyptian. "Come on!" She said as she grabbed Vivian's hand to pull her along after her, in her excitement.

The guys followed behind. There were people who ended up staring at the twins with all their getup, like they were insane to be wearing that. One lady, who was clearly having a hot flash amid with the heat of the country, gave Trevor an incredulous stare. He started to rub his hands and blow on them as his body started to shiver.

"Man, it's cold here, these people are nuts wearing shorts and tank tops in such weather, I think they may have lost their damn minds." he said loudly to where she could hear him. He then rubbed his arms and the lady looked at him with disbelief.

They started laughing as Fulk just shook his head at them, but he was smiling. It was a bit odd that they all, except for Sky, had long sleeved shirts and pants on, not to mention the twins with their thick coats and scarfs still covering them. It would grab anybody's attention.

"You know, while we're inside, you don't have to wear all that stuff." he told them, at least they closed the umbrellas when they stepped through the doors.

As Sky pulled Vivian through the gift shop, she kept giving her looks, wondering if she should bring up what she really wanted to talk to Vivian about. But she was afraid to approach the subject, knowing that Vivian was very temperamental when it came to it. She decided to go for it.

"Vivi, can I ask you a question?" she asked quietly, so she couldn't be overheard by the boys, but little did she know that Fulk could hear every word spoken.

Vivian picked up a souvenir of a keychain with the God of Ra's head. "Sure." she said to her.

"Why were you so upset when Blase was talking about the necklace?"

Behind her Fulk crossed his arms against his chest, becoming interested in the conversation. Vivian carefully put the keychain back on its display and looked over to her with a blank face.

"I have no idea what you mean Sky, I wasn't upset at all." she said calmly, making her frown at her odd behavior.

"You seemed pretty upset and a bit snappy towards him to me."

Vivian sighed and turned away. "I wasn't upset, I was frustrated because we had wasted all that time for nothing and for him to spring it on us that most likely the necklace will never be seen again, we had nothing to look forward too anymore, that's all."

She gave her a hard look. "Okay, if you say so." She walked away to examine some post cards.

Fulk walked up to Vivian and whispered in her ear, to where only she could hear him. "Nice little save there, cuz."

She gave him a haughty look. "Seriously, I don't know what you're talking about Fulk." She looked away quickly when he gave her a huge grin and a knowing look.

"Oh, shut up and go protect your girl." she snapped at him.

He stood up straighter and all the laughter left his face. "She's not my girl." he said stiffly.

Vivian in turn gave him a knowing look and grin. He just rolled his eyes and walked away towards back to the twins, who were making a huge racket with a display mummy. Somehow, the head popped off and the wrapping was coming undone.

They tried very hard to replace the mummy back to its original setting without being noticed, but they were making things worse for themselves. He sighed regrettably and slowly closed his eyes dreading that he agreed to let his twin cousins to come along. He went quickly to help them stop making fools of themselves.

"Sorry, dumbass here wanted to see if the mummy was real." Troy whispered fiercely to him as he gathered up all the wrapping from the floor.

"Of course it's not real! It's a display." Fulk said heatedly.

"Well, I know that now!" Trevor said, holding the head as if it was a basketball in his hands.

In the distance, without any of them aware, a lone stranger watched them intently. He looked at each of them with hooded eyes. He wore a long brown faded leather trench coat over a hooded sweater. He had his hood up covering his head. He sniffed the air and roamed over them until he spotted the girl over by the display of postcards. With a glint in his black eyes, his smile showed rotted yellow teeth, he slowly moved backwards into the shadows of an unused walkway and disappeared.

"Hey, look at this!" Sky exclaimed as she picked up a vase with inscriptions in Egyptian writing. It held holographs of pictures of Egyptians all around it and was painted gold.

"It's just a vase." Vivian said, uninterested in the object.

"Yeah, but it's what's on it that is amazing." Sky said excitedly.

She looked down to check the price on it and her eyes bulged at what was written there. There was no way she could afford it. They were asking for two hundred and fifty American dollars. She looked at it longingly and set it back down. Giving a big sigh, she walked away from it to examine other items that she could afford.

Vivian picked it up and went to the cashier. "I would like to buy this please."

Fulk came up next to her and nudged her shoulder. "This is so unlike you Vivi, I'm surprised." he said with false shock on his young face.

She nudged him back and smiled. "Oh whatever, I'm just being nice. I could tell she really wanted it."

He put an arm around her shoulders. "And knowing she couldn't afford it you decided to purchase it for her, it's times like these that I have no problem claiming you as my blood relation."

Vivian socked him in the arm, making him laugh at her and moving away quickly. After hours of them exploring the shops, restaurants, and the arcade room, which the twins tried every single game and won them all, darkness had finally fallen and the rest of their group from the plane had joined them.

"Ugh! If I had to spend another moment with that overbearing oaf!" Rose stomped in their direction, followed by Mei and Lucy arm in arm, McRaven following just behind with his hands in his pockets looking a bit bored, Lasota rubbing his temples and Souza calmly talking to Blase, who looked irritated by the conversation.

"Alright, I have reserved five hotel rooms at the Grand Nile Tower hotel near the Nile River and I figured two people per room, although one room will have to have an extra person." Lasota sighed at that. "And since you two..." He grabbed each of the twin's shoulders. "Don't know how to behave yourselves it looks as if I'll be bunking with you."

Trevor scoffed at that. "What? Don't you trust us?"

Lasota looked thoughtful. "Let me think...no, no I don't, especially you." he said to him seriously.

Trevor pouted as Lasota steered them away to the exit of the airport. Vivian stared daggers at Blase as he said,

"I think we should start right away on the search; I know someone who lives in this area and she might know where to start."

"She? And who is this 'she'?" she asked tightly as they all walked to the exit following the twins and Lasota.

Blase gave her a broad smile. "Vivian my love, always remember that you're the only one that holds my heart in the palm of your hand." he said dramatically, looking for all the world like a lovesick man. His eyes twinkled when she scowled and threw her gloves at him, which he caught laughing.

"Blase, be serious." Fulk said, frowning at a city map he had snatched at the last minute.

"Oh alright, she's a very old friend of mine, met her back when..." He trailed off as a smile played on his face and his eyes had a faraway look about them.

Sky raised her brows at him, knowing he was going down memory lane at the moment. She stole a glance in Vivian's direction, which was shooting hateful glares at the guy.

"Snap out of it and tell us who she is!" she snapped forcefully.

Blase's eyes widen as he remembered where he was. "Sorry, was recalling some very...um interesting memories." he mumbled.

"Oh, I'm sure you were." she said heatedly.

The twins exchanged looks with each other, partially interested in the conversation. Fulk hid his smile behind the map and Sky was looking at them in vivid innocence.

"Her name is Reyna and she's a college professor at the University of Cairo. Her specialty is Egyptian Artifacts." he said at large.

"That's perfect! With her help we should have no problem locating the object." Lasota said happily and then backed away after he saw the look his niece gave him.

"Great, I'll go and have a chat with her now, meet you guys at the hotel." He started to walk off when suddenly he got pulled back.

"Oh no you don't! You are not leaving us again to wait, I'm coming with you." Vivian grouched.

Blase blinked at her for a moment. "And here I thought you would rather see yourself burn in hell than to be alone with me." he said in a sarcastic way.

"I still do, which is why Sky will be going as well." she said flatly.

Sky was caught off guard by that. "I am?" she asked, and Vivian gave her a look.

"Of course, you are."

"Not without me, she isn't." Fulk said in a hard tone.

Blase scratched his head in indecision. "Then come along if you want."

"I'll go too." Rose said suddenly.

"Don't forget about us!" Trevor and Troy both said in unison.

Lasota, Souza, Mei, Lucy and McRaven all raised their hands up in the air, stating they were going as well. Blase threw up his hands in annoyance.

"Really?!"