CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

❝Go slowly, my lovely moon, go slowly.❞

Khaled Hosseini

✦✧✦

It turns out, Larry and Luna might share a brain. The next day, they meet for coffee at the island and suggest exactly the same thing: they need to do more research on the tablet. Nicky wants to come to, but Larry's still deciding on the right punishment, so Luna gives him a kiss on the cheek, promises to tell him everything, and they head out into the bitter cold, toward the museum once again.

The archives are on the lowest level, many feet below the museum, and it gets increasingly chillier as they take the elevator down to the basement. Luna pulls her coat tighter around herself, regretting not wearing more layers.

When the elevator doors open, they're met with an older woman with short gray hair and glasses, who's aggressively playing a game on her computer. Larry gives Luna an oh-dear look and then turns to the woman. "Uh, hi."

The woman looks up at them, crosses her arms, and leans back in her seat, looking severely judgmental.

"I'm Larry Daley," Larry says, untying his scarf, "and I'm head of the Night Program."

"I know who you are," the woman replies, unimpressed. "You're the security guard."

"Yeah, also head of the Night Program." Larry shrugs. "This is my assistant, Luna Clair."

"Hi!" Luna waves half-heartedly, hoping to someday get to the point of their trip down to the freezing basement. "We're hoping to do some research, um, and maybe you could help us out?"

"Mm, night guard and teenager doing research!" The woman raises her eyebrows. "Ooh-la-la."

"Yeah." Larry nods awkwardly. "Uh, I'm just looking for anything that you might have on the tablet of Ahkmenrah."

"Center aisle. Halfway down, stack's on your left."

"Great." Larry smiles, pats Luna on the arm, and heads down the hall toward the aforementioned aisle.

"Thank you so much," Luna says, leaning down to eye-level with the woman at the desk. "I was wondering if there's a chance you might be able to turn the heat up in here? It's freezing!"

The woman chortles, turning back to the Candy Crush game on her PC. "Oh, no, dear. I get the worst hot flashes down here. You'll have to keep your coat on."

Oh, this is gonna be great. So Luna wraps her coat tighter around her shoulders and follows Larry down to the center aisle.

For the next few hours, all Luna sees are old photographs, fragments of letters, and articles on the tablet and its trip to New York. It was in 1938 when the tablet was originally found in Egypt, by American and British archaeologists, and subsequently was taken to Cambridge until the late 1950s, when it was sent to the Museum of Natural History. All of this fits with what Ahkmenrah's told her, but there's no record anywhere of it ever corroding like this before.

Several hours in, the woman--Luna thinks she said her name was Rose--walks over with a cup of coffee and a sandwich, and sits down beside Luna, eyebrows raised. "So what makes you two so curious about the tablet?" she asks, smoothing her skirt.

"Oh, uh, just a hobby, you know?" Larry replies, shrugging.

"We both love history," Luna adds, nodding. This is actually true, although it's definitely not why they came down here.

"Wish we could talk to these guys," Larry mutters, staring at the photograph in his hand. It's got all the main archaeologists in it, the guys who really dug up Ahkmenrah's tomb. Luna wonders what it was like there.

"Well, you can't," Rose says bluntly. "'Cause they're dead."

"Right." Larry nods uncomfortably. "But, uh--" He points to something in the left of the photo-- "Look at that one. Looks like a kid, huh?"

Rose takes the photo, a smile growing on her face, and sighs. She touches the boy in the corner, as if remembering.

"You--you knew him?" Luna asks quietly.

"C.J. Fredericks." Rose nods, grinning. "He worked here." She hands the photo back to Larry, who's very surprised.

"He worked here?"

"Yeah, when he grew up," Rose replies.

"No." Larry shakes his head.

"Yeah! He was a night guard, same as you."

"Wait a minute..." Luna vaguely remembers a man named--

"Cecil Fredericks?"

"Sexiest night guard we ever had," sighs Rose, smiling wider than she has all day. "Present company included. Boy, could that man move."

So Larry's old boss was in the original company that found Ahkmenrah's tablet. And, if Luna remembers correctly, he also tried to steal said tablet so that it could keep him and his two buddies feeling young forever, and was sent to jail, before Larry bailed them out.

Luna's not too happy about seeing him again, especially considering he chased her, Nicky, and Ahkmenrah all over the museum for about five hours last year, but Larry convinces her, and so they head to the old folks' home downtown.

When they head into the main common area, there's music playing, and Cecil's right in the middle of the room, dancing away with several of the older ladies. He's charming, that's for sure, but Luna knows how he can use that charm.

Cecil turns, spots them, and grins widely. "Larry!" He hurries over, shaking Larry's hand firmly. "My god, it's been a while."

"You look like you're doing pretty good," Larry replies, smiling.

"And I remember you," Cecil says, turning to Luna. "What was your name, uh, Louise? Lucy?"

"Luna," she replies, a little coolly.

"Oh, I know you're thinking about what happened last year." Cecil waves a hand. "Don't worry about that anymore! It's old news. Trust me, the guys and I have no intention of doing anything like that again. Besides, the ladies don't really dig criminals anymore. I guess being bad's only sexy when you're young." He winks at Luna, who can't help but smile. He's really cute when he wants to be.

"Now, what are you two doing here?" Cecil asks them.

"We need to talk to you about the tablet," Larry says, smile fading.

"What the heck is Short Stack doing here?" asks a familiar voice.

All three of them turn to see Gus in a wheelchair, Reginald at the handles. Gus looks just as fiery as ever, and Reginald looks just as tired of him as he did the first time Luna met him.

"Hey, Gus," says Larry, smiling awkwardly. "You're looking well. And Reginald."

"What, are you and Eva Marie Saint here to frame us again?" asks Gus, eyes narrowed. "Send us back to the slammer?"

"Okay, I didn't frame you," Larry corrects him. "You were actually stealing. And I was the one that got you out of jail, so..."

"Yeah." Gus makes a face at Luna, who resists the urge to take a step back.

"Larry, we've got a nice life here," Cecil says under his breath. "You know, the past is the past. We've moved on."

"I don't think this guy's moved on." Larry gestures in Gus's general direction.

"Listen to him, monkey face," Gus snarls, pointing at Cecil.

"We've put all that tablet stuff behind us, Larry," Reginald says, shaking his head. "It's old news."

"Besides, we never really knew anything about that old tablet," Cecil adds. "We just worked there."

"Yeah, well, something's happening to it," Luna says quietly.

Cecil gives her a disappointing look. "I told you, I can't help you."

Larry sighs, fishes in his jacket pocket, and pulls out the photograph of the expedition, of the 12-year-old Cecil. "Well, maybe this kid can."

Cecil takes it, looks down, and his eyes widen. He sighs resignedly. "Maybe we'd better talk alone."

✦✧✦

"The tablet's turning green," Luna says, leaning across the table in the sunroom, uninterested in the watery tea the old folks' home is supposedly so famous for. "Like it's corroding or something. And it's affecting the exhibits, Jed and Octavius, Teddy..." She pauses. "Ahkmenrah... It's messing with them."

Cecil leans back in his chair, mouth open slightly, and mutters, "'The destruction that comes...'"

Luna's heart stops. He's talking about the second half of the prophecy.

"What?" Larry asks, frowning and sitting straight up in his chair.

"The locals," Cecil replies. "They warned us. They begged us to leave that tomb alone. I thought it meant the end of the world. But maybe it meant the end..."

"End of the magic," Luna breathes, suddenly at a loss for air.

"They kept reciting this old prophecy or poem or something," Cecil continues. "Something about the healer and the king, the daughter of the moon... We thought it was just religious mumbo jumbo, but maybe it wasn't." He shakes his head. "We should've listened. Should've listened. Instead, we shipped everything off to England. Of course, Ahk and the tablet came back here, but his folks stayed across the pond."

"Wait, wait--" Larry holds up his hand. "Ahkmenrah's parents are in England?"

"It was a joint expedition." Cecil nods. "Some of the artifacts stayed in Egypt. The rest was divided up between New York and the British Museum."

"Ahkmenrah always told me his father knew more about the tablet than he did," Luna says slowly, thinking hard.

"I think we have to go talk to him." Larry's mouth is a firm, set line, and Luna knows what she has to do.

They shake hands with Cecil, thank him for the time, and the minute they're out on the chilly street again, Luna stops Larry in his tracks. "I need to tell you something. It's about that prophecy. It's real, and unless we do something about it, Ahkmenrah and the tablet are both going to die."

✦✧✦

hey my loves <3 just popped in to update! and to let you know that since it's thanksgiving here in good ol' america next week, there will not be an update next thursday, but regular updates will continue the week after!

q: thai food or indian food?

a: yes and yes.