Henri and Malik practically sprinted from Westminster School to the nearest tube station. The pair waded through the crowd of Londoners on their way to the train that would take them back to the neighborhood their hotel was in. The sun had set minutes ago, yet the station was still buzzing with chatter and people like an angered beehive.

That was the one thing he didn't miss about the city. That and the smell of the Thames.

An intercom announced a train heading southbound was arriving in the next few seconds. Once it did, Henri and Malik made their way onboard. The former couldn't help but check the time on the digital screens displaying the next stops. Meanwhile, Malik kept close to Henri with one hand gripping the metal bar overhead and the other jammed into his pocket.

Henri desperately wanted to get back to the hotel. But not because he wanted to sleep or pack what little things he had so they could head for Egypt. Well, that was part of it. What Malik said to him in the aftermath of his spat with Thea stuck with him.

He needed to apologize. He needed to let her know that she wasn't alone.

Thea was alone, though. A crushing sense of guilt pressed around him like the shoulders of his fellow train riders. While he was off playing detective, he'd left her behind. And for what? He frowned deeply.

Malik nudged him. "It'll be alright."

"Are you a telepath?"

He seemed to always know what Henri was thinking.

"Nah. Just very perceptive."

Chuckling, Henri simply nodded.

Their train finally arrived at their stop. The boys stepped onto the platform, ascended the stairs, and rushed back to their hotel. Within ten minutes of leaving the tube station, they arrived on the street of their destination. Cars lined the sidewalks on either side, with the occasional vehicle cruising down the narrow road. Most were regular sedans, but one SUV stood out to him. It was black like a wraith and way too nice to be in this part of town. All five of its windows were tinted darker than its paint job. Civilian vehicles weren't allowed that kind of tint.

Henri's footsteps faltered as he considered it.

"You okay?" Malik stopped as well.

"I'm...not sure."

He continued to watch the vehicle. It was parked across the street from the hotel, parallel to the entrance.

"Does that SUV look suspicious to you?'

Malik squinted at it. He rubbed his chin. "Er, not really, no."

Henri pursed his lips. The SUV didn't sport a license plate. Another red flag. He was compiling a list now. As he continued to examine the mysterious vehicle, his earlier meeting with Monet Delacroix popped into his head. She vowed to leave Henri and his companions alone, so long as they dropped their interest in the Library of Alexandria and rescuing his parents.

But they hadn't exactly done that. Quite the opposite, actually.

How would she know whether they heeded her wishes?

Henri's eyes widened. "They're watching us."

Malik lifted a brow at him. "You sure? I mean, it's just—"

"Trust me on this," he urged. His head was spinning now. "They're watching us. I know it. Earlier you asked if Monet really let us off the hook. I don't think she did. Not really, anyway. I think she's had her goons trailing us the moment we left that museum just in case we didn't hold up our end of the bargain."

Malik stole another look at the SUV. "You think?"

"It's what I would've done if I was her."

"What do we do then?"

Henri thought for a moment. No one was following them while they were at his old school's library. But perhaps no one knew what they were up to inside. Only students and faculty were allowed in; being a former student, he'd been permitted inside without issue. Arkangel might've been employing lethal mercenaries, but even they couldn't force themselves past the head librarian of Westminster School. That lady made Sergei seem like a joke.

"I don't get it, though," Malik grumbled. "I thought Monet said she'd leave us alone."

"That's if we stopped looking into what's going on."

"But how would they know we lied to them?"

"Because she's smart." Henri's brow furrowed. "We need to get Thea, call Graves, and get to Egypt as fast as we can."

Malik peered at him curiously. "You really think we can find those tunnels?"

"We have to try."

The boy nodded. He glanced at the hotel again. "We can't go through the front."

Henri resisted the urge to roll his eyes. The hotel didn't have any visible alternative entrances, as it was a part of a larger building that extended on either side. That meant no alleys for them to sneak through. At least not on the sides...

"Let's look around back?" Malik suggested.

Henri's eyes lit up like the imaginary lightbulb above his head. "You just read my mind. Again. You sure you aren't a telepath?"

"I'm just amazing," Malik replied with a wide grin.

Henri's face flushed. Clearing his throat, he glanced at the SUV staking out their hotel once more. No one inside had seemed to notice them. He intended for it to stay that way. Nodding at the boy beside him, he ducked behind a nearby car and began his journey down the sidewalk wrapping around the block.

#

The good news was the hotel did have an emergency exit in the back.

The bad news was it was locked.

"Just our luck," Henri muttered as he tugged on the rusted door handle. "Why can't things ever be easy?" After two days of being chased by mercenaries, he would've thought a break was headed their way. Perhaps they'd used up all their luck.

His stomach sank at the thought. If he was going to find this library, save his parents, and thwart Arkangel, he needed all the luck in the world.

"Any other ideas?" he asked Malik.

He tried the door handle, pulling hard enough for rust chips to fall onto his hand. Grimacing, he shook his head. "I'm all out."

Well, that was helpful. Henri shuffled sideways until he was stood in front of a barred window. Curtains guarded what remained behind it, but he managed to see through a tiny gap in the thick fabric. The hotel's emergency door seemed to lead into a hallway full of empty boxes, trash bins, and laundry baskets. He squinted as he tried to get a better look at what was inside.

A hint of movement at the end of the hall caught his eye. His breath caught in his throat as someone wandered into his line of sight.

"It's her!" he exclaimed.

"Who?" Malik asked.

"The girl from the front desk," he said rapidly. Perhaps they still had some luck left in the tank.

"What's her name again?"

It only took him half a second to recall. He tapped on the glass with his knuckles, the sound echoing down the damp and smelly alleyway. "Claire! Claire!" He frantically waved his arms in front of the window.

The girl was too involved with stuffing bed sheets into a basket to notice him. He continued to knock on the window, louder and faster. Malik joined him. If the two of them tapped the glass any harder, it might've shattered. That wouldn't have been the worst thing to happen. Claire wouldn't be able to ignore them then.

"Can she really not hear us?" Malik asked.

"Just...keep knocking." Henri called out the girl's name again. This time, she stopped in her tracks. She stared at him with those icy, blue eyes of hers. Stiffer than the Washington Monument, she carefully approached the door. He sighed in relief once she pulled it open.

"What're you two knobheads doing out here?" she hissed. "You know we have a front door, yeah?"

"It's a long story. We don't have time to explain," Henri told her. "But we need to get inside. We've got people watching us. We couldn't go through the front."

Claire crossed her arms. "What kinda trouble are you bringing to my hotel?"

Henri urged her to lower her voice.

"Claire, we need you to let us in," Malik said. "Please. It's urgent." His expression had hardened like new cement being paved over a road. Paired with his tall, wide frame and steely eyes, he looked rather intimidating. Henri nibbled on his bottom lip as he fixated upon a puddle of dirty water.

Claire stammered as she contemplated the request. Her gaze bounced between the two boys before she grumbled curses under her breath. "Alright, alright, I'll let you in. But you better not bring whatever trouble you've gotten yourselves into with you. Understand?"

They nodded thankfully before rushing past her. The pair crept into a nearby stairwell. They practically ran up several flights of stairs on their way to their hotel room. By the time they arrived outside the door, beads of sweat were dripping from Henri's nose. Malik wasn't fazed in the slightest.

"You're not tired after that?" he asked between breaths.

Malik shrugged. "You gotta start doing some cardio, man."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

He retrieved the room key from his pocket and unlocked the door. He quickly pushed it open and called out for his sister. The room was pitch black, courtesy of the blackout curtains shielding their window. A light in the ceiling flickered on as Malik switched it on near the door. Henri wandered deeper into the room with his heart and mind racing.

There was no sign of her. He checked the bathroom just to be sure. A chill gnawed at his bones as he settled in the middle of the tiny suite. His heart was in freefall.

The moment he stepped into the room he knew she wasn't there. He checked the rest of the place just to confirm his fears. "She's not here..."

Where is she?

His heart dropped once he settled in the middle of the room.

"Arkangel got her. They must've taken her after we left. They're probably here waiting for us—"

"You don't know that, Henri."

"They freaking got her and I let her go—"

"I'm sure she's fine."

"This is all my fault—"

"Henri, relax!"

The sudden jump in Malik's tone sent a jolt down his spine. Tears sprang in his wide eyes. His mouth quivered as he stared at the other boy. "We have to find her. We have to."

"And we will. Just calm down, okay? Take a breath. We can't help her if we're panicking."

He was right. He was always right. It was starting to get a little annoying.

Henri exhaled. The pent-up stress and disarray that had been building in his sternum dissipated. He nodded at Malik. "I doubt she went far. She doesn't know London like I do." Thea might've been brave, but she wasn't dumb.

There was a park across the street along with a few pubs. Perhaps she'd gone in that direction after their argument...

"We'll look for her around the hotel." Malik glanced at the window across from them. It was facing the street where the SUV was parked. "We've gotta sneak out the back again."

Henri scowled. Looking for Thea outside would've been extra tricky with those mercenaries lurking outside. They couldn't risk getting nabbed by those mercenaries. If they did, Thea would really be alone.

"We just need to be extra care—"

"You two are leaving again? And here I thought you came back to apologize."

Henri's eyes bulged. He spun around to see his sister standing under the door frame with a raised eyebrow and some coloring books in her arms.

"What's going on?" she asked.

He answered her question by sweeping her up in a hug that lifted her a few inches off the floor. She tightened in his embrace before giving in. Mumbling apologies, he buried his face into the crook of her neck and nearly burst into tears.

"Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on?!"

"He probably thinks Arkangel might've gotten you," Malik said with a smile. "Glad to see they didn't."

"Why would they have taken me?" She narrowed her eyes. Once her brother released her, she put her hands on her hips. The stern look on her pale face was an identical copy of the one their mother gave them when they were causing trouble. "Where did you two go?"

Henri rubbed the back of his neck. "It's too much to explain right now. But you're not gonna believe it. We need to get ahold of Graves and fly to Alexandria as soon as possible."

"Henri..."

"We found a clue. A real clue." He pulled the journal from his pocket and showed her the map of the passageways supposedly running beneath the city. "This is how we find the library. This is how we save Mom and Dad."

Thea gawked at the folded parchment. "Is that real?"

"Would I be showing it to you if I didn't think so?"

"How do you know it's real?"

He pressed his lips into a flat line. "I don't."

"Then how is this—"

"I just have a feeling, okay? It's hard to explain, but something's telling me it's real." He shifted his feet nervously as he watched his sister glaring at him. He expected her to shoot him down and call him a fool for trusting in some random artifact he'd discovered in his old school's library.

But she didn't.

"I trust you," she said.

"You do?"

She nodded. "It's going to sound crazy, but those symbols...that map... I think I've seen them before."

"What do you mean?"

"Look, this is going to sound crazy but—"

"Thea, you should know we're way past crazy. Especially with you. No offense."

She rolled her eyes. "I've seen some of those symbols before. They've been in my dreams. Not any recent ones, but I distinctly remember seeing some of those symbols."

"Like the ones you used to paint?"

She nodded.

Henri recalled her paintings and how nonsensical they used to look in his eyes. Now they were starting to make a little more sense. He glanced at the map, now in her hand. "And what about the map? You've seen that too?"

"Well, not exactly. But those lines depicting the tunnels? Those I have seen. I've been having... different dreams lately. Not nightmares. Real dreams. And those tunnels have been in them."

Henri blinked. "And you're only now mentioning this?"

"Since when has anyone ever believed anything I've had to say about my dreams?"

Henri scolded himself internally before muttering a quick apology. Thea's dreams had always been a touchy subject within their family. None of her therapists and psychiatrists could get to the root of them or decipher their meaning. The strange symbols that found their way into her art pieces were a mystery.

But they must've meant something. If she'd been having recent dreams about the tunnel system documented on the note in the journal Henri found, then her past nightmares must've meant something as well. They'd get to the bottom of those another time. Right now, they needed to leave the hotel without getting caught by Arkangel.

"We're all sure about this?" Thea shifted her attention from Henri and Malik. "I know we're dragging you all over the world. If you want to get back home—"

"Nah, I'm good. I'm already here, right? Let's finish the job."

Thea nodded. Her eyes were back on Henri. "You're sure?"

He clutched the old journal in his hands. Its energy buzzed in his palms, invigorating his soul and sparking his brain. This was it. This was the key to unlocking a piece of the world that had been lost for centuries. A smile grabbed hold of his lips. Clutching the journal and the map to his chest, he nodded at his sister.

"Alexandria," he said with a tiny smile, "here we come."