It was in fact Mrs Chalmers, Cy’s teacher, who came to the rescue. She was usually in class before the bell rang and Cy went straight there with Aten.
‘Mrs Chalmers,’ Cy took a deep breath. ‘Would it be OK if Aten stayed in your class in school today? He’s visiting. My mum wrote a note. I’ve got it here somewhere.’ Cy started to search in his pockets . . . very slowly.
‘I didn’t realize the foreign exchange pupils had started to arrive already.’ Mrs Chalmers smiled at Aten.
‘Foreign exchange pupils,’ Cy repeated. ‘Of course! Aten is a . . . yes . . . a bit early arriving here. There . . . there was a mix up with his travel arrangements.’ Cy uncrossed his fingers behind his back. That last bit was true anyway. ‘My mum was hoping he could spend some time in school with me while she sorted things out for him.’ He began to empty his rucksack onto his desk. Orange peel, pencil case, carton of juice, crisps, books, jotter. Hopelessly, Cy prodded among them.
‘It should be all right,’ said Mrs Chalmers. ‘I’ll take the letter along to the office and check with the Head.’ She came to help Cy look for the letter, picking up his books and fanning out the pages. ‘Did you see Cy’s letter from his mum?’ she asked Aten.
‘I cannot say that I did,’ Aten replied carefully.
The first bell for assembly rang. Mrs Chalmers glanced at her watch. ‘We’ll find it later. Cy, you run along quickly and I’ll take Aten to sign in and get a visitor’s badge.’
‘I’ll come and help,’ said Cy. ‘Aten’s English isn’t good, and . . . and he’s never been in a foreign country before.’
‘That’s not quite true,’ Aten interrupted. ‘I journeyed by camel caravan to Nubia some years ago.’
‘Eh?’ Cy frowned at Aten.
‘That’s absolutely fascinating!’ exclaimed MrsChalmers. ‘You will be able to tell the class all about it later.’ She put her hand on Cy’s shoulder and steered him firmly towards the door. ‘We’ll catch up with you later, Cy.’
Camel caravans in Nubia! Omigollygosh! Cy looked back anxiously. What else would Aten say? If he started telling them that Cy had rescued him from a tomb in Ancient Egypt then they would probably lock him up. Or lock Cy up. Or lock both of them. And throw away the key.
‘Don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic,’ Cy chanted in a low voice as he ran along to the assembly hall.
Miss Fullbright, the head teacher, had already begun the morning prayer. Cy slipped in at the back and found a seat about halfway down on the right hand side, at the end of a row next to the wall.
As Cy listened to the Head’s voice droning on in assembly he kept glancing towards the double doors at the back. After about five minutes Mrs Chalmers slipped in at the back. Aten wasn’t with her. What had happened to him? Cy craned his neck. No sign of Aten. She was definitely on her own. Where was he? Maybe Aten had just disappeared into the atmosphere. He was really only part of a dream anyway, wasn’t he? Cy looked around him. Maybe all of this was a dream. Was he, in fact, imagining this assembly? The Head was now reading out the weekly good conduct list and Vicky, sitting on Cy’s left, was swinging her legs restlessly. Was Vicky actually there? And how would he know if it was a dream anyway? You never really knew until you woke up. Cy reached up and touched his eyes. He was definitely awake.
Vicky caught his eye and grinned. ‘She does go on,’ she whispered, nodding at the stage.
Cy nodded back absent-mindedly. Perhaps if he concentrated really hard he could imagine himself back in the Pharaoh’s tomb. He looked at the Egyptian wall frieze on the right hand wall just beside him. The river Nile with the outline of a funeral barge, two priests in attendance. The great Sphinx at Giza, with the desert stretching endlessly away. The Pharaoh in his chariot, the plumed horses. The border along the bottom made up of Egyptian symbols, a scarab beetle, a sceptre, the boy with the ankh . . .
The ankh!
Cy’s mouth fell open. The ankh was no longer round the boy’s neck. Very slowly Cy lifted up his own hand. Still wrapped round his wrist was Aten’s ankh. Cy touched it carefully with his other hand. Mrs Chalmers had told him that it was a magical symbol for the Ancient Egyptians. Cy remembered Aten’s terror when he realized that it no longer hung round his neck. What had he called it? ‘My soul . . . my spirit’? What special powers could it have? Cy fingered it gently.
‘Don’t touch that!’ hissed a voice on his right.
Cy turned and looked at the Egyptian wall frieze. From underneath his head-dress one of the priests glared at him ferociously.
‘Dream Master!’ yelped Cy.
The dwarf put his fingers to his lips. ‘Shhh!’
‘What are you doing here?’ Cy whispered out of the side of his mouth.
‘Trying to fix your filthy foul-up!’ snarled the dwarf. ‘Meantime, do not touch that ankh. You will only make matters worse.’
‘How?’ asked Cy. His fingers brushed against the little amulet.
‘It has come through from the Dreamworld so it will have special power in this TimeSpace,’ said the dwarf. ‘But nothing like this has ever happened before so I don’t know what exactly.’
‘What are you going to do?’
‘The matter requires some thought.’
‘You mean, you don’t know what to do?’ asked Cy.
‘I am developing a strategy,’ said the dwarf.
‘Omigosh,’ said Cy. ‘You really don’t know.’
‘There is nothing a Dream Master doesn’t know!’ the dwarf snapped back. ‘How dare—’
‘Cyrus Peters . . .’
‘What?’ Cyrus jumped as Vicky elbowed him sharply.
The head teacher had just said his name.
Cy sat up and stared at the stage with a fixed smile.
‘. . . friend from abroad,’ continued Miss Fullbright. ‘And while other arrangements are being made he will spend some time with us. Now I would like you all to welcome Aten.’
Everyone began to clap. Cy gripped the edge of his seat. This couldn’t be happening! Aten was on the stage, in front of the whole school!
‘Mrs Chalmers has told me that Aten has had some interesting experiences.’ Miss Fullbright smiled kindly at Aten. Aten smiled back.
Cy’s own smile became a grimace.
‘In particular,’ Miss Fullbright went on, ‘I believe that you went on an expedition with a camel caravan across the desert?’
‘Indeed, yes,’ Aten nodded confidently. ‘My uncles own many, many camels. They trade perfumes and ebony wood, gold and incense.’
‘Perhaps you would like to tell us a little about it?’ suggested Miss Fullbright.
‘I would be honoured,’ said Aten.
In the audience, Cy whimpered.
‘Well then, young man,’ said the Head. She stood back to usher Aten to the front of the stage. ‘What’s your story?’
Aten gave a huge grin. He stepped forward. ‘Morning glory!’ he said in a loud voice, and, reaching out, he gave Miss Fullbright a resounding thump on the back.