Chapter 9

As everyone was staring wide eyed at the photograph Sal and Sam suddenly stood up and started rapidly looking for their discarded wigs and hats. A few seconds later the rest of the group realised why when they heard the sounds of a car driving up outside. 

“It must be 4’o clock” exclaimed Sal with some panic. He reached over to press the buttons on the side of the table that controlled the projection device. He then grabbed some books from the shelves at the back of the room, some paper and some colouring pencils and threw them on the table. “Quick - look like we’ve been doing normal history stuff!”

Just as Sam had managed to get his wig on straight with the help of Mali, there was a knock on the door followed by a “hellooee!” as Tom’s Mum opened the door popped her head through the gap. “Here to collect Tom please!” she said to Sal who was doing their best impression of a normal human being. 

“Of course, of course” Sal said, patting Tom on the back as he led him towards the door. “ We’ve had a great day, haven’t we Tom? All very normal history stuff. Totally normal…”

“Yup” agreed Tom, “totally normal”. 

“Good! Glad to hear it” said Tom’s mum with a slightly questioning look at Sal and Tom. She looked at the rest of the group who were furiously drawing on pieces of paper with a level of enthusiasm rarely seen in young people without technical devices close to hand. “Have you all had a good day” she asked, clearly looking for reassurance. 

“Oh yes, great day”. “Awesome”. “Soooo much history”. “Completely normal day” appeared to be the range of replies said with more volume, head nodding and eye contact that Tom’s mum was used to. 

“Great!” said Tom’s mum with a slight hesitancy, as she walked out to the car with her arm slightly protectively around Tom’s shoulders.  

As they were putting their seatbelts on Tom’s mum asked him if had enjoyed his day. 

“Brillant!” was the honest reply. “ It’s a nice group of people and I’ve been learning loads. Turns out history club is much more fun than I was expecting!. Can’t wait to get back there tomorrow!”

They drove away with Tom’s mum feeling a slight sense of unease, but reassured by Tom’s clear enthusiasm to return the next day. Tom’s head was buzzing with images of treasure, alien beings, and diary entries and maps. If Effendi and the Chatten had placed the time disruption device on the day that they visited to witness the second sealed door, that really only left one day when they could potentially get into the tomb and remove it before the grand opening. How would they get it? Would they be able to recognise the device. What would happen if they ran into Effendi or the Chatten. Would they be able to get home safely?

Despite all the worries, Tom realised that if they didn’t act, his “normal life” was at risk. He looked over at his Mum, driving her Mini and singing along to a cringe 80s soft rock song, and realised that he would do anything to try and protect the world as it was. Nothing in life was perfect, but he knew that having parents that loved him, even when they could sometimes be an embarrassment, was something not to take for granted. He sat back in his seat with a renewed sense of determination. “ How was your day Mum?” he asked with a smile. 

After Tom and his Mum had gone, the rest of the team sat back with a sigh realising that they had just had a close call. The room was now looking like a normal classroom and everyone was prepared for when the next car would arrive. 

“So, what’s the plan for tomorrow?” asked Cai. 

Sal was standing at the front of the room. “ I think we’ve made good progress today. We know where we need to go, and have narrowed down when the device was hidden. I think tomorrow we need to come up with a plan on how we try and retrieve the time disruption device without altering this Efendi person, or that Chatten. The day after we will have to be ready to jump. It’s not an exact science when it comes to time travel and alternative timelines, but I don’t think we could risk waiting any longer.”

As each child was collected by their parent or grandparent, they smiled and waved their goodbyes and said what a good day they had had. They reassured their grown ups that everyone had been kind, and they had been fed good food, and learnt lots of interesting stuff, all which was true. What they didn’t say was that in less than 2 days time they would be time travelling back in time to Egypt to try and stop alien beings from disrupting human history. That would have been taking telling the truth a bit too far.