The British Museum Case - 8

I'd only travelled by magic portal once before, but I was considerably happier this time - I knew who I would be traveling with, and I knew Miriam was a friend. Scruff followed, looking distinctly funny in her Robin costume. I've suggested she might want to change it, but she says she thinks it's great, so I'm stuck with a sidekick who dresses like a female version of Batman's. Laura had on her skin-tight Black Kitten costume, something I wouldn't want to wear in public in daylight, but there you go.

We emerged inside the Museum. I couldn't help noticing that Miriam was floating a good six inches off the floor. Nice if you can do it, I suppose. It certainly saves on shoe-leather.

"What are we looking for?" I asked.

"Confirmation that it was the Morrigan who raised the mummies," Miriam told me. "Last time I was too busy dealing with the mummies to perform the psychic scan that I need to perform on the crime-scene. But I shall be vulnerable whilst I am performing the scan, and I fear that I may need your help should the police decide to arrest me."

Fighting with the police. They hate me already, so it would be unlikely to do too much damage to my reputation. It's bad enough already.

Miriam, her hood raised, her eyes glowing in the shadow of the hood, led the way. I followed, and the younger girls followed me, whispering to each other. It was one of those times that I wished I had super-hearing, but I don't, so I didn't hear what Scruff and Laura were whispering about.

"Miriam," I whispered, "what happens if we meet some of the police on our way to the gallery?"

"We shall not. I can sense where they are, and I am leading us accordingly, so that we do not meet them."

As a result of another cool and useful power of Miriam's, we moved rapidly through the building to the Egyptian galleries. They were still in a mess from what had happened earlier, mummies and pieces of mummies all over the floor. Miriam floated, unfazed, over it all, coming to a halt in the centre of the room. She raised her arms at right-angles to her body and her eyes began to glow more brightly, the stone in her forehead lighting up as well.

"From now on, Jane, you must protect me," she declared. "I must read the ether, my mind must roam free around this place."

"You heard her," I told my younger friends. "Protect Miriam. Hopefully she'll be able to find something to lead us to this Shianna girl."

We watched the doors, ready for a fight but hoping that there wouldn't be one. I hate fighting the police anyway, they're on the same side as we are, they just don't know it. Trouble is, I do.

It was rather spooky to watch Miriam just floating there, strange purple energies drifting around her. I kept my eyes on the doors that led from the staircase, knowing that the police were most likely to come from there.

I heard footsteps approaching. That was not a good thing, I decided. In fact it was very, very bad. Miriam was still floating and doing her weird mystical examination thing, and that meant she needed our protection. I just hoped that the police were not armed, as they have a nasty habit of being these days.

"'Ere!"

It was a police officer, and he was carrying a rifle. What was more, he was pointing it at Miriam.

"What;'s goin' on?" he demanded. "'Ere! You're the Girl in Grey!"

"Guilty," I confessed, raising my hands. "Just don't disturb the flying girl."

"Too late," he grinned wickedly, Cockney accent vanishing. "The Fomorians will live!"

With that, he fired at Miriam. She screamed as the bullet struck her, and the black-cloaked figured fell to the floor.