Here we are! Well, here I am. Mr. Royal — yes, that’s his name — and I had a meeting scheduled at 10AM, yet by 10:20, here I am, sitting in the cupboard of an office that he thinks is impressive.

In these five and a half square feet, he managed to cram as luxurious a set of chairs as he could find and an out-of-place desk. Not to mention all the relics and antiquities that just make the place feel cluttered for the sake of it. He has none of the pride of finding them, and he’s only exposing them in his office to give himself the importance and credit he cannot earn.

How do I know this?

Simple. I found and brought most of these items to the museum myself.

Empty chair in front of me. If I’m being honest, I wish it would stay that way.

The Madre Consecha’s statue here is obviously a replica, made from my sketches and pictures. If I’d known this was where the replica would sit!

Finally, Royal arrives. He takes place in his overly expensive chair and looks at me. Stares at me, really. I know he’s trying to make it look as if he can read through me.

I just stare back.

Finally, he gets bored, and starts his speech about how I’m a “valuable asset,” but I need to “refocus on the team aspect.” To “get in line with the objectives of the museum, instead of being a lone wolf like I’ve been.”

“Surely we can find a common ground,” I say. “You can give me the general guidelines, and trust that I’ll know best how to implement them on site! Right?”

He doesn’t look too fond of my plan. Or attitude. Or both.

The parents are back. From my pool house, I can hear the back and forth yelling between them and Cléo. Something about mean girls making fun of Cyril, and Cléo retaliating.

And then I can also hear Cyril’s voice adding to the storm. “I don’t ned you to fight for me! If it bothered me, I would do something about it myself!”

It’s in moments like these I’m happy I have my own space.

So while the whole family debates about mean girls, I am cheerfully assembling a new golden relic…

… and activating it.

What luck! Activating it has placed a blessing upon me! Hopefully, something that will help me face the director tomorrow!

… Wait, what kind of blessing, exactly?

Well I sure didn’t expect that kind of blessing.

The relic invoked a skeleton, whose only purpose, it tells me in old omiscan, is to help me sort out the mess in my life.

Well, that might be a faulty traduction.

He just wants to clean everything.

It’s when I see him try to play the xylophone on his own ribs that I realize that maybe it is about time I reported to the museum.

First I have to get him to leave, though. I love history, but I really don’t want a three-thousand-year-old, very dead omiscan skeleton roaming around my bedroom.

Cyril’s staying home sick today. Mom and Dad both have to work at the same time, so it means I have to stay home with him. I don’t mind. It gives me a reason to call the museum’s director, and tell him that today I just can’t make our meeting. Family emergency.

Not that much of an emergency. Apart from complaining about his bad mattress — that we have yet to change — Cyril spends the day sleeping. I mostly spend it gaming. There’s not enough space in the main house to bring my archeology gear, and I need to stay close to my brother, so there’s not much else I can do.

By 11AM, when I really should have been showered already, I receive a call from the twins’ school. I was enjoying playing with the cats, but they’re not big fans of my ringtone, so they flee right away.

It’s about Cléo, who’s been caught fighting with a classmate. The headmaster couldn’t get a hold of Mom or Dad, so it’s up to me to decide on a sentencing.

Honestly, the way I see it, if no one was hurt, then there’s no need to make a big deal out of it. Mom and Dad will deal with Cléo themselves. In the meantime, I ask them to let her off the hook.