The History Keepers Circus Maximus by Damian Dibben

over to examine one that had been unfurled and weighed down at the corners with stones. It was a map – certainly the oldest he had ever seen – showing the twisting Nile and the little towns that lay along it. He was just bending down to study it more closely when he heard the sound of quick footsteps coming along one of the passageways.
    Jake turned round as a number of guards filed into the chamber. They were dark-skinned, lithe and strong, and carried swords with distinctive curved blades; they wore leather breastplates, thick sandals and bronze helmets. Jake edged back behind a pillar as they started to check around, but it seemed that he was invisible to them. In fact, one walked straight through him. Their search complete, the guards stood to attention as soft pattering footsteps approached: five young ladies appeared,in pleated white dresses, with belts and neckpieces as colourful and elaborate as the painted columns.
    The last figure to enter clearly commanded respect – everyone bowed as she came in. She was shorter and slighter than the rest, but she seemed to fill the space with an aura of power. In her bare feet she stepped over to the table and looked at the map, then, without turning round, addressed her retinue. To Jake’s ears her voice sounded as foreign and musical as birdsong.
    He stepped forward to examine her more closely. He knew he was invisible – he knew he was actually sitting inside a piece of apparatus in a room in Normandy – but he was frightened of this tiny woman who radiated such authority. She wore a headdress fashioned in the shape of a bird, just like the emerald-winged one he had seen before entering the palace. Her skin was as pale as marble, her lips as red as strawberries, her eyes as dark and dazzling as jet.
    As Jake gazed into them, he felt a cool rush of air. All at once he was aware of golden rings rotating around him, and the woman’s eyes started to fade – until all that remained were two shining black pupils; then, with a pop, those also disappeared.
    Jake found himself once more in the testing room, with his parents and all the other agents peering at him.
    ‘All right, darling?’ Miriam asked hesitantly. ‘You were certainly shaking around a lot.’
    Jake nodded blearily, stunned by the sudden transition from a bright palace in Egypt to this dimly lit chamber with its dark tapestries. Amrit untied the straps and helped Jake down. Then Dr Chatterju stepped forward with his notepad, smiling warmly. He looked down through his round spectacles and started asking all sorts of questions about the journey Jake had just taken.
    Jake needed no coaxing; he described everything in detail, from the palm trees to the palace, the bird, the pyramids (‘You actually saw them?’ Alan exclaimed out loud. ‘No one ever sees them!’), the courtyard, the pond, the map and the women. With each additional piece of information, the group around him grew more and more astonished, some shaking their heads in disbelief.
    ‘ C’est impossible! ’ Oceane snorted when Jake gave the exact colour and form of the imperious lady’s headdress.
    After a while Chatterju, who had been scribblingfuriously, trying to keep up with Jake, shook his head and put down his notepad. When the boy finished, the other agents were all looking at him in amazement.
    ‘So?’ he asked them. ‘Did I pass?’
    Galliana took a deep breath and looked at Miriam with a questioning eye. It was Alan, however, who spoke first. ‘Did you pass?!’ He stepped forward and threw an arm round his son. ‘Did you ever! I’ve never heard the like! Not even Nathan Wylder can see so much detail in a test that far back.’
    Jake rewarded himself with the glimmer of a smile as his dad pinched his cheek proudly. ‘He’s an adventurer, Miriam,’ he said with a tear in his eye. ‘Our boy’s an adventurer – nothing we can do about it!’
    Miriam just stared back at him, stony-faced.
    Galliana nodded at Jake.