“Thank you, Mr. Phan. But I’d rather go by myself.”

Brandon’s father waited a moment longer, then slipped an arm around his son’s shoulder. “If you’re sure …”

Jake nodded and headed toward his bike. As he walked, the sun-baked concrete began to burn his bare feet. He increased his pace, but it wasn’t the heat that drove him onward. He had to get away.

Reaching his bike, he gave one last glance toward the smoldering school. It looked like any further training would be delayed for at least a week. In the meantime, he had lots to keep him busy. Books and piles of articles waited for him at home. Plus, he and Uncle Edward had a field trip planned for tomorrow to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. There was a new Egyptian exhibit opening in a couple of days, and a friend of Edward’s had arranged an early behind-the-scene tour.

Jake began to turn away when he caught a glimpse of a large man over by the fire truck, his shape clouded by a billow of smoke. The figure stuck out from the crowd—not only because of his black pinstripe suit, but also because of his massive size. The mountain of a man slipped back behind the fire engine and disappeared.

Recognition flared through Jake.

It couldn’t be …

He mouthed the man’s name as if trying to summon him back into sight. “Morgan Drummond.”

But the man didn’t reappear, and Jake grew less sure.

Obscured by the smoke, the figure could have been anyone: the firehouse’s captain, the chief of police. Besides, what would Drummond be doing here? Jake had last seen the man at the British Museum in London. Drummond was head of security for Bledsworth Sundries and Industries, the corporation that had sponsored his parents’ last dig before they had vanished.

Suspicion ran through him.

Jake didn’t understand what the corporation had to do with his parents’ disappearance, but there had to be some connection.

He remembered the tie tack worn by Morgan Drummond. It had been sculpted into the shape of a griffin, representing the corporate logo for Bledsworth Sundries and Industries. The mythological monster was half eagle and half lion. In Pangaea, Jake had found the same symbol burned into the sword of a grakyl lord, the leader of one of the monstrous legions of the Skull King. Even the grakyl themselves looked somewhat like griffins.

But how was it all connected?

Jake continued to stare down the street, watching for another glimpse of the man. After a full minute, he finally gave up with a shake of his head. It couldn’t have been Drummond.

Jake unlocked his bike, yanked it free of the rack, and aimed for home. He had a long way to go.

As he pedaled away, he kept checking over his shoulder, still uneasy. He remembered the way the hairs on his neck had prickled with warning before the sedan came smashing through the school’s front window.