nervous, even frightened. Carina grinned at her mother. “Explain what this is!” Mrs Persytherin
pressed the ‘play’ button. And as Cheng-Wang and Carl watched, their expressions got more and
more ashamed.
“Let me guess. Your grandfather was a general in the Eight Alliances army! And… the army
came to the Mogao Caves and took a lot of stuff! And… you’re here—to take more!” Carina
finished, her eyes gleaming with pride.
Carl’s expression paled. Cheng-Wang just took a look at the Persytherins’, turned on her heels,
and ran. But Carl grabbed her wrist, yanking her back. “Oh, no, no, no! You’re not going to blame
this all on me!” he snarled.
“So it’s true! You want to rob Mogao Caves!” Mr Persytherin gulped. Carl didn’t say anything,
and just glared at Cheng-Wang.
“And you’re not the Head of Security?” Carina piped up. Carl’s pupils extracted with disbelief.
“Wha… I mean, yes, I’m the Head of Security! How dare you insult me otherwise?” There was
a moment of silence, where the Persytherin’s stared at Carl and Cheng-Wang. After a moment,
several guards raced over, with sticks in their hands. “What’s going on?” one of the guards spoke.
He was tall and thin, and his hairstyle made him look like a squashed carrot.
The tips of Carl’s ears were bright red, but he straightened his body, and put on a serious
voice. “We were just passing by… and we saw, um—they were damaging…” but before he could
finish, the whole Persytherin family spoke up. Carina started arguing, Mr Persytherin’s eyebrows
scrunched together, holding one of his hammers in an attacking position, and Mrs Persytherin,
lifting up her phone to show the guards the video of Carl and Cheng-Wang’s conversation.
Carina only had to explain the story once. The guards arrested Carl and Cheng-Wang, and
brought them away.
