The Immortal Emperor Returns to Work the Museum Night Shift novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: Daylight

Sam stood on the front steps of the Harcourt at noon on Monday with his face turned up to the sun.

A school group streamed past him in yellow raincoats, shouting, and he did not move.

He had his eyes shut and his hands loose at his sides, in the new navy uniform with the new badge.

He looked like a man standing in a warm shower.

"I used to go out at four in the morning," he said, "and look at the sunrise through the loading yard fence."

"I know."

"It was never the same as this."

"You're blocking the children."

"Yes," he said happily, and did not move.

I took him by the arm and walked him into the lobby.

The day guard at the desk gave him a nod, because he was one of them now.

The museum was full of people.

There were tour groups, and a man selling postcards.

It was the ordinary clatter of a public building at midday, which Sam had never in his life seen.

He walked through it slowly, with a stunned smile, past Gallery Four.

The crown lay in its glass case, with a line of eight-year-olds shuffling past it.

One of them was licking a lollipop on the wrong side of the rope.

"That's the Emperor's crown," the teacher said.

"He looks cold," the child said.

"Who?"

"The man in the hat."

Sam made a small sound in his chest.

I put my hand on his back and steered him through the door behind the gallery, and up the little corridor, and into my office.

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