The adventures of Tintin, Malory and Snowy.

The Broken Ear 2. (Final)

(A/n: So Tintin is wearing his brown suit from the end of the movie with a beige casket and Malory is wearing the olive suit he gave her at the end of the movie with a dark blue casket. Enjoy!)

The Gemstone.

Malory POV:

And so, after a long sail, we were back in Brussels.

"Well, it's great to be home." Tintin said as we walked down the street.

"Yes, but we're back to square one. I mean, looking for this idol is like finding a needle in a-"

"Great Snakes!" Tintin cut me off and I soon realized why.

We just happened to cross an antique shop... That HAPPENED to have the idol WITH the broken ear.

"That's fantastic!" Tintin said as he inspected the idol like a child inspecting toys in Christmas.

"And unrealistic!" I added when suddenly Snowy barked and I looked over to see him standing on his two back paws, trying to show us something else in the window.

So Tintin and I came over to see what he wanted.

"Oh no! Now someone is making replicas of the real idol!" Tintin said in shock as we stared at the two other idols that were standing side by side.

I looked at the door of the shop to see the owner sweeping the entrance.

"Excuse me, can you tell us where you got this idol?" I asked as we walked up to him.

He looked at the window to see what we were talking about before replying:

"A fellow has a wood shop not far from here. I think I still have his card!" He pulled a business out of his vest and handed it to Tintin, who let me see it with him.

"Simon Balthazar?!" We read out loud in shock.

"His brother, Jacob, was that famous artist who died not too long ago." He told us, confirming our suspicions.

"Of course!" Tintin said as we switched looks before taking off to the address that card has.

"Here we are!" I said when we reached number 32, where a huge sign above the entrance said S. Balthazar.

We entered the small shop and...

Remember when I tried to tell Tintin that finding this idol would be like finding a needle in a haystack?

Well I'm glad he didn't let me finish because now I can correct it: Finding this idol would be like finding this idol in a stack of 20 more idols that look exactly like it!

And with that being said: How are we going to find the right idol among all the ones on the table??

"Wow!" Tintin breathed out as I put a hand on my forehead in overwhelmness.

"May I help you?" A voice from our side asked and we turned to see Simon Balthazar himself, who doesn't seem to waste anytime with giving us a hard time, seeing how he was about to finish carving another idol.

"Mr. Balthazar?" Tintin asked to make sure.

"Yes." He replied.

"Sir, we need to ask you about these statues." Tintin started as we walked towards him with our hats off.

"What about them?" He asked as he looked the table.

"Did you carve them from a sketch or from a real idol?" I asked, getting tense for the answer.

"From a real idol that I found in one of my brother's trunks. Why?" He replied.

Bingo!

"That idol was stolen from a museum." I finally spilled the beans.