Chapter 11
***COOPER***
“Dang it, I’m sorry, Stephanie,” Cooper said, taking another step away from her. “I didn’t mean for it to go that far, I just lose control when I’m around you, and this cave, this place, it does things to me…”
He wished he’d left the last part out, as a surprised look appeared on Stephanie’s face. “What do you mean?” she asked. “What does it do?”
“I just meant…well, it’s hard to explain…there’s a lot of energy, I guess you could say,” he stammered, hoping that would be enough. “I’m probably imagining it, wishful thinking or something.”
“Didn’t Sebastian say something about power the other day when he tried to crash the gate?” she asked. “I think he said you were hogging it all for yourself.”
“I don’t think he was talking about actual power,” he said, desperate to end the conversation. “Let’s get out of here, it’s late, and I’m sure you’re hungry. I am. Hattie’s cooking tonight if you want to come over, although considering what just happened, maybe that’s not a good idea.”
Stephanie’s cheeks turned pink, and she let out a gasp. “Cooper, stop that, we agreed, remember,” she stammered. “Maybe we should get out of here.”
Hands shaking from the pleasure still lingering from the kiss, she grabbed her sketch book from where it had fallen on the rough pine floor, sending the pencil rolling across the floor.
It finally came to rest in a deep groove between the wooden planks.
Then, before she could grab it, the pencil disappeared, and in the silence that followed, she could hear it bouncing down a flight of steps.
Wondering if she was imagining what she’d just heard, she looked up to find Cooper staring down at where the pencil had disappeared, an astonished look on her face.
“Good, you heard that too,” she said, crossing the room and staring down at the groove on the floor. “There’s something under this floor. It sounded like steps.”
Cooper stepped up next to her. “That’s what it sounded like,” he said. “But how do we get under there? We can’t tear up the floor.”
“There has to be a handle or something around here,” Stephanie said, pulling a flashlight out of her pocket and shining it on the floor. “There must be a trap door; look for a way to open it.”
They’d been searching for a few minutes when the gleam of something metal caught his eye in the corner of the room. “Bring that light over here,” he said, pointing to the corner. “I think there’s a button down there.”
A second later, Stephanie tapped her foot on the floor in the corner of the room, and a section of the floor popped open, revealing a set of stone steps.
“What do you think is down there?” she asked, grinning at him, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
“We really should go get a camera and document this properly.”
“Let’s just go take a peek first, then we can do all the right stuff,” he said, taking the flashlight. “There might not be anything down there, it might just be an empty space like the rest of this place.”
Stephanie hesitated. “Just as long as we don’t touch anything, it has to stay exactly the same until we’ve documented the find,” she said, her face filling with excitement.
“I just know there’s something down there, something that’s finally going to explain all this.
We’ll finally solve the mystery and then I can stay, I can keep working here for a while, we can… ”
Her words trailed off as her cheeks turned pink again. He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss. “It’s okay, don’t be embarrassed, I feel the same way,” he said. “And it was the first thing I thought, too.”
Stephanie smiled at him. “Okay, let’s go down and see what’s there,” she said. “You lead the way; I’ll be right behind you.”
Cooper kept the light shining on the uneven stone steps as they climbed down into the darkness, then paused at the bottom to make sure she was safe. “Ready?” he asked, a grin on his face. “There could be skeletons or bodies down here.”
“I’ve probably seen more skeletons than you have, mister,” she said, then stuck her tongue out at him. “Come on, I want to see where we are.”
He finally swept the flashlight around, then did it a second time, “Wow, just wow,” he said, slowly spinning in a circle. “Are those what I think they are?”
Stephanie took a step toward one of the cloth lumps lying in a recess carved in the wall, “I think so,” she said. “I think this is a crypt, Cooper.”
He looked around, then shivered, couldn’t help himself. “I guess they needed some place to bury their dead,” he said. “I can’t decide if this is creepy or not. I don’t usually do things like this.”
“They’re just skeletons by now, they’re not going to come alive like in a horror movie,” she said. “We treat them with respect because they were alive and people just like us once, but they can’t hurt you.”
“You’re so nonchalant about all this,” he said shining the light around the crypt again. “I can’t help but feel like we’re someplace we shouldn’t be.”
“That’s good, it shows that you have respect for this place and the people who built it,” she said, patting him on the arm.
“It’s okay, Cooper, what you’re feeling is normal.
I felt it the first few times I went into a tomb with a mummy inside, but I like to think these people would like us to tell their story; it makes me feel better. ”
He looked around at the wrapped bundles again, still uncomfortable, but willing to look at it from Stephanie’s angle. “I guess that’s some comfort,” he said. “I just don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it.”
“We really should get more light and a camera before we explore anymore,” Stephanie said, her voice full of excitement. “We could be ruining artifacts with every step we take. I’m going to run back to base and grab a few things. You stay here and…”
“Stephanie, it’s late, and we’ve been working all day.
I know that you’re excited to get started, but don’t you think we should wait for the morning when we’re fresh?
” he said, the painting on the wall catching his eye as he shined the flashlight around the room.
“We could damage something or worse, as tired as we are.”
Her face filled with disappointment. “I guess you’re right, but I bet I don’t sleep at all tonight. I can’t wait to tell the team about what we’ve found,” she said, then looked around. “Let’s investigate just a little bit before we leave, maybe that will help.”
***Stephanie***
Stephanie knew that she was being reckless but she didn’t care, she’d found something amazing and she couldn’t just walk away without seeing all of it.
Grabbing the flashlight from Cooper, she shined it at her feet, then walked forward until she was standing in front of the huge mural that took up an entire wall.
She knew before even taking her first look that the still colorful painting would tell them everything they wanted to know about the people buried in the crypt.
Almost unable to control her excitement, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then opened them again and began to carefully study the painting, taking each scene one at a time, then doubling back again.
It took that second time around for her brain to make sense of what she was seeing, and a third before she turned around to look at Cooper, who had a strange look on his face.
She turned back to the mural. “They’re shifters, that’s what all this means,” she whispered, sweeping her arm through the air. “Look, there are wolves and bears, there are even dragons. I didn’t think the stories could be true, but the proof is right here.”
“Stephanie, hold on, don’t get carried away,” Cooper said, walking carefully over to her and putting his hands on her shoulders. “We don’t know for sure that’s what this painting means; it could mean something else; they could have been depicting the animals for a completely different reason.”
“You’re right, I was getting carried away,” she said, letting out a long sigh.
“Maybe it is too late to be doing this, my mind took me on a weird tangent for a second. The animals probably represent spirit guides or something, that was a huge part of the Native American religion. I guess I let Julien and his crazy theory get to me more than I thought I did.”
“We’ll both go home and get some sleep, then I’ll meet you here early tomorrow morning,” he said, guiding her back toward the steps. “We’ll come prepared too, lots of lights and cameras. This is an amazing find, Stephanie, you should be proud.”
“I didn’t really do anything but drop my pencil,” she said, climbing the stairs. “I was starting to think this find was going to be a bust, but we’ve got at least twelve burials down there, that beautiful mural, and who knows what else…”
“Okay, calm down,” Cooper said, laughing. “You’d think that you just won the lottery.”
“I feel like I did,” she said, stopping at the top of the steps. “If you hadn’t… kissed me, we never would have found it.”
“Oh, so now it’s a good idea if I kiss you?” he asked. “I just want to make sure I know the rules.”
She laughed. “This time it was okay,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean it will be in the future.”
He grabbed her and pulled her into his arms, then lowered his mouth to hers in a hungry kiss that left her knees wobbling. “How about that time?” he asked, grinning at her. “Was it okay?”
She slapped him, then took a few shaky steps away from him, knowing that she was blushing. “Just because we just made the find of the century doesn’t mean you get to kiss me all the time,” she said. “We still have to act professionally.”
“Yes, ma'am,” he said, but took her hand as they walked toward their home base. “Stephanie, let’s keep this between us for now, let’s wait to tell anyone until we know for sure what’s there.”
She looked over at him. “You want me to keep the biggest find of my career a secret?” she asked, shocked, then started shaking her head. “I can’t do that, Cooper, I can’t just let it sit down there. Besides, if we don’t tell, someone will find it eventually.”
“I didn’t mean forever, I just meant for a few days,” he said. “If we let people in now, they might start thinking what you were, and we need to have a different answer to give them when that happens.”
It only took a few seconds to see that he was right.
With all the talk going around, it wouldn’t hurt to explore the crypt on her own before making it public.
“That’s a good point, but I don’t know how I’m supposed to do that with everyone here,” she said.
“If we disappear with a bunch of equipment, someone will get suspicious.”
“Give everyone the day off tomorrow,” he said. “We’ll explore the crypt on our own. Then, when we’re ready, we can tell everyone.”
“I don’t know why I didn’t think of that,” she said, smiling up at him. “I guess I must be tired.”
“It’s been an exciting and eventful day, you should be tired, but I bet you’re too excited to sleep,” he said, taking his jacket out of his locker. “Let’s go grab some pizza and bowl a few rounds or something.”
“You want to go bowling, right now?” she asked, gaping at him, then started laughing. “Okay, let’s do it, let’s go eat food that is bad for us, suck down a bunch of sodas and roll a big ball at some pins.”
“That’s not quite the way I would describe it, but you’re on, Dr. Warner,” he said, letting her go through the opening in the rocks first. “Should we make a little wager on who the winner will be?”
“No way, I still haven’t paid up on the last bet,” she said, shaking her head. “Unless you want to go double or nothing.”
“Now you’re really talking,” he said, nodding at the security guard as they walked by. “Winner buys the pizza.”
She looked up at him. “There have to be ground rules,” she said. “No kissing, no sweet talk, no touching, and no compliments, we’re going just as friends, nothing more, and anyone watching should be able to see that.”
“Wow, you forgot to add, no having fun,” he said, pouting.
“I think you’ll survive,” she said, then gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.