Chapter One #3
Dani absorbed everything around her, from the structures to the cypress and olive trees, and even the mountainside behind them, trying to imagine what it must have been like to live here thousands of years ago.
There was still much excavation work to be done, as evidenced by the actual archaeologists still working in areas roped off from the public.
To think, what more could be found? She was starting to understand the thrill Theo got when he was on a dig, a similar rush to that feeling from her younger, more adventurous days.
“And here we have the Minotaur,” Cosmo said as they sidled up to a fresco on the far side of the grounds. “I’m sure you’ve all heard the tale of the Minotaur, yes?”
Dani’s travel companions all seemed to nod in unison. She remembered the gist of it—a bull-like man trapped in a labyrinth—but she couldn’t tell you much more than that. Theo would be thoroughly disappointed.
“Ah, good. Now, let me tell you the real story,” Cosmo continued.
“King Minos, ruler of Knossos, was said to have built a labyrinth underneath the palace to hide the creature that had been born out of the love his wife had for a majestic white bull. Trapped in the center of the labyrinth, half man, half bull, the Minotaur was a beast unlike any other. Its strength, unmatched. Its ferocity, unimaginable. Terrifying eyes that glowed red, like rubies on fire. Teeth that could tear apart a body in a single, gnashing bite. Only the bravest even dared challenge it, but none succeeded. Some say the Minotaur is still hidden in the depths of this palace to this day. Others believe it is simply another Greek myth. But it hasn’t stopped explorers from trying to find it. ”
Cosmo was using his spooky voice again, and Dani had to admit he was a talented showman.
And she loved a good story, always surrounding herself with half a dozen books at any one time—and those were only the ones on her immediate Tbr list. Working at a library made it difficult for her master Tbr to be anything other than a mile long, and it was full of fantastical tales.
But that’s clearly all that this beast was—a tale. If no one survived an encounter with the Minotaur, how would they even know? Did anyone actually believe this as anything other than fiction?
A hand shot up in the crowd. “How big was the monster?” a lady wearing a wide-brimmed visor, a linen sundress, and hiking sandals asked.
“Well, Roberta, it would be huge,” Cosmo responded.
“Picture the Minotaur, eight—no, ten feet tall,” he said, lifting his hand and standing on his tippy-toes to demonstrate the height of the monster.
“Its head, this big.” He shifted and held his hands out wide in a half circle, letting their imaginations fill in the rest. “Now picture the size of an eye on a creature that large. It must be the size of a football!”
A few people gasped. Roberta clutched her chest.
“How old was it?” Roberta then asked.
“Thirty—no, one hundred years old!”
More murmurs.
“How many people did it kill?” she continued.
“At least a thousand!”
A few sharp inhales and more pearl clutching followed.
“If you’d like,” Cosmo said, lowering his voice to a whisper and huddling toward the group, “tomorrow, instead of visiting the archaeology museum in Heraklion, I can take you to a cave where it’s rumored they did religious rituals to worship the Minotaur.
Though it will cost each of you another thirty euros.
Sixty-five if you want a traditional Greek lunch prepared by my uncle Vasilios. ”
Immediately, Roberta’s hand shot up again, and the group started clamoring for this little side venture. Something told Dani this sudden, unexpected side journey was part of Cosmo’s normal shtick. She had to hand it to him, though—he knew how to sell it to his audience.
Dani stood there for a moment as Cosmo went over the details—cave tour and lunch for those who wanted, or they could visit the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, which they’d already paid for as part of the overall tour package—but once Roberta persisted down the path of twenty questions, Dani slinked away from the group, hoping to catch a bit more of the grounds before they had to start making their way back toward the bus in another thirty minutes.
So while Cosmo and the others pressed on to check out the ramp that was supposedly used to cart in goods to the palace grounds, Dani wandered to the east side of the site, the area where it looked as though the excavation was still in progress.
But as Dani drifted aimlessly, a figure caught her eye in the distance, climbing over the railing down into the restricted area below the palace.
A man.
She couldn’t make him out from the one hundred or so yards away other than that he had a beard and dark hair sticking out from under a baseball cap.
But something looked familiar in his movements.
The way he walked. The long length of his stride.
He appeared in a hurry—and even though he walked with purpose, he clearly didn’t want to get caught.
A tourist going off the path? A thief?
Someone looking for the Minotaur?
Dani shook Cosmo’s voice out of her head. Don’t be ridiculous.
But something was definitely off. She’d witnessed enough people trying to sneak behind the stacks or into the private collections areas at the library to know when someone was up to no good.
Hell, she used to be one of those people.
Dani spun around looking for an employee, someone she could tell, before realizing she didn’t really even know what she saw. What if the man worked here? Wouldn’t that be embarrassing? Tattling on an employee?
If thirty-five years as a little sister taught her anything, it was that nobody liked a tattletale—though she’d argue Eddie was the bigger snitch between the two of them anyway. And this really wasn’t any of her business. She didn’t come on this trip so she could play Nancy Drew.
But…maybe she needed a closer look.
Dani picked up her pace and headed toward the area where the man had disappeared. Once she got to the railing, she crouched behind a placard, slowly peeking over the edge. There he was, now with two other guys dressed in all black carrying shovels.
Uh-oh. A sinking feeling filled Dani’s stomach. She couldn’t be sure, but whatever these guys were doing didn’t seem aboveboard.
Right then, the man with the beard turned around as if double-checking that he hadn’t been followed, and she dropped into a crouch. But when Dani saw the logo on his dark blue hat—a white Old English D—she immediately fell backward, bracing herself with her hands behind her in the dirt.
The Detroit Tigers. Theo’s team.
Not only that, Theo’s lucky hat.
No, no, no. Dani shook her head. She had to have been seeing things. Harold’s prodding had her mind playing tricks on her. She had Theo on the brain, that was all. Besides, Theo had never sported a beard.
Oh yeah, and he was dead. Right?
But what if…?
As her heart pounded, Dani scrambled to get back up, peering over the railing again, but the men were gone. She glanced at her watch. 4:32 p.m. She had less than fifteen minutes to make it back to the bus.
But what if?
No, this is absurd. It didn’t make any sense.
If there was anyone who loved their family as much as she loved hers, it was Theo.
There was no way he’d ghost them like that if he were alive.
She brushed her hands on the front of her olive-colored linen shorts then turned away from the railing and headed back toward the exit.
He’s dead, remember? Let him go.
But that D flashed in her mind again, along with the thought one more time: But what if?
Like, what if he had amnesia?
She looked at her watch once more: 4:33.
Walking away meant she’d have a new question weighing on her: What if? One that she could very well get the answer to if she only dared to…
Without another second of hesitation, Dani rushed back to the railing, and once she determined the coast was clear, she scaled the metal barrier, dropping down to the pathway below with a dull thud that was no match for the pounding in her chest.
A rush of adrenaline whooshed through her. A reminder of her old life. Back before she turned into the sort of person who shushed people in the library when they were too loud.
She missed this feeling—taking risks, breaking rules.
Before she knew it, her feet were carrying her in the direction of the men, snaking their way along the palace perimeter until she came to a doorway with a set of stairs descending underneath the ground.
She followed the staircase to a tunnel, eventually needing her cell phone flashlight to see.
Who knew if the men even went this way, but something pulled her farther down the corridor.
Eventually she came to an active work area with lighting and tables set up, but clearly the archaeologists had gone home for the day.
She kept going until it appeared she’d hit a dead end.
But then she heard the voices.
“We don’t have the tools for this,” someone said.
Dani spun around, looking for the direction the voices had come from, when she noticed a sliver of light between the stones.
A passageway.
She turned off her flashlight and tiptoed over to the glow, putting her face up to the crack where the light shined through. The three men were about thirty feet away, huddled over another smaller opening in the stone wall.
“Use this,” the stockier of the men in black said to the guy in the Detroit Tigers ball cap, handing him a shovel. But Detroit didn’t take it.
“That’s not going to work,” Detroit said, pushing the shovel away.
Was that voice familiar? Dani couldn’t tell with the echo of the tunnel. She also couldn’t see him with his back to her. Turn around. Please, let me see you.
“Make it work. We’ve got all night,” the other taller man responded.