20. Chapter Twenty
Chapter 20
T here was more than one hundred thousand years of history at Rieka’s fingertips.
She stared at the glittering jewels laid out on the table, but she didn’t know where to start. Even the smallest piece was worth more than the equivalent of the GDP of a small country. It all belonged in a museum, not hidden away. At least not housed this far underground.
The growing thud in the back of her head couldn’t dampen her enthusiasm. But it was beginning to affect her concentration. And it was turning into the headache from hell. She had been staring at the pieces for at least twenty minutes. The quiet had originally been soothing, but now it had taken an ominous tone. Being left alone with her thoughts was not always helpful for her productivity levels.
“Am I even allowed to be in the same room as the jewels?” Rieka half-jokingly asked Dante as he walked back into the room.
Most of the elite Atlanteans had archaic notions of bloodlines, and as a hybrid, she was low in the pecking order.
Dante’s eyes narrowed; he stood on the other side of the table. “Yes.”
A one-word answer, as if anyone would be idiotic enough to argue with him.
“You don’t seem overly impressed with the jewels.”
“I am. I can’t even describe how beautiful they are,” Rieka began. She was being honest. The glittering stones, the gold and silver pieces, the diamond that was almost twice the size of the infamous Cullinan diamond. The collection would have most people in awe, but they just didn’t have the same pull for her. “They are too perfect.”
“An interesting problem to have,” Dante said in a deadpan tone.
It sounded weird, but it was the best way to describe it. The jewels were all gorgeous, designed to elicit an emotion of awe and wonder. But she much preferred to analyze pieces that were not so pristine. Pieces that held a story within them that was beyond their aesthetic value. The broken or forgotten pieces. Their stories were always so much more encompassing and interesting.
“I agree.”
Rieka turned at the male voice behind her. She hadn’t heard a sound before he spoke. A huge dark shadow came into the light. Giant was an understatement. The Atlantean took up most of the archway. He looked close to seven feet tall but moved as silently as a cat stalking its prey.
“Idris,” Dante said, a genuine smile lighting up his face.
Idris grinned; white teeth flashed as he turned to look at Dante. Rieka took a moment to stare at the newcomer. Dressed in black from head to toe, he could easily pass as a shadow, even in the light. His dark Mediterranean skin was a stark contrast to the silver-streaked black buzz cut. Intelligent bright blue eyes peered back at her.
For a second, she had the impression he could see straight into her soul. He was ethereally beautiful but masculine. There was also a level of serenity within him that she had never come across, something that instinctively calmed her more than any meditation class ever would.
“The illustrious Dr. Sinha,” Idris said as he half-bowed with a flourish that should have been reserved for royalty. “Your reputation precedes you.”
“Rieka. And I hope it’s only the good parts,” Rieka said.
“I would listen to no other.” Idris winked at her. “It is not every day I am graced with the presence of another scholar. We truth seekers need to work together.”
“Idris,” Dante warned.
Idris ignored him and continued as if he had not been interrupted, “The main collection is kept separate and doesn’t include the trinkets you are studying. I can show them to you.”
Trinkets. The small delicate pieces she had been studying were magnificent, each piece outshining the previous item. But she was intrigued. And not just at the promise of more artifacts. “Of course.”
“Dante, you are also invited,” Idris added as he turned and disappeared back into the shadows. “Come.”
For someone Idris’ size, he moved with the elegance of a dancer. And just as noiselessly. Rieka was not na?ve enough to believe the gentle-giant persona. The plain clothes hid muscles that looked like they had been forged in battle and not in the gym.
“Idris will be insulted if we do not follow him,” Dante said as he brushed up against her. “And he will never let me forget.”
Rieka’s skin tingled in response. If she wasn’t careful, she could quickly become addicted to Dante’s presence and touch.
R ieka wandered the floor. The urge to frolic and touch everything was overwhelming. She had gone to heaven. Talik had been right. The archive, as they called it, had nothing on what was held within the cavernous vault. It appeared never ending. Priceless artifact after priceless artifact surrounded her.
“The Jimourt will showcase only a handful of these pieces. Most will come from the upstairs collection. The scholars rotate the selected pieces, and this year, there are a substantial number of objects that have previously not been exhibited.” Idris’s voice interrupted the comfortable silence.
Rieka nodded as she slowly trailed behind Idris. Four days would never be enough time. “How do you choose what artifacts to showcase?”
Idris laughed. The sound was contagious. Idris evoked an utterly distinct feeling from what Dante did. She had known Idris for mere minutes, but it felt like they had been friends for decades.
“They have given me the privilege of making the final selection and deciding on the theme,” answered Idris. A tinge of sadness edged his words. He looked at Dante. “The role is only passed to the next generation when the curator can no longer conduct their duties.”
Death. And she thought human academia was harsh.
Idris’s eyes sparkled. “But for now, the council has granted you access. Thanks to Dante.”
She didn’t need to be told twice. “How long do I have today?”
“However long you want.” Dante carefully watched her. His expression gave nothing away.
Her heart raced.
The lights started to flicker as she moved deeper through the vault. The crystals, reminded her of veins running through the wall, pulsed from red to violet to blue before they settled back to red. It took all her self-control not to race through to the end, but she was a professional. And had no idea where she was supposed to go. Dante and Idris lingered a few feet behind her. She followed the light, finally noticing that they all appeared to be pointed in the same direction, acting like a spotlight.
Vandana’s statue.
The red hue looked like dried blood on the rose-gold armor.
It hadn’t been a dream.
No bigger than half a foot and encased in glass on a black marble stand, the statue of Vandana stood overwatch. Vandana wore armor and a helmet. Her sword dangled from her left hand. It was exactly like the mosaic in the temple.
Up closer, the light appeared to cast Vandana in a multitude of colors. Rieka needed to touch it, but it was just out of her reach.
Her pendant went ice cold. She was almost there. Just a couple more steps.
Hands grabbed her as she was lifted off the ground, colliding with a hard chest.
“Watch your step.” Dante’s breath tickled her ear as he slowly lowered her to the ground.
Rieka struggled for less than a second as she registered Dante’s words. There was a giant gaping hole between her and the statue. “What?”
An artificial moat surrounded the pedestal.
The drop was at least forty feet to the ground. The walls appeared unnaturally smooth. Silver-tipped spears lined the ground, their points angled upward. Even for an Atlantean, it would mean death.
“Thanks,” she whispered as she took a step away from the edge. She followed Dante’s gaze. Black jagged rocks covered the dome ceiling, each piece protruding at least a foot out. Smooth and shiny and as sharp as a knife, they had clearly been put there to stop someone from climbing across.
Rieka didn’t know what she’d been expecting when Dante had told her she would have access to the vault. It hadn’t been this. A hidden museum that turned into a death trap.
“A moat within the vault?” Dante dryly asked as he looked up. “What were they trying to keep out?”
“Or in?” Idris countered. A hint of wonder entered his voice. “This part of the vault hasn’t been opened for more than fifteen hundred years. Only four other Atlanteans are aware that it exists, including Anhur.” Idris’s eyes twinkled. “This isn’t the only secret the vault has been keeping.”
Rieka wasn’t ready to move away from Dante. Not when his warmth and sheer presence were like a security blanket. The practical part of herself told her she should move and put some space between them. “How do I get access to the statue?”
“You wait.” Idris moved to the edge. “The entire area is on a pressure plate that will collapse on itself if anything bigger than a rodent lands on it or touches the glass.”
Rieka was in shock. “Someone booby-trapped the vault?”
“It has inbuilt stabilizers that will initiate at midnight tonight. The room also appears to be soundproof,” Idris finished. He shrugged as he looked over the moat. “Someone wanted to protect the statue at all costs.”
Tonight. Rieka rubbed her clammy hands on her pants. Dante had hired her to see if it was authentic. She wasn’t so sure she could give him an answer. Or wanted to.
Dante’s fingers brushed her shoulder, anchoring her into reality. The touch should have been innocent, but it spread through her like fire. As a professional, she was going to ignore the furnace it lit within her. She needed a new plan for when she dealt with Dante. But first she needed access to the statue.
“Would you like to see something truly magnifique?” Idris asked. His gaze flicked from Rieka to Dante before it settled back on her. “We found it when we opened the vault yesterday. It appears we have only mapped a quarter of the vault. A fellow historian would appreciate it. I think it dates back to the original structure. Or you can wait here until midnight.”
“What is it?” Rieka hesitated. The statue was why she was in Egypt, but it didn’t mean she couldn’t study other artifacts. Especially if she couldn’t access it until midnight.
“Promise you both won’t tell another soul about it,” Idris said solemnly as he looked between the two of them again.
Dante looked dubious, but he put his hands up. “Your secret is safe with me.”
Intrigued was an understatement. Rieka needed to get back to the statue and start searching the Arx to find the tomb. She needed to do that alone, but for now she may as well get as much intelligence as she could. Tonight, she would explore.
Idris looked at her expectantly.
“Your secret is safe with me,” Rieka repeated. She crossed her heart as if it was the biggest secret she had.
“Are you afraid of catacombs or the dark?”
Rieka snorted, the sound very unladylike, but why worry about that now? “I’m an archaeologist. I desecrate the dead for a living.” If she was being truthful, she was a glorified treasure hunter under the banner of science and culture.
Idris laughed. “That is one way of putting it.”
“You aren’t asking me?”
Idris laughed as he looked at Dante before winking at Rieka. “After the incident in 1558, I am intimately acquainted with the answer.”
“As in the year 1558? What incident?” Rieka repeated, looking between the two of them.
Idris wore a huge grin. Rieka swore Dante rolled his eyes. A very un-Atlantean move.
“A story for another time,” Dante said.
“Someone’s navigation wasn’t as good as he assumed, and we ended up wandering the catacombs under Rome in the dark for three days. That’s the short version.”
“There is no long version,” Dante added.
There definitely was far more to the story, and she was going to ask about it next time she had the chance.
Idris strode to the farthest wall, blending into the darkness.
Clang. The sound of stone grinding on stone echoed loudly. Rieka involuntarily cringed. She half-glanced at Dante, who appeared unfazed despite his heightened senses.
The door slowly slid open to a pitch-black corridor and a secret tunnel. Just as she hoped. What was the point of building an impenetrable fortress in the desert if you didn’t have secret tunnels? But she hadn’t been expecting one within the vault. How far underground did the Arx extend to?
“It’s through this way,” Idris said as he was swallowed whole by the darkness.
Dante’s fingers brushed against her lower back. “After you.”
She wasn’t normally afraid of the dark, but some deep-seated instinct was telling her something was off. She pushed down the thought. It wasn’t coming from Dante, or Idris.
They walked in comfortable silence along the small corridor, the crystals coming to life as they neared them. The path they followed was surprisingly well kept, with no signs of cobwebs or spiders. They veered left, then right, then left again, through different archways. It was like walking through a labyrinth. Rieka tried to commit the path to memory. She might need it that evening when she explored the Arx. As they continued, the air became thicker, with a faint aftertaste of ash. The crystals along the walls changed to a pale violet. The same color as the flame. She traced the line carvings of the wall as they walked. They reminded her of waves. Every so often, she found an unusual gouge that disrupted the pattern. If she didn’t know better, the grooves felt remarkably like oversized claw marks.
“Watch your step. We are entering the catacombs.” Idris pointed at the spiral staircase ahead of them.
Rieka stopped. She should have brought her backpack or grabbed her flashlight. The crystals had all but disappeared. She could barely see two feet in front of her, let alone navigate a staircase. She brushed her pendant. No longer icy, instead it had returned to normal. The warmth was comforting and familiar. A reminder that her life hadn’t gone entirely off the rails. Neon-green eyes appeared out of the darkness as she slowly made out Dante’s form. He moved just as silently as Idris. It wasn’t a trait that she had observed in many other Atlanteans. Chay moved like a baby elephant whenever he tried to be quiet.
“I will not let you fall,” Dante said. “I will go in front.”
Rieka wanted to tell him she didn’t need his help, but it was a lie. Her human eyesight meant that she was at a distinct disadvantage compared to Dante, and she wasn’t an idiot. Stubbornness would only get her so far. A hand reached out to her. She grasped it, surprised at the callouses. Dante. Their fingers intertwined; Dante waited for her. She had to remind herself that he was helping her because he was contractually obliged to and that any injury would require paperwork. Not because he wanted to.
“Ready?” Dante whispered.
“Yes.”
True to his word, Dante waited as she took her first steps down the stairs. The solid stone walls quickly turned into blocks of open spaces, large enough for a body to be laid in.
Catacombs.
The scent of bone and old material surrounded her as she continued to trace the wall, trying to memorize the path. Occasionally, she accidentally grazed crumbling cloth or smooth bone.
“Stay on the main path. We haven’t explored the other tunnels or openings,” Idris added, his voice echoing off the stone walls.
She tightened her grip on Dante. The stairs were unstable as she slipped on the uneven surfaces. In response, Dante slowed down.
“We are here,” Idris said.
His voice sounded like it was coming from behind them. Rieka tried to focus, but everything was black. Her only anchor was Dante—the warmth of his hand telling her she hadn’t floated out to space. She didn’t want to let go.
Yellow flames burst into life as the smell of oil exploded around her. The dark room erupted with light as the hundreds of lamps instantly were lit.
Rieka blinked at the onslaught.
“If you move forward ten feet, you will see it.”
Reluctantly releasing Dante, she followed Idris’s advice. The yellow oil lamps grew brighter and brighter until she could see everything.
Time stopped.
It was just as Lilian had described it.