Drowned History

by Rebecca Lovell

  “Nothing’s happened,” George assured her, thinking at the same time that if something had happened to Nadir, Sylvia would kill him. “We’ll probably get back to Amesh’s office and find a message waiting for us.”

  “I hope so.” She turned her attention back to the book and George moved his chair a little closer to hers. He’d never seen her study so he wasn’t sure if this was her usual way of doing things, but it couldn’t hurt to give her a little support.

  “Perhaps you need to look at it from a different angle,” he said, hoping he sounded encouraging. “You’ve been trying to tackle it head on all this time and it’s wearing you out.” Alice looked up at him and George remembered how his attempt at encouraging her the day before had ended with him kissing her. He hadn’t planned for it to happen, it just felt right at the time. Now that he’d spent hours thinking about it he wondered if he’d done the right thing. All morning he’d been distracted by the shape of her lips as she pursed them when she read, and remembering how they felt on his was enough to drive all thoughts of finding a translation out of his head.

  “A different angle?”

  “Take the words one at a time,” he said. “It might be something that requires context.” As soon as he said this, Alice’s eyes lit up.

  “A different angle,” she said, reaching for one of the books at the bottom of the stack. “Yes, that’s exactly it. You’re right.” The enthusiasm she’d felt when they first came in seemed to be back and he picked up one of the books he’d taken off the shelf.

  By lucky chance, the book was about Hindu religious iconography and he flipped through it until he found the section about Kali. Some of the writing was close to illegible but he was able to piece it together with a little effort. There was a description of the severed head she was holding in one of her hands, the sword, and finally the trishula. George sat up straight as he read the passage and reached over to Alice just as she grabbed her pen and started writing on the rubbing itself.

  “I’ve got it,” she said, slamming her pen down at the same time his hand reached her arm. “I know what the writing says.”

  “And I know how to get in,” George said. “What does it say?”

  “It says ‘beyond here lies the destruction of the world.’ It was backwards and missing everything but the key words. I had to extrapolate a little but that’s what we’re looking at. What do you mean you know how to get in?” George handed her the book and she moved closer to him. “It’s faded.”

  “It says that the trishula of Kali is a powerful relic that would bestow great power on whoever possesses it, and that there is a legend of a temple where it is hidden in Gujarat.” He leaned over and pointed to a section. “Can you read that bit?”

  “Yes,” Alice said. “‘According to the legend, the pathway will only open if all of the four are present; a guide, a sage, a healer, and a scribe. The pathway will open only for them, and only once.’”

  “Think about it. It’s our group,” George said. “A pilot, a professor, a doctor, and a translator. It’s close enough to the legend where they could be talking about us. We’re the ones who can get into that temple.”

  “But that can’t be. It would mean the temple has been waiting for us, and that can’t be possible,” Alice said, looking back up at him. George looked up from the book.

  “Come now, Alice, we’re talking about a hidden treasure that’s little more than a myth. It’s farfetched, but I wouldn’t say that it’s impossible,” George said. Alice didn’t look convinced, but she turned her attention back to the book.

  “We have to go in together, all of us. That means we have to trust one another.” Her voice was quiet, but the light that had appeared in her eyes was so strong that George felt an almost overwhelming urge to kiss her again. “Can you?”

  “There’s not a single person in our group that I wouldn’t trust with my life.” He hoped that Alice took his meaning. She’d always been able to hear the things he didn’t say and he wanted her to understand. “Besides, I wouldn’t want to miss something that’s bound to be incredible, no matter what we find.” His voice was calm but George was excited in a way he hadn’t been in years. The thought of being one of the first and only people who would ever see the inside of an ancient temple was like a drug, and with it came the realization that they would be able to go home afterward. He could go home, and maybe he and Alice could spend some time getting to know each other again. It wasn’t such a crazy idea, not after everything they’d been through.

  Getting to know her? I thought I knew her, he thought as Alice copied down the words from the handwritten book into her notebook. For all she’d said on the plane he still didn’t know what of her had been real and what had been made up. George was trying to decide if it really mattered anymore when Alice shook her head and tucked the entire book into her messenger bag.

  “You’re stealing from the archives?”

  “I’ll bring it back,” Alice said, more than a little defensively. “There’s just too much to copy down.”

  “Here.” George took the book out of her bag and took his own pen out of his pocket. He quickly copied down the passages from the book that were relevant into Alice’s notebook and she frowned at him. “What?”

  “How is it that your handwriting is still that good after ten years?”

  “It’s a mystery,” he said, closing the book and setting it on top of the others. “Let’s get going. If we get to the airstrip now we can make it back to the camp before it gets dark. We can go into the cave first thing in the morning.” Alice hesitated and he knew exactly what she was thinking. “It’ll be too late when we get there. We’ll just have to hope you won’t have another episode. And if you do,” he went on, seeing her mouth open, “I’ll make sure you don’t hurt yourself.”

  “George–“

  “Come along, Alice.” He didn’t want to hear whatever she had to say, afraid that it would mean another conversation like the one on the plane. She still hadn’t told him why she left without a word, only why she’d changed her name and voice. Part of him wanted to know the rest of the story but a growing part of him was struggling to understand why it even mattered. If she still wanted to tell him when they got back to New York, he would let her and this time he would listen.

  They found their way back up to Amesh’s office where he and Phillip were sitting and talking about flying, and the professor looked up at him.

  “Did you find what you were looking for?”

  “I think we did,” Alice said, and Phillip shot up out of his chair. “It’s time for us to get back.”

  “Let’s go!” Excited, Phillip headed out the door with Alice close behind. George lingered in Amesh’s office instead, knowing they wouldn’t go anywhere without him. Amesh stood up from behind his desk, taking a box out of the top drawer.

  “Were you able to find it?”

  “I was,” Amesh said, handing him the box. “It took some searching but your young friend thought I was looking for something for Neha. I’m not going to lie to you, it cost a great deal of money.”

  “That’s what I expected.” George opened his wallet and took out several bills. “I hope American money is all right. I didn’t have time to change it for rupees.”

  “I can easily change it at the bank,” Amesh said, holding up a hand and shaking his head. “But that’s far too much, Dr. Bennett.”

  “If it works, it’s worth a lot more than that,” George said, pressing the bills on him. “Buy something nice for your wife.” Reluctantly, Amesh took the money and put it in his pocket. “Thank you for your hospitality. I know how much Alice enjoyed seeing you again.”

  “It was a pleasure to have you all in our house,” Amesh said. They walked down the hall to the front of the building where Phillip and Alice were waiting. “And it was good to finally meet you. I’m glad the two of you were able to see one another again. I’ve felt guilty all this time, you know.”

  “Have you?” This came as a surpr
ise to George. He couldn’t imagine anything Amesh could have done to harm him. They hadn’t even met before. Amesh nodded.

  “If it wasn’t for me, none of this would have happened. Between you and her, I mean. She did a very brave thing for us at my urging and paid a price that neither of you deserved.”

  “Come on, George, we have to get going!” Alice waved at him and George waved back impatiently. The woman was maddening in a thousand different ways but he was finding it harder and harder to stay angry.

  “Thank you again for this,” George said, tucking the box into his inside pocket. “I’ll make sure to radio you before we leave the camp and let you know if it worked.” Amesh nodded and they shook hands before George walked quickly to where Alice and Phillip were standing beside a cab. “You do realize that we still don’t have any Indian money.”

  “I’ll give him American money, I don’t care,” Alice said. “I just want to get back to the camp and make sure Nadir is all right.” George couldn’t argue with that and he slid into the passenger seat, leaving her and Phillip in the back seat together. “I’m so excited,” she said, looking from Phillip to George and back. “We’ve really got the chance to do something amazing.”

  “I knew you’d be able to do it,” George said, turning around in his seat to look at her. “As I said, you’re far too clever. It’s going to get you in trouble one of these days.”

  “I couldn’t have done it without you,” Alice said, and the warmth in her voice meant almost more than the feeling of her lips. He could see Phillip’s jaw clench slightly and decided to ignore it. As much as he hated to admit it, he was happy that Alice still needed him. There was no way he could tell her that, though. Not yet, anyway. Maybe later, when they were back in New York, he would take her to dinner and tell her that in spite of everything her words could still make him happy. He could decide if taking a chance on her was worth it, and take his time sorting out his feelings. George glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Alice sitting in the rigid way she had when she was anxious, her bag resting on her lap and her hands folded protectively over it.

  They reached the airstrip quickly and George looked up at the plane. For now, the most important thing was getting back to the dig site. Everything else could wait, at least until they had gone into the temple and seen whether or not the trishula was really there. In spite of the optimistic tone he’d used to convince Alice in the archives, he had the nagging feeling that it wasn’t going to be as easy as it sounded.

  Fifteen

  As George predicted, they reached the camp several hours after it had gotten dark. The workers were all gone for the night and only Nadir and Kiran were there to greet them. Alice was immensely relieved to see them, having gone through all kinds of terrible scenarios in her head on the plane. A part of her was sure she’d come back to find everything destroyed. She didn’t wait for them to ask about the translation.

  “Are you both all right?”

  “Of course we are,” Nadir said with a laugh. “Why would you think we weren’t?”

  “You never answered our calls,” Alice said. “We’ve been trying to radio you since last night.”

  “Ah, yes,” Kiran said with a nod. “I should have expected you would be concerned. I’m afraid our radio was destroyed shortly after you left.”

  “Destroyed?” George frowned at the two men and Kiran motioned for them to follow him into the tent they used for planning. On the table at the back of the tent, the radio that they had been using since they’d arrived was smashed to pieces. It looked like someone had taken a baseball bat to it and Phillip went over to examine it. “You didn’t see anyone coming out of the tent with something that could smash a radio?”

  “No,” Kiran said, sounding apologetic. “Professor Kharyam and I were inspecting the mountain around the temple in the hopes of figuring out how far it went back. When we returned, the radio had been destroyed.”

  “Who would do something like this?” Phillip turned back to Kiran with a chunk of metal in his hand. “Do you have any idea?”

  “Someone who doesn’t want us to tell anyone else about this temple,” George said. “I think it’s high time you tell us who’s funding this dig, Dr. Udeesh.”

  “As I said before, it’s a private group,” Kiran said obstinately. “I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to discuss it.”

  “I see,” George said, folding his arms over his chest. “And if we refuse to do anything further until you tell us?”

  “It’s not important,” Alice said, wanting to keep the peace. The last thing they needed was for George to start arguing with the leader of their expedition. Nothing good could come of it. “Let’s just get into the cave and find what we’re looking for.” George looked like he was going to argue but sighed instead.

  “I suppose there’s nothing for it. We’ll just have to take care of things here and get back before anything happens that might require the use of a radio.” He turned to Kiran. “How long do you think it will take your private group to send us another radio?”

  “They could get it to us fairly quickly if we had a way to inform them of what had happened. We’ll have to send someone to the city to contact them, however, and that will be tomorrow at the very earliest.” Kiran looked over at Phillip, who was trying to fit pieces of the broken radio into the holes that were in the casing. “Unless you think you’ll be able to fix it, Mr. Harper?”

  “It’s too busted,” Phillip said, shaking his head as he set aside the pieces. “I put together a radio with my dad once but this is something else entirely.” He looked over at Alice. “When should we go into the temple?”

  “In the morning,” Alice said. “After what happened the first time we went inside in the dark I have to say that I’m not too keen on repeating it.” Nadir nodded.

  “A very good idea,” he said. “We can go inside in the morning. I trust this means you’ve figured out what the carvings say?” Alice nodded.

  “Yes,” she said. “We have. We also brought back some very interesting information about the temple, but I’m quite tired. If you gentlemen don’t mind, I’d like to get some rest before we go into all of it.” Nadir smiled at her.

  “Of course. Would you like something to eat? It’s methi dal again but there’s excellent bread to go with it.”

  “That sounds wonderful,” Alice said. She hadn’t eaten since they’d left Amesh and Neha’s house that morning and the thought of methi dal made her mouth water. She missed good Indian food. It was nearly impossible to find anything in New York that came close to what she had in Surat.

  “You never did tell me what was in that, you know.” Phillip looked at Alice and she couldn’t help smiling, though she hoped he wouldn’t take offense to it. He had been hesitant about every food they’d tried since they arrived but had ended up liking all of them.

  “It’s lentils,” she said. “There are quite a few different dishes like it that vary by region, and I’d like to think there are still some I haven’t tried. You said you liked it before.”

  “I did! I’ve liked everything I ate so far on this trip,” Phillip said with a grin. “I may not know what it all is but it’s been delicious. I have to ask, though, is all Indian cooking spicy?”

  “Not all of it. It can be very mild, depending on the person cooking it,” Alice said as they walked to the tent where everyone took their meals.

  She was somewhat pleased that no one had pushed her or George to talk about what they’d found in the archives. On the plane back they had talked about what they might find in the temple and neither of them had been able to come up with anything that wasn’t downright terrifying. He still hadn’t mentioned the kiss, but it seemed like his attitude toward her had changed just a bit and she was glad for it.

  After dinner they went back to their sleeping tent and Alice sat on her bed with a sigh. It creaked loudly and the mattress was thin enough that she could feel what passed for springs beneath, things that were even more evident now that she
’d slept in Amesh and Neha’s comfortable guest room. While she was thinking this, George appeared at the foot of her bed.

  “Are you going to be all right?”

  “I must confess I’m a little nervous about going to sleep,” she said to him. “I slept well at Amesh’s house but now that I’m back here it’s a little worrisome.”

  “Don’t worry,” George said. “I’ll make sure you don’t wander off.” He sat beside her. “Let me have a look at your fingers again.” Not waiting for Alice to give him permission, George took her hands and examined them. What he saw made him frown and look up at Alice. “Do they hurt at all?”

  “No,” Alice said. “They haven’t hurt since we landed in Ahmedabad as a matter of fact.”

  “They’re completely healed. Even the bruises are gone,” George said, turning them over. “This is unbelievable.” He felt each of her fingers in turn and Alice found her face growing warm. His hands were softer than she’d expected and she realized that it was probably because he only used them to practice medicine. “We should get out of here as soon as we get through the wall. Something is definitely wrong here.”

  “I don’t know if I’d consider rapidly healing wounds to be wrong,” Alice said as he took his hands away from hers. “But you’re right. I can’t wait to get out of here.”

  “You get changed for bed,” George said, standing up. “I’ll make sure the others stay out.” He went back around the screen and led the others out through the tent flap. Not wanting to inconvenience them any more than she had to, Alice hurried to put on her nightgown and brush her hair. George must have remembered how long it took her to get ready because no sooner had she crawled into bed than the men came back inside. They changed with little regard for the fact that she was there and she sighed as she laid back on the flimsy pillow, knowing they wouldn’t hear her. Men, she thought as she closed her eyes. More trouble than they’re worth.