The Nymph's Curse: The Collection

by Danica Winters

  Ivan laughed, his sound low and menacing.

  The waiter returned with three steaming cappuccinos. He took his time as he set down the cups, one in front of the witch, the elf and Kat. His eyes never strayed from Kat’s overly-perky breasts.

  Ariadne’s hands clenched tight around the coffee cup in front of her. “Stavros told me about Nico.” Ariadne paused, unsure if she should congratulate the woman, or hate her for killing Nico and wanting to kill Stavros.

  Nico had always been known for his playboy behavior and his lack of settling his debts. Stavros had always cleaned up his brother’s messes, and it had been a source of contention between her and Stavros. But, like any story, there had to be two sides. “What did Nico do to make you that angry?”

  “Greek men are like dogs, they are always grumbling when they don’t get their way. Nico couldn’t handle a cat speaking her mind about what a fool he was; so he killed my teacher, the leader of my Coven, Angelica … ” Tammy raised her hand in each direction. “Blessed be.” She dropped her hand down into her lap and smiled wickedly. “Can’t say I’m real sorry about ridding the world of him. This old alley cat still has a little bite left in her.”

  Ariadne’s laughter echoed through the sparsely populated courtyard.

  “While you have been in hiding, we’ve been busy,” Kat said, interrupting.

  Tammy looked back at Kat. “I wasn’t hiding … I was just on a lengthy vacation.”

  Kat’s eyebrow rose slightly. “A lengthy vacation involving killing, stealing, learning spiritualism, and hiring the elf, Ivan, to do your dirty work?”

  “We all relax in our own ways, I suppose … But it is real sweet, you’ve been checking up on me. You’re gonna make me blush.”

  Kat rolled her eyes with a huff. “I can’t believe I had to resort to working with you.”

  Tammy smirked. “Ya were lucky I needed a bit of extra cash.”

  Ariadne turned just in time to watch as Ivan’s coffee cup slipped from his fingers. He tried to catch it, but missed and the sound of glass breaking echoed through the almost empty courtyard surrounding the café.

  Ivan bent over and started to pick up the chunks of glass dripping with coffee. “Shit.”

  Tammy dropped down to her knees and Ariadne followed. She scooped a bit of the glass together into a little pile. When she reached up to the table for a napkin, a pained “ouch” sounded from beneath the mesh table.

  Tammy sat up. “Stupid glass, I shoulda known better.” She held out her hand, where a long gash ran down the length of her finger. “I’m such a klutz sometimes.”

  Ariadne wrapped the napkin around the witch’s finger and held it there to stop the bleeding. Tammy looked up and stared at her. “I once heard your sisterhood was able to heal. Can you fix this?”

  Her question sounded more like an interview rather than a plea for help. Ariadne looked over to Kat, who was busy eyeing a passing man. She looked back to Tammy and leaned in so she could whisper. “We used to be able to heal, when our goddess was with us. But now all we have is our shift and our seduction. Sorry.”

  Tammy grabbed the napkin from Ariadne and squeezed. “Ah, don’t be worrying, I can fix this right up. I was just wondering.”

  She and Tammy sat back up at the table. Ivan scooped the last bit of glass up, piled it in his napkin and sat it to the side. Tammy took a long swig of the coffee, plunked the cup down on the table and stared back at Ariadne with her almond-shaped, golden eyes. “Now ya never told me, how’d ya get yourself roped up under this one?” She pointed back at Kat.

  Ariadne snickered. “I guess I’m just lucky.”

  “Ha! Real lucky.” Tammy slapped her leg. “If ya are working under this one, you and me, we need to talk.”

  Kat glared at the witch. “The only thing Ariadne needs to worry about is the job I’ve given her.”

  Chapter Six

  The black phone sat on Beau’s desk next to his worn leather wallet. Should he call Stavros and let him know about the tablet? The governor had said he wanted to be notified if anything of importance was found. On the other hand, the tablet could be nothing — or it could be exactly what he had been looking for.

  The morning light filtered into the room and made a bright line across the foot of the bed, where Kaden lay with his face down on the pillow.

  He spun the little black rectangular object and watched it slowly come to a stop. Reaching over, he grabbed his thin wallet and pulled the dusty card from behind his ID. Flipping open the phone, he punched in the numbers and held his breath. He didn’t need someone else to answer to, but it was better to have the authority on his side — even if the “authority” was an asshole.

  “Governor Kakos’ office, Bunny speaking,” a perky voice answered.

  “Hello, Bunny.” What kind of name is “Bunny?” “This is Dr. Morris.”

  “Oh, Beau, yes, we met the other day. How can I help you?”

  Then he remembered the blonde that had tagged along at Stavros’ elbow. Bunny, huh? Well, now it made a little more sense.

  “Well, my team and I just a made a small discovery I thought Governor Kakos needed to be informed of.”

  “Here, let me transfer you.”

  “No … wait.” But the other end of the line was already taken by Greek elevator music. He groaned.

  “Hello, Dr. Morris. So glad you called.” He could hear the governor’s fake smile through the phone line.

  “Yes. Well you requested that I inform you of any interesting finds.”

  The governor cleared his throat. “Ah, yes. What did you come across?”

  “It’s nothing too incredible, just a tablet with some early Greek writing and a painting. It might turn out to be nothing. It’s too early to know.”

  Beau refused to mention the inscription or the possible petroglyph of the Labyrinth. The governor would snoop around again if he thought there was anything of real value, and Beau couldn’t afford to lose any more time.

  “That sounds intriguing. Maybe I will have to come down and take a look.”

  “No,” Beau said with a jerk. “I mean no, it’s really nothing that you need to take time out of your busy schedule to come see.”

  “Hmm … then I’ll just send down one of the news reporters. We need to create a buzz. This might be a good start — ”

  “No,” Beau interrupted.

  “I’ll give them a call,” the governor continued. “They should be down there sometime either today or tomorrow. I’ll see what I can do. Hey, thanks for calling.”

  “Yeah,” Beau groaned. Great, more to deal with.

  The line went dead and Beau clicked his phone shut.

  Kaden rolled over and pushed his black hair out of his eyes. “Everything okay?” he asked his voice still groggy.

  Beau forced a smile. “Nothing for you to be worried about.”

  This is a burden only I can carry.

  • • •

  Vickie was on the other side of the dig, wearing a lower cut shirt than usual. Beau tried to divert his gaze, but with so much skin exposed it was hard not to notice.

  “Hey, professor,” one of the male students called. “I’m done here.” He pointed at his square unit. “I’m gonna go over to dig four, okay?”

  Of course the kid would want in dig four, Vickie’s unit.

  Beau nodded. “Go ahead.”

  Maybe this would be a good thing. At the very least, it would get Vickie’s attention away from him for a while. Maybe she just needed a man’s attention.

  Beau looked over his notebook. He needed to get someone to translate Linear A. He had emailed a picture of it to Professor Ryan, but of course the man hadn’t responded. He could visit the museum in Heraklion, but that meant seeing Ariadne again. And a man only had so much willpower.

&nb
sp; He tapped his finger against his notebook as he thought.

  “Beau, you need to call her,” Kaden said with an exasperated sigh, as if he could read Beau’s mind.

  Beau looked over at him and stopped thumping. “What are you talking about?”

  “You’ve been acting all … uptight. You need to make a move.”

  God, he hoped the kid was talking about Ariadne and not Vickie.

  “On who?”

  Kaden rolled his eyes. “That lady from the museum. You know … what’s her name.”

  “You mean Ariadne Papadakis?”

  “Yeah, that’s right … Ariadne.” Kaden smirked.

  Since when did his son know how to manipulate him? He must’ve learned it from Lynda.

  “I guess we’ll see. I have a lot of work to do,” he said as he flipped his notebook closed. “Where’s Trina today? How come she’s not around?”

  Kaden shrugged and shoved the tip of the trowel into the soil. “She said she was busy.”

  “Uh oh, trouble in paradise?” The moment the words slipped out of his mouth, Beau felt guilty. The poor kid didn’t need his old man to pry into his personal life.

  Stabbing the ground again, Kaden grumbled something unintelligible.

  “Sorry, kid. She seemed like a nice girl.”

  Pulling the tip of the trowel from the ground, Kaden frowned and looked up at him with a look of confusion on his face.

  “She wasn’t a nice girl?” Oh God, when he was a late teen he would have killed for that kind of girl.

  “No, she’s nice … she’s just complicated.”

  “You’ve lived with your mother how long, and you are just figuring this out?” Beau laughed as he tossed his notebook on top of his bucket.

  There was the crunch of tires on the gravel beside the unit. Beau stood up and walked to the crumbling sides of the pit. Peering out from the depths he made out the white high-heel sandal, his gaze flickered up the long tanned leg to the bottom of the wrinkled yellow sundress.

  Beau couldn’t find words. What was Ariadne doing here? She looked so beautiful, even more so than the day he’d met her.

  The woman cleared her throat. “It’s nice to see you again, Beau.”

  “Hey.” He wiped the sweat from his hands against his pants leg.

  She looked over at Kaden, “Hi, Kaden. I’m glad you’re out here keeping your dad company.”

  Kaden looked at Beau with a guilty grin. “Yeah, he needs company.”

  Ariadne’s laughter filled the uncomfortable silence. “I got a call that you had found something. May I see it?”

  Was that the only reason she had come to see him? Just to see the tablet? In an unexpected way, he felt deflated, and the revelation surprised him. Did he really expect her to have come for any other reason than to inspect the find?

  “Um, sure I guess,” he stepped up and out of the pit and dusted off his pants with a slap.

  “That’s great.” Ariadne played with the straps of her purse. “Sorry Kaden, I’ll have him right back to you.”

  Kaden beamed. “Keep him as long as you want.”

  Beau turned away to hide his warm cheeks. It felt awkward as he led her in the direction of the bagged catalog under the tent. “Who told you about the find?”

  She flipped her shiny hair over her shoulder with a twitch. “Stavros called me and said I needed to come down.”

  “You are on a first name basis with the governor?”

  Her cheeks flushed. “Yes, he and I … I meant to say Governor Kakos. Governor Kakos is one of the museum’s benefactors.”

  She glanced around, it was as if she was nervous or something. Jealousy flickered inside of him, but he tried to ignore it — she wasn’t his.

  The tent dimmed the unrelenting island sun, but the heat in the shade was as sweltering as it had been out in the dig, or it could have been the proximity to the beautiful woman. He grabbed the plastic bin and pulled it out from under the folding table. She stepped closer, and his heart beat faster. A light breeze brought an aroma of flowers and citrus from her glistening flesh.

  She smells so damn good.

  Looking up, he caught her golden eyes as she stared at him, but she quickly looked away.

  He could have sworn that there had been something that had flickered between them, but he couldn’t be sure. The last time he’d felt this way was when he had met Lynda.

  He was such a mess.

  Opening the box, he stared down at the clay tablet, the fresco of the woman stared back up at him. The woman’s hair, though it was painted long ago, was the same shade of reddish brown as Ariadne’s. The woman’s nose was the same tiny thing with a slight curve to the tip.

  “Wait, let me put on my gloves,” Ariadne said, opening her purse as she pulled out a pair of blue latex gloves.

  “Ah, don’t worry about it. It’s just a tablet. I just need someone to decipher it for me.”

  “I might be able to help.” She leaned over and her hair brushed against his arm and made goose bumps rise on his skin. Reaching past him, her arm touched his and his heart pounded in his chest.

  Pulling out the tablet, her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. “Where did you find this?”

  “Where Kaden and I are working, dig three, in front of the column. I think it might be important, but I can’t be sure. I mean, look at this.” He pointed to the concentric circles.

  She looked at him and frowned. “What are you hoping it means?”

  Why wasn’t she happy? Didn’t she understand the implications? If he found the Labyrinth, it had the potential to change the course of history and right the wrongs of academics who refuted the existence of the Labyrinth. And it would forever place him in the history books as the man who unearthed a treasure trove of knowledge. He could leave Kaden a legacy the kid would be proud of.

  Beau ran his hand over the back of his neck. “I hope I can find what I’m looking for.”

  “Mr. Morris, the Labyrinth is a myth.”

  He looked up and her face was filled with pity.

  She thinks I’m crazy, just like everyone else.

  The one person he had hoped would think he wasn’t nuts was now just like all the rest who didn’t believe in him. He would prove them — and her — wrong.

  “That’s what they said about Troy, that it was a myth. But I understand you’re in the business of proof over conjecture.” Beau looked out to the site where his students diligently sifted and scraped; they would find something she would have to believe in.

  Ariadne smiled. “That’s called science and it’s what separates us from fantasy.”

  She was right, but it infuriated him that she was so dismissive of his dream. But then again, why should it matter to her? Why did he care so much if she cared? Her opinion was just that, an opinion.

  “This script is interesting though,” she paused.

  He looked back at her and there was a light in her eyes. Was it hope?

  “It talks about an ancient race and the story of Ariadne and the Minotaur. It looks like it’s about the Labyrinth, like you hoped, but I think it’s just an account of the ancient myth about Theseus and the bull, and how Ariadne gave him the golden thread.”

  Beau stared at the tablet. There had to be something more for it to tell. “Don’t you think it means something that we found this in the era when the ‘myth’ was made?”

  Ariadne shrugged. “Perhaps, but all stories begin somewhere.”

  There was the crunch of footsteps. The tent flap opened and Vickie appeared in the opening. “Hi, Beau … ” she said with a velvet voice.

  “Hello, Vickie. Can I help you?”

  Vickie’s eyes drifted to Ariadne. “Hi, I’m Vickie. One of Beau’s … ” she quickly glanced back at him, “students.�
�� The word fouled the tent with its tainted undertone of nastiness.

  She pushed the tablet back into the box and balled her fists. “Vickie, this is Ms. Papadakis, she is the curator at the Heraklion Museum.” He motioned toward Ariadne. “I’m sorry, is it Miss or Mrs.?”

  Ariadne smiled. “Miss is fine.”

  Vickie’s rigid posture softened. “Oh.” She stuck out her hand. “Then it’s nice to meet you.”

  Ariadne nodded, but said nothing.

  “Vickie, did you need something?” Beau asked, breaking the strained silence in the tent.

  For a moment, the girl looked confused. “Oh, never mind. I don’t remember. I’ll come back when I do.” She gave Ariadne one more look and then stepped out with a quick backward wave.

  He breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m sorry about that.”

  “No, don’t worry. It’s nice that your students check up on you.”

  The way she said the word made it clear that she too had heard the pronouncement. He grabbed the lid of the bucket and flipped it back on; but in his haste, he pushed it too far and the plastic lid clattered to the ground, forcing him to start again. Ariadne tried to stifle a giggle.

  His cheeks felt like they were on fire, and he took a moment as he fastened the lid to let them cool.

  When he stood up, she was watching him with a tiny smirk. “Do you mind if I go and see Kaden before I leave? I have something for him.”

  Pushing open the tent flap, he let her lead the way out. She bent over slightly and he could just make out the line created by her panties. He knew he shouldn’t stare, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away until she looked back over her shoulder. Hopefully she hadn’t caught him staring, the day had already been enough of an embarrassment.

  A blonde head bobbed next to Kaden as they approached. Trina looked up. “Hey, Ariadne. I didn’t know you would be here.”

  Beau stared at Ariadne, who had a pinched look on her face. “What are you doing here, Trina?”

  Trina pointed at Kaden. “Have you met my boyfriend?”