Fountain of Secrets (The Relic Seekers)

by Clenney, Anita

  But they shouldn’t have. What about condoms? It was stupid to have sex without one. She trusted Jake on some internal level, in some way she couldn’t even explain, but he sometimes seemed callous about sex. And just because he thought he was clean wasn’t a guarantee that he was. She was on birth control—she wasn’t sure why since she so rarely had sex—but birth control failed lots of times. Orphanages were filled with kids as a result. Like Jake.

  She decided to take a long shower, hoping to sort her thoughts before she faced him. She had dried off and dressed when she heard something outside the bathroom window. It had sounded like a curse. Surely he wasn’t spying on her in the bathroom. Turning off the light, she opened the curtains a crack and peered out. The night was quiet, the moon soft. Saint Michael’s Tower rose from the Tor like a scepter. Something moved in the bushes near the window, and she saw a figure moving along the wall. She couldn’t tell who it was, or whether it was male or female. The figure moved to the far bedroom and appeared to be trying to look in the window. Jake snooping again?

  Then the figure rose from its crouched position, and Kendall saw that it was a woman with red hair. Brandi. Kendall hurried from the bathroom and down the hall to the front door. She slipped outside as quietly as possible, keeping close to the side of the house. Easing around the corner, she saw Brandi, or whoever, hurrying away. From her movements, Kendall would have bet it was Brandi. Kendall was torn between going after her and going back to get Jake. Jake was better at tracking, but there wasn’t time to spare.

  Kendall heard a twig snap. She whirled as Jake stepped out of the shadows near the house.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  “Chasing you. I’m not letting you run away from me.”

  “I wasn’t. I heard something outside. Someone was looking in one of the bedroom windows. I thought it was you until I saw the red hair. I think it was Brandi.”

  “Damn, I knew that was her earlier. Which way did she go?”

  “She ran into the garden. I think she went toward the fountain. Do you think you can pick up her tracks?” She knew he wanted to ask her more about Thomas and Iraq.

  “I’ll try, but you need to go back to the house.”

  “I’m staying.”

  “You’re not wearing shoes.”

  “I’ll manage.”

  He kicked off a boot and removed one sock, then did the same with the other foot and handed them to her. “Wear them. It’s better than nothing. I don’t need you getting sick on me.”

  “Do they stink?”

  He scowled at her. “Haven’t you heard it’s rude to look a gift horse in the mouth?”

  “Sorry. I was just…” being sarcastic to get them back on familiar territory after what they’d just done in the bedroom.

  “I know. Come on.” Jake entered the garden, eyes searching, body alert.

  Kendall followed close behind him and looked at the trees and tall grass on the other side of the garden. “I don’t know how you can see anything.”

  Jake touched a branch. “This way.”

  She followed and saw the branch had been broken.

  “She’s in a hurry,” Jake said, studying signs in the branches and on the ground that she couldn’t see.

  They followed Brandi’s trail—Jake followed the trail, Kendall followed Jake—to the road. She looked at the street. “This is Well House Lane.”

  “We’ll never find her tracks here at night. Too many people and vehicles have been here. Let’s head back. I’ll come back tomorrow in the daylight and see if I can figure out where she headed.”

  “I think she was trying to look inside the bedroom at the end of the hall,” Kendall said.

  “Halle said that’s the caretaker’s room.”

  “You think Brandi is spying on the caretaker?” Kendall asked.

  “According to Halle, he’s in London.”

  “Brandi must know about the Blue Chalice and she’s trying to sneak in.”

  “I think someone snuck in, but not Brandi. I heard a man talking in that room earlier.”

  “You sure it wasn’t her?” Kendall asked.

  “Yeah, it was a man’s voice.”

  “Maybe you’ve got the rooms mixed up. It might be Larry’s.”

  “No,” Jake said. “It’s not his room. I make it a point to know who’s in which room.”

  “The caretaker could have returned,” Kendall said.

  “Halle said he hadn’t. So who’s in that room, and why is Brandi interested in it?”

  “Nathan knew we were coming here to find the chalice. He might have gotten here first and started searching for the chalice.”

  “Then why didn’t he answer when I knocked? We need to get inside that room,” he said.

  “We need to find Brandi too. She must be staying someplace nearby. I can’t imagine her camping out in the woods.”

  “We’ll check the local inns. See if someone has seen her.”

  They cut over to the road since it would be easier than walking through the trees and grass. Jake’s socks were loose on her feet and they were getting damp from the dew, but she was grateful for the protection.

  She felt more apprehensive as they neared the house. How could they sleep in the same room after this? When they reached the door, she stopped. “You go on. I’m going to check the area where I saw her and see if I can pick up anything.”

  Jake gave her a long look. “I’ll wait.”

  “We need to wash your socks. I hope I haven’t ruined them. If you want to throw them in the washer now, they’ll be ready by morning.” Kendall pulled off his socks and handed them to him, hoping he’d take the hint.

  He stared her down. “I don’t think Brandi is the only reason you ran away.”

  “Why would you say that?”

  “We just had sex and you’re acting as stiff as a damned statue.”

  “It’s been a long time since I’ve…”

  “Me too, but you don’t see me running.”

  “Maybe you should,” she said.

  “Why would you say that?”

  “Who wants to date someone who can look into his head?”

  He hesitated for a split second. “Don’t you think that should be my decision?”

  “I’m not good with relationships.” Or sex. Usually. She and Jake had been darned good. Better than good. Rocket-to-the-moon good.

  “Neither am I, but there’s something between us.” He stepped closer, maneuvering them behind a bush. He touched her face then, a light stroke on her cheek with his thumb. “I know you feel it too.” He pulled her into his arms, settling one leg between hers. Her body started tingling all the way to her toes. “I can’t get you out of my head. You’re there when I’m awake, when I’m asleep. I don’t know what to do with you.” He lowered his head and found her lips. Her lips parted and she kissed him back. The ground started to shake and she grabbed his shoulders. Wow, some kiss. Lights flashed and she was even more impressed.

  He lifted his head, and she realized the lights were coming from the Tor. Balls of light circled above Saint Michael’s Tower.

  “What’s that? A light show?”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  I DON’T THINK so,” Kendall said.

  The front door banged open, and Alice and Halle came out. “Do you see them?” Alice gasped.

  “I do,” Halle whispered.

  Kendall’s skin felt icy as she watched the lights. There were several, all different colors, just as the woman at the gift shop had described. Blue, red, orange, and green. They danced in the sky for about thirty seconds, and just like that, they vanished.

  Rhonda and Larry stood in the doorway, staring with their mouths open. “I’ve heard about the lights, but oh my,” Rhonda said.

  Jake and Kendall stepped out from behind the bush. Alice looked over and saw them. Her eyes were bright with awe. “First, you see King Arthur, and now the lights… It must be you causing these things to happen.”

  Ke
ndall tried to deny it, but she knew they had made up their minds. After a few minutes, everyone but Kendall, Jake, and Halle hurried back inside, saying they needed to record the events and meditate.

  Halle walked closer. “Are you sure you didn’t have anything to do with that?”

  “It wasn’t me.”

  “Maybe it’s because you summoned King Arthur.”

  She didn’t tell Halle she hadn’t summoned King Arthur. In fact, she suspected it was the other way around.

  “I’ve got a good feeling about this,” Halle said, looking at the Tor.

  Kendall didn’t. She felt the same cold she’d felt in the cave when the shadow hovered over her. She didn’t know what the lights meant, but it wasn’t good.

  “You two are out late,” Halle said, as if just realizing that they had already been outside.

  “I felt like taking a walk.”

  “Barefoot?”

  “Uh…”

  “When she’s barefoot,” Jake said, “it helps her pick up sensations from the earth.”

  “Ooh, I never saw Lizzie do that. Maybe it was your meditation that drew the lights. If you’ve recovered from your vision, could you tell us more about it? Jake gave us a quick update earlier, but after seeing the lights, no one will be able to sleep.”

  Kendall didn’t feel like talking, but if she spent some time with the group, she wouldn’t be in the bedroom with Jake.

  “Sure.” She told them about the battle and her glimpse of King Arthur. She didn’t tell them he had spoken to her. The group was ecstatic, and again, she felt a comfortable sense of belonging and acceptance. She didn’t have to hide or pretend. Then the guilt set in. She was lying to them. Not about the visions. She wasn’t telling them everything about the visions, but what troubled her was she was here under false pretenses, and these people believed in her. Kendall had always hated people who preyed on others’ beliefs.

  The group broke up. Kendall hung out till everyone had left. She dreaded going to the room. She wasn’t sure how to act with Jake now. Or Nathan. Would he know what she and Jake had done? She felt as if it were written all over her face. She’d always been easy to read. Adam had tried to teach her a poker face. He said it came in handy at times. He was right. On the rare occasion when she shook someone’s hand and knew they would be dead the next morning, it was best to keep a blank face. But she still hadn’t mastered the art of hiding all her emotions. When she passed the bathroom, she heard the shower running. Please let it be him. She could get into bed and fall asleep first.

  Halle had followed Kendall down the hall to the bedrooms. “Are you sure you’re up to the events for the next couple of days? I can’t tell you how much I appreciate what you’ve done so far. This is better than I expected.”

  She felt a sense of excitement and dread. “I’ll be ready.” Before now, she really believed he was just a myth, perhaps loosely based on some historical king or kings named Arthur, but after that glimpse on the battlefield, she was cutting to the front of the believer line.

  Jake wasn’t sure where he and Kendall would sleep since there were two beds. He didn’t know whether she would expect him to sleep in another bed or be insulted if he did, since they’d just had incredible sex. Short, but mind blowing. Her bed, he decided, and turned off the shower.

  He had considered going back to the hotel, but he wasn’t ready to face Nathan. He wanted more time alone with Kendall so they could figure out where to go from here. It wasn’t like picking up some girl in a bar. He worked with Kendall, respected her, admired her. He… He stopped there before his thoughts got him into quicksand.

  After drying off, he put on his underwear and pants. The bedroom door was unlocked, which pissed him off. He was trying to protect her. If someone was sneaking around outside, she needed to be more cautious. She was too damned tough for her own good. Sure as hell too tough for his peace of mind.

  She was in bed, but she wasn’t asleep. He heard her breathing change when he walked in. She’d chosen the bed farthest away from the wall where they’d had sex. What did that mean? He didn’t ask. He turned off the lamp and got into bed beside her.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Getting into bed?”

  “You have your own.”

  “I like this one.” He snuggled next to her, sharing her pillow.

  She lay tense, staring at the ceiling. “You should have said something. I could have taken the other.”

  “Then I would have liked it better.” He pulled her close. “Don’t panic. I’m not going to try anything. I just want you next to me so I can make sure you don’t sneak out to meet King Arthur”—or Lancelot—“or find the chalice by yourself. It’s my job to keep you safe.”

  “This bed is small,” she said.

  He didn’t mind. “I know. If you leave, I’ll wake up. So what would you rather talk about first… sex, Lancelot, or those lights?”

  His eyes had adjusted to the moonlight, and he saw her cheeks darken.

  “We’re going to have to talk about it sooner or later.”

  “Lancelot?”

  “That ties in to the sex. Are you sure you want to start there?”

  She looked alarmed. “The lights.”

  “What were they?” he asked.

  “I don’t know, but it’s not good.”

  “You thinking aliens?”

  “Aliens?”

  “Circling lights in the sky… We have everything else weird and bizarre, might as well throw in some aliens. Now about Lancelot and the sex.”

  “What does Lancelot have to do with it?” she asked.

  “You called me Lancelot.”

  Her green eyes widened, lit by the moonlight through the curtains. “I did.”

  “Yeah. Sounded like you were getting it on with him. Is that who you were having sex with? Him, not me?” That thought pissed him off.

  “No. I don’t know why I said his name. It was you.” She frowned. “But we were dressed in strange clothes. Until… until we weren’t dressed.”

  “Are you saying you were dreaming of us making love, but I was Lancelot? Like some kind of dream fantasy?”

  She blushed again. “I guess it’s because we’re here where they once lived.”

  “Does that mean you were Guinevere?”

  “That was just in the dream. After I woke up, I thought you were an intruder.”

  “I believe you. I’ve got a couple of bruises to prove it.” He grinned. “You’re good.”

  She looked startled, and he couldn’t resist adding, “At both. And the second… way better than good.”

  She drew in a quick breath. “Back at you,” she said, shocking him.

  “Is that an invitation?” he asked, his body already taking it as a yes.

  “That wouldn’t be smart.”

  “But it would be fun.”

  “I’m sorry. This is awkward.”

  He leaned up on one elbow, looking down at her. “The fact that we had sex or that you want to do it again?”

  “That’s not what I said.”

  “You don’t want it again?”

  “I just meant it’s hanging between us.”

  “I could put it someplace else, so it’s not hanging between us.”

  “Would you stop?”

  “Sorry,” he said, grinning. “I love playing with you, and I mean that in every sense of the word.” His grin faded. He stroked her cheek. “We had sex. I wanted it. You wanted it. I have no regrets, except I wish it had lasted longer. Next time it won’t be so quick.”

  “Next time?”

  “We can keep on… I don’t know… seeing each other?”

  “You mean naked?” she asked.

  “I wouldn’t complain, but other people might. I meant like”—he cleared his throat—“dating. I’m rusty. Not sure I remember how. ’Course I was rusty with sex too.” He let his hand drift over her hip. “And I think that worked out.”

  “I don’t know what to say.”

&nbs
p; “Yes would work.” He lay down. The bed was so small they couldn’t help but touch. “You feel like a statue again. You don’t have to worry that I’ll take advantage of you. Like I said in the tower, when you come to my bed, it’ll be because you want to be there, not because you’re running from something. And it doesn’t just go for beds. That goes for walls, chairs, tables, sinks, showers, rocks, the ground, and anyplace else you can think of that we can do it.”

  She stared at him. “OK.”

  He didn’t know what that meant, but he pulled her into his arms and settled her against his chest. “Night.”

  But his brain kept going, and it wasn’t long before a disturbing thought occurred to him. If he was Lancelot in her dream and she was Guinevere, then who was Arthur? Nathan?

  A voice woke Kendall in the night. She thought Jake was talking to her until she raised her head and saw that she was sprawled across his chest, one leg draped between his, and he was still asleep.

  She tried to move away, but his arm tightened around her. “Lilly,” he muttered.

  Lilly? Kendall felt a rush of jealousy, followed by grief. Was Lilly one of the girls in Iraq? She remembered the vision of the grave she had seen when she touched Jake in the catacombs. Shallow, dark, with a swath of blond hair against the dirt. And the wooden doll he carried in his pack. She’d had the sensation of dirt filling her mouth and nose when she touched it. The doll and the grave had to be connected.

  She looked at the clock. It was late. Everyone should be asleep. This would be a good time to look for the chalice. She tried moving again, but Jake put his other arm around her, effectively trapping her. A nice trap, she thought, relaxing against him, and gave up the notion of searching for the chalice tonight. She lay there for a few minutes, trying to go to sleep, but the feel of Jake underneath her, his arm wrapped around her, made her think about earlier, him and her, bodies hot with passion and desperation. She squirmed and considered waking him again. All it would take was to slide her hand lower and they would do it again, here in the bed.

  No, Kendall. You work with him. It’ll complicate things worse than they already are.