Guardians of Stone (The Relic Seekers)

by Clenney, Anita

  “I want to get the piece of letter I found under the desk. It’s still in the tower room.”

  “Hurry. There could be more of those thieves. I need to get you someplace safe.”

  “Should we call the police?”

  “No.”

  “Why not? There’s a dead guy here.”

  “You want the cops to pull us aside for questioning while the thieves get farther away? They’ve already got a head start. No cops.”

  “I feel like we should do something,” she said, looking at Raphael again. Even in death he looked fierce. Kendall felt a wave of sadness at such a needless loss.

  Jake nudged her toward the stairs. “Nathan can have his people take care of it later.”

  “The one guy knew you. He said your name.”

  “Must have been Thomas.”

  She hadn’t seen his face clearly, so she couldn’t say, but Jake obviously had. Why else would he have acted so surprised?

  They hurried to the tower and found a metal bar in front of the door to their room. “We really were prisoners,” Kendall said. “How did we not see this when he brought us here?”

  After lifting the bar so Kendall could get inside, Jake examined the mechanism while she retrieved the scrap of paper. “The bar was hidden along the doorjamb,” he said, when she returned.

  Kendall put the paper in her bag. “We need to find whoever was singing. They might be prisoners here too. Or whoever killed Raphael could have found them.”

  Jake wasn’t pleased, but they made a quick search on all three floors, checking the rooms with unlocked doors. Jake even picked a couple of locks, but they didn’t find anyone else. They discovered bedrooms in every size, sitting rooms, parlors, and libraries, all modernized with electricity and indoor plumbing. At one time this must have housed a large group. Where were they now?

  “Three floors of nice rooms, and he sticks us in the tower,” Kendall said.

  “Prisoners don’t get the good rooms. Raphael put us in the tower for a reason.”

  And now they would never know why. They hurried back down to the first floor. They were both silent as they passed Raphael’s body. Jake stopped at an open door they hadn’t seen when Raphael showed them around.

  “He must have stayed here,” Kendall said. The room had a small bed and a few pieces of furniture, including a desk with books, papers, and pens. A window overlooked the statues and underneath, a table held a glass of wine that Raphael would never finish.

  “Stay close,” Jake whispered.

  They stepped outside and he grabbed her hand, tugging her toward the statues. Kendall felt a vibration deep in her bones, like a warning. They had almost reached the statues when Jake stopped. Two dark shapes lay on the ground.

  “What is that?” Kendall asked. When they got closer she saw two of the thieves, their robes twisted about their bodies, faces covered by hoods. Jake kneeled beside them and pulled one hood back to check for a pulse. The dead man’s eyes were solid black.

  “What happened to their eyes?” she asked.

  “Hell if I know.” He checked the other thief. “Neither of these is Thomas. He must be the third thief.” Jake started searching the corpses. The vibration got stronger, along with Kendall’s sense of dread.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “Looking for the box. Maybe we’ll get lucky.” But they didn’t. “Thomas must have it. Let’s see if we can find him.” He stood and started to take a step.

  “Stop!” She grabbed Jake’s arm. “The statue...It’s humming. Don’t touch it!”

  He picked up a rock and threw it at the statue. There was a hissing noise and a blinding flash of light as the rock fell.

  Jake shaded his eyes. “What the hell!”

  “They are sentinels, just like in the vision.”

  “I guess we know what happened to thief one and thief two,” Jake said, studying the statues. “Maybe if we don’t touch them.” He picked up another rock and tossed it between the statues. The wall of light flashed again. Jake moved back beside her and cursed. “It’s like some kind of electric fence.”

  “How did we get through before?” she asked. “Maybe it only comes on at night.”

  Jake stuck his hands in his pocket. “Or Raphael turns it on when there’s a threat, like having two strangers show up out of the blue.”

  “We could wait until daylight to find out. It’s almost five thirty.”

  “There’s gotta be a switch that controls it. Or at least another way out. No one’s gonna hike that far for a gallon of milk. This would be a good time for your sixth sense to kick in.”

  “I can’t make it happen. It works when it wants to.”

  “Can’t you take some kind of classes to learn how to control this gift?”

  “I wish.”

  “Raphael must have some kind of control on him.” Jake frowned and pulled the cross out of his pocket. “It’s humming too.” He looked at the statues and then at the cross again. “I have an idea. Stand back.” He nudged Kendall backward several feet.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Testing something.” He walked toward the statues.

  “And if it fails?”

  “Cremate me and spread my ashes over Lake Watauga in Tennessee.”

  “Are you crazy?”

  Holding the cross by the tip, he stretched out his hand. The humming was almost deafening now.

  “Jake, stop! Please!”

  Slowly, he let the tip of the cross move even with the statues. He stretched his hand farther, until the cross was between the statues. Nothing happened. He followed with his fingertips, his hand, his wrist, and then his entire arm. He jerked his arm back and grinned. “It works.”

  Kendall let out a pent-up gasp. That was the bravest thing she’d seen since Adam jerked that snake away just before it bit her. “What made you think it would work?”

  “It was humming in my pocket, like the statues. Almost as if they were talking to each other.”

  “And it hummed in the catacombs too.”

  Jake nodded. “I figured if it was the key to the catacombs, it must be some sort of key here.”

  That was pretty darned brilliant, she thought. Not to mention courageous.

  “I’ll go first to make sure it works,” Jake said. “Then I’ll toss the cross back to you.”

  She wanted to close her eyes but she couldn’t. He approached the statues and slowly walked between them. She kept her eyes on him, willing him to be safe. When he made it across, she finally drew a breath.

  He turned, flashed her a grin and threw the cross back through the statues. “Heads up.”

  She caught it against her chest and held it close, trembling. Jake stood on the other side of the statues waiting. His eyes met hers through the darkness. He stretched out his Cringing, she focused on Jake and approached the statue. All sounds seemed to stop, as if she were caught in a bubble, but she could still feel the vibrations surrounding her. It felt like minutes had passed, yet it could only have been seconds. When she was safely through, Jake grabbed her and pulled her farther away from the statues. She wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned against him.

  With his arms still wrapped around her, they both turned back and looked at the statues. Jake squeezed her arm. “Let’s get out of here.”

  “How are we going to find the box?” she asked. “We have no idea where Thomas is.”

  “Nathan’s checking his background. We’ll find him.”

  Even with a flashlight, it wasn’t easy to find the opening in the wall. When they located the motif, she pressed her palm against the mark and the door opened, allowing them to step through.

  The trail had been challenging in daylight; in the dark it was a nightmare. Her muscles ached from her fall, and she was tired and thirsty. The trip back across the bridge was the worst. Jake tied off the rope and went first. This time he made it across without any mishaps. When he reached the other side, he tied his end of the rope to a tree, an
d Kendall looped her end around her waist. After she made it across, they quickly coiled up the rope and continued walking. They came to a clearing and Kendall rested against a scrawny tree.

  “I have to stop.” Her throat was so parched she started to understand how a person could drink urine to stay alive.

  “We can’t stop.”

  “I’m ready to collapse...” Something whizzed past her face and a chunk splintered from the tree. Jake shoved her to the ground, covering her body with his. “What was that?”

  “A bullet.”

  “Someone’s shooting at us? What next?”

  Jake lifted his head, scanning the direction of the bullet. “We get out without getting shot.”

  “How? I can’t even see.”

  “We crawl.”

  They crawled on hands and knees, sometimes on their stomachs, until they reached the next wooded area. Jake pushed her behind a small bush and into a cave.

  “How did you know this was here?”

  “I saw it on the hike in.”

  Kendall rubbed her arms against the October morning chill. “The shooter must be Thomas. The other two thieves are already dead.”

  “We’ll wait here and see if he moves on.” Jake’s whisper came from different locations. Kendall knew he was checking out the cave.

  She couldn’t see anything. She reached out and touched a wall. Cold. “What if he doesn’t leave? I’m so tired I could drop, and my throat is parched.” She rubbed her arms against the chill. Jake sat down next to her and put his arm around her shoulder. She could feel the heat coming off his body and gratefully leaned into the warmth. “You’ve done this before, haven’t you?” she asked, and she felt him nod. “I’ve encountered ghosts and booby traps, but being shot at and nearly electrocuted are new to me.”

  He gave her a gentle nudge. “Stop talking,” he whispered. “You’ll give our position away.”

  They sat in silence for several minutes. She could tell he was listening. She couldn’t hear anything, not even Jake breathing. The silence stretched painfully long. “How long do we have to wait?” she asked in a small voice.

  “I have to go out there and see if he’s gone. I need you to stay inside.” She felt his breath warm on her face. “Please.”

  She touched his hand. “Hurry.”

  He left and she felt the immediate loss of body heat and comfort. She loved caves and exploring, but after almost being killed the cave felt as bad as the catacombs.

  He was back in minutes. “Let’s go. Slowly, no noise.”

  She followed his lead as they moved out of the cave and onto the trail. There weren’t any more shots. When they drew near the place where they had left the car, dawn was breaking. She thought she saw a flash of red and then she spotted the car. Her steps quickened.

  “Wait. I found footprints.” Jake bent and studied the ground. “Thomas’s, I think. What’s this?”

  Kendall looked back and saw him pick something up, his brows pulled into a frown. “There weren’t any tracks leading from the castle,” she said. “How did he get here? Fly?” She kept moving toward the car. “Hurry, we’re almost there.”

  She was twenty feet from the car when Jake tackled her to the ground. She lay there stunned, her face pressed into the dirt, his weight holding her down. Her ribs felt like they had cracked. She sucked in her first breath to verbally blast him when the car exploded.

  CHAPTER NINE

  A BALL OF flame rolled over her head. She screamed and tried to get away, but she couldn’t move with Jake’s weight crushing her. She pushed and shoved until she finally shifted him off her. He didn’t move. His eyes were closed.

  She knelt beside him. “Jake!” He didn’t respond. Blood trickled down his face from a gash on his head. Another noise caught her attention over the roar of flames: a car engine. The shooter. They had to hide. “Jake, wake up!” He still didn’t move. She grabbed him under the arms and tried to pull him toward the tree line a few yards away, but it was like dragging a log. Before she could get him hidden, a vehicle stopped on the road. It was a blue car, like one she had seen at the inn. The door opened and Brandi jumped out. She ran toward the car, holding an arm up to protect her face. “Are you OK?” she yelled.

  “Jake is hurt.”

  “Jake?”

  Kendall had forgotten their aliases. “I need to get him to a hospital,” she said. She didn’t question what Brandi was doing here, or the coincidence that a nurse would come along when Kendall needed one most. There was time for that later.

  The women flinched from the heat and knelt beside Jake. “His pulse is good,” Brandi said. “He’s taken a hit to the head.”

  “A hit?” A bullet? Had the shooter fired as the car exploded?

  “Debris from the car, most likely. How did it explode?”

  “I don’t know. Where’s the nearest hospital? We need to hurry.”

  “I saw a hospital sign a couple of miles from the inn.”

  Together the two women got Jake in the car. Kendall sat in the back, supporting his weight. She looked back at the burning car and put her hand over Jake’s chest, needing to feel his heartbeat. He’d sacrificed himself to save her, again.

  Brandi tossed their backpacks on the passenger side before climbing in the driver’s seat. She brushed a strand of hair from her face. She looked like she’d been sweating.

  “What are you doing here?” Kendall asked, fumbling in her backpack for a bandage.

  “I was looking for you and...Jason. Roberto was worried when you didn’t come back last night. He was afraid you’d tried to find some castle he told you about. I had to run an errand in this direction, so he asked me to look for your car.”

  Kendall covered Jake’s wound as best she could. His eyes were still closed. If Brandi hadn’t come along, there was no telling what might have happened to Jake. Or to her. There was no cell phone signal in the area and no help anywhere for miles, and a crazed killer was running loose. “Thank you,” she said and meant it. Whatever Brandi’s reason for being here, she may have saved Jake’s and Kendall’s lives.

  “Did you find the castle?” Brandi asked.

  “No. We were just...hiking. It got late so we decided to camp for the night.” A horn honked, startling her, and a luxury car flashed by.

  “Slow down, this isn’t a racetrack,” Brandi muttered. “These rich guys think they own the road.”

  “Kendall!” Jake jerked upright, startled by the horn.

  “Lie still,” Kendall said, gently trying to push him back down. “You were hit on the head. You need to see a doctor. We’re on the way to the hospital.”

  He pulled away and sat up. “No hospital.” He slumped back against the seat, letting some of his weight rest against her. “Too dangerous,” he muttered.

  Kendall met Brandi’s worried gaze in the rearview mirror but Brandi quickly looked away. “You’re a nurse. Can you take a look at him?”

  Brandi’s hands were clenched on the wheel. “Sure. Back to the inn, then?”

  “Yes.” And pray that whoever tried to kill them wasn’t following.

  One hour earlier...

  Nathan pulled up to the inn around six in the morning. There were a few cars in the parking lot. The place looked quiet. Everyone was probably still asleep. He parked and walked toward the front door, his gut tense. He should have told Kendall and Jake everything, but it was too risky. There were some things he couldn’t let anyone know. As he walked through the lobby, a dark-haired man at the front desk looked up, his face worried. His expression eased when he saw Nathan, giving him a long, appreciative look.

  “Hello, how can I help you?”

  “I’m looking for my...sister. I think she’s staying here. Kara Monroe.” He knew the names they were using. He knew every place they’d been.

  The man frowned. “She isn’t here. She and Jason went out. I’m worried that they might have run into trouble.”

  “Trouble?”

  “They asked about a castl
e nearby. I shouldn’t have told them where it was, but I didn’t think they would actually go.”

  “Why shouldn’t they go to the castle?”

  “It’s not a good place.” He looked over his shoulder, as if someone might be listening. “They say it’s cursed.”

  “Cursed?”

  “I’m sorry.” He frowned. “I’m Roberto, the innkeeper. You are?”

  “Uh, Nick. So this castle is supposed to be cursed?”

  “That’s what everyone says.”

  “How long have they been gone?”

  “Since yesterday afternoon. They should have been back by now.” He shrugged his shoulders. “They’re honeymooners. Maybe they got distracted.”

  Honeymooners?

  “They’re such a lovely couple. I would hate for them to get hurt.”

  “Tell me where this castle is. I’ll go look for them.”

  After Roberto gave him directions, Nathan walked outside. He had just gotten in his car when he noticed a man standing behind some bushes watching the inn. He had brown hair and wore dark clothes. Was he looking for Kendall and Jake? A moment later, another man came around the side of the inn and started down the lane toward town. This man was young and had a beard. He wore a ball cap pulled low over his eyes, and a leather bag hung from his shoulder. He kept his head down, as if he didn’t want to be noticed. Every few seconds, he glanced behind him. The watcher stayed hidden until the young man was halfway up the lane, and then he followed.

  Curious, Nathan waited a minute. Then he started his car and went after them. The town was quiet at this early hour. Not many people moved about. The men knew their surroundings better than Nathan did, and in the time it took him to park they had darted down a side street near a small church. He hurried after them, but they had vanished. A moment later he heard a soft cry in the graveyard behind the church.

  Keeping to the shadows, he eased inside the graveyard, his senses on alert. Something was wrong here. He felt it in his bones, that deep ache that sometimes accompanied the other anomaly.

  A creaking sound came from deeper in the graveyard. He crept closer and saw an iron gate closing. He started to turn back when the metallic scent of blood flooded his nostrils. He looked around and saw a freshly dug grave close by. The ache got stronger as he approached the hole. The young man lay sprawled at the bottom of the grave.