Guardians of Stone (The Relic Seekers)

by Clenney, Anita

“Everyone was upset. The penalty for breaching the sacred chamber is harsh. I worried what the others might do. I helped your father take you away in the middle of the night.”

  Adam died right after they visited the castle. So did her father. And Adam’s father. Had some kind of curse killed the people she loved? Then why was she still alive? “Why can’t I remember?”

  “We made you forget. But I believe the memories are coming back. It will be OK now. It will be saved.”

  “What will be saved?”

  “The spear.” He leaned forward.

  “Spear?” Jake asked.

  Marco frowned, as if they should know. “The Spear of Destiny.”

  “Then it is real,” Kendall said.

  “But of course.”

  “How do you have the real spear?” Kendall asked.

  “We switched them.”

  “When?” Jake asked.

  “A long time ago.”

  “Wasn’t that dangerous?” Kendall asked.

  “Yes, but it had to be done. Evil men can’t be allowed to find these powerful relics.”

  “There’s more than one of these relics?” Jake asked.

  “There are many, but these four, they are the most powerful. They must be kept apart.”

  “Why?” Kendall asked.

  “If someone possessed all four there would be no limit to their power.”

  “Where are the relics?” Jake asked.

  “We have them hidden.” Marco’s eyes dimmed. “There used to be many of us, but there was an attack after you left. Evil tried to destroy us.” He frowned. “So much blood and death. But the relics are safe.”

  The door rattled again and Fergus appeared, his expression alarmed. Two guards stood behind him. “Marco, you mustn’t be here.”

  “I was reacquainting myself with the girl.”

  “You must come with me, please.”

  “Then I will say good-bye.” He took Kendall’s hand and leaned in close. “I’ll come back,” he whispered. When he stepped away, there was a twinkle in his eye, and Kendall had a flash of a young boy with black hair and an impish grin. “Good-bye.” The old man started humming a song as Fergus ushered him out the door.

  Jake shook his head. “If he’s telling the truth, why reveal all this? What about their secrets? We could be evil.”

  “He knows we’re not,” Kendall said.

  “I think Marco’s missing a few marbles.”

  “He does seem to come and go. Probably Alzheimer’s.”

  “This just gets stranger. Nathan sends us to this castle to find the Spear of Destiny and now we find out you were there as a child but don’t remember it.”

  “How is it possible that they could block my memories?”

  “How is it possible that you can look into someone’s eyes or touch an object and read secrets?”

  Kendall sighed. “Do you think Nathan knew I’d been there before?”

  “Seems a big coincidence if he didn’t.”

  The door opened and five guards came to take Jake away. Even though he was outnumbered and outgunned, they watched him like a fox in a henhouse. They didn’t tell Kendall where they were taking him. He paused at the door, pulling free long enough to look back at her. He didn’t speak, but the promise in his eyes said he would come back.

  Other than the dim light coming from the window in the door, it was dark when Kendall heard the rattle. She lay still and watched the sliver of light expand as the door opened. Had Jake escaped? A shadow moved toward her and she didn’t know whether to welcome it or scream. A candle flared, and she saw the old man. Kendall sat up as he approached the cot, wondering if Nathan knew Marco was moving in and out of the rooms like Houdini.

  Marco stared at her face in the flickering light. “There is something I need to tell you.”

  “What?”

  “Something important.” He frowned. “I can’t seem to remember. It came to me in a dream and I hurried here before I forgot. My memory isn’t what it used to be,” he said, waving a gnarled finger in vague circles. “Something about the vow, perhaps.” Sighing, he rose. “I’ll sleep on it, and when I remember, I will come back.”

  “Wait. Tell me more about what my father was doing at the castle. You said he had business there.”

  “It concerned the relics. Ah yes, I remember now why I came. I wanted to apologize.”

  “For what?”

  “For what we did to your father and to you. Our society is ancient and traditions can be unforgiving.”

  Why apologize for sending them away? Considering the Protettori were a society that didn’t allow women on the premises and the penalty for trespassing on sacred grounds could have been death, Marco’s actions probably saved them. “Tell me about the society...”

  Footsteps sounded in the distance. The old man scurried toward the door with a speed that defied his age. “I must hurry before he comes.” He inserted a key in the lock and was out the door before Kendall could get within reach.

  A few seconds later, the door rattled again. It opened and this time Fergus appeared with a tray. There weren’t any guards. Kendall considered jumping him. If it were Nathan she would have, but she couldn’t bring herself to attack Fergus.

  He set down the tray and flipped a light switch on the wall. “Here you are, Miss Kendall.” The tray held a grilled cheese sandwich and a glass of iced tea. Her favorites.

  “Why is he doing this, Fergus? He kidnapped us? That’s insane.”

  “I don’t agree with his methods, but he had good reasons.” Fergus placed a newspaper beside the tray. “Very good ones, I might add.”

  A commotion sounded in the corridor accompanied by feet pounding, yells, and then there was silence. Before either of them could react, the door opened and Jake appeared, pointing a gun at Fergus’s chest. “Don’t try to stop us, Fergus. Let’s go, Kendall.”

  “Where are we going?” Kendall asked.

  “To find Nathan.”

  Fergus folded his hands. “Before you do anything rash, and I suspect it’s too late for that, I ask you to consider this from Nathan’s perspective.”

  Jake let out a stream of curses. “Nathan’s perspective? He kidnapped us and he’s holding us as prisoners.”

  “He brought you here to protect you.”

  “Protect us?” Jake scoffed.

  “He was afraid you were going to die.”

  Jake snorted. “He doesn’t care about anything but her. Although kidnapping’s a strange way to show it.”

  “He cares about you too,” Fergus said, drawing his brows into a dignified frown. “You two are like brothers, but you’re both too stubborn to see it. Put yourself in his shoes, Jake. If you thought Kendall was going to get hurt, you would do whatever it took to keep her safe, even if it was against her will.”

  “Like putting me on a jet and sneaking away,” Kendall said.

  “That’s different,” Jake said.

  “Not much.” She thought about Nathan holding her hand in the inn and how worried he’d been. He never hugged her. Maybe Fergus was right. Anyone would do desperate things to protect someone they cared about. Nathan caring about her—that left her with an odd feeling.

  “He was desperate,” Fergus said. “Someone is trying to destroy him. One of his guards was recently killed. The three of us are the only family he has. He’s alone in this world, and that money he has just makes the wall bigger. He can’t trust anyone. He keeps everyone at arm’s length, except us. Please consider that before you react.” Fergus directed this last statement to Jake, and then he frowned. “Are you feeling well, Jake?”

  Jake was staring at the picture on the front page of the newspaper. “Look at this.”

  Kendall knew enough Italian to know that the man in the picture had been murdered. He was a historian in Rome and ironically had the same name as the historian they had visited, but this wasn’t the man they’d met. “Oh my God. Who did we meet?”

  “The Reaper, I think,” Jake said. H
is face was grim.

  “What are you talking about?” Fergus asked.

  “We went to meet this historian who knows about the Protettori, the ones who were protecting the box that Nathan wants, but this,” she tapped the man’s picture, “wasn’t the man we met. I kept getting these strange feelings about him.”

  “He had on thick glasses probably to hide his eyes,” Jake said. “He must have known about your abilities.”

  “If he killed Thomas, he must have the box. Why not just kill us?”

  “Either he doesn’t have it or he still needs something else. Which means there could be more than one person looking for the box.”

  Fergus looked alarmed. “We have to tell Nathan.”

  “Where is he?” Kendall asked.

  “He’s not here. He left earlier.”

  Kendall’s heart started to thump harder. “For Virginia?”

  “No, he went to the castle.”

  “He can’t go to the castle. He’ll die.” She told Fergus about her vision of Nathan and Jake’s death.

  He sank onto the cot, the last of his dignified manner gone. “You have to go after him,” he said.

  “What is he doing?” Jake asked. “Does he think the box is at the castle?”

  “He wants the box. He also wants answers. There are things you don’t understand.”

  Jake snorted. “Thanks to Nathan, there are a lot of things we don’t understand.”

  “I can’t explain. It will have to come from him, when the time is right.”

  “He’ll be furious to see us there,” Kendall said.

  Fergus straightened and squared his shoulders. “Better that he’s furious than dead.”

  Jake looked torn. “Personally, I’m considering letting him take his chances with the statues.”

  “The statues,” Kendall said, looking at her watch. “If they’re activated at night, Nathan is in trouble.”

  “He knows about the statues, and he knows another way in—the railroad,” Jake said.

  “But what other horrible things are there that we don’t know about? We need to talk to Marco.”

  “He won’t be coherent,” Fergus said. “His medication...”

  “We can’t leave Nathan there,” Kendall said. “I’m mad too. I want to hit him with something, and then resign, and I may do it yet, but I won’t let him die.”

  “I’ll find him,” Jake said. “You stay here.”

  “I’m not staying here.”

  “I can move faster and quieter without you.”

  “Maybe, but I can sense things you can’t, and after that vision I think if I’m not there, you and Nathan will die. So I’m going, with or without you.”

  Jake glared at her, and then shook his head in defeat. “We’ll need a vehicle,” he told Fergus. “You don’t have a helicopter, do you?”

  “It would take too long to get it here. You can take one of Nathan’s cars.”

  “We don’t even know where we are,” Kendall said.

  “You’re in Rome at one of Nathan’s properties. Please hurry.” Fergus led them from the room. Three guards lay in the hall.

  “Did you kill them?” Kendall asked.

  Jake shook his head. “No. The worst they’ll have is a headache when they wake up.”

  “I’ll call for more guards,” Fergus said. “You’ll need help.”

  “No. We go alone,” Jake said. “I don’t trust anyone else.”

  Fergus collected their belongings, and after they had changed and gathered supplies, he led them to a set of stairs. “Go this way so we don’t have to explain to the other guards. I’ll have a vehicle waiting out front.”

  “I want mine,” Jake said.

  Fergus looked surprised but agreed. He hurried off and pulled one of the guards aside as Jake and Kendall hurried up the stairs. They exited the lower level and both of them came to a stop, completely amazed.

  “It’s the first hotel where we stayed,” Kendall said, looking around at the elaborate furnishings. “No wonder they didn’t have a problem giving us Thomas’s name. Nathan owns the place. That’s disturbing.”

  “I’m more disturbed by the secret compound underneath. Come on.” They hurried past the guests milling about the lobby and exited the hotel. “Can you ride?”

  “Ride what?”

  “That.” He nodded toward the motorcycle pulling up out front.

  “Crap. We’re riding the motorcycle you rented?”

  “This will be easier than a car. If we can’t find the railroad Nathan mentioned, we can ride this partway up the trail. A dirt bike would be better, but we don’t have time to find one.”

  They took the motorcycle from a sullen guard. “Why not let them help?” she asked.

  “I don’t trust guards who just kidnapped us. If it wasn’t for keeping the spear out of the wrong hands, I’d let Nathan take his chances.”

  “I think the spear is at the castle.”

  “Is that one of your feelings?”

  She nodded.

  He looked at his phone. “You have your feelings, I have voice mail.” He listened to the message then hung up. “It was Roberto. The mysterious guest checked out the same time we did.”

  “Did he mention Brandi?”

  “She hasn’t been back.”

  Kendall climbed on the bike behind Jake and held on tight as they wound down the narrow streets. The ride to the castle was terrifying. They weaved in and out of traffic, getting so close to cars she could have touched them. The knot she’d gotten in her stomach in Rome was still there when they pulled off the road where their car had exploded.

  The car wasn’t there now, just singed grass and dirt reminding her that someone wanted them to die. Jake parked close to the area where Nathan had described finding the hidden entrance.

  “Watch your leg,” Jake warned as she got off the motorcycle. “The exhaust is hot.” He helped her off, switched on a flashlight and inspected the area.

  She got off the bike and removed the helmet Jake had insisted she buy, shaking out her hair. “Could you have gone any faster? I feel like I’ve had a face-lift.” She was glad the trip hadn’t taken long. It gave her less time to worry about Nathan and Jake, but after the motorcycle hit a hundred miles per hour, she started to wonder if they’d reach the castle alive. “If Nathan is here, where’s his car?”

  “Probably hid it in the trees.” Jake already had on his pack and had started searching. “Here. I’ve found something.”

  Kendall gathered her backpack and walked over to where he stood in front of a large rock. His light showed the same circle motif. He pushed it and the rock started opening.

  “Stand back,” he said.

  The steps led down into a tunnel with railroad tracks, just as Nathan had said. “I thought he said there were two railcars. I don’t see any.”

  Jake looked around. “That means someone else is here. That’s not good. We need to get the bike down here.”

  “Will it fit down the steps?”

  “It’ll have to. We don’t have time to hike in.”

  “It’s going to be loud.”

  “There’s no other choice.” With a lot of grumbling and creative curses, he managed to get the bike down the steps. The roar of the engine was deafening inside the tunnel, which was part cave and part man-made. It took just minutes to reach the end. Two railcars waited. Jake shut off the bike and they climbed off.

  “I wonder how many people are here,” Kendall whispered.

  Jake pulled a gun from his boot. Why didn’t she have a gun? She was in danger too. As if her sixth sense could stop a bullet. Of course, she didn’t like guns any more than Nathan did, and he knew that.

  Following Nathan’s directions, they found their way to the first floor of the castle. “I think I hear singing now.”

  Jake stopped and listened. “That’s not singing. That’s a scream.” A flash of light shot through the windows of the castle.

  “The statues.” Oh God. Nathan.

>   Jake took off at a run. The screaming grew louder as they hurried past the columns where Raphael had died. Nathan was right. The body wasn’t there. Outside, she could see a man suspended in the air between the statues, trapped in the light, his arms and legs stiff, body shaking with the force. The light was blinding, making it impossible to identify the figure.

  “Nathan?” Kendall screamed, running toward him.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  JAKE GRABBED HER and put his arms around her, trapping her against his chest. “Stay back.”

  Kendall turned her head from the blinding light, clutching Jake’s shirt. “Is it him?”

  “If it is, there’s nothing we can do now.”

  She looked back again, her heart pounding, the smell of ozone flooding her nostrils. The light disappeared and the body dropped to the ground. Jake let go of her and ran toward the man, who was facedown on the ground.

  “Don’t get too close,” she warned, running to catch up. Please don’t let it be Nathan, she prayed.

  “It’s not him,” Jake said, examining the man from several feet away. “I’ve never seen this guy before.” His eyes were blacked out like the thieves’ who’d stolen the box.

  “Do you think he was with Nathan?” Kendall asked as she approached Jake.

  A click sounded behind them. Jake tensed and reached for his gun. “Don’t move,” a voice said.

  Jake took his hand off his gun and cursed. “No, I think he was with them.”

  “Raise your hands and turn around...slowly.”

  She and Jake turned, hands raised. Four men, all dressed in the same dark clothing as the dead man, stood behind them, guns drawn, their terrified gazes darting from Jake and Kendall to the statues.

  “Can you take them?” Kendall whispered.

  “Not with you here,” Jake whispered back.

  “What are those things?” A red-haired man asked, staring nervously at the statues, keeping his gun leveled at Kendall.

  “Hell if I know,” a second man said. He was tall and gaunt. “Throw down your gun. Nice and slow. I’m feeling a little jumpy right now. Then get rid of your backpacks.”

  Jake grunted, slipped his gun from its holster at his side and dropped the gun on the ground, following it with his pack.