Atlantis Unleashed (33 page)

“Dare to mess with a god's toys, and see where that gets you,” she said, shuddering. “Anyway, as far as touching anything that is
anywhere
near the Trident, you don't have to worry about me trying that again.”

“Worse, it was all for naught. We now know nothing more than we did,” Conlan said grimly. “I offer my sincerest apologies that our trial put you through so much pain, Dr. McDermott. It is even more regrettable since we've learned nothing new.”

“Well, that's not exactly true,” Ven said. “We learned the names of all the gems. We knew we were looking for the Star, which is a sapphire, and the Vampire's Bane, a yellow diamond. We knew that the emerald we already possess is called the Dragon's Egg, and that the ruby is the Nereid's Heart. But evidently the aquamarine, amethyst, and tourmaline still missing are called the Siren, the Emperor, and Poseidon's Pride, although which is which is anybody's guess.”

“Alaric may know more about the gem names,” Conlan said. “You are correct, of course. All knowledge is power, and now we have more of it. However, we still have no idea of the location of any of the missing gems.”

“That's not exactly true, either,” Keely said. “I know where the Star of Artemis is. Or at least I know where they took it when they left Atlantis.”

“What?” Conlan and Ven said at the same time.

“Oh. Sorry. It wasn't a typical vision,” she said slowly, trying to be as clear as possible so they would understand. “Usually I'm an observer to an event that had violent or deeply emotional resonance regarding the object. Sometimes I actually become part of one of the people in the room. It's like I inhabit their body as an extra consciousness, if that makes sense.”

Justice loosened his arms a little so he could lean back and look at her. “Oh, I think I grasp the general concept,” he said dryly.

She blinked up at him for a moment, then the connection clicked in her frazzled neurons and she laughed. “Does this mean we were made for each other?”

The humor in his eyes deepened to some darker emotion. “Keely, you have no idea.”

She forced herself to turn away from the promise—or the threat—in his gaze, faced Conlan and Ven again, and even laughed a little. “You don't know how wild it is to actually talk to somebody about this without them trying to lock me up in a rubber room. Anyway, this was different, as I was saying. It was like I was watching an insane version of TV where all the channels were playing at once in HD, three-D, four-D, or supersonic-D.”

She shoved a hand through her hair, pushing it away from her face. “I saw where all of the gems went, but mostly just in flickers. I didn't recognize any of the places, except one. The ruby is in some dark, smelly cave, for example. A really damp place, but there's no way for me to know where.”

Ven and Conlan exchanged glances and then looked at her with growing respect. “Yes, we found the Nereid's Heart in a cave under a mountain in Washington state,” Conlan said.

“The only place I'm absolutely sure of is where they took the sapphire. The Star of Artemis. I saw the mural on the wall,” she said, remembering the vivid colors in the vision. “I have a print of that mural on the wall in my office. A colleague was involved in the excavation. It's the San Bartolo site.”

From the blank expressions on their faces, she was guessing they didn't get the archaeological trade journals down here.

“San Bartolo,” she repeated, going into lecture mode. “It's a pre-Columbian Mayan archaeological site in northeastern Guatemala. It's mostly jungle today, but there was a large population during the Maya Preclassic Period. Dr. William Saturno from the Peabody Museum discovered a mural room in the base of the pyramid in 2001. They carbon-dated the murals to 100 B.C., which made them a hugely exciting find. They were the oldest and finest Mayan murals that had been discovered at the time, and—”

She stopped, midsentence, and gaped at them. “Oh. Oh, that must be it. Your ancestors. The ones who settled all over the world before the Cataclysm. They must be behind some of the world's creation mythology. There is always a flood, and—”

“We know of the creation myths,” Justice said impatiently. “What of San Bartolo and the Star?”

“The mural. It's the Mayan creation myth. They show images of gods, sacrifices, and trees. One of the sacrifices is fish, which some believe represent the oceans of the underworld.”

The smooth weight of the fish carving resting against her chest seemed to warm, but she didn't pull it out from under her shirt, just filed the impression away in a corner of her mind and continued. “The one I found very interesting was the maize god. He's looking behind him at a kneeling female, while another female figure with flowing black hair floats above the kneeling woman. They—”

“Anubisa,” Justice gritted out. “She delighted in images of her dominance over the male gods.”

Keely gasped. “Really? You believe that could be her? Even from way back then?”

Justice shrugged, his powerful muscles tensing and then relaxing against her. “It's not that long ago, right? You said 100 B.C.? Hells, we just defeated Barrabas, and he was young by her standards.”

“Fine. Glamour shots of Anubisa on a mural with the god of popcorn. We get it,” Ven said, standing up again. “But what about the Star? If it can really help Justice, we need to know where it is. Not to mention the part about Atlantis not rising without it.”

Keely leaned back against Justice, suddenly exhausted. “I'm sorry. I got distracted. The Star is hidden in a niche in the rock. It's placed precisely behind the eye of a fish.”

Justice stiffened and then jumped up, still holding her in his arms as though she weighed nothing. “Then we go there. Now. We recover the Star and—”

“Not so fast,” Conlan cautioned. “There must be Guatemalan guards on site, and the excavating team. Not to mention how are we going to explain that we want to deface an important historical site to pull out our astonishingly valuable, enormous sapphire and remove it from the country? I'm sure the Guatemalan government will have something to say about that.”

Keely struggled in vain against arms like iron bands and finally gave up. She fixed her fiercest professorial glare on Justice. “Let go of me, now.”

To her surprise, he did. But he kept an arm around her waist, almost as if he couldn't bear to lose contact with her.

To her further surprise, she didn't mind that at all.

“Government, guards, whatever. It's not like they can keep us out, with Poseidon's magics on our side,” Ven said.

Keely shook her head. “You don't understand. The government doesn't control the site anymore. A band of rogue vampires took over the entire Peten region a few years ago. Nobody has been able to get them out, even Interpol's P Ops division. Too much jungle and too many hiding places. Without burning down the entire jungle, there's nothing anybody can do. The nearest village is only a couple of miles away from the site, and they've been cut off from civilization for some time. From what I understand, they've been given up for dead.”

Justice started pacing the room, tension in every line of his body. “It's Nereid in origin, isn't it?”

“What?” Ven said.

“The Star of Artemis. Doesn't the legend hold that it was originally a gift to Poseidon from the Nereid high priestess?”

“Yes, that's true,” Conlan said. “Some of us paid attention in class, Ven.”

Ven rolled his eyes. “I paid attention when it mattered. Ask me about the twenty-eight ways to kill a vampire without a weapon.”

“Twenty-eight ways?” Keely started a mental count, but could only come up with five. “Really? Can you show me—”

Justice blurred across the room until he was blocking her view of his brother. “If you think you will ever get close enough to a vampire to try any of those techniques, you are sadly mistaken,” he said, his voice pure silken menace.

“Hey, some of the worst grave robbers are vampires—”

“If it is of Nereid origin,” Justice continued, cutting her off, again, which was really beginning to be a very bad habit, “then I may be able to track it. If I go to the Guatemalan jungle and find this San Bartolo, even if the Star has been moved, perhaps I will be able to sense it.”

“Unless somebody found it and stole it thousands of years ago and it's long since been cut up and set in a couple dozen necklaces and earrings,” Keely pointed out, a decided bite to her voice. “Also, quit interrupting me.”

“In any event, it is of no matter,” Conlan said. “You cannot go anywhere until Alaric has time to . . . visit with you.”

“Time to trespass in my mind, you mean,” Justice said darkly. “I'm in control for now. I've reached an accord with the Nereid. Do not force me to do something that might breach the fragile nature of that agreement. I will travel to San Bartolo and see what I can discover.”

“If you're going, I'm going with you,” Keely said, and all three of them glared at her, turning the full power of their arrogant Atlantean warrior attitude on her poor little human female self.

Boy, did they have a lot to learn.

“Not happening,” Ven said.

“I forbid it,” Conlan said.

“Not a chance,” Justice said. But then something glittered in his eyes and his face . . . changed. Somehow took on a darker, more predatory cast. A dangerous smile crossed his face, and a look of such purely sexual intent filled his expression that she actually shivered and took a step back.

“Yes,” Justice who was no longer only Justice said. “Yes, you will go with us.”

Before she could reply, the room exploded into action. Conlan threw his hands in the air and channeled that blue-green energy again. Ven dove across the room toward Justice, no weapons in his hands but grim purpose in his eyes. Justice dropped to the floor and swept out a leg, knocking Ven's feet out from under him. As Ven bounced back up, crouching into a fighting stance, Conlan threw two perfect spheres of energy at Justice.

Justice laughed and almost casually raised one hand. The spheres burst into showers of harmless sparkles. Then he pointed a single finger at Conlan and shot a stream of silvery green fire at him, knocking the prince clear across the room and smashing him into a wall so hard that Conlan stayed down for a moment.

Ven took the opportunity to lunge at Justice, but Justice was ready for him. He threw his hands into the air, shouting a word of power, and fastened a spiral coil of shimmering water around Ven, imprisoning him within it. No matter how hard Ven fought to get out, the spiral adjusted to his efforts and held him firm, arms trapped at his side.

Ven snarled something at Justice that Keely was pretty sure was downright nasty, but she was in such a state of shock from the sudden violence that she just stood there, helpless, wondering what kind of defenses she could put up against magic like that.

Only one came to mind.

Compassion.

Justice roared out a sound of utter dominance and triumph, and she knew the Nereid had taken over. Somehow, she had to get through to the Atlantean Justice.

Her
Justice.

She stood, perfectly still, only trembling the tiniest bit, as he stalked toward her like the predator he was. She had no intention of being prey, however.

When he came close enough to touch her, she tried her only weapon. “Justice, I need your help. You have to fight him, for my sake. I'll do anything I can to help you, and I'm glad to go to San Bartolo. We'll find the Star of Artemis together. But you have to be in control. I'm afraid of the Nereid.”

He stopped, arms held out in front of him, reaching for her. His muscles shook with the force of the internal battle that must be raging inside him. Finally, long moments later, sanity and reason returned to balance the hunger and possession in his eyes.

“I'm in control, for now,” he said roughly. “But I need you. You must come with me, or I'm afraid I'll lose this battle forever.”

So Keely, who had rarely made an unplanned move in her life, threw caution to the Atlantean winds and stepped forward into his arms—and into her future. “Just try to keep me away. Mayan murals? A pyramid? Possibly an eleven-thousand-year-old sapphire with magical powers? Hey, what archaeologist could resist?”

The lines around his mouth deepened and he looked at her with stark, burning hunger. “For me, Keely. I need you to come for me, not for science or for pity or for any other reason. I need you to come for
me
.”

“Yes,” she said, giving in finally to the inevitable truth between them. No matter what happened, she wanted this one moment of honesty. “I'm coming for you. Only for you.”

He shouted out a wordless cry of triumph and swept her into his arms. Then, just as before, the world dissolved around them in a cascade of potential realities, and she closed her eyes and hung on for the ride.