Fountain of Secrets (The Relic Seekers) (31 page)

“What happened?” Kendall asked.

“There’s been another murder,” someone said. “A woman fell over the body.”

Kendall looked at Jake. Nathan couldn’t have killed again. Kendall saw Halle near the front of the crowd. Alice stood next to her, face buried in Halle’s shoulder. Halle turned and saw Kendall. Her face froze and Kendall knew. She stood, not breathing as Halle led Alice over to them.

“I’m so sorry, Kendall.”

Kendall’s heart felt like a chunk of wood. She asked the question anyway, holding her breath, hoping, praying for a different answer than the one she knew she would get. “Who is it?” she whispered, feeling the words scrape out of her mouth.

Halle touched Kendall’s arm. “It’s him, our missing guest. Nathan Larraby.”

T
HE COLOR DRAINED
from Kendall’s face. Her knees buckled and Jake caught her. He felt her trembling against his side. “How do you know it’s Nathan?” Jake asked.

“He’s the man I saw watching the house, the handsome man.” Alice collapsed into tears again.

“He can’t be dead,” Kendall whispered. “He can’t be.”

“I’m sorry,” Alice said.

Kendall’s face crumpled, but she didn’t cry. “I have to see him.” She turned desperate eyes toward Jake. “Help me, please.”

“The police aren’t going to let us near him,” Jake said softly. Two officers held the group back, while three others stood some distance away, studying something on the ground. One of the officers stepped back to speak to someone, and Jake saw a man lying on the ground. It was too dark to tell more than the fact that the man was tall and he was wearing light-colored pants. Like khakis. Nathan often wore khakis. Then the light from a flashlight moved over him and Jake saw his bloody chest. He tried to turn Kendall away, but her breath hitched, and he knew she’d seen it too. “Kendall, we need to leave. It’s not safe.”

“But I have to know for sure.”

“I’ll come back. There might be some mistake.”

She didn’t argue but moved like a robot beside him. “We have to tell Fergus,” she finally said.

“Let’s wait until we know for sure.” The first thing he had to do was get Kendall to her room. If Nathan was dead, Kendall might be next on the list.

Kendall didn’t remember the walk to their room. She moved to the window and stared at the lights from the police cars.

“Stay away from the window,” Jake said, shutting the curtains.

Kendall turned to him. “Why?”

“You might be next.”

Kendall walked away from the window and sat on the bed. She had no feeling in her body. Even her head was numb. Jake locked the door and proceeded to check every inch of the room and bathroom. Kendall watched his movements, and the numbness inside her started to thaw. She didn’t want Jake to see her cry. “I need to take a shower.” She walked toward the bathroom on shaky legs. She closed the door and undressed with trembling fingers. She turned on the shower and stepped under, not feeling the cold spray. The water warmed, but she still felt numb. He was dead. If he was Adam, she’d lost him all over again.

Kendall leaned her head against the tile and let her heart break. She sobbed like she had the first time she found out Adam was dead, that they were all dead… Adam, her father, Uncle John. She didn’t hear the bathroom door open, didn’t hear Jake come in. He pulled the shower curtain back and reached for her, putting his arms gently around her. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

She knew he was hurting too. She had seen the grief on his face before he covered it. He cared for Nathan more than he
admitted. Probably more than he knew. He turned off the water and helped her from the shower. He wrapped a towel around her. She held the towel as he got another one and blotted the water from her hair. He patted her face and shoulders dry, then bent and dried her legs.

“I’m OK. You don’t have to do that,” she said, but he didn’t stop and she let him.

He removed her towel and dried the rest of her body. His hands didn’t linger but moved perfunctorily as if he were her doctor and she his patient. He grabbed one of the robes and wrapped her in it. “I’m sorry. I know you loved him.”

“I think he was Adam.”

Jake’s hands froze on her robe. His face fell. “Nathan is Adam?”

“I think so. I thought you might be until you told me about your past. Twice Marco mentioned Adam when he was looking at you and Nathan. He said he saw Adam.”

“Marco isn’t all there sometimes.” But Jake looked shaken by her revelation.

“There’s a connection between Nathan and me. You’ve seen it. I can’t explain it. There’s some kind of bond.” Kendall’s eyes burned. “I think I’ve lost Adam twice.”

Jake’s jaw clenched. He pulled her into his arms, trying to comfort her, but she could feel his own hurt. “I’ll go and identify the body. Maybe there’s some mistake.”

Kendall held on to him, not wanting him to leave her, but she had to know.

“Do you want to put on your clothes?”

“No, I’m just going to sit on the couch. Sorry I got you wet.”

“It’s just a little water.” Jake settled her on the couch and handed her a pillow. He knelt beside her and brushed her cheek. His eyes were sad. “I won’t be long.”

When the door shut behind him, she pulled the pillow close and let go. Tears rolled down her cheeks like melting ice as the numbness thawed. Twice, she had failed Adam. Her gifts never worked for the people she loved most. She felt someone enter the room. She didn’t want to open her eyes. Didn’t want to see the truth in his face. As long as she didn’t know for sure, there was hope. Her lips quivered, and she knew she would cry again. She opened her eyes. It wasn’t Jake standing there watching her.

It was Nathan.

Kendall lay still, staring at Nathan in shock. Had his spirit come to say good-bye? Her eyes teared up again. “I’m so sorry, Nathan. There’s so much I should have told you. So much I needed to ask. But I didn’t expect you to die. Not now.”

“Die?”

Didn’t he realize he was dead? She’d heard of this happening. “You don’t remember being stabbed?” Oh God, how did she explain this? “You died. Someone killed you.”

“I’m not dead.”

“Nathan, I’m sorry, but the police told us.”

“I’m not dead.” Then he lowered his head. Kendall expected to feel a rush of air as she had when her father’s ghost, or the memory of him, passed through her, but instead she felt warm lips settle over hers, and her senses went off like fireworks.

Jake looked up at the light burning in Kendall’s window as he walked from the abbey. He hadn’t learned anything more. The police had carried the body away just as he got there. He would go to ID the body tomorrow. He couldn’t leave Kendall alone tonight. He would move her back to the hotel. He slapped his fist against a thigh. Dammit, Nathan couldn’t be dead.

When he reached the door, he saw Art peeking around a corner. He looked so pale his freckles stood out like chicken pox. “There’s a bloody man in there with her,” Art said. “I think it’s the dead guy.”

Jake’s heart dropped to his stomach. He grabbed the knob—unlocked, dammit—and opened the door. Kendall was on the sofa and a man was bent over her. Jake pulled out his knife and rushed across the room.

The man growled and stood, turning fiery eyes toward Jake.

Kendall jumped to her feet and grabbed the man’s arm. “Nathan, no.” She put her hands behind his head, stood on tiptoe and kissed him.

The bottom fell from Jake’s stomach, letting his heart sink right down to his balls. “I thought you were dead.”

Kendall released Nathan from the kiss and turned on a lamp. “He’s not.” She smiled. Her eyes were swollen, her face lit with joy. Nathan, on the other hand, looked dazed, lips still parted from Kendall’s kiss. The fire had immediately faded from his eyes. He was shifting quicker now.

Nathan was alive. That was a relief. Jake wondered why he felt so sick inside. “If you’re not dead, then who is?”

Nathan sat down on the sofa. “Must have been the guy who attacked me. I followed him to the abbey, and he caught me off guard.”

“You killed him?” Kendall said.

“Not me. He hit me in the head with a bag that felt like it held a brick. I blacked out. I woke up when someone screamed. I found him a few feet away, dead.”

“Sure you didn’t do it and just don’t remember?” Jake asked. “I can’t see a bag knocking you out, with or without a brick.”

“I remember when I kill someone,” Nathan said.

“Did you recognize him?” Kendall asked.

“No. He was wearing a hooded sweatshirt. I didn’t have time to check him out. I heard people coming.”

“The guy who was watching us in town wore a hood,” Jake said. “I chased him, but I lost him.”

“I bet the chalice was in the bag he hit you with,” Kendall said. “He must have stolen it.”

“The Blue Chalice was stolen?” Nathan asked.

“Someone killed the caretaker at Little Saint Michael’s and stole the chalice. We thought it was you,” Jake said.

“Someone was using the caretaker’s room, and you were registered here,” Kendall said. “The group was expecting you.”

“It wasn’t me,” Nathan said. “I was going to look for it, but I got sidetracked.”

“Someone must have been impersonating you to get close to the Blue Chalice,” Kendall said. “The only people who can get into the house are supporters of the trust that runs the place. I bet if you check, you’ll find a fat donation to the trust in your name.”

“I support the well,” Nathan said. “I started months ago when I decided to investigate the place.”

“I’d bet anything the same guy killed the caretaker and your attacker,” Jake said.

“Maybe not a guy,” Nathan said. “I smelled a woman just before I was attacked. It might have been Brandi. She said she’d kill anyone who got in her way. If he had the chalice, she probably killed him. I think she followed me from the hotel.”

“She was at the hotel with you?” Kendall asked, sounding too possessive for Jake’s comfort. Was she jealous?

“She saw us leave the well.”

“What did she want?” Kendall asked.

“The Spear of Destiny.”

“She keeps turning up like a bad penny,” Jake said.

“She was already here searching for the Fountain of Youth. Thomas had told her that the Reaper was interested in England and the fountain. She did some research, found out about the Chalice Well, and came to check it out.”

“Where is she now?” Jake asked.

“I don’t know. I removed her from my room and came here to find you.”

“Why haven’t you contacted us?” Kendall asked. She kept looking at Nathan as if she’d seen a ghost. If Nathan was Adam, she had. A ghost that she had admitted she was in love with. How the hell could he compete with that?

“I was detained by Raphael.”

“He kidnapped you?” Jake asked. “He didn’t mention that.”

“You’ve seen him?” Nathan asked.

“He was looking for you earlier,” Jake said. “He seems to think he’s your guardian angel.”

“Where is he now?” Nathan asked.

“He walked through the wall and disappeared,” Jake said. “Just like you said.”

“He has some interesting tricks,” Nathan said.

“Yeah,” Jake said. “He admitted to hiding the treasure. And before you ask, no, he didn’t say where. What does Raphael want with you?”

“I figured he thought turnabout was fair play, but he didn’t hurt me,” Nathan said. “He grabbed me in the abbey at King Arthur’s grave. He did something and knocked me out. I woke up long enough to see him cut both our wrists and stick them together. Then I passed out again. I think he read my memories.”

Kendall sat beside Nathan. “That’s how I felt when the shadow leaned over me in the cave, like he was reading my mind, my memories.”

“That might explain the cut on your wrist,” Nathan said.

“Maybe it was Raphael in the cave, not the Reaper,” Kendall said. “I wonder if there are side effects from mixing the blood.” She glanced at her wrist with an uneasy expression.

“It sounds similar to what you do,” Jake said. “Touch things, read them. You said blood and fluids are good conductors.”

“Raphael has a dark side, but I don’t think he’s a monster. Though he’s definitely got some odd abilities,” Nathan said. “He can do this thing with his hands… like block stuff, make stuff happen. Something was happening in the room where we were. There was a whirring noise and he looked frightened. I saw some kind of misty thing. Raphael said ‘he figured it out’ and put his hands up like he was blocking something from coming through. Then I blacked out again and woke up at the base of the Tor.”

“He told us the Reaper was trying to figure out a way to get to the fountain without crossing the statues,” Kendall said. “So the fountain and the statues must be wherever he took you, and I would bet anything that it’s under the Tor where we heard the humming.”

“I saw a statue,” Nathan said.

“You saw it?” Kendall asked, eyes wide.

“The room he left me in was just off another room. It looked like a Roman temple. There were columns, and the ceiling looked like a da Vinci painting. There was a golden glow coming from somewhere, but I didn’t see a light. He refused to tell me where I was. He said ‘in time.’”