Surrender (THE DRAGONFLY CHRONICLES) (24 page)

Jackson lowered his hands. He tipped his head and stepped aside.

Kailin took a full breath and moved to the blocks of stone. She held out her hands.

Glorious!
She stood straight facing the ancient door, legs and arms braced as if ready to block an army. The knot that had sat at her nape had unwound into a thick snaking braid down her back. Curls, teased loose, twisted in golden disarray around her head and shoulders. The sleeker boy’s clothes showed her slender frame in such honest perfection that she looked even more womanly than if she’d been wearing a regal gown. Her face set in stony strength, the dried blood on her forehead adding to her fierce features. Purpose pulsed with each breath, purpose and the love for her father keeping her underground when she’d rather be anywhere else. Perhaps even in his bed.

The thought raced through Jackson’s head and he kicked it out.
Focus, fool!

“Release,” she commanded. A jumble of noise from the other side whispered through the heavy door. “In.”

Whereas the outer door swung inward on a mechanism, this door was really just stone blocks set to keep everyone out, forever. It did not swing but rather caved inward as if Kailin’s tiny word had punched it in the center. The blocks toppled over each other in a cloud of dust.

The ground shook around them. Jackson glanced upward at a muted thundering.

Kailin poked her finger upwards. “Hole, out,” she yelled and a hole drilled upward through the ceiling for several long seconds until reaching open air.

“Good thing you didn’t just drill into the Nile,” Jackson said and stepped carefully over the first block.

“We’re headed away from the river,” Kailin said as she stood directly under the hole breathing.

“It is better now,” he said. “The air.” She nodded and leveled her eyes back to his. “You are doing wonderfully.” She nodded again but didn’t look like she believed him. “Anthony will be exceedingly proud.”

A small smile softened her lips. She took a full breath and stepped up high on the block he’d already cleared. A gust of air whistled down the hole she’d just bored, adding to the woeful atmosphere of death. He held out his hand to help her over the rubble before thinking. But she took it and lowered into the third room.

“Behold, Mr. Black, your treasure.”

He raised his torch. Gold reflected the flame about the room. Statues, jars, what looked like a mummified monkey, bird cages holding nothing but dust now and three sarcophagi. A brilliant mosaic of open sky inlaid the arched ceiling over the coffins. The largest sarcophagus sat in the center with a detailed face mask.

“It’s yellow quartzite,” Kailin said and ran a hand over the dust covered hieroglyphs. “‘Here lies our prince, Amunherkhepeshef, son of the Great King Ramses II and Queen Nefertari.’”

Jackson bent over the amazing mask next to Kailin. She turned her head without straightening. He knew that look in her eyes, the thrill of discovery. Her lips curved upward. “That’s…New Kingdom,
nineteenth dynasty. I think he was the first son of Ramses II. The Pharaoh had forty or more sons and forty daughters. His first several sons died before they could inherit the throne. Anthony would know for certain if Amunherkhepeshef was the first.” She shook her head and stood, running her hand over the coffin. “It is utterly—” She stopped, her mouth open.

“Thrilling,” he finished as he watched the color return to her cheeks. “Egyptian archeology.” He smiled. “More fun than studying stones set in a circle in a farmer’s field?”

Kailin pursed her lips in a humorous frown that reminded him of Cassy sticking her tongue out at him. He laughed.

“Let’s get this open,” Kailin said. “Stand back.”

“I haven’t seen traps set on the sarcophagus itself before, but there’s always a first.”

“Slow, shift,” she whispered and the stone lid moved slightly, releasing a suction to fill the airtight void inside. “Up,” she said and as she raised her slender arms, the two ton lid floated upward into the air.

Jackson held his breath as he watched, not the stone float slowly to the ground behind the coffin, but the slight woman who seemed to do so without a hint of strain.
Amazing. Utterly powerful. Completely beautiful.
He shook his head. If any of his associates knew about Kailin’s powers she would be the most sought after target in the world. Too dangerous. They mustn’t ever know.

“The inner coffin seems to be…humming,” Kailin said and Jackson turned his gaze to the golden inner coffin. Turquoise and amber stones sat amongst strokes of faded red ochre on the adorned lid. The prince looked young from his portrait. Jackson didn’t know much about the non-ruling princes.

“Do you feel it?” Kailin slid her finger along the edge. “It resonates.”

“Not really,” Jackson murmured though the room felt altered somehow, like the air was full of something thick. “Ready to lift another ton or two?”

A rare smile transformed her face with the natural glow of self-confidence. “Anytime.”

“Very well, Dr. Whitaker, let’s take a look at the humming prince.”

“Up.” The lid opened with another rush of air, almost as if the mummy himself sucked in a deep breath.

Jackson took a step toward her but didn’t make contact. “I feel something.”

The lid hovered away and tipped with Kailin’s hands to lay against the wall. They leaned over the golden coffin. The wrapped mummy lay inside the open sarcophagus, undisturbed, guarded by his army and his scribe and father’s army general. Why must so many guard a non-ruling prince?

The answer nestled against the prince’s side. They weren’t guarding the prince but what he held.

“That’s it,” she said.

There it was. The thing he sought with all his heart. The object of his greatest desire. The one thing that could save Cassy. “The Orb of Life.”

“It…it has a dragonfly on it,” she said. The shape of a dragonfly was etched into the surface of a large chiseled rock. It looked exactly like the birthmark on her arm.

Kailin reached out with one steady finger to touch a thin wing. White fire seemed to ignite within, turning the rock into a small sun. “Good God, it’s glowing!”

“When you touched it.”

She rested her palm against the rounded stone. “It’s blinding.”

“Stop touching it.”

As soon as her skin broke contact, the light extinguished. She gasped as the blinding light disappeared.

“I can’t see,” Kailin said. Jackson could hear the panic in her words.

“Blink. Your eyes will adjust again.”

Jackson’s torchlight glowed and accented the stark shadows.

“The dragonfly does match the one on my arm.” She glanced at her covered limb. “In fact it’s tingling now. Drakkina?” she called, but the ghost didn’t appear. “Perhaps the orb is making it tingle this time.”

Jackson reached down into the sarcophagus and gingerly removed the orb. He held it in his palms.

“Careful” Kailin said.

“You must be connected to it somehow. Your magic maybe.”

She peered at the ball. “The dragonfly. Is it moving? Look! It’s wings.” She absently rubbed her own arm where he knew the matching birthmark sat along her silky white skin. He watched the amazement and curiosity light her features, making them even more stunning, more enthralling. She glanced up at him and he froze in the direct line of her smile. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” she whispered in awe and glanced back down, breaking the spell.

She reached out and touched it again with one finger. The light glowed from within. “Good God,” she repeated and yanked her finger back.

“Did it do something to you?” Jackson grabbed her finger, inspecting the delicate pad in the low light.

“Some type of energy surge.” She looked at him. “It gave me more magic I think, stronger power.”

“Brilliant,” he murmured.

“Frightening,” she countered and shivered as she stared at him. “For one person to contain so much power.”

“It’s a good thing you’re on my side.” He grinned, trying to lessen the tension. She nodded and his stomach twisted at her immediate agreement, but he pushed the guilt away behind the face of his sister. Kailin would still get her father back; he’d make sure of it. But Jackson needed the orb, needed to fix what the illness had done to Cassy. The cost would be Kailin’s smile, her trust.

Another low rumble of thunder penetrated the thick ceiling. Odd. When was the last time he’d seen a lightning storm over the Egyptian desert? Never.

Kailin’s gaze lifted to the ceiling. “I can’t believe I’m standing in a tomb.” She stared, lips parted around quick breaths.

“It’s probably safer to be underground right now,” Jackson said. Although she nodded, the fear in her eyes didn’t agree. “We should check out the rest of this tomb.”

“The rest is yours as agreed,” Kailin said. “I just want the orb.”

He nodded, lips tight, and covered it in the scarf from his neck. He glanced at the mummy wrapped so carefully before him. This was a find of a lifetime. The sarcophagi on either side of the largest center one may belong to other Ramses II children.

“Come on, Jackson,” Kailin called from the room filled with Amunherkhepeshef’s limestone army. “You can come back with officials and workers once I’ve recovered my father. He will most likely want to help you.”

Jackson’s gaze scanned the glyphs on the inside of the interior coffin. It just showed how rattled Kailin was being in the tomb that she didn’t read more of the inscription. Amunherkhepeshef’s name reaffirmed the identity of the occupant, but the words about the orb stopped him.

The Orb of Life gives power to the powerful, life to those still alive, resurrection to those half-dead, those possessing the other half of the whole. The orb belongs to the one it is gifted to. I, Amunherkhepeshef, loving prince, son of Ramses II, gift the orb to the bearer of its mark, the mark of the ancient man who gave it to me to guard.

Kailin’s mark. It was gifted to her. Is that why it glowed for her, enhanced her power? Jackson peered at the ancient script. Had Ramses II not known of the orb? Had the boy, on his death bed gifted it to Kailin, the bearer of the mark? If the prince had, maybe the rock wouldn’t work for anyone else, so they buried it with him. Would it work for him if it didn’t belong to him? His forehead tightened. It had to.

Jackson strode, with the orb tucked against him, toward Kailin in the outer room. She stood looking up at the holes she’d drilled earlier. Thunder shook the ground overhead sending down pebbles and sand. She shielded her eyes and coughed, shaking the dirt from her hair. She’d undone the rest of her braid and the waves fell around her shoulders. She looked like an angel, radiant even surrounded by death and dirt.

“It’s bad out there,” she said as another ground quaking explosion rained dirt. She looked at Jackson. “But I don’t want to stay down here.”

“Hmmm,” Jackson watched the flash of lightning pierce the little opening at the top of the hole. “Can you affect the weather?”

“Yes.”

“Yes?”

“Yes.” She nodded to emphasize her proclamation.

“Are there any things you can’t do?”

Her lips pinched together, stifling a grin. “A few. Though I should be able to disrupt the weather pattern enough to send the lightning away.”

“Can you do it from down here?” Might as well ask.

She bloody hell nodded. Jackson chuckled. He indicated the hole. “I’d feel better about us standing out on the open desert once you’ve sent the lightning on its way.”

“Back,” Kailin murmured.

“You like to shove things around don’t you,” he teased.

She didn’t open her eyes. “Yet my magic can’t even knock you off balance. Most annoying.” She gritted her teeth. “Back.” Thunder banged above them. “Move.” She pressed her hands through the air together as if pushing a mass.

A scream echoed through the cavern, making Jackson spin. Kailin jumped.

“They’re coming!
Cac!
You’re calling them!” screeched the ghost as it spun like a mini sand tornado down the hole from the surface. Drakkina materialized in a cloud, her face pinched in frantic appeal. “Your magic! You are bringing them right to you!”

The ghost was looking at Kailin. “Who?” Jackson demanded. Drakkina turned to him, her wide eyes moving directly to the wrapped orb and then to his eyes. If her face looked panicked before, it was nearly split with frantic fear now. “Who is coming?” Jackson repeated as thunder clanged through his head, cracking so loud his teeth hurt.

“The demons!”

Chapter Eleven

“The demons?” Kailin yelled above the storm. “Here? Is it time for the battle?”
Not now!
She wasn’t ready!

Drakkina shook her head, her white-streaked hair flying wildly as if caught in her franticness. “They are hunting you and your sisters, and”—she paused to look pointedly at Jackson’s arms—“the Orb of Life. If I’d known it was here—”

“Why do they want the orb?” Jackson asked and Drakkina nearly sizzled with frustration.

“It has power! You must stop your magic now, Kailin, or they will kill you here and steal the orb!”

“I’ve stopped.”

“The orb,” Drakkina pointed. “It resonates with your magic.”

Jackson opened the wrap around the orb. Its center glowed as if it was an ember holding onto the energy of the fire that had charged it.

“But I’m not doing it!”

“Your magic calls it!” Drakkina shouted.

The wind wailed overhead, drafts fluting down the holes Kailin had dug. Booms of thunder shook the ground above. Jackson strode over to Kailin and grabbed her shoulder. The orb went black. Only the glow of torchlight flickered in the room.

“I can stop the glow by muting Kailin,” Jackson said.

Rough grating of stone on stone sounded from above and Kailin jumped.

“Douse the light,” Jackson yelled, letting go of Kailin so she could use her magic.

She doused it at the same time Drakkina yelled, “No magic! It calls them, pinpoints your location!”

“Your yelling does the same,” Kailin murmured as she gazed up at the slab of heavy limestone. One little thought and she could move it back, seal them in, but she didn’t dare. She shook her head over the ridiculousness of the situation. When in all her life would she actually wish to seal herself into a tomb?