by RP Halliway
Evie and Silas hurried toward the sign, making sure they didn’t lose the young man amidst the crowd.
“Postice party! That’s us!” Evie said to the young man.
“Hello!” the friendly young man greeted them in a Greek accent. “My name is Nico.”
“Hi, Nico. I’m Silas,” Silas said, giving a firm handshake.
“And I’m Evie,” Evie also shook the young man’s hand.
“Good to meet you. I have the car outside. Do you have any baggage to collect?”
“No,” Silas replied, having heeded Alfred’s advice to travel light. “Everything should be arriving at the hotel or the site shortly.”
“Neat!” Nico said with a huge smile. “Then we can get going.” He walked quickly past most of the crowd, deftly leading Silas and Evie around the street merchants wanting to prey on the newly arrived tourists. Silas and Evie struggled to keep pace with their young guide while managing to avoid people and obstacles.
Nico pressed a button on the key ring and lights on a new Lexus flashed briefly. “Nice car!”
Evie and Silas got in the car and settled into the soft leather seats. “This is very nice,” she said.
“Top notch client,” Nico said. He started the car and pulled out, driving faster and more recklessly than Silas thought he should.
“Anywhere in particular?” Nico asked them once they were out on the roads.
“I thought you knew where we were going,” Silas said.
“Oh,” Nico said. “I know the hotel and the dig site as places, but I was wondering if you wanted to go anywhere else.”
“Do you have any suggestions?” Evie said.
“It’s your first time here?” Nico asked.
“Yes, for both of us,” Silas said.
“Then I will give you the Nico tour. I can take you to the real stuff, not just the ‘tourist’ stuff.”
As good as the Nico tour sounded, he seemed awfully young to be driving them around.
“How old are you?” Silas asked after Nico changed lanes and turned left.
“Just turned nineteen,” he replied with big grin.
“Nineteen!?” Silas thought, shooting a concerned look to Evie.
“That’s pretty young, isn’t it?” Evie asked.
“Nah,” Nico said, weaving through traffic. “I’ve been working on digs since I was ten, and started driving around when I was twelve.”
“Ah,” Evie said. It didn’t sound like much of a childhood.
“But I’ve learned a lot,” Nico said. “My dad works at the digs, kind of like a lead organizer of sorts. We worked all over, a lot of getting digs started, and then moving on.”
“Sounds chaotic,” Silas said.
“Nah, I love it,” Nico replied, his teeth flashing with his big grin. “History is my calling, it seems, and there is no better way to learn it than by experiencing it. Plus there was a lot of down time at digs, and I have the internet.” Nico held up his phone with one hand to show Silas and Evie.
Both inwardly cringed as they watched Nico take his eyes off the road as they sped along the curvy roadway.
“I’m actually really tired,” Evie said. “How about we start at the hotel for now, and catch up on sleep.”
“Sleep? It’s morning!”
“Morning for you,” Silas said. “We’ve been traveling since yesterday.”
“Couldn’t sleep on the plane?”
“Not good sleep,” Silas said.
“Hotel it is then. I have a note here that the hotel has your new sim cards.”
“Sim cards?” Evie asked.
“For Europe and international calls. Many American phones do not work here or are very expensive.”
“Thanks,” Silas said. And then he closed his eyes.
***
“And here is the hotel!” Nico said, waking both Silas and Evie. “Will you need anything else right now?”
“That should be it,” Silas replied. “We just have to check in.”
“Here is my number.” Nico handed two business cards back to Silas, who gave one to Evie. “Call me anytime. I will keep the car ready.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Silas said.
Evie and Silas checked in, collected their packages, and sim cards, and slept for most of the day to recover from the travel.
Nico arrived very quickly after they called for him early the next morning.
“Are you more rested today?”
“Absolutely!” Evie replied.
“How far to the dig?” Silas asked.
“Probably twenty minutes,” Nico said “Shouldn’t be too long. Are you going to dig? Or just oversee?”
“Are we allowed to dig?” Evie asked, looking at Silas.
“I guess we’ll find out. But you seem to be dressed for some digging, and from the 1920s, apparently,” Nico laughed, checking out their attire.
“Well, I wasn’t sure what to wear, so this is what we got in Boston,” Evie said, adding in a small laugh but feeling her face warm, and seeing Silas’ face turn red as well.
“Oh, it will work for anything. Just that most people dress like me, even at the digs.”
“Does it get dirty?” Silas asked.
“Dusty maybe, and sometimes dirty. But not bad at all. Jeans and t-shirt would be fine. Most of the digging has been set up, and that is the dirtiest of the work. Now the team’s just doing the fine work, and some assessing for future work.”
“Guess we won’t be fighting mummies,” Silas said, causing Nico and Evie to laugh.
“Not today, Brendan, not today.” Nico pulled into the small flat area for parking and smiled at Silas in the mirror.
“Oh well,” Silas said, laughing at Nico, “maybe next time.”
***
The trio arrived at the dig site, and Nico parked away from the main group to protect the car. The dig leader noticed the arrival and took a small group out to greet them.
“Hello, Evie and Silas?” the man said greeting Silas and Evie.
“Hello!” Evie said.
“Hi. You can call me Yank.” He eyed their attire. “You won’t be doing any digging.”
Well, that answered that.
“Don’t worry,” Silas said. “We don’t want to get in the way, just watch.”
“Okay,” Yank said and turned to instruct the others before continuing with Silas and Evie, “They will allow you access to watch, and keep you from interfering.”
“Sounds like a good plan,” Silas said, stepping away.
Evie and Silas observed the comings and goings of the dig team all morning, learning of the history of the dig from Nico and others, and getting a feel for the overall goal of the dig.
“This used to be an ancient city, it would seem,” Nico said. “One of the most politically important cities in the region during the time. Probably around three thousand people lived here at one time. And the city attracted travelers from all over. A hub of trade for the early settlements.”
“And was there any science?” Silas asked.
“Perhaps,” Nico said. “During this time, there wasn’t much known about science, but I would suspect the travelers would engage in stories and sharing of knowledge. This area was active a little before the city of Alexandria was founded, and in Alexandria before docking, all books had to be copied for the library.”
“I didn’t know that,” Silas said. “So this city could have had a library?”
“A lot of old cities had some sort of center of knowledge. Many of the digs in the area showed signs of very robust libraries.”
“Has the dig team found any artifacts here yet?” Evie asked.
“Some.” Nico led them over to a small shack set up in the corner of the dig.
Silas looked over to the watchers to make sure they
didn’t object to going toward the shack, but nobody made a motion to stop them.
Entering the shack, Nico pointed to some shelves. “Mostly pottery and some tools,” Nico said. “Nothing I would call remarkable or unique.”
Evie looked over the different objects. “Nothing cylindrical?”
Nico scanned the room. “Not that I can see. Is that noteworthy?”
“We’re here in search of some cylinders, actually,” Evie said.
“You suspect they are here?” Nico asked
“We are hopeful,” Silas said.
“Why do you suspect that?”
“We work with Mr. Postice, and he thought this might be the place,” Evie said, trying not to go into detail about the dream.
“I don’t know a Mr. Postice. And these cylinders . . . what are they for?”
“Honestly, we don’t know,” Evie said, causing Nico to give them a strange look.
“You come here for cylinders that you think are here for some reason, and you don’t know what they are for?”
“Exactly,” Silas said with a small laugh. “I don’t know if you are superstitious, but we both had a dream that there were cylinders at an ancient dig. We are pretty certain this is the dig site.”
“Ah,” Nico said, seeing clearer now. “That is impressive. I don’t know of anyone that would travel so far, and spend so much, just for a dream.”
“We wouldn’t have been able to,” Evie said, “But Mr. Postice was nice enough to fund our trip.”
“And why do you think this is the right place?”
“Evie recognized a man’s voice from the dream,” Silas said.
“That was you on the phone?”
“Yes,” Silas said, a little embarrassed. “That was us.”
“You identified Marco! Marco does the cleaning. He isn’t a digger.”
“Cleaning?” Evie asked. “What is that?”
“Marco takes care of the tools, and moves the big dirt and debris to the refuse areas,” Nico explained. “He never touches the dig itself.”
“Is Marco around?” Silas asked, “it might be good to meet him.”
“Should be. He usually starts around lunch.”
The trio walked out of the shack and took a slow loop around the dig, looking for Marco.
“Marco!” Nico cried out when he saw him.
Marco was a man of short stature, compared to Silas at least, probably five-six. He seemed in his mid-forties, but with a gait and posture of a much older man, the work taking its toll on him.
Marco shuffled up to the trio. “Hi Nico,” he said keeping his eyes toward the ground.
Nico said something to Marco in Greek. Marco’s eyes went wide.
“Hi,” Marco said to Evie and Silas, still avoiding eye contact. “I didn’t do anything,” he stammered in English with a heavy accent.
“They just wanted to talk to you. They aren’t accusing you of anything.”
“Okay,” Marco said. It seemed he understood English enough to converse in it at least haltingly.
“They had a dream,” Nico said in Greek, “and in it, you found something.”
“I do not dig.” Marco shook his head.
Nico smiled to Marco. “We know. We are just wondering where you are working now.”
“I work over that hill now.” Marco pointed in the direction he had just come from.
“Can we go see it?” Silas asked.
“Not much to see,” Marco said. “But yes.”
The trio walked with Marco until they crested the hill and saw the dig from a little bit higher view. “Look familiar?” Silas whispered to Evie.
“Not really,” Evie said. “I didn’t really pay attention to the landscape.”
Silas bent down and scooped up the dirt, testing it. “This might be close,” he told Evie, standing up again.
“Can we stay here for a bit?” Silas asked Nico.
“I don’t see why not. Unless you get too hot in the sun.”
“Thanks,” Evie said. “It should be easy enough to stay out of the way up here.”
Evie and Silas settled in to watch the work, especially the work Marco was doing to keep the area clean of debris.
“What is this part of the dig?” Silas asked Nico.
“This seems to be a part of an ancient trash dump. But it didn’t really get used it seems. There are no artifacts in the areas that were tested.”
“Pottery fragments or anything?” Silas asked.
“Nope, nothing.”
“Isn’t pottery trash something that normally is found?” Evie asked.
“Normally, I guess. Depends on the dig. There was another trash heap over on the other side that is being dug up.”
Silas looked at the surroundings. “No real significance to this hill?”
“None at all. Why do you ask?”
“Because of Marco,” Silas said. “I guess the dream was very specific with Marco being a central character.”
“Interesting,” Nico said. “You know, I did suspect something. This area, the dirt had different properties—like it was filled in.”
“Filled in?” Evie asked. “Like something was buried?”
“Something like that. But the test digs didn’t find anything.” He walked to a nearby depression, with some holes scattered around. “This is where I thought the dirt was different. But they did some digs already.” He pointed out a few test holes.
Silas sat down and scraped some dirt out of one hole.
Evie looked at him hopefully.
“I can’t tell,” Silas told her. “I don’t know if this is the same stuff.”
“You two with your dreams,” Nico said. “What you need to do is talk to my aunt.”
“Your aunt?” Evie said.
“Yes, she has special powers, supernatural,” Nico said. “She has visions all the time.”
Evie’s mind started spinning. Could Nico’s aunt provide information?
“You think she’d talk to us?” Evie asked.
“Of course. There is a big family gathering today at my grandmother’s. You two can come along. My family hasn’t talked to Americans in a while, and they might be very interested in you.”
A few hours later, the trio walked off the dig site toward the car.
“I wouldn’t call it a wasted day,” Silas said, smiling to Evie, “but it wasn’t as exciting as I was thinking it would have been.”
“True,” she said. “I was actually expecting it to be ‘open and shut’ very quickly, especially since I recognized Marco’s voice.”
“Digs are usually quite slow paced,” Nico said.
“Even psychic digs?” Silas asked, causing everyone to laugh.
“I wouldn’t know about that,” Nico said, “I have never been to one of those before. But you will find this evening pretty exciting I think.”
“Is the hotel on the way?” Evie asked, “It would be nice to get out of these clothes, and cleaned up a bit.”
“It can be,” Nico said. “I can make a small detour back to the hotel, and then off to Nana’s. It would be a shame to change though, I’m sure my family would love to fight mummies with you.”
Evie and Silas cleaned up and changed clothes from their ‘dig’ attire, into more respectable clothes for meeting people.
“Very normal,” Nico complimented them at the car.
“That’s good to hear,” Evie said, “I don’t like being under or overdressed when meeting people.”
“Not to worry,” Nico assured her. “My family will find you acceptable, no matter what you are wearing. Just a short drive now to Nana’s house.”
“And here we are,” Nico said, pulling in to a small settlement of houses. “Everyone is probably around back.”
Evie took Silas’ arm as th
ey nervously approached the strange house. The back gate opened and a tall slim man, probably twenty-five to thirty, stood at the entry. “Hi Nico.”
“Hi Jack!” Nico said. “This is my older brother Jack. Jack this is Evie and Silas from America.”
Nico explained the situation to Jack, which resulted in a good laugh. Jack ran off as Nico, Silas, and Evie entered the back garden, and very quickly returned with a short hunched woman in tow.
“Auntie Lara, these are two people from America who had a psychic dream,” Nico explained to the old woman.
Lara looked over the couple from the front, and did a small circle around them, and returned to face them. “No psychic!” She then raised her hand and touched Silas’ face on the left cheek, and performed the same action on Evie’s left cheek.
“You will have beautiful and smart children,” Lara proclaimed. “Good genes.”
Evie and Silas looked at each other and laughed nervously. “We aren’t married,” Silas said.
“In time,” Lara replied with a confident smugness, walking toward the crowd. Nico urged them to follow.
Evie and Silas spent the next few hours in the midst of Nico’s family, eating more than their fill of authentic Greek foods, and chatting with members of the family.
“How is your aunt psychic?” Evie asked Nico during the meal.
“She can see visions of children,” Nico said. “Just like at the gate. She has been doing that for over seventy years now. She started as the matchmaker for her village, and everything she ever predicted has come true.”
“Such as?” Silas asked, wanting more details.
“Who would be good together. Like how many kids, boys, girls, stuff like that.”
“And she’s never been wrong?” Evie asked.
“Not that I know of,” Nico said. “She hasn’t been as active since I’ve been old enough to keep track though. You could ask my Nana.”
That sounded like a good plan. Not that they were trying to out her, but just to learn more about her abilities.
Throughout the evening, Silas and Evie enjoyed the atmosphere and being included in the gathering. Waves of laughter rolled from one corner of the back garden to the other, at almost perfectly timed intervals.
