by K C West
“Don’t wait for me if you get hungry.” I gave her a hug. “If I don’t find you here in the tent when I return, I’ll just meet you at breakfast.”
“Don’t be too long, or the good stuff will be gone.”
“Can’t you save me one?”
She paused a moment, considering my request. “Perhaps I could be persuaded.”
“You drive a hard bargain.” I grabbed my daypack and gave her a kiss. “Will that do for starters?”
Kim required another as a down payment before she’d release me.
“I have to go, but there’s plenty more where that came from.”
“Okay. I’ll be happy to collect later on.”
*
Sandy’s shirt was unbuttoned and he was lacing up his work boots when I entered his tent.
“Hey, PJ. How’s it going?” He secured his boots, buttoned his shirt, and tucked it into his faded jeans. Without missing a beat, he grabbed a pile of folders and rifled through them, extracting a page here and several there, intent on creating a new folder for some specific task.
“I’m fine, but you look a bit frazzled.” I pulled the paperwork from my daypack. “Here’s what I came up with on the budget you asked for. Anything else you and Dad need?”
“Fantastic.” He took a quick glance at the bottom-line figures. “Not bad. I was afraid we’d be way over after adding all that extra lighting, but what you have here should be doable.”
I took a step backward. “Good, then. I’ll just be off to breakfast.”
“Wait. I hate to ask, but I’m really running late this morning. Could you take all this to your dad for me?”
“Sure, no problem.”
He added my page to the new folder’s contents and gave it to me. “Thanks, PJ. I owe you.”
“Bring me some baklava from Thanos’s Bakery, and we’ll be even.”
“You’ve got a deal.”
“See you at the site.” I waved and started off.
My dad’s tent was a little larger than ours, but it doubled as both an on-site office and living quarters.
The tent flap was closed, but not sealed, when I arrived, so I called out a cheery greeting and stuck my head inside.
Dad was still in bed, but he wasn’t alone.
“Ahh!” I covered my eyes. “God. I’m… I’m… Oh, man. I’m sorry.”
I hastily pulled myself back outside the tent.
“Priscilla, it’s okay.” Dad was clearly flustered, trying to smooth things out as if I didn’t really see him together with Susanna.
I could tell that he was as embarrassed as I was. “Urn… I have the budget you asked for.” My face felt hot, and my tongue was glued to my teeth. “I’ll just leave it here… under this rock.” Like a child caught coloring on the walls, I continued to stammer my apologies. Inside the tent, Dad made soothing noises, and Susanna, to her credit, remained silent.
When Dad pulled the tent flap aside, he was dressed only in a pair of silk boxers. I looked away. “Listen, honey, we need to talk to you about this.”
/ guess so. But you ‘d better put some clothes on before I can even look at you.
“Sure, Dad. That’s fine. We’ll talk real soon.” Staring down at his bare feet, I shoved the paperwork in the general direction of his hands. “I’ll just leave this now, and you can check this over at your leisure.”
That was brilliant. He had better things to do with his leisure right now.
Keeping my eyes focused on some fascinating blades of grass, I backed away. “I have to catch up with Kim and Sandy. We’ll talk real soon,” I repeated mindlessly.
He said something else, but by then, I was too far away to understand him.
I must have scared the crap out of Kim when I returned to the tent.
“I was just about to - What’s the matter? I’ve never seen your face so red. Are you feeling all right?”
“I… Oh, my God. I just walked in on Dad and Susanna. Together. In bed.”
The worry lines on her face relaxed. “Oh, is that all?”
“What do you mean is that all? Isn’t that enough? It’s my dad I’m talking about. My dad!”
She held me close, stroking my back. “Surely you could see they were romantically involved. Dr. Armstrong is a fine woman. I would think you’d be happy for both of them.”
“Oh, I am. Truly, I am. It’s just that…” I took a deep breath and rested my cheek against her breast.
“That what?”
“I know I’m thirty-six years old,” I said, sniffing, my voice muffled against her shirt, “but I’m still his daughter, you know. And a child never considers that a parent might have a sex life.”
“Well now, how do you suppose you got here?”
“That’s different. He and Mom were young then.”
“Contrary to what younger folks think, we don’t suddenly dry up when we reach a certain age. I might serve as an example.”
“You? You’re not old. Besides, the issue is parents, not lovers. I just don’t want to think about him in that way. He’s my father, not some stud muffin.”
Kim pulled me to her. “You’re a treasure. You know that, don’t you?”
“Yeah? Well, I’m your treasure, and you’re mine. So don’t you forget it.”
*
“Damn and blast it!”
“Kim? What’s wrong?”
She stormed around our tent, tossing papers and clothing about. I tried to take her arm, but she brushed me away.
“Remember your anger management.”
“To hell with that! This is insane. I can’t believe it.”
“What is?” I got her to stop pacing and grabbing things to throw. “Sit,” I said, “and that’s an order.”
She sat, surprising me.
“Now, what’s this all about?”
“You remember when you were writing in your journal, and I was working on my laptop?”
“Urn…”
“You said that I looked serious and - “
“Oh, yeah, now I remember.”
She balled her hands into fists. “I was answering an e-mail from that crazy photographer - the one who insisted on getting in my face with his camera the day we flew here from Logan.”
“Uh-oh.”
‘“Uh-oh’ is right. Your father just told me that the little worm is suing all of us and Curtis Enterprises for intent to cause bodily injury.”
“What? That’s absurd.”
“Exactly. I was merely protecting us from his verbal abuse and harassment.”
“And I appreciated it, believe me.” I sat on her lap and hugged her neck. “Though you do know that I can take care of myself without your using force to protect me.” I kissed her cheek and tried rubbing the tension out of her shoulders. “Sometimes, you’re like a wild animal about these things. That isn’t good for your health.” I employed some of the same soothing strokes I used to calm Pup when he grew agitated. The results were surprisingly similar.
“It’s a bunch of crap. Reporters! Photographers! I’ve had it up to here with them.” Kim sliced her finger across her throat. She stood up, barely giving me time to hop off her lap, and paced. This time she refrained from disturbing stationary objects.
“Dad will take care of it. He’s used to this kind of thing. They just want money and a little free publicity.” I sat her down again and kept rubbing and snuggling against her. She put her arms around me, and after a few more seconds, I felt us both relax.
“I’m sorry, PJ.”
“I know you did it because you love me, and I really can’t be upset with you for that.”
I stood up and gathered up our hard hats and dusty daypacks. “Come on, slugger, we’ve got work to do while the gang is off in town celebrating some religious feast.”
“I wondered where everyone was. After I talked with your father, he and Dr. Armstrong were headed to town to help Sandy and Irini deliver baked goods to some church. Meanwhile, we can keep ourselves occupied in the labyrint
h, going over some of the newest areas.”
“Oh, yeah. Can’t wait. Let’s go, Pup.” He danced excitedly between us.
“Don’t get carried away, PJ. We’ll be in there alone, without the crew. We have to be careful, and we’re not to go beyond the already-explored face, do you understand?”
“Of course I do. I’m not going to take any unnecessary chances. And we’ll have Pup for protection.”
She gave me a stern look, the look I called her Great Stone Face. “Next time we’re in New Hampshire, I want you to see a replica of that look, on the side of a mountain.”
“Very funny.” Kim took her pack from me and slipped on the headgear. Our hats clinked when she kissed me.
“Whew. One more of those and I’ll forget about the work entirely.”
We started off hand in hand. “So what holiday is this?” she asked.
“I haven’t a clue. But it requires a lot of baked goods.”
*
“You okay?” PJ asked as she, Pup, and I started down into the labyrinth.
“No, I’m not okay. I’m still furious.”
“You know Dad can take care of the legal problem for you. He’ll put his attorneys on it, and if there’s any settling to do, it can be done out of court.”
“Yeah, he told me he’d take care of it, but that’s not the point. I shouldn’t have to settle anything. Damn it all, the photographer was the one who invaded our privacy.” I hitched my pack up onto my shoulder. “Infernal reporters. They’re nothing but trouble.”
I had been fuming ever since I heard about the lawsuit. “How could he say he was injured? It was just his camera. And it was his fault, sticking it in my face that way and daring to challenge our relationship like that.”
PJ paused at the bottom of the steps leading to the passage entrance. “I know I’m not a good one to speak. I certainly have enough psychological problems to go around, but you have to curb your anger. You’re letting it take precedence over good sense.”
“I know.” I looked down at the smooth stone flooring. “It’s just that when we’re threatened as a couple, it unleashes something vicious inside me. It’s like a primitive fury that fills me up and overflows.”
She took my hand. “Try to let it go, okay? Or talk to Susanna or Scott.”
“Oh, PJ. I don’t think - “
“They’ve helped me so much. I know they can help you, too.”
“I’ve talked to her. You know that.”
“Yeah, but knowing you, I suspect that you’re holding back. You need to be completely open with her.”
I looked away. It wasn’t easy, admitting that I couldn’t always manage my anger. “I’ll think about it.”
“Good. Now we can get back to work.”
We walked side by side down the main passage, following Pup to the end of our explored area. Once into the passage, I felt myself relaxing.
We passed the spot where, three weeks earlier, PJ had stumbled on the skeleton.
Tests carried out at the University of Athens revealed the remains that PJ had found were approximately twenty-four hundred years old. We had determined, too, that the original cave-in had been repaired within that time frame, so our unfortunate friend could very well have been a laborer, a slave laborer, helping with the repairs. Test results also indicated that he had been a young man and a hard worker who was suffering with the beginning stages of osteoarthritis. We were sure that, initially anyway, he had no idea that he was doomed to spend the next several centuries in the labyrinth.
I watched PJ closely when she hesitated at the spot where he was found. “May you rest in peace,” she said to the now empty space.
We continued along the passage in silence. When we weren’t chatting, we couldn’t hear anything except the sound of our footsteps crunching and Pup’s toenails scratching, albeit muffled, through the rubble and debris of time. The smell of dust was always noticeable. Fresh outside air, trapped as it was by so many twists and turns, did not penetrate this far into the labyrinth.
By the time we arrived at the end of the already-explored sections, I had forgotten about my problems and was focused entirely on archaeology. We were almost a kilometer-and-a-half into the labyrinth, a maze of narrow winding corridors, mostly dead ends. Ironically, as the crow flies, we were only a few meters from the entrance.
PJ peered into what seemed to be little more than a crack in the rock wall, a crack easily overlooked because it had been concealed, perhaps deliberately, by a natural notch in the wall itself. The opening was just wide enough for a slim person to slip through.
“I wonder where this goes.”
“We’ll find out soon enough.” I was ready to move on, but she was too intrigued with what lay behind the mysterious crevice.
“Just a quick peek? It won’t take a minute.”
“I don’t think so. Not until the crew has been down here to check things over.”
“I mean just inside, to see what’s there.”
“Not yet, PJ.”
Too late. Acting like her old self, she turned sideways and slid into the crack.
“Looks like an empty room. Not even that. An alcove.” Her voice was muffled, as if she spoke from a long way off.
“Stay, Pup.”
The light from the lamp on my hard hat reflected in his yellow canine eyes. He crouched obediently several feet from me, but he was not relaxed. I had a gut feeling the room was off-limits and we shouldn’t go in there, but PJ, in her usual enthusiasm, was not to be deterred. And really, what could be the harm? I swept my fear aside, took a deep breath of stale air, and squeezed through the crack in the rock.
When I reached PJ’s side, she was exploring a faded fresco of a panther on the far wall of what looked like a rounded, naturally-carved room. She had pulled a soft-bristled brush from her daypack and was gently removing a gritty layer of the past from the animal’s eyes. They glowed like burnished gold. It was an unnerving sight, raising the hairs on the back of my neck and setting Pup on edge. Even though he couldn’t see me behind the rock wall that separated us, he must have sensed some supernatural vibrations, because he was showing his displeasure with alternating whines and yelps.
“It’s all right,” I called back to him. “You stay out there. We won’t be long.” My voice was not as firm and confident as I would have liked, but he settled into infrequent whimpers.
My nerves were on alert. I turned to PJ. “Did you hear that?”
“It’s just Pup.” She finished cleaning the fresco’s surface, replaced her tool, and wiped her hands on her cargo pants. “What’s gotten into him, anyway?”
“No, something else, muffled and far away. Do you hear anything?”
She shook her head. “Like what?”
“Thunder.”
“The sky was cloudless when we left the surface, and even if it were thundering, we wouldn’t hear it in here.”
A strange sensation struck me, and I didn’t feel right. Not sick exactly, but not well. It began with my head and moved downward through my body, leaving me paralyzed.
“Are you all right?” PJ’s voice sounded close, yet far away. As if I were having an out-of-body experience, I saw her guide me to the stone wall for support, but couldn’t feel anything solid at my back. “Are you feeling okay? You’re scaring me.”
I was scaring myself. What was happening? I was so hot and dizzy. “I don’t know, honey. I just don’t know.” My mind refused to focus on anything.
“Kim, please, what’s the matter? Are you sick?”
Unable to answer, I reached out for her, but something pulled me away, catching me up in a whirlwind. I could only watch as PJ grew more and more distant, eventually becoming just a blurred speck. Though I couldn’t hear her voice, I could feel her panic.
I held my hand out to her, but she was out of reach, and then, out of sight.
A whirling kaleidoscope of color blurred my vision. Rainbow waves and shooting stars appeared as everything swirled around me, and my
mind shut down.
When I came to, I was sitting on the ground in the middle of a strange and beautifully pristine meadow. It was peppered with hundreds of yellow, red, and white wildflowers. Fighting a bout of vertigo and ignoring the churning of my stomach from what I could only describe as a weightless journey, I attempted to stand, and promptly sat down again.
I heard a roaring sound like heavy surf crashing onto a beach, but as far as I could see there was no beach, no surf. The roar grew louder until - as mysteriously as I had lost her - PJ appeared on her knees beside me.
“What the hell happened?” she asked. I noticed her eyes were wide with fear. “God, I feel so sick. Where are we, anyway?”
“I don’t know where we are or how we got here, but here we are.” I looked at the abundant flowers surrounding us. “You have to admit, it’s beautiful.”
“That’s what worries me. Are we dead?”
I shook my head. “Hardly.” I felt at peace and yet I was troubled, as if by guilt, for putting us both in this predicament.
“Then, how did we get here?” PJ brushed some soil from her arms and clothing. She sat back on her heels, frowning at me. “Where is this place? And how do we get back to where we were?”
“Why would you think I’d know that?”
“Kim, you know I have absolutely no sense of direction, so give me a hint.”
“I’ve no idea. And thinking about it makes my head hurt.” Still feeling slightly dizzy, I staggered to my feet and offered PJ my hand. “Up you go.”
She gripped my hand and accepted my support. “I wonder what Dr. Fleming will have to say about this dream.”
“You’re sure it’s a dream?”
“Of course. What else could it be?” As she turned to face me, her gaze drifted to something over my left shoulder. Her face paled. “Don’t look now, but we have company.”
I turned and studied them. From this distance, they appeared to be ancient warriors, about a dozen or so in number.
So, this was a dream after all. Or was it?
“Who are they?” PJ tightened her grip on my arm.
“I don’t know. They’re too far away to tell, exactly.”
“Do you think they’re friendly?”
I swallowed hard. “Possibly, but I have my doubts.”
