Ancient Hearts: A Time Travel Fantasy Romance (Kingdom of Sand & Stars Book 1)

by Candace Osmond

  “He has powers?” I balked.

  But Dad’s reply fell on my deaf ears with a pulse beating hot and loud in my head. My gaze remained glued to the person inside the holding cell, watched while the last of sheet slipped from his looming figure and pooled around his sandaled feet. I could feel my heart beating wildly through the surface of my skin and my eyes locked on his. The green and gold wide stare I thought died along with part of my soul. But the longer I stared, with torchlight reflecting perfectly, the more I realized that they weren’t as I remembered. The gold flecks were gone.

  Silas was gone.

  The man they called Amun heaved heavy, angry breaths and narrowed his gaze on me. Examining. Almost…remembering? A tinge of hope seeped into my veins and I stepped closer to the cell door. Did he recognize me? Was there still some part of the man I knew in there, deep down?

  A sly grin spread across his lips but didn’t quite meet his eyes that sharpened and stared daggers into me. “Didn’t I kill you?”

  Anubis snapped his long, black fingers and Amun’s lips pursed tightly. His voice bellowed from inside his mouth while disappointment mixed with fear and twirled through me. The pounding in my ears receded.

  I felt the gentle touch of Dad’s hand against my back. “He’s not Silas, sweetheart.”

  “But Isis will correct that,” Anubis chimed in and sidled up to my right. “I swear. We’ll fix him, Andie. You’ll get your Silas back and I’ll finally have my cousin restored to the great man he once was. Free of Horus’ influence.”

  “But he’s in there,” I said. “Silas. I can tell. I can see the flicker of recognition when he first sees me. Some part of him wants to remember me.” I swallowed nervously. “Maybe we don’t have to kill him.”

  Amun’s muffled protests got louder at the mention of killing him and he kicked at the metal bars.

  Anubis shook his jackal head. “No. He’s a shell of a being. Something’s not connecting in his mind. Whatever Horus did to him to erase his memory, he did it wrong. Amun needs to be reset completely.” He looked at me with pity. “I’m sorry, Andie. It’s the only way.”

  The inside of my cheek was chewed raw, and I dared a sideways glance at the man in the cage. I looked away with a wince.

  “You said Isis won’t be here until the morning?” I rubbed at my exhausted face. “Just let me try until then.”

  “Try what?” Anubis shrugged.

  “To get through to him,” I said desperately. “Maybe if I talk to him enough it’ll jog something or reconnect what’s broken.”

  Dad tipped his head to the side. “Oh…Andelyn. No. You shouldn’t be stressing yourself with this. Get some rest. Look at you.”

  “Get some rest?” I squawked, eyes wide. “Dad.”

  Anubis shifted in place and then leaned against the back wall with exhaustion. “Your father’s right–”

  “Just let me try,” I snapped with attempted restraint. “He’s in there until morning. What difference does it make whether or not I stand here and talk to him?”

  Dad and Anubis exchanged a look of defeat.

  “Fine,” my father huffed. “But I insist you go get cleaned up and put some food in you first.”

  I opened my mouth to protest but he gave me the stern raised eyebrow. A deep sigh released from my body.

  “O-okay, I…can do that.”

  Part of me was desperate to wash away the thick layer of sweat and sand from my skin, but another part screamed not to leave Silas’ side. I worried that I’d give in to the swarm of lies my mind was trying to feed me. That this was still all some heinous nightmare and once he disappeared from sight, I’d never find him again.

  But I silently followed Dad out of the jail wing of the underground civilization as Anubis stayed behind to tend to his cousin. I didn’t mutter a single word while I walked alongside my father, nor did he. Both of us exuded relief and a bit of defeat with every breath and when he finally parted for his own quarters, I made a beeline for my room where I could fall apart in solitude.

  I didn’t make it as far as my bed. My legs wouldn’t allow it. My backpack slipped from my shoulders and I braced myself against the wall while I crumpled to the floor in a heap of uncontrollable sobs. My stomach lurched, wanting to expel the emptiness inside. I wrapped my arms tight across my convulsing torso in an attempt to hold myself together, but it was like trying to contain a failing dam. I curled up in a fetal position on the floor until every ounce of tears and emotion had been retched from my body. I felt dry and shriveled. Hollow.

  The sound of papers ruffling against leather echoed off the walls and I pried one of my crusted eyes open to find Shadow, head-first, rummaging through my bag. I didn’t have the energy to tell him to stop. To go away. There was nothing in there for him. But he pulled himself out and scuttled over to where I lay. His tiny hands held out in offer, one of my vodka bottles in his palms. I stared up at his face wrought with concern and he urged me to take the bottle. Then I realized…I’d told him it was my medicine.

  He was trying to fix me.

  My heart warmed and I managed to find the energy to push myself to sit up. But my back clung to the wall for support. I rolled the bottle around in my hands, one of the last ones I still had left. I’d been saving them for an emergency, for if things got really bad. But the rational part of my brain that’d made that decision was gone.

  “Bring me my bag,” I told Shadow and he happily dragged it over to me.

  I reached inside and pulled out the other few bottles I had, one already half gone. Before I could talk myself out of it, I cracked the plastic tops and poured every ounce down my parched throat. The poison scorched its way down and pooled heavily in my empty stomach. It burned in my veins and I immediately regretted what I’d done. There was no reprieve from my vice, no assurance. It only filled the hollowness of my soul with shame.

  My head spun with the sudden influx of pure alcohol that I’d been starving it of, threatening to pass out. Suddenly, the curtain moved aside, and Dad walked in carrying a tray of food and a pitcher of water. He set it down in haste and came to me immediately.

  “Andelyn!” He fussed with my hair, pushing it from my face to reveal a sight I hoped he’d never have to see. He spotted the empty bottles and his eyes glossed over. “Oh, sweetheart. What have you done to yourself?”

  “I’m broken,” I muttered through tear stained lips. “Y-you broke me.” My hands covered his at the sides of my face and we stared into one another’s pained gaze. “You and Silas were my entire world and then you died, you left me behind and I had no idea how to deal with the grief.” My face pinched together as I fought to stave off another wave of emotions. But they forced their way through, and I erupted into a fit of tears once again. I shook my head. “I-I… don’t know how to fix it.”

  Dad shifted on the floor and stretched out his legs as he pulled me closer. I nestled my face in his chest and he smoothed my matted hair, calmly shushing me while I fell apart even more than I thought possible.

  “It’s okay, Peach,” he whispered. “I’m here now. I’ll never leave you again. We’ll fix it. I promise.” He rocked me back and forth like a child. “We’ll fix you.”

  I let him hold me, my tender broken heart relishing in the stability he offered. He was here. Both of them were. I had a chance to get my whole life back. I could kick this addiction. But a little voice inside my mind whispered doubts in my ear. Could I really do it? Did I have the strength to accept my new reality and stop falling on my crutch every time things got tough? I knew I wanted to, but I wasn’t sure I could do it.

  Especially with what lay ahead.

  Chapter Nineteen

  I awoke sometime later with a startle, bolting up in my bed with a sharp intake of air. As if I’d been struggling for breath all night. Someone had stripped off my grimy clothes, cleaned the dirt from my skin and washed my hair, leaving me naked under a thin white linen shirt that hung to my knees.

  Shadow stirred at my side from
the warm spot he’d curled up in. I petted his head and waited for my breathing to level out before I realized that we lay in near darkness. Only a sliver of candlelight filtered in through the curtain that was put back in place around the bed.

  Groggy, I pulled the drapery aside to find my room quiet, dimly lit by a fat candle that sat on my little table. A wooden door now filled the opening to the room.

  I scratched my head, noting that my hair was damp but not with sweat, and glanced back at Shadow on the bed. “Jesus Christ. How did I sleep through all this?”

  The creature cocked its head to the side and one of his floppy ears moved with it.

  “I’m okay,” I assured him with a sigh, and he jumped down to the floor.

  I spotted a pile of fresh clothes, neatly folded next to the candle with a note on top held down by a single flower. One of the white Egyptian lilies from Dad’s weird make-shift aero garden. I picked it up and gave a sniff before reading the note.

  Andelyn, I had Eirik help get you cleaned up while I washed and mended your clothes. Anubis insisted on putting in the door. I hope you feel better with some much-needed rest. The road to recovery is long and hard, impossible at times. But you’re not alone. Not anymore. Drink the concoction in the pitcher. Eirik assures me it helps purge toxins from the body.

  Love, Dad

  I sniffed at the weird red substance in the pitcher. It smelled like berries mixed with other scents I couldn’t place but I took a swig anyway. It didn’t immediately come back up, so I let it settle in my empty stomach before taking another mouthful.

  The clean, crisp clothing felt comfortable against my skin as I hauled it all on. My once tattered black jeans now patched with perfect squares of matching leather felt like new and I slipped on my tank top. I wasn’t going outside, and I couldn’t bear to cover the fresh skin of my arms, so I left my jacket behind.

  “Stay here. Okay?” I told Shadow and he cooed in protest. “No, I need some…time alone with Silas. To speak with him. Just stay here.” I motioned to the tray of food Dad had brought earlier and grinned. “You can eat my food.”

  He brightened and scuttled over to the table. I had no idea what time it was or how much had passed since I left Silas in that cell. But I grabbed my backpack full of everything I now owned in this world and headed off toward the jail wing.

  The halls of the colony were silent, and the stench of food being cooked had long settled in the air, telling me that it must have been sometime in the middle of the night. Isis would be here in a few hours to fix Silas. That unnerving thought sat like a mess of pins and needles in my gut as I neared the wide corridor that I knew held the holding cells.

  My pace slowed and I took careful steps toward Silas’ cage. I don’t know what I expected to see as I rounded the edge and peered inside, but it wasn’t the man I loved lying in a heap on the floor. A thick gold chain had been added in my absence, attached to the enchanted cuffs, and anchored him in place.

  “Silas?” I croaked. He stirred, his head rearing slightly as he found my eyes. I held my composure and took one step closer to the bars. “Do you know me?”

  He guffawed and the chain rattled loudly as he rolled over into a sitting position. “Of course. You’re the woman who ran at me like a maniac. I was sure I’d buried you dead.”

  I swallowed nervously. “You did. Anubis saved me.”

  “Bloody dog, always sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong,” he muttered.

  “He cares about you, Silas,” I replied. “He’s your family.”

  “Why do you keep calling me that?”

  “Because it’s your name,” I told him. “You’re Silas and I’m Andie. If you look hard enough, deep down somewhere, you’ll know it to be true. And you’ll remember me. You did before, I saw it in your eyes.” He didn’t reply, only looked away. “I have to believe that, and you have to try.”

  I waited a moment and when he continued to ignore me, I pulled the necklace out from inside my shirt. The ruffling caught his attention and he glanced back at me, eyes narrowing immediately.

  “You recognize this, though. Don’t you?” I dangled it in front of the bars. “Do you remember giving it to me on the balcony the night before you left?”

  Silas stared sharply, rage brewing behind those mossy green eyes. Would the gold ever come back? Would he never be the same, even after his mother fixes him? His pursed lips told me I needed to push further.

  “Come on,” I begged. “Dig deep, God damn it! Look at me, try to remember. You’ve known me since I was sixteen. You worked with my father for years. You…loved me.”

  That elicited a low, sly chuckle from him, and my cheeks filled with heat from embarrassment. But I squashed it down with determination.

  “Look, you can either let me help you or wait for plan B,” I told him. He cocked a curious eyebrow. “Yeah, if I can’t fix you then the backup plan is to kill you, Silas. Come on. Try.”

  I jangled the necklace again. His mind may belong to Horus, but his heart belonged to me. I let the stone fall to my chest and bent down to fetch something from my bag. Photographs of us. I smoothed out the crinkles and held them up in front of the bars, careful not to get too close because I wasn’t sure how far the chain reached.

  “Look,” I told Silas. “This is us. Do you remember the trip we took to Brazil with Dad? It was the first time you kissed me.” I held up another photo in my other hand. “And this is us at the summer carnival a few years ago. You played the ring toss relentlessly until you won that giant stuffed pig for me.”

  I finally had his attention and excitement brewed in my stomach. Silas’ stare fixed on the two photos, unblinking as he seemed to take it all in. I could see the silent battle behind his eyes, the cogs of his broken brain trying to piece things together. How could he argue against my words when I held his image on paper? Not just a drawing, but a real mirror image of himself in my hands.

  Silas stepped closer, dragging the chain on the floor behind him. His fingers wrapped around the metal bars and he pushed his forehead up against them, never taking his eyes off the images. My heart sped up. It was working!

  I dared near the caged door, just a couple of inches away. “You remember?”

  His eyes flitted from the pictures to me and then back again. Something was working in that brain of his. He just needed a little push. I put both photographs in one hand while the other slowly reached for the metal bars. With a slight tremble, my fingers crawled towards his wrapped tightly around the bar and I lightly brushed his hand with my thumb.

  He tensed, but quickly relaxed to the sensation. I caressed the surface of his soft skin and gently moved my fingers to entwine with his. The feeling was almost too much. Filling my chest with warmth and hope. I’d dreamed of touching him again, endlessly, night after night.

  My breath caught in my throat and I swallowed past the mushy lump that formed there while Silas’ fingers crept up my wrist, trailing along my arm and sending a rush of goosebumps scraping across my whole body. Tears swelled in my eyes.

  “Silas–”

  In a split second, his hands were through the bars and wrapped around my neck, slamming my face into the metal with a blinding force. I gasped for air, but it was no use against his manic hold. My limbs flailed helplessly, trying to push myself from his grip. I hacked at his forearms with my fists, desperate for air.

  My face began to feel tight with blood, but I fought with everything I had. Panicked, I reached down and fumbled with the knife secured to my belt and managed to slide it from the sheath before slicing it through Silas’ arm. He released me immediately and retreated into his cage to nurse his wound. I wiped the blade and returned it to my side.

  “You bitch,” he growled.

  “You were trying to kill me, you idiot!” I paced the floor, trying to regain my composure and settle my breathing. The fragile bones in my throat cracked when I spoke, and I could already feel the blood rushing to where his handprints would surely leave bruises. “I though
t I was the stubborn one. What’s wrong with you? Why can’t you just try to remember?”

  He covered the gash I left in his arm with one hand and sneered evilly up at me from the shadows of his cell. “You think your foolish trinkets have any effect on me? The person you are looking for is gone.”

  Fighting back emotions, I turned over my forearm, showing him the tattoo he’d given me years ago on my bathroom floor. Something distant flashed in his eyes. “Yeah, that’s right. The same ankh is on your arm. Coincidence? Not one bit. You put this on my skin, and I put that one on yours.”

  He looked down at his homemade tattoo and I saw how his chest heaved with quick breaths. Faster and faster. As if he were finally, truly remembering. When his head full of tousled hair lifted and met my eager gaze, his eyes filled with wetness. His face softened.

  “Andie?” he whispered almost painfully.

  I nodded excitedly and dared step closer to the bars again. “Yes, yes! Stay with me, hold on to that memory. Follow it all the way back to me.”

  Silas stood still, nervous, and glanced around his cell. “Where am I? What’s going on?”

  I grabbed my father’s lock picking kit from my bag and dropped to the floor as I hurriedly picked the giant padlock that kept Silas’ cage secure. My heart felt too big for my chest to handle and when the metal lock popped free, I flung open the door and ran inside, right into Silas’ open arms.

  My face smushed against his bare chest. “I knew it. I knew it would work. That you’d come back to me.”

  Silas held me tight, almost…too tightly, but I didn’t care. I wanted to absorb as much of him as I could. But a low chuckle formed in his chest, building into a deep and raspy, evil laugh. My blood ran cold with the sudden rush of fear that tingled my spine, and I pulled away. But he grabbed hold of both my arms.

  “You stupid, foolish girl,” he spat righteously. “Is that all it takes? The ill promise of love?” His hands squeezed my arms painfully. “Your weakness will be your death and they’ll regret bringing me here.”