by Amy Lignor
Off to one side of the square was a large tree. “That’s the Oak of Zeus,” Gareth added. “Supposedly provided shade for Satan’s Altar.”
Leah nodded, making a quick study of the oak’s healthy green leaves and dark brown trunk. But her gaze moved to the other side of the marble slab immediately, mesmerized by the eerie tree that seemed to emit waves of energy that were making her sick. Perhaps it was her exhaustion finally overtaking the caffeine, but while staring at the tree Leah felt as if she was standing on a desert highway under a blisteringly hot sun. The object seemed to dance behind a film that appeared in the midst of intense heat—it wavered before her eyes.
Staring at the small, creepy tree, Leah tried to remind herself what it was. Although its bark was a sickly black color with green and white lines running through—lines that looked like veins carrying a hideous disease that’d killed the heart-shaped leaves clinging to its twisted limbs—it was still just a tree. A natural growth that could be found anywhere, and certainly not some sort of resting place for the Devil.
Leah focused on one small leaf and an image burst into her brain. Except for the color of death, the same leaves had also adorned a rather glorious apple tree she’d seen once before. One that bore the apple used to toss souls from a garden if they dared to take a taste.
For one side, there is always another, Leah thought. Yin and Yang. Black and White. Heaven and Hell. If you believed in the “Grand Master of Evil,” it made sense that Satan would have had his own tree on Earth; a distorted twin of the one protected by the sword of the warrior who’d cast Satan out in the first place.
She shook the thoughts from her mind. It’s just a tree, she repeated to herself. But as she reached out to touch the bark, wanting to make doubly sure that it was not made from the dead skin of human victims, a sudden crash of thunder resounded above their heads and a flash of light burst from the clouds, like a dragon releasing a breath. The bolt of lightning came close, too close. As if directing its power, the energy split the tree in half in front of their eyes.
“Get back!”
Leah let out a scream as Gareth pulled her down in the dirt. She could hear the sizzle in her ears, like a million locusts had been released from inside the now severed trunk.
Regaining her breath, she peeked over Gareth’s shoulder and took in the pair of twisted limbs that were now sparking like fireworks. The remaining black leaves were limp, hanging from the branches like bodies dangling from ropes.
Standing up, extracting herself from Gareth’s protective grip, Leah walked quickly to the tree. Staring down into the spliced trunk, she felt absolutely no surprise when she saw the circle that was visible there. A thick, hollow ring still smoking from the power of the lightning bolt was carved into the tree. An empty ring. The perfect size and shape to hold a crown.
CHAPTER 12
She and Gareth stood still, appraising the pitch black ring, weighing its importance. “This makes no sense,” he said.
Reaching down carefully, Leah ran her fingers over the sharp edges inside. The surface of the circle was jagged, as if tiny spikes had decorated the crown that had once been buried here. Her skin began to tingle and she immediately pulled away. Staring down at the tattoo on her hand, she watched the blue tint grow darker; it was as if the all-seeing eye was continuing to awaken, coming back to life in order to let her know that they’d just found a piece of a very ancient, very important, puzzle.
Shaking her head, trying to clear the hideous buzzing in her ears, Leah moved away from the tree and slowly walked around the scene. The dirt had been disturbed, dug up—boulders and rocks of every size had been moved, noted by the holes left behind in the earth. It was clear that an excavation had been done here. Many, it seemed. The only original things left at this site were steps that led to nowhere, the marble slab, and the two completely opposite trees.
The massive retaining walls and giant friezes that’d adorned the Altar of Zeus no longer remained. Leah knew where they were. They were sitting in a German museum. There, and only there, could a person see Satan’s Altar and witness the intricate, mammoth carving of the famous battle between gods and giants—a fight, etched in marble by a lost culture, that symbolized the victory of Greek civilization.
Her train of thought broke when Gareth invaded her line of sight and sat down beside her on the steps of the terrace. “Are you okay?”
She nodded.
“I’m sorry we came.” His eyes were full of emotion; his voice apologetic. “I really don’t know what I thought we’d find here.”
She looked up at the sky above. The clouds were dwindling and the lightning had vanished. No people could be seen milling around on the acropolis. It felt like a shroud of death had been cast over the area.
Pulling the long, worn leather coat tight around her body, Leah shivered. The buzzing in her brain was joined by whispers of wind that whistled across the ancient site, making it sound like the ghosts of Pergamon had been awakened by the one fiery strike.
“Someone was here. Someone dug. And someone found something.” She locked her gaze on Gareth, and heard her own voice ring distant in her ears. “Someone found this place and took Satan’s crown for themselves.”
“How would they remove it from inside a tree?”
She closed her eyes and sighed, knowing that her thought was ludicrous. “We do know that someone wrote in that journal about finding the Altar of Zeus ‘where Satan’s crown resided.’ Which means someone had to have found it when they excavated this place and took it out of here.” Leah’s mind was reeling. “Michael Hansen obviously has it.”
“And someone in his family possessed magic that would enable them to get inside a tree without sawing it in half?”
“Or someone in Bauer’s family.” Leah thought for a second, and continued, “But I’d place my money on Hansen. After all, the guy proved he could tear a person’s guts out without actually breaking their skin.” She knew that was one memory of Germany she’d never forget. “So his ancestors owning the knowledge to extract something from a tree without taking an axe to it wouldn’t be all that far-fetched.”
Leah sighed heavily. It had been she and Gareth who’d led Daniel Bauer to a crown in Nuremburg that’d ended up to be nothing more than a fake. And she would always remember the look of victory in Michael Hansen’s eyes when he’d first seen it, as if he knew the object was nothing more than junk. “Hansen’s ancestors date back to the initial discovery of this altar. It’s possible there were instructions written down by people within his family tree as to how…” she shook her head, completely frustrated, “how a later generation could get into it? There’s probably an easy way…through an underground tunnel, or something.”
“So this lightning strike would’ve happened if we’d been here or not?”
She heard the irony in his voice. “Gareth, Bauer knew about Satan’s crown. His mother knew about it. Remember? She knew that her son would have to get the emerald and the crown back together one day in order for her little boy to be anointed the new, all-powerful bad guy.” With her words, Leah felt as if another lightning strike had suddenly hit her brain. “Wait.” She raised her head in the air. “That’s it…that has to be it…”
Leah sighed, wanting to kick herself. “I don’t believe this,” she said, dropping her head in her hands.
“What’s it? Believe what?”
“It was his mother.”
“Leah, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
She raised her head. “When you woke up after the accident; the nurse in the hospital who told you that your parents were dead,” her voice broke. “That nurse was Bauer’s mother.”
He sat up straight, a look of complete disbelief came over his face. “We met Bauer’s mother, Leah. She was definitely not—”
“Think twenty years younger. No gray hair; all blonde. Add on some glasses…?”
She watched him go silent.
“Gareth, she could have been at that rally i
n New Mexico, most likely following that Jiddu guy because the ideas he was spouting were exactly what she believed in. She probably thought he knew more; could lead her to Paradise. And then…BOOM! The perfect recipe of astrologer and astronomer appear in the form of your parents to tell her all about what they’d found written on some parchment. A clue that would lead to twelve keys, a crown that sat atop Satan’s head, the Gates of Heaven—a power that she desperately wanted her son to have when he grew up.”
Gareth kept shaking his head from side-to-side.
“There was no accident, Gareth. She, and any people she was working with at the time, made your parents disappear. They left you broken. You were a young boy whose parents were dead. Chances are you’d be crushed; therefore, you weren’t a factor. She certainly wasn’t worried about you growing up and stopping her plans.”
“You’re saying my parents were part of excavations that went on here to search for that stupid crown.”
She nodded.
Gareth continued to think out loud, “The generation that existed before Bauer was born dug this place up. Then his mother continues it? Then Bauer grows up and takes over…? Why would all the digging just stop?”
“Because we found a crown,” Leah reminded him. “We placed it in Bauer’s hands. There would be no reason to continue looking on this land if he and his mother thought he finally had the treasure.”
“We just found that crown in Germany.”
She nodded. “Yes. So maybe everything stopped just recently. Archaeological teams could have been here,” she said, waving her hands around the site. “Bauer would have found a way to dig on this acropolis, no matter how many visitors were touring. Think about it. The guy had money and powerful connections we can’t possibly know about.
“Plus, Bauer was just blown to smithereens. Any group working under his direction up here most likely had some type of foreman. When he got the news of Bauer’s death, he and his crew would have abandoned this place.”
Gareth’s eyes filled with defeat. “Then, where are my parents? Were they still here just recently, working for Bauer? Have they been slaves this long, and just finally got their freedom when Bauer and his mom went belly-up?”
“Stranger things have happened.”
“Okay. How about this? Since the crown we found in Nuremburg was a fake, where is Satan’s famous headpiece?”
Her sigh was deep and loud, as she struggled to breathe. The questions were becoming overwhelming. “If history is right, and the Altar of Zeus was Satan’s Throne, then the crown would have been here once upon a time. But it still remains that the Germans moved this altar. So whatever was here, moved with it.”
“I don’t think Satan would have let the crown out of his sight.”
“Then it went with him long before the Germans came, and he buried it somewhere. It’s not like Pergamon was Satan’s home. I doubt if you dig under these ruins you’ll find Hell.”
His voice lowered, “You don’t even believe in any of that, Leah.”
Leah searched the eyes of the man who knew her doubts when it came to the things he’d taken on absolute faith all his life. “What I do know for a fact is that all these imitators we’ve gone up against so far own some pretty serious egos…and some pretty large properties. I would assume the creature that’s supposed to be the worst of all time would have an even bigger ego, which means he definitely would have wanted his own space.” She looked around the ancient area. “The Devil may have sat here for a time, but he would have had his own home, so to speak.”
“What do you mean?”
“He would have wanted his own lair. Maybe he would even want a mirror image of Paradise just for fun, but set up in his own twisted way. Then he would have the same thing as the ones he envied, but it would be an ‘in your face’ to the god that he felt betrayed him.” She looked over at Gareth’s half-smile.
“I don’t get it,” he whispered.
“Makes two of us.”
“No,” he said, studying her. “I mean, ever since I took you out of that library you love so much, you’ve almost lost your life a dozen times over some odyssey you could care less about.”
She stared at him blankly. “And?”
“And you’re still with me. Married to me.” He stared at her. “I don’t get it.”
“I’m a saint,” Leah deadpanned.
His gaze was so filled with emotion that Leah could barely catch her breath. “You’re my family, Gareth. Kathryn, Emmanuel, Anippe…you’re all my family now. There’s nowhere I’d rather be than right here. Besides,” she said, attempting a smile, “I have to pay my dues.”
“Dues?”
“You always said to get to Heaven you have to go through Hell. Well, I found Heaven in you, so I actually did the process backwards. Now I just have to go through the crap to earn this whole ‘happily ever after’ reward thing we’ve got going. And with everything we’ve already survived, I think I’m damn close to total achievement. I’d say we’re pretty much indestructible by now.”
Gareth stood up; his gaze spoke of a love that was stronger than anything the world could throw at them.
Taking his outstretched hand, she fell into his arms, placing her head on his chest. Here is where safety lives, she thought. “We can figure this out, Gareth,” she said. “I promise.”
CHAPTER 13
Standing in the shadow of a broken column, he waited in the library watching her practically melt into Lowery’s body.
The power of the lightning strike had stunned his senses. In the seconds that followed, he’d pulled his weapon, ready to unveil his presence and battle for the treasure that the gnarled tree had finally given up. But then…
Watching her find nothing. Listening to their conversation of things he already knew, and being offered nothing that could help him complete his quest, he’d drawn back into the shadows and let out a sigh that matched Leah’s in frustration.
All this day had brought to him was more proof. The woman owned a gift he didn’t understand. There was something inside Leah Tallent that seemed to draw power to her. But as she stood there with empty hands, he also realized that she wasn’t the one who would yield the crown.
Bowing his head, he thought about the choice that was right in front of him. Show himself and kill them both, or go to the person who apparently had what he was after and face the duo of Tallent and Lowery afterwards.
Turning, he looked up at the all-seeing eye on the library wall that no longer possessed any life within the pupil, and grinned. He had his answer. Right now Leah and Gareth were as blind as the work of art. And it would be far more fun to face them when he had it all. The stone would be back in the crown. The crown would be set upon his head. Satan’s power would be his to play with. And the librarian would finally see the truth she was so unwilling to believe.
Faith was real, and she belonged on the darker side of it…with him.
Stepping through the open columns on the side of the building, he put his hands in his pockets and began his walk back down the Acropolis of Pergamon. There was no need to hurry now. He held all the answers to attain everything he so richly deserved. The crown was a given, now that Leah hadn’t found it, and as far as the gemstone was concerned, he was already looking forward to surprising the woman who’d been chosen to keep it safe.
CHAPTER 14
The sudden flash of light startled Anippe, jarring her from the worried thoughts racing through her brain. Refocusing on her surroundings, she inspected the photographer who had come out of nowhere. The woman’s haphazardly hung veil, and tennis shoes jutting out from beneath her silk cover, clearly marked her as a tourist in the land of Coptic Cairo.
Her eyes were wide and hopeful. “Would you mind taking my picture in front of the museum?”
Anippe tried not to laugh at the innocent request. “My pleasure.”
As the woman began to pull off the silk, Anippe immediately held up her hand. “I am so sorry, but appropriate dress that fully co
vers your body is required when entering and walking through Coptic monuments.”
“That’s silly,” the woman’s kind voice immediately took on a snotty tone. “We are no longer in ancient times.”
“We hold strongly to tradition here.” Anippe kept her civility and flashed a friendly smile, as any helpful guide would, knowing it would be apparent from behind her own veil. “But it is certainly a small price to pay to be surrounded by the beauty of such a place, do you not agree? This is one of the two oldest structures in all of Egypt.” She pointed at the site. “Those rounded towers once served as the entrance to the Roman fortress of Babylon. And to the left is the Hanging Church; it is the oldest Christian church in the entire country.” Anippe lowered her voice and leaned closer to the woman, as if she were letting the tourist in on a secret that’d never before been shared. “Some say that the church heals all those who walk through its doors.”
Receiving nothing more than an eye-roll in return, the woman snatched the camera out of Anippe’s hand and began muttering as she marched away, “Might as well go back to the pyramids. At least they had refreshments.”
Laughter bubbled up inside Anippe. She’d met many disheartened tourists who wanted nothing more than to enjoy the ancient relics Egypt had to offer, but only if they could do it from the terrace of a five-star hotel, while holding an ice-cold drink and listening to the History Channel explain it all.
Anippe glanced down at her cell as a voice whispered behind her, “Your father was one of those, at first. There was a time I thought all Americans were just plain rude because of him. Of course, now I know they are just about the most courageous people I have ever met.”
“Not all are appreciative of history, though.” Anippe turned and offered Neith a small smile. “Leah would say that we should offer pizza and beer inside the museum.”
“Why is that?”
“That combination would bring them through the doors in droves.”
