The Stone of Secrets

by K. L. Nelson

  The following morning, Emmett showed up with donuts and coffee. “You guys have been doing mornings all wrong,” he told the team. They all gobbled up this rather obvious ploy to win their acceptance. Sitting on the tailgates of their vehicles, Emmett traded stories with each member of the team as they ate. And slowly they all began to agree with the professor that maybe it was time to cut the man some slack. All, that is, except for Mert.

  Now, while she thought about Emmett in the darkness of her room Skye could only explain that it had been a long time since she had been close to any man. She saw Emmett everyday now, and it wasn’t easy to not notice that he was exceptionally attractive. His boyish smile absolutely thrilled her. She often took a moment to just look at him. Sometimes when she did, she found him looking too. But he never looked away when he was caught. He just smiled confidently, knowingly. Arrogance, Skye thought.

  Would she be willing to allow any sort of relationship to develop between them if he made a play? She sighed heavily, knowing the obvious answer already. She just didn’t have the energy. Right now the project was consuming all of her. Not that it was burdensome; it was her focus. When Skye took on something like this, she would not let anything distract her. And Emmett was very distracting.

  “Relax, Skye. Learn to trust a little. Not everyone is like your ex-husband”.

  As much as she hated to think of Daniel, thinking about Emmett brought it all back. Her marriage to Daniel had been a happy one until he wanted something that she couldn’t give him. She didn’t know he was against her career when they married. But when that ugly truth reared its head, it was difficult to see Daniel as anything but an antagonist. Is it too much to ask for a marriage where two people support, even complement each other? Skye wondered if she ever would find happiness in a relationship.

  Daniel isn’t worth it.

  Skye closed her eyes and focused on the Buccaneer ruins instead. She had been optimistic about finding something at the site. She wanted to make a remarkable discovery, and somehow she knew this site had something amazing to tell the world. She longed for the rest of the Marnoch stone. She would wait for it with the characteristic patience of an archaeologist.

  There was silence in the house now. Mert had finally given up and gone to bed.

  Feeling light on the bed, Skye remembered what it was like when Emmett returned the stone to the team. Every night, Skye would examine it and imagine how Pict carvers had patiently drawn secrets of their language on the stone. She tried to imagine the patience with which they carved the stone, their devotion to preserving this record. “It isn’t carved in stone,” people say when implying flexibility. The cliché could be all about the Picts. What they carved in stone is all we have of them. Certainly stone wasn’t their only means of recording information. It was just the most enduring.

  Skye would find the rest of the stone with that same kind of endurance.

  The team labored through the summer with typical patience. Archaeologists don’t get too worked up to find things. It’s a matter of steady, methodical plotting and careful record keeping. The ground yields what it yields, and at the end of the day you take what you get.

  Young people working together for a summer naturally grow familiar with each other, and this team was no exception. Taunts came steadily all summer, and the professor enjoyed listening to them try and outdo each other while they worked.

  “Hey, I think I just found Lindsay’s ego,” came the insult from Mert’s corner of the dig. “Oh never mind,” he added, “I forgot - the earth isn’t big enough for that!”

  “Maybe it’s your sense of humor,” Lindsay responded. “Want to borrow my microscope?”

  Back and forth they went, all summer long.

  Emmett was with them almost every day. The team taught him the finer points of archaeology, and he was a fast learner. The first day he showed up in khaki and work boots instead of a tie, Skye had a field day with him.

  “Well look at you,” the professor said laughing. “Someone’s been to Archaeologist’s Emporium!”

  “I saw it hanging in the window,” Emmett joked, holding out his arms to model his new clothes. “It looked even better on the mannequin.”

  “I doubt that!” Skye replied. “You’re a cross between the crocodile hunter and Dakota Jones!”

  “Maybe a little Sir Edmund Hillary in the mix?” he suggested.

  The fact is, seeing Emmett dressed like that made Skye’s pulse quicken more than a little. She had definitely been correct about him being chiseled. She used the ribbing as an excuse to take in the view. “Well,” she finally said, collecting herself. “Let’s get you a shovel, Edmund. Those boots will look better with a little dirt on them.”

  But even though Emmett seemed likeable enough as he worked with the team, there was something about him that made each of them uneasy. He was adept at changing the subject when someone started to probe. He was never forthcoming about who he worked for. And he always seemed to be going to his car to make a private phone call.

  On his way to the truck to get a tool one day, Andrew looked in the window of Emmett’s SUV and saw a file folder on the seat. He wouldn’t have given it a second thought if it had not been for the name on the label. It said “Mert Hampton.”

  For the rest of the day Andrew could not stop thinking about it. Why would this man have a file on Mert? Did it have something to do with his father in prison? That evening he took Mert aside and told him. Mert got a sick feeling inside that his past was coming back to haunt him. Emmett must work for someone who is interested in his father’s considerable estate. He would have to be on his guard. And he would have to find out who this man really is.

  Four months later

  There was little light in the early evening and the excavation team could barely see as they dug deeper into the ground. Large work lights had been brought in and plugged into the generators to lengthen the work day. The days were getting shorter and Skye could feel the disappointment in the air; it was heavily laden with the silence that predominated as the group worked. She also felt a familiar chill. It felt like the day before the freak spring storm had stopped their work by covering the site in deep snow. There had been only small pits here and there when that storm hit. Now the whole place was filled with great mounds of earth they’d moved over the summer. But the rest of the Marnoch Stone had still not been found. Everyone knew the next time snow came it would be there to stay.

  Refusing to accept defeat, Skye pulled the hood of her parka over her head and continued to dig deeper.

  “I think we need to stop for the day,” Emmett said beside her.

  Emmett had learned much about archaeology over the summer. Though he had somehow managed to skirt the issue of his firm all summer long, the team had taken him in. He had proven himself a valuable asset, and not just for making the heat disappear. Emmett knew people. The chemistry that is so important to an expedition like this seemed to fall into place when Emmett was around.

  Ignoring the man at her side, Skye doggedly continued to work. Though he’d worked with them all summer, Emmett just couldn’t understand the urgency that drove her right now.

  “Skye,” he said, grabbing her elbow, “the sun is setting.”

  “I have eyes and can see that the sun is indeed setting,” she replied tartly.

  “You should consider your team members,” he said quietly.

  She looked up at him. He had no idea that her team members were uppermost in her mind. They were also disappointed, perhaps more so than she was and hadn’t uttered a single word all day. Reality had gradually settled upon the team over the past several weeks as the season approached an end. They all knew what was going to happen if they didn’t find something soon. None of them needed to scan the horizon to know the snows were coming. They had to find something soon.

  She turned flashing green eyes at him and snapped loudly, “If you are tired, you can leave.”

  Turning away sharply, she heaved out of the hole. Predic
tably, Emmett was right behind her as she walked to the truck to retrieve a tool. Her path took them through a quadrant of the dig they’d given up on months previous. They hadn’t worked this area for so long the vegetation had begun to return. She rushed along as if her pace would make the man go away.

  Instantly Skye stopped. It was so sudden Emmett almost ran right into her.

  “What?” Emmett said dumbfounded, thinking he’d said something that was about to set her off. But it wasn’t him. The professor was looking into the old pit at her feet.

  Emmett looked in too. He could see nothing but mud. But Skye saw that the almost daily drizzle had been slowly washing the soil away from the hard surface of a stone. While they had been working elsewhere, Mother Nature had been doing the real work.

  “What is it?” Emmett asked again.

  “I’m not sure…” Skye replied jumping in and crouching at the bottom of the pit. Then suddenly she jumped up and faced the others. “Lindsay! Bring that spray bottle!” she called across the site. Then she returned to her crouch and began brushing at the mud with her gloved hand. Soon Lindsay and the rest of the team were there. Skye took the spray bottle and began washing the mud from the hard surface. The first thing she saw was a serpent.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” she announced standing up. “I do believe we have something!”

  Everyone on the team immediately sprang into action. It was as if energy had been stored inside them for just this moment. In seconds there was a work light positioned over the area and every tool in the arsenal was laid at the edge of the pit at the professor’s disposal. She began clearing away more and more of the damp earth from the stone while the others watched eagerly. It was big. The team had spent nearly the entire summer carefully moving great mounds of earth a spoonful at a time for this moment. Finally, their patience had paid off.

  When Skye had cleared enough to determine its size, they all stood back to gape at it. The stone sat regally in its position like it had been awaiting their discovery for centuries. It must have, Skye thought in reverence. This one was much bigger than the first but of exactly the same material. The broken edge at the top looked to be a perfect match to the opposing edge of the stone they’d found that spring. Sebastian handed the professor a tape measure. The new fragment measured roughly 38” x 49”. It was massive.

  That is when the lights went out.

  “Okay guys,” Emmett said in the darkness. “Work day is over. Time to pack it in.”

  “What the…” Andrew said.

  Amid the objections of the entire team, Emmett stood face to face with Skye and calmly said, “Unless you want every reporter in the Western world stomping all over this site as early as tomorrow, you will tell your team to slowly pick up their tools and go home just like the end of any other day. We can come back later tonight and look at this, but right now we need to get out of here.”

  Skye looked at the mysterious man in the fading light. His eyes were deadly serious. Still looking at him, she called to the team.

  “Okay, you heard the man. Let’s load up.”

  Later that night

  It would take hours to construct the gantry to safely hoist the stone from the pit, especially without the aid of any lighting. But no one wanted to leave it there. The decision was unanimous to work through the night until the stone was sitting in the back of the truck. Damien and Mert went to clearing more earth from the stone so they could get the straps underneath. The rest started building the large frame of the gantry around and over the pit. It was all hard physical labor, but no one complained. In the secrecy of the night, they toiled away with purpose. This was what they came here for.

  It seemed like no time before they were securing the stone to the rigging and carefully applying force to the straps. But actually it was well past midnight before the earth gave way and released the stone from its tomb of a thousand years.

  Slowly Mert jacked the artifact out of the pit. Each of the others watched intently by moonlight to spot any trouble with the rigging. Skye gave out orders, knowing what was at stake. “Hold that line,” she called. “Seb! Put your hand here and steady it as the tension is applied.” Legs and arms could mend, but if a line broke they would likely shatter something irreplaceable.

  Inch by inch the stone rose until it was suspended above the earth in the frame of the gantry. Then the pit had to be filled in to allow the truck to maneuver under the stone. Seven shovels went to work as the stone dangled. Light was just beginning to appear over the eastern horizon when the stone was lowered onto a bed of thick cargo blankets in the back of the truck. Standing around the truck, the entire team stared at the stone in awe. They were exhausted and filthy.

  “Professor,” Mert said, finally breaking the long silence.

  “Yes,” Skye replied, still staring at the stone.

  “You look terrible. Why don’t you go home and take a shower.”

  Everyone looked at the professor. She did look terrible, but no more than anyone else in the group.

  Skye looked up at her student of several years and replied, “Have you checked the mirror lately?”

  ***

  A half mile away, perched amid the trees on the side of a hill, a man watched the team in the twilight through his high powered telescope. Even from that distance he could hear their laughter as they cajoled one another. But he was more interested in what lay in the bed of the truck. He would have to get a closer look. Things were beginning to get serious.

  Chapter Seven

  Tintbay Garden

  5:53 pm

  The team of archaeologists all stood in the large garage.

  The stone was on a work table in the middle of the room. They had placed the fragment found that spring with it and found it to be a perfect match. They all stood around it, just staring.

  Ironically, Emmett was the only one thinking about the stone at that moment. Skye and the members of her team were thinking about something else entirely. They were thinking about Emmett.

  Who was this man, Skye wondered for the hundredth time since they’d met. Just when she thought she knew him, something else happened.

  After loading the stone into the truck earlier that morning, they started collecting tools and equipment so they could get the stone back to the shop for further observation. They couldn’t wait to match up the two fragments. In the excitement, they all rushed to load everything in spite of their fatigue from having just pulled an all-nighter.

  Suddenly, everyone stopped at the shrill scream. It was Lindsay. She had missed a step and was tumbling uncontrollably down the steep hill beside the abbey. It was a wet and slippery grassy slope that ended at an old stone retaining wall built centuries before. If Lindsay were to hit the sharp stones at the bottom, she would most certainly be injured.

  Emmett had been at the top of the slope with everyone else. But while none of the others had any time to do much more than realize what was happening, Emmett was instantly sliding down the hill in complete control. Bracing himself against the stone wall, he was in place just in time to catch Lindsay.

  “Oh, thanks,” the girl said, collecting herself. It is quite a thing to be fully expecting death one moment, and the next realizing everything is fine.

  Every part of the move was seen clearly by the team in the morning light: The fall, the slide, the save. The way Emmett moved seemed to defy the laws of physics. Lindsay had just been spared a trip to the emergency room, but that was a side note. At issue, was how.

  “Wow!” Sebastian intoned reverently. “How did he do that?” To actually beat someone in a free fall to the bottom of a hill requires skill that few possess. To do it in complete control, and in time to catch the other person, requires a command of one’s body that only those of special training can accomplish.

  “Never mind that,” Mert whispered. “Did you see the gun strapped to his ankle?”

  The twins and Damien nodded; they had all seen the weapon strapped to Emmett’s ankle as he slid down the sl
ope to Lindsay’s rescue. The cuff of his pant leg had been pushed up as he slid.

  “Didn’t I tell you this guy’s dangerous?” Mert asked with an air of superiority. “You should listen to me.”

  The four fell silent, thinking of this new development.

  “We should tell Skye,” Sebastian said.

  Oddly, it was Mert who refuted the suggestion.

  “No, I don’t think so.” He was scratching his chin in contemplation. “I think I have an idea, I will brief you all about it later.”

  “Well, we’d better get down there and see if Lindsay is alright,” Andrew said.

  They began making their way down the slope with utmost care; none of them wanted to take a tumble like Lindsay. Skye had preceded the rest of them down the hill and reached the pair just as Emmett was placing Lindsay safely on her feet.

  “Lindsay, are you alright?” she asked intensely as she put her hands on the girl. “That was a big fall!” Skye looked her over but could not find a scratch on her.

  “I am. Thanks to Emmett,” she said, brushing the mud off.

  The two looked at Emmett. “How did you get down here?” Lindsay asked, bewildered.

  Emmett’s eyes opened wide and he smiled his notorious smile. “I…fell too!” he offered. “I guess I just fell faster because I’m fatter…”

  “Oh,” Lindsay said. “Well, thanks for saving me!”

  Skye rolled her eyes. Emmett hadn’t fallen. She saw everything: the deliberate spring off the edge, the controlled slide, the cat-like landing on the retaining wall, the catching of the discombobulated girl. The catch was something in itself: a leg was flailing right towards his head as Lindsay fell. It would have knocked him unconscious had his hand not been there instantly to stop it. But not only did he stop the leg from hitting him, he caught the leg and put it on the ground, righting the girl’s body at the same time he absorbed all the energy of her fall. It seemed like all one motion. It looked humanly impossible, but Emmett made it seem natural.