Fountain of Secrets (The Relic Seekers)

by Clenney, Anita

  “I see him too,” Sandy said.

  “Oh my God,” Rhonda said. “Merlin.”

  “He’s waving,” Alice said. “He’s waving at us.”

  Marco. What the hell was he doing here?

  “There’s another man,” Halle said. “Oh my God.”

  “I think it’s King Arthur,” Alice said.

  “He isn’t dressed like a knight,” Larry said.

  That was because he was Fergus. “You need to faint or something,” Jake whispered to Kendall, “so we can end this séance.”

  Kendall gave a dramatic groan and slumped against Jake. He announced to everyone that she’d used all her strength and needed to rest. The group was beside themselves with excitement. Even Jake felt bad for the deception. Nathan would have to send them on a trip to make it up. The rest of the group decided to stay in hopes of seeing something else.

  Jake ushered Kendall back toward the Abbey House. “I thought Nathan said they weren’t coming.”

  “I think Fergus does what he wants,” Kendall said. They caught up to the two men just past King Edgar’s Chapel. Fergus was fussing at Marco.

  “I wanted to see the place again,” Marco said. “It’s been so long.” He was wearing his dark monk’s robes.

  “Miss Kendall, Jake, very good to see you,” Fergus said.

  “When did you get here?” Kendall asked.

  Fergus straightened his jacket. “About half an hour ago.”

  “I didn’t know you were coming,” she said.

  “Neither did Nathan,” Fergus said. “He won’t be happy.”

  “Why are you here?” Kendall asked.

  “I was worried,” Fergus said.

  Marco looked at Jake. “We need to talk to Adam.”

  “Adam?” Kendall looked at Jake.

  Jake raised his brows and shrugged. “How did you find us?”

  “A little boy told us that you were going to the abbey to find the secret tunnel,” Fergus said.

  “Damned kid,” Jake said.

  “Did you find the tunnel?” Marco asked.

  “We found something,” Jake said. “We didn’t have time to explore.”

  “Do you know where the tunnel leads?” Kendall asked.

  “To the Tor. To the fountain.” Marco scratched his white beard. “He must not find it.”

  “You mean the Reaper?” Kendall asked.

  “The Reaper. If he finds the fountain and the chalice, we’re doomed.”

  “Raphael said he was trying to get to the fountain without passing the statues.”

  “You saw Raphael?” Fergus asked.

  “He showed up earlier looking for Nathan.”

  “Where is Nathan?” Fergus asked.

  “We haven’t seen him since yesterday morning,” Kendall said.

  Fergus looked alarmed. “That long?”

  Jake glanced at Kendall. Without words they agreed not to mention for the moment their suspicion that Nathan might have murdered someone.

  “I don’t think Raphael means to hurt him,” Kendall said. “He seemed to be trying to protect him. He said Nathan is in danger from the Reaper.”

  “Let’s get back to our room,” Jake said. “We need to talk in private. You’re staying at the hotel in town?”

  “No,” Fergus said. “We’re staying here at the Abbey House. I thought Nathan would be here with you.”

  “No. We haven’t heard from him.”

  “Most unusual,” Fergus said.

  “Did you bring our things?” Kendall asked.

  “Yes. They’re in our room.” Fergus whispered to them that he didn’t trust Marco on his own. “He’s feeling much better, but he still wanders, mind and body. It’s rather like babysitting.”

  “Has he mentioned Adam to you?” Kendall asked as they walked back to Fergus and Marco’s room.

  Fergus kept his voice low. “Marco mentions so many things. It’s hard to keep track.”

  “Marco, Raphael said the Reaper mustn’t get the chalice. What chalice?”

  Marco turned. “The cup of Christ.”

  “The Holy Grail?” Jake asked.

  “Yes, the Holy Grail,” Marco said.

  “You have it?” Jake asked.

  “It was one of the first relics we protected, but we lost it many years ago,” Marco said. “Raphael has been searching for it ever since. If the Reaper gets it, there will be little hope.”

  “Why?” Jake asked. “What can he do with the chalice?”

  “The Fountain of Youth keeps us strong and healthy, so we can protect the relics. That’s why we are so old. We must protect the relics. But we only drink from a ceremonial cup once a year. If someone were to take water from the Fountain of Youth and drink it from the chalice, then he would be eternal. And that is what the Reaper wants. To be eternal.”

  “That’s just what we need. No offense,” Jake said, “but why aren’t you young like Raphael if you also drink from the fountain?”

  “I stopped drinking years ago,” the old man said.

  Kendall looked at Marco. “May I ask why?”

  “I lost the right to drink. That’s all I can say.”

  “There was a chalice at the place where we were staying before,” Kendall said. “It’s supposed to have healing powers. It was stolen earlier today. Could that be your chalice?”

  “It was here at the abbey once upon a time,” Marco said. “I wasn’t responsible for moving it, so I don’t know. If the Reaper finds it and takes it to the fountain, we’re doomed.” He looked out the window toward the Tor. “The only way he could do that is if he’s created another gateway, another portal.”

  “Like the one in the maze?” Jake asked.

  “He can’t use ours. They’re protected by the statues, but if he has created another portal, it will be very bad. He and Raphael are very knowledgeable about such things. That’s part of the reason they worked so well together.”

  “Raphael and the Reaper worked together?” she asked.

  “At one time they were as close as brothers,” Marco said. “When the Reaper betrayed us, he tried to persuade Raphael to join him. Raphael refused, but it broke his heart. A heart that had already been broken. That’s why he avoids women. Raphael appears gruff, but he has a sensitive soul.”

  Jake frowned. “Are we talking about the same Raphael? The one with tattoos on his face and a wicked dagger?”

  Marco frowned. “Pay me no mind, just the ramblings of an old man.”

  “Marco, do you know who the Reaper is?” Kendall asked.

  Jake took a step closer in case she got the answer she expected.

  “No one knows who the Reaper is now,” Marco said.

  “Now?” Jake asked.

  “He will have changed his appearance.” Marco rubbed his head.

  “Plastic surgery?” Kendall asked.

  “Perhaps,” Marco said.

  “What was his name then?” Kendall asked.

  “Luke. He was Luke.”

  “I believe Marco needs his medication,” Fergus said. “And he needs rest. He’s still healing.”

  “Thank you again, Marco. You saved my life.”

  “It was necessary. We need you to save him.”

  Jake heard Kendall pull in a quick breath. She touched the old man’s arm. “Save who?”

  Marco frowned and looked around the room. “Where is my bed?”

  Here we go, Jake thought.

  “Your bed is here, Marco.” Fergus pointed him to one of the two beds in the room.

  “This place looks most strange,” Marco said. “Where is Arthur? I always check on Arthur before he retires to bed. Troubles weigh heavily on his mind.”

  Kendall, Jake, and Fergus shared a glance. “He has spells like this,” Fergus said. “Marco has quite the imagination. I believe he’s very well-read.”

  And very old. Like Merlin-old.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  BRANDI WATCHED AS a man stepped from the shadows of a building across the street fro
m the Chalice Well. Only one police car was left there. She’d heard that the caretaker had been murdered. At first, she’d worried that it might have been Kendall, that her note hadn’t arrived in time. The man turned to glance at Little Saint Michael’s, and she saw his face clearly for a second. It was Nathan. He must have stolen the chalice.

  He walked toward the town, and she followed at a distance. She was going to destroy the chalice before the Reaper could get his hands on it. Nathan started moving faster, and she had to jog to keep up. God, he was fast, and he wasn’t even running. He cut through Glastonbury Abbey. Brandi hurried to catch up. She heard a noise up ahead as if someone had fallen. She slowed when she got close, heart pounding wildly. It was crazy to consider trying to take the chalice from him, if he had it. She didn’t know what was up with him, but whatever she’d seen back at the hotel wasn’t quite… normal.

  It was quiet now. She could see the ruins beyond her, but the sounds had disappeared. Where was he? She pulled out the knife Thomas had given her. There was a movement beside her, and a man rushed at her from the bushes. She tried to move aside, but he was coming too fast. Instinctively, she lifted the blade, and the knife sank into his chest. She gasped and jumped back.

  He fell to his knees, clutching at the knife, then collapsed.

  “Oh God.” She hadn’t meant to stab him. She just wanted the chalice. She knelt down to see if he was still alive. It was so dark underneath the trees, she couldn’t see well enough to evaluate his injury. She grabbed his hand and took his pulse. None. Bile rose in her throat. Even though she had told Nathan she would kill him if he got in her way, she wasn’t a killer.

  Her knee hit something near his body. A bag lay on the ground. He must have dropped it. She felt the bag. There was something hard inside, the shape of a cup, a large cup.

  She grabbed the bag. She couldn’t leave the knife Thomas had given her, so she pulled it from the body and wiped it with the bottom of his shirt. Then cradling the bag in her arms, she ran.

  Kendall’s senses were still rattled after Raphael’s unexpected visit. At least Raphael didn’t appear intent on killing Nathan for kidnapping him. It was sad sometimes what had to pass for a ray of hope.

  “We’ve got to go to the tunnel,” Kendall said.

  “We need to wait until everyone’s asleep. There are too many people still wandering around. We should grab a few hours’ sleep and plan on working all night.”

  “I need a shower,” Jake said. He opened his duffel bag and took out a pair of underwear and his dopp kit. “My own deodorant. Life is good.”

  “What about pajamas,” Kendall called after him, but the door was already closing. She smiled. Did it matter now? They had taken things to a new level. She wasn’t sure how it would all work out, but for now, she would just let it ride. It felt good not to be on guard, worrying about a touch or a kiss killing a relationship. With Jake, her senses had a different effect. It was intense, but good.

  Kendall went through her backpack and duffel bag. Seeing her clothes and brush and equipment was almost as good as finding a new relic. She hung the clothes that she hadn’t even unpacked in Italy and heard the water turn off. She prepared herself for Jake to emerge in some form of undress. He shocked her by appearing in one of the robes from the bathroom.

  “You all right?” he asked. “You look like you’ve seen a vision.”

  “You emerging from the bathroom in more than your underwear must be some kind of miracle.”

  “Sir Jake at your service,” he said, bowing. “Shall I sleep in the hallway, m’lady, or perhaps you would allow me to rest upon the cold, hard floor. I can cushion my head upon my arms if you don’t want to lend me a pillow from yon bed.”

  She smiled. “Shut up and get in bed. I’m going to shower and get changed.”

  He grinned and dropped the robe. He might as well have been naked.

  Kendall slapped his butt. “Anyone ever tell you that you have a nice ass?”

  “No one that matters.”

  Good answer.

  He pulled back the covers that they had wrecked earlier and lay down, watching her. “I figure we’ll sleep for three hours. That should be enough time for even the late-night wanderers to be in bed.”

  She hurried through her shower and joined him in the bed. He was staring at the ceiling. “What are you doing?”

  “Thinking.”

  “About?”

  “Life.”

  “Any part of it in particular?” she asked. “Or just life in general?”

  “Parents. You and I and Nathan work together, and all three of us have screwed-up childhoods. Your mom died giving birth to you. Your dad’s at least several hundred years old and part of a secret group.” Jake shrugged. “And he may be the Reaper. Nathan can’t remember anything about his childhood. It’s all mystery.”

  “He told me some,” Kendall said.

  “When?”

  “That morning in his bedroom when he changed.”

  Jake frowned. “What’d he say?”

  “His mother died when he was a baby. His father died later. He was in a witness protection program or something.”

  “Hell, that’s worse than I thought. No wonder finding anything out about him is nearly impossible.”

  “What about you?” Kendall asked, feeling a sense of anticipation. Would she find out he was Adam? Wouldn’t he know if he was?

  “I was orphaned when I was a toddler.”

  “A toddler?” Then he couldn’t be Adam. But Nathan’s father was in a witness protection program, and that didn’t fit either.

  “I never knew my mother or father or why they didn’t want me.”

  “Oh, Jake.”

  “The only thing I had was Lilly.”

  “Lilly? You mentioned her in your sleep the first night at Little Saint Michael’s.”

  “She was my friend when I was young. The only person I trusted for a long time.”

  “She was your Adam.”

  “What?”

  “Your best friend. Like Adam was mine.”

  He nodded. “I could tell her things I didn’t tell anyone else.”

  “Like?”

  “My dreams.”

  “What kind of dreams?”

  “King Arthur and knights. I’ve dreamed of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table for as long as I can remember.”

  Kendall’s jaw dropped. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”

  “That’s not something you advertise,” Jake said.

  “This is amazing. I thought you were a complete skeptic of anything unexplained.”

  “I was.” He looked at her. “Until now. I thought the other stuff was just dreams. A boy wanting to feel important. Then I met you. I’ve seen other things since. Like the couple in the forest. And I didn’t tell you this, but I saw King Arthur at the abbey when we had the séance. You were right. He looks like Nathan.” Jake seemed disturbed by that statement.

  “It must be this place.”

  “I guess. I don’t know how you can deal with this stuff all the time.”

  “It gets old, but I don’t have a choice. So what happened to Lilly?”

  “She died.”

  “What happened?”

  “I never knew. She just went away and they said she had died.”

  “I saw a grave once, when I touched you. Actually a couple of times. I saw blond hair. I wonder if that was her grave. But I had this feeling like I was suffocating.”

  Jake went completely still.

  Damn, Kendall. She was his best friend. “I’m sorry, Jake. That was insensitive of me.” He didn’t speak, didn’t even seem to be breathing. “Jake, what’s wrong?”

  Still he stared, unblinking. “Jake. You’re scaring me.” She shook him and he turned to face her. “What happened?”

  “I remembered something.”

  “About Lilly’s grave?”

  “It wasn’t Lilly’s grave.”

  “One of the girls in Iraq?”
<
br />   “No.”

  “Then whose?”

  He looked at her, his forehead bunched into a frown. “I don’t know.”

  “You remember a grave but don’t know whose it was?”

  Something flashed at the window. “What’s that?” Kendall asked.

  Jake got out of bed and walked to the window. He cracked the curtain, and Kendall saw lights.

  “Is it the lights on the Tor?” she asked.

  “No. Cops.”

  Kendall hurried over next to him. Two police cars were in the abbey parking lot. Several lanterns were moving across the abbey grounds. “I have a bad feeling.”

  “You wait here. I’ll go see what’s happening.”

  “I would rather be with you.”

  They dressed quickly and hurried outside to the ruins. “What’s going on?” Jake asked a man who was walking close by.

  “A little boy is missing. We’re helping with the search. His mother said he kept talking about a hidden tunnel. After that murder at Little Saint Michael’s, I guess the cops aren’t taking any chances.”

  Jake cursed. “I knew that kid was trouble.”

  A minute later, they heard raised voices. “Art! Oh my God. Where were you?”

  “There’s a dead man. I saw a dead man.”

  “Art, stop that. I’ve had it with your lying. This won’t get you out of trouble. I told you not to leave the room.”

  “But I saw him. There’s blood all over his chest.”

  “Art! I’m going to send you home to your father.”

  A second later, a scream sounded farther away. Kendall and Jake started running toward the sound. A small group had already gathered.

  “What happened?” Kendall asked.

  “There’s been another murder,” someone said. “A woman fell over the body.”

  Kendall looked at Jake. Nathan couldn’t have killed again. Kendall saw Halle near the front of the crowd. Alice stood next to her, face buried in Halle’s shoulder. Halle turned and saw Kendall. Her face froze and Kendall knew. She stood, not breathing as Halle led Alice over to them.

  “I’m so sorry, Kendall.”

  Kendall’s heart felt like a chunk of wood. She asked the question anyway, holding her breath, hoping, praying for a different answer than the one she knew she would get. “Who is it?” she whispered, feeling the words scrape out of her mouth.