Something was wrong with Phoebe. Something she wasn’t talking about, something I couldn’t figure out.
Something had changed between us and I didn’t know what it was. Or, when it was.
Every time I thought I was imagining things I realized I wasn’t.
She was acting strange and doing things she wouldn’t normally do. Being strange with me in particular.
For two nights now, in a row, she’d left my house before I woke up.
Leaving me like you would when you were just fucking around, messing around and not serious.
Then when I saw her she’d act like nothing was wrong, but her eyes gave her away.
There was a reserved, guarded look that blocked me out. Usually when I looked at her, her eyes would sparkle. The beautiful turquoise blue of her eyes would always brighten to a hue I couldn’t describe.
Lately they dulled, darkening with something I didn’t recognize and it felt like she was slipping away from me.
That was what she was like on the way to the cave, then she stuck with Akito most of the time like she didn’t want to be around me for too long.
The team trekked the path the directions gave until it got dangerous and I suggested that Scott and I carryon for the rest of the way.
At least then she gave me a little kiss before leaving, but even that didn’t feel like her.
That was yesterday.
I’d been inside the cave now for three days. Talk about stir-crazy. At least I could communicate with Akito through a wireless earpiece that fortunately worked at this level underground and Scott was good company.
He kept me distracted with talk on cars.
I just tried not to think about Phoebe.
I’d talk to her when I got out of here.
If I ever got out.
Jesus Christ, the directions led us into completely unknown territories. I didn’t even know Ayishiodo went down this far.
The secret path that led from the samurai to the box was the route we were on.
I knew it wasn’t exactly going to be easy but damn.
We’d had to rock climb some of the paths that had crumbled away probably decades ago. Twice I’d nearly almost fallen into the deep drop.
We came to a standstill at midday. A dead end. There was no more path to follow. Just the river.
We were fucked and I was just about to lose my damn mind.
I decided to speak to Akito to try and glean some ideas on what to do.
“There’s nothing around, but the directions continue,” I explained.
I looked at the cave walls and frowned. The formation looked solid, as if it had always been that way. There was no path, no hidden crevices or anything. Just a wall with the river flowing around the curve.
“Tai, there’s literally nothing?” Akito asked, disappointment heavy in his voice.
“Just the river Akito.”
“Hey… look,” Scott said, pointing to the wall across from us. We stood near the river bank.
I looked at what Scott pointed at.
It was what looked like an Egyptian Hieroglyph. Maybe.
I moved closer to get a better look. It was a little faded but yep that was a hieroglyph alright.
We’d never seen anything like that until now. So far we’d had Arabic for directions, but we knew from the journal that the Egyptian hieroglyph was used for the reference to the box.
“Akito, there’s an Egyptian hieroglyph on the wall near the river.”
“What does it look like?” Akito asked.
That was a good question. I looked at it trying to think of how I would describe it. “Like a tin with a little flag on it.”
Akito went silent. “Tai you’re going to have to try a little harder than that.” He laughed.
“Can I talk to him?” I heard Phoebe say.
I straightened when I heard her voice. The gentleness in her tone reached inside me, filling me with something comforting.
“Phoebe,” I breathed.
“Hey.” She’d taken the phone so her voice was clearer now.
Scott looked at me and smiled to himself.
“Baby I’m stuck,” I chucked. “It’s the yōkai. You should see where I am. I might come back to you looking like hell.”
I heard her soft giggle.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Trying not to go insane.”
“Just be careful,” she cautioned.
I couldn’t help the smile that tugged at the corners of my lips. “I miss you.”
“I miss you too.”
God, why did I just sense the hesitation in her voice. Was that real or me being paranoid?
“You sure?”
“Of course… I thought maybe I could help with the description.”
“I swear it looks like a tin with a flag.” I looked at the drawing again and Scott nodded his agreement of the description.
Phoebe was silent for a moment then sighed. “Tai, I think what you’re looking at could be the character for a box with a cover on it. Does it maybe look like that rather than a tin with a flag.”
I narrowed my eyes and focused on the character. Yes. It did look like that.
Excitement filled me again.
“Scott what do you think? Box with a cover on it?”
“Yes that would be my other description.” Scott agreed.
“Phoebe it does look like that, but we’ve come to a dead end that couldn’t have been anything other than that centuries ago. There’s no path, just the river.”
“Where’s the drawing?”
“On the wall near the river.”
“What if you have to go in the river?” Excitement brightened her voice.
In the river?
Maybe the directions did continue indeed. Just under water.
“I’ll check it out.”
“Be careful,” she warned.
“I’ll be fine.” I liked that she was worried about me. It showed she still cared.
“What are you doing?” Scott asked as I set down the phone earpiece on the ground and started taking off my clothes.
“Phoebe thinks I should go in the river. I’ll check it out.”
Scott nodded. “Okay, signal if you need me.”
I left my pants on, took a flashlight and a headlight then walked into the river. It was a lot deeper than it looked. The murkiness at the bank made it appear more shallow.
I dove in and started looking around under the water with the help of the headlight. I swam around for about fifteen minutes but came up with nothing.
Looking at the symbol on the wall again gave me an idea to go in that direction, just underneath the symbol. Maybe it was like an arrow.
I was glad I did that because holy shit, was there a path that led straight under the wall.
Fuck, I absolutely had to give our samurai credit for this. The man knew what he was doing.
I swam back up to tell Scott, then went back under and proceeded down the path. To my surprise it branched out to clearer water and another section of the cave so I didn’t need to swim underwater. An Arabic symbol on the wall Phoebe told me was for the word here gave me a jolt of excitement and I knew the directions meant for me to continue swimming.
I swam on, propelled with adrenaline, until I came to the end. I wished I had the phone, or that Phoebe or Akito were here. On the wall near the bank of the river was the Arabic symbol for here again, and the Egyptian hieroglyph for box.
I swam over to it and pressed my hand against the wall. As soon as I did that, the wall moved inwards and I realized that the area had actually been chiseled into. The section I touched was simply covering it.
I took out some tools I’d carried in my pocket and dug around it loosening it up. Once I pried it away, a slab of gold caught my eyes.
I gasped and reached in, securing my hands on the object.
I pulled it out.
The trusted box!
“Whoa. No shit,” I yelped, looking at it with comple
te disbelief. I couldn’t believe I’d found it.
The thing was just a little bigger than a jewelry box, but it was made of solid gold. I didn’t think twice about opening it.
The breath left my lungs as I lifted the latch that secured it. Inside were diamonds so bright they shone. The box was filled with them.
In the center of the diamonds however was a single object that held my attention even more than the diamonds.
It was a curved, comma shaped bead the size of my thumb made of jade.
Even I knew what this was.
Akito grew me up on stories of the treasures of Japan. Artifacts like the imperial regalia that represented the three primary virtues. The sword of valor, the mirror of virtue and the jewel of benevolence. That jewel looked just like this.
The jewel of benevolence was currently kept at the central shrine of the Three Palace Sanctuaries at the Tokyo Imperial Palace.
This one in the box must have been something of similar value. A magatama, which were most often used as ceremonial or religious objects.
What I held here in my hands was a piece of history.
Priceless treasure that the samurai hid.
I understood the respect Akito gave things like this. He didn’t do this work to find treasure. It was because he wanted to find lost things that meant something long ago.
Phoebe told me that the trusted box was to be delivered to the emperor for safe keeping as it contained the gift that would set Japan free. The samurai’s mission was to protect the box at all costs and see that it didn’t fall into the wrong hands if he failed to deliver it. He came to the cave to hide it after being pursued by the enemy army who knew what was inside the box. He left the directions in the journal with the hope that his comrades would find it.
Well now all lost things, samurai and box were found. Mystery solved. No more lost.
Lost.
Everything seemed to make me think of Phoebe these days.
How she was lost to me then came back, but still felt lost to me.
I didn’t want her to be.
Chapter 29
Tai
With the investigation over, that just left us with the planning of the exhibit and getting ready for the event.
We had to make room for one more exhibit, the treasure box.
Diamonds intact and all.
When news spread of that we had the media all over us for days. There was excitement throughout the whole of Japan, and it was very fitting with Obon just a handful of weeks away.
I didn’t tend to get involved much in that aspect but this time was different.
We’d never discovered anything like this before. I felt privileged to be a part of it.
The extravagance and excitement also made a good distraction for the tenseness between Phoebe and me, which still continued.
And continued.
The week before Obon was when I really started getting antsy. She continued to either leave me before dawn, or go to the museum to work on the exhibit.
On the Saturday I thought I’d lesson the tension with a dinner celebration. I invited Phoebe, Akito, and Mitsuke, thinking it would be nice to get together.
I made a feast from my mother’s recipes which everyone enjoyed. We had a great evening. Phoebe sat next to me, and for a moment things were normal. I even caught either Akito or Mitsuke looking at us, beaming with pride
After the grand feast I suggested a movie. However, Akito declined.
“I need my sleep. I’m old,” Akito laughed. “But you guys stay and watch it.”
“He means you two. Not you guys as in me included,” Mitsuke intoned, pointing at Phoebe and me.
While Phoebe’s cheeks turned a warm rose color, Akito started to laugh.
“Cookies my daughter?” Akito said to Mitsuke.
“Yes, Father.” Mitsuke beamed, linking her arms with Akito’s. The two walked out of the sitting room talking about what cookies they were going to make.
When I heard them leave, I turned to Phoebe.
She’d moved over to the floor-to-ceiling glass window to look at the coy carp pond in the back garden. The soft moonlight turned the surface silver and cast a glow on the cherry blossom trees that hung over it.
She rested against the glass and glanced over at me as I approached. Her blue gaze took me in with an admiration. A closer look revealed that that guarded look was down. Hadn’t been down in weeks.
She had a similar appearance to the woman she was weeks ago when I’d gone to see her at the little cave on Akito’s manor.
The mermaid’s tavern.
This was her. That beautiful siren that oozed sex appeal and bamboozled me.
Why did she change?
What happened?
“Phoebe.”
I reached out and touched the edge of her beautiful face, loving the feel of her soft, silky-smooth skin. She rested against my palms and closed her eyes. But, when she opened her eyes a tear ran down her cheek.
“Phoebe, what’s the matter?” I hoped I hadn’t upset her.
“Nothing.” She looked up and held my gaze.
“Something’s wrong. Something’s been wrong for weeks. What is it?”
She shook her head and I didn’t know if that meant she was still saying nothing was wrong, or if she couldn’t say what was wrong.
“Phoebe –” she stopped me with a kiss, and God there was no way that I could back out to continue with my much needed quest to find out what was wrong with my girl.
“Make love to me, Tai.” She breathed against my lips.
Make love.
My eyes never left hers. Not once. I was too afraid to look away in case this was some dream.
Make love.
Yes, I could because I loved her.
I loved her so much that love consumed me, and this was the closest thing I’d had to her in weeks.
“With pleasure.” I lowered to kiss her again and the minute my lips touched hers heat rushed over my entire body, spreading from my lips then right over me.
It reached into my soul, beckoning that need for her.
Make love.
I would with everything in me and all that I felt.
Phoebe
I secured my arms around Tai as he picked me up.
He took me up the stairs to our bedroom.
Ours. No not our bedroom, it was his.
I’d just overstayed my time so long that I thought his things were mine.
Just like how he thought I was his.
And here I was being unfair to him all over again.
Asking him to make love to me, to give me something I needed, when all the while I had this cloud over my mind and body that would eventually destroy us.
I didn’t want it to, and I couldn’t end us. Not when I loved him so much.
Not when all I wanted was to be with him.
The gentle breeze blew the curtains out either side from the long, glass windows and moonlight spilled into the room. It created that dreamlike feel I always felt with him, but more so today. Tonight.
It lured me to indulge on the godlike, beautiful man who carried me in his arms as if I were weightless. Tonight, he held me like I was a part of him. like I really was treasure to him.
No one had ever made me feel that. No one.
I asked him to make love to me, but it was I that wanted to make love to him.
He stripped me down and placed fiery kisses all over my body.
Usually I’d feel the ecstatic bliss of his touch in one place at a time. Tonight, it was all over. We kissed the clothes off each other.
His kisses were urgent and exploratory; it told me he wanted me just as much as I wanted him.
I molded myself into the lean contours of his body, arching into each kiss and enjoying the delicious taste of him. Then his grip tightened on my hips with possessive need.
We both lowered to the smooth silkiness of the sheets, naked and together. Tangled in the bonds of the love I felt.
As he slid into me I sucked in a deep breath.
A deep moan stirred within the hard walls of his chest. He looked down at me as he moved back and started pumping. Passion then took hold of us, flooding me with desire. Pulsing through my veins, spiraling throughout my body.
My heart took in the moment, expanding and glowing, reaching out to him, and suddenly a golden wave of bliss surrounded me. Better than sexual desire.
My brain, which had protected me for so long, warned me to take hold of myself, grip my feelings and rein them back in, but as I gazed up at Tai, I didn’t want to.
I wanted to yield to all the emotions I felt for him. Everything that captivated and captured me.
I wanted to abandon my fears, all of it and feel love.
Love.
Just acknowledging it sent a jolt of electricity through me. He sensed the awakening response within me and pumped even harder. I moaned at the impact and cried out his name.
The turbulence of ecstasy surged through me as he really got going and my body radiated with fire.
The orgasm that erupted within me scorched my mind clean of everything, shrinking into raw, primitive passion.
I writhed against him in overload, coaxing him into his own release, which I noticed he held back.
He leaned down onto me, grabbing my hand and lacing his fingers through mine as he thrust into me one last time, giving into his own climax. He released his warmth into me with a deep growl of pleasure and stilled.
I couldn’t disguise my body’s reaction or deny the feelings that warmed my heart.
His warm breath caressed the hollow in my neck. He released my hand and moved onto his back, but I followed him so I could rest my head against the corded muscles of his chest.
“What are you doing to me, Phoebe?” he whispered against the top of my head.
It was the note of worry in his voice that caught my attention. I lifted my head to gaze up at him and saw the anguished question in his eyes, probing to my very soul.
This wasn’t about fun anymore. Not for either of us.
But then it never was.
Not ever.
I couldn’t answer him.
I just placed my head back on his chest and closed my eyes, not knowing what I was going to do.
Blossoms of The Heart Page 24
