The Secret of the Codex

by Melissa Frey

  Mandy raised her eyes to Justin’s face, uncertain of what she would see there. She knew what he was feeling, but she needed to see it for herself to believe it was real.

  What she saw in his face made her heart skip a beat. As soon as her eyes met his, she felt an overwhelming love—but it wasn’t coming from her.

  It was coming from Justin.

  The grief she’d been feeling was temporarily overpowered by this new feeling. Channeling Justin’s love for her, all she wanted to do was hold him and never let go.

  This new sensation was consuming, more surreal than anything she’d ever experienced. She had never been this close to anyone in all her life; she supposed no one ever had been. And she’d never even suspected that he loved her this much.

  Justin tenderly placed his hand on the back of her neck. Mandy’s skin electrified at the touch as Justin leaned down to kiss her.

  Mandy’s mind overloaded with emotion as their lips met. Their combined emotion surged through her veins, making it nearly impossible for Mandy to think about anything else but Justin and how desperately she needed him—and how much he needed her. Mandy had to remind herself to breathe as the kiss intensified; she felt raw emotion take her over, and she knew that, in this moment, she and Justin were in complete agreement about one thing.

  They were meant for each other.

  It was a simple, almost obvious truth, but it hadn’t even occurred to Mandy until this very moment. Something had been in the way, something she still wasn’t able to put a finger on. Something she hadn’t even realized was there. In this eternal moment, all the walls between them fell away. And all that was left was Justin.

  After too short a time, Justin pulled away. Mandy heard him remember where they were, what was happening around them. It occurred to Mandy that she should be embarrassed, but she quickly realized that Grady didn’t even notice they were here. The only person Grady saw—the only reality he knew in this moment—was the woman he loved.

  Grady.

  Grady’s eyes shot up, instinctively searching for the source of the voice he’d just heard. He gazed at Mandy and Justin—realizing for what might have been the first time that they were standing there—but was only met with questioning eyes.

  Grady. A familiar, comforting voice resounded once again in his head. A voice he now recognized, a voice he trusted, a voice he’d heard so many times before.

  Kayla.

  Grady, go get the globe.

  Grady froze in place.

  She wasn’t sure what was happening. She only knew that she could now hear Grady’s every thought, so she reasoned he could hear hers. And since her body wasn’t responding to her commands at the moment, she figured it was worth a shot.

  Ignoring the stabbing pain still torturing her brain, she concentrated on his name.

  Grady.

  She felt his confusion at once, realized he wasn’t quite understanding. So she tried again.

  Grady.

  He understood that time, remembered how it had felt in Leticia, remembered her voice.

  Grady, go get the globe.

  Okay, that was unexpected. Her subconscious had somehow taken over. Why had she told him that? What good would the globe do?

  But, for some unknown reason, she knew that the globe was what she needed to get out of this vision-induced coma.

  Maybe something besides Grady had entered her mind.

  Her body couldn’t feel Grady leave, but she knew when he did. She could see everything he could as he ran back toward the main part of the dig, desperate to find the globe.

  “Jackie!” Grady was still dumbfounded at what had just happened, but there was a reason Kayla could communicate with him again; there was no way he would question that now.

  Jackie came running out of the communications trailer. “Sorry, Grady, we’re still working on getting everything up and running again, but . . .”

  “No, Jackie, that doesn’t matter,” he interrupted with a wave of his hand. “Do you know about the globe we found here a few weeks ago?”

  “Sure. Jack had me examining it. I couldn’t find out much, though.”

  “It’s okay; it doesn’t matter. Where is it now?”

  Jackie nodded toward her tent. “I left it in the trailer with Jack originally, but I went back later and took it to my tent. I wasn’t trying . . .”

  “You mind if I grab it?”

  Jackie blinked at him. “No, of course not.”

  Grady took off running. He yelled a quick “Thanks!” back in her general direction before she was out of earshot and left her frozen in place, eyes wide.

  As soon as the tent came into view, Grady came to an abrupt stop. He shouldn’t have been surprised at what he saw, given everything that had transpired in the past few minutes, yet somehow he was.

  From every crevice, every opening in the khaki-colored canvas, brilliant rays of light shot out in every direction.

  The entire tent was glowing.

  Kayla could see the glowing tent in Grady’s thoughts, shining brightly in the darkness. Yes! This was what she needed, what she knew would wake her from this painful slumber.

  Go ahead, it’s safe, she relayed to Grady when she felt his hesitation.

  He took a few tentative steps toward the light.

  It’s okay, I promise. She was beyond doubting now.

  Apparently Grady could sense her resolve. He broke into a run and batted aside the canvas door.

  The light was blinding. Grady shielded his eyes the best he could as he entered the tent. Struggling to see anything in the radiant light, he searched for the globe.

  After only a few short seconds, he was able to determine where the light was coming from—a simple cardboard box sat unassumingly in the dirt next to the tent’s sole desk. He reached down and snatched it up, box and all, and exited the tent, nearly tearing the canvas door in two. The instant the box was out from under the canvas-lined abode, the tent went dark.

  Night had long fallen on the dig, but the globe burned as bright as the sun and illuminated Grady’s path. He had no trouble finding his way back to Kayla.

  As he approached, he felt Mandy and Justin staring at him. He supposed their stares were warranted—no one could have missed the glowing box he held in his hands.

  Bring it here.

  Grady walked over to Kayla and set the box down next to her.

  Pull it out of the box; put my hand on it.

  Grady hesitated. This thing was shining like the sun; wouldn’t it stand to reason that it was just as hot?

  It’s okay. Trust me; this is right.

  Sighing, Grady acquiesced. He cautiously peeled back the cardboard flaps and reached inside. He took a deep breath before placing his own hands on the globe.

  But, to his utter relief, it felt just like he remembered it—just like stone that had been buried in the ground for a thousand years. It was almost—cold.

  Carefully he set it on the ground near Kayla’s hand. Then he reached for her hand and, after gently kissing it, set it carefully on the shining globe.

  The moment her hand touched the sphere, her back arched violently. She stayed that way for a full five seconds. Then, as her body started to shake with wild spasms, she started screaming.

  CHAPTER 38

  Traitor

  The only thing he could think was that he shouldn’t be here. He should be doing something constructive, something useful. But nothing was coming to mind.

  So instead he sat silently, frozen on the ground, staring ahead but seeing nothing. He couldn’t figure out what he was supposed to do next. So he just let his mind wander, simply staring off into space and letting himself think about absolutely nothing.

  It was a blissful experience, almost. With the mind completely devoid of thought, a person’s consciousness becomes clear—and the next coherent thought is likely to be, in some manner, utterly profound.

  A person just needs to give their subconscious mind time to figure things out.

&n
bsp; So he continued to sit, unmoving, until something came to him. But it wasn’t at all what he expected.

  Instead of discovering a profound truth or philosophical revelation, his mind suddenly flashed into overdrive. Pictures flashed in front of him in rapid succession—a dizzying sensation that made him glad he was sitting down.

  His first thought was neither earth-shattering nor novel; he simply thought that, on one level, this felt like a vision. Or what he imagined this sort of vision might feel like.

  But on another level entirely, one he couldn’t quite define, this felt completely foreign to him. And it scared him. Because he didn’t know exactly what this was, or where it was coming from. He only knew—sensed, really—that he should pay attention.

  At the precise moment he decided to focus entirely on this “vision”—if that’s what this was—his brain was bombarded with immense pain. For the briefest of seconds, he thought that someone had come up behind him and rammed a knife through his skull. But as the seconds passed, he realized that the pain was coming from inside his head.

  It shouldn’t be this way. No vision should hurt this much—something was wrong. Very wrong.

  He had to figure out a way to correct it, to fix it somehow . . .

  He felt his eyes roll back into his head before his body violently started shaking.

  Kayla felt herself wake up, but it was not the release she’d been expecting. Instead, her convulsing body threw her back into a harsh reality, one that seemed almost worse than the coma.

  What was she thinking by having Grady bring her the globe? The thing was glowing—surely that couldn’t have been a good sign. She should have trusted Grady’s hesitance and found another way out. Because this was simply unbearable.

  Now that she knew what was happening, now that she was more aware than ever, the pain in her head increased to the breaking point. The screaming she’d been wishing she could do only minutes before was spilling out of her like an avalanche. But, again, it was not the release she’d hoped for. Her piercing screams almost seemed to make things worse, compounding the stabbing pain in her head. Grady—and probably Mandy and Justin, too—had to be nearby, and her screaming was likely terrifying them.

  So she tried to stop. She tried to eke a simple semblance of willpower from her shredded brain, but her entire essence was focused on the pain. She just couldn’t silence the screaming, no matter how hard she fought. Her mind was crying for a way out, begging her subconscious for any release. So, though she knew it would be futile, she fought harder, tried harder, begged her mind for release from this pain.

  But nothing happened. Why wasn’t this stopping? Surely this couldn’t go on forever.

  She tried to think of something else besides the pain. Something—anything—to think about that might take her mind off what was happening. Anything to get her through this pain.

  Nothing.

  So she took the only other option available—she faced it head-on. The choice was simple: fight, or be destroyed.

  The second choice wasn’t an option.

  Gathering every ounce of strength she possessed and collecting it in the center of herself, she focused that pinpoint of strength solely on the pain. She fought her subconscious for a minuscule amount of brainpower, and, with nothing now dividing her focus, she was finally rewarded. She began to recall her vision, the newest one, in tiny flashes. Nothing too spectacular, nothing too insightful. Just a brief, barely coherent flash of an image, which quickly faded to black.

  But it was what she needed. Grasping on to what felt like the only thin strand of sanity she had left, she struggled to hold on until the images lasted longer and longer. They eventually started to overtake her brain, inch by inch.

  And the agonizing pain, the pain she thought would surely last forever and swiftly kill her, began to subside. Slowly, very slowly, Kayla began to retake control.

  The screaming subsided. The pain was lessening. Kayla was exhausted, her mind drained. Her first thought was of aspirin, the next of Grady. And that was when she noticed it. She was able to think of something other than the pain. Because the pain was gone. Completely.

  He was waking up. That’s that only way he could describe it. He knew he’d never been asleep, but somehow he was waking up. And the pain was slowly lessening, thankfully.

  But much too slowly. This pain was so . . . intense. Blinding.

  At least it was going away.

  Now he had a bigger problem, a question that had been gnawing at him the minute the pain had started to subside: what did this vision mean? This wasn’t like anything he’d ever felt before, so it had to have been shown to him for a reason, had to mean something.

  But what?

  Kayla sat up, blinking furiously. Where was she? And where were the others? She had sensed others around her, more than just Grady. They must still be here, right? So where were they? Her vision wasn’t clearing nearly as quickly as she would’ve liked.

  Nevertheless, she gradually regained her sight, and, by the light of the nearly full moon and a dim light over the work trailer, she began to make out blurry objects in front of her. Slowly, things came into focus. The trailer, a collection of canvas tents in the distance, and . . .

  She swallowed hard, her memory coming back in a rush. A single tear escaped her eye for her deceased friend. Life wasn’t fair, not in the least.

  Then she remembered that she wasn’t alone. She sniffed and wiped her eye as she turned to look for Grady.

  Where was he?

  The convulsions had apparently laid him out in the dirt. He slowly sat up, then carefully stood. He reached to wipe the dirt off his back before taking in his surroundings.

  Good, no one was around. With any luck, no one had seen what had happened. That was the last thing he needed right now.

  Holun closed his eyes, for once not looking for a vision.

  He now knew what he had to do.

  Grady.

  When Kayla finally laid her eyes on him, she could only think his name. The trauma she had just endured was making any other thought difficult. Her brain was apparently still recovering.

  So she met his gaze and flashed him a sweet smile. She knew he had been there, every step of the way. He had been by her side; he had kept his head when she needed him most.

  I love you.

  She waited, but heard no response. Grady?

  Again, nothing.

  She noticed the confused look on Grady’s face in the same instant it occurred to her: she couldn’t hear him anymore. Their telepathic connection, just like before, had been severed yet again.

  She turned to him, holding out her hand. He took it and, being the complete gentleman he was, helped her stand up.

  She was more stable on her feet than she thought she’d be, given what she’d just experienced. She kept a hold of Grady’s hand as she turned to see Mandy and Justin standing nearby.

  The looks on their faces made Kayla smile. “Hey.” She heard Grady chuckle under his breath.

  “Hey?” Mandy was the first to reply, her eyes abnormally large. She started gushing. “That’s all you can say? Hey?! Are you crazy? I’m glad you’re okay, but come on! Really? I was so worried!” She ran to Kayla and threw her arms around her friend.

  Kayla laughed, loving the sound of it. “I’m fine. Now.” She offered a half-smile, half-cringe in Grady’s direction.

  “Kayla, what happened?” Justin joined Mandy and placed a gentle hand on Kayla’s shoulder.

  Kayla shrugged, not wanting to go into the details. Her friends were worried enough. “Just another vision. I haven’t really had time to make much sense of it, though.”

  Grady frowned. “It hasn’t worked that way before. Usually you’re so sure.”

  Kayla’s shoulders slumped ever so slightly. “I know.”

  A brief moment of silence ensued. Kayla strained to remember what she’d seen while unconscious, but, like an elusive dream, the images had faded once she’d woken up. That worried her a lit
tle. Had she gone through all of that for nothing?

  “So are we just not gonna talk about it?” Mandy’s voice broke into her thoughts. Kayla thought she might’ve missed part of the conversation, then realized that Mandy was looking at Justin. But what was she talking about?

  Grady spoke before Kayla had a chance to. “Talk about what?”

  Justin tried to wave it off. “It’s not important right now.”

  “Yeah, right,” Mandy scoffed. “Are you going to tell them or should I?”

  “Tell them what?” Justin shoved his hands in his pockets, something Kayla had never seen him do. She supposed there weren’t many things that made Justin uncomfortable.

  But Mandy looked like she was about to jump out of her skin. “About the, the . . . mind thing!” She waved her hand between her and Justin.

  Kayla froze, eyes wide. Had it happened to Mandy and Justin, too?

  Grady asked the obvious question. “Uh . . . mind thing?”

  Mandy nodded vigorously, her short ponytail bobbing. “Yeah. We could hear each other’s thoughts, read each other’s minds. It was amazing.” She grinned sloppily at Justin, who, to Kayla’s surprise, seemed to give in to Mandy’s exuberance and grinned as he pulled Mandy closer and laid a sweet kiss on the top of her head. What on earth was going on around here? How long had she been out?

  “Wow,” came Grady’s response, his eyes turning to Kayla. She could almost see him asking if they should share their experience.

  And Kayla instantly felt as though she were back in fifth grade, in gym class. When she’d missed the tenth free throw shot in a row. Back before she was good at sports. Back when feeling an inch tall would have been an improvement.