The Lost Chalice (The Relic Seekers Book 3) Read online

  Jake’s frowned deepened, and Kendall felt his frustration and insecurity. Her hand slid from his arm to his chest. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

  His muscles relaxed. He wasn’t pleased, although he did give Nathan a glance that smacked of gloating before it quickly faded. “I’m worried about the Reaper. He must be pissed as hell at you for tricking him.”

  Nathan nodded. “And assuming he’s still alive, he’ll need the real Holy Grail more than ever to heal his injuries.” He looked at Kendall.

  Jake’s face tightened. “And you’re the one person who may be able to find it.”

  Kendall held her hand steady over his heart. “We have to do this, Jake. Raphael could die.”

  Resolve flickered in his eyes. “Go on then. But hurry back. You have your cross?”

  The Protettori crosses they wore functioned as amulets that allowed the wearer to pass the statues that guarded the Fountain of Youth and other treasures. They were also keys that opened some of the Protettori’s secrets doors.

  “Yes, but Nathan doesn’t.” Kendall touched her head, still tender from smacking the floor. “Remember, the Reaper said we’re safe as long as we’re touching someone with a cross.”

  Jake lifted a derisive brow. “So you’re gonna hold hands and trust the Reaper, the one who’s trying to kill us?”

  “Brandi got past the statues with Marco, so it must work,” Kendall said. Brandi’s parents had been killed by the Reaper. She was as determined to find the relics as Nathan was, but whereas he wanted to protect them, Brandi wanted them destroyed.

  Nathan rubbed his chin, something he did when he was puzzled. “But how did Marco get inside the temple? Jake had his cross.”

  Kendall looked at the outline of Marco’s cross under Jake’s shirt. “Maybe he doesn’t need a cross.”

  “I think Marco is hiding more than just his memory,” Jake said.

  “Nathan, you should take Jake’s cross, just to be sure.”

  “I’ll take Raphael’s,” Nathan said. “He won’t need it for a bit.”

  Jake scoffed. “I’ll try explaining that to him when he wakes up.”

  Nathan eased the cross over Raphael’s head. “He shouldn’t be too pissed since I’m trying to save him.”

  Jake’s sarcastic manner turned solemn as they prepared to leave. Nathan walked out first, and Jake caught Kendall’s arm, pulling her aside. His steel-gray eyes looked almost black. “Be careful.” He touched her cheek, and in that moment his thoughts were as clear as her own. He was scared that Nathan was Adam, that he would take Kendall away from him.

  Jake wasn’t afraid of much, certainly not of anything that she’d seen, other than maybe her safety, so it was troubling to read fear in him. More troubling to know she was to blame. “I will.”

  “Hurry back to me,” he said, touching a finger to her lips.

  Kendall was still thinking about the look in Jake’s eyes as she and Nathan drove past the abbey and the Chalice Well. “You haven’t heard anything I’ve said,” Nathan said as he pulled the car into a space at the base of the Tor.

  “Sorry. I was thinking.”

  He turned off the engine and gave her a searching look. “About Jake?”

  She blinked, hoping he didn’t see that he’d hit the target. “About lots of things.”

  “I know you have a thing for him.” A muscle twitched under his eye.

  They’d avoided talking about it, and she wasn’t sure what to say. “He’s not the arrogant jerk he pretended to be. But you knew he had another side, didn’t you? You know everything about the people around you.”

  Nathan rubbed his chin. “Not everything.”

  “What about me? Did you have any idea you already knew me when we met?”

  He frowned. “I still don’t know—”

  “For the sake of argument, pretend you’re Adam. Did you know me?”

  “I felt something when I saw you. I just thought . . .” Half a smile hovered over his lips. “I thought it was because you were beautiful.” Heat flared in his eyes. “You are.”

  “Thank you, but you’re avoiding my question.”

  “And you aren’t? We were talking about Jake.”

  Touché. She glanced at her watch. “We need to get moving. We don’t know how badly injured Raphael is.”

  Nathan reached over her to open the glove box for the flashlights, and his arm brushed her breast. He pulled back. “Can you get the torches . . . flashlights?”

  Kendall found them and handed one to Nathan, and then they started up the path to the Tor. The mountain—more like a big hill—was a central part of the history of Glastonbury, England. The Tor was considered a mystical place, connected to many legends. King Arthur, Christ, and the Holy Grail . . . even fairies, ghosts, and UFOs. According to Marco, some of those legends intertwined. She didn’t know about all of them, but she knew the mountain hid one of the world’s most sought-after treasures. The Fountain of Youth. And she knew there were ghosts here. She’d seen the ghosts of King Arthur and his knights as well as her father in the abbey ruins below.

  Her father. Just thinking about him stirred her fears. Could he be the Reaper? Could the man who had raised her, loved her, tended her wounds, taught her about relics, and sometimes played dolls with her, be an ancient madman who would kill to possess the relics that would give him unlimited life? She’d just learned that her father was several centuries old. If he had hidden something that shocking, could he have also hidden the fact that he was evil?

  “We’re here,” Nathan said.

  She had been so preoccupied with her thoughts she hadn’t realized they’d reached the hidden entrance in the side of the Tor.

  “You were thinking again.”

  “I was thinking about my father.”

  “If you’re still worried about him being the Reaper,” Nathan replied, with a quick glance that clearly said he was afraid she was still thinking about Jake, “I don’t think he is. The Reaper was cast out centuries ago. Your father was part of the Protettori just before you were born.”

  “He could have changed his appearance and come back into the brotherhood. You saw him in the temple. His face is constantly changing.”

  “I think the statues would recognize him even if he changed his appearance. Their purpose is to keep him out.”

  “I wish I was as certain.”

  Nathan stroked her cheek. “I don’t blame you for worrying, but I don’t think he’s your father. Even if he is . . . it doesn’t matter.” His expression was open and warm.

  The Reaper wasn’t the only one who could change. Her rich, reclusive billionaire boss was almost unrecognizable now. She saw more of Adam in him now than Nathan. Jake had changed too. He didn’t pretend to be a sarcastic womanizing jerk anymore. He had a caring, serious side that made Kendall’s heart ache. What about her? Had she changed as much as they had?

  Nathan’s hand dropped. “Come on. I’ll go first,” he said, just as he always had, even when he was Adam.

  The entrance to the tunnel was so well disguised it looked like part of the hillside unless one knew where to find the opening. The Tor was rumored to have mystical elements, including a labyrinth inside, and now that they had found the Fountain of Youth and the portal connecting England and Italy, Kendall knew the myths held some truth. And the tunnel didn’t just contain a portal to another place. Time was affected inside as well. During their first trip inside the tunnel, Kendall, Nathan, and Jake had lost an entire day.

  “I hope the entrance works the same way going in,” she said. “The Protettori love booby traps.” She, Nathan, and Jake had encountered several and nearly died.

  “Can’t blame them,” Nathan said. “The priceless relics and treasures the Protettori protect are a matter of life and death.”

  “I don’t blame them. I just don’t want t
o get caught in them.”

  “If it doesn’t work, we’ll have to go back to the Protettori castle in Italy and come through the maze.”

  As far as they knew, this entrance and the one from the maze provided the only access to the tunnel. Kendall shuddered. “I’d rather face a booby trap.”

  They stepped inside the narrow passageway and used their lights to follow the path to the main tunnel that led to the hidden room housing the Fountain of Youth. “This reminds me of when we were kids,” Kendall said.

  Nathan nodded, and then hesitated slightly. He still wasn’t sure he was Adam.

  “Do you remember when I fell through the broken boards of the tomb in Egypt?” she asked.

  Kendall couldn’t see his face clearly, but she could feel his mind grasping for the memory. He wasn’t blocking her now. Before she had found out he was Adam, his thoughts had been beyond her reach, as if he’d put up a wall.

  “I’m not sure.”

  “You just don’t want to admit it,” she said. “Why?”

  Emotions mixed with the shadows on his face. “I’m not certain I’m . . . him.”

  “I know you remember some things. For God’s sake, I saw one of your memories. It was of me as a girl. How is that possible if you’re not Adam?”

  He shrugged, his handsome face conflicted, and as usual, she found herself searching for traces of the boy she’d loved. “I don’t know what to think,” he said.

  “Nathan, you know you’re Adam. You have to be.”

  “I want to . . .” He stopped and frowned. “I’m just not sure yet.”

  Kendall patted his arm, noting the muscles under his shirt. Adam hadn’t had those. “Sorry I’m pushing you. Let’s just focus on getting water for Raphael. He must have the answers we need.”

  Like the identity of the Reaper’s child.

  Kendall and Nathan walked through the main tunnel until they found the wheel etched on the stone wall. “This is it,” Kendall said.

  “Sure you have your cross?” Nathan asked.

  “Yes.”

  Nathan touched his chest. “I hope Raphael doesn’t wake up until we get back.” He pushed the wheel and the door grated open. A soft light emerged from the widening crack. They stood together, watching as the room was revealed. It had only been hours since they’d left, but Kendall was still amazed at the sight. The room resembled a Roman temple with white columns lining the edges and polished stones covering the floors and walls. The painted ceiling could have graced a cathedral, but the hum of the statues that surrounded the temple and the soft glow radiating between the stones in the floor reminded her that the real beauty of the room lay beneath them, where the Fountain of Youth was hidden, born of two holy wells.

  Legend said one well had sprung from the spot where Joseph of Arimathea had buried the Holy Grail containing Christ’s blood, which he’d caught at the foot of the cross. Whether it was truly the start of the well, she could only speculate, but she knew the cup of blood existed. She had seen it in a vision that felt as real as if she had been there.

  Nathan glanced at the closest statue, one of many surrounding the inside of the temple. “You ready?”

  Kendall nodded.

  Nathan slipped his hand into hers. It was warm and strong. She felt a lump in her throat. Adam was back. Kendall’s heart thudded as they stepped past the nearest statue. All that stood between them and death were the silver crosses hanging around their necks. She didn’t know how they worked, but she had witnessed the horrifying consequence that occurred when someone tried to pass the statues without a cross.

  As they moved farther into the room, their gazes were immediately drawn to the golden light seeping through the floor above the Fountain of Youth, as if mere stone couldn’t contain its glory. “I always wondered if it really existed,” he said. “I guess every treasure hunter and collector has.”

  “Even we did, when we were kids. You said if we found it we’d drink from it and never grow old. We would search for relics forever.”

  Nathan stared at the light, his expression hopeful. “You think it really works? Eternal youth and all that?”

  “You’re not still looking for a cure for your curse?”

  He shrugged.

  “You know you have a gift, like Raphael’s.”

  “What if I don’t want it?”

  Kendall didn’t know what to say. She had a gift. It was frustrating, but she’d had it for so long she couldn’t imagine being without it. It was part of her. She tried to imagine how Nathan must feel, having it appear out of the blue. Sensing things was a lot different than having your body physically change. “Marco said you’re a guardian. You’ve sought relics all your life, whether you admit you’re Adam or not. It’s in your blood. I don’t understand it either, but what better way is there to use your abilities than to protect relics?”

  “What if Marco’s wrong about what I am?” Nathan sounded uncertain, like he had when he first admitted to her and Jake that he believed he had a curse.

  “You’ve got eyes like Raphael’s,” Kendall said. “That must mean something. You wouldn’t walk away from this, would you?”

  “Not as long as you’re part of it.” And though he didn’t say it, wouldn’t even admit it, she knew that inside he was thinking, I’ll never leave you again.

  She wanted to forget everything and wrap her arms around Nathan and cry. Cry for the lost years, cry that she’d found him again, but there were more important things to attend to. It was time to start acting like a keeper, or a keeper in training. If someone would take the time to train her. With Marco’s wandering mind, that task may be left to Raphael, and if he didn’t drink more water, he may not be around to do the job.

  “If people find out the fountain is real, the world will become a dangerous place,” Kendall said. The lure of eternal youth would bring out the greedy and ugly side of humanity. There was no telling the lengths people would go to to find it. The Reaper already knew, and he had almost destroyed his brotherhood to secure the fountain.

  Nathan’s face grew somber. “Maybe Brandi’s right about destroying the relics so no one can use them.”

  “That’s a conversation for another day. For now, we have to save Raphael. He’s probably the key to this puzzle. If anyone can sort out the Reaper’s motives, it’s Raphael.”

  “And he should know better than anyone what the chalice looks like. He’s the one who hid it. Wait. What’s that noise?” Nathan turned his head to listen.

  “I think it’s the statues,” Kendall said, turning to look at the stone guardians—sentinels, Marco called them—that stood along the edge of the temple. “Hard to believe these were once alive.”

  “Sounds like they’re whispering.”

  It did sound like someone softly whispering. “Maybe they are.”

  “You think . . .” Nathan walked closer to one. He was a tall man, but the statue was taller and broader. If Marco was right about the statues once being alive as guardians, then they were essentially living tombs. Guardians in life, sentinels in death. “I don’t see how they could have once been alive,” Nathan said. “Maybe Marco was confused again.”

  “I don’t think so. When I touched them before, I sensed pieces of their lives.”

  “What did you feel?” Nathan’s eyes sparked with excitement, reminding her of the dust-covered boy who’d stood on a cliff above her, his enthusiastic grin urging her to hurry and see what he’d found. How had she missed this similarity between Adam and Nathan? Or had she known subconsciously all along, and that was why she’d felt so connected to him?

  “You want to see?”

  Nathan’s eyes flared. “Yes.”

  “Put your hand over mine. I’m not sure this will work, but sometimes it does. It did with Jake.” She felt Nathan stiffen and wished she hadn’t mentioned Jake’s name.

  Nathan
put his hand over hers, and she slowly reached toward the statue. The sentinel’s stone eyes were open, his hand grasping his sword. Kendall touched the hardened fingers gripping the handle of the blade. The humming sound that the statue emitted flowed into her fingers and up her arm. Colors flashed, and she saw a man with short auburn hair and green eyes. He was outside a house, not the Protettori’s castle in Italy, but a simple house with a thatched roof. He was leading a horse and smiling as he talked. To the horse, she guessed, since she didn’t see anyone else there.

  Nathan yanked his hand away.

  Kendall pulled back too, and the images disappeared.

  “Bloody hell. What was that?”

  “That was the sentinel before he was a statue. When he was a live guardian.”

  “He was talking to his horse,” Nathan said, his voice hushed with awe.

  Kendall looked at the hand that had held the reins, now stone, and the mouth set in a straight line instead of a smile. “Yes,” she said softly. “He looked happy. I wonder what his name was.” If she spent a little more time with him, she may find out. Sometimes her senses were so sharp she could pick up small nuances in addition to larger details. Other times she couldn’t sense anything at all. And she had no idea why or what controlled it.

  Nathan’s face wore a troubled frown.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I can’t let anyone find out about you, about what you can do. I’ve got to keep you hidden. Do you know how valuable your gift is?”

  “Enough for you to hire me,” Kendall said, making light of the matter. She was comfortable with her gift, but didn’t like feeling different from everyone else. Guess you’d better get used to it, Miss Relic Keeper. Even her subconscious was starting to sound like Jake.

  “You know what I mean?” Nathan said. “People would kill to use your gifts. Governments, politicians, criminals. You’re as dangerous as the fountain. Makes me want to lock you up in a vault.”

  “Don’t even think about it. We’ll just have to keep it a secret. I’ve done that most of my life.” Only her father and Adam had known what she could do. Not even Aunt Edna knew.