only a plaster replica.”
Outside, sunrise fully embraced the sky. People started to fall out of its trance.
I stared at the footprint. Smaller and rougher than the plaster one, it did look like it could belong to a thirty-five-foot-tall giant or a god. Buddha or Shiva’s foot as he stepped on Earth, or Adam’s footprint after his exile from the Garden of Eden. Buddha or Shiva’s foot as he stepped on Earth, or Adam’s footprint after his exile from the Garden of Eden. “I don’t see the Healing Cup.”
Matt frowned. “I thought there would be some kind of symbol or something.”
“You’re insane, Merlin,” I hissed. “I thought you knew what you were doing.”
“This is the spot. Adam’s Peak. All the different legends converge here. The Buddhist’s say the Triple Gem, their holy trinity, manifests when the shadow falls over the mountain during sunrise. Alexander the Great thought the same.”
“What are you talking about?” I said.
Matt ignored me and continued to mutter, “He came here. He had to be right. This place is marked by the legends of gods. If they hid a secret, it will be here. They wouldn’t leave a marker like this for no reason.”
“They who?” From the open sides of the shrine, a burst of sunlight streamed onto the rock. I stepped closer to the exposed footprint and the rock started to hum. Out of instinct, I put my hand over the footprint. A shot of electricity from the rock zapped my hand. I pulled my hand back and shook it. “Whoa, what was that?”
Matt’s face brightened. “A small portal.”
“Like the one at the Seven Gables?”
Matt nodded.
“That was not fun.” Watery death surrounded that portal. Matt drew out another vial from the bag. I grabbed his wrist. “You are not going to desecrate a sacred relic.”
Matt smiled. “It’s just your blood.”
I squawked. “How do you have my blood?”
“Blood donations. After you became the sword-bearer, the First Member recovered all the deposits you’ve ever made.”
“That’s just creepy.”
He raised a brow. “Vane tracked them all down.”
“Really creepy,” I repeated.
It reinforced my belief that I was just another commodity to the Wizard Council. Nearby us, people groaned. Grey rain clouds started to darken the horizon once more.
“Hurry,” I urged.
Matt drew out another lotus bloom and threw it down. He poured the blood onto the footprint, on the heel at the same spot where the sunlight touched. Immediately, the rock rumbled. A small vortex of wind swirled around the room. A single beam of gold light shone upwards. Inside the beam shimmered a square metal cross. It was about a foot long with symbols engraved down one stem, the stipes. A red gem sat at the center of the cross like an ancient eye.
“It’s a Greek cross,” Matt said.
“How do you know?”
“I’ve seen it before. The Lady wore this on a chain.” Matt reached out to take it.
I stopped him. “No, let me. It was my blood that opened it.”
Matt nodded. I grabbed the small statue. It solidified in my hand, and then the shrine started trembling. Lines cracked through the floor around the sacred footprint. It started expanding outwards. The whole rock fell through the crack.
“Oh, crap,” I said. “Why do these things always have booby traps?”
People turned to look at the commotion. Gasps of horror followed.
Matt grabbed my hand as he pushed into the crowd. “Because you’re not actually supposed to find a relic unless you can prove you’re worthy.”
“We used my blood to get to it in the first place. How am I not worthy?”
“You don’t have Excalibur,” Matt pointed out.
I thrust the cross into my pocket. No one stopped us as we squeezed into the crowd. Everyone else wanted to get off the walkway, too. Behind us, the shrine shuddered. There must have been over a thousand people on the terrace who all began to panic. Under the howl of rain from above, the buildings on the summit shuddered and the whole mountain trembled.
“Is it the Total Tremor again?” a panicked tourist shouted.
We made it down the steps of the shrine. People streamed off the top levels toward the exits. The belfry tore apart. The pilgrim bell fell to the ground with a loud clang. Hysterical shrieks became louder. Huge blocks of stone tumbled off the collapsing shrine and temple. They landed like grenades on the terrace.
The charm around Matt’s neck glowed, and somehow, a small space opened for us through the crowd of crazed humanity. We made it to one of the two narrow exits—steep steps that