The Serpent in the Stone - By Nicki Greenwood Page 0,17
said, sounding strangled.
She shot to her feet and gripped the towel tighter, panting around the fierce thudding of her heart. She didn’t turn to face him.
“Get out of here, and do it quick.”
She ran.
****
Sara stopped only when she knew she’d put enough distance between them. Even then, she paused just long enough to jerk her pants on and thrust her head and arms through her sweater. She arrived out of breath at the campsite. Dustin called her to dinner. He and Thomas had started a fire and begun laying out everyone’s dishes. “I’ll be there in a few minutes,” she puffed, going straight to her tent.
Inside, she felt a little safer. She only wished her mind would tell her body to calm down, as well.
“Sara?” Faith ducked her head into the tent.
“I’m here.”
Faith entered. “Have you seen my journal? I can’t find it anywhere.”
“No.” Distracted, Sara swept a glance around her tent, then shuffled a couple of books on her table. “Did you leave it with me for some reason?”
Faith shook her head. “It was in my trunk this morning. I checked my whole tent. Sara...it had stuff about the necklace in it.”
Her blood iced over. “You wrote it down?”
“Shhh!” Faith held up her hands.
Fresh waves of trembling flooded Sara’s body. Her worst nightmares rushed back with terrifying clarity. “We should never have taken it from the safe box. Someone went through my clothes while I was swimming. I’ll give you one guess what they might have been looking for.” She lowered herself into a chair, then ran a hand through her damp hair.
Faith mimicked the motion and sat in the table’s other seat. She cast a quick, suspicious glance at the tent doorway. “Did you see anyone?”
“Ian showed up. A little too conveniently timed.” She braced her elbows on the table and put her face in her hands, masking both her agitation and the blush she felt burning in her cheeks.
“Maybe you shouldn’t be wearing the amulet.”
“The hell I shouldn’t. I’m afraid to let it out of my sight. We don’t even know what it is, yet. I’ve looked. I can’t find anything.”
Faith reached out a hand. “Give me it. I’ll just read the damned thing with my gift.”
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea, Faith. What if—”
“What if, while we’re trying to figure the stupid thing out, someone comes and murders you in your sleep? Let me worry about what I see or don’t see. If someone is after this thing, I’d just as soon know what we’re protecting. I’ve looked too, and we’re not getting anywhere the easy way.”
Sara pursed her lips and removed the amulet from her neck. “Do you think Ian might be the one—”
“Ian wasn’t even there to break into our house.”
“Well, there are only five of us on this island!” Sara lowered her voice to a harsh whisper. “He knows what I am, or at least he knows enough to make me worry.”
Her sister reached for the necklace. “Just give it here,” she said, “and let’s get this over with.”
Sara handed it over with reluctance.
Taking a deep breath, Faith called on her psychic sense. Her eyes melted into silver, and fixed on the amulet. She grew still and silent.
Sara waited. Five minutes passed, and Faith did not rouse from her trance.
Ten.
Fifteen.
Anxious now, Sara leaned forward and touched her sister’s arm. “Faith, wake up.”
Faith shook and blinked awake, looking confused. “A man,” she said. “Not Dad. Not a Celt, either. I’m not sure what he was. Everything was indistinct.”
“What did he do? Did he say anything?”
“He had a sword. I saw him kill another man in white robes and take the amulet. He held it up and said something, I don’t even know what. The necklace started spinning, and these lines of light shot out from it along the ground, and then he screamed...” Faith shuddered and looked down at the amulet in her hand. “This thing has blood on it, Sara. Lots of it, I feel it. I think we should destroy it.”
Sara’s body hummed with agitation. “What happened?”
“It killed him. He fell, and the necklace fell, and I saw his spirit rise from his body and just vanish into the lines of light. We need to smash the thing.” She rose from her seat.
Sara jerked to her feet as well. “Dad gave it to us on purpose, or he would have destroyed it himself!”
Faith hesitated. “Maybe he didn’t have time, once he found out what it was. Before he was—”