The Serpent in the Stone - By Nicki Greenwood Page 0,62
with the pieces?” Sara touched a hand to her T-shirt, where the amulet hung hidden underneath.
Faith dunked into the water and came up dripping. “I need your help tonight.” Her sister’s golden-blond hair floated on the water’s surface. She pushed a sodden lock out of her eyes. “I’m going to try and read the dig wall.”
“The whole wall? Are you insane?”
“We have to know what happened here, and fast,” Faith explained. “Hakon told me about a sword, that we need it. I know it’s here somewhere. I think I can find it if I do this.”
Sara hissed. “This dig site is over a thousand years old! You’ll never make it through a divination of the entire thing. You’ll pass out, or get lost in it, or worse!”
“That’s where you come in. You’re my tie to the here and now. I need you to anchor me.”
Sara swallowed back the anxious knot in her throat. What if she couldn’t get Faith back? She hunched in the water. “Are you sure there isn’t another way?”
“Don’t you think I’ve checked? This is the only other thing I can think of, the fastest way we can find this sword before someone else uncovers it. Are you helping, or am I doing this alone?”
Ian’s words came back to her. You’re not alone, Sara. A sudden, visceral pull in the direction of his camp filled her, and oh, how she wished his words were true. Aching, she dropped her gaze to the surface of the water. “I can’t let you try this by yourself.”
Nodding, Faith said, “I’ll come get you at midnight. Everyone should be asleep by then.”
“Faith, what if this Hakon is wrong?” Sara asked. “What if he’s misleading you?”
“Even if he is, he knows something about that amulet. Right now, all we’ve got are old stories, and a couple of vague paragraphs in Beardsley. I have to believe this is going to work.”
Sara wanted to feel as confident as her sister sounded, but an ominous prickling at the base of her spine warned her it wouldn’t be as easy as she hoped.
Chapter Twelve
The sky clouded over soon after dark, obliterating all traces of the stars and the waning moon. Sara had put out her lantern an hour ago. One by one, the other lights in the crew tents had also winked out. She hovered in the doorway of her tent, peering at the sky with a mixture of gratitude and unease.
Thunder growled. The rising wind battered against her body in fitful gusts and lashed her hair about her shoulders. The atmosphere bristled with the electric scent of oncoming lightning. A storm would keep the crew inside the shelter of their tents. No one would see them flitting about the dig site in such weather. She wished it would discourage Faith from this reckless plan.
It wouldn’t.
The restless drafts of air brought her snatches of Flintrop’s voice from inside his tent, then the sound faded, giving way to another boom of thunder. The first patter of rain sheeted across the moor, bringing Faith with it, bearing a shovel over her shoulder. Sara didn’t see her until she was almost close enough to touch. She grabbed her rain slicker, and followed her sister to the dig without a word.
They walked along the dig wall until they came to the edge of the new fault. “Right here,” Faith said, setting her shovel down. “This is where you found the skull, isn’t it? It’s as good a place as any.”
With her belly churning, Sara sat cross-legged on one of the large, flat stones. Rainwater had already soaked to her skin in spite of the slicker. “How do we do this?”
Faith sat opposite her, mirroring her position. “I’m going to lay one hand on this wall, and you’re going to hold my other. Give me ten minutes. If I pass out, or don’t come out of it, I want you to pull me off the wall. Don’t let go of me, no matter what.”
Sara held her breath and gripped Faith’s hand in response. “Be careful.”
Faith smiled. The first flash of lighting arced across the sky and illuminated her eyes as they melted into silver. “See you soon.” She laid her other hand flat against the wall, and fell into silence.
Sara began to count off seconds. The chill of the storm started seeping into her bones. Water trickled down the back of her neck. Ten, eleven, twelve...
Seconds lengthened into minutes, and still her sister gave no sign of coming out of her