The Double-Edged Sword Read online

  Leah took another deep breath, thrusting those memories that focused on the 13th sign of the astrological chart into a drawer of the card catalogue, slamming it shut.

  The scenes in her mind then erupted into a bright sapphire hue. Like a storm, the journey to England and beyond in order to save Gareth’s sister, Kathryn, was all Leah could see now. From discovering an artifact trapped in ice that she had never believed in, to fighting a duo that wanted nothing but power and wealth, Tallent and Lowery’s second adventure had barely left them alive. Focusing, collecting the information and slamming the next drawer shut, Leah shook the lingering feeling of dread from her mind.

  Sadness then worked its way into her heart as memories of their next adventure rushed forward. They had discovered the one true Hero’s Companion. The goddess whose ancient weapons had given them protection. Weapons Leah had sworn to return. A vow she had yet to keep. Her guilt was extraordinary when it came to this, though she was closer now to getting the weapons back where they belonged. The helmet of the Goddess Athena was safely hidden in Gareth’s knapsack, while the spear was wrapped up in a worn leather duffel bag. The mythical objects would be flown back to Athens as soon as this was over, but it was Athena’s shield that remained missing from the ancient trio. Setting that aside, trying not to worry about how they would ever find that piece again, Leah placed all the information in a third drawer, and closed it softly.

  She and Gareth had then raced after a charlatan who’d taken those powerful weapons for his own profit. A charlatan who also searched for a gemstone and a crown—a powerful set that, when brought back together, would supposedly bestow upon him the most evil power imaginable. This charlatan was Daniel Bauer. And the power he’d sought, as far as Leah was still concerned, wasn’t real. Yet even with all her solid beliefs, the unexplainable things she’d seen with her own eyes had caused her a bit of doubt.

  The last picture of Bauer she had was of a man devoured in flames. She and Gareth had witnessed the explosion that tore apart the home of a true villain; one who’d spent his time on Earth creating a “master race.” The image chilled Leah to the bone. She knew that the vacation home of the notorious Führer was now nothing more than a pile of wood and glass…with the ashes of Bauer buried in its ruins.

  “But there’s always some moron just waiting to take their place,” Leah whispered. “And it didn’t take long.”

  Almost immediately, another had appeared. To what end, however, Leah didn’t know. Michael Hansen was a man she still didn’t understand. Bauer had been clear in his scheme. But although Leah assumed Hansen was after the same evil power, he had never told her his plans for the future.

  The one and only image Leah had continuously tried to delete suddenly reappeared: the first time she’d laid eyes on Hansen. The maniac’s eyes had been yellow; his face caked in bright red make-up. She could still remember the flicker of candles decorating the small German pub blazing in Hansen’s eyes. As the pub filled up with patrons that night, his red mask had begun to crack, peel and drip from his chin. It made her think that something far more sinister than the heat of warm bodies and candles was to blame. For a moment, Leah had thought that the fire she saw in his eyes actually resided in the man’s soul—burning him from the inside out.

  Feeling her skin begin to sweat, she pushed that scene away. She slammed it shut in its own lone drawer, wanting to always know where it sat so that she’d never be dumb enough to open it again. It was bad enough to know that Hansen was still out there somewhere. Still hunting.

  “God, I have a headache,” she mumbled.

  “You can totally say that again!”

  Like the Angel of Death had suddenly popped up behind her, Leah practically jumped out of her skin at the sudden voice. Her neck snapped around, wondering if Hansen was standing right behind her waiting to take her life.

  “Sorry, lady. You okay?”

  Leah’s gaze landed on an image that was far from the killer she expected. Taking a full, deep breath to calm her already shattered nerves, she tried not to scream at the girl dressed in a teenage costume that reminded Leah of home.

  The blue jeans had been expertly torn, brought to near destruction by a professional hand that knew just how much denim was needed to hide the most personal body parts from view. The black t-shirt was decorated with sparkles, forming the picture of an envelope. On the envelope, in bright white sequins that flashed with the teenager’s every move, were the words “Hottie Enclosed.”

  Leah sighed.

  “Sorry I scared you,” the girl giggled as she chomped on her gum and blew small bubbles of pink goo between her lips. “Totally thought you saw me.” She looked down quickly, staring at the small screen in her hand as it lit up and began to beep.

  Leah’s eyes began to roll as she took in the familiar image of a modern-day teen, staring at the cell phone they could never live without. She felt a small amount of awe, however, watching the girl’s fingers race across the miniscule keyboard. Leah wondered how anyone could type that fast on a machine so small that it looked like it belonged in the hand of an alien walking around his crashed UFO in Roswell, texting his ‘pals’ to come help.

  Hitting a button, the screen went dark. The girl leaned back and scrutinized Leah as if she was the one who didn’t quite fit the scene. “Are you like, going on the ride?”

  “Ride?”

  Leah followed the girl’s pointed finger, but all she could see was the impressive Byzantine tower. It stood right behind the Hellenistic theatre that climbed up the side of the acropolis. Rows of marble benches ascended from the ground—seating for those who’d once crowded together to watch the drama and comedy being played out on stage. Leah even took note of the huge marble seat of honor located at the center of it all; a seat created for the infamous rulers who once dwelled here. Currently occupied by a figure dressed in black, Leah assumed it was yet another bored teen just waiting for their next text to arrive.

  Frustrated, she let her eyes wander back to the girl. “I don’t see a ride.”

  The next pink bubble popped between the girl’s lips. “The ride…you know? Like…the tour of this dusty, old place?”

  “Dusty, old place?” Leah repeated, shaking her head. Maybe she had been hit on the skull by falling debris when Hitler’s abode had exploded into a ball of fire. That seemed to be the only explanation for what she was hearing right now.

  “Literally dusty, right?” The girl gazed around, frowning at what she apparently assumed was a big, fat waste of her time.

  The librarian tone quickly kicked in. “For your information, this dusty, old place happens to be one of the most important locations in hist—”

  “My mom made me come,” the girl interrupted, as her eyes glazed over. The screen once again came alive on her cell phone and she laughed out loud. Her fingers went into overdrive as she sent back a reply quicker than a train runs the tracks. When she looked back up, the mask of sheer boredom was back in place. “Literally. Mom made me. And it’s not really fair,” she continued, stabbing the gum with her canines. “She asked me where I wanted to go and I said Hawaii. Somewhere cool, you know?” Her sigh came out loud and dramatic. “But she thought this was cool. I mean, hello? How cool is walking up a mountain, right?”

  “Acropolis,” Leah corrected.

  “And all this dirt? I mean, it’s like…rocky. Literally. The beaches in Hawaii have warm sand, you know? And there are total hot guys there. They surf, too. Not like these guys.”

  “These guys are dead,” Leah intruded, looking out at the monument to a civilization that was never going to reappear.

  “That’s my point.” The girl waved her hand around at the people walking the streets. “They’re all so old. They totally fit this place. Literally. I mean, it would be cool if they were like…the ghosts of the dudes and chicks who used to live here, or something. At least then it would be one of those fun, scary joints you see on TV.”

  Leah looked up at a group of young men passin
g by with maps in hand, as their leader educated them about the area. “You consider them old?”

  “Duh.”

  “This has to be a bad dream,” Leah whispered, searching the blue sky to find some god or goddess having yet another laugh at her expense.

  The phone began to beep like a high-pitched alarm and the picture of an older woman’s face appeared on the screen. “Whoops,” the girl yelped, jumping from the bench like a rabbit who’d just seen a mountain lion. “Gotta go. It’s Mom.” She sighed. “I suppose we have to do this stupid thing after all.”

  “Chloe! Get over here!”

  Leah heard the determined voice right before setting eyes on a clearly frustrated woman standing across the street.

  The teen waved and smiled at her mother before turning back to Leah. “Well, like, it was totally nice meeting you and everything.” The girl’s tone could not mask her lie, and the smile she gave was as fake as one could get. “Maybe I’ll see you around.”

  Turning, the teen ran—phone clenched in her hand—directly through the group of young men who she gave a flirtatious giggle to as she passed.

  “Yeah. Bye.” Leah grunted, “Always nice to meet yet another over-achiever.”

  The next ring was so loud it sent Leah flying up off the bench. The cell phone in her own pocket had just proclaimed that her much-needed quiet time was officially over.

  CHAPTER 2

  Leah could hear her own disgruntled tone when she answered. “What?”

  “Pergamos? Are you nuts?”

  Leah shut her eyes and groaned as her sister’s voice came through the speaker like a tornado siren. “I think it’s called Pergamon now, Anippe.”

  “What does that matter? You’re standing in Satan’s dwelling. The Devil sleeps there!”

  “And if you keep screaming, you’ll wake him up,” Leah said, giving an exhausted snort into the phone. “Look, I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for a guy carrying a pitchfork, okay?”

  She could almost see Anippe wince at her well-known sarcasm, then close her eyes and offer up a silent prayer for her protection. Leah already knew she was in a land full of trouble, but she was not about to worry her sister more than she already was by telling her the whole truth.

  Her sister… That was still such a difficult concept for Leah to grasp. It was just a short time ago that Anippe had appeared on Leah’s doorstep and uncovered a lie that’d not only proved them to be long-lost siblings, but had also resurrected a woman Leah could barely stand.

  She suddenly felt guilty for making light of things when she heard Anippe’s soft voice stutter on the line, “L-Leah, s-s-seriously. You and Gareth need to be careful. Pergamos might be a tourist trap now, but a long time ago Satan was actually there. That is not a myth, Leah. It is well-documented.”

  Leah tried her best not to sigh at ideas that she thought were nothing but pure fantasy. “It’s the twenty-first century, Anippe. Watch the news. From Ebola to Isis to the morons in government, the Devil is basically everywhere. He doesn’t have time to sit here in the lap of luxury anymore.”

  “Leah—” Anippe’s frustration rang out loud and clear.

  “Just stop.” A blast of that headstrong determination Leah owned shot through her. “Gareth’s supposedly dead father was here just recently. Alive and well. And Gareth is the man I love—a man who has busted his ass to help find my family…our family, Anippe, and save our lives. I’m not about to let him down when he needs me the most.”

  A respectful silence met Leah’s ears.

  “I thought Gareth’s parents were killed in a car accident when he was just a boy?” Anippe said softly.

  “He thought so, too. But apparently not.” Leah looked over her shoulder as the phone issued a string of distinct clicks in her ear, making it sound like an army was marching up behind her. She knew the piece of crap technology was about to fail, so she sped up the conversation. “His father was in a photo we found. ‘Pergamon 2009’ was written on the back of that photo. That’s certainly clear enough evidence for me that the man was alive well after his supposed death. Somebody lied.” Big shock there, Leah mused, considering everyone else in their lives had done the same. “We need to find clues as to why that man was here, and find him…if we still can.” Another sigh followed her vow. “We at least have to try.”

  “What about Michael Hansen?”

  Leah’s body shuddered at the mere mention of his name, but she turned her concentration on the one thing she knew the bastard was after. “You just worry about that gemstone sitting in your museum right now,” Leah’s warning came swift and strong. “Without that stone, Anippe, anything else Hansen is after is useless. So, you be careful. His next step will lead him straight to you, not me. He’ll be coming for that damn thing. I’d bet my life on it.”

  “We have security in place here, Leah.”

  “Good.”

  “I don’t know if I agree with you, though.”

  “What?”

  Anippe spoke, voicing her own doubts, “Hansen is a talented liar. It would be just like him to make us think he wants Satan’s emerald more than anything, yet go straight for you and Gareth instead. I am sure Hansen believes that without the two of you in his way, he has ample ability and time to kill the rest of us. This whole thing feels like a charade.”

  “Well, if it is,” Leah continued quickly, “then you’re the one I feel sorry for.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “If Hansen takes us out, you’ll have to hang out with our parents until he gets to you,” Leah laughed. “And after spending time with those two, you’ll probably think of Hell as a nice vacation spot that even you would like to try out.”

  “Are you ever going to give them a chance to explain why they did what they did?”

  Anippe’s question was barely audible as the phone went dead.

  Leah stared down at the screen that’d gone dark. “No,” she whispered to a sister who could no longer hear. “Those two don’t deserve a chance.”

  ___

  “Leah.” Anippe waited. “Leah?”

  As the lights on the screen disappeared, cutting off communication with one person she truly trusted, Anippe wrapped her arms around her body and shivered.

  She eyed the doors of her own haven. Much like Leah with her New York library, the Coptic Museum in Old Cairo where Anippe served as Curator was the place she loved…needed. But standing here, with the warm Egyptian sun doing its best to stop fear from turning her into a block of ice, all Anippe could think about were the stories she’d been taught since birth.

  A final battle of good versus evil. Would Leah and Gareth meet with death in Pergamos? Was Satan really out there, waiting to bring the Apocalypse down on their heads? Or, would Tallent and Lowery have to live through their own war by outsmarting a man who’d already proven he would do anything to win?

  Turning her gaze up to the heavens, Anippe prayed to the One she hoped would be listening. “Please do not take her away. I need her more than you do.”

  CHAPTER 3

  Leah smacked the infuriating device against the bench. “Smartphone, my ass.”

  The screen’s light flickered with the hit and she reached down, raising it back up to her ear. “Hello? Anippe? You still there?” Hearing nothing at the other end caused the frustration to grow. “I can’t hear you.”

  “Can you hear me now?”

  Whipping her head around at the voice, her long auburn ponytail slapped her across the cheek. Gareth stood behind her on the street holding a cup of black coffee in his hand, smiling. Reaching out slowly, he passed her the offering like a man giving fresh meat to a starving tiger.

  Leah grabbed the Styrofoam cup. “You’re not funny.”

  He shrugged, taking a sip from his own. “I think I am.”

  “Makes one.” Leah smirked when the handsome man took his first swallow of the thick liquid and gagged, sticking out his tongue like a man who just tried liver for the first time.

  “Thi
s is disgusting. How do you drink this garbage?”

  “Serves you right.”

  Gareth closed one eye and peered through the small hole in the lid. His expression was one of revulsion, as if he spotted a cockroach carcass floating at the top. “I’m telling you, Leah, this stuff is gonna kill you.”

  Closing her eyes, Leah drank, sending him a smile of pure bliss after she swallowed the strong Turkish brew.

  “How can you possibly enjoy that?”

  “Coffee’s not coffee unless it can peel the paint off your house.” Lifting the cup for another glorious sip, Leah tried to ignore the scar on the back of her hand. She pretended not to notice where the skin was still cracked from Daniel Bauer’s vicious attack. The colorful picture that’d once been there had turned completely white, making it look like the all-seeing eye that marked her as a protector had officially gone blind.

  Shoving the thought aside, Leah looked over at Gareth. His jaw was set tight; his green eyes held a peculiar mixture of anxiety and hope as he scanned the area. She knew that he was already searching for his long dead father.

  Even with all the worry showing in every perfectly-cut angle of his face, Leah couldn’t help but smile. He, of the sparkling eyes, dirty blond locks, incredible body and even more incredible heart, was still the best thing that’d ever happened in her life. He may have walked into her library as a thief, but he’d stolen far more than a book.

  Not one of my favorite storytellers could’ve written this, Leah thought. Not even the most avid conspiracy theorist in the universe would believe Tallent and Lowery’s outlandish tales, yet here they were continuing to live them. Thankfully, together.