Page 2 of Violet Legacy

The legendary tomb of Vandana, the last queen of Atlantis, was still out there. It was believed that the tomb had the coordinates for the missing isle of Atlantis and the lost treasures of the royal house. But that had never mattered to her. Finding the final resting place of Vandana had been her mother’s dream, and Rieka had inherited it.

Rieka walked between the columns, following the beaten path. The white light created ominous shadows the deeper she went into the cavern. It was almost time she made her return to the surface, but there was a quiet voice urging her forward. The light shone on a thick silvery web, dense enough that she couldn’t see what was on the other side. In the corner, a glimmer of rose-gold caught her attention.

Goose bumps exploded all over her body, her hands clammy as she tightened her grip on the flashlight. Her skin crawled. She did not do spiders.

Rieka glared at the web, slowly following the edge with the light. There. It hadn’t been a trick of the light. The brilliant tile appeared like a beacon through the web.

For a moment, she thought about waiting for the others—but no. This was her time, even if it meant getting up close and personal with the spider web that had manifested itself from her nightmares. She put the flashlight in her mouth to free her hands, shuddering at the cold taste of metal.

“No fucking spiders!” She sure as hell hoped the spiders could understand her.

She closed her eyes as she stuck her hands deep into the web. And pulled. Nothing happened.

“Damn it.”

The weaving skills of an arachnid would not beat her, even if it was the size of a big dog, judging by the thickness of the web. Squaring off, she grabbed hold of the coarse strands with both hands and pulled, leveraging off the wall.

Rieka stifled a scream as she hit the ground, hard. Pain radiated up her back as the web settled over her. A loud clang echoed as her flashlight rolled away, towards the column. Thousands of small black dots appeared from nowhere, instantly changing the color of the strands from silvery white to black. She almost gave herself whiplash at the speed she moved. “Get off me.”

Manically she began patting every part of herself. Goose bumps exploded over her body as she triple-checked that none of the baby spiders had hitched a ride. Her heart continued to race. “I. Hate. Spiders!”

She stepped over the offending web as she scooped the flashlight off the ground. The light flickered as she increased the brightness. The rose-gold tile was part of a much larger intricate mosaic. A beautiful woman dressed in glittering armor stood alone on a white beach, with a bloody sword laying at her feet. Flame-colored eyes blazed with fury as she held out her hand. A violet flame licked at her fingers.

Vandana, the last queen of Atlantis, defiantly stared back at her. They had always depicted the queen as a martyr, mother, or maiden—never as a warrior. But that was not what held Rieka’s attention. Vandana’s eyes seared straight into her soul with a flame-like intensity—a color she had never seen depicted in any other Atlantean image. Or in any living being. The orange seemed to meld into the red, achieving the appearance of a flickering fire.

They were the same eyes Rieka saw every time she looked into a mirror. It was the only evidence of her Atlantean heritage.

Everything around her slowed as she continued to stare at the mosaic—her mind going through a thousand scenarios, but none of them made sense. She traced the edge of the cool tiles, trying to imprint the image into her memory. Time had run out. She took one last look before she dragged herself away. But the same question haunted her every step. The voice growing incessantly louder as she tugged the rope, ready to begin the laborious ascent.

Why did she have the same eye color as Vandana, the last queen of Atlantis? Rieka shook her head trying to clear the thousands of errant thoughts that threatened to rise up and overwhelm her. Rieka glared into the darkness, a ragged breath escaped her as she shook. The flashlight wavered; it was barely a blip in the never-ending void. There was no denying what she had seen in the temple, the mosaic was unmistakable.

She had less than twenty-four hours to work out what her connection to Vandana was. Before the rest of the team started to ask questions she couldn’t answer.

Chapter 2

Two hours later

Surface level, 1.5 miles north of the excavation site

Theexplosionvibratedthroughthe air, shaking the world around Rieka as a plume of black smoke wafted through the tent. The bed rattled and bottles fell off their makeshift shelves. Her dartboard and throwing knives hit the ground with an almighty clang. The smell of burning grass surrounded them. A siren wailed in the background a moment before a cacophony of voices in Atlantean, Turkish, and English shouted orders.

“Evacuate. Evacuate. Evacuate. This is not a drill.”

“What the hell!” Rieka ran out of the tent, coughing as a dust cloud exploded near her, covering her in a dark sooty layer. The surrounding temperature had gone up in seconds, the heat lingering. “What happened?”

“Explosion in the temple!” someone yelled from behind her, their voice almost drowned out by the sound of sirens and revving vehicles. “We need to evacuate.”

Rieka’s stomach dropped as she surveyed the black smoke billowing from the excavation site. She couldn’t move. A looming sense of dread filled her.

“Dr. Sinha, we have to leave,” Leila, one of her postgrad students, yelled as she ran toward the assembly area. “They think the cavern may collapse onto itself.”

Rieka raced in the direction of her tent. Someone reached and grabbed her; she swatted them away. No way she was leaving her mother’s journal behind.

“You are going the wrong way.” Chay pushed her forward.

“I have to get something.”

Chay looked like he wanted to shake her. Black soot covered his face. “I can replace it.”

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