Page 32 of Revelations

The dust from the mummy tickled Greylyn’s nasal passages. As she fought the urge to sneeze, and with a sense of panic in the enclosed space, Jasper’s arms wrapped around her. His hand came up to her mouth in an attempt to muffle the now-imminent sneeze.

“Damn. That new assistant curator probably forgot to secure the door again. If this turns out to be another false alarm, it’s going on my report that she’s incompetent.”

Moments later, the door shut with a resounding thud. Followed immediately by a flurry of sneezes.

“Bless you.” Jasper’s arm tightened around her waist. “Comfy in here, isn’t it?”

Fighting her deepest fear of coffin-like spaces, she shrugged off his arm and crawled out of the tiny opening in the wall. Her feet landed soundlessly on the ground. The recycled vault air was heavenly compared to the musty mummy smell intermixed with the overpowering sandalwood in Jasper’s new cologne.

He soon joined her on the ground, admiring a huge ruby ring that must have come off the mummy.

Annoyed, she pointed back to their hiding spot and mouthed, “No.” She was no Egyptologist, but she had enough of a superstitious nature to fear any ancient curses on those who stole anything from a mummy.

He pouted, of course, but he climbed back up the wall to replace the pilfered item.

When he rejoined her, Greylyn motioned toward the door and shrugged. Jasper shrugged back in reply. Neither knew how to get out of the vault without getting caught.

Greylyn slid down to crouch on the icy floor and pulled out the item that she hadsnagged from the wall storage container. Unwrapping it, she found what looked like an ancient Egyptian tablet. A tiny slip of paper fell out of the package that said,Tentkhonsu’s Coffin.

Now what the bloody hell does an Egyptian tablet have to do with all of this?

Without any answer, she tried translating the hieroglyphic text.

Jasper knelt beside her. Telepathically, he asked, “What the hell does that have to do with anything?”

She could only shrug again.

None of the text seemed to apply to her current situation. Her finger skimmed up and down the tablet as she read about Tentkhonsu, a priestess belonging to a group of noble women who conducted temple rituals. The story was bland, until something caught Greylyn’s eye. It was not the text itself, but a symbol carved in the middle of the tablet. What made it stand out was that it was a very familiar Celtic symbol.

Her dagger’s Celtic symbol, in an Egyptian tablet? The Triquetra interlaced with the symbol for infinity. The item had called to her…loudly. Hell, they should have been long gone from this place, but no…instinct had driven her to this tablet.

This made no sense, whatsoever.

Frustrated, she pocketed the item to reconsider its implications later. Too many rampaging, incoherent thoughts filled her brain. Was this part of the mystery surrounding the prophecy too—another puzzle piece—or just a distraction?

Jasper pulled her against his chest as they waited for an inspiring escape plan to take hold. His closeness was comforting. Their breaths synchronized and, for what she thought was just a moment, her eyes closed.

Jerking awake, she glanced down at her Timex IronMan Classic sports watch. Hours had passed since they had broken into the Smithsonian. The sun should be coming up soon. If they waited much longer, the morning security shift would start its rounds, meaning that they wouldbe rechecking the vault.

Jasper pointed to an airshaft grate in the ceiling. How had she missed that? Of course, the room had an air circulation system. Hopefully the state-of-the-art security system did not include the air ducts. Sometimes it did, but they would have to risk it.

She scoped out the best way to climb the wall. The cabinet handles did not stretch all the way up. And the tiny indentions from the embedded morgue-like containers stopped about three-fourths of the way up. They could get that far if they progressed very carefully. After that, they would have to leap for the grate and hope that an alarm did not go off.

Well, it was worth a try.

Checking that the tablet and the nut were secured in her jacket pocket, Greylyn scaled the wall first. The last ledge was not as difficult as she had believed, but the distance from that spot to the ceiling grate appeared larger than expected. Being so short, she did not think that she could make the leap.

She felt Jasper behind her, as quiet as a predatory cat. His hands came up to cup her right foot.

“You got this,” his voice thundered in her head.

Greylyn took a long, deep breath and leaped upward. Her fingers scraped the grate, but took hold on the quarter inch ledge, leaving the rest of her dangling from the ceiling. She used her other hand to push the grate up and over to the side. It screeched softly, but no alarms rang out.

Letting out a breath that she had not realized she had been holding, she squeezed through the small opening. Moments later, Jasper joined her in the air ducts.

As they wound through the maze of ducting to an outside vent, Greylyn prayed that this highly illegal act was worth it. Because, for the life of her, she could not figure out what an ancient seedpod, a Celtic symbol, and now an Egyptian tablet had to do with anything. Nothing related to this prophecy seemed to fit together.

The emptiness in her heart after tonight’s escapades did little to reassure her. She was no closer to solving this riddle than when Olivier had tasked her with the job.

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