The steward put the tray down on a little table by her easel. ‘Will that be all, ma’am?’
‘Yes. Thank you.’
Once he had gone, Meri spread the photos out on the floor. She shuffled them around until she got what she thought was the right order, excitement growing.
‘I don’t believe it!’ she whispered.
There were two figures on the mosaic, one standing slightly behind the other. The sun-ray woman stood in the front, but the man behind her was three-quarters visible, bare-chested. What was most remarkable, though, was that they both were covered in swirling Perilous markings. It could be an ancient picture of her and Kel.
‘They knew! They knew about us!’ Meri jumped up to pace off her enthusiasm. Did she seriously think her relationship in the twenty-first century could’ve been predicted millennia ago? She didn’t really believe in such magical stuff. If not a future-casting, then what?
The most obvious conclusion was that there had been others like her and Kel. Some of the Perilous and Teans had discovered their potential and even set up a little temple to celebrate it. Meri remembered what she had been told: the site was small, in an out-of-the-way place on Atlantis. It appeared to have been destroyed before the wave hit. Had it been a secret? Had the Atlantean authorities discovered the rebels and pulled down the structure to hide the new knowledge? That would explain why the hands had been gouged out. Touching a Perilous in love was a taboo.
Meri turned her attention to the writing around the edge. Dr Severn could read this but he would be translating it with all his prejudices intact. She needed someone who would give it to her without his own interpretation skewing the result. Fortunately, thanks to Rio, she had now made an acquaintance who could do just that. The trick would be getting the translation done without Rio being made aware.
She took out her art pad and began to sketch.
19
‘Am I a genius or not?’ crowed Theo as he came through the barrier at the Gare du Nord.
‘A genius.’ Kel hugged Theo, overjoyed to see him after months apart. He’d forgotten they hadn’t really got to the hugging stage of friendship. Last time Theo and he had met in person, Theo had punched him.
Theo had evidently forgotten that too, returning the embrace. Kel was then handed on to Saddiq and Valerie for their own hugs. It was quite alarming to vanish into Valerie’s swirling cotton dress but Kel went with it. He’d been starved of human warmth for so long. ‘It’s so great to see you guys.’ He then introduced Nixie. Sadie did her own greetings, having met them all in London.
‘So why do you think you are a genius, Theo?’ Sadie asked. ‘I thought that was me.’
‘I only got Ade to give me Kel’s passport.’ He produced it with a flourish.
‘How?’ marvelled Kel. This was the difference between being a No-Homer and a legitimate traveller.
‘Told him I was fetching you home. He knew you were in France.’
‘Yeah, I phoned him a week or so ago. Separate matter,’ he added quickly.
Theo arched a brow. ‘I told him you’d been arrested for vagrancy and asked me to rescue you.’
‘Plausible. I’ve had a few close calls.’
‘He said to say he’d prefer you to phone him when you’re in trouble.’
‘And you said?’
‘That you might think twice seeing how he was shooting at you last time you met.’
‘Good one.’ Kel grinned. ‘Shall we have breakfast and plot our next move?’
They settled at a table in one of the cafés in the station. Theo, the only one who still had a job, treated them all to croissant and coffee.
‘They let you back?’ Kel asked.
‘Yes, I’m very lucky with my boss.’
Valerie nudged him. ‘She loves you, Theo. A total goner. I don’t even think she bought that excuse about an accident and amnesia, but she wanted to so the sucker gave you back your job.’
‘I must buy her some flowers.’
‘Flowers? For her forbearance you should be getting her a diamond ring!’
‘Valerie, she’s seventy.’
‘What’s age but a number? I hope I’m still chasing lovely young thirty somethings at that age.’
‘I can’t imagine any other outcome,’ Kel said truthfully.
She patted his cheek. ‘Aw, honey, such a shame you’re Meri’s.’
He laughed, knowing by now she was only teasing.
‘So, Sadie, have you been able to do your magic?’ asked Saddiq, returning them to the matter at hand.
‘What? Are you doubting me?’ Sadie sounded offended.
‘I was just thinking that maybe Osun has his accounts well protected.’
Sadie laced her fingers and cracked her knuckles, making Nixie flinch. ‘Sorry, Goldilocks. Saddiq, this is me you’re talking to. I have arranged six tickets for a flight to Jerez this afternoon.’
‘Jerez, why there?’ asked Nixie. ‘I’m not even sure where that is.’
‘Southern Spain and because my friends in Cardiff came up trumps.’ Sadie turned her phone round so they could see the grainy footage. ‘These images were taken in the city centre during a festival a few days back. We’ve got a good probability match to that person there being Meri.’ She pointed to a girl dancing with a tall guy. The boy’s face was more clearly seen: handsome, arrogant poise, Latin in looks. From the side view, his partner did indeed look very much like Meri, though she was wearing a backless dress and heels that didn’t seem to fit her usual fashion choices.
‘Are you sure it’s her?’ asked Theo.
‘The computer came out at seventy-two percent.’
‘It’s her,’ confirmed Kel. He knew somewhere deep inside that it was. He recognized the defiant expression. He had no illusions that there was anything romantic about the clinch. Both partners looked unhappy with each other. At least she wasn’t a prisoner.
‘That was enough for me to make the bookings,’ said Sadie. ‘I mean, we’ve got to start somewhere. I looked into Jerez after this came up. It fits what we know about her destination. The area has quietly kept out of the Aragon-Castile conflict and taken to ruling itself.’
‘Government?’ asked Saddiq.
‘There’s no information online, which is kind of a confirmation something super-secret is going on. All I can find out is that the Jerez region runs itself quite successfully, making no ripples on the world stage. As the rest of Spain has too much to worry about with the civil war, it’s been left to itself. They’ve not asked for recognition by the UN so no one has been bothered to investigate their ambitions and the issue of independence has not been forced. They just live it out.’
‘Did you get any other hits on images?’ asked Theo.
‘To be honest, yes. I got two in Malaga and another in Seville, all possible matches with a slightly higher percentage match, but my gut—and Kel’s—say this is the one.’
‘OK, we’ll go with that then. It’s not like we are paying for the flight, after all.’ Theo winked at Sadie.
On the flight to Jerez, Kel had a chance to have second thoughts about their flying-by-the-seat-of-their-pants plan. What were they hoping to achieve? Here they were, riding to the rescue of someone they didn’t know for sure wanted saving. In fact, it could be their arrival that put her in peril—literally. Were he and his companions in danger of being killed on sight? Well, put it this way: they couldn’t hope for a warm welcome when it became clear they’d come to rescue the princess in the tower.
‘Theo, are we going to get everyone killed?’ he murmured to his neighbour.
Theo opened his eyes from his nap. ‘I don’t know. Are we?’
‘Wait: you think I know what we’re doing?’
‘I was kinda hoping you’d have some idea.’
‘I don’t know much about Teans, Theo, except that they want me dead.’
‘But you spent time with them on the yacht. You have a better idea than I do. I’m just here to get my girl. It’s that simpl
e for me. I’m not breaking any laws, just visiting family.’
‘Geez. Right, OK.’ Kel took some calming breaths. ‘Look, we can’t all stride in and get her. We need to split up.’ Like that went so well in VilleFrançois. ‘But we have to keep in contact and plan for a rendezvous if things go wrong, make a base at a hotel. I need to keep out of sight as long as possible because they know me and, as far as they are concerned, I’m on their shoot-on-sight list. Let’s think: which of us don’t they know?’
Theo played with his ring piercing. ‘I would think they’ve looked me up by now—and possibly my friends.’
‘OK, that leaves Sadie and Nixie. That’s good because they’re Meri’s age and can go up to her without setting off alarm bells if anyone is watching. We should approach her when she’s out and about. I don’t fancy our chances if we are in a building the Teans control: a public place in Jerez is best.’
‘And then?’
‘We find out what’s really happening and take her with us if she’s ready to leave.’
Theo nodded. ‘Yeah, she doesn't need all this fortune and stuff. We managed fine before we knew anything about the inheritance. Broke but happy.’
‘I know, but things have changed. She’s still hunted. Keeping her safe is expensive.’
‘Then we’ll just have to work out a way of protecting her. Do you think Ade would negotiate? I hate him, but he’s the most reasonable Perilous I’ve met, present company excepted.’
‘I’m nowhere near reasonable, Theo. I’m on a plane flying into what I think might be the Tean headquarters. I’m going to be hunted down after this too.’
‘Your guys will protect you surely?’
‘Only if I tell them about this place. I’d have to do something like that to earn back my place. That’ll restart the war and I can’t betray Meri or have it on my conscience.’
‘OK, I get that the politics of this are intractable but here’s something that is plain: Meri needs us. We’re going to be there for her. We’ll take it from there.’
Kel had flown in on a false passport even though he had his own back. Sadie had already arranged a temporary one for him before Theo arrived and it was thought best that he arrive under a name that no one would be checking. To his great relief, they walked through arrivals unchallenged: Kel with Nixie, Sadie on her own, Theo and his two friends five minutes behind. They checked into a small hotel near the centre of the city, not far from the cathedral.
‘So, how do we do this?’ asked Nixie as they gathered in the largest of the bedrooms she was sharing with Sadie. ‘The odds of just bumping into your girlfriend somewhere on the streets of Jerez must be tiny.’
‘And the longer I traipse around the streets looking for her, the more likely I’ll be spotted. I’d better keep the lowest of low profiles,’ agreed Kel. He couldn’t help the buzz of excitement though. Meri was somewhere near here. If all went well, he’d be seeing her in a few hours.
‘We start where that festival took place. Ask questions. Find out if anyone remembers her. That dress is pretty distinctive,’ said Saddiq.
‘OK, you and Valerie do that,’ said Theo. ‘I’m going to drop by the paint supply shops. Meri loves her art.’
Kel couldn’t imagine the Teans letting Meri make her own purchases but it was worth a try as there would only be one or two in a place this size. ‘She likes markets too,’ he said, remembering their time in France.
‘We’ll check those,’ said Sadie, not looking up from her keyboard. ‘I think we’ll ask after the guy in the picture rather than Meri. Better to run a few side programmes in case we get a hit.’
‘Sounds good,’ agreed Nixie.
‘And I’ll wait here. Ring me if anyone gets a lead,’ said Kel. It was going to be hell letting others do the search but he would only jeopardise them with his presence.
‘We’ve got to work fast, people. There’s a flight out tomorrow at six in the evening to Gatwick,’ said Sadie, closing her laptop. ‘I’ve booked us all on it, including Meri.’
‘Even me?’ asked Nixie. Her blue eyes were blank with shock.
‘Unless you want to go back to Rashid’s band,’ said Kel. He’d said his farewells and thank yous before they left Paris and given Hoon and Bitna Theo’s address, hoping they might be able to visit one day when the world was less crazy. ‘But I hope we can offer you a better life in London. At least you won’t be homeless.’
‘Always room for one more in my flat,’ said Theo with a wry smile. ‘And I’ve a very understanding landlord.’
‘Oh, that’s…that’s far more than I expected.’ Nixie swallowed. ‘I…well, let’s see, can we? We don’t yet know if we’re going to make that flight. And they might not let me into England.’
‘I’ll say you are a talented member of a Danish choir over for an exchange my office is sponsoring. I can even get my boss to back me up if necessary,’ promised Theo.
‘Oh, wow, thanks. I didn’t expect anything like this. No one’s ever…just thanks.’ She blushed furiously, neck going blotchy. Kel hadn’t known she wasn’t a pretty blusher. It made her more human and less ethereal so he rather liked the revelation.
‘You’re part of the team. Of course, you’ll come with us, Goldilocks,’ said Sadie, nudging her.
‘What does that make us?’ asked Valerie, pointing at Theo and Saddiq. ‘The three bears?’
Meri found Clarice on her own in a lab in the university, poring over a fragment of pottery. Thanks to Dr Severn, she knew now not to dismiss it because it looked shabby; the key to the Atlantean language had been found on just such a shard.
‘Hey, Clarice, how are you?’
‘Good, thanks. How are the tomatoes?’
‘Oh, er, great, but I had to paint quickly as some of them were starting to go rancid.’
‘The Old Masters used to paint things that way, all stages of life to death.’
‘But I guess they didn’t have them set up in their bedroom?’
Clarice smiled. ‘I guess not.’
‘What’s that?’ Meri gestured to the shard.
‘Just one of the uncatalogued finds. A storage jar for olive oil.’
‘Interesting?’
‘Not really, unless you specialize in amphoras.’
‘Um, no.’
‘But, to be honest, anything coming out of that site is fascinating. Even this amphora is not like any other I’ve read about. Rio says the settlement was just a Greek outpost but the language is nothing like the earliest scripts we know, not even like Linear A, the one used for Minoan Greek.’
‘Minoan? Is that like the minotaur?’
‘Exactly. Minos. A Bronze Age culture centred on Crete that got wiped out at the same time as this place we’re excavating. It makes sense, I suppose, to assume they are linked.’
It was now or never if she was going to risk asking. ‘Clarice, I have a confession, but I need you to promise you’ll not tell anyone, not even Rio.’
‘It’s not illegal, is it?’ Clarice asked in a joking tone.
‘Nothing illegal.’ Just very, very unpopular with her boyfriend.
‘OK, then. What is it?’
‘That person you disturbed in the storage shed? That was me.’
‘You should've said something!’
‘I just have.’
‘Why did you run?’
‘Being caught watching you two get all hot and bothered would cause huge trouble with my cousin. He’d never let me hear the end of it. It wasn't as if I meant to witness that.’
Clarice laughed in an embarrassed fashion. ‘I guess that was a bit awkward. Why were you in there?’
‘Curiosity. Rio had been all mysterious about what he was storing so I had to look.’
‘And did you see?’
‘Yes. I also heard you say you wanted a crack at the translation. I thought as an apology for interrupting your…whatever…I’d give you that.’ She reached in her bag. ‘I took photos.’
‘Of us kissing!’
/> ‘No, of the mosaic, of course! I wanted a closer look.’
‘Oh.’
‘Will you tell me what it says? I’ve written out the symbols and I’m as curious as you are now to find out what it says. You don’t need to admit you have already done it when Dr Severn announces his version but you and I will both know you got there first.’
Clarice’s fingers hovered over the pad. ‘In here?’
‘Yes.’
‘Tempting. But Rio won’t like it.’
‘Rio needn’t know.’
That was the wrong thing to say. Clarice removed her hand. ‘I don’t like going behind his back.’
‘But he said it was going to go on display at the villa museum. It’s hardly a secret.’
‘No, it’s not. It is part of advancing our understanding of a fascinating island culture.’ Clarice was working hard to persuade herself.
‘Exactly.’
‘OK. Let’s have a look.’ She flipped open the pad. ‘You’re good with a pencil.’
‘Thanks. Dr Severn has already translated that part for me. He said it read: “Dark skies. Days’ end. Together we glow.” Is that right?’
‘Ssh.’
Meri got the message. She sat down on a stool beside Clarice and watched her work. It seemed to take a very long time as the linguist consulted her notes and then a learned journal. Meri began to worry that Rio might interrupt them and that would really mess things up.
‘I think I’ve got it,’ announced Clarice. ‘It’s some kind of poem rather than a prayer or intercession for the god’s favour. It appears to work on lines of five then four syllables. I’m pretty sure I’ve got the order correctly as it runs from inside to outside in a spiral from where their hands meet.’ Clarice frowned. ‘Or maybe it goes the other way?’
‘Let’s see what makes best sense.’
Clarice pushed over her translation. ‘It’s rough—needs some fine tuning.’
Meri ran her finger over the poem. ‘Wisdom died when we were set apart. Breath without body; thunder without lightning. Your touch can kill in anger, but it can also complete us in love. So now, as skies darken, and the days end, together we glow.’