Fountain of Secrets (The Relic Seekers) (14 page)

“Bloody hell,” Nathan said. “We’re in England.”

“We can’t be in England,” Jake said.

“Saint Michael’s Tower is in Glastonbury, England,” Nathan said.

“How the hell did we get from Italy to England?” Jake asked.

“This is Glastonbury Tor.” Kendall’s eyes lit. “This is starting to make sense.”

“Not to me,” Jake said.

“Do you know what’s in Glastonbury?” she asked.

Jake looked at the tower. “Saint Michael’s Tower?”

“The Chalice Well,” Nathan said.

“What’s the Chalice Well?” Jake asked.

“An ancient well,” Kendall said. “A sacred well.”

“You’re saying the Fountain of Youth is here?” Jake asked.

“Legend says the Chalice Well sprang up after a chalice holding the blood of Christ was buried here by Joseph of Arimathea. He was the man who gave his tomb for Jesus’s burial. A fountain
flows from the well, and people come from all over the world to drink from its waters, which are supposed to have the power to heal.”

“How do you know so much about it?” Jake asked.

“Because I was going to bring Kendall here to see what she thought about the well.” Nathan didn’t trust psychics other than Kendall, if that was what she even was. “That was just before I found out about the Spear of Destiny.” And that had taken precedence over everything.

Kendall smiled. “And the chalice that Joseph buried wasn’t just any old chalice. It was the Holy Grail.”

Jake looked surprised. “So the Fountain of Youth could have come from the Holy Grail? Damn.”

Nathan felt a stir of excitement. Could he be getting close to the cure?

“There’s no way the Fountain of Youth is gonna be out there for the whole world to see,” Jake said. “Are you forgetting the booby traps and statues that protected the Spear of Destiny?”

“It should be hidden better than that,” Nathan said, feeling disappointment crowding his hope. But still…

“But there must be a reason why we’re here.” Kendall still looked excited.

“There is,” Jake said. “We fell through a maze.”

“Exactly beside the site of two holy wells that are supposed to have healing powers?”

“Two?” Jake asked.

“There’s another well here too,” Kendall said. “The White Spring. It’s supposedly powerful too. Two wells, one tinged red, the other white. And we find ourselves here right after Marco tells us we need to find the Fountain of Youth? Remember that fountain near the entrance of the maze? Maybe that was some kind of indicator.”

Jake scoffed. “Like a damned street sign saying, ‘This Way to the Fountain of Youth.’”

“Well, it’s too much of a coincidence that we’re here,” Kendall said. “And we heard the statues humming in the cave. So something important must be here.”

Jake looked down the hill toward town. “We thought we were underneath the castle then. The humming could’ve been something else. Sometimes you can hear strange sounds in old caves.”

“We have to go back in there,” Kendall said.

“We need to check the well first,” Nathan said.

“You think it might cure you?” Kendall asked.

“No, but I have to try.”

They started down the hill toward the town. Kendall was electric with excitement. “We went from Italy to England through a maze. Do you realize what this means?”

“We found a way to avoid airfare?” Jake said.

Jake’s sarcasm almost made Nathan smile, but he hid it. It hadn’t dampened Kendall’s enthusiasm. Her spirit and excitement were two of the reasons he’d hired her. Not the most important ones, but they made Nathan feel alive.

“We traveled through… space. This is unbelievable. We just went from one country to another by walking through a maze. Aren’t you excited about this?” she asked Jake.

“Excited isn’t exactly how I’d describe it.”

Jake couldn’t stand not being in control. A trait that was both challenging and helpful for Nathan’s purposes.

“First thing we need to do,” Jake said, “is make sure we’re even in the right century. Then we’ll find these holy wells and see if it rids you of your curse.”

They were in the right time, at least not in medieval times. There were several people on the hill, some sitting on the grass,
others walking. A few were dressed in costume—which seemed to be normal around here—but most of them wore jeans or modern clothes. There were various accents, but most of them British.

Jake put a hand on Kendall’s back and guided her around two men walking side by side.

“Can you tell us where to find the Chalice Well?” Nathan asked.

“At the bottom of the hill, just there,” one of the men said, pointing.

“You must have walked right by it on the way up,” the other said.

“We need to talk to Marco and see what he knows about this place,” Nathan said as they walked down the hill.

“Marco seems to forget as much as he remembers,” Jake said. “You’ll probably learn more from that journal.”

It took them twenty minutes to reach the Chalice Well Gardens. There were already people milling about, but the gardens weren’t open yet. “Too bad we’re broke,” Kendall said. “There’s a gift shop. I bet they have clothes. Mine feel like they could walk on their own.”

“There’s a public restroom and phones,” Jake said. “We can clean up, wash off your wrist, and then we need food.”

“We don’t have any money,” Kendall said. She had forgotten about her wrist.

“I have fifty bucks in my boot for emergencies,” Jake said. “Like falling through portals.”

“Dollars?” she asked. “You’ll have to exchange it for pounds. You don’t have ID.”

“I could do it under the table.”

“Don’t bother,” Nathan said. “I’ll have Fergus send a car and arrange accommodations. Or we can go to the London hotel.”

“Let’s stay here,” Kendall said. “I want to explore the area.”

“And I need a decent meal before I starve. It’ll take too long to get to London unless you bring in a helicopter.”

“Then we’ll find a local hotel. I’m going to the well while we wait for the car,” Nathan said. “You get food and meet me back here.”

“I don’t think we should leave you,” Kendall said. “We don’t know what might happen at the well.”

“Go with Jake. It might be best if I go alone,” Nathan said.

Kendall looked uncertain, but she left with Jake. Nathan watched them walk away. He touched his chest where she had laid her head while she slept beside him in the cave. That was the closest he’d been to her. He watched as Jake reached over and touched her arm. He wanted to call her back to go with him, but it was best that he go to the well alone. He didn’t know what to expect if it turned out to be the real fountain. Or what might happen if it wasn’t. He found a phone and called Fergus.

“Where the devil are you?” Fergus asked. He sounded exasperated. “I’ve been trying to call you. The castle is in an uproar.”

“We’re in England.”

“England.” Nathan heard Fergus sniff. “You could have called, sir. People worry about you, you know?”

“We didn’t plan to come to England. We… fell here. There’s some kind of portal in the maze at the castle.”

“Are you drunk, sir?” Fergus asked.

“You know I don’t drink. There’s a bloody portal in that maze at the castle. Kendall fell through it, and Jake and I did too when we went to find her.”

“And you landed in England, sir?”

“Glastonbury, England. I need you to find accommodations for us and have a car sent to the Chalice Well. Something that won’t draw attention, and have our luggage sent here.”

“Are you OK?” Fergus sounded worried.

He wouldn’t be OK until he got rid of this curse. “I’m fine.”

“Do you have money?”

“Jake does for now, but have some money sent to the hotel.” Nathan had more money than he knew what to do with, and now he was stuck without a dime to his name. He’d have to depend on Jake if he wanted to eat in the next hour.

“I see,” Fergus said. “We’ll come and bring your things with us. We’re in Italy. We left as soon as they said the three of you had disappeared.”

“We?”

“Marco insisted on coming with me.”

“He’s OK to travel?”

“He’s doing remarkably well.”

“How could you be in Italy? We’ve only been gone for a few hours.”

Fergus was quiet for a moment. “Sir, you’ve been gone for well over a day.”

“That’s impossible.” Nathan looked at his watch, forgetting that it had stopped. “It’s Tuesday.”

“It’s Wednesday, sir. You vanished Monday night.”

Nathan cursed. Somewhere along the way, they’d lost an entire day. “Fergus, don’t come here. Just send our things.” As much as Nathan wanted to talk to Marco face-to-face, he didn’t want to put either of the men at risk. He was worried about that shadow in the cave. He didn’t think it was Raphael. “Have you seen Raphael?”

“No.”

“Tell the guards to be alert. He’s going to be angry. Fergus, be careful.”

“Don’t worry, I have a gun.”

Bloody hell. “Don’t try to shoot him, Fergus.” Everyone was in enough danger without Fergus carrying a gun.

Fergus hung up the phone and turned to Marco. “They’re alive.”

The old man nodded. “They must stay alive. They’re in England. Where?”

“Glastonbury.”

“Very good.”

“I think we should go. I believe it’s time to tell him the truth.”

Marco stood. “Do we fly or take the maze?”

Nathan held a brochure in front of him and studied the entrance to the Chalice Gardens. He’d found the brochure on the ground where someone had dropped it. He was going to drink from the fountain until he couldn’t drink any more. There was also a pool. He might just jump in it and roll around for good measure. The gardens had just opened, so they weren’t busy now. He didn’t have money, but it shouldn’t be too hard to sneak inside. He waited until the woman at the gate was distracted with a group and slipped through. The woman turned and called out, but he kept going. He hurried up the path and darted behind a tree.

No one came after him, so he guessed he was safe. His mouth was dry as he followed the path to the fountain. Traditions varied on the actual source of the well, but he wasn’t going to pass up the chance to drink. If his dreams were right, this could be his cure.

When he reached the fountain and saw a couple drinking, reality set in. If this was the Fountain of Youth, there should be millions of unnaturally youthful, cured people wandering the
planet. Still, he rose and walked to the fountain. There was no one close by, but he could hear voices drawing near. He knelt on the stone and leaned over, putting his mouth under the stream of water flowing from the lion’s head. The water tasted unusual. It must be the iron. That was what turned the water red. Some believed it was symbolic of Christ’s blood. Nathan drank until his stomach felt like it would burst. He heard a voice behind him.

“Mom, he’s drinking it all. There won’t be any left for the rest of us.”

“This well has been flowing for two thousand years, Art. Don’t worry, it’s not going to dry up now.”

Nathan raised his head and looked at the boy. It was the redhead who had been throwing rocks.

“Make him stop drinking. It’s my turn.”

“He’s almost finished, see. There’ll be plenty of water for you.”

Nathan started to move, but he caught sight of his hands gripping the stone and remembered knocking Kendall into the wall. He ducked his whole head underneath the flow, letting the cold water run down his neck and back.

“He’s taking a bath in the fountain. Gross. Doesn’t he know there’s a pool?”

Nathan stood and wiped the water off his face. The woman and boy gaped at him as he walked past.

“See, it’s your turn now, Art. Go on, darling, take a drink.”

“Can I stick my head in like he did?”

“No, darling. Art. Be careful. Arthur, you’re leaning too far. Arthur!”

Something nudged Nathan’s memory, but before he could figure it out, there was a howl followed by the woman’s cry. Nathan turned around and saw the boy’s legs in the air as the mother attempted to pull him out of the basin. Served the little monster right, Nathan thought. Monster. That was a sobering thought.

He ignored the strange looks he got as he walked away and headed for the Vesica Piscis, where he found two circular pools intertwined. He dipped his head in these and then continued to the healing pool and walked down into the water. It was cold, but a couple of others were also wading. No one paid much attention until he sat down in the water and lay back, letting it wash over his head. Bloody hell, it was cold. He jumped up, shivering, and hurried away. He needed to find a place to dry off or he’d end up dying of exposure. He wouldn’t need a curse to finish him off.

K
ENDALL AND
J
AKE
used the public restrooms and cleaned up the worst of the grime from the cave. While Jake waited for Kendall, he called Clint collect to check on things at the house.

“No sign of any more intruders,” Clint said.

Clint was a good buddy. They’d known each other for years and had worked together on and off. Clint would have been with him in Iraq, but he’d been finishing up a job in Africa. If Clint had been there, he would have died with the rest of the team.