The Eighth Curse

Chapter Five

Speaking to the others about a "game plan" hadn't really gotten them anywhere. In reality, it had wasted extra time, so Nisa spent the next four hours doing more research into this mysterious, unknown language. Oliver finally convinced her to get some sleep, but the next morning, as soon as she woke up, she was at it again.

The research hadn't gotten anywhere, either. Needless to say, there wasn't very many books about a language that had been hidden from the public. So, Nisa realized her only options left if she really wanted the language to be translated, was to go back to Callahan and find a way to work with him.

"What are you doing?" Oliver asked.

Nisa sighed, thumping her hands against her thighs in frustration. "I have to go to Callahan, okay? I can't steal his information because then I'd never get official credit, so I have to find a way to translate this the right way, but Ollie... There is no more information on this unknown language. Either Callahan has the translation or the pottery we found would help him translate it. But I'm stuck. I have to go to him to cut a deal."

Oliver shook his head. "No. Absolutely not. I'm your head of security and your best friend which sometimes means stopping you from making stupid decisions."

Nisa shot him a look and crossed her arms as wind blew in sand from outside. "You already stopped me from being stupid and trying to steal his papers. This... isn't that."

"Yes, it is." Oliver placed his hand on her shoulders, which stopped in her tracks as she had tried to skirt around him toward the tent's entrance. "If you give him the piece of pottery, he will steal it from you just like he did from your dad. Nisa... We'll figure out another way."

Nisa stared up at him as frustration boiled through her. "How?"

Oliver grinned. "You're not going to find the answers up here."

Nisa cocked her head at him as her lips played upward into a smirk. "Ollie..."

He nodded his head in the direction of the pyramid. "Right now, your team is the only one with permission to be here. Knowing Callahan, it won't be long before he has the legalities to join you here. Ni, if you want answers, you're going to have to get back down there and find them. If one piece of pottery had the unknown language... it's likely others will too."

Nisa nodded and tightly hugged him. "You know what, you're right. Not to mention the odd creature statue we found. If any place will have more artifacts with that language written on it, it's here. You coming with me?"

Oliver shook his head. "No. I'll leave that to you, Bea, Susie, and Chris."

Nisa smiled at him and released him. "What about you?"

Oliver glanced at the tent entrance as the wind hurled the flaps open. "I'll be staying here at the surface. Between Callahan and the protestors, I'm gonna keep an eye on the artifacts myself."

Nisa nodded and bent down to grab her bag of tools from the corner. "You got it. See you in a few hours."

Outside, sand blew in a maelstrom, so Nisa used the scarf around her neck to cover her nose and mouth as she tried to shield her eyes with her hand as best as she could. It didn't really work, especially with how powerful sandstorms were in this area.

It didn't take long for Nisa to meet up with Bea in her tent, who informed her that Chris and Susie were already down in the pyramid. Where, she didn't know. So, the two women quickly made their way from Bea's tent to the pyramid's entrance and then started on the long trek down to the bottom.

Once they were inside the tomb, walking down the long staircase down deeper into the pyramid, they could finally hear each other, so Nisa turned to Bea. "Have they gotten the bottom half of the statue unearthed yet?" she asked.