God Bones

Chapter 22: Sylphium

Even though it was dangerous, I couldn't help but try to see if the bone opened the drawer with the skeleton. I held the bone to the drawer and willed it open and when I tugged on it, there was no resistance.

In the early morning light falling through the jewel shaped roof, the skeleton looked lovely, the salt and crystal inclusions sparkling, throwing beams of iridescent light through the room.

Without anyone watching me, I was free to touch it. I carefully ran my hands along the bones of the rib, the texture was as rough as I expected and I could see where the rib had been broken off. I was right, I suppose. I touched the ends of the right femur. It looked like an intact bone despite the fact that it had been dislocated from the pelvis, it was much lighter than I expected the bone to be for the average man of that size, especiallly with the crystal growth but the length of it was natural and there were no chipped ends.

No other sharp edges aside from the rib on the skeleton, at least as far as I could tell. It didn't look like anyone had chipped off more bones for me to find. And no other bone vibrated with energy like the rib in my hand.

It was pretty clear to me now that this skeleton was not some random Minoan. A king? Unlikely, kings had very extravagant burials, they wouldn't be stashed off the coast of an unimportant island to be forgotten.

A priest? Unlikely, again due to similar reasons. Unless . . .

Unless he had somehow displeased the Gods.

I felt like I'd opened another Pandora's box.

I have to go.

I closed the drawer and pressed the rib to it, willing I to lock and it did. I opened the drawer with my guns, stashed the rib there and ran to my room. This is spiraling into something
something more complicated than I thought. It was overwhelming. Too many possibilities that popped and fizzled in my head. This is going to be tough.

But its okay.

Sera always told me that nobody loved a good puzzle more than me.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘ ༓ ∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

When I entered the room, Arion was already gone. I knew he'd returned from the way the bed was made. I never made my bed.

My head was starting to pound from lack of sleep and I couldn't focus, but I couldn't sleep either. I was on edge, there was far too much adrenaline flowing through my veins to allow me some sleep.

Even as a university student, I could never get into the habit of pulling all nighters. My sleep was important, more than my grades. Good sleep always put me in a better mood and a better frame of mind. So I already knew today was going to be crappy.

And I guess I'm not scoring an internship under Dr. Thea Singh anytime soon. But then again, if I mess up there may not be a Dr. Thea Singh anymore. Or a Lucifera Markov, for that matter.

I dug around my bags for my running shorts and my tank top. Laith had told me to keep in shape and maybe I could burn off some of the adrenaline. I didn't like running, but I had grown used to it and it allowed me to zone out and think. I quickly traded my lingerie for my sports wear and discarded my slippers for my running shoes. I put my earphones on and grabbed my phone that had a few songs downloaded.

The castle grounds looked empty and I figured that the stone paved road looked like a good enough jogging track. I stretched and warmed up before taking off.

The playlist I'd chosen wasn't idea for running. 'Que Sera, Sera,' by Doris Day was one of the first songs on it.

Que sera, sera . . . Whatever will be, will be. The future is not ours to see . . .