Devil's Attic

Chapter One

Jonathan Ford leaned back in his chair and soaked up the atmosphere of the bar. He loved the "Clover Leaf", a rustic, small pub that was off-campus but a lot cheaper. The Irish music was sometimes a bit exhausting in the long run, but the beer was excellent, and the stuffy air was bearable.

He put his arm around the shoulders of his girlfriend, Eden Bridgerton, the woman who had managed to win his heart. They were dating for almost two years and Jonathan planned to propose as soon as they had their degrees.

It was a Friday evening in July, and the bar was well filled with students laughing and looking forward to the weekend. In a few days, the exams would start, and then finally, there would be a semester break, the number one topic of conversation in his circle of friends at the table at the moment. While Jonathan's best friend Henry asked the group what their plans were for the summer, Jonathan's thoughts turned back to Eden. Actually, he wanted to visit his mother again. She lived in New Jersey, and he only saw her twice a year. This time, he wanted to ask Eden if she would accompany him. His mother would be very happy to finally meet the woman at his side in person.

Claire's giggle interrupted his thoughts, and he shook his head briefly as she explained her plans for the summer. She wanted to anchor on a yacht somewhere off Bali with a rich, attractive Greek heir. Jonathan looked at her and wondered how she had come up with such a ridiculous idea. With a sideways glance, he noticed that Henry was staring at her in infatuation. He loved his friend, but he couldn't understand his friend's decision to sleep with her. Claire was beautiful, that was a given, but she wasn't the brightest candle on the cake, and Jonathan had often wondered how she had made it to university in the first place.

"Can't we perhaps do something that has something to do with archaeology? Or at least history?" Eden asked, pulling Jonathan out of his thoughts.

Henry laughed out loud and patted Jonathan on the back. "Your girlfriend needs a bit of action, Jo, maybe you're too boring for her."

Jonathan just smiled at her, grateful for her interest in his field of study. He had always been fascinated by archaeology and history, and he was excited at the possibility of incorporating it into their summer plans. Henry's teasing comment made him roll his eyes, he knew that his friend was just joking, but he couldn't help feeling a little annoyed. Jonathan watched Eden whisper to her best friend Kayla and knew the conversation was about Henry.

Kayla didn't think much of him; for her, Henry was just a rich, snobby, and spoiled brat who simply rested on his parents' fortune and had never worked a single day in his life. Henry, on the other hand, couldn't stand Kayla because she was a fun blocker for him. Everything always had to be legal and planned. There have often been arguments because Henry made fun of her origins and found that she fulfilled every cliché of an Asian student.

Suddenly, the group's conversation was interrupted by three fellow students who had come to their table. Kyle, Paul, and Kevin were known in college only as the 'nerd trio,' highly gifted, inseparable, and most of all nerdy. Jonathan recognized the three of them, they had several courses together, but he had never really talked to them before. One of them, Kevin, cleared his throat and shyly greeted the group. Henry was already leaning back with his eyebrows raised, and Jonathan knew he was already looking for a way to tease the three boys.

"We'd like to pitch you a deal," Kevin declared. "We have information that may be of interest to you and could be of great importance."

Jonathan and his friends looked at each other, curious about what would follow and a little incredulous that the nerds were addressing their group.

"We probably found the City of Gold," Paul, Kevin's friend, bubbled, and suddenly everyone was silent.

A few weeks ago, their history professor had told them the legend of the City of Gold, which was not built by the Incas or Maya, as most assumed, but by the ancestral Puebloans, hidden deep in the Midwest of the United States. There were rumors that they had learned to dig for gold and had built palaces out of it for their gods.