Rise Of The Shadow ||A Contemporary Fantasy Romance||

04: Don't Be So Ostentatious

VINCENT

"Okay, I know you said that I had to do research before I brought this up again, so..." Caeli dropped a slew of paper in front of me. All I could do was hold back my tears, because I couldn't imagine reading that many words and not go insane.

"I don't remember asking for a thesis on it." It was usual for Caeli to go into depth when she did her research, but this was no doubt the hardest she'd ever gone.

"Well, think of it as an early birthday present," she replied as she placed a finger on the first piece of the forest-worth of paper. "I spent hours looking this shit up in the library, so you better appreciate the effort I went to." There were a handful of factors that would determine whether I would actually appreciate that effort or not.

"I think I'd be able to appreciate it a little more if we didn't have to leave Lima in the next hour or so..." I replied, and I saw Caeli roll her eyes. She no doubt thought I was being overdramatic, but I knew what she was like. Assuming she'd visited the sites she normally did, my reaction likely wasn't dramatic enough.

"Don't be so ostentatious," she replied as she sat down in the chair to my right.

"That was a big word," I quipped with a smile. She turned towards me with raised eyebrows. Maybe that was an unnecessary thing to say when she knew far more words than he did.

"Maybe for you." Ouch. That was uncalled for. "Look, I already have a heading for us so you don't need to be so nervous. The sooner you let me catch you up, the sooner we can leave."

"Alright, but make it quick, we have bags to pack." I sat up straighter in the seat, and prepared myself for the onslaught that was no doubt going to hit me in the face.

She smiled as she pulled pieces of paper off the pile, which meant she was after something specific. If I knew anything, which she would probably like to tell me I didn't, then that detail was the reason we'd have to leave Lima in the next hour.

"Is that..." I trailed off as I picked up the piece of paper. Although I could see the image from the short distance, I needed to be sure of what I saw.

"It's a collection of the exact same idol together. Some of them have previously been opened while others are intact. An anonymous source said an English museum broke one open to see what was in it, but when I looked up the group of historians that opened it to plan some light interrogation..." she trailed off as she clasped her hands together next to the pile of paper.

"They were dead?" I assumed, to which she nodded and handed me another piece of paper. A newspaper report from a few years ago, detailing the deaths of a group of people. Theories ranged from coincidence to a targeted attack, but they never found evidence of foul play.

"I would be more inclined to believe the coincidence theory if all the statuettes hadn't disappeared from the museum without a trace," she said. Her fingers tapped on the table-top as I kept reading the article. The kid was right, the story would be more believable if the thing these people had been researching hadn't vanished.

"So it's important then..." I trailed off as I finished the article, and Caeli nodded with too much vigour considering the paper in my hand. "What do you think it's going to lead to then?"

"I don't know yet. All I'm sure of is that it's Incan inspired, and there's a chance it could depict Inkarri." What the hell was that?

"Inkarri?" He asked as she let her dark hair out of her ponytail.

"It's an Incan folk tale. I'll explain in more detail later, but he retreated into Paititi, their lost city of gold." Jesus Christ. Caeli had picked her words carefully, specifically to prevent me from getting too excited about the chance of finding a city made of gold. It was definitely too late for that precaution, because I had already realised we wouldn't be able to do this alone. "I'm not really convinced that's what it will lead to though, the carbon dating those researchers did proved the statuettes aren't anywhere near old enough to be truly Incan."