Lady of the night

Chapter 4

 The next morning Casandra woke up to a snoring sound that turned out to be Miranda on the floor. She got up and snuck into the bathroom for a hot shower, the dream still fresh in her mind. Was her key one of the four needed to open the locked box? Where were the remaining three? And why did her dream feel like the opening of Pandora's box?

  As she got out of the shower she was surprised to see that Miranda was still sleeping. She decided to let her be and head out to the site. Of all the questions she had the one that bothered her the most was why the box had been buried here of all places and why the lands owner wanted them to excavate now? Why hadn't it been done before?

 Casandra decided not to think of it further and focus on the large task of documenting the findings made thus far and preparing them for the transport to the museum. And all the paperwork, all the tons of paperwork which in part was Casandras jobb.

“Are you feeling better now, Cass?” Thomas asked nervously.

“Ah, yes I feel much better now, thank you Thomas. It was a bad dream, that's all.” Casandra replied an smiled as warmly as she could at Thomas who nervously smiled back and wen't back to gently brushing off a small piece of pottery.

  They had already come a long way when Casandra joined them, much to her surprise she found Nicolai sitting in one of the tents brushing pottery pieces as well. He had sunglasses and gloves on, which looked too warm to wear in the hot summer weather they had today. He looked up at her and smiled and waved with the brush in his hand. She waved back and walked towards Esmeralda's tent.

“Hey Es, Miranda is still sleeping. I thought she needed it.” Casandra said and sat down at the bench and looked at the stack of artifacts that had been cleaned and now waited to be documented and packed.

“Hey Cass! Ah, well poor Miss Long is not a morning person so I dare say she will probably sleep untill noon or such.” Esmeralda joked and they both laughed a little and then went back to the large task ahead of them.

  After lunch Miranda finally joined them, looking like she hadn't slept at all. Casandra apologised for not waking her up, but Miranda waved it off saying she needed the sleep anyway. Nicolai joined them in the tent leaving a tray och artifacts ready for documentation. He looked nervously towards the mansion every now and then. He seemed restless.

  As evening came they had finished half of the documentations and decided to rest with a glas of wine in the sitting room of the guest house. Everyone chatted happily, yet there was an air of unease in the room.

 As night came and the lights had gone out one by one in the guestrooms Casandra once again felt unable to sleep. She tossed and turned, removed her pillow and then brought it back again. With a heavy sigh she decided to go for another walk in the night, despite the feeling of dread that lingered in her mind after the dream last night.

  Putting on her white silk robe and this time a pair of flat yellow shoes, she normally used indoors, she walked outside as quitely as she could. As she once again found herself at the digsite, she started thinking that her restlessness had begun when they got close to the box.

  Without thinking she stepped down into the ruin carefully and walked over to the hole where the box had been found, in the middle of the ruin.

  Watching her from the roof of the guesthouse, Nicolai put his quill down and folded the letter he had been writing carefully placing it in an envelope, then sealing it shut. He placed it in his pocket and looked back at Casandra who was standing so still one could misstake her for a statue. The moonlight reflected off her silk robe and matching nightgown, her shoes looked golden. Her black hair flowed in the gentle wind, framing her beautiful pale face. Her blue eyes are exactly the same as his, he thought to himself and looked at the mansions dark looming silhouette. A shiver traveled down his spine and he quickly looked away and swallowed.