Atlantians

Chapter 2

Katarina looked around at the dig site. You could see for miles around you. The landscape was broken up by plateaus, buttes, and scrub brush. Katarina normally didn't like the arid climate of Arizona, but she found that she really liked this place. She liked the dry heat and the way that the sun felt. Katarina wiped some sweat off her forehead and went back to work setting up the tents that her and her team would be sleeping in.

"Hey Katarina!"

Katarina turned at the shout and got a faceful of water. She let out a cry as the cold water hit her. She stood there soaking wet with her hair plastered to her head as Anthony stood there with an empty bucket roaring with laughter. Katarina wiped water from her face and glared at Anthony.

"Ohhh Anthony! You better watch yourself because I will get you back!"

"How?" Anthony asked on a laugh. He quickly turned tail and ran when Katarina lunged at him. Everyone stopped working and watched as Katarina chased Anthony around the dig site. Katarina was gaining on Anthony until he caught his foot on something and went sprawling. Katarina managed to keep her feet as she tripped over him. She spun around to help Anthony up.

"You okay Anthony?"

"Yeah cuz," Anthony said as Katarina helped haul him to his feet. "I caught my foot on something."

Katarina's eyes were drawn to the slightly raised mound of dirt that Anthony had tripped on. Her practiced eye followed the contour of the line and she grabbed Anthony's arm and gasped in surprise.

"What is it?"

Katarina pointed at the spot where Anthony had disturbed the soil. She looked excitedly at Anthony before she explained. "You've just found our first clue that there was a village here."

Anthony looked at the ground and the frowned at her. "How can you be sure?"

Katarina's smile was bright and dazzling. "Because you just stumbled across a fire circle. Most people build a circle of stone around their fire in order to contain it. That's as true now as it was 10,000 years ago. Congratulations Anthony," Katarina said as she slapped her cousin on the shoulder. "You found us our first site to excavate."

Anthony looked down at the ground and grimaced. "Well, I wish it wouldn't have kicked my arse."

"Arse?" Katarina asked while trying not to giggle.

"Yes arse," Anthony said as he gave her a look.

Katarina burst out laughing and smacked Anthony on the chest before she turned and motioned to her team. "Let's start digging over here!" Katarina's holler set the fire underneath her workers feet. They grabbed their gear and hustled over to start digging. Katarina let them to it as she began walking and scanning the ground for further digging.

"Here you go boss."

"Thanks," Katarina said as she took the flags from her understudy. Katarina walked in a wide perimeter from where the digging was and stuck flags in the ground every time she saw something worth digging. Thirty minutes later Katarina stuck the last flag in the ground. She stood up and stretched her aching back.

"Hey cuz!" Anthony stood on the roof of the old military truck that she'd bought at auction.

Katarina walked over and put her foot on the front grill of the truck as she stretched her hand up for Anthony to grab. Anthony grabbed her hand and pulled her up beside him. He turned her around and pointed at the dig site. Katarina turned and stared at the pattern that her flags made. She looked up to find Anthony looking at her.

"That's not a coincidence," He said as waved a hand at the flags.

Katarina looked back at the flags and realized that Anthony was right. There were two groups of flags. One set formed a circle around the perimeter of the site and the others formed a spiral pattern. Katarina knew from her college classes and personal reading, that spirals were important in pre-Christian societies especially those that labeled themselves as Pagans. She had just never seen it so blatantly used. The spiral was usually used in artwork and jewelry. This was the first time she'd ever seen it used in what appeared to be day to day life.

"What do you make of this Kat?"

"I'm not sure Anthony. Spirals have a symbolic nature. You've seen my work and read my papers, but I've never seen one done like this. This has a ritualistic purpose to it."

"Then let's get to it," Anthony said as he jumped down from the hood. He held his arms up and smiled big at Katarina. "Jump Kat! I promise I won't drop you this time."

Katarina snorted and jumped trustingly into Anthony's arms. He didn't drop her, but the day was still young and Anthony always managed to drop her whenever he decided to pick her up. She had the bruises and scars to prove it.