Excavations and Enlightenment (A sequel to "Caveats and Cliches")

Chapter 20: Blood Is Thicker Than Water

All eyes turn to Sarah who is casually leaning against the wall with her arms folded across her chest.

"SARAH!" Toby hisses at her angrily.

Easton and Pema gaze at her, transfixed. Sarah shrugs, and proceeds to exam her nails like she's bored.

"It is so important to know what you are getting into before you agree to marry." She says, fixing them with a hard stare.

Slowly, Easton rises from the floor and runs a nervous hand through his hair.

"Um, yes, that..." He stutters.

But Sarah isn't finished. Idly running her fingers through her own hair, she says,

"Maybe, we should start with you- Pema. Perhaps, you'd like to inform them that you were never abducted; that you set this whole thing up from the beginning."

There is a fraction of a second of complete silence, then Toby and Easton simultaneously burst into denials.

"Sarah!! That's crazy!"

"How can you accuse her of such a thing??"

"She's just been through hell, and you're saying it's her own fault?"

"How could you be so insensitive??"

I notice Pema is being very quiet through all of this, her eyes downcast. Sarah doesn't waver through the barrage. After a moment, she shrugs and gestures to Pema.

"Ask her."

Toby doesn't turn, still fuming at his sister, but Easton does.

"I'm so sorry, Pema, but, please tell her! Tell her you had nothing to do with this fiasco and I'll make her apologize...for...for..."

Easton trails off as Pema shifts her gaze to him. The look is full of fear and regret, but not a trace of denial.

"Easton," she says softly, "Forgive me...But I knew you were going to ask for my hand soon, and the entire time that we've known each other, our relationship has been long-distance. It has made it harder to discern the true person inside. I needed to know that you would not give up in the face of challenges, and that you would place what is truly important above material riches."

Easton seems frozen, staring at Pema in wide eyed horror. His mouth opens and closes as he tries to speak.

"NO." Toby says sternly, looking from them to his sister. "It's not true. We saw the abduction, spoke to the kidnappers! They weren't just... figments of our imagination!"

Sarah does an exaggerated head roll toward Pema then raises her eyebrows. Pema sighs and pushes her hair back from her left ear. There's a little black device there. She touches a button and says,

"Anthony, could you come in here, please?"

Shortly after she says this, I hear footsteps coming our way. The supposed abductor -who is apparently named Anthony- and his cohorts enter the room. Anthony is carrying the staff and the guards look a bit haggard; leaning on each other for support. Anthony looks around, noting the mixed expressions on everyone's faces.

"Weren't we supposed to do this tomorrow? Big reveal and all that?"

Pema raises her hand palm up, something between a shrug and a gesture toward Sarah.

"Sarah figured it out." She says simply.

Anthony turns to study my wife. "Really? I thought things were going marvelously! What gave it away?"

"Before Jareth and I got married, I was a private investigator. Real cases don't involve people being tortured with gardening tools, they do not involve following maps to buried treasure, and X never, ever marks the spot. Honestly, this whole thing was so scripted, I half expected a cameo from M. Night Shyamalan. "