Alexandria (ONC entry)

Part eight

The plane ride to Cairo–the city that had once been Alexandria, Maxence explained to Asura, and the place where once the most beautiful library in the world had stood–was only a little bumpy, and it made both of them uneasy.

They hadn't checked in any luggage, and the ride only lasted a little longer than an hour, but it felt like so much longer. In her head, Maxence was already counting down the minutes until she could jump into a taxi and harass the driver into going over the speed limit–possibly breaking a couple of laws–to get her to Rhakotis as fast as possible.

Maxence and Asura had gone over the plan multiple times, and now she could sum it up in her sleep. If this didn't work, she didn't know what would. Bouncing her knee, she chewed on the inside of her cheek and gazed out of the plane window, casting a few thoughtful looks to the dark clouds that had started to gather above them. Dark clouds meant storm: they were running out of time.

She didn't miss Asura tensing up beside her. Racking her brain for something to say, or do, to calm him down–he'd been muttering a string of increasingly creative curses under his breath for the last twenty minutes–she just started talking. She talked about anything that wasn't Nemesis, or storms, or earthquakes, keeping a firm gaze on Asura's face, not stopping until his muscles released some of that tension and his jaw loosened up.

A voice rang out inside the plane. "Ladies and gentlemen, please buckle your seatbelts and prepare for landing."

The plane leant forward, and Maxence felt weightless and light-headed: landing was usually her favourite part of all plane rides, but this time the nerves were too much for her to concentrate on anything. A knot she hadn't realised had settled in her stomach unravelled when the plane safely touched the ground and the flight attendant started talking again, ushering everyone to please stay seated until the lights on the seatbelts turn off. Maxence didn't let go of Asura's hand as they speed-walked down the stairs and followed the path marked by white stripes on the floor, mumbling impatient comments under their breath and cursing the check-out system, and the family of six hobbling along in front of them with the same number of suitcases and two screaming toddlers hanging off their parents' hand. Get, Maxence thought, irritated, We're in a bit of a hurry.

The clouds that had gathered above Cairo didn't follow them to Rhakotis. Maxence stepped out of the taxi, an uneasy feeling gathering in her stomach, clutching the briefcase to her chest and gesturing for Asura to follow her.

Rhakotis probably was beautiful, once. Maxence imagined lush trees, pretty flowers, birds fluttering about, cosy houses scattered around a stream of water, some closer to it than others. What kind of people had lived here before it fell into ruins? For how long had Agata Milas lived here, if at all?

That was the reason why Maxence had wanted to be an archaeologist ever since she was a kid: she wanted to know the answer to those questions, and most of all, she wanted to be the one to unravel the stories, to uncover the secrets that mankind had left for her to discover. It gave her a thrill, a rush of energy that nothing else managed to set loose in her. She loved her job, more than anything. Maybe not at the moment, though, but that was irrelevant.

Maxence spotted Eleni Rayova's dark brown ponytail and red sweater standing in front of the lab. Her friend stood with her arms crossed, tapping her foot on the ground, and started when she recognised Maxence sprinting towards her. They crashed into each other, and Maxence wrapped her arms around Eleni in a bone-crushing hug, dropping the briefcase to the floor.

"Max, what the hell happened?" Eleni yelled, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her back and forth. "I was worrying my ass off! First the storms, then I hear you're reported missing and never got to Washington..." She cupped Maxence's cheeks, forcing her to look into her eyes, her lower lip trembling. "You call me from goddamn Athens telling me to basically steal the most important find this dig has seen, offering me nothing but a half-assed 'I'll explain later'. Screw you, man," she said, wiping at her eyes and giving Maxence one more shake for good measure.