Fountain of Secrets (The Relic Seekers) (23 page)

She blushed again. “I guess it’s because we’re here where they once lived.”

“Does that mean you were Guinevere?”

“That was just in the dream. After I woke up, I thought you were an intruder.”

“I believe you. I’ve got a couple of bruises to prove it.” He grinned. “You’re good.”

She looked startled, and he couldn’t resist adding, “At both. And the second… way better than good.”

She drew in a quick breath. “Back at you,” she said, shocking him.

“Is that an invitation?” he asked, his body already taking it as a yes.

“That wouldn’t be smart.”

“But it would be fun.”

“I’m sorry. This is awkward.”

He leaned up on one elbow, looking down at her. “The fact that we had sex or that you want to do it again?”

“That’s not what I said.”

“You don’t want it again?”

“I just meant it’s hanging between us.”

“I could put it someplace else, so it’s not hanging between us.”

“Would you stop?”

“Sorry,” he said, grinning. “I love playing with you, and I mean that in every sense of the word.” His grin faded. He stroked her cheek. “We had sex. I wanted it. You wanted it. I have no regrets, except I wish it had lasted longer. Next time it won’t be so quick.”

“Next time?”

“We can keep on… I don’t know… seeing each other?”

“You mean naked?” she asked.

“I wouldn’t complain, but other people might. I meant like”—he cleared his throat—“dating. I’m rusty. Not sure I remember how. ’Course I was rusty with sex too.” He let his hand drift over her hip. “And I think that worked out.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Yes would work.” He lay down. The bed was so small they couldn’t help but touch. “You feel like a statue again. You don’t have to worry that I’ll take advantage of you. Like I said in the tower, when you come to my bed, it’ll be because you want to be there, not because you’re running from something. And it doesn’t just go for beds. That goes for walls, chairs, tables, sinks, showers, rocks, the ground, and anyplace else you can think of that we can do it.”

She stared at him. “OK.”

He didn’t know what that meant, but he pulled her into his arms and settled her against his chest. “Night.”

But his brain kept going, and it wasn’t long before a disturbing thought occurred to him. If he was Lancelot in her dream and she was Guinevere, then who was Arthur? Nathan?

A voice woke Kendall in the night. She thought Jake was talking to her until she raised her head and saw that she was sprawled across his chest, one leg draped between his, and he was still asleep.

She tried to move away, but his arm tightened around her. “Lilly,” he muttered.

Lilly? Kendall felt a rush of jealousy, followed by grief. Was Lilly one of the girls in Iraq? She remembered the vision of the grave she had seen when she touched Jake in the catacombs. Shallow, dark, with a swath of blond hair against the dirt. And the wooden doll he carried in his pack. She’d had the sensation of dirt filling her mouth and nose when she touched it. The doll and the grave had to be connected.

She looked at the clock. It was late. Everyone should be asleep. This would be a good time to look for the chalice. She tried moving again, but Jake put his other arm around her, effectively trapping her. A nice trap, she thought, relaxing against him, and gave up the notion of searching for the chalice tonight. She lay there for a few minutes, trying to go to sleep, but the feel of Jake underneath her, his arm wrapped around her, made her think about earlier, him and her, bodies hot with passion and desperation. She squirmed and considered waking him again. All it would take was to slide her hand lower and they would do it again, here in the bed.

No, Kendall. You work with him. It’ll complicate things worse than they already are.

But her resolve didn’t keep her from dropping a kiss on his chest.

When she finally met sleep, King Arthur was waiting for her on the battlefield. It was different this time. She didn’t feel as if she was actually there, but she did see the same scene, the knights and the horses, and this time she heard what King Arthur said.

“Find the chalice. It’s the key.”

She shot up in bed and looked around the room. Jake was gone and the sun was shining through the window. She looked at the clock. Nine thirty a.m. She’d overslept. Kendall jumped up. She had just pulled one leg from her sweats when the door opened and Jake walked in. She did a one-footed dance and grabbed a pillow to put in front of her.

“Don’t bother on my account. I’ve already seen it.”

Kendall threw him a scowl. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“When you didn’t open your eyes after I peeled you off my chest, I figured you needed the sleep.”

Kendall rolled her eyes. “About that knighthood application…”

“I behaved very knightly.” He grinned. “I could have done a lot more than sleep.”

“It wasn’t my idea for you to share the bed.”

“But you didn’t kick me out. Actions speak louder than words.” He dropped a kiss on her nose. “Breakfast is ready. I didn’t want you to miss out.”

“I thought we were meeting everyone at nine thirty.”

“They postponed the trip until noon. Alice, Sandy, and Rhonda have headaches, and Halle has the mother of all headaches. Larry has a stomach thing. I’d wait a few minutes before you use the bathroom.”

“I know what King Arthur said.”

Jake frowned. “You saw him again?”

“I dreamed about the vision, but this time I read his lips.”

“Read his lips in a dream? Your gift is damned strange.”

“I know, but what can I do? I can’t send it back.”

“So what did Arthur say?”

“He said, ‘Find the chalice. It’s the key.’”

“Key to what?”

“I don’t know, but we’re in a house with a powerful chalice, so I’m going to find it.”

“Now?” he asked.

“Why not?”

“That’s not a good idea with everyone here. I planned to search last night, but I slept like the dead.”

“I have to find it.”

“You distract them. I’ll look for it. Tell them about this latest dream. They’re here to find Arthur, so give them Arthur.”

Kendall nodded. “Good idea.” She owed them that much.

“I’ll go tell them you’ve had another experience to share over breakfast.” Jake walked to the door. Kendall went to the bathroom and brushed her teeth and hair. She pulled it back with the ponytail holder she was still using. It irritated her that she knew more about the anorexic owner of the stupid hair tie than she knew about Nathan’s location and safety. She saw a mark on her face and leaned closer. There was a cross imprinted on her cheek. She stared at it, and then realized it was from where she’d slept on Jake’s chest. She rubbed at it, but it would be a while before it went away. Maybe no one would notice. She hurried to the dining room where everyone was anxious to hear about her new experience.

“Oh my God. There’s a cross on your cheek.” Alice hurried to Kendall’s side, her expression as rapt as if she’d seen the Virgin Mary. “Everyone, come and look. Kendall has a cross imprinted on her cheek.”

Everyone crowded around and Kendall opened her mouth to explain. Jake shook his head no and slipped out of the room. The mark was certainly a distraction. The group was electrified to hear she’d had another dream. She gave them more details about the battlefield and seeing Arthur and his knights fighting, but she didn’t mention the chalice, though she wondered if she should. They might bring the Blue Chalice out sooner. But she needed to examine it in private, not with an audience. She dragged the story out as long as she could to give Jake more time to find the chalice, but it was disconcerting having everyone staring at the imprint of the cross that burned accusingly into her cheek. Jake showed up and rescued her as she was about to come clean and tell them the mark was from Jake’s necklace. She left the group talking excitedly about the day’s events.

“With a little encouragement, you might get them to start a fan club,” Jake whispered as they walked back to the bedroom.

“They think the cross was some kind of sign. We’ll probably burn in hell because of this. Did you find the chalice?” she asked when the door closed.

“No, but I think I know where it is. The Upper Room is locked.”

“You didn’t pick the lock?”

“I thought I heard someone in the hall.”

“Everyone was with me. No one left the room.”

“It must be whoever is in that last bedroom.” Jake hurried toward the room and tried the door. Locked. “I’ll pick it.”

“You can’t pick it with everyone here. If someone is using the room, he’s getting in and out some way.”

“He must be using the window. I’ll see if I can pick up his trail outside.”

“I’ll nose around for the chalice. Maybe I can sense something.”

After Jake left, Kendall asked Halle about the Blue Chalice, and she confirmed that the Chalice Trust kept it locked up in the Upper Room.

Jake came back a few minutes later. “I found footprints leading to the street. A man’s. No way to track him on the road.”

“Halle said the Blue Chalice is kept in the Upper Room, but we can’t get in there with everyone here. And we can’t ask her to show it to us. She doesn’t even have the key.”

“If we could get out of the Camelot trip, I can pick the lock or go through the window,” Jake said.

“She thinks the caretaker will be back by tomorrow or the next day. We can wait that long. We can’t abandon them,” Kendall said. “They’re counting on us.”

“Counting on you. We need to find this chalice.”

“You could stay and find it,” she said.

“No. I’m not letting you go alone. And it wouldn’t do me any good. You’re the one that needs to touch it.”

“Then let’s wait for the caretaker. We have a lot of other stuff to explore. The Tor, the abbey, and the Chalice Well. I want to see the actual well. We only saw the fountain that the well flows into. And then I want to see the White Spring across the street.”

“When we’re finished, there are a couple of inns nearby. We can see if Brandi’s been there.”

Kendall would have preferred to go to the well alone, but she knew she would have a hard time convincing Jake. He was incredibly protective of her, just as Adam had been. As they left the house, she studied him… his build, his face, bone structure. Some kids were easily recognizable as adults. Some weren’t. She couldn’t tell with Jake. He could have been Adam, but there was nothing specific. Adam hadn’t had any birthmarks or noticeable scars. He should have, as many times as they got bruised and
scraped, but the scars always faded. Both of them had been amazingly healthy growing up.

Kendall and Jake slipped into the garden before it opened to the public. They followed the stone path to the Vesica Piscis pool, the fountain, and finally the Chalice Well. The well was in the middle of a recessed area paved with stone and surrounded by trees. The cover of the well was made of iron with two interlocking circles. Kendall immediately felt something calming here, but there was also power.

Jake seemed to sense that she needed solitude. He hung back a bit, exploring the trees, while she went to the well. She sat on the edge, as thousands must have done before her. At first she felt the calming presence, and then the images started to come. She saw a long table and heard men’s voices speaking in… Hebrew? A long-fingered hand, gentle but calloused, picked up a cup and lifted it to his lips. A sense of peace filled her, love, and then terrible dread. Fear, followed by resolution, acceptance.
It must be done. There was no other way.

The image changed, and she sensed pain, terrible pain, though she didn’t feel it. She saw blood dripping from a foot, where a nail had been driven through the tissue. She heard a woman’s soft cries and saw a man standing nearby, tired, weary, his soul torn with grief. If he had done more, could he have stopped them from killing him? Stopped the sacrifice? No. It was meant to be.

Kendall’s head was starting to hurt, but she couldn’t stop the images. She heard a loud agonized cry and a male hand held out a cup, which began to fill with blood. Not just any cup. The same cup the man had drunk from at the table.

The Holy Grail.

K
ENDALL LOOKED LIKE
a statue sitting on the edge of the well. Her eyes were open, unblinking, and Jake knew she was someplace else. He was afraid to interrupt whatever was happening, and afraid not to. But when she gave a small cry, he couldn’t wait any longer. He rushed over to her, knelt down, and touched her hand. “Kendall?”

She blinked several times and her gaze focused. “What?”

“What happened? What did you see?”

“Jesus.”

“Huh?” Of all the things he’d expected her to say, that was the last.

Her fingers tightened on his hand. “I was there.”

“Where?”

“The Last Supper. The Crucifixion. I saw it. I heard it.”

“Holy—” Jake cut off the curse. “No wonder you’re pale.”

“It was incredible,” she said, her voice breathless with awe. “The legends are right. Joseph did bring the Holy Grail here.”

“The Holy Grail. So we’re looking for the Holy Grail and the Fountain of Youth?” Jake almost cursed but stopped himself. He knew Kendall well enough to know she wasn’t faking. But his
scientific brain still balked at some of this stuff. But the other parts, the one that had seen Kendall’s gift in action, and the boy in the orphanage dreaming that he was a secret knight on a mission for King Arthur so he didn’t have to believe no one wanted him, those parts of him wanted to believe it was real.