“You can come stay with me in North Carolina for as long as you want,” Jax said.
“Or my place in New York. There’s no reason to go back up there.” She squeezed the older man’s frail shoulders. “What are the chances you’d ever find anything in that zombie hive anyway?”
A little bit of the old Antoine flashed in his blue eyes and a huge smile spread across his face. “The chances are excellent, my dear.”
He rummaged around in his knapsack and withdrew the flat metal container that had held the tents from the night before and pushed the single green button at its top. It popped open, and four small objects floated out of its mouth. They spun around at dizzying speeds high into the newly minted stars above, enlarging with each rotation, then drifted down.
Four gold coins the diameter of a large, floppy beach hat dropped to the grass in front of Veronica’s feet, flattening the grass beneath them. A man’s profile was embossed on the side along with the words Magnitudine gigantes. A two-foot-long white feather landed across the man’s Roman nose.
Antoine cackled. “The goose that lays the golden eggs is up there, ours for the taking. With this coin you could hire an in-house nurse for your ailing mother, Jax. I know you thought a nursing home was your only option, but you’re wrong. And, Veronica, this money could make all the difference for your business. Even with your recent successes, your creditors have been calling more frequently. Imagine what you could accomplish if you had access to a large amount of funds that didn’t come from daddy?”
She couldn’t rip her gaze from the golden bounty. Hope, freedom and possibilities–they were all hers for the taking if she went back up. Excitement bubbled through her. The golden eggs really could be the answer to everything. Her father had warned her she’d never be able to make a living from treasure hunting. How good would it be to make him eat that predication?
“There are still the zombies.”
“Yes, Jax, there is that.” The older man paced, his step more jaunty than when he’d left his tent earlier. “But if we go at dawn, we can take advantage of their sun affliction. The zombies seem to be confined to the house. The goose must be in the yard somewhere. There was a trail of freshly molted feathers between the castle and the tree line. That’s where I picked this up.”
He held the feather aloft like a guiding light. The years faded from his face, replaced by youthful exuberance. If she didn’t know any better, she’d figure he was in perfect health. The longer he stood there looking like the Antoine she’d first met when she was an eighteen-year-old archeology student, the more her resistance dissolved.
Searching to bolster her sanity, she glanced over at Jax.
He shrugged his bare shoulders at her. “Okay, I’ll go but this is it. We’ll get the bird and then we’re out of there.”
“As long as we can get the harp too, I’m more than willing
to agree.” The words flew out of Antoine’s mouth in a rush.
“The harp is golden?” Jax asked.
“Oh yes. It’s fabulous. When it plays, the notes can calm any beast, lulling them into a state of Zen-like peace.”
Veronica rolled her eyes. This was getting ridiculous, if she didn’t love the man so much she’d never say what she was about to. “Fine, we’ll look for the harp too.”
“Wonderful. Just wonderful.” He clapped his hands. “I’m off to do some more research before it’s time for shut eye. I’ll be seeing you two at the crack of dawn.”
Antoine ambled off to his tent and Veronica tried to ignore the apprehension tugging at her.
“Are you really all the way onboard with this?” Jax’s voice was much closer than he’d been only seconds ago.
“No, but I’m going to spend the night getting my gear together for the return trip. I don’t like being caught unaware.”
He nodded. “That makes two of us.”
* * * *
An hour later she had her armaments laid out in an orderly line across her cot. Two knives with serrated blades. What looked like a leopard-print lipstick case but was actually mace strong enough to knock out a troll. A travel-sized flying carpet. A fistful of throwing stars. Finally, a charmed hand scythe that melded with her hand, giving her a magical claw to shred her enemies. She’d already packed her tool kit with a packet of fairy dust, throwing stars and a pack of spearmint gum. Her lucky scarab beetle was tucked safely into a pocket above her heart. Jax had found the golden amulet in an Egyptian tomb and given it to her early on in their relationship, telling her it symbolized the renewal of life and would bring her luck. It was a silly superstition, but it had been her constant companion for seven years and she wouldn’t leave it behind now.
While contemplating whether to bring her Japanese Chisa Katana sword, a tapping sounded on her tent flap. She’d wrapped her hands about the handle of the two-foot-long blade before she’d even finished exhaling.
“Veronica, it’s Jax. Can I come in?”
Letting the blade fall to her side, she unzipped the flap. The blood rushing in her ears dropped to locations south when she saw Jax still wore only his basketball shorts. “Don’t you get cold?”
“What’s wrong, darling, am I making you hot?”
At that moment she wished more than anything she had a door instead of a flap. Zipping up wouldn’t carry the same umph as slamming a door in his face. But dammit, he was right. The pleasant May evening had gotten balmy. The heating and cooling system hardwired into the fabric of her leather pants must be on the fritz.
Yeah. She’d keep telling herself that one.