Blue Bloods (Blue Bloods 1)

"Have you ever been to the Temple of Dendur?" Dylan asked, leading Bliss toward the northern end of the museum.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "What's that?"

"Stop," he said. He put his hands gently on her face. "Close your eyes."

"Why?" She giggled.

"Just do it," he said. "Trust me."

She closed her eyes, holding a hand against her face, and she felt him tug at her hand, leading her forward. She walked hesitantly, feeling ahead of her - they were inside some kind of maze, she thought - as he led her briskly through a series of sharp turns. Then they were outside of it. Even with her eyes closed, she could sense they were in a large, empty space.

"Open your eyes," Dylan whispered.

She blinked them open.

They were standing in front of the ruins of an Egyptian temple. The building was majestic and primitive at the same time - in direct contrast to the clean, modern lines of the museum. It was absolutely stunning. The hall was empty, and there was a long horizontal fountain in front of the temple. It was a breathtaking piece of art, and the history behind it - the fact that the museum had meticulously shipped and reconstructed it so that the temple looked perfectly at home in a Manhattan museum - made Bliss's head roll.

"Oh my God."

"I know," Dylan said, his eyes twinkling.

Bliss blinked back tears. It was the most romantic thing anyone had ever done to her - ever.

He looked directly into her eyes, nodding his head down toward her lips.

She fluttered her eyelashes, her heart racing in her chest, swooning. She leaned toward him, lifting her face to be kissed. He looked gentle and hopeful, and there was something appealingly vulnerable about the way he couldn't meet her gaze.

Their lips met.

And that's when it happened.

The world went gray. She was in her skin but not in her skin. The room was constricting. The world was shrinking. All four walls of the temple were suddenly whole. She was in the desert. She could taste the acrid sand in her mouth, feel the hot sun on her back. A thousand scarabs - black and shiny, buzzing flew out of the temple door. And that was when she began to scream.

Catherine Carver's Diary

30th of November, 1620

Plymouth, Massachusetts

Today Myles Standish took a team down the coast to Roanoke, to bring medicine, food and supplies to the settlement there. It is a fortnight's sail, so they will be gone a good while. I was heartsick to see John go off with the men. So far, we have been safe, but who knows for how long. No one dares say. The children grow quickly and are a delight to all. There has been an abundance of twin births. The Allertons recently had triplets. Susannah White, whose husband, William, also journeyed to Roanoke, came to visit. We agreed it is a fertile season. We have been blessed.

- C.C.

CHAPTER 11

Schuyler was still thinking about what Jack had said after Aggie's funeral when she arrived at Dr. Pat's all-white office in a chrome-and-glass Fifth Avenue tower later that afternoon. He'd asked her why she had ignored his note, and she'd explained she had simply dismissed it as a prank. "You think Aggie's death is funny?" he'd asked, his face stricken. She had tried to protest - but her grandmother was calling her and she had to leave. She couldn't erase the look on his face. As if she had disappointed him deeply somehow. She blew out her bangs loudly. Why did he have such an effect on her? An emaciated woman in a fox-fur jacket across the room glared at her. Schuyler stared defiantly back.

Cordelia had made a big to-do about Schuyler seeing Dr. Pat. The doctor was some kind of dermatologist, a famous one. The office was more like the inside of a Miami hotel - the Shore Club or the Delano - than a normal waiting room. It was all white, white flokati rugs, white tile walls, white lacquer tables, white leather couches, white fiberglass Eames loungers. Apparently Dr. Pat was the Dr. Pat, the one who all the socialites and fashion designers and celebrities credited with their fabulous complexions. Several signed and framed photographs from models and actresses hung on the walls.

Schuyler pushed Jack out of her mind and began flipping through the glossy magazine articles extolling the doctor's virtues, when the door from the inner office opened and Mimi Force walked out.

"What are you doing here?" Mimi spat. She had changed out of her Dior suit and was wearing a more ?casual? outfit - a pair of tight four-thousand-dollar Apo jeans with the platinum rivets and a diamond button, a chunky Martine Sitbon sweater, and slim butter-colored Jimmy Choo stilettos.

"Sitting down?" Schuyler replied, even though it was obvious Mimi had asked a rhetorical question. "What happened to your face?"

Mimi glared. Her whole face was covered with little pinpoints of blood. She'd just received a laser dermabrasion peel, and it had left her skin a little raw. It helped mask the blue veins that were starting to fade around her eyes. "None of your business."