The Lost Chalice (The Relic Seekers Book 3) by Anita Clenney Page B

specimen, thick wrappings darkened with age. She studied the face, the hollows where the eyes had been, the ridges of eyebrows and cheekbones, and what remained of the nose. It was surprising how much a nose shrunk in death. This man had been tall, if it was a man. The size and bone structure looked male. Though bones weren’t her expertise, she knew a bit about them. And mummies. She loved mummies and would have enjoyed studying this one, but she didn’t want to share the same space.
    “It’s not really a person,” Nathan said. “It’s been dead for a long time.”
    “He,” she said. She had touched the chest, unable to keep her hands away. “It’s a he.” But she tried to block everything else about him. The voices on the other side of the wall were louder now, and she couldn’t afford to get sucked into the mummy’s life.
    “For God’s sake.” Nathan grabbed the mummy by the arms and lifted him out.
    “Be careful. He’s fragile.”
    “So are you,” Nathan whispered, gently dragging the mummy behind the sarcophagus. “Get in.”
    Kendall climbed in first. It was musty with the smell of death. Ancient death. The odor was almost soothing in its familiarity, and made her think of her father, how his face lit with excitement over a new discovery. But it wasn’t her father she was hiding from this time.
    Nathan climbed in with his back toward her. It was a small space. Her face was crushed against his shoulder, and her breasts pressed into his back. She was glad it was him she was sharing the sarcophagus with and not the mummy. She tried to focus on Nathan’s scent to calm her breathing, and as he pulled the cover closed, leaving them in darkness, it was his life that flashed before her eyes, and she had no doubts left about who he really was.
    “They’ve found something,” Adam said as they watched the men hurrying toward the tomb her father had discovered, talking in excited but hushed voices. “Do you know what it is?”
    He knew about her gift. She told Adam things she didn’t tell anyone else. Kendall closed her eyes and concentrated. “No. I don’t know. Gold, maybe. I’m not close enough to tell.” She wasn’t sure she could anyway. Sometimes she knew things she shouldn’t know. Sometimes she didn’t.
    “Let’s get closer.”
    “We’re not supposed to be here.”
    “They’ll never know,” Adam said.
    They’d been told to stay in their rooms in Cairo because a man had been following Adam’s father. One of the local men who worked the dig had spotted the watcher. But Kendall and Adam didn’t always do what they were told. Having distracted fathers gave them more freedom than most kids. They weren’t most kids anyway. Most kids didn’t spend the biggest part of their year hunting for relics and bones.
    They’d waited a few minutes and then slipped out of the hotel, hiring one of the taxi drivers they knew to take them to the site. He hadn’t known they were disobeying orders.
    They crept toward the entrance of the tomb. Even the men standing guard had eased inside to see what was happening. Their parents always had guards now that Uncle John was being followed.
    Kendall and Adam slipped in behind the men. The tomb hadn’t been looted. There were lots of treasures left here. Kendall’s blood pounded with excitement as she looked around, trying to see it all. Who needed dolls and toys when she could have all this?
    “Look,” Adam whispered. “There’s a sarcophagus.” It was standing against the left wall, well back from where the men were gathered. The door to the sarcophagus was open. “Is there a mummy inside?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Let’s get closer. Maybe you can tell.”
    They had almost reached it when one of the men called out for the guards to get back on duty.
    “Quick. We have to hide. They’re gonna come this way,” Adam said. “Get inside.”
    “There?” Kendall asked in shock.
    But Adam didn’t stop. He pushed her inside—there was a mummy