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“It’s heavenly.” Callie smiled. “One of the best secrets of the island.”

She walked over to the reedy area near the trees. “This is where Argos found his treasure. At first, I thought it was a bone. It’s been bleached by the sulfur I think.”

Indy studied the area, hands on her hips. “It really reminds me of the lagoons near Venice. They discovered a lost port city there in the ’50s but they’ve never really investigated some of the islands. I’m sure there are some in that area. It wouldn’t surprise me if they left that area and traveled all the way down here.”

Then she went completely silent, turning around and staring at the landscape like she’d recognized it. Her eyes met mine. “Levi, I have seen this before!”

Chapter 30

Diana

Achill went through me as I spun around taking it all in: the reedy bank, the white stones, the cluster of pines, and the sky over the cliffs, where I imagined you could do some serious stargazing while dancing in the water. The only thing missing was the little statue of Catha.

I pulled out my phone. I’d taken dozens of photos of the Tomb of the Lost Star over the years—and there it was, the very spot I was standing on.

“They’re dancing,” Levi whispered, his breath warm on my neck and his sturdy, reassuring energy at my back.

“Yeah.” There was a lump in my throat again and I closed my eyes, imagining the scene all those years ago.

“What do you need, Indy?” Levi asked, his large hands bracing my shoulders.

“A shovel?” I half laughed, half cried. “And a brush or an old toothbrush.”

“We’ll get it for you. Come on, Cal,” Nikos said as he took Callie by the hand and led her back up the rocky path. Argos stayed behind, tail wagging, his large head cocked in my direction.

“This is the site. They’re digging in the wrong spot.” I put my hands on my hips and surveyed the landscape. If I were a statue of a goddess where would I be? I headed off toward the reeds, Argos following. Since he’d already found something I asked him, “What do you think, pal? Does this look like a good spot?”

He barked once and then gleefully started digging next to me.

We dug for hours, and I had a small basket full of broken shards of pottery, some coins—offerings to the goddess that would have been placed at her altar. The others were taking a break under the trees, but Argos was still by my side.

Levi brought me some homemade lemonade, which I chugged greedily. He crouched down beside me, his knee cracking. “Anything yet?”

“No.” I was beginning to despair. Was this just another instance of wishful thinking? I so wanted to believe my own story that I was seeing things that weren’t really there. I was on the verge of setting my shovel aside when I felt it. Hard contact with an object. I brushed away the dirt. “Pass me that toothbrush, will you?”

Levi handed it to me and sat next to me as I slowly, painstakingly scrubbed away layers of dirt, revealing the folds of a robe draped over a shapely calf, then a foot.

“Holy shit, Indy,” Levi whispered as her delicate face stared up at us from the earth like she’d been waiting for us all this time.

She was beautiful. A tiny perfect statue of the goddess Catha. A perfect replica of the faded image on the walls of the tomb.

What was she doing here on this lost island so far from home? And who had brought her here?

Slowly, I extracted her from her resting place and held her up to the setting sun. She’d been bleached white by the sulfur and a light greenish cast stained her wavy hair and slim body. I turned her over and there was an inscription on her feet, the same as on the cup: Mini Usile Muluvanice.

Usile dedicated me.

“Isn’t she wonderful?” whispered Callie. “To think that she’s been here all this time.”

I couldn’t speak; a lump had formed in my throat. Gently, I set her in the cardboard box full of newspaper that Nikos had brought me.

I still wasn’t sure how I was going to confront Professor Harris about this, but I’d be damned if I was going to let him have her.

***

“All right, here’s the plan,” Nikos explained, pouring homemade tsipouro into tiny glasses.

We were sitting around the table on his terrace, the Aegean spread out before us, the colorful houses lining the bay turning even more vivid pastel as the sun set behind us. Callie had prepared an incredible dinner of red mullet and fava purée with a pear pavlova for dessert. Levi was in heaven, and I was still trying to make sense of it all. To think this morning I’d been drinking coffee in my apartment and now I was here on this magical island with an amazing, potentially life-changing discovery with Levi by my side. I was afraid that at any moment I might wake up from the dream.