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ROSI
“Are the staff still here?Or have they been evacuated too?” I asked, ready to get down to business.
“They are the last to leave and will be here until the next plane arrives, which will be in approximately five hours.” Nicole glanced at her wristcom and flipped her golden hair over a shoulder.
“I need to talk to Ila and Toklo,” I said, already headed for the tubes.
“I’m coming with you,” Austin said from my side. I had the feeling he’d just volunteered to be my bodyguard for the rest of the trip. I was not about to complain.
“We should all go,” Nicole said. “There’s strength in numbers.”
“Wait!” Cora yelled and spun around to run back in the room. She emerged in moments with her deck of worn Tarot cards and a satchel that read, Go Sage Yourself. “Okay. Ooh, wait. Rosi, do you still have those crystals I stuck in your bag?”
I grinned, holding up the obsidian I’d been carrying in my own bag since getting back from the excursion into hell. “I have this one. It’s what saved our asses, thanks to you.”
Cora immediately scrounged in her sack until she came back up with a handful of black stones. She handed some to Nicole and some to Austin then stuffed the rest in her neon-pink bra that glowed like a beacon under her netted crop top.
“What does it do?” Nicole asked, holding her handful in front of her like medicine she didn’t trust.
“Protection from negative energy,” Cora said, leading the way to the tubes. “You can scoff if you want, but if it helped save their lives, there’s obviously something to it.”
“I didn’t scoff,” Nicole said as we rode down to the now empty first floor.
Cora glanced over her shoulder. “I felt it.”
Holding a hand out, I stopped Nicole’s retort before it came. I knew Cora, and she loved a challenge. We needed to stay focused. Besides, she wasn’t wrong. Whatever quality was in the obsidian had sent the beast running.
Beast.I’d been digging through my books and materials on Inuit culture since leaving Austin’s side. It was the only way not to relive the horrible moment of the claw shredding his arm over and over again. I thought I’d found the answer, but I needed confirmation from an expert.
The sound of the rushing waterfall gave way as I led our group to the museum. In its place, Nicole’s heels tapped at the ground like tiny icepicks and Cora shuffled her cards. The glowing, blue emergency lights gave an eerie feel to the empty halls, and I hurried forward until we finally arrived.
When the doors slid open, I found Ila sitting on the counter in the center of her own hologram. Yuka jumped up from the floor where she lay at Toklo’s feet and pranced over to sniff and greet us. The mother and son were so entrenched in conversation, they didn’t notice our intrusion until she barked.
Ila’s eyes met mine then swiftly looked away as she hopped down to meet us. “Shouldn’t you be on the way back to California?” she asked with a strained smile.
“Not until I help figure this out,” I said. Then I put a hand on her shoulder and leaned in. “I need your help identifying what we’re dealing with.”
Pressing her lips closed, Ila’s gaze fell somewhere over my shoulder. I turned back to see what she was looking at and gasped.
The AC glass bubble in the back corner display had shattered—something it shouldn’t have been able to do. Tiny specks of broken glass twinkled in the blue light from above, and the space, previously occupied by the horrifying totem I’d seen, was now empty.
I spun back to face Ila. “Someone stole the piece your great-grandfather made!”
Toklo placed a hand on his mother’s shoulder, and she seemed to relax. “We don’t know what happened.” I felt like he was trying to tell me something more but couldn’t figure it out, especially with those around me.
“I’m sorry about your great-grandfather’s work,” Nicole said gently. “But right now, we have an emergency on our hands.
“You all need to go,” Ila said. “It’s going to take all my time to pack up these things properly.”
“Leave them,” Nicole said. “We will reopen as soon as this issue is resolved.”
“No offense, Miss Bennet, but we’d feel safer leaving with our things. We aren’t sure that many of your tourists are interested in this part of the resort anyway.” Toklo stepped in front of his mother protectively and ushered everyone toward the door.
“Atshen,” I said, and he froze. His mother gasped, throwing a hand to her mouth.
I guess I have my answer then.
