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“Curses are stories created to scare children,” Juno said. “Since you’re adults, you should have no such worries.” She clapped her hands together. “We’ll need the right tools. Someone should also notify Mr. Sunshine. Not me since he’s still furious that I took him down a peg during this morning’s Gategate.” She grinned. “Get it? Gategate? Like Watergate? Or Gamergate? You Americans add the word ‘gate’ to every scandal, right?”
Olivia resisted the urge to snort. Though she understood the reference, most of the students stared at Juno in confusion.
“I’ll let Grant know,” Stuart said.
“I need to get back to my team,” Rick said. “But good luck. I’m sure you’ll do a great job.” He flashed Olivia an encouraging smile.
Once Rick and Stuart had left, Olivia grabbed toothbrushes, dental picks, and tiny brushes from the lab area. She set her work gloves on the edge of the trench since she’d get a better feel for the bones with her bare hands. As she and TJ crouched down to work together, excitement bubbled up inside of her. Uncovering a skeleton was more interesting than digging up endless buckets of broken pottery.
When Grant came for his inspection, her shoulders tightened as she waited for him to criticize her. Instead, he favored her with a rare smile. “Well done. I expect you’ll be using extreme caution as you go along?”
“We will,” she said. “Juno’s excavated human remains before, so she’ll be helping us with the entire process. We don’t want to make any mistakes.” It was one thing to slip up with the gate, but if she screwed up this skeleton, she’d be on Grant’s shit list forever.
“You’ll be in good hands with Juno,” Grant said. “I’ll also notify Dr. Roth and the Department of Antiquities.”
“Thanks.” With Grant so focused on the skeleton, surely he’d forget about Gategate.
For the next two hours, she and TJ worked carefully. When they needed a break, they let the other students take their place. The process was incredibly slow: brush, scrape, brush, sweep, take photographs, and repeat. Each time they uncovered another intact bone, she considered it a victory.
Dr. Roth showed up at one, examined Olivia’s trench, and conferred with her team, praising them for their diligent work. They were so motivated that they continued digging until they’d exposed the entire skeleton. Juno photographed it, and then she and Stuart helped remove the bones. Once the skeleton was safely extracted, Olivia’s team was given leave to take a break. She sat at the sorting table, guzzling water in a stupor of heat exhaustion.
Dusty drew up a chair next to her. “Killer find. I’m so psyched I get to draw a skull.”
“You get to draw it?” Olivia asked.
“Yep. I love that shit.” Dusty grinned. “You lucky thing. Juno told me about Gategate or whatever she’s calling it, but now you’re a rock star. Finding a skeleton is a huge win. Plus, you get bonus points for not bashing in the skull with a trowel or breaking any of the bones. I’ve been on digs where that’s happened.”
“That would suck.” Olivia cast a glance at Brynn, remembering her earlier question. “What about curses? I’m sure your parents worked on burials when they were in Egypt. Anything terrible happen?”
“You’ve watched The Mummy too many times. I’ve seen my share of real mummies, and none of them have ever come to life. Plus, Stuart said this isn’t even a burial. More like the house collapsed in the big earthquake and the victim was buried under the rubble.” She grimaced. “Kind of creepy if you think about it.”
Rick joined them and placed his hand on Olivia’s shoulder. “How’s it going?”
“Good, thanks. This has been quite a day. I realize it’s pure luck that our team happened to get this trench, but—”
“None of that. Whether it was a lucky find or not, you handled it like a pro. That’s what matters. You’ve got the makings of an archaeological superstar.”
His words filled her with a swell of pleasure.
A superstar? Her?
Why not?
Right now, she felt like she could do anything. Be anything.
It was a glorious feeling.
