AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘You can open them now,’ Keely said, and I heard some laughter and enthusiastic whispering going on.
Slowly I opened my eyes and stared down at my hand. My jaw dropped.
‘Is this…?’ It couldn’t be, could it? But there in my palm was a golden key, and the bow was shaped exactly like the chalice I’d seen in my vision.
My head shot up and I stared at them all in amazement. ‘It can’t be!’
‘It is!’ Keely dropped onto the arm of the chair I was sitting in and beamed at me. ‘Celeste figured it out.’
‘With a lot of help from Castor,’ Celeste added. ‘And some from Blaise.’
‘Blaise?’
‘Yes, I couldn’t have done it if I hadn’t memory-walked in his mind and—oh, it’s a long story! Keely, you might like to explain it from the beginning.’
I sat, dazed, as Keely told me how they’d finally guessed where the key might be hidden, and how they’d visited the tomb of Castor’s ancestor in the dead of night to search for it.
‘I can’t believe you did that,’ I said, full of admiration at their nerve. ‘Fancy it being with Titus’s wife all that time.’
‘Aye,’ Castor said. ‘Almost makes me forgive Titus for being such a gutless coward. Almost.’
My stomach turned over and I shook my head when Keely offered me the cornflakes back.
‘I’ve had enough,’ I said. ‘I’m so grateful to you all for searching for the key for me, but—’
‘We thought we might find the second key,’ Trinity added. ‘Sadly, we’re having a heck of a lot of trouble working it out. We’ve got a clue from Lyrica, you see, but it’s a bit cryptic.’
‘From Lyrica? The woman the twins met in The Fool’s Journey?’
I shuddered inwardly as the memory of my visit to that establishment in 1673 returned. I vowed never to pop in there again for a pint no matter how much it had changed.
‘Yes,’ Harley said. ‘We went back there to see if she’d had any more visions about us because, after all, she might be odd, but she was spot on about the things she told us, wasn’t she? But she’d gone. The landlord reckons she’s left Cornwall. However, she did leave us some clues. It’s just that we’re not bright enough to work them out.’
Frey wound his way through my legs then leapt onto my lap.
They’re not kidding. You should have seen the stupid theories they came up with. Dim as a broken lightbulb.
I ignored him. He could be a very rude cat.
Keely stood up and reached for something from the mantelpiece which she handed to me. ‘See?’ she said, sitting down again. ‘Tarot cards. We’ve looked up the meanings of the tower and the ace of pentacles, but we can’t figure out how they lead us to the key. Or if they’re not about the whereabouts of the key, we can’t figure out what else they could mean. We’re at a dead end with that one, I’m afraid.’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ I said. ‘It takes two keys to open the dimension box, and as long as we have one safe no one else can open it, or even locate it. We have plenty of time to find the other if we make sure this one doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.’
‘Well,’ Iliana said with relief, ‘that’s good to know. And it’s safe on this island, which is something.’
‘We need to find a hiding place for it, though,’ I said warily. ‘Remember, Bob visited this island. If it had been here then who knows what might have happened? What if he’d found it?’
‘In our bedroom? What would he be doing in there?’ Keely asked.
‘That’s not the point. It must be secured. You never know.’ I shoved a disgruntled Frey off my lap and tucked the key inside my pocket for the moment then looked at them all. ‘There’s something I need to show you now.’
They all settled and waited for me, an expectant look in their eyes.
I glanced at Emrick, who gave me an encouraging nod.
Turning my head to the right of my chair, I lightly touched the sword, thinking that I’d really love for them all to be able to see it now.
Immediately there were gasps of amazement from everyone.
