Chapter Fifteen

VEN

I hovered behind Emmy like a storm cloud as we followed David into the room beyond the alleyway. I don’t know what I had expected. Perhaps a dirty kitchen with stained walls and dirty floors. I had not imagined a full-blown forensics laboratory. Emmy looked around in wonder.

“What is this place?” I asked.

“It’s a dream come true.” She wasn’t looking at me, but she had a big smile on her face. “I’ve always wanted a state-of-the-art archeology lab.”

The room was painted a crisp white and filled with counters and tables. There were screens and computers, as well as storage — hundreds of narrow shelves filled with trays containing bits of dirt and pottery.

“It’s the place where Morley brought his treasures for analysis,” David remarked.

“Really? I’ve always wondered what happened after we found an artifact.” Emmy looked around the room intently. “This is where Morley would take the most valuable pieces after we had a big find? He must have come here to examine the artifacts in a sterile environment. I wonder why he never told me.”

The man’s thin silver hair lightly floated as he nodded his head.

“I wouldn’t let him. The laboratory is the city’s best-kept secret. Morley knew that there were other things to find here on Heralla.” The man turned to me and began to lecture. I didn’t come here to be treated like a student, but I tried to listen, knowing that it might be important to Emmy. “There was once a thriving civilization on this planet, founded by some of the best minds of the Great Race. There was a disaster and most of their inventions were lost forever.”

He was silent for a moment, thinking about the past.

“Fortunately for us, not all of their knowledge disappeared. Their scientists saved some and hid it for future generations. They used puzzles to conceal information, ensuring only worthy people would be able to find it. They hid the artifacts but left clues pointing to their location.”

“So where are these clues?” I asked.

Emmy was thinking carefully, her whole being focused on the strange old man.

“An ancient order of monks existed on Heralla for thousands of years before the Great Race discovered the planet. They received some of the secrets.”

“Wait a minute. How do you know this?” Emmy’s tone of voice sounded suspicious. “Morley said that I was the only other one who knew about these things.”

She broke off her thoughts, and I realized she had stopped herself from mentioning the ladle.

“Morley was correct.” The old man stared into Emmy’s eyes with unrelenting fervor. I stepped closer to her. It was hard to tell the difference between enthusiasm and insanity.

“Look, I can do the math. If I know and you know, that’s three people.”

She stopped speaking and looked at David carefully, tilting her head and examining him as if she was trying to unlock a secret. Emmy said something in a foreign language. It sounded like it hissing snakes and sharp poking sounds.

David answered in the same language.

I looked back and forth between the two, hoping I could learn an entirely new language without training and by observation. The foreign tongue was only the beginning of my problems. The next thing I knew, his face started melting away.

EMMY

From the moment David opened the door, something felt wrong. Morley said I could trust him, but something made me feel very uncomfortable.

I couldn’t shake the feeling as we walked in and he revealed an amazing research facility. I was instantly jealous of David. If Morley and I had access to a place like this over the years, things would have been different. We could have preserved more of the excavations.

The more he talked, the more my sense of unease increased. The last straw was when he mentioned the monks. Morley and I were the only ones who knew about those puzzle-loving monks. Had he forced Morley to tell him? Or was it something it else?

I decided to try something in English. “The tide holds the knowledge, the highs and lows.”

“Time is a portal, as it ebbs and flows.”

“How do you know that verse?” I asked.

He didn’t answer me directly. Instead, he gazed at me with eyes that suddenly seemed as familiar as my own.

“Don’t take this the wrong way.” I hesitated. My breath started to come unevenly. “You’re supposed to be dead.”

“Emmy, it would take more than a cave-in to kill me.”

He reached into his pocket, pulling out a small remote control. David’s false face melted away. It must have been a creation of holographic technology. When the disguise disappeared, I saw Morley standing and beaming at me.

Morley was a tall man. He had never revealed his exact age, but I knew he was probably in his sixties. His silver-gray hair was still quite thick, and the bright blue eyes that I had missed so much were dancing. I couldn’t believe he was here. I had wished many times for a moment like this and the opportunity to see him again.

“Morley!” I yelled, throwing myself into his arms. “You’re alive!”

He hugged me tightly and stepped back to look at me. “The last time I saw you, I wasn’t sure if I would ever see you again.”

“They said you were dead.”

“Missing and presumed dead,” he clarified. “They presumed wrong. I had to get away from Abel’s men somehow. When the roof of the cave came crashing down, and I knew I had a back way out, the solution seemed obvious. I couldn’t ask for a better opportunity to fake my death.”

I looked at him in disbelief. “You put me through hell. You know that, right?”

“I’m sorry, dear. It was all for Zelia’s ladle. You know that.” He put his hand on my shoulder. The hint of an apology shone in his eyes.

Ven cleared his throat and spoke in Standard. “Are you going to tell me who this person is, Emmy?” He was trying to keep himself under control.

“Of course. Ven, this is Morley. He’s been hiding from Abel’s men so they couldn’t get any information about Zelia's ladle from him.” I hesitated until Ven started glowering at me. “Morley, this is my husband, Ven.”

Morley’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head. “You told me you weren’t going to get married. You said your work was everything.”

I heard a hint of disappointment in his voice. I wasn’t surprised. I was disappointed in myself.

“It wasn’t on purpose. I was helping out a friend.” I glanced at Ven quickly. I wondered if I would be in trouble when we were alone again, but I didn’t care. Morley was alive! He would fix everything.

“How is this possible?” He gave me a stern look. “I’m sure this story is fascinating.”

“It’s about as interesting as a dead man returning to life. I was running away from Abel’s men. They tracked me to Earth. I went to the spaceport hoping to get a ticket off-planet, but everything was sold out.” I glanced at Ven, but his expression was unreadable. “I met a woman there. A beautiful, tall, thin blonde woman.”

The excessive description was for Ven’s benefit.

“I begged her to let me exchange her ticket.”

“Why would she agree to something like that?”

“Well, I had to sweeten the deal. I offered her the entire 500,000 credits you gave me to pay for the trip back here.”

Ven’s eyebrows drew together. I realized this was the first time I mentioned a payment. Did he think his chosen bride was a saint who would help someone because she was a good person? If that was true, he had been a poor judge of character.

Morley nodded then. “That makes more sense.”

Ven still looked upset. “She wouldn’t help you out of the goodness of her heart without payment?”

I shrugged. “Money makes the world go around. We’re not all independently wealthy. I didn’t think much of it at the time. I could have been trying to swindle her out of her ticket, you know.”

“She didn’t have to take that much. You gave her more than the cost of the ticket.”

I looked at him with compassion. That naive alien must have thought Montana was something special.

“She was Ven’s perfectly chosen woman, but he ended up with me instead.”

“So you just whoever walked off the spaceship instead of the other woman?” I knew Morley was trying not to be judgmental, but he was failing.

“It’s not as bad as it sounds.” I surprised myself by defending Ven. “He needed to get married so he could keep an inheritance from his uncle.”

That was possibly the worst thing I could have said. Morley quietly stared at me. As always, his silence said more than his words.

“I meant what I said when I married Emmy.” Ven said took a step and stood beside me. “I promised I would protect her and take care of her. I’m doing that now, to the best of my ability. I wouldn’t let her come here alone.” He positioned himself so his arm touched mine. He didn’t have the courage to put his arm around me, though I imagined he wanted to. “She wanted to face everything alone.”

Morley nodded. “Emmy can take care of herself.”

“With all due respect, sir, everyone needs some help sometimes.”

There was a pause while we waited for Morley’s evaluation of Ven. We waited in vain. Morley tended to delay his judgment until he had all the information.

“Well, we shall see what will come of it.” His words sounded mild, but I knew there was a challenge behind them.

I looked back and forth between the two men, wondering if they had finished their testosterone show. I had more important things to do.

“You two had better get showered and dressed. You’ve got a ball to attend,” Morley said, patting me on the back.

“I do?”

“It’s time to play Cinderella, Emmy.” Morley had a grin on his face. I didn’t know what he had in mind, but I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like it.

We were walking quickly through the streets. I tried not to stumble in the lovely but impractical shoes Morley insisted I wear. Ven was parking the hovercraft as close as he could in case we needed to leave in a hurry.

“When I got to the cave and saw the mirror and the riddle, they looked familiar. I noticed they were almost identical to the ones at City Hall. A clue to Zelia’s ladle has to be with the mirror. The mirror and the riddle are connected somehow. We just have to figure it out.”

I nodded again. We had been over this three times already. I tried to change the subject, knowing he was getting anxious because he couldn’t help himself.

“The festival of the Stone Goddess lasts for a week. We’re lucky we arrived in time for the final day of celebrations,” I said.

Morley nodded. “It’s fortunate, but there's no such thing as fate. Everything happens for a reason.”

“Fate has definitely taken a hand in all this,” I said, thinking about Ven.

“Do you love him?” Morley sounded more curious than anything.

“No,” I said. “Of course not.”

My mind drifted back to our kiss. But that was lust, not love.

“Methinks the lady doth protest too much.”

“Not Shakespeare. It was bad enough you made me read it when I was learning English. I shouldn’t be subjected to it now. Just because everyone says he’s good doesn't make him good.”

“The Bard is one of Earth’s greatest artists, and you should have more respect for his work. Emmy, do you have feelings for this man? He's an alien, for heaven’s sake. Why would you marry him?”

“I told you the truth, Morley. I needed to get away from Abel’s men at the time, so I said I would go with him. When I learned his entire tale of woe, I felt bad because I had stolen his bride away from him. I was trying to fix a mistake.”

I looked away from Morley’s gaze quickly, worried that he might see something concealed in my heart. I didn’t love Ven, so I didn’t think he would discover a hidden secret. But Morley was always able to penetrate my thoughts, and I wanted some privacy right now.

“I’m worried about you, Emmy. Marriage isn’t something to be taken lightly.”

“I’m giving the marriage the full consideration it deserves.”

Morley paused for a moment, then blurted out a thought. “Perhaps Ven should not be part of our search. How much do we know about him? Can he be trusted with these secrets?”

I bristled at the thought. “Ven saved my life at great personal risk. He left a comfortable home and came with me. We can trust him.” I was feeling indignant.

“That speaks of a strong commitment,” Morley observed. “In fact, it’s a surprising amount of effort from one stranger to another.”

“We’re not strangers.”

“Are you sure?”

“We’re husband and wife.”

“In all ways?” he whispered. He wanted to know if I had slept with Ven.

“I don’t think that’s any of your business. I trust him, Morley. You will too.”

“Very well. I will defer to your judgment, but I will form my opinion of the young man and whether he is good enough for you.”

I smiled at him and he kissed me on the cheek.

“Now it’s time for Cinderella to go to the ball.”

“Do I have to, Morley? Isn’t there another way to get in?”

“Not during the festival of the Stone Goddess. You know how these people are. When everyone is drunk and exhausted from their reveling, you will have an opportunity to slip away. The mirror is the key to the ladle. Tonight we’re counting on you and your brain.”

“Okay.” I suddenly felt nervous. “Be ready in case I need any help.”

“Of course I’ll be prepared, but I don’t think you’ll need to contact me.”

I huffed out my breath, feeling more anxious than ever.

“You can do this, Emmy. I have great faith in you.”

“Are you sure you can’t come with me?”

“The scanners would see right through my holographic face. Morley must remain dead. You see that, don’t you? Once the truth came out, Abel would know about it immediately.”

“I guess you’re right, but I wish things were different. We could be partners again.”

“Perhaps it’s time for you to get a new partner,” he said under his breath. Ven walked up after parking the hovercraft. I stared at the sight of him impeccably dressed in formal attire. He looked unbelievably handsome. My heart started to pound in my chest. Ven walked toward me like a magnet was pulling him. With a visible effort, he turned his head and greeted Morley, then returned his gaze to my face.

“You look beautiful.” His eyes locked onto mine.

“So do you.” I felt tongue-tied and wished I could think of something more interesting to say.

“I’ll let you two get to work,” Morley said. He had a smile on his face that went completely over my head. I was flabbergasted by Ven’s appearance. “Contact me if you have any emergencies.”

Ven held out his arm to me. I took it, and my pulse raced. I had never felt this way before. It was like I might float away at any moment.

“Are you ready?” He flashed a smile that made my body perk up and take notice.

“I am if you are.” I was ready for anything.

He led me to the front of the building where destiny waited for us.