Now it was her turn to keep her emotions in check.
“No vendas la piel del oso antes de cazarlo,” she said under her breath.
“What’s that?”
“Something my abuela used to say. It means, Don’t sell the bearskin before you hunt it.” She permitted herself a sad smile at the memory. Her grandmother had been so proud when she’d graduated from college, but wasn’t impressed by her choice of Archaeology as a vocation. She’d been hoping for an attorney in the family.
“It’s more colorful than, Don’t count your chickens before they hatch, I’ll grant you that. Now, are you coming?”
They navigated the busy work site, waving to workers who called out greetings to them. Spirits were high. This had been a controversial undertaking from the start, and everyone feared it might end up a black mark on their résumés. Sofia had more hope than confidence, but the money was too good to pass up. Since then, her results continued to vindicate her. The circles originally spotted in satellite imagery and scoffed at by almost everyone had proven, upon excavation, to be ringed canals. And at the center…
“The Temple of Poseidon.” Patrick’s beatific smile made him look ten years younger. “I can’t believe we’ve really found it. It’s almost like a dream.”
Sofia tried to ignore the flutter in her chest at his words. “You’re a scientist, Patrick. Be professional.”
“Even if it’s not what we think, it’s still a spectacular find. The architecture is classic, the golden ratio is everywhere. We uncovered a shaft that runs down into the temple at precisely the same angle as one of the shafts in the Queen’s Chamber of the Great Pyramid, except it’s much bigger. A few inches wider and I’d have climbed down there myself. It’s a great find, Sofia. We’re going to be in the history books.”
“We can’t draw any conclusions until we get inside and see what, exactly we’re dealing with. It would be pretty embarrassing if we told the world we’ve found the legendary temple at the heart of Atlantis and it turns out to be a grain storage building.”
“I’ll bet you a romantic, candlelight dinner that it’s not a grain storage building.”
Sofia laughed. “Even if I win that bet, I still lose. I’m only saying we need to be sure before we tell anyone outside the dig about this. It’s just common sense.”
Patrick’s eyes fell and he turned away.
Sofia stopped in her tracks, grabbed him by the shoulder, and yanked him around to face her. “Tell me you didn’t.” The look in his eyes was all the answer she needed.
“I only sent one text. I was supposed to report in if we found anything promising. You’ve got to admit, this,” he pointed to the peak of the temple roof where it rose out of the earth, “is interesting.”
She couldn’t argue with him. The temple, for, despite her professed reservations, it was clear that’s what it was, was remarkably well preserved. The carving on the pediment, the triangular upper portion of the temple facade, showed an angry Poseidon slamming his trident into the sea, sending ferocious waves in either direction. The supporting columns were massive pillars fluted with parallel, concave grooves. At their peaks, the capitals, the head pieces that flared out to support the horizontal beam beneath the pediment, were carved to resemble the scaled talons of a sea creature, giving the impression that the roof was in the clutches of a primordial beast. The sight of it sent chills down her spine.
“Who did you tell?”
“Mister Bishop. I mean, I told his assistant. That’s the only number I had. They’re staying somewhere nearby, so we can expect a visit.” His voice took on a pleading tone. “Come on, Sofia. They’re practically footing the entire bill for this dig. They’ve given us everything we could want. You think we could have written grants to find Atlantis in southern Spain and gotten anything but ridicule for our trouble?”
“I know.” She hated to admit it, but he was right. “It’s just weird that the Kingdom Church is paying us to find Atlantis. Noah’s Ark, I could see, but this? It’s weird.”
“I don’t care as long as the checks keep coming in. Now, how about you quit worrying and let’s get down there so they can open this door? You said not to open anything without you, and we took you at your word.”
“Good. I’m glad to know you can use common sense when you have to.”
Patrick mimed thrusting a dagger into his heart and then stepped aside so she could be first down to the dig site. A forty foot ladder descended into the pit where the excavation was ongoing. She climbed down, almost losing her footing once as she daydreamed about what they might find inside.
Several people stood around the entrance to the temple. They had cleared the entire front of the temple and back through the pronaos, the covered area that led back to the naos, the temple’s enclosed central structure, and now waited for her to give the word. She could almost fee their excitement as she mounted the steps and approached the doorway. This was the moment!
“The door is weird.” Patrick removed his helmet and scratched his head. “It’s not really a door at all. It’s more like a patch.”
She didn’t need to ask him to explain. The exposed portion of the naos was solid marble. The entryway, by contrast, was sealed with loose stones and mortar.
“Looks like they wanted to keep something out.” She ran her fingers over the rough stones. “Maybe they knew the flood was coming?”
“Or they wanted to keep something in.” Patrick made a frightened face, eliciting a giggle from a plump, female grad student.
Sofia brushed her hands on her shorts and stepped back. “Clear it out carefully. Try to keep it in one piece, if you can.”
The crew didn’t need to be told twice. Clearly, this is what they’d been eager to do since uncovering the entryway. They worked with an efficiency that made her proud. Sooner that she would have thought possible, they worked the plug free.
“Ladies first.” Patrick made a mocking bow and motioned for her to enter the temple.
Sofia paused on the ambulatory, crinkled her nose at the stale air wafting through the doorway, and tried to calm her pounding heart. Was she about to make one of the greatest archaeological finds of all time? Heart racing, she fumbled with her flashlight, turned it on, and directed the shaky beam inside.
The cella, the interior chamber, hadn’t gone unscathed in the disaster that befell the city. The floor was covered in a foot-deep layer of silt and all around were signs of leakage, but it could be worse. Much worse. This place had been closed up tight and must have been quickly covered by dirt and sand, at least, quick by geological standards, to have kept it in such pristine condition. Mother Earth had wrapped it in her protective blanket, protecting it against the ravages of time.
She played her light around the room, and what she saw took her breath away. Twin colonnades, the columns shaped like the twisting tentacles of a sea serpent, ran the length of the room, framing a magnificent sight.
“What do you see?” Patrick had hung back, like he knew he was supposed to, but his anxious tone indicated he wouldn’t wait much longer.
“Poseidon!” A twenty-foot tall statue of the Greek god stood atop a dais in the middle of the temple. Like the image on the pediment outside, this was an angry god, driving furious waves before him. Unlike so many modern interpretations, he was not a wise, grandfatherly figure, gray of hair and beard, but young and virile, with brown hair and long, sinewy muscles. Wait! Brown hair?
“You can still see some of the paint!” Through the use of ultraviolet light, researchers had determined that the Greeks had painted over their sculptures, sometimes in bright primary colors, other times in more subdued, natural tones. Thus, the classic marble statues seen in contemporary museums did not accurately reflect their appearance in ancient times. This sculpture appeared to have been done in the latter style. Besides the traces of brown in the hair, she could see hints of creamy skin, as well as flecks of silver on his trident. The waves beneath his feet were speckled with aqua and the crests streaked with white. Had leaks in the roof eroded the paint, or had the pigments faded over time? One of the many questions they would doubtless try to answer as they studied this fabulous place.