“No, but I think I know where it is. The Upper Room is locked.”
“You didn’t pick the lock?”
“I thought I heard someone in the hall.”
“Everyone was with me. No one left the room.”
“It must be whoever is in that last bedroom.” Jake hurried toward the room and tried the door. Locked. “I’ll pick it.”
“You can’t pick it with everyone here. If someone is using the room, he’s getting in and out some way.”
“He must be using the window. I’ll see if I can pick up his trail outside.”
“I’ll nose around for the chalice. Maybe I can sense something.”
After Jake left, Kendall asked Halle about the Blue Chalice, and she confirmed that the Chalice Trust kept it locked up in the Upper Room.
Jake came back a few minutes later. “I found footprints leading to the street. A man’s. No way to track him on the road.”
“Halle said the Blue Chalice is kept in the Upper Room, but we can’t get in there with everyone here. And we can’t ask her to show it to us. She doesn’t even have the key.”
“If we could get out of the Camelot trip, I can pick the lock or go through the window,” Jake said.
“She thinks the caretaker will be back by tomorrow or the next day. We can wait that long. We can’t abandon them,” Kendall said. “They’re counting on us.”
“Counting on you. We need to find this chalice.”
“You could stay and find it,” she said.
“No. I’m not letting you go alone. And it wouldn’t do me any good. You’re the one that needs to touch it.”
“Then let’s wait for the caretaker. We have a lot of other stuff to explore. The Tor, the abbey, and the Chalice Well. I want to see the actual well. We only saw the fountain that the well flows into. And then I want to see the White Spring across the street.”
“When we’re finished, there are a couple of inns nearby. We can see if Brandi’s been there.”
Kendall would have preferred to go to the well alone, but she knew she would have a hard time convincing Jake. He was incredibly protective of her, just as Adam had been. As they left the house, she studied him… his build, his face, bone structure. Some kids were easily recognizable as adults. Some weren’t. She couldn’t tell with Jake. He could have been Adam, but there was nothing specific. Adam hadn’t had any birthmarks or noticeable scars. He should have, as many times as they got bruised and scraped, but the scars always faded. Both of them had been amazingly healthy growing up.
Kendall and Jake slipped into the garden before it opened to the public. They followed the stone path to the Vesica Piscis pool, the fountain, and finally the Chalice Well. The well was in the middle of a recessed area paved with stone and surrounded by trees. The cover of the well was made of iron with two interlocking circles. Kendall immediately felt something calming here, but there was also power.
Jake seemed to sense that she needed solitude. He hung back a bit, exploring the trees, while she went to the well. She sat on the edge, as thousands must have done before her. At first she felt the calming presence, and then the images started to come. She saw a long table and heard men’s voices speaking in… Hebrew? A long-fingered hand, gentle but calloused, picked up a cup and lifted it to his lips. A sense of peace filled her, love, and then terrible dread. Fear, followed by resolution, acceptance. It must be done. There was no other way.
The image changed, and she sensed pain, terrible pain, though she didn’t feel it. She saw blood dripping from a foot, where a nail had been driven through the tissue. She heard a woman’s soft cries and saw a man standing nearby, tired, weary, his soul torn with grief. If he had done more, could he have stopped them from killing him? Stopped the sacrifice? No. It was meant to be.
Kendall’s head was starting to hurt, but she couldn’t stop the images. She heard a loud agonized cry and a male hand held out a cup, which began to fill with blood. Not just any cup. The same cup the man had drunk from at the table.
The Holy Grail.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
KENDALL LOOKED LIKE a statue sitting on the edge of the well. Her eyes were open, unblinking, and Jake knew she was someplace else. He was afraid to interrupt whatever was happening, and afraid not to. But when she gave a small cry, he couldn’t wait any longer. He rushed over to her, knelt down, and touched her hand. “Kendall?”
She blinked several times and her gaze focused. “What?”
“What happened? What did you see?”
“Jesus.”
“Huh?” Of all the things he’d expected her to say, that was the last.
Her fingers tightened on his hand. “I was there.”
“Where?”
“The Last Supper. The Crucifixion. I saw it. I heard it.”
“Holy—” Jake cut off the curse. “No wonder you’re pale.”
“It was incredible,” she said, her voice breathless with awe. “The legends are right. Joseph did bring the Holy Grail here.”
“The Holy Grail. So we’re looking for the Holy Grail and the Fountain of Youth?” Jake almost cursed but stopped himself. He knew Kendall well enough to know she wasn’t faking. But his scientific brain still balked at some of this stuff. But the other parts, the one that had seen Kendall’s gift in action, and the boy in the orphanage dreaming that he was a secret knight on a mission for King Arthur so he didn’t have to believe no one wanted him, those parts of him wanted to believe it was real.
Kendall’s shoulders were drooping. She was tired. These visions sapped her strength.
“Can you walk?”
She nodded and started to stand. Her knees buckled and she sat down again. “Maybe not.”
“Do you want me to carry you?”
“No. Just give me a minute. Let me close my eyes. Sit with me.”
He sat beside her, slightly behind, and let her rest against him. He could feel some kind of energy coming off her. An aura… He didn’t know what the hell it was, but it was so powerful it was frightening. He wasn’t about to move and leave her to deal with it alone. His admiration for her grew, as if she weren’t already on a damned pedestal. He closed his eyes and put his arms around her, pulling her against his chest. It was like getting a mild shock, but without the pain. He picked up flashes of something. Sensations maybe. He couldn’t begin to describe or decipher them, but it felt as if they were wrapped in a soft cocoon of light. Just him and her. Nothing else existed. He couldn’t have said how much time passed. It was as if time didn’t exist. Then he felt Kendall stir in his arms. He didn’t want to leave but he heard voices nearing. The gardens had opened.
“We should go,” Kendall said, starting to stand.
Jake helped her up. She was still wobbly but able to walk. She seemed a little stronger when they got to their room, but he insisted she rest. “You know how these things affect you.” He pulled off her shoes and made her lie down. “We have a lot of work to do here. We have to find that chalice and figure out why we’re here. I need you mentally and physically strong.” He hesitated. “Nathan needs you to be strong. Curse or not, if he doesn’t get rid of his condition, it’ll kill him.”
“You’re worried about him too.”
“I work for him. He’s a paycheck.”
“You don’t believe that any more than I do. I do need to rest. The group is counting on me to find King Arthur.”
“If anybody in the world can do it, you can.”
She gave him a tired smile. “That’s not what you used to say. You’re really working on your knighthood status.”
“I know I was… skeptical when we first met.”