“No names,” Jake said, running his hand over the middle tomb. “Who do you think is in there?”
“I think we’ve found King Arthur and Guinevere,” Kendall said.
“So the monks hid the bodies,” Nathan said. “What about the third tomb?”
Kendall touched the cold marble and felt an ache in her heart. “One of the other knights? I don’t know.”
“Something about this place is eerie,” Jake said. “Let’s get back to the fountain.”
Nathan frowned, his expression troubled. “Yeah. Let’s leave them in peace.”
Afterward, Kendall, Nathan, and Jake sat on the steps, staring at the Fountain of Youth.
“The red stream looks like the Chalice Well,” Jake said.
“I think it’s a combination of both the Chalice Well and the White Spring,” Kendall said. “Two sources, both powerful.”
Jake looked at Nathan. “You thinking about taking a swim?”
“Tempting,” Nathan said.
“Don’t risk it. We don’t know how the fountain works,” Kendall said. “The Reaper said it’s deadly to drink from anything but a holy vessel. I saw a cup and a vial in the castle, in the room with the mural. The Protettori drink water from the fountain in a ceremony. I don’t know if getting in the water would work.”
“I guess the question is, would it hurt?” Jake said. “The Protettori do like traps. Look what happened when the Reaper drank from the wrong cup. He’s going to be pissed.”
“Pissed, or intrigued,” Nathan said. “Neither one is a good prospect for Kendall.”
“I don’t like how he looked at her,” Jake said. “If he isn’t dead, he’s going to come for her.”
“You have to stay at the mansion where we can protect you,” Nathan said.
“If I’m a Keeper, you two have to stop giving orders,” Kendall said.
“Just because you’re part of the Protettori doesn’t mean someone can’t hurt you,” Jake said. “Even with that superpower thing you did to the Reaper. I doubt you have any control over it any more than Nathan does. Hell, I feel like the nerd here. I’m the only one without any superpowers.”
Kendall patted Jake’s leg. “You have guns and two of the best fists I’ve ever seen.”
“That’s not much compared to the Hulk here, and you, what are you, Wonder Woman?”
“Don’t pout,” Kendall said. “Who knows, you might have some kind of superpower too. I had no idea I could do anything like that. I think I’m going to have to try to read Marco. There are still a lot of loose ends to figure out. He isn’t telling us everything. Raphael is hiding something too.”
“What are we gonna do about Brandi? She’s determined to destroy the relics, and now she knows where the Fountain of Youth is.” Nathan scratched his chin, shadowed with two days’ growth of beard. Kendall still couldn’t grasp that he was Adam. After she had spent a lifetime being haunted by him, missing him every day, feeling like a piece of her soul was missing, that she had failed him, now he was here. Alive.
“She’s probably plotting a way to blow up the temple as we speak,” Jake said. “She knows too much.”
“We’re not killing her,” Kendall said.
“I didn’t say we should,” Jake said. “But you know she’ll try to destroy the relics. She’s not going to care that you’re the Keeper.”
“If Raphael kills the Reaper, Brandi won’t need the relics,” Kendall said.
“I don’t think the Reaper is dead,” Nathan said. “I don’t think it’s going to be that easy.”
“Then you could kidnap her,” Jake said. “Make sure she doesn’t interfere.”
“I considered it at the hotel,” Nathan said.
“You can’t just go around kidnapping people,” Kendall said.
“Nathan could buy her off,” Jake said. “Give her a million dollars to go off to some resort.”
“It wouldn’t work,” Nathan said. “She’s determined to stop the Reaper. And now she has Thomas’s death to avenge.”
“Assuming the Reaper is still alive, we’ll have to convince Brandi to work with us, not against us.”
“And if she won’t?” Jake asked.
“I’m not so worried about the temple,” Kendall said. “She can’t get in without a cross, and she can’t blow it up without the whole world knowing. But I think she’ll go for the chalice.”
“We don’t even know where to start looking for the real chalice,” Jake said.
“That’s why we have Kendall,” Nathan said.
“Keeper of the relics,” Jake said.
Keeper. “I can’t believe this,” Kendall said. She was part of the Protettori. It still didn’t seem real, or even right. She was just Kendall. Just a woman. How could she be part of a secret order?
“I guess you’ll have to tell her where you’ve hidden the Spear of Destiny,” Jake said to Nathan.
“Will I?”
“If you don’t, she might fling you around like she did the Reaper,” Jake said.
“I’m not flinging anyone around… as long as you stop treating me like I’m helpless. So, what do we do with this place?”
“You’re the Keeper,” Jake said. “What do you think?”
“We guard it,” she said.
“We?” Jake said.
“I can’t do it alone. God knows where Raphael is. Marco comes and goes like the tide. We’re it. Can you station guards throughout the tunnel?” Kendall asked Nathan.
He nodded. “We’ll have to bring them in through the opening in the Tor. We can’t let anyone know about the portal in the maze.”
“And the entrance through the Tor,” Jake said. “Although it’s probably safe since it’s been there for God knows how long and no one has found it.”
“We’ll put in a steel door with an access code,” Nathan said.
“That might be hard to explain to the good folks of Glastonbury,” Jake said.
“We’ll have to bring it through the maze so no one sees,” Nathan said. “That means you and I will have to do it. We’ll leave the outside disguised as it is.”
“And the priest hole will have to be sealed,” Kendall said. “If someone did find it, they’d probably never get past that wall that fell. But we should seal the entrance up to be safe. We’ll have to do it at night so no one sees.”
“It’s almost dawn. We should go back before Fergus comes with a search party.”
They turned the wheel and watched as the floor covered the steps leading to the fountain.
“This isn’t the end,” Kendall said. “If the Reaper is still alive, he’ll try to find the real Holy Grail.”
“I guess that’s our next relic,” Jake said. “The Holy Grail. Sounds like a quest.”
“Maybe that’s why you dreamed of King Arthur when you were a kid,” Kendall said. “Because one day you would have the same quest he did.”
“It’d be nice if King Arthur would give us a hint where we can find it,” Jake said as they walked back to the Abbey House. His words held their usual sarcasm, but also a bit of awe.
Fergus had already formed a search party of two—himself and Art. They were trying to get into the priest hole when Kendall, Nathan, and Jake found them. Fergus was dressed in his butler suit and was backing into the hole while Art directed him from below. When grilled, Art swore he hadn’t told a soul about the great secret he had been entrusted with, that Fergus had forced him on pain of death to take him to the tunnel.