“Here? This house isn’t that old.”
“No, it’s in the Lady Chapel.”
“And the wall told you where the secret tunnel is?”
“My father did.”
There was a gasp from the stairs. Kendall and Jake looked over and saw a redhead with a freckled face staring back at them.
“It’s that kid.” Jake started toward the stairs.
Arthur yelped and ran away.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
IF WE DON’T stop him, he’ll tell everyone in the place,” Jake said, running after the kid.
Kendall followed him up the stairs.
“Where’d he go?” Jake looked around but didn’t see the kid anywhere. “He must have gone back to his room.”
“Let’s just find the priest hole before he has a chance to tell anyone. We’ve got half an hour before the moonlight tour starts.”
“You’d better wear your séance dress,” Jake said as they hurried to their room. He opened the door and Kendall stepped inside. She came to a dead stop, staring at their uninvited guest.
Raphael sat in a chair, flipping through one of the books in the room. “Half this stuff is wrong,” he said, putting the book down.
Jake pulled his knife from his boot and put Kendall behind him. “How did you get in here?”
Raphael glanced at the knife and shrugged one shoulder. He wore jeans and a dark shirt, not his ninja monk outfit, but he still looked deadly. “Does Nathan know you’re sleeping together?”
Kendall glanced at the bed.
“It’s none of Nathan’s business where we sleep,” Jake said.
“I doubt that Nathan would agree. Have you seen him? I need to find him.”
“No, we’re looking for him too,” Jake said.
“He didn’t mean to kidnap you, or at least not to hurt you,” Kendall said, stepping around Jake. “He needed answers. And we’ll return your cross. I’m sorry we took it, but we thought you were dead.”
“You were dead,” Jake said, putting Kendall behind him again.
“I already have my cross.”
“You got it from Nathan?” Kendall’s eyes widened. “Oh my God. Did you hurt him?”
“No. He’s in danger, but not from me. From the Reaper.”
“The Reaper is here?” Jake asked.
“He’s trying to come through the gateway. His men are probably already here.”
“You mean a portal?”
Raphael looked weary. “Our order has many secret places. There are gateways, or portals, between some of them.”
“Is that what those lights on the Tor are, the Reaper coming through one of the gateways?” Kendall asked.
Raphael nodded. “I must stop him, or there will be catastrophic results.”
Kendall stepped closer to Raphael, and Jake put out an arm to stop her. “Is the fountain inside the Tor?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Can you tell us how we fell through a maze in Italy and landed in England?” Jake asked.
“It’s not for outsiders to understand.”
“Kendall isn’t an outsider. Her father was one of the Protettori,” Jake said.
Raphael looked at Kendall. “How did you find out about your father?”
“I saw a vision of my birth in the tower room.”
“I shouldn’t have put you there,” Raphael said.
“I didn’t see the vision until later. You knew who I was?”
“Not at first. I started putting the pieces together after I saw the cross.”
“Can you tell me anything about my father?”
“He broke our rules. Women aren’t allowed. The order needs to be fully focused on their task. Women are distractions.” Raphael looked at Jake as if he understood just how distracting Kendall was to him. “So he was forced to leave the group.”
“Is there anything else you can tell me about him?” she asked. Her voice was level, but her eyes were afraid.
“Not now.”
“What about the tunnel to the Tor. Is it in the abbey?”
“How did you know about that?”
“I had a vision,” Kendall said.
“I can’t speak of it.”
“Then can you tell me about the chalice?” she asked.
His eyes narrowed, making him look almost reptilian. “What chalice?”
“I don’t know. King Arthur told me to find the chalice.”
Surprise replaced the harsh expression. “Arthur told you that?”
“In a vision. Do you know Arthur?”
“You have a lot of visions.”
“Too many,” Jake said.
Raphael stood, his relaxed demeanor gone. “Do you have your cross?”
“We each have one,” Jake said.
“Wear them. You have to protect her,” Raphael said to Jake. “I’ll try to find Nathan. If he comes here, don’t let him leave.”
“You still haven’t explained how you’re not dead,” Jake said.
“The fountain has restorative powers.”
“Why didn’t you turn into a sentinel?” Kendall asked.
Raphael frowned. “He told you that too? It’s time for a new Keeper. I must go.”
“Wait,” Kendall said. “Did you know the treasure is missing?”
“Yes,” Raphael said.
“Did you take it?” Jake asked.
“Yes.”
“When?” Kendall said. “It was there when we left Italy. Nathan had you imprisoned in Virginia.”
“I moved it after I left.”
“How’d you get from Virginia to Italy and move a roomful of valuable treasure in a matter of hours? Nathan’s Mercedes is nice, but not a magic carpet,” Jake said.
“I can’t tell you.”
“You’re like Nathan in more ways than one,” Jake said.
“At least you talk a lot more now than you did at the castle,” Kendall said.
“I didn’t expect to see you there,” Raphael said, and walked through the wall.
Jake and Kendall stared after him. “Did he just go through that wall?” Kendall asked.
“Either that or we’re having a bizarre dream. I guess that’s how he moved the treasure.” What the hell?
“What do we do now?” Kendall asked.
“Keep you safe and hope he finds Nathan.”
“Did you see how he looked when I mentioned King Arthur and the chalice?”
Jake nodded. “As if he knew him.”
Kendall changed into the long dress for the coming séance. It was blue, fitted at the top, teasing with a hint of cleavage. She kept trying to pull it higher. The bottom was full, flowing. She looked like a queen. A sexy as hell queen. He’d known women who spent an hour getting ready for a date and didn’t come out looking as good as Kendall did with no makeup, no curlers, or the contraptions women used on their hair.
They grabbed flashlights and hurried to the Abbey House’s private entrance to the grounds. Their lights weren’t necessary since lanterns had been set up for tonight’s event, their soft glow making the ruins look haunted. Perfect for a séance.
“You think you can find it at night?”
“I saw it clearly in the vision. There were four of them. They took the trunk inside the Lady Chapel and opened a priest hole in the wall. But the chapel was intact, so it must have been no later than the sixteenth century. That’s when the abbey was closed. The trunk is probably gone.”
“But if there’s a tunnel, it’ll still be there. Did you see what was inside the trunk?”
“No, but it must have been something important. They were frightened. I could feel their fear.”
“You’re certain it was your father? Monks tend to look a lot alike.”
“It was him. I saw the cross.” She touched the cross around her neck. “Now I know for sure he was part of the Protettori.”
“If these monks were part of the Protettori, where are the statues guarding the abbey?”