The Serpent in the Stone (The Gifted Series) (40 page)

“
I
’
m fine,
”
she murmured, no longer able to meet his gaze.
“
Just working.
Preoccupied.
”

She felt his gaze on her for a moment, and implored her body not to tremble. She scanned the dig, looking for something he might use against her. What would happen if he suspected she knew about his gift? Would she be strong enough to stop him?

“
You
’
re up early,
”
came Flintrop
’
s voice.

She couldn
’
t keep the relief from edging her tone when she saw Flintrop and Luis coming toward the dig.
“
The better to wade through a few tons of dirt.
”

Flintrop handed her a corn muffin.
“
We
’
re eating cheap this morning.
Dustin and Michael are making a supply run.
”

Frowning, she kicked dirt off the toes of her boots.
“
Both of them?
We need all the manpower we
’
ve got today.
”

“
What
’
s your hurry?
”
Flintrop angled his head at her.
“
Iceland all over again.
You
’
re half-dead yesterday, and look at you.
”
He did look then, and lines appeared between his brows.
“
Did you sleep at all?
”

She turned back to the sieve box, and began shaking it again one-handed while she bit into the muffin.
“
I got enough sleep yesterday.
”

“
All right, let
’
s get a move on,
”
Faith sang out.
She strode toward the dig with a bucket of tools.

Flintrop made a noise of amusement as Luis and Thomas went to start work.
“
A pair of slave drivers, the both of you.
”

Sara eyed him.
“
You
’
re in an awfully good mood today.
”

He bent closer to her ear.
One tawny brow arched.
“
I
’
m always in a good mood when I go after something I want.
”

She opened her mouth on an acid response, but Flintrop jogged away, whistling, to join the others in the pit.

The crew worked through the morning.
Sara felt charged with energy.
The faster she worked, the more every nerve willed her to keep going.
She barely registered Michael and Dustin
’
s return.
Only when Faith called a halt for lunch did she come out of her trance.
Even then, she was the last to leave the pit.

During lunch, Faith sat beside her with a set of charts in her lap, eating her sandwich with one hand, and flipping through the sheets with the other.
“
We made good time.
We can do this.
”

“
I hope to God Hakon is guarding you at night,
”
Sara muttered.
“
I don
’
t know how we
’
re going to keep this up for three weeks.
I
’
m jumpy as it is.
”

Her sister shot her a look of appraisal.
“
Even for you,
”
she agreed with a note of concern.
“
Just sitting next to you is giving me the jitters.
Can
’
t you tone it down?
”

Sara snatched one of the charts off her sister
’
s lap.
Restlessly, she folded and unfolded it.
“
I don
’
t like this.
I don
’
t.
I can
’
t think.
”
The paper crinkled in her hands.

Faith clapped a hand over Sara
’
s, stopping her torture of the chart.
“
What
’
s the matter with you?
No bullshit.
”

“
You don
’
t think what
’
s going on around here is enough to make me a little haywire?
”

Dustin strolled over, brandishing a wax-paper bag.
“
Cookies and other sugary bad stuff.
Any takers?
”

“
Sure,
”
Faith said, reaching for the bag.

“
I
’
m going back to work,
”
Sara said, jumping up.
She marched away to the dig site, feeling Faith
’
s gaze on her every step of the way.

She worked through dinner in the pit, and then at the sieve box, pawing through its contents by the light of the lowering sun.
She murmured along with a half-heard tune from someone
’
s radio, and rearranged the rough granite rubble without actually seeing it.
A flurry of thoughts skimmed the surface of her consciousness, but like the earth and stone in the box, nothing stayed put long enough to be examined.
Just work, work, work, and when she paused, she wanted only to get back to work again.

Maybe because if she stopped, even for a second, she
’
d have to consider how insane this game of spider-and-the-fly was.

“
Hey.
You
’
re making the rest of us look bad,
”
Dustin joked, coming toward her with a lantern.

“
Sorry.
”

Laughing, he rested the lantern on the post beside the box.
“
Are you going for a world record?
”

“
If we
’
re going to finish the excavation this summer on the manpower we have, we need to buckle down,
”
she said.

“
At the rate you
’
re going, you
’
ll finish it next week all by yourself.
”

She glanced around.
“
What time is it?
”

“
Damn near bedtime.
Are the rest of us required to keep up with you?
”

For a few seconds, her drive lifted, and she relaxed just enough to smile.
“
You could help me finish this batch, and we can call it even.
”

Dustin rubbed his hands together.
“
Step aside, and let a real grunt show you how the work is done.
”

Sara shrugged, and stepped back from the box.
While Dustin worked, she cast a surreptitious look at the sky.
Ian had said he
’
d be at the inlet.
He hadn
’
t said when.
She hoped he
’
d still be there when she arrived.

They’d come together so fast and furious last night. The memory still hummed on her skin. He’d smelled of sunshine and chalk dust, and even though he’d sent her spinning into breathless ecstasy, she wanted him again as soon as they had finished. And what about the way he’d looked at her afterward? The way his arms had tightened around her, as if he meant to keep her there with him, safe and wanted, forever?

All at once, the urge to go to him became too much to bear. She picked up her bucket of tools, then strode toward her tent to put them away.

Flintrop intercepted her on the way. “Sara, have you got anything else from Lambertson on that skull and belt buckle we found?”

“Just the lab results, and what we’ve already catalogued on them. Why?”

“Nothing,” he said, looking displeased. I was hoping we’d have found something else by now.”

“Well, what is it you’re looking for?”

“I’m working on the pitch for Oxford. Can you show me what you have so far?”

Sara felt her chance to see Ian, possibly uninterrupted, slipping away. She stifled a painful sigh and gestured toward her tent. “All right, come on.”

He studied her with a stare like a buzzard. “Got something else to do?”

“No.”

He said nothing, but allowed her to lead the way back to her tent. She discovered then how much easier it was to deal with Faith’s stare on the back of her neck than his.

Chapter Fifteen

Faith gathered up the last of her dinner dishes and handed them to Michael. She stood and fisted her hands at the small of her back. The day had been productive not only in digging, but in aching muscles. A hot bath would have been a dream come true. Right then, she’d even have settled for a cold one.

Sold,
she thought, heading to her tent for swimwear, a towel, and a change of clothes.

When she emerged, Dustin was still working.
“
Swim?
”
she offered.

He waved her on.
“
No, thanks.
Camp shower.
I
’
ll tell the others where you went if they want to join.
”

Shrugging, Faith headed away to the inlet.

When she got there, she found Ian sitting on the beach, bent over a notebook and absorbed in writing.
A folded pile of clothes, a rumpled towel, and the remains of what appeared to be his dinner sat beside him on the sand.
From his damp chestnut hair, she guessed he
’
d already had his swim.

At her approach, he looked back over his shoulder.
“
Hey.
”

“
Hey, back.
Why do you not seem happy to see me?
”

He flashed a brief grin.
“
Sorry.
I thought you were Sara.
”

She mirrored his grin and sat beside him.
“
Taller.
Blonder.
She
’
s finishing up some lab work, I think.
”

“
Did everything go all right today?
”

“
Yeah, all things considered.
Working beside Tom Callander has become a new experience in walking on eggshells.
”

His gaze swept her figure as if to assure himself she was in one piece.
She shook her head to forestall his concern.
“
We
’
re okay.
He acted completely innocent, like he hadn
’
t...done what he did.
”

Lines appeared in Ian
’
s brow.
“
Maybe he
’
s waiting.
”

“
Thanks for that cheery thought.
”
She drew up her knees and hugged them while creepy-crawly sensations migrated through her body.

Needing to change the subject, she studied the notebook in his lap.
In the margins of his field notes, she caught a sketch of a wolf
’
s face.
The markings matched those of her sister
’
s shapeshift.
“
You don
’
t think they
’
re going to question that when you get back to the college?
”

“
They don
’
t read these.
They get the edited version from a computer.
”
He closed the book, then stuffed it into his inside jacket pocket.

Faith got the impression that it wasn
’
t the only drawing of Sara that he
’
d done in that notebook, lupine or otherwise.
She held his gaze just long enough for him to respond with a look that said,
Forget it, you can
’
t see it.
She giggled, and he shook his head.

Time passed in companionable silence while they gazed out over the water.
The waves of the inlet whispered at the shore.
Faith watched the few clouds pick up threads of champagne pink and sherbet orange, prelude to the sun
’
s fiery descent.