I woke up Saturday morning groaning, bleary eyed, still wearing the same clothes I had worn to the bonfire last night and feeling as though I'd been hit by a truck. My mouth felt like it was full of cotton, my tongue felt like sandpaper, and I desperately needed to drink some water. There was a dull throbbing pain just behind my eyes, pulsing in time with my heartbeat. I felt... gross. Grimey. My stomach rumbled, protesting the lack of food inside of it.
None of it was motivation enough for me to move right away.
I rolled my head to the side and looked out one of the big windows. The sky was an overcast light gray. Raindrops streaked the glass before being joined into the little streams of water running down the window. Today was one of those days where I'd like to just curl up on my window seat under that big window, wrap up in an electric blanket and read.
"Good plan. Shower first," I muttered, then sat up. It took more effort than I'd like to admit.
I dragged myself to the staircase that ran up the inside of the tower to my personal bathroom for a shower. The granite tile and golden light fixtures created a pleasantly warm atmosphere for my still-tired eyes. I stood in front of the mirror that hung above the double-sink counter and attacked my hair with a comb. It felt gritty with sand and a little dried salt, and it was tangled from being in a haphazard braid while I'd slept. When I was finally satisfied that it wouldn't turn into a tangled mess the second I got it wet, I opened the glass door on the standing shower and turned the hot water on to full blast. Steam quickly began drifting through the room, fogging up the mirrors as I removed my dirty clothes and threw them into the laundry basket in the corner that was close to overflowing. As my jeans fell from the pile on top of the basket, a curious looking item fell out of the left pocket and I heard a solid thunk.
I frowned at it for a long moment before my memories caught up with me. It was the necklace that I'd nearly flung into the ocean last night. I picked it up and peered at it closely. The grime I'd noticed in the dark wasn't as bad as I'd guessed, but it did need a wash. I dug through a drawer to find a fingernail scrub brush, took it and the necklace into the shower with me, dabbed a generous blob of shampoo onto it and started scrubbing. Either the grime wasn't as solidified as I'd expected or my shampoo was an extremely good jewelry cleaner, because after only a minute or two it began to shine. As I rinsed it off, it literally began to shine. As the suds were rinsed away I could see, caged in the intricate metal work, a bright blue stone that was emitting a mild glow. I pulled it from under the stream of water to get a closer look, and the light gently faded away.
I blinked several times and rubbed my eyes, then placed the pendant back under the water to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. Just as delicately as the light had faded away, it began glowing again, turning the entire shower a brilliant shade of aquamarine. The filigree encasing the stone cast shadows on the tiles around me, making it appear as if I were in some underwater paradise without actually being under said water. It was... breathtaking.
"What in the world...?" I removed it from the water again and watched the light fade away once more. I was definitely not hallucinating. What sorts of stones glowed under water? I'd heard of bioluminescent clams, was that what was caught inside of this metal teardrop?
I hung the necklace on the shower handle and left it be while I showered. After a little while I simply stood there and let the hot water relax my muscles that were sore from sleeping in an awkward position. I splashed water onto the necklace and watched how it reacted; it began to glow before fading again as the water came and went. My mind went back to the stories about Fey Archway, how it was a supposed magical place and how I'd found the necklace underneath it. I remembered that the Tuatha De had supposedly gifted certain clans of humans with mystical items in return for their fervent worship.
The thought tickled my mind once more. Could the stories hold more than just a tiny grain of truth?
I shut that down right away. Just because I found a glowing necklace didn't mean fairies were real. There had to be a scientific explanation for the reaction. Determined to find it, I turned off the shower and hurried to dry myself, bringing the necklace with me. I wrapped my hair up in a towel, slipped on my fluffy green robe, and all but sprinted down the stairs to open up my computer to do some research.
I started at the most obvious point, Googling 'are there rocks that glow under water?' The search results pulled up information about rocks that glow under UV light and minerals that glow in the dark. That wasn't quite what I was looking for. Next I tried 'what things glow under water?' That gave me information about bio luminescent plankton called Noctiluca Scintillans that glow blue when disturbed in the water as a defense mechanism to scare off or distract predators, and some science experiments on how to make glowing water. Curious, I clicked on the science experiment video and watched a Russian man pour some powder called "Instant Light Powder" into a beaker half filled with water. Per the name of the powder, there was an instant reaction and bits of the powder began to glow. As he swirled it around it got brighter, and glowed exactly the same color that the pendant did. That was a start. Next I Googled this Instant Light Powder to find out what it was made of. The search pulled up several shopping websites that offered science kits including the powder. The first description I clicked on told me that the kit demonstrated chemiluminescence, the emission of light during a chemical reaction which does not produce significant quantities of heat. Then I asked Google, 'What is in instant light powder?' Similar shopping results came up, but the one on top had a better explanation. "Observe how luminol is converted to an excited state in the presence of an oxidizer, such as hydrogen peroxide. As the excited state molecule decays (or returns to the ground state), energy is produced as light."
I followed that up with a search for luminol, and found that it is a white-to-pale-yellow crystalline solid that is soluble in most polar organic solvents, but insoluble in water and that forensic investigators use it to detect trace amounts of blood at crime scenes because it reacts with the iron in hemoglobin. Biologists also use it to detect copper, iron, cyanides and specific proteins in molecular biology. I typed in 'Can luminol form into large crystals?' and hit the enter button. That brought up more information about luminol that I read through, detailing its chemical composition and its date of creation, neither of which were what I was really looking for. I supposed, though, that it was entirely possible that it could form, or be formed, into a large crystal and be unique in a piece of jewelry... but I wasn't a chemist. I had no idea if the compound could form into a large crystal or stone.
Somewhat satisfied with the results, I sat back in my chair and stretched. I wanted to show off my interesting find to my friends and family, but my stomach growled, reminding me that I'd entirely skipped breakfast. I glanced at the small stack of books next to my computer and remembered that I still had homework to finish before my classes on Monday. With a sigh, I decided that showing off the necklace would have to wait until later. I had other things to do.
Several hours later I heard a gentle knock on my bedroom door. I turned around to see Nick leaning against the door frame.
"Hey, I just wanted to check on you, I haven't seen you all day."
"I'm alright. I ah... slept in, and have been doing my homework," I said.
He shook his head. "Homework with a hangover? On a Saturday?"
"I don't have a hangover," I said, mildly defensive. Truthfully I did still have the remnants of the headache I woke up with, but I had a feeling it was less because of the alcohol the previous evening and more because I'd been working consistently without giving my eyes a break for too long.
"Whatever you say. Why don't you take a break and come have dinner with Eliza, Ian and I?"
I glanced at my papers, the first completely finished and the second in the final stage of editing. "Did you say, 'dinner'?" Geeze, how long had I been at it?
"Aye. Like I said, I hadn't seen you all day. Not that it's anything new," he teased.
I stood up and stretched. "Dinner would be nice. Just let me get dressed."
He gave me a thumbs up and closed the door before he left. I hurried to put on a clean pair of jeans, a black sweater and a warm pair of boots before I collected my purse, coat, and the necklace as a final thought, before I raced downstairs to meet up with Nick.
Being the daughter of a restaurant owner had perks. Dad told me and my friends to have our meals and drinks charged to his tab and, since most of us frequented the place at least once a week, it was a constantly running tab. The food was amazing, which surprised the people who assumed it was like every other pub or tavern that sold burgers and chicken wings with beer. Nope, the Four Horsemen had a wide variety and plenty of options for everyone. If you were vegetarian or vegan they had a whole separate menu. If you wanted breakfast at five in the afternoon, they'd make you pancakes without a problem.
We took a booth that was on the outer ring of the circular room, closer to one of the bars. This level was raised a foot and a half from the area of tables in the middle of the floor that were usually occupied by tourists, and were cleared out on Friday nights for dancing and karaoke. Ashley was working today and she slid into the booth next to me with a tired smile. "Its been very busy today, sorry for the wait," she said and pulled out her notepad. "What are you guys having?"
"Just my usual please, with a glass of water." I was toying with the necklace, running my thumb over the metal work and going over the research I'd done on luminol in my head. I didn't want to announce what I was going to do, just show them what happened.
"Alright, I'm off into the fray," she said after she collected our orders. "My break is coming up soon, I'll see you guys in a few." I watched her blonde head bob away through the small crowd and disappear into the kitchen.
"Rae?" I heard Ian's voice and I looked over to see him giving me the 'I've-been-trying-to-get-your-attention' look. "You okay?"
"Hmm? Oh yes I'm fine. Just tired is all." Why are you worrying about me now?
"Did you hear what I asked you?"
"No, sorry I was thinking about something else."
"I asked if that was the necklace you found on the beach last night."
"Oh, yeah it is. I actually wanted to show you guys a thing it can do, I just need a glass of water first."
"What?" was the collective response I got.
"Yeah. I think the crystal inside luminol, or has luminol in it, I'm not really sure how that works. Biologists use it to detect tiny amounts of minerals in liquids. So... it glows in water."
We waited until Ashley brought our drinks back. When she handed me my water I dunked the pendant into the glass. As soon as it broke the surface of the water it began to radiate bright, pretty blue light and cast shadows on the walls like it had done earlier, although this time it was much brighter. I watched my friends stare at it for a moment before I noticed that half of the restaurant was looking in our direction. I pulled it out of the water and wrapped it in the sleeve of my sweater to dry it off and hide the light, a blush burning my cheeks from the stares.
"It was so pretty," Eliza breathed.
"Where did you say you found it?" Nick asked.
"Right under Fey Archway when I went to take a walk last night. For half a second this morning I thought I might be going crazy when I cleaned it and it started to glow. But I did some research and learned about luminol. It's apparently a whitish-yellow crystal, which doesn't quite fit this description," I gestured to the blue crystal inside of the silver filigree, "but it's as close as I could get before my stomach started to try to eat itself and I got lunch and had to start homework. I don't know if it can be made into a big crystal like this but it could be mixed into the substance."
"Nice find, cuz," Nick bumped my shoulder. "Are you glad you went to the party now?"
I pursed my lips. "Part of me wants to say no, just so you don't get any satisfaction. But yes, I'm glad I went because I found a pretty shiny thing."
We continued to talk about other theories of what the crystal could be made of until Ashley returned to the kitchen to fetch our food. I took the opportunity to excuse myself to the bathroom. As I rounded the corner that led to the ladies' room, something clamped around my forearms and spun me around. The next thing I knew I had my back to the wooden wall, my head only an inch away from the neon sign of a nude girl sitting in a martini glass, looking up at a tall, broad shouldered man with tanned skin, jaw length dark brown hair and piercing green eyes, wearing a black long sleeved shirt and a pair of blue jeans.
"What the hell are-- Christian?" It took me a moment to recognize his chiseled features in the half light of the hallway. I'd only ever seen him at the bookstore, and not nearly this close up, but sure enough, it was my coworker who had backed me against the wall. He was so close I couldn't help but notice that he smelled of a heady pine and oak musk. The air felt charged with the atmosphere of a coming storm. I wondered how I'd missed seeing him in the restaurant. My heart thundered in my chest so hard I would be willing to bet he could hear it.
"What are you doing, lass?" His burr wasn't quite a whisper. His face was so close to mine I could feel his breath on my skin.
"What do you mean, 'what am I doing?' What are you doing?" I snapped, bringing my gaze from the sharp angles of his lips to his eyes.
"Catching you before you get yourself into trouble. I need you to give me that," he glanced down at the pendant hanging between my breasts.
My fingers curled around it defensively and I smooshed myself as flat against the wall as I could. "Why?"
"Because you have no idea what it is and it'll get you into trouble."
I narrowed my eyes. "That's the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. It's a necklace for God's sake. How could it get me into trouble?"
He was silent for a moment and I watched his jaw clench as he ground his teeth. "It's a priceless artifact that some people have been searching for for centuries. Some would do anything to get their hands on it."
First I was shocked at the utter certainty in his voice. Then I turned the information over in my head. When I'd done my research I hadn't tried to search for a specific item, I'd been more curious about how it had worked. I had no idea whether or not he was telling me the truth. I'd never pegged him for an untrustworthy person, but I'd also never pegged him as someone who would back a girl into a wall. If it really was a priceless artifact, there was likely an interesting history behind it, and I was curious as to what that might be. It also briefly crossed my mind that I could very well present it to scholars myself and gain some notoriety... no, that was stupid, I had literally just happened across it on the beach, not gone on some sort of fantastic quest like Indiana Jones.
"Why is it so important that you have to corner me in a hallway?"
"Lots o' unsavory people are looking for that trinket, and you're out there showing it off like this week's hottest fashion statement," he tilted his head in the direction of the restaurant.
It wasn't hard to subdue the laugh that bubbled in my throat, my nervousness made sure of that. "This week's fashion statement? Hardly. An interesting find that does a neat trick? Absolutely. If you really want it, you'd better tell me why it's important, otherwise I'll make sure you never see it again."
He gave me a smile that reminded me more of a wolf baring its teeth than a friendly grin. "It'd be likely that I never saw you again either."
I continued to glare at him defiantly, calling his bluff with my eyes. I found the thing on the beach, just lying around for anyone to come across, not locked up in some ancient ruin guarded by traps. How important could it really be?
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Try me."
He studied me for a long moment and I realized I was holding my breath. I thought about trying to relax, to put up the façade that I wasn't the least bit nervous, but he was standing so close to me that if I did I'd be pressed right up against his surprisingly muscular body. What the heck did he do when he wasn't at the bookstore?
His gaze went toward the ceiling and he muttered something unintelligible under his breath before he said, "It's a magical artifact and the map to find Atlantis."
I stared at him for a long moment. The part of my brain that had been nagging me to learn more about Atlantis and the Tuatha De started screaming a very high pitched, very excited, very annoying scream inside of my head. I tried to tell it to shut up, that this was absolutely ridiculous, that it had to be a joke and hadn't I just asked him to tell me the truth? I opened my mouth to tell Christian the same thing... but something else came out instead.
"Atlantis. As in, the Lost City?" Why are you even considering it?
"Aye."
"And magic, like spells and rituals and stuff?" Do you even know how insane you sound right now? He's bullshitting you. This entire conversation started off the deep end.
"Aye," he repeated. I could see a sparkle of amusement in his eyes.
"Prove it." What?!
"What?"
"I said prove it. Show me magic, the research, something to that effect. If it's true then I want in." Apparently my sanity was taking the back seat for the rest of the conversation.
A long silence followed my words. Christian's eyes bored into mine. I clenched my jaw in an effort to look tough. "You've already seen proof. It glows when it gets wet. Is that no' enough?"
"I've already got a scientific explanation for that. It's made of luminol, or has luminol in it, which causes a chemical reaction, creating a blue light with no heat source."
"Luminol?" He laughed low, causing a shiver to run down my spine. "O' course you would have found a way to explain it. You're no' meant for this, lass. Just let it go."
"I'm going to give you ten seconds to tell me, or back off, otherwise I'm not going to let you have anything to do with this 'trinket'." I was beginning to get more angry about the situation than I was frightened. Not meant for what? And what was he going to do if I said no? He could try to man handle me and take it, but I could scream with the best of them. With as crowded as the restaurant was, it wouldn't take long for someone to get here. But if there was some way he was telling the truth, I wanted to know about it.
"Ye're in over yer head. You doona ken whit ye're asking fur." His brogue grew thicker as the muscles in his jaw tightened.
I took a deep breath to steady my nerves and began counting. "Ten. Nine. Eight."
He growled at me, an audible rumble in the back of his throat. "Ye want proof, lass, I'll show ye proof. But once I do, you'll be agreeing to something you'll no' be able t' turn back from."
"Seven. Six. Five. Four," I continued without missing a beat.
"Doona say I didny warn ye." He wrapped an arm around my waist, hoisted me over his shoulder, and carried me into the men's bathroom.