Free Curse of the Druids by Aiden James Page B

but it sure as hell beat the alternative of lying on top of one.
    Meanwhile, the Egyptians stealthily approached, guns drawn as they sifted through the corpses on top and kicked the ones on the bottom shelves. They would reach us in under a minute. Too dim to see one another, I held onto Marie, stroking her neck soothingly as she shook from fear. My other hand caressed the handle to my cherished knife, though it wouldn’t save us.
    Our discovery was certain. Likely, our executions by gunfire were, too.
    I worried Ishi would do something foolish, like take the small shovel and pickaxe he held and ambush the closest dude to us, hoping to cut him down and start picking off the rest of this dirty-dozen one by one with his victim’s assault rifle, ala Rambo. But when the guys moved into our area of the crypt, Ishi froze while they prodded the skeletons on the top shelves with their rifle barrels and kicked the remains on all the lower shelves. All the lower shelves, that is, except ours.
    Marie managed to cover the glowing amulet inside her coat, dimming the light quite a bit, though not completely. I braced for our discovery, as did Ishi while Marie closed her eyes tightly. If for some crazy reason the visitors didn’t see the glow, surely their boots would alert them to something softer residing here other than the brittle, rotting bones they had stomped through.
    Several flashlight beams reached us. The amulet began to glow brighter, and I watched in horror as blue rays extended from our hiding place, bathing the men’s legs. Admittedly, I was terrified of being captured, and a tortuous interrogation would be the least horrible of my expectations. Likely an unkind assault would begin with Ishi due to his size. Bullies are often the same, regardless of race and nationality. Ditto for the rapists in the group who would surely have their way with Marie, once the opportunity of getting away Scott-free presented itself.
    As for me? Yassir Ali assuredly associated me with the theft of his gold. My torture might consist of being forced to watch the agonizing deaths of my girl and best friend. Then I’d be taken to Yassir himself, or his chief representative, and face my own torture until these assholes learned the location of the gold. Once my usefulness was over, death would eventually follow….
    But nothing happened. At least nothing bad happened.
    I couldn’t believe my eyes, and neither could Ishi, who gasped in surprise when the men didn’t search our hideout. They ignored it while speaking casually amongst themselves in their indecipherable Arabic tongue. As if the blue light growing stronger by the second was invisible. Same thing for Ishi’s gasp, and the slight squeak that escaped Marie’s lips when she opened her eyes and saw what was taking place.
    Perhaps this was the cloaking aspect of the amulet that Marie mentioned? It seemed fanciful at best, as if we had just stepped into a Harry Potter novel. The pragmatic part of me wanted to ignore my previous dealings with things not naturally explainable. I clung to the rational thought that at any moment these assholes would notice the increasingly bright cobalt glow, which at present continued to inexplicably escape their attention.
    I adhered my trust to that supposition much longer than necessary—long after they finished stuffing their pockets with a variety of priceless items taken from corpses lining both sides of the aisle. I dare say they lifted most of the jeweled relics we had sifted through the day before. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to a little envy; picturing each one of these jerks living out their days in exquisite prosperity from what could’ve just as easily been our loot to divide. Unlike them, I’d leave something extra for a few choice British museums.
    “Frigging greedy mothers,” whispered Ishi.
    I expected that slip alone to get us noticed. But the men remained oblivious to our presence. In hindsight, maybe we should’ve vacated our