Sacrifice In Stone Read Online Free Page B

loss.
    Licking her reddened lips, she blinked up
at him. “Yes, you’re right.” She scrambled to her feet. “Let’s get out of here.
We can go back to my hotel.” Mara took hold of Garrick’s arm and pulled him
toward the exit.
    At the front door, Garrick stopped
abruptly.
    “What is it?” she asked. Her eyes
searched his for the answer he was afraid to give.
    “There’s an alarm sensor at the front
door but it’s okay.” She tugged at him again, but he was immovable. “We can be
long gone before the cops arrive.”
    “I do not know what these cops are of
which you speak but ’tis not worry for them that halts me.”
    “Then what?”
    “I fear I cannot leave this place. The
magic keeps me here.”
    “I don’t understand. You’re alive. You’re
completely flesh and blood. You’re free.”
    Garrick stared at the floor. “I don’t
think so, my lady. Somehow the slab holds me. I believe my freedom from the
statue is but for a short time.”
    “Fuck.”
    “This is a word I know but I do not think
you use it as did the soldiers of my regiment. If you mean it as an oath, then
yes, I agree we have fuck.”

Chapter Three

 
    Mara knew the answer to their dilemma
must be in the Transfero Vita . They
retreated to the director’s office where there were no exterior windows to draw
the attention of the outside world. Garrick sat at the desk, studying the
journal with Mara gazing over his shoulder.
    “There must be something in these
passages I couldn’t translate,” Mara said. “Some way to make your freedom
permanent.”
    “These sections are written in Welsh,”
Garrick said absently. “My mother’s family came from Wales. I think perhaps I
will be able to read them given time.”
    How much time did they have? Mara rounded
on one heel and made two strides toward the opposite side of the room before
the sudden movement caused lightheadedness. She stopped and teetered on the
heels of her sandals. “Whoa,” she said, stumbling to the leather sofa, which
lined one wall.
    Garrick leapt up from the desk chair and
made his way to her side. “Are you all right?” His devouring eyes searched her
face as he grasped her hand.
    “Yes.” She tried to reassure him with a
smile but she suspected it wavered. “Yes, I’m fine. Just a little dizzy for a
second.”
    “Perhaps something to eat would be of
aid.”
    She hadn’t thought to bring food with
her. She’d assumed they would be able to get out of the museum. Scouring the
room, she spotted a small fridge in a niche beneath the built-in bookshelves.
“If I’m lucky there’s something to eat in there.” Nodding, she pointed toward
it.
    Garrick crossed to the fridge and crouched
in front of it. He examined the door and its handle with interest. “This is a
peculiar cabinet.” Rapping his knuckles against the fridge’s surface, his brows
converged. “It is fashioned of some kind of metal.”
    Mara smiled. “Yes. Stainless steel.”
    Garrick pulled open the door. The rubber
seal loosened with a pop and the door swung wide. “The cabinet holds cold air.”
He glanced back at Mara. “Is this magic?”
    “No. It’s electricity,” Mara said with a
chuckle. When she’d switched on the desk lamp upon entering the office a short
time before, Garrick had beamed with surprise, leading her to explain about the
concept of electricity. Wait until he discovered the wonders of indoor
plumbing.
    “Ah. More electricity. This one makes the
cabinet cold instead of the room illuminated.” Shaking his head, he muttered,
“I have much to learn.”
    Mara’s smile slipped from her face. She
only hoped that he would have time to learn everything about this new world in
which he found himself.
    “Speaking of that, I should probably explain
that the f bomb—fuck or fucking—isn’t such a nice word to say in
public. I shouldn’t have said it before.” Mara knew her face must be burning
with the rush of blood to her cheeks. She hadn’t really thought this