Page 21 of Dark Voyage Matters of the Mind

Kalugal frowned. "That's not a bad idea, Yamanu, but I don't want you to miss out on the fun. Save it for now, and if needed, employ it later. Sounds good?"

The Guardian nodded. "You are right. I'd rather keep an eye on Mey."

His mate scoffed. "I can take care of myself."

"I know you can." He wrapped his arm around her. "But we came here to have fun together." He flashed her a bright smile. "Who knows? Maybe we will find the amulet after all?"

She laughed. "If we find anything, it will be a fake that Kalugal planted in the ruins beforehand."

"Hey!" Kalugal affected an offended tone. "When would I have done that? We arrived here together."

With a hand on her hip, she struck a pose. "You could have sent Luis or someone else to bury it somewhere, and you could have done it days in advance."

The immortal smirked. "Perhaps I did, and perhaps I did not." He scanned the faces of everyone gathered around him. "We have two hours to find the treasure. Let the hunt begin."

Kalugal

"Once we find the entrance to the underground, I will need volunteers to stay behind and guard it." Max looked at Yamanu and Arwel. "I assume the two of you want to escort your mates on the hunt."

"Correct." Arwel nodded. "I don't sense anything threatening in the vicinity, but things can change in a heartbeat, so it's a good idea to leave a couple of Guardians on watch duty."

"I'll stay," Sheldon said. "Unlike most immortals, I don't like being underground."

"I'll stay too," Eric volunteered. "I came along for the zip line, not the ruins and a fake treasure hunt."

After two more Guardians joined the sentinels, Kalugal was happy with those who were left. Nine Guardians, including Yamanu and Arwel, two gods with unknown abilities, one three-quarters god with formidable compulsion power, and Rufsur were more than enough to safeguard the ladies in the underground portion of the hunt. Then there was Vlad, who was half Kra-ell and rumored to be incredibly strong. He didn't have any training, but sometimes brute force was more important than skill. Kalugal still remembered quite vividly what had happened at the excavation site in China. The underground passage had been booby trapped, and if not for the Odus, they would have had a much more difficult time with the rescue.

Then again, they might not need any of that if they didn't find the entrance to the underground, or if it didn't exist at all.

The crook who had sold him the thing had been convinced that the map was an authentic artifact, and the parchment was the right age to support his claim, but Kalugal had gone on enough treasure hunts to know not to expect anything other than some excitement and entertainment.

It was also possible the amulet had been a legend of the Yope, and someone a long time ago had decided to draw a treasure map either to preserve the story or to sell to some long-dead patsy.

The original map was in a safe back in his home, and Kalugal unfolded the copy to remind himself of the directions.

"Follow me, people." He walked over to a section that was in disrepair and marked with a 'do not enter' sign.

He threw a leg over the rope and then offered his hand to Jacki to help her do the same, even though she didn't need his help.

"Please, be careful." He turned to the group following him. "We don't want anyone to break anything."

Negal looked up from his copy of the map and frowned. "That doesn't look anything like what's on the paper. Are you sure you know where you're going?"

"I'm sure." Kalugal smiled indulgently. "Don't forget that the map was drawn when these buildings still stood in all of their glory. It takes the eye of an archeologist to imagine what was from what is."

Negal nodded. "You're the expert."

"That's right." Kalugal held on to Jacki's hand as he led her and the rest of their group toward a section of the wall that had caught his eye. "Do you see how precisely the stones are aligned?"

She nodded. "Maybe it's a more contemporary section of the structure. The stones look less worn, and the carvings are clearer."

"That they are." He grinned as he ran his hand over several of the symbols. "What we are looking at is an ancient locking mechanism." He moved aside so the others could see. "If you look at your maps, you will notice a sequence of symbols next to what is marked as a doorway. Compare it to what's on this wall."

"I see it," Jin said. "What do they say?"

"I don't know," Kalugal admitted. "I don't think it matters. What matters is pressing them in the right sequence."

He looked at the symbols on the map before finding their equivalent on the wall and pressing them in the order indicated. When he pressed the last one, and nothing happened, his heart sank with disappointment, but then a low rumble started, a cloud of dust flew into his eyes, and as he blinked it away, a section of the wall receded and shifted to reveal a passageway.

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