Lily glanced around with a pensive expression on her face.
“Anything?
Lily shook her head. “No.”
“That could be good.”
“I’m… No. I just don’t think my power is working right now.” Lily sighed.
“Don’t worry about it. You’re doing fine.”
Lily nodded, a slight smile returning.
Shay shrugged and walked back over to the squat moving truck. She strapped on the sword belt containing the tachi. “Don’t have a magic sword for you, and I don’t want you trying to take on invisible swordsmen with a knife, so just stay close to me if anything happens.”
“Okay.”
The tomb raider moved to the cargo door and opened the back hatch. She grabbed a few crowbars and extended a ramp from the back to the ground then pulled the hand truck out. It dropped to the ground with a thud.
Shay pointed inside. “Got rope and a few other things to play with to get the coffin onto the hand truck. We might wish James was here when we have to move the coffin, but once we get it on the hand truck we’re golden.” She snorted. “No pun intended.”
“I’d help you move it if I were there,” Peyton commented over the line.
“Yes, the pure muscle that is Peyton.” Shay chuckled. “Anyway, we’re gonna to need to hear these guys, so we’re gonna remove our receivers now. Okay, Peyton?”
“If you’re sure.”
“We can’t be distracted. Talk to you after we grab the coffin.” Shay pulled her earbud out.
Lily did the same. “What are we going to do with a golden coffin? Isn’t that kind of obvious?”
“After we grab it, we drive to a private airstrip. The Professor’s sending some guys who’ll take it back. We’ll head to London so we can take a supersonic back. Easy shit.”
The teen laughed. “But I wanted to see you try and take a golden coffin through Customs. The looks on their faces alone would be worth it.”
“That kind of thing is easier than you think.” Shay winked.
“Bringing strange coffins through airports?”
Shay shrugged. “Yep. Or strange artifacts. I smuggle a lot of things because it’s too risky to get noticed by other tomb raiders and that sort of thing, but I’m not as worried about some Customs agent. It’s the weapons, more than the strange artifacts, that are the problem.”
Their cargo-loading preparations complete, Shay eyed the thirteen rocks.
Too bad that magic didn’t last but the damned soldiers stayed around.
Shay drew her sword. “From here on out, don’t speak or make noise if you can avoid it. I don’t know when the army will show up, but my guess we won’t have much time after we open the crypt.”
Lily nodded.
The tomb raider took a few careful steps past the rune stones.
The sound of metal scraping against wood filled the air.
Shay narrowed her eyes and looked at Lily, who shook her head and shrugged.
The same sound came again, this time from a different direction.
“They’re drawing swords,” Shay whispered, tightening her grip on the hilt of her tachi.
Lily lifted her father’s artifact and bit her lip, but her panicked expression made it clear it wasn’t working.
She didn’t use it last time we went on a mission. Wonder if she was trying to see if she didn’t need to rely on it? Just like I worried about relying on James. Doesn’t matter, though. Seems like it’s not working.
I gambled and lost. Not her fault.
“Stay close,” Shay whispered.
Lily nodded.
A light wind kicked up. The tomb raider’s head swiveled back and forth. She looked for any signs of depressions in the grass and dirt, but there was nothing.
Completely fucking invisible. Sure. Yeah. Perfect.
Shay took a deep breath and slowly let it out. She could do this. She’d fought people in the dark when she was a killer. The only difference was that it was broad daylight, and she still couldn’t see them. A little unnerving, but the principles remained the same.
Clear my mind and listen.
More draws followed, some closer than others. Adding in the original sounds, Shay counted forty enemies.
Forty invisible ghost soldiers. Yeah. This is fun. Very fun. Clear my mind. Clear my mind.
A soft moan reached her ears from her left.
Shay spun and slashed with the tachi. The sword slammed into something. A bright blue flash outlined a man’s form before he collapsed into a pile of white ash.
Okay, thirty-nine to go. Hurray, me.
Shay listened for more moans and the scuff of boots. She spun to her right, and the ring of metal on metal sounded even though her sword appeared to have hit nothing but air. She hissed and pulled back slashing low then up.
Another ghostly soldier appeared, only to dissolve into white ash.
Thirty-eight.
The wind blowing behind Shay sounded slightly off. She spun, shoved Lily out of the way, and raised her sword just in time to block the blow from an invisible blade.
Lily scrambled behind Shay as the tomb raider stepped back and slashed to her side at the scuff of boots. Her blade separated the spectral form’s head from his body before he dissolved into white ash that was blown away by the wind.
Thirty-seven.
The wind carried the sound of several more swords being drawn.
Well, shit. Maybe if I threw some dust? No, the ash is blowing straight into the wind. There’s nothing I’m going to be able to do to make them visible. Clear my mind and listen. I can do this.
Shay spun toward a hiss, bringing her sword up just in time to knock a hidden blade away from her heart. She gritted her teeth as the sword sliced through her shirt sleeve, cutting her bicep. Ignoring her wound, she stabbed straight forward and made another pile of ash.
Her arm throbbed, and blood welled up from the wound.
Okay, he nicked me, but we’re down to thirty-six.
Shay shifted the sword to one hand and made three quick throws with her adamantine knives. Three blue flashes highlighted the cursed soldiers before they
