James, of course, was the first to speak up. Little kiss-ass! "I was just telling Layla over here about the importance of sticking to the site plan of the excavation," he obnoxiously chimed, in his patented, gutless fashion, "It's the only proven way to accurately assess the layout and distribution of a site like this."
"Miss Marin?" Dr. Ruiz turned to face Layla, his judgmental gaze instantly cutting her to the quick, "Care to explain your rationale?"
Layla froze again and scrambled to now come up with a plausible response. After all, it wasn't as if she could actually tell either one of them the truth. "I just... this pit seemed to be coming up short, is all. James and I were discussing it. And we were thinking... I was thinking, with the distribution we've come across so far through this and the other test pits in the vicinity... I just thought we might have better luck moving the digging towards this direction."
"Hmm... Strange. I haven't seen anything among the research studies on the prehistoric Hopi, or in any of our findings thus far that could possibly lead you to a conclusion like that," Dr. Ruiz cocked his head as he examined this impulsive grad student, bravely asserting herself before him, in both a condescending and quizzically fashion. As if he was curious to see how far she'd go to prove her point. "What exactly do you have to show me to back any of your claims up?"
Layla fidgeted around a bit more, running her fingers through the straight blonde hair she currently had tied back in a messy ponytail, tucking an errant lock back behind an ear as she did. "Call it... I don't know... intuition?... instinct?" Layla averted her nervous gaze, realizing how stupid this all probably sounded, "Didn't you... wasn't it you, Professor, that was telling us in your lecture that good archaeology is more than just statistics and research. That it's just as much about going off of your instincts, than about doing the thing that makes sense on paper?" Layla could see Dr. Ruiz starting to break into that little secret smirk of his. The one he thought none of his students notice. The one he got when he was on the verge of being genuinely impressed, in spite of himself. Layla continued, "These... These are people we're investigating, right? So, people don't always read academic studies. They don't always follow the expected patterns. Every now and then, in archaeology, you have to make unpredictable choices. Otherwise, you might miss something. Something unique," Layla paused, as her eyes involuntarily fell back to the ground beneath her boots, "something... truly incredible."
Dr. Ruiz's eyebrows raised with newfound interest, "That's a... stirring justification, Miss Marin," Josh looked on from the edge of the pit as well, dumbstruck that Layla was able to actually win him over in any capacity. "Alright, we'll give it a shot. This time. But this is your call, so I expect you to be the one doing the majority of the digging. I'll allow just a one-meter-by-one-meter test pit. That's it. If you come up with nothing, or I think it's taking too long, we go back to the survey layout as planned," the two students watch Dr. Ruiz, as he concluded his instructions, and turned to walk back to oversee the others, before looking back over his shoulder to add one last emphasizing point, "Any resulting delay, Miss Marin, will be on you. I hope your instincts pay off."
Chapter 3
Expect the Unexpected
Layla let out an anxiously held breath, finally allowing herself and her body to relax, now that Dr. Ruiz was once again well out of earshot. Any other person would have been questioning their seemingly reckless judgment right about now. Any other person would have been thinking they just may have made a horrible mistake. Fortunately, Layla had never been just any other person. Never one to retreat from a challenge, stubborn to a fault, and what's more, she was certain that her instincts were so much more than just instincts. And as she dropped back down to her knees, and put a bare hand flat on the dusty soil, Layla coyly smiled to herself again.
There's no doubt about it. It's there.
"Teacher's pet," scoffed James, before going back to his digging in the now exhausted adjacent pit, ignoring his impulsive colleague and her new solo project, "hope you know what you're doing."
Layla stood up, brushing a little dust off her ripped jeans, and paying him little mind. "Don't worry about me," she responded, letting the warmth continue to rise up from beneath and wrap itself around her. She exhaled deeply, allowing her eyes to drift back down to the ground, grinning, "I've got this."
Taking another deep breath, Layla grabbed for a trowel from her pack and made a motion to begin digging. However, despite her confidence, she hesitated, for just a moment, the blade suspended, just above the surface. The lyrics of "Shimmer" by Fuel were now breaking up the silence, as Layla let this one, like the other familiar songs, recenter her, in the wake of the emotions that were even now aggressively pulling at her psyche, tempting her to break her control.
Layla closed her eyes and breathed, long and deeply, attempting to steel herself, and steady her trembling hands. This part was always the hardest and always seemed to make her worry, if just for that one moment. No matter how sure she was. There was still always that one minuscule degree of doubt. That small part of her that still thought, maybe, this time, I really am crazy.
It had been like that, ever since Layla first discovered the ability. Ever since she was just a young girl. She sighed, knowing that this time, at
