hand. He imagined he could feel its power. 'You're sure this will cure Lauren?'
She hesitated for the briefest moment, glanced up the tunnel, then said, 'Yes. So long as you keep it whole until you need to use it, it should retain much of its potency.'
'I'd love to analyse it.'
She smiled guiltily. 'Though my main concern is to fulfil my vow, a few years ago I had a sample analysed blind by a lab in Geneva. I was desperate to be relieved of my responsibility. I wanted them to synthesize it, take the pressure off the garden – and off me.'
'What did they find?'
'The laboratory report claimed it was unusually, but not dangerously, radioactive and contained every key amino acid building block necessary for life – including phosphorus, which was relatively rare. But they found nothing else unusual, certainly no hint of its ability to heal. They replicated it exactly, creating an identical clone of its constituent ingredients, but it had none of the original's power. Whatever spark makes the combined constituent parts heal in the way you've all experienced is beyond their instruments.' She pointed at the crystal in Ross's hand. 'But that should work. Take it home, grind up a good quantity, mix it into a drink and feed it to Lauren. I like it in tea with condensed milk.' She smiled. 'But I have a sweet tooth.'
'You've used this stuff?'
She clutched her crucifix. 'It's been my lifeline. How do you think I've maintained my vigil for so long? So very long.'
Now, looking into her eyes, unguarded for the first time since they'd met, he saw her pain and loneliness laid bare. Suddenly he understood the depth of her dedication to the garden, and the extent of her sacrifice. A tremor ran through him. 'There haven't been any other Keepers before you, have there?' he said.
'No. Only me. I was the novice nun who cared for Orlando Falcon. I was the accomplice who hid his Devil's book. It was I he charged with reclaiming his possessions, including his notebook, and protecting his garden.'
'But why?'
'Why?'
'Why did you help him? Why did you make your vow?'
'Because I fell in love with him. I loved him more than the Church. I loved him more than life.' A small shake of the head. 'I loved him more than the release of death. When he made me vow to protect his garden until someone deciphered his manuscript and proved themselves worthy to take over his legacy, I had no idea how long I would have to wait.' She patted the crucifix. 'He gave me this cross and told me that whenever my burden seemed too great I would always find salvation in it.' She paused, as if lost in thought. 'Before they burnt him at the stake he also made a vow to me.'
'What was it?'
'That he would wait for me.' A small smile played on her lips.
'He said, 'For you I will wait for ever.' ' She pointed out to the garden, to the mound of stones. 'His remains are buried there. I brought his ashes from Rome. One day, soon, I hope, our waiting will be over and we will be reunited.'
'You were there when he died?'
She looked away. 'I watched.'
He studied her once beautiful face. 'You've lived for more than four and a half centuries?'
'I've existed for that long, yes. It hasn't always felt like living.'
'But that's impossible!' he gasped.
She laughed. It was a humourless sound. 'Feel your healed wrist. Look at the crystal in your hand. Then tell me it's impossible.'
'But how did you live? How did you support yourself for so long?'
'Father Orlando came from a wealthy Castilian family. When he died he left me a sizeable amount, which kept me going for some years. Then I stumbled on the lost city and its gold, some of which I invested – over a long period of time. Money is the least of my worries.'
He remembered that some of the gold ingots in the ziggurat had been missing. 'But what about the authorities, your passport, your identity?'
'Remaining a nun has helped. Sister Chantal is a given official name. My Catholic order bestowed it on me when I was seventeen. I chose to keep it and over the long years it's now become who I am. But throughout my life I've had numerous legal identities – all borrowed from children I treated in hospices. When they died, their names lived on in me. I've held various passports, French, Italian, British – but not yet American.' A smile. 'Your country's still young – only half as old as I am.'
He remembered the six dates scratched on El Halo, each about seventy years apart. 'You returned here at regular intervals, to refresh yourself and replenish your supplies, before assuming another identity, another life, in a different part of the world.'
She nodded. 'I aged so slowly that I had to keep moving to avoid drawing attention to myself. So far, I think I've already lived six life spans, six three score years and ten. As well as checking on the garden, I returned here to replenish my supplies of the crystal so I could continue my vigil. As I said, the crystals slow my ageing but they can't reverse it. I sometimes wonder if I'd stayed here the whole time whether I would have stopped ageing and stayed for ever young. But I needed to be in the world to do my duty and fulfil my vow. I had to keep track of Father Orlando's manuscript – as it travelled across Europe, returned to Italy and finally ended up in America – to discover if anyone had deciphered it. And, for my own sanity, I had to do good in the real world.'
She patted Ross's arm. 'Anyway, I'm now in my seventh lifespan. The last, I hope. I've done all I can. You have the means to cure your wife. Once you've done so, I can pass on my burden to her. My vow will have been fulfilled. We both have what we wanted. We should leave tomorrow.'
'Tomorrow?'
She tapped the crystal in Ross's hand. 'We need to get this to your wife as soon as possible.'
'You're sure it'll cure her?'
Again she hesitated and looked back at the glowing tunnel. 'I'm as sure as I can be. Over the years, apart from two recent exceptions, I've only used its powers to slow my ageing and restore my health, but I'm confident it will cure your wife. The last few granules I gave her had an effect.'
'It was negligible.'
She frowned. 'Have faith, Ross. This crystal will be enough.' She pointed to the tunnel. 'The only way to guarantee a cure would be to take a sample of the source itself, which Father Orlando believed had limitless power. But getting to it is impossible.'
'Father Orlando went up and survived.'
'I don't know how, though. Anyway, it's irrelevant. What you're holding will be enough to save Lauren and your unborn child. Come, Ross,' she said, leading him back into the light of the garden. 'Let's return to the others and tell them we're leaving.'
As Ross clasped the crystal he knew he should feel grateful. But as his eyes strayed back to the tunnel, doubt nagged at him.
54
That night Hackett shook his head at Sister Chantal. 'Do you know how many expeditions the big pharmaceutical companies have sent into the jungles of the world, looking for plants with healing properties? Hundreds. Thousands. They've found a few things but never a real breakthrough. Nothing like this. This place is incredible. It's got everything. It's a comprehensive medicine cabinet. It's our duty to share it with the world.'
Sister Chantal shook her head. 'Nothing living here can survive outside. The water and the plants are useless. More importantly, you all made a vow before you came. You promised never to speak of this place or to take anything from it.'
'But it's too amazing to be kept secret.'
'You made a vow and vows must be kept.'
'And I'll keep it. It's just that as a doctor-' Sister Chantal's passion flared. 'You can't equivocate with a vow.
