Warriors of Poseidon 03 - Atlantis Unleashed

diamond.
    We knew that the emerald we already possess is called the Dragon‟s Egg, and that the ruby is the Nereid‟s Heart. But evidently the aquamarine, amethyst, and tourmaline still missing are called the Siren, the Emperor, and Poseidon‟s Pride, although which is which is anybody‟s guess.”
    “Alaric may know more about the gem names,” Conlan said. “You are correct, of course. All knowledge is power, and now we have more of it. However, we still have no idea of the location of any of the missing gems.”
    “That‟s not exactly true, either,” Keely said. “I know where the Star of Artemis is. Or at least I know where they took it when they left Atlantis.”
    “What?” Conlan and Ven said at the same time.
    “Oh. Sorry. It wasn‟t a typical vision,” she said slowly, trying to be as clear as possible so they would understand. “Usually I‟m an observer to an event that had violent or deeply emotional resonance regarding the object. Sometimes I actually become part of one of the people in the room. It‟s like I inhabit their body as an extra consciousness, if that makes sense.”
    Justice loosened his arms a little so he could lean back and look at her. “Oh, I think I grasp the general concept,” he said dryly.
    She blinked up at him for a moment, then the connection clicked in her frazzled neurons and she laughed. “Does this mean we were made for each other?”
    The humor in his eyes deepened to some darker emotion. “Keely, you have no idea.”
    She forced herself to turn away from the promise—or the threat—in his gaze, faced Conlan and Ven again, and even laughed a little. “You don‟t know how wild it is to actually talk to somebody about this without them trying to lock me up in a rubber room. Anyway, this was different, as I was saying. It was like I was watching an insane version of TV where all the channels were playing at once in HD, three-D, four-D, or supersonic-D.”
    She shoved a hand through her hair, pushing it away from her face. “I saw where all of the gems went, but mostly just in flickers. I didn‟t recognize any of the places, except one. The ruby is in some dark, smelly cave, for example. A really damp place, but there‟s no way for me to know where.”
    Ven and Conlan exchanged glances and then looked at her with growing respect. “Yes, we found the Nereid‟s Heart in a cave under a mountain in Washington state,” Conlan said.
    “The only place I‟m absolutely sure of is where they took the sapphire. The Star of Artemis. I saw the mural on the wall,” she said, remembering the vivid colors in the vision. “I have a print of that mural on the wall in my office. A colleague was involved in the excavation. It‟s the San Bartolo site.”
    From the blank expressions on their faces, she was guessing they didn‟t get the archaeological trade journals down here.
    “San Bartolo,” she repeated, going into lecture mode. “It‟s a pre-Columbian Mayan archaeological site in northeastern Guatemala. It‟s mostly jungle today, but there was a large population during the Maya Preclassic Period. Dr. William Saturno from the Peabody Museum discovered a mural room in the base of the pyramid in 2001. They carbon-dated the murals to 100 B.C., which made them a hugely exciting find. They were the oldest and finest Mayan murals that had been discovered at the time, and—”
    She stopped, midsentence, and gaped at them. “Oh. Oh, that must be it. Your ancestors. The ones who settled all over the world before the Cataclysm. They must be behind some of the world‟s creation mythology. There is always a flood, and—”
    “We know of the creation myths,” Justice said impatiently. “What of San Bartolo and the Star?”
    “The mural. It‟s the Mayan creation myth. They show images of gods, sacrifices, and trees.
    One of the sacrifices is fish, which some believe represent the oceans of the underworld.”
    The smooth weight of the fish carving resting against her chest seemed to warm, but she didn‟t pull it out from under her shirt, just filed the impression away in a corner of her mind and continued. “The one I found very interesting was the maize god. He‟s looking behind him at a kneeling female, while another female figure with flowing black hair floats above the kneeling woman. They—”
    “Anubisa,” Justice gritted out. “She delighted in images of her dominance over the male gods.”
    Keely gasped. “Really? You believe that could be her?