Chapter 6
Artifact
“Oh, dear Lord. This is one ugly ass figurine.”
Brielle glanced up from the box she was inventorying to look over at what her assistant was exclaiming over. This shipment was the first of three boxes sent from the site, and she had been looking forward to diving into them ever since her uncle had told her he’d be shipping them.
“I don’t care what it lookslike,” she told the woman standing on the other side of the table, adding a smile. “This stuff is more valuable than gold, so treat it as such.”
Cassidy nodded. “Oh, I will, but that still doesn’t change the fact that this is one ugly ass statue.”
Holding out a hand, Brielle motioned for her to give it up. “Have you coded it yet?”
“Yeah. Coded and chipped.” The woman carefully made sureshe had a firm grip on it before releasing it.
As she’d first guesstimated, the statuette was about four inches high. It somewhat resembled a woman—pudgy, with pendulous breasts and a slit between the legs that identified it as being female. Unfortunately, the head and facial features were nightmarish. They were grotesque and more animalistic than human, Brielle could see why her assistant calledit ugly.
“It looks like a gargoyle.”
“A what? Gargoyle?”
“Yes. Comes from the French wordgargouille, meaning ‘gargling’.”
Cassidy wrinkled her nose in confusion. “I know what a gargoyle is, but get real. Gargling?”
Laughing, Brielle explained. “Most gargoyles are found perched on top of ancient buildings.”
“Like churches?”
“Usually,” Brielle nodded. “Anything medieval, like a castle,too, may have some. They were used to direct rain off of the roofs, and the sound of the water sluicing through the throat of the statues made very distinct gurgling sounds. Hence the name.”
“Why in the world would anyone want to put such god-awful looking things on a church? I mean, if they wanted a way for the rain to run off, why not have angels or cherubs?”
“Well, believe it or not, gargoyleswere etched to look like this on purpose. They were supposed to be ugly in order to scare away demons.”
Cassidy grimaced again, and Brielle giggled. She started to mention another aspect of the find when the phone rang in the office. Her assistant left to answer it. A moment later a voice called out, “Brielle, it’s for you! It’s Dr.Kelling!”
Brielle rushed for the phone in her office. “UncleChet! Why are you calling my office phone and not my cell?”
“My cell is recharging. I’m at the Ministry of Artifacts in Cairo and wanted to give you a call to see if you’d received the shipment.”
“Three crates were delivered two hours ago. We’re going through them now. Have you found any more specimens like these? These are magnificent!”
A deep chuckle rumbled in her ear. Despite the distance,the connection was strong. “Just wait, Brielle. I just had another four crates shipped to you. Have you managed to unearth the artifact I’d shown you in our last call? It was wrapped separately.”
“In red paper? Yes. The female figurine, right?”
“That’s the one. The female gargoyle. Take special care with it, Brielle. It has a history.”
“They all have a history,” she told him.
“Not like this one, Brielle,” the professor told her. “The moment I showed a picture of it to our two associates here from theMusée, they’ve been bombarding me with warnings.” His voice dropped icily. “They tell me the artifact is a seal.”
“Ooh, a seal?” Climbing into her chair, Brielle crossed her legs at the ankles and concentrated on what the man was about to tell her. “To what? A doorway?”
“The locals call it akalorshai. The way they refer to it is like it’s a seal to a letter.”
“Like those old-timey wax seals used in past centuries?” Brielle remarked.
