Qian’s smile spread wider, and something sparked in his eyes that made my stomach swoop. I hadn’t meant to say it like that…or had I? Talking with Qian had become so natural. I looked at him—reallylooked at him—and it was then that I realized howgood I felt when he looked back at me.Sawme. I felt wanted, and it surprised me just how much I’d missed that feeling.
But when bright sunlight cut across our faces, our gazes on each other broke.
We had unknowingly come upon a low stone wall surrounding a large clearing in the hillside. Hundreds of stone slabs jutted out of the soft grass, the older ones covered in moss and vines the farther into the clearing they went.
“It’s a graveyard,” I said, taken aback by the scene at first, but then I recognized the insignias on some of the grave markers. “It’s the final resting place of some of my ancestors.”
“It’s certainly a beautiful place to be laid to rest,” Qian said, eyes on the jungle surrounding us. Everything was lush and green and full of life. It wasn’t creepy, like I would have otherwise expected.
At the very center of the graveyard was a stone mausoleum. It was one of the oldest buildings in the graveyard. It looked like it had been consumed by the jungle itself. But the symbol above the door made me pause.
I recognized it, even if it was worn down by the elements and faded.
It was a triangle. Just like on the cover of the missing Princess Yara Liliana’s archive.
“What is it?” Qian asked. He’d noticed I was staring. “Is everything okay?”
I wasn’t quite sure. My body hummed with familiarity. Something tugged behind my sternum, drawing me forward. I approached the closed door and pressed my hand to the stone, wiping away thedirt and moss that had gathered there. But then I realized it wasn’t just a triangle. It was a delta.
Recognition resonated deep inside me, down to the marrow of my bones. In math and science, delta was the symbol for change.
“I have to check something,” I said.
Qian didn’t stop me as I pushed open the door, crossed the threshold, and entered the mausoleum.
The first thing I noticed was the smell. The air was distinctly thick and musty, like laundry left in the machine too long, and it took a second for my eyes to adjust to the dim light. It pooled through holes in the mausoleum’s roof, casting pillars of light down from above and throwing the rest of the room into shadow.
Qian followed me, moving quietly, perhaps reverently, because in the very center of the room was a stone sarcophagus. Lying atop the lid was a stone carving of a woman, her hands resting on her stomach, holding a crown. Her face was carved with such precision, her delicate features so lifelike that I almost wondered if she would sit up and talk to me.
“Looking for something in particular?” Qian asked.
“Does she look familiar to you?” I asked, still staring at the woman’s face.
“I don’t think so. Do you know her?”
“From somewhere…” Then it hit me. I’d seen her face when we first arrived. “That’s the lady of the mountain.”
Qian’s eyes widened when he realized I was right. She looked exactly like the statue from the fountain in the great house. “It’s probably a coincidence.”
I wasn’t so sure about that.
The tomb had been long forgotten. No one had visited this place in centuries. Cracks in the sarcophagus had spread like spiderwebs along its base; one created a hole big enough I could see inside. A name had been carved in the stone.
Yara Liliana.
It was the missing princess. I’d found her after all. I almost couldn’t believe it. Gani had mentioned that the future wasn’t set in stone, but I couldn’t help but wonder if I was supposed to be here right now. As if…Iwas meant to find her.
The hair on the back of my neck stood on end when a breeze cut through the mausoleum. I rubbed my arms, stamping out the chill, and my eyes set on the statue’s face. She looked barely older than me.What happened to her?I wondered.What was she doing here?
Something wasn’t right. None of this made sense. Why hadn’t the historians recorded her death? Why was she hidden away in the mountains? Why had they erased her from the history books? Why was she buried in the middle of the jungle, never to be spoken of again? I had to see for myself.
I put my hands on the lid of the sarcophagus. “Help me,” I told Qian.
“I didn’t take you for a grave robber.”
“Just help me, please.”
Qian didn’t protest again. Together, he and I shifted the lid ever so slightly, letting the sunlight pour into the casket.
