“Well, Andreas has been studying the Minotaur for many years, trying to solve this very same mystery of whether the eye existed and if so, what happened to it, on behalf of our family. I could connect you if you’d like.”
“You would do that?” Theo asked. “Not to discourage you, but why? We’re complete strangers.”
“Because, for centuries, people have forgotten this legacy of Demetrios. The mythologies omit the eye, like a concerted attempt to conceal history. I want to know why that is. Perhaps you will see something in the manuscripts that others have missed. That, and…”
She let her voice trail off and turned her head, staring out the window.
“And what?” Theo asked.
Lydia remained still and quiet for a few moments before blowing out a breath and facing them again. “And there are people who’ve discounted Demetrios’s connection to my family. That is why I was so suspicious of you when you first started asking questions about our history. So I want to know whether there is anytruth to my family’s lineage, or whether we are carrying this emblem for no reason, and you’re the first people inmyentire lifetime who have come here searching for the answers. Besides…I like you. You remind me of someone from my past,” she said, squinting her eyes at him as if trying place the familiarity.
Theo’s head ticked to the side, clearly wondering whom she could be referring to. From what Dani knew, his family came from the mainland, not Crete.
But maybe it could explain how Theo’s papou came about owning the necklace.
“You could work with Andreas to find the eye,” Lydia continued, moving past her prior comment, “or, as you said, learn what was truth and what was fiction. Don’t you ever want to know the truth? Don’t you ever simply want an answer? To find out who you are?”
Her explanation was clear enough, and after spending the last sixteen years being unsure who she was anymore, it was one Dani could understand wholeheartedly.
“I don’t know if—” Theo started, but Dani put her hand on his forearm.
“Then we will do our best to help you find that answer,” Dani said. “We would love to be in touch with Andreas.”
“Perfect. I will call him right now,” she said, getting out of her chair and shuffling into the other room.
The moment she was out of earshot, Theo turned to Dani and said, “We can’t work with them.”
“We havefourdays, Theo. Sorry, but this seems our best bet at the moment, so unless you have any other ideas…” She let her voice trail off.
“But we can’t involve these innocent people,” Theo said under his breath.
“Why not?”
“Because no more people,” Maurice snapped, tearing their attention over to him. Dani was shocked by how easy it was for her to forget other people were around when she was with Theo.
“Maurice is right,” Theo said. “Besides, they want to know about their family history. Vautour wants to take it from them. If we find out the eye is real and by some luck manage to get our hands on it, he’s not going to let them keep it.”
“Precisely,” Maurice said.
“You’re both getting way too ahead of yourselves, here,” Dani said, putting her hands up between them as if trying to calm them down. “We don’t need to figure that out yet. For now, we need to find as much information as possible about whether the eye existed and what happened to it. What happens if and when we find it is a problem for solving later. And I’m sorry, but we don’t haveanyother leads. Andreas getting us access to that journal is our best bet.”
Maurice scratched his chin. “Maybe she’s right. We see what Andreas has and then we ditch him.”
“No,” Theo said, grabbing her by the shoulders and turning her body to face him. “I don’t think you understand who we’re dealing with here, Juicy. Pierre Vautour is not someone who should be messed with. Some of the things he’s done—”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t tell me,” she said, putting up her hand to stop him. “It’s easier being foolish when you don’t have all the facts to realize how foolish you’re being.”
Theo laughed incredulously. She hadn’t been trying to be funny.
“Why are you laughing?” she asked, scowling.
“Oh, nothing. No wonder my mom always said you werereckless. I’m thinking of all the times you went into situations half-cocked, and now it all makes sense.”
Reckless? Dani’s blood started boiling. Is that what his family really thought of her? That she wasreckless, going into things willy-nilly?
She opened her mouth to protest, when Lydia reentered the room and settled back into her seat, setting a phone on the table beside her.
“I’ve spoken with Andreas. Would you be able to meet at the ferry terminal tomorrow?”
