Page 34 of The Redd Key (Bone Coven #1)

T he midnight sky flooded all of my senses—the inky black veil was perforated with specks of white starlight. My lungs expelled rivers of sediment, and the air felt like talons on my esophagus. How many times could a person drown before it causes irreversible damage? Chaos thrashed around me and flashes of light dazzled my eyes. I realized I was still on the sandbar, still half immersed in the rising tide. A face burned into my retinas.

Cole?

He was here, tearing another person off of me, as I crawled to brace myself on the side of the dinghy, fighting against the waist deep water. Fire plumed from the other figure in an attack on Cole. My hand still clutched the heavy rock that I tore from the cavity in the wreck. I inhaled a painful breath as I steadied myself onto my feet. Cole’s eyes met mine as he purposely turned my attacker so their back was toward me. With every ounce of force I could gather, I slammed the rock onto their head. Their frame crumbled off of the sand bar and into the sea as I collapsed back onto the side of the barely exposed boat.

“Raina,” Cole murmured, lifting me to his chest. “We have to get out of here.” His accent was more prominent than ever. Was it British? It was still too faint to accurately tell where his accent came from. I tried to stand, only to stumble back into his arms. “Hold on.” He threw my arms around his neck, sliding me onto his back. I felt like a small child as he carried me back to the shoreline.

“What the hell happened out there,” Bridget yelled, running into the water to meet us.

“We heard the screaming, but you were too far out to see. Oh, my god, Raina!” Sarah shrieked, seeing the damage done to me.

“What the hell are you even doing here?” Bridget scowled at Cole. However misdirected, she had a point.

“Wha-what are you doing here?” I groaned. My head and lungs were as wrecked as the ship’s boat. Cole remained silent. He quickly scaled a part of the bluffs we hadn’t seen earlier. They were eroded in the form of rough steps. He didn’t put me down until we were next to his truck about a half-mile away at the pull-off where we parked. Sarah and Bridget trailed behind us.

“Who was that person?” I asked him. Again, he stayed quiet. He propped me against the side of his truck.

“Who was who?” Bridget crossed her arms. Whether she wanted to fight the mystery person or Cole, I wasn’t sure. “And what the hell happened? Why are you here? How’d you know where Raina was?” Bridget wasn’t going to cease her inquisition. Sarah came to my side and put my arm over her shoulder, stabilizing me.

Cole stared between the three of us, his features set in hard lines. “I don’t know who that was.” He locked onto me, “but they’re gone now.” He opened the door of his truck and got in, just before saying, “I heard Raina asking for help.”

“I was miles away from you,” I said, my voice raw.

“I know.” He started the engine. His grey eyes held my gaze for just a heartbeat before he drove away, leaving the three of us standing, soaking wet and shivering.

“What the actual—,” Sarah threw her hands in the air at how cryptic the man was. I watched as his truck disappeared.

“What happened? Did you find anything?” Bridget probed, bringing my attention back. I was still clutching the jagged rock, surprised to feel the weight of it in my hand.

“Oh!” I said, “I pulled this lifesaver out of the boat…,” I gestured to the mass of rock and metal in one hand and took out the ruby from my pocket with the other, “...and this.”

“You found the wreck? The ruby? Did you use the key?” Sarah rattled on with questions in quick succession, and I nodded, regretting the movement. Bridget pulled a keyfob from her pocket and started her car.

“It’s some sort of concretion, and looks like a—.” Bridget inspected it more closely as I held it in front of the car’s headlight.

“A grenade,” I said. I examined the stone shard more closely as we got into the vehicle, completely forgetting about the cold.

“What is a concretion? And what sort of grenade is that?” Sarah looked at us nervously.

“It’s basically rock that’s formed around an object after ages of sediment buildup around it.” Bridget said.

“It looks like it's from the 18th century, when grenades were similar to cannonballs or roundshots, but they were hollow and would be filled with shrapnel and gunpowder before they were lit. This one is cracked and water has spent centuries inside of it; it’s harmless.” I smiled at the look on their bewildered faces. I shrugged, “I studied archaeology for a reason.”

“You must be geeking out right now,” Sarah softly laughed as Bridget pulled away from the bluffs. As we drove off, I scanned the sea, looking for any sign of the person that tried to drown me. I had an inkling the weren’t really gone. The cold seeped into my bones, even with the heater blasting in Bridget’s car.

“We have to figure out a way to protect ourselves while we’re hunting for clues,” Bridget stressed. Her voice could barely be heard over the warm air being pumped through the interior. “For real.” She glanced over her shoulder at Sarah and me. “Yes, playing magical-detective is exciting, but Raina, you nearly drowned because of that person. This isn’t the first time we’ve been attacked, with you nearly dying, and they’re becoming bolder with each threat. So, what the fuck are we even doing?” Her voice pitched up at the last, filled with emotion, fear.

“I’m sorry,” I said quietly. “I shouldn’t have pulled the two of you into this.” I looked at Bridget and Sarah, sincere in my words. “This is not what I wanted. I really thought I could help end this. Maybe,” I choked back a lump that rose in my throat, “Anabel was right. Maybe some things are better left buried.”

“Please, both of you stop.” Sarah leaned forward. “Stop this now. We might not have known how all of this was going to play out, but nothing was going to stop us from discovering our Aecor.” She placed a hand on my shoulder. “Sorry, Raina, but whether we had met you or not, Bridget and I were well on our way to fuck around and find out when it came to our family’s magic, despite Anabel’s annoyingly frequent warnings.” Bridget snorted in response. “We might have been targeted even if you didn’t move here.” She sat back in the seat. “But you know what?” She paused, comprising the right words. “Because you are here, we are whole. The three of us are something exceptional, and that makes all of this worth it. So, let’s figure out how to take this Asshat out.” With that, we laughed, even Bridget.

Maritime mist rolled in during the early hours and lingered through late morning, thereafter dissipating into the heavy grey clouds which blanketed the island. The air became less heavy, a bit crisp, and the scent of snow replaced the salty redolence. While walking to the Brew House and back, with a latte in hand, my head had been on a swivel. Not only was I looking for Cole, who I knew wouldn’t be anywhere near Peak Drive, I was looking for any sign of the person who had tried to drown me. Also, I wasn’t sure what I’d do if I saw Griffin, or even Agatha. As soon as I got back into my apartment, I swore off ever leaving its confines ever again.

Beneath the bed, Ferran’s chartreuse eyes glowed as they watched me wear out the tread of the area rug in my apartment. I held my phone in my hand, weighing the decision of calling Nathan or not. If anyone could help me verify the grenade, it was him. As if my life wasn’t complicated enough, I must be a masochist , I thought to myself as I sent him a picture of the artifact with the text “Found this, need your professional insight.” Once the message was delivered, I watched as the text bubble popped up a few times, before he finally replied.

Nathan:

Where did you uncover something like that?

Found it off shore.

Nathan:

That’s a grenade.

I can see that.

Nathan:

Does it sound like there is anything inside of it?

You want me to shake a grenade?

Although I knew the artifact had been locked away in the hull of a ship’s boat, underwater for three hundred years, I still wasn’t feeling too comfortable with the idea of literally shaking a grenade. It was the principle of the matter.

Nathan:

It doesn’t have any mechanisms in it.

How would you know?

Nathan:

Trust me. Or don’t. Get it X-rayed.

Where would I get an artifact like this x-rayed? I felt like something as old as the concretion needed to be in the hands of a museum somewhere, not in the hands of a college dropout like me. I called Bridget who answered on the first ring.

“Are you ok?” she all but yelled into the phone.

“Yes, but I need a favor.”

“What’s up?”

“Are you at work today? Do you have an x-ray machine there?” I asked.

“Um, yes. Why?” she hesitated.

“I need to get images of the concretion. I’ll need digital files to send back to,” I paused before saying, “Nathan.”

“Oh,” she said. “I didn’t know you were still talking to him.”

“I’m not talking to him. Not like that.” I heard her laugh.

“Just messing with you. We’re done at four tonight, come then. I have to go.” She hung up as I heard a bunch of dogs barking.

I sent Nathan a message about the scheduled x-ray, letting him know to look out for the email containing the file later. The afternoon hours dragged on, and even though I hadn’t slept in over twenty-four hours, since the shipwreck dream, I was wide awake. Hope swelled in me at a dangerous level as I held the heavy concretion in my hand. Rocks and shells stuck out of the embedded sediment, and only small bits of the grenade were visible, but there was no mistaking what it was. If anything, we found it at the wreck, and that has to mean something.

As the afternoon hours crept on, the sun sank lower in the sky as I fruitlessly studied the artifact. At ten-to-four, I packed everything away in my backpack. Peak Drive was empty as I made my way to the vet office, holding my bag up with two hands, pulling the straps at my shoulders. With the concretion inside, it was quite heavy. Bridget held the office door open, looking up and down the street like we were about to make a drug deal.

“We have to be quick,” she said.

“I’m not doing anything illegal,” I laughed nervously.

“No, of course not,” Bridget said as she led us back to an exam room. No one else was in the office. She worked quickly getting everything prepared as she added a thumb drive to the x-ray machine’s network. “I am saving all the images directly onto this.” She pointed to the mounted usb device. “You can look at it all once you’re home. Come with me,” she said after she lined the machine up with the concretion. I waited in the hallway as she captured the x-ray images, repositioning the concretion to capture all angles. Once the computer loaded all the images onto the flash drive, Bridget ejected it and quickly handed it to me.

“Now, I don’t mean to rush you, but g-t-f-o so I can close,” Bridget gave me a quick smile as she pushed me out of the front doors, locking them behind me. I laughed at how fast she moved inside the glass windows, rolling the mop bucket out of the closet.

My skin tingled as a wave of awareness poured over me. I was being watched. Tightening the strap of my backpack over my shoulder, I looked up and down Peak Drive to see whose gaze locked onto me. It was Griffin. He was a couple blocks up the road and his face was unreadable. We hadn’t spoken since he brought me back home after the fire even though he said he was going to check in on me. I almost took a step in his direction, but the weight of my bag reminded me I had work to do.

As I turned toward my apartment and began to walk, I shot a quick glance over my shoulder at the spot where Griffin was standing. However, he was gone. His sudden disappearance sent my mind spiraling. Did I care about him? Yes. How much? More than I wanted to admit. Though, would I be able to basically save the world and navigate a new relationship at the same time? Probably not.

Everything suddenly became overwhelming. Less than six months ago, I was leading a mundane, content life, and now? But it all shifted. Since my mother’s death, life became harshly real…yet thrilling. But the thrill was suffocating, like being trapped in the wet sand as the tide rises. I hurried away, eager to get back and hide in my cave of a home.

Throwing open my apartment door, I made sure to lock it behind me before I jammed the thumb drive into my laptop which sat open and waiting on the table. Attaching the files to an email, I typed the address and hit “Send”. I pulled out my phone and shot a quick message to Nathan:

You should have the files.

Without waiting for a reply, I opened the same files that I sent Nathan. My heart raced as the first image loaded, and a pang of regret formed in my stomach. I really missed school, but it just wasn’t something I could bring myself to do after my mother’s death. I would have gone on a dig next semester if I were still enrolled. As the image finally fully appeared, the thought faded away.

I stared a the scans before me, zooming in on the details. There was something inside the cracked iron shell. Something veiled. Where metals like iron would glow white in the image, this area appeared oval and black, clearly not the negative space in the image, but an unnaturally clean shape that should be visible and wasn’t. The buzzing of my phone made me jump.

“Fuck,” I breathed. It was a video call—with Nathan. I swiped to answer.

“What the fuck is that?” he asked me, leaving me momentarily breathless. He wore a light grey hoodie, and his hair was, for once, not perfectly combed. Judging by his appearance, he had just finished working out. I blinked and cleared my throat.

“I-I have no idea, the images just downloaded for me.” I shook my head and reached into my backpack. Pulling out the heavy concretion, I placed the artifact on the table beside my laptop.

“Do you have your tools?” I nodded through the video call. “Good,” he continued. “Get them, and I will help you clear off what you can. Do you see that splice to the right of the iron shell?” I nodded again, as if all ability to speak escaped me. He looked so pretty . “We’re going to focus on releasing the sediment from that point. Then you should get a visual on what’s inside.”

Beneath my apartment lay my collection of artifacts, mostly from estate sales. I hurried down to the garage, where I stored all of my treasures, and grabbed my tool set. I rolled out the canvas pouch onto my table. Inside it were brushes, picks, and chisels of various sizes, ranging from the smallest surface bristles to broader instruments. Thankfully, my hands were steady as I handled them for the first time since before my mother’s passing. With Nathan guiding me, I worked on the concretion surrounding the shell of the iron grenade.

“I see something,” I intoned.

“What did you say?” Nathan jutted his chin.

“I said, I see something,” I reiterated, as nestled within the narrow stone opening was a delicate, silvery shimmer of something. Grabbing a pair of thin forceps, I tilted the concretion to let gravity assist me while I attempted to extract whatever was tucked away inside of the grenade. Tiny bits of sand, rocks, and three-hundred-year-old shrapnel poured onto my table, but I managed to grasp a thin metal chain. Gingerly, I tugged as more of the chain slid out of the opening, until something resisted. I stopped pulling and used a chisel to carefully break away more of the concretion from the opening.

“How is it going?” Nathan looked so casual, but I knew his heart was racing just as fast as mine was. This is why we are in this field. Hidden treasure, secrets, history…

“Fine,” I gritted my teeth and picked up the forceps once more. Holding my breath, I took a clean cloth, preparing to catch whatever the object was once it was free from the grenade. There was a slight snag on the rough edge of the opening, causing me to wince, but I gently pulled and out tumbled a heavy oval pendant. “Oh my…”

“What is it?”

“It’s a locket.” I cradled the trinket in the cloth, tilting my hand so the intricate design on the silver face caught the light. I placed the forceps on the table and traced a finger along the etching. A jolt ran through me as if I had been burned by pure Aecor. My excitement over the discovery wore off, and I quickly noted how untouched the locket looked. Hidden away in this grenade for three hundred years, and its condition seemed as if it had been forged just this morning.

“Show me?” Nathan asked reverently. I held the locket up in front of the phone, which was leaning against my laptop screen. I watched his face change as he studied the unearthed jewelry. He sat upright, his jaw forming a hard line. “Where did you say you found this grenade?” His tone was sharp. “Tell me, Raina.” I couldn’t form the words fast enough; his entire demeanor threw me off. “Never mind.” Nathan shut his eyes and shook his head, and when he opened then again, he returned to his causal self.

“Are you ok?” I asked slowly.

“Of course.” Nathan flashed a wide smile. “I have to go.” And he immediately hung up. The locket’s weight felt surprisingly heavy in my hand as I tried to process what the actual fuck just happened.