“I can’t. It’s tied down with iron. We will need tools to get it out.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “Come and see for yourself.”

  Milo stepped to Abigail’s side and grabbed her arm. “We’ll go across together.” Gone was the meek and mild academic. In his place, stood a man who exerted malice and desperation. Even the tone of his voice had changed.

  “We can’t! There are steam fissures.” Just as she spoke, a burst of sulfuric steam blasted out in front of their faces, causing Milo to jump back in fright.

  Abigail took her opportunity. She sprinted forward, crouching over as low as she could. When she got to the narrow wooden plank, she didn’t hesitate but sprinted across it. Riley was there to grab her and help her across. He bent down and pushed the wooden plank hard into the water with his foot, just as a shot rang out.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Milo yelled.

  Abigail watched as the wooden plank was carried down the stream. How would they go back? The stream was too wide to jump.

  Riley grabbed her arm and pulled her behind the safety of the vault just as another shot rang out. She caught a glimpse of what lay within the vault.

  “I wouldn’t shoot, if I were you,” Riley called out, his words echoing around the cavern. “If you shoot the wrong place in the walls you could release steam, and that would be very dangerous.”

  Abigail looked at him and raised one eyebrow.

  “I have no idea if that’s true,” Riley whispered. “I’m not a geologist, but neither is he so he might believe me.”

  Another shot went past them and exploded on the cavern wall.

  “He obviously doesn’t believe you,” Abigail said. “What do we do now?”

  “He can’t reach us.”

  “So, we are under siege. He can’t directly attack us, but we can’t go anywhere.” She ducked as another bullet hit the cavern wall opposite.

  “He’s not conserving his ammunition, and I have no idea what he hopes to achieve by shooting,” Riley said.

  Abigail ducked a bit lower. “I can’t believe he was a Vortex agent. Were you suspicious that he was?”

  Riley nodded.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Riley simply shrugged. “His whole story about Charles was rather too convenient. Plus, as I said, I never trust anybody at first. I did tell you to be careful of him.”

  “But I didn’t realize you thought he was a Vortex agent,” Abigail protested.

  The shots had stopped. Riley peeked out from behind the stone vault.

  “What’s he doing?” Abigail asked, just as Riley ducked back down.

  “He’s standing at the stream now. Clearly, he got past the steam vents safely.”

  “Then he will likely look for something to put over the stream, a makeshift bridge.”

  “We didn’t pass anything in the caves. He’ll have to go up to the surface to get it. He won’t want to leave us alone with the spear.”

  Abigail was perplexed. “Then what’s he going to do?”

  Another shot rang out, this time hitting the vault. “Get that lid off the vault and push it over the stream so I can get across,” Milo yelled.

  Riley raised his eyebrows.

  “He couldn’t think we would actually do that,” Abigail said.

  “He’s desperate,” Riley said. “He’s in an unenviable position from his point of view. The fact that he’s come here without other Vortex agents, or with Charles, means he wants the spear for himself. If he calls for help, it means he can’t keep the spear, and he has no idea whether or not I’m armed.”

  “Then he’s been quite foolish standing out in the open on the other side of the stream. Actually, Riley, why haven’t you shot him?” Abigail had lost all sympathy for her TA. While she didn’t want him dead, she would like him disabled so they could escape.

  “I’m concerned about shooting into a fissure. I’m not happy about shooting in this environment. Like I said, I’m not a geologist, and I don’t know if the shots could cause a cave-in. I’ll only shoot as a last resort.”

  “But then, how will we ever get out of here?” Abigail’s throat constricted.

  “Didn’t you mention earlier that there might be another way out? Tell me everything you know about these underground structures.”

  “I mentioned Lake Avernus before. Strabo, the Greek geographer who died about fifty-five years before the destruction of Pompeii, said that people prior to his time thought Lake Avernus was the setting of Odysseus’s descent to the Underworld in Homer’s Odyssey. Strabo said there was an oracle of the dead there. He said the oracle was far underground and accessed only by tunnels. Strabo also said people called the Cimmerians lived there in underground houses which were clay pits, and they only went outside at night. They used the tunnels to visit each other and lived wholly underground. Surely, there’s another way out.”

  “We haven’t seen any underground houses.”

  “Clay pits,” Abigail corrected him. “Yes I know, and Strabo was talking about Lake Avernus which is a few miles from here, but my point is that this whole area appears to have tunnels. I’d be surprised if this was a dead end.”

  “I hope you’re right.” Riley’s expression was grim.

  “Besides, Cumae isn’t far from here as well, and that’s where the Sibylline Books were taken. The underground grotto at Baia led to the famous sanctuary of the Sybil. Some people think ancient accounts of the Underworld referred to the tunnels under Baia, and they led to Cumae. This whole area has tunnels.”

  “Then it does make sense that this cavern leads somewhere.”

  Abigail nodded. “It just occurred to me that Virgil lived for a time in Naples. He described the Underworld as having sulfuric fumes and streams of boiling water. I wonder if he had been in here, in these very passageways?”

  Riley looked puzzled, so she added, “If he was describing here, then there’s another way out, according to his descriptions.”

  Riley nodded slowly. “It makes sense that there would be another way out. It’s a good tactic to protect those who, in turn, are protecting an item of great value.”

  “There are niches in the walls in front of us, and one of them could be an S-bend,” Riley pointed out. “We won’t know until we get there, but we’ll need cover to do so.”

  “Why are we waiting? Are we waiting for him to do something in particular?”

  “Milo is desperate, and desperate men make mistakes,” Riley said in even tones. “He can’t reach us, and we’re safe sitting behind this. He’ll probably do something desperate sooner or later.”

  Without warning, Milo shot again, the bullet just missing the vault. A shower of small stones landed on Abigail. She ducked her head and buried it in Riley’s shoulder. Moments later, there was a loud booming sound.

  “Earthquake!” Abigail said in a panic.

  Riley peeked around the edge of the vault again. “No, it wasn’t a tremor. There are man-made beams across the cavern. One has fallen across the door.”

  “Across the door?” Abigail repeated in shock. It was her worst nightmare, trapped in a volcanic cavern with no way out.

  “It’s time to go. Let’s find the other way out now, if there is one. Milo is trying to find a way out of that door.”

  “Are you sure there isn’t one?”

  Riley shook his head. “There’s a huge pile of rubble in front of the door. You stay there, and I’ll see if there’s anything behind those niches. Hopefully, one of them hides an S-bend.” He crawled across the cavern floor to the closest niche. Seconds later, he emerged and signaled to Abigail. She crawled over to him as fast as she could and he gestured she should go into the tunnel.

  Riley crawled in after her. “Crawl as fast as you can,” he said, just as they heard another thud behind them. Was the entire cavern collapsing? It certainly seemed so.

  Abigail had crawled only a short distance when there was a crash behind her. Small stones sprayed over her face and in front of her, digging into her palms painfully as she crawled frantically forward.

  Riley was somehow managing to crawl with a flashlight. The light played eerily over the walls in front of her at intervals, the red glow frightening her more than her relief that it was providing a glimmer of the tunnel in front of her.

  A deafening sound followed, and the ground quivered below her hands and knees. Was the whole tunnel caving in behind her? It certainly seemed so. Only her crawling speed stood between her and certain death.

  Abigail crawled even faster, fueled by adrenaline, wishing she were able to stand up and run, but there was barely enough room to crawl. At times, the roof of the tunnel touched her shoulders, forcing her to bend down even further and making crawling so much more difficult.

  She didn’t want to be buried here alive and was almost too scared to look in front to see if the tunnel ahead was caving in.

  “Hurry,” came Riley’s muffled words behind her as more stones fell around them.

  Abigail didn’t need any urging to crawl as faster. The jeans over her knees felt wet, and she didn’t know whether her knees were bleeding from her rapid crawling, her knees pounding the tunnel floor, or whether the ground underneath was damp. The temperatures in the narrow passageways were still too warm for comfort, and the smell of sulfur was ever-present.

  To Abigail’s discomfort, the tunnel was not getting any wider or bigger. She was terrified that she would come to a dead end, because then they would have to crawl out in reverse, and end up in what? A cavern with no way out?

  Blind terror filled Abigail, but that only served to push her on. Finally, the tunnel started to rise a little. After a while, it inclined even more. It took her a while to realize the temperature was growing cooler, and she could barely smell sulfur anymore. Finally, she crawled into another cavern.

  30

  OPLONTIS

  THE PRESENT DAY

  Abigail at once stood upright, rubbed her knees, and stretched her limbs. She blinked furiously as Riley cracked a chem light. Those things were the stuff of migraines, but headaches were the least of her worries. Directly in front of her was a stream, but this one wasn’t bubbling. She was relieved to be out of the tunnel but concerned lest there wasn’t a way out of the cavern.

  Riley appeared at her side. “Sit down and catch your breath for a minute or two. The air is cool here, and there’s no smell of sulfur anymore. I’m afraid to say I think Milo perished in the cavern.”

  Abigail sat on the nearest rock, trembling.

  Riley rubbed her arms to comfort her. “Look, bats! We must be close to a way out.”

  Abigail registered the smell. “Bats,” she said absently. “Riley, you left the spear there.”

  He nodded. “At least it’s safe. It will be a long while before anybody else will be able to access the cave. Thankfully, Milo didn’t tell anybody what he knew about the spear. And before you ask me if I’m sure, yes, I am. He didn’t notify Vortex because he wanted the Spear of Destiny for himself. His actions made that clear.”

  Apart from the thought of getting to the surface as quickly as possible, Abigail had one thing on her mind. “Riley, that was a spear head in perfect condition.”

  “Wasn’t it supposed to be a spear head?”

  Despite the seriousness of the situation, Riley’s blank expression made her chuckle. “Iron doesn’t last that well, not over two thousand years.”

  “I’m still not following. Do you think it was a fake?”

  Abigail rubbed her sore knees. “On the contrary, it was the correct pyramidal tip. The spears were generally meant for one-off use when attacking soldiers with shields. Due to the pyramidal shape, the spears would drive through the shield and into the enemy soldier’s armor. The soldiers didn’t pull them out and move on to attack the next soldier. No, it’s definitely the correct, historical shape.”

  “Then what’s the problem?”

  “The Spear of Destiny in Austria is brass, silver, and gold, as well as iron. A Roman soldier wouldn’t have carried a spear like that. They carried iron spears, and although the heads were made of stronger iron, iron corrodes over time. That lance head wasn’t at all corroded and didn’t have a speck of rust. Still, I only caught a brief glimpse. You had a longer look—did you see any rust?”

  Riley shook his head. “No, it looked like new. What does that mean?”

  “I’d guess it was made from meteorite material.” Riley’s jaw fell open. Abigail continued. “There’s plenty of evidence that the ancient Egyptians made weapons and knives out of meteorites. The ancient Chinese made weapons from nickel-iron meteorites too. Due to the high nickel content, these weapons have lasted. The Greeks and Romans recorded meteorites. In fact, many civilizations used meteorites for weapons and tools, even coins and jewelry. It was quite common.”

  “So, do you think…” Riley’s voice trailed away.

  “What?” Abigail prompted him.

  “It sounds crazy, but do you think the meteorite had some sort of special quality which would have seemed miraculous to the ancient Romans who used this spear, and that’s why they associated it with Jesus and the crucifixion?”

  Abigail shrugged. “Maybe. We’ll never know.” That rankled. She was an academic, and her instincts were to solve every historical mystery. Still, she had to content herself with the fact that the Spear of Destiny remained safe.

  Riley helped her up. “The spear is safe,” he said, as if reading her thoughts. “Our mission was to stop it falling into the hands of Vortex, and we did that. Now, we have to get out of here.”

  “Yes, please!” Abigail said with feeling. Her eyes were no longer as sore as they had been minutes earlier, and she was breathing more easily.

  “Are you ready to move on yet?”

  She nodded. Her eyes still stung and her lungs felt raw, but she didn’t want to spend a moment longer than necessary underground. They carefully walked around the cavern. No bubbling streams here and no skeletons. Still, an exit wasn’t readily apparent.

  “The bats had to get in somehow,” Riley said.

  They skirted the room once before Riley spotted the tunnel. It was tiny, just wide enough for Abigail to climb through or maybe Riley to if he was lucky, and was behind a pile of rubble. Riley went to climb in, but Abigail said, “Will you fit through?”

  “My head will at least,” he said. “I’ll throw a chem light through first and have a look.”

  Riley cracked a chem light and threw it into the tunnel. After a few moments, he pulled his head out.

  “Is it a way out?” Abigail asked. She held her breath as she waited for his answer.

  “It’s another tunnel, but I can’t see how far it goes. It looks tall enough to stand up, but it’s a narrow tunnel and we’ll probably have to walk sideways,” he said. “I just have to get through that opening.”

  “What will we do?”

  “I’ll have to make the hole bigger with my hands. Riley dropped to his knees once more and dug at the rubble with his fingers. Abigail helped him. This too seemed to be tufo, the yellow volcanic rock. Although it was soft, it was still hard to dig into. After several minutes of energetic digging, they had only moved a small amount.

  Abigail stood to ease her aching calves. “Do you think you’ll fit through there?”

  “I’m not sure.” Riley wedged himself into the hole. For a moment, Abigail was afraid his shoulders would get stuck. She tapped him on the back and he scrambled out. “Almost!” he said with a sigh.

  They spent some more time digging and Riley said, “I’ll try again.”

  This time he was able to get through. “You come through too now,” he said.

  Abigail crawled through on her hands and knees and then tried to stand. It was difficult to stand upright from a crawling position, given the tunnel was so narrow. She had no idea how Riley had managed, and for one awful moment was terrified she would be stuck. Riley saw her plight and put his arm around her waist, although he did so from a sideways position. He managed to pull her free. “Let’s go,” he said.

  Riley was able to hold the flashlight more easily with one hand, and Abigail twisted her neck to see where they were going. A nasty cramp in her neck developed soon after. Shooting pains ran down her back, but she didn’t care. She would rather see what was ahead. She hoped there were no more boiling streams or steam vents.

  To Abigail’s dismay, she noticed the temperature increasing, and the faint smell of sulfur once more assaulted her nostrils. They were going down again. This couldn’t be good. Hopefully, this tunnel would lead to an exit.

  The tunnel widened slightly, enough for Abigail to move from her sideways position, although Riley couldn’t manage. She moved her neck around and shrugged her soldiers to relieve the cramping. That, at least, allowed her a small measure of relief.

  As the tunnel descended, it got wider, and soon both of them were able to walk forward, although in single file. Abigail was relieved when the tunnel climbed, but her relief was short-lived as it soon spiraled downward again.

  The smell of sulfur became ever stronger. Abigail was beginning to be afraid once more that she would be trapped down there forever and never see the light of day again. What would her mother do? Her mother would never know what happened to her. She bit back the tears that were threatening to fall. She was lost in her own world and gave a little start when Riley exclaimed.

  “It’s the door!”

  “What door?”

  He stepped into another tunnel, which was wide enough for them both to stand side by side. “We’ve joined the tunnel that we came in by,” Riley said, excitement evident in his voice. “Look at the pistons. He indicated the brass pivots on the door. One pivot was shinier than the other.

  Abigail was overwhelmed with relief. “That must be the door we passed before,” she said. “There surely couldn’t be two like this.”

  “But it also opened to the cavern.”

  Abigail gasped. Where the cavern had been was now a wall of rubble. “Milo? Are you in there?”