Chapter Eighteen

Birds chirped happily outside the window and Vera smiled. Sunlight warmed her face and the bed beneath her felt like a cloud. It was like waking up in a fairytale. Not for the first time, she thought to herself that coming with her father on this dig was one of the best choices she had ever made.

Eventually she managed to pry open her eyes and crawl out of bed. Her head ached a bit and she rubbed it in annoyance. The last thing she needed was for Halsten to find out she had a headache and try to keep her home all day.

She dressed quickly and shoved the essentials into her satchel before rushing down the stairs for breakfast. As she entered the room Halsten waved his spatula in the direction of the table, indicating she should sit and wait.

Vera's father dragged in last minute, yawning and buttoning his vest up wrong. Vera snickered under her breath and Halsten gave her a stern look. 

"What are your plans for today?" her father asked as he sat down at the table.

Vera shrugged. "I'd like to take another look at that cave you found, but I'll see if Dr. Peters needs anything first."

Her father nodded. "I think he could probably use the help. I think he and Kareem have been working on a different project, or so I'm told."

She nodded and wolfed down her breakfast, eager to get to the site and get started. Without warning a sharp pain erupted behind her eyes and she gasped.

"Are you alright, Vera?" Halsten asked, reaching out to clasp her shoulder.

The pain faded quickly and she nodded. "Yes, yes. I'm fine. Really," she added when he gave her a skeptical look. "It's only a slight headache. It should go away soon."

Halsten started to say something else, but Vera's father held up his hand. "Don't baby her, Halsten. I'm sure if it was truly hurting her she would be smart enough to stay home."

Vera grinned at him and said, "I'll be waiting in the buggy, Papa!"

She could hear Halsten grumbling under his breath as she made her way to the door. Her father was right though. She was nineteen years old and could handle a slight headache. Or at least that's what she thought until she stepped out into the bright sunlight and it felt like daggers piercing her skull.

As she opened and closed her eyes to try and get adjusted to the light the scenery around her seemed to waver in front of her eyes. For a moment she could have sworn it looked as if she were in a completely white room.

"Get it together, Vera," she mumbled to herself. "Do you want Halsten to think you're crazy and drag you to see a physician?"

It took a while, but the pain faded to a dull ache and she laughed at herself for being so silly. Her father joined her after a few minutes, this time with his vest buttoned correctly.

"Ready to go?" he asked cheerfully, beginning to whistle as he helped her into the buggy.

"Papa?" she asked, hoping he wouldn't make too much of what she was about to ask. "Have you ever seen a room that was made entirely out of white stone?"

His brow furrowed in thought as he tried to remember. Eventually he shook his head and replied, "I can't say that I have. Why do you ask?'

Vera pulled at a string on her sleeve. "It's just a dream I had, nothing important."

The rode in a comfortable silence the rest of the way and bid goodbye to each other once they reached the dig site, promising to meet back up for lunch.

Vera made her way through the rubble of the excavation trying to locate Dr. Peters in the crowd of people working around her. While she was taller than most women, there were still many men here who towered over her and she found herself having to stand on top of stones to look over and around them.

When she found him he was training a group of workers on how to catalogue artifacts properly. She smiled as she remembered him teaching her the same thing when she first arrived. He had been very patient, despite the fact she messed up several times before she figured it out.

"Good morning, Dr. Peters," she called as she walked toward the group.

"Vera! How lovely to see you!"

Despite his cheery tone, something seemed off about his smile. It seemed like he was being forced to pretend he was happy.

"Are you alright, Dr. Peters? You seem unwell," she asked, narrowing her eyes as he looked nervous at her question.

He shifted under her gaze, picking up random pieces of pottery and looking at them instead of meeting her eyes.

"No, no," he assured her, "I'm fine! Wonderful, in fact. Was there something you needed?"

She continued to stare at him suspiciously. Something was wrong here; she could feel it. Before she could reply to his question Kareem appeared next to her and invited himself into their conversation.

"Good morning, Vera," he said, smiling at her before directing his attention to Dr. Peters. "Good morning, Dr. Peters. Is it alright if I borrow Vera for a moment?"

Dr. Peters looked almost alarmed at the question, and Vera wondered what in the world was going on.

"She and I were having a conversation," he said, looking at Kareem almost challengingly. "Can it wait?'

Vera looked back and forth between them. They seemed to be having a silent argument with just looks. Apparently when she woke up this morning the entire world had gone crazy.

"Would either of you like to explain what exactly is going on here?'" she asked them.

Kareem's face lost its angry, stubborn look and he smiled at her in a very unconvincing way, she thought.

"Nothing is going on, Vera," he replied. "I just wanted to show you something. But Dr. Peters seems to want to talk to you right now, so I will come back later."

The last few words seemed to be almost threatening as he looked in Dr. Peters' direction. The older man swallowed and nodded before saying, "I'm sure that will be fine. I just wanted to remind Vera of a few things."

Kareem's smile faded immediately. "As smart as Vera is there is, I doubt there is anything important she has forgotten, Dr. Peters. Instead you should show her that important artifact you found."

Temporarily forgetting about their strange argument, Vera's attention went to the last part of Kareem's statement. "You found a new artifact? Where is it? Can I see it?"

Dr. Peters sighed. "Certainly, dear," he replied, sounding tired and defeated.

She had never seen him sad. Not a single day in all of the time she had known him. But he looked heartbroken and suddenly she wasn't so eager to see the artifact.

"If you aren't feeling up to it, we can go see it another time." She tried convincing him.

"I would be happy to take her to see it if you don't want to," Kareem added.

"No need," Dr. Peters assured him, once again forcing a smile onto his face. "I'm feeling fine and we will make our way over to it soon."

Kareem nodded and gave Dr. Peters another significant look before walking away. Vera stared at his back as he left and tried to figure out what was different about him.

"I thought Kareem was still learning our language? When did he become so fluent? And how long has he been so hostile toward you, Dr. Peters?" she rambled off, rubbing her head as it began to ache again.

He held her chin in his palm and turned her face to look at him. His blue eyes were a bit teary and his wrinkled face looked even more tired than usual. "I'm certain if you tried you could remember the answers to all of your questions," he said.

Vera frowned, her headache becoming much worse with each second. "I'm not sure what you mean. How can I remember something that I don't know?"

"But you do, Vera! You do know. And if you could only remember you could get out of here!"

She stared at him in disbelief. "Dr. Peters I think you've been spending too much time in the sun."

The older man sighed and shook his head. "I can't just give up. I won't leave you at his mercy."

"Perhaps you should go lie down," she instructed him. "I'm afraid you're not making much sense."

"It would make perfect sense if you could only remember!" he shouted, and Vera clasped her hands over her ears to reduce the pain it caused her head.

"Please stop shouting," she whispered in response. "It's giving me a terrible headache."

"Of course!" he exclaimed, causing Vera to wince. "You must remember why your head hurts-"

"Stop! Just stop!" she cried. "It hurts too much, just leave me alone! I wish you would just leave me alone!"

When his voice cut off suddenly Vera stopped rubbing her temples and opened her eyes to try and figure out why. Dr. Peters was just gone. Vanished out of thin air. She blinked several times to try and make sense of things. Everything else was just as it had been, but Dr. Peters was missing. Not only that, but her headache had mysteriously vanished along with the archeologist.

The only thing she knew to do was try and find him, which she attempted to do for the rest of the morning. When her father came to find her at lunchtime and there was still no sign of Dr. Peters Vera had begun fearing something horrible had happened. 

"I'm worried about him, Papa," she said as she picked at her food.

Her father shook his head. "I've told you a dozen times, Vera. I'm sure he's fine. He probably was feeling ill and decided to go lie down like you told him to do."

She shrugged and rubbed her eyes tiredly.

"Why do you keep rubbing your head? Is that headache still bothering you?"

"It comes and goes," she answered. "Dr. Peters told me I needed to remember why it hurt, but that doesn't make any sense."

Her father put down his fork and wiped his mouth with a napkin. Sitting forward in his seat he said, "Dr. Peters is an excellent archeologist, but you have to remember he is also a very old man, darling. He's bound to say silly things sometimes. What's more important is that you feel better. Perhaps you should take the rest of the day off and get some rest. You've been working awfully hard lately."

"I guess you're right, but I really wanted to see that new artifact Dr. Peters and Kareem mentioned."

Her father rolled his eyes at her. "It's not like it's going anywhere. You can go and see it tomorrow when you're feeling better."

She grinned at him and said, "Don't tell me you would pass up the chance to see some exciting new artifact just because you had a lousy headache. Like father, like daughter remember?"

He laughed. "I guess you're right. Just take it easy, alright? Don't make me fetch Halsten to look after you."

The look of horror on Vera's face made him laugh harder.

"You wouldn't dare!" she cried, throwing her napkin at him. "The last time you did that he put me on two weeks bed rest for a case of the sniffles! It was ridiculous! Not to mention humiliating!"

He shook his head and responded, "Yes but it was also hilarious."

She huffed and pretended to be angry with him. It didn't last very long and soon she was giggling along with him. Out of nowhere a sense of melancholy overwhelmed her that she couldn't explain.

"I'm going to miss this."

The words came out of her mouth before she even realized she said them. She shook her head.

"Why did I say that?" she asked herself aloud.

"I haven't the slightest idea," her father said, looking at her strangely. "Are you sure you don't want to go home and lie down?"

"Maybe I will," she whispered. "I'm suddenly not feeling like going back to work."

He nodded and they made their way back to the house. As soon as she entered the shady coolness inside she felt better. Halsten peered out of his office and watched as she ascended the stairs.

"Is your head still hurting?" he asked, his tone a bit mocking as if to say 'I told you so.'

Vera glared at him. "A bit," she said through her gritted teeth. She hated when he treated her like she was a child.

"I'll bring you up some tea," he said a bit more kindly.

She marched into her bedroom without a reply. Her bed felt glorious as she flopped down onto it face first.

Just as she finally relaxed and her headache began to fade away a small voice inside her head whispered, 'Remember, Vera! You have to remember!'

"I'm going crazy," she whined. "This is so not good."

"Who are you talking to?" Halsten asked as he set down the tea tray on her bedside table.

She rolled over onto her back and stared at the ceiling. "No one. Just talking out loud."

He nodded and turned to leave.

"Halsten, why do you think I'm having these headaches?" she asked his retreating back.

He turned back around and came to sit beside her on the bed.

"There are many reasons you could be having headaches. Don't think about it too much, though. You just need rest."

He patted her arm and left the room. She closed her eyes and tried to do as he instructed. It wasn't easy though. Something was bothering her. Why were Kareem and Dr. Peters acting so strangely? And why did she hear voices telling her to remember? And what was it that she supposed to remember?

...

Here you go! Another update! Hope you guys enjoyed it. Leave me a comment and vote if you get time! Thanks for reading guys!