Winter Legacy -26-

Claus found himself back inside the office hidden away beneath the storage shed, he sighed, Tahiya had hacked the computer but couldn't access the information she desired, so Claus had to go right to the source.

When he was done with the computer, Tahiya sent Claus back into the desert to yet another tome to find the second relic. The good thing about this time was that Claus had Jaylee to keep him company.

Claus and Jaylee had set up camp outside of the pyramid the night before. 

"This is what you do every time you come to Egypt? Who are you running around for anyway?"

"Just stop it Jay, I know that you know exactly what I do in Egypt."

"What makes you say that?"

"Let's get dressed and head inside." Claus said and crawled back inside the tent, Jaylee followed.

Claus was not at all happy to see that the Pyramid of Sky was filled with water, there would no doubt be some of those dive pools. 

"You go on, I'll pitch a tent here." Jaylee told him.

"Sure."

Claus had to swim across a small pool of water to get to the first room, the first one took him to a room that was rather beautiful. Claus groaned, he was growing tired of these pyramids and the long walks and the traps and the near death experiences. 

He found the first keystone and inserted it in the lock to remove the chain from the door.

He explored the pyramid for a while and happened upon his first dive pool. "Just when I changed into dry clothes too." He muttered, without hesitation he dove in.

Claus came out in a nicely decorated corridor. He was already tired having only gotten about three hours sleep the night before. At least the Pyramid of Sky wasn't as hot as the first on he encountered, the Pyramid of the Burning Sands. 

Jaylee had caught up on sleep and was meditating, following Claus' journey through his own eyes. She felt his exhaustion and sighed herself, deciding to go to him and force him to get some rest before he passed out. She waited until he got to a big enough room, then packed the tent and ported to the room. 

Claus jumped, surprised to see her there. "How did you get here?"

"I followed the opened doors after I rested." Jaylee lied. She saw in Claus' eyes that he didn't believe her for a second. That was just as well, she pitched the tent and sent him inside, then got back to her meditation.

Once CLaus was sleeping, Jaylee decided to do some exploring of her own. She retrieved Claus' ax and began chipping away at the shattered stones that was piled in a corner. It took a while to clear, even with Jaylee's superhuman strength and stamina. By the time she was finished she was already feeling fatigued. 

When the stones were cleared a door was revealed, Jaylee pushed it open and found herself in a room with another locked door. She had to push some statues around to reveal a corridor which led to another room where she discovered the keystone. "Thank heavens," Jaylee breathed, "I wonder how Claus does this all the time." She ported to the room where she'd left Claus, he was just crawling out of the tent. 

"I'm sure you haven't rested already." She told him and pulled the keystone from her pouch and handed it over.

"I've rested, not well but it's good enough. I'll meet you at the entrance when I find the relic."

Jaylee smiled to herself as she watched him walk away, loving the way his pants fit him.

The final room was not what Claus expected. There was no logical way the trees that reached for the ceiling should be able to grow there. A strange calm passed over him and he opened the chest and retrieved the relic.

"No." Claus told himself as he fought the urge to curl up on one of the stone benches. "That is how people die in these places."

Sorry about this picture, my game refused to load the graphics.

Claus found Tahiya and handed over the relic, in turn she gave him the name of another contact. "I can't," He said. "I'm catching the next flight out. I'll look into this guy when I return in a few weeks."

"Suit yourself Claus Winter." She said.

Returning home and collapsing into bed was better than it ever was before, this time because Claus had Jaylee to curl up with him. They both fell into a peaceful sleep.

The kitchen had become their unofficial training room, as it had the most space. Claus bumped his fist against Jaylee's and entangled his fingers in hers. "We make a pretty good team, we should make this official, if you know what I mean..."

"Claus what are you trying to say to me?"

"Do you wanna be my girlfriend?"

Jaylee's heart hammered heavily inside her chest. "You know that's all I wanted since high school."