Forbidden Power

Feelings?

Doctor Hamid luckily agreed that the carvings on the stone at the top of the house were interesting enough for us to pursue. He left Marco under my watch and let Layla work with the two of us to start unearthing the town square.

Early the next day we were standing at the edge of the 'square', which was a crumbling wall and sand and nothing else, with our tools and the impression.

"Soooo, how exactly does this work?" Marco asked. Layla chuckled.

"Archaeology is slow, meticulous, and most often not very rewarding. For every treasure like the tomb of Tutankhamen that is found, there are thousands of sites with only eroding walls and broken pottery to work on," she told him. His face fell in disappointment. She patted his shoulder.

"I have a feeling this will be more than broken pottery," I said confidently, if not only for Marco. I don't know what we'll find here. The impression that Layla got still seems like it's a dead end to me, but she's excited about it, so I'll follow her lead.

For the next two weeks we dug at the site, uncovering the complete square shape but not finding anything else significant. It was just a stone, paved commons area with a short wall around it. At one time it might have had something fancy in the middle. Maybe some of these rocks had been stone benches for people to gather and sell goods or gossip. I could almost see it come to life before my eyes. Ghosts of the past shopping at the vendor stalls that lined this busy hubbub while haggling prices or trading their own goods. Stone masons, bakers, seamstresses, carpenters, and thieves alike wandering through here in the safety of their city guarded by what they believed was an emissary of the gods. He was probably gifted their goods in exchange for his blessings and protection. It wouldn't have been a bad life to be able to demonstrate his powers and be worshipped for them instead of having to go into hiding like me.

"I don't understand. Why would something so simple be drawn on the eaves of that first house? Nothing here looks significant at all," Layla said, furrowing her brows in frustration.

I knelt down and looked at the stones. They were still pretty perfect, which was amazing. Smooth and easy to walk on and as even as if were a newly paved road back in America. The stone structures I had come across were crumbling and imperfect, rough and uneven. Hmm.

"It's supposed to be an inverted pyramid, right? So this would be the bottom of it that looks like an everyday paved square, right?" Marco asked, looking at us like he was stating the obvious. I looked up at him and grinned. I'm glad I brought him along. Not only is he entertaining, but he's also insightful.

"Oh, duh!" Layla facepalmed herself and sighed. "Why did I not realize that? The ENTIRE SQUARE is the bottom of the pyramid! That explains why it is so perfect! It is supporting an underground structure!"

She tilted her body to the side as if she was trying to look at it upside down. I laughed.

"I don't think you're going to make it magically appear by falling on your head," I told her. She stuck her tongue out at me.

"There has to be a way to access it. Why build a structure under the ground unless you're hiding something?"

"Or maybe the 'carving' we saw really was just stone erosion," I suggested. She shot me a dark look.

"You're killing my dreams."

"Sorry, sorry," I held up my hands, and she nodded in approval.

"Right, so there must be something hidden under here. The question is, what is it, how do we access it, and why is it here?" She pondered.

"English is not my main language, but isn't that more than one question?" Marco asked. Now Layla shot him a warning look.

"Let's come back tomorrow. Why don't you pick up the ultrasonic trans-receiver from the university while you're in town, and we can see if there is even anything below us?" I suggested. Layla brightened at the thought.

"Yes! Let's test up here first! Teddy's a genius!" She praised grabbing my arm and grinning up at me. I looked down at her and blinked, suddenly overwhelmed by the urge to kiss her. I leaned down a little, and she tilted her head up.

"Great. Teddy's a genius, but he's also a slave driver. I'm starving. Can we go eat now?" Marco whined, breaking up the moment. I blinked at Layla, and she opened her eyes and blinked back at me in surprise. Her face flushed red, and she jerked away from me.

"Let's go get some food!" She agreed, scurrying off and leaving me standing frozen in the center of the square. Marco shot me a knowing look and jogged after her.

___________________________________________

"I don't understand what you see in her. She's nice, yeah, but she's just okay in the looks department," Marco said bluntly from his cot later that night. I should have felt angry at his insult, but I didn't.

"What do you know about women? You're not even interested in them!" I retorted.

"What? Yes, I am...okay, no I'm not. How did you know?" Marco demanded.

"Dude, I called that the moment you opened the door at the church. I pride myself on excellent gaydar," I chortled.

"Gay-dar? I don't know this English word. What does it mean?" Marco asked, confused.

"Oh, right. It's not really an English word. It's more like slang English. Street talk, if you will," I explained.

"Oh! Like ***** ***** ******* ******," Marco said a string of profanities, and I had to bite my tongue to keep from exploding with laughter and scaring the poor guy.

"Um, sort of like that, sure," I said, biting down hard on my lip and glad it was dark in the tent so Marco couldn't see me shaking to try to contain my laughter.

"So what does this gay-dar slang word mean?" Marco asked.

Oh, goddess, calm down, Teddy. Don't laugh in his face. I cleared my throat and coughed a little to relieve some of the pressure I was holding in.

"It means that a person can tell if another person is gay just by meeting them. Like I could tell right away that you were," I answered, coughing a little again.

"You could? How?" Marco demanded.

"It's just a sense. It's not anything you said or did," I explained.

"Oh," Marco answered and got quiet.

"You didn't...you know...do that with that bag of bones, Pietro, did you?" I asked, hoping the answer was no.

"What?! No. I mean, maybe. Once or twice," Marco admitted. "But I didn't know he was almost a thousand years old!"

I went ahead and let myself laugh out loud now. "Gross, dude!" I laughed. Marco snorted and then joined me in laughing about it.

"Okay, so what about you? Have you...you know...with any girls? Layla?" He prodded after we settled back down.

"Nah. I haven't met anyone that made me feel that way, y'know? I just kind of always assumed I would be single," I admitted. That thought made me feel lonely. Before it felt freeing, but now the thought of others like Layla getting married and living happily ever after made me feel like I was missing out. Adiel and Huallpa, my mom and dad, Liz and Ash, my grandparents all came to my mind as the happy, loving couples they are, and suddenly I longed for that, too.

"Haven't met anyone... what are you talking about?! I've seen the way you look at Layla! And how your pants suspiciously bulge around her. You expect me to believe you don't have feelings for her?!" He demanded.

"Uh, well, I mean. She's married. She's off limits...What do you mean my pants bulge?!"

"In a bad relationship! Are you dense? She doesn't love him! Can't you tell? And here I thought you were smart," Marco grumbled, ignoring my question.

"A bad relationship? What are you talking about? She seems fine!"

"She gets sad every time she has to leave to go home to him. She won't talk about him. She only agrees with us but never says anything nice about him. Layla doesn't love that man, and she is not happy with him."

I lay shocked for a moment, but as I thought back through all the subtle changes to her tone and face, I had to admit that Marco's reasoning was sound. It seemed that Layla didn't care for her husband. A spark of hope ignited in my heart. Could it be that she wasn't as off limits as I thought?

"I'm not encouraging you to go steal another man's wife, but I also don't think you should give up on her, either," Marco murmured.

"You really think I would have a chance with her?" I asked. I'd never thought about her and me as an us before. We're just two co-workers digging up the ancient past together and living very different lives. But could we really be more?

"Psh," Marco snorted. "A chance? She would be yours today if only you would ask. She's crazy about you! I can tell. She wants you. She adores you. I can tell by the way she looks at you and also by how she sneaks looks at your pants to see if she's made you react. Ever since that day when she found the inverted pyramid drawing, she's been different with you. She knows you're attracted to her now, and that's made her bolder. Don't believe me! Ask her. Tomorrow."

"I can't. She's married. I could never," I sighed helplessly. I'm not that kind of person. If her marriage has a chance, far be it for me to come between her and her husband.

"You underestimate your charm," Marco snickered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I demanded.

"Nothing," Marco squeaked.

"I don't sail that direction, if you know what I mean," I growled.

"I know, I know. What a loss, but I know," he tried to placate me. I glared toward his cot.

"Don't get any ideas," I threatened.

"I did at first, but I can see that I'm clearly outmatched by Layla. There is only room in your heart for her," Marco sighed.

Only room in my heart for her? Is she really in my heart? I searched my mind for answers, but as I drifted to sleep, I had none.