Chapter 2 — The Road That Doesn’t Tell the Truth
1062 Words
The jeep groaned the moment Grayson turned the key.
“That,” Mira said calmly, “did not sound healthy.”
Grayson looked offended immediately. “You wound me. Her name is Cassandra and she’s trying her best.”
“The jeep has a name?” Logan asked.
“Everything that survives Grayson gets a name,” Mira replied.
“That’s emotional attachment.”
“That’s mechanical trauma.”
Grayson ignored both of them and pulled the jeep forward across the sand.
The girl sat beside Logan in the passenger row this time instead of driving.
Less distant.
Less suspicious.
Still careful though.
Logan noticed that immediately.
People trying too hard to look relaxed usually had reasons.
Grayson glanced at her through the mirror. “So are we finally getting a name or do we keep calling you ‘desert girl’?”
The girl looked at him for a second.
Then answered simply.
“Selene.”
“Mysterious,” Grayson said immediately.
“That’s just a normal name.”
“It’s mysterious because she said it mysteriously.”
Mira sighed quietly. “Please don’t start.”
Selene almost smiled at that.
Almost.
Logan noticed.
“So,” Grayson continued, “Selene who-appears-randomly-in-deserts… why exactly were you at that site?”
Selene leaned slightly against the door.
“I was looking for something.”
“That clears up absolutely nothing.”
“I didn’t say it would.”
Mira closed her notebook. “Then what were you looking for?”
Selene hesitated briefly.
Not enough to look suspicious.
Just enough to look careful.
“A contact,” she said. “Someone who trades information.”
Grayson frowned slightly. “In the middle of nowhere?”
“The black market moves,” Selene replied. “People follow money. Information follows people.”
That answer sounded believable enough.
Which was probably why Logan still didn’t fully trust it.
“You work with them?” he asked.
Selene looked toward him.
“No.”
Too quick.
Then she added more calmly:
“I’ve bought information there before.”
“That sounds slightly illegal,” Grayson muttered.
“That’s because it is.”
Grayson nodded slowly. “Okay. At least she’s honest.”
Selene looked back toward the desert outside.
For a while, the jeep filled with the sound of rough tires against sand.
Then Mira spoke again.
“You knew about Areshakt.”
Selene’s expression didn’t change much.
“A little.”
“A little enough to follow us into the desert?”
Selene crossed her arms slightly. “People have been chasing stories about Areshakt for years.”
Grayson scoffed. “Yeah, but most people don’t appear dramatically beside failed expeditions.”
“That wasn’t dramatic.”
“You literally emerged from sand.”
Selene looked genuinely confused. “I was walking.”
“That somehow makes it worse.”
Mira hid a smile behind her notebook.
Logan noticed that too.
The tension inside the jeep eased slightly after that.
Slightly.
Grayson rested one arm near the window. “So what happens in this market exactly?”
Selene answered this time without hesitation.
“You can buy artifacts. Locations. Old records. Stolen excavation reports.”
“Normal illegal stuff,” Grayson summarized.
“Sometimes,” Selene continued, “people sell things they don’t understand.”
That made Logan glance toward her.
“What kind of things?”
Selene’s eyes stayed forward.
“Ancient things.”
A pause.
Then quieter:
“Dangerous things.”
The jeep fell silent for a moment after that.
Not awkward.
Just thoughtful.
The city outskirts slowly appeared ahead of them now.
Old buildings.
Narrow roads.
Crowded movement.
The further they drove, the less Egypt felt like history and more like layers hiding on top of each other.
Grayson broke the silence first.
“So let me understand this correctly. We followed a fake lead into the desert, picked up a mysterious woman, and now we’re heading into an illegal market hoping someone sells answers.”
Mira adjusted her glasses. “When you say it like that, it sounds irresponsible.”
“It is irresponsible.”
Logan finally spoke again.
“It’s still more than we had yesterday.”
Nobody argued with that.
Selene looked at him briefly after he said it.
Like she was trying to figure something out.
Then she looked away again before he could read the expression fully.
Grayson noticed immediately.
“Oh no.”
Logan frowned slightly. “What?”
“That look.”
“What look?”
“The beginning of tension.”
Mira groaned softly. “Please stop narrating people’s lives.”
“I’m just saying,” Grayson replied, “I’ve seen enough movies to recognize this setup.”
Selene actually laughed quietly at that.
Small.
Unexpected.
And for the first time since meeting her—
she looked less like someone hiding something…
and more like someone tired of carrying it alone.
The jeep finally slowed near a crowded alley lined with dim lights and covered entrances.
People moved everywhere.
Buying.
Watching.
Waiting.
Nothing looked official.
Which probably meant everything here mattered.
Grayson stared ahead slowly.
“Okay,” he said. “Now this looks illegal.”
Selene opened the jeep door first.
“We’re here.”
Logan stepped out beside her.
The air felt heavier here.
Not physically.
Just… watchful.
Like every person already knew more than they should.
Mira climbed out last, scanning the market carefully.
“You’ve been here before,” she said to Selene.
Selene nodded once.
“A few times.”
Grayson looked around uneasily. “Great. I can already feel my future bad decisions forming.”
Selene adjusted the strap on her bag.
Then finally looked directly at all three of them.
More open this time.
More honest.
“I know this is strange,” she said. “But I’m not trying to trick you.”
Nobody interrupted.
“I just…” she paused briefly, choosing her words carefully, “…need help finding something.”
Logan studied her face.
“You could’ve said that earlier.”
“I know.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Selene looked toward the market entrance.
“Because people usually leave when they realize the kind of things being searched for here.”
Then she started walking forward.
And this time,
they followed her because they chose to.
Not because they were forced to.
- Writer
