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    The Artifact
    The Artifact
    The Artifact
    Ebook82 pages1 hour

    The Artifact

    By Darla Ferrara

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    About this ebook

    Archeologist Sarah Maverick has a talent for finding artifacts. Along with her boyfriend and archeologist teacher Mike Applebee, she goes on a search that takes her from the beaches of Virginia to the Pyramids of Egypt and beyond.

    Working with other members of their team, they explore dangerous regions trying to solve an Ancient puzzle which will lead them to the ultimate artifact — Hatshepsut's Staff. Along the way, they encounter someone who is hoping to keep that mystery sealed in a tomb where it belongs.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBryant Street Shorts
    Release dateJul 23, 2020
    ISBN9781094412696
    Author

    Darla Ferrara

    Darla Ferrara is a full-time freelance writer published internationally and an award-winning author. She was the debut edition Author-in-the-Spotlight for Mezzo Magazine. You can find Darla as a regular contributor to The New York Times About.com and Lance Armstrong's LiveStrong.com.Living with the Gray Tones, Ferrara's premier novel, has been labeled a Must-Read by her peers in the mystery genre. Gray Tones was ranked as one of the 250 Breakthrough Novels for 2010 and a quarter-finalist for the ABNA award.Darla was born in La Junta, Colorado but spent most of her childhood in Lincoln, Nebraska.

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      Book preview

      The Artifact - Darla Ferrara

      Baki’s Pendant

      It was a seagull that found it, according to archeologist Sarah Maverick. The bird grabbed the artifact with its beak and soured into the air, unaware of the treasure it carried.

      She had been sitting on the beach for an hour, getting a dose of radiation from the sun and watching the action unfold.

      Sarah was not a fan of beaches. The combination of sand in places it didn’t belong, and bird feces were a bit too much for her, but Mike loved the ocean. So, once a year, she gave in to his need and agreed to go sit in the sun while he basked in its glory.

      This particular bird caught her eye that day because it was digging as if it’s very livelihood depended on it, something she could relate to as an archeologist. She figured there was a crab or some other morsel buried there.

      When the bird flew off, she squinted to get a good look at the bounty. As the sun reflected off the edge, she knew exactly what it was and jumped to her feet. Sarah took off down the beach after the seagull.

      She had seen that brilliant green burst of light more than once. It had something to do with the way the rays interacted with the unique mineral. It was jade, she was sure of it, probably a cheap trinket but it gave her something to do other than bake in the sun.

      Just as she heard someone calling her name in the distance, the bird lost its grip and dropped its treasure at her feet.

      Thanks, she said as she bent down and snatched it up before the gull could attempt to recapture its prize.

      Hey, babe, you all right?

      Mike, who had been swimming in the ocean, rushed back to shore at the sight of her running.

      Yeah, look at what this seagull found, it’s a jade pendant, an old one, maybe it’s an artifact.

      An artifact that someone dropped in the sand in Virginia? That doesn’t sound likely.

      I guess not. It doesn’t look cheap, though.

      Dr. Mike Applebee was a professor of archeology at the University of Virginia. Sarah had been his student once upon a time, not a very memorable one, apparently. She ran into him at a conference two years after she got her undergraduate degree.

      Sarah walked up to him and said hi, but it was clear he didn’t have a clue who she was or how she knew his name. Sarah had spent four years drooling over this professor, so, for her, he was hard to forget.

      Students, male and female alike, signed up for Archeology 101 to spend a semester looking at Virginia’s very own Dr. McDreamy. He barely noticed. As with most people in the area, he was a dedicated Cavs fan. That and old stuff was about all he cared about in life, until Sarah, of course. She was pretty sure she ranked under the other two obsessions, though.

      After Sarah spotted him at the conference, Mike suggested they could get more out of it if they each went to different groups and panels then exchanged information later. They met for coffee a couple of times after returning home to go over their notes. He called it cooperative learning. She called it dating.

      Soon, coffee led to dinner, well, after she made an excuse to get out of coffee, it did.

      Mike was still a bit too business-like for Sarah’s taste, though. She got tired of waiting for him to make a move or to even notice there was a move to make.

      During their third cooperative learning dinner, she let her shoe drop and ran her foot up his pant leg. She was sure she would never forget the look of surprise on his face.

      So, that’s where we are? He said, laughing and squirming a bit in his chair.

      I don’t know what you mean, She replied with a teasing voice. Just scratching an itch.

      An itch on MY leg?

      Oh, is that YOUR leg? My bad.

      She pulled her foot back, grinning his way. I think we should get this food to go, Dr. Applebee.

      They were in bed within the hour. That was two years ago, and they were still going strong. Now, Sarah worked as a researcher in the archaeology department at the same university where Mike taught and he was pushing her to go to grad school.

      Section Break

      Mike took the jade pendant out of Sarah’s hand and began to examine it. He brushed over it with his hand a few times to remove the wet sand.

      Well, it’s clearly old, or it looks like it, at least, he noted as he turned it over. The piece was teardrop shaped with a slight bend along one edge. At the top were two gold pieces that crossed at one end.

      There are some faint markings on it, see them there? Sarah pointed to an area on the front of the stone that appeared etched.

      Hm. Mike responded as he ran his finger over the piece again, feeling the markings under it. Hey, there is a plastic box in my backpack and a small towel. Grab them for me, would you?

      She walked over and unzipped his bag. Buried under a couple of shirts and a sack of half-eaten chips was a box they often used to collect things in the field. You carry these with you?

      Mike was engrossed in examining the piece. He looked up at her. What?

      As she started to walk through the sand back towards him, she repeated, You carry these collection boxes with you?

      Oh, no, that one had a sandwich in it.

      "Gross, Mike, do you know what kind

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