The Serpent in the Stone (The Gifted Series) by Nicki Greenwood Page A

touched her sister ’ s arm. “ Faith, wake up. ”
    Faith shook and blinked awake, looking confused. “ A man, ” she said. “ Not Dad. Not a Celt, either. I ’ m not sure what he was. Everything was indistinct. ”
    “ What did he do? Did he say anything? ”
    “ He had a sword. I saw him kill another man in white robes and take the amulet. He held it up and said something, I don ’ t even know what. The necklace started spinning, and these lines of light shot out from it along the ground, and then he screamed... ” Faith shuddered and looked down at the amulet in her hand. “ This thing has blood on it, Sara. Lots of it, I feel it. I think we should destroy it. ”
    Sara ’ s body hummed with agitation. “ What happened? ”
    “ It killed him. He fell, and the necklace fell, and I saw his spirit rise from his body and just vanish into the lines of light. We need to smash the thing. ” She rose from her seat.
    Sara jerked to her feet as well. “ Dad gave it to us on purpose, or he would have destroyed it himself! ”
    Faith hesitated. “ Maybe he didn ’ t have time, once he found out what it was. Before he was— ”
    “ We still don ’ t know what it is, ” interrupted Sara. She paced the length of her tent. “ Did you see anything else? ”
    Muscles worked in her sister ’ s jaw. She sighed and rubbed her forehead. “ I saw what ’ s missing. The pieces on either side in the center of the necklace. Oval inlays. ” She touched her locket. “ One gold. ” She gestured at Sara ’ s throat. “ The other silver. ”
    Open-mouthed, Sara touched her locket. She unfastened it with shaking fingers. “ We have to melt these down. They belong in the amulet. ”
    “ Are you nuts? ” Faith strode forward until she was toe to toe with Sara. “ Dad took them out for a reason. He wanted to disable the amulet. It ’ s dangerous. You know it is. ”
    Sara shook her head. “ He would have smashed it himself. I ’ m sure of it, Faith. I think he wanted us to do something with it. ”
    “ Like what, get killed? ” Faith slapped the amulet on the table and snatched an empty glass bottle. She raised it to strike.
    “ No! ” Sara shouted, jumping toward her.
    Faith brought the bottle down on the amulet with a crash. The bottle shattered, and a deafening chime reverberated off the tent walls. Both of them cringed and covered their ears until the sound faded away.
    Faith clutched her now-bleeding hand and looked at the amulet, resting intact on Sara ’ s table. She bit off a moan and held her hand against her body. “ Smashing it is out, ” she snarled.
    Sara snatched the amulet up, then looped it over her head and tucked it quickly into her sweater. The stone pulsed with heat against her skin.
    Thomas ducked into the tent. “ Everything okay in here? ”
    “ Yeah, we ’ re fine, ” Sara answered. “ We ’ ll be out in a few minutes. ”
    Thomas passed her an unconvinced look, but left again.
    When she was certain of their privacy, Sara reached her hand out to her sister. “ Give me your locket. ”
    “ You ’ re out of your mind. ”
    Sara stepped toward the tent door. “ Do you want to figure this out, or not? Give me the locket. We ’ ll go to Mainland and get them put back in the amulet tomorrow morning. ”
    Faith grabbed Sara ’ s first-aid kit and dropped it on the table. She flung it open to rummage for bandages and antiseptic. “ Sure. We ’ re just going to walk in there with this knick-knack, which no one is going to get curious about and ask questions about, and come looking for . Not to mention, I don ’ t think we should leave the dig site. ”
    “ Fine. You stay with the dig. I ’ ll go to Mainland myself. Just give me the locket. ”
    Faith frowned and finished wrapping her hand with disgruntled motions. She grasped her locket and jerked. The chain snapped. She dropped the locket into Sara ’ s palm. “ Take Ian with you. ”
    “ What about Dustin or Thomas? ”
    “