The Animal Inside-Amaya Jiwe

Raiders Of The Lost Art...

It was very early in the morning-or late at night. Nate and I hadn't gone to bed. We, instead, were in the library researching the amulet. And Nate had insisted on playing rock music loudly, making the whole situation worse.

"Nate! Maria!" Ray yelled as he and Amaya entered the library, already assuming we were the ones making the noise.

"Maria!" Amaya yelled, effectively getting our attention.

Nate turned off the stereo before turning back to us. "Sorry, guys. It helps me concentrate."

"It's 3 in the morning." Amaya told us, groggily.

"Amaya and I were trying to sleep." Ray told us, earning weird looks from both Nate and myself. "Not together." He immediately corrected himself.

"What are you doing up so late?" Amaya asked us. It reminded me so much of a few nights prior- when I finally realized how I was feeling. I pushed that to the back of my mind and focused on what was in front of me.

"Just trying to figure out what the Legion of Doom wants with those two amulets." Nate answered as though it was the simplest thing in the world.

"The Legion of Doom?" Amaya chuckled at the childish name.

"Darhk, Merlyn, and the speedster." I explained. "It's from a Hanna-Barbera cartoon I liked when I was a kid. Sorry we woke you two up."

"We- we weren't together." Ray repeated.

"They know, Ray." Amaya informed him.

"Yeah." Nate confirmed.

"Well, have you figured anything else out?" Amaya asked.

"Well, we carbon dated the amulet that Sara took from Darhk in 1987." I started to explain.

"Before you and her gave it back to the Legion of Doom, I'm guessing." Ray added.

"Yeah, and Gideon puts the amulet's date of origin around 30 A.D." Nate handed Ray a sheet with the findings of the amulet on it.

"Huh, high concentrations of manganese, copper, and zinc, which would make bronze." Ray observed.

"Correct. Now, Roman Centurions put bronze in all their metal work circa 30 A.D. I also sketched the two amulets the best I could from memory, but they don't match any artifacts on record." He handed Amaya the two sketches.

"What if they're not two artifacts?" SHe asked, analyzing the drawings in her hands. She walked over to one of the monitors and put one image over the other, pressing it against the light reflecting off of the monitor. "What if they're one?"

"Shut up." Nate climbed over the desk effortlessly to get a better look. "The Longinus Medallion." He said dumbfounded.

XXX

"Longinus is the name generally associated with the Roman Centurion who pierced the side of Christ during the Crucifixion." Nate explained. It was now 3:30 and we had dragged everyone out of bed to listen to this.

"Yeah, he was blind and got the blood of Jesus in his eyes, and then he could see again." Jax said groggily while we all shot him surprised looks.

"Look at you." Nate commented.

"What? I went to Sunday school."

"Now that blood allegedly got on the medallion and empowered the spear with magical powers."

"Well, why does the Legion of Doom want the medallion?" Ray asked Nate.

"Legion of Doom?" Sara asked Ray.