Sometimes, books were useless. Sam had learned that the hard way. All his searching in the library had been completely of no use. Defeated and drained, he'd gone back to the hotel, determined to try again the next day. But once he'd entered the lobby, lady luck decided to shine her light down on him. A group of men in golden robes were in there, checking in.
On a whim, Sam struck up a conversation with them, asking them about their religion and temples. Though at first they were weary of a random tourist approaching them, Sam's use of minimal hindi words convinced them he was serious about learning about their customs. So they let one of them handle the formalities while the others filled Sam in on the religious purpose of their travels and how the rituals worked.
Sam nodded, consulted the conversation guide he'd gotten from the library and asked more questions about gods and legends. And, whoop-tee-do, there was such a thing as Shiva's Golden Earing, except it was a far-fetched legend. Of course it was, it always was. But supposedly, the stone was kept in a sacred temple on a tiny island off the coast of a small town called Vedaranniyam. It was good enough for him. It was at least a lead.
He was just saying goodbye to the monks when Jerry came out of the elevator.
"Oh, you're back?" he said, surprised. "I was just coming to get you."
"Yeah. The library was useless. Get the others. We need plane tickets."
"Um, excuse me?"
Sam rubbed his eyes and could almost hear Jerry planning how the next part of their journey would go and how he'd force rest on everyone first. Which was just fine, except they could do that on the plane or train or whatever they took to get to their destination. He was indeed exhausted, but too tired of dragging everything out. It was about time they moved out.
"Yeah, we need to get to a remote little village somewhere on the eastern coast because that's the most likely place the stone could be. Could you just go tell the others?"
"You need sleep."
"I'll sleep on the ride." Sam dropped to one of the armchairs in the lobby and pulled out the map of India he'd taken from the library.
Jerry hesitated for a moment, but turned tail and headed back upstairs. Sam raised his eyebrows in surprise. He'd definitely expected a lecture. With a shrug, he returned to the map. Maybe Jerry was growing as well.
It took the others about a half an hour to get back down with all the luggage. By that time, Sam had already secured plane tickets to Chennai and train tickets to get further south to Vedaranniyam. They'd figure out how to get to the island once they got there.
"So, off again?" Kay asked, dropping a folder on the table in front of Sam.
"Yeah. I've talked to some monks and there might be something to this Shiva legend. What's this?" He rummaged inside and found some handwritten notes.
"Snitch Gravel's research on the jewels."
Sam's face shot up, his eyes widening. "What?"
"You heard her," Kyle said. "The girls took a little detour and snatched them from the big man's office."
"When did this happen?" And why wasn't he aware that was even an option?
"About an hour ago," Jessie answered casually as if they hadn't just humiliated all of them with their stealth skills. "But we'll tell you all about it on the way to wherever it is we're supposed to go now."
Sam's mind buzzed with the need for an explanation, but Jessie was right. They could discuss this on the plane and he could finally understand why, how and since when. So he just nodded and retrieved his rucksack.
YOU ARE READING
Lost Stars (The Jewel Project #3)
Adventure"You youngsters are stupidly adorable with your stubborn obsession with love. Love doesn't lift you. It destroys you." For Sam Grant, his family has become his sanctuary and the team that joins him on death defying adventures. But after everythi...
