Lost Within

Chapter One

2015

"A time traveling gem? Do you hear yourself?"

Daniel looks up at me from his position at the desk where he feverishly flips the pages in the book he's holding. "I do. I read all about it. There's supposedly this lost talisman that has magical properties, allowing the person who has it to travel through time. I'll find it. Hold on." He continues flipping through pages while I look around his cramped office. There are so many books here I wonder how he keeps track of them all, but Daniel is one of the most organized people I've ever worked with despite looking like the typical disheveled professor of archaeology. With his dirty blond mess of hair, glasses perched on the tip of his nose, and ubiquitous tweed jacket complete with leather patches on the elbows, he looks like a poor man's Indiana Jones. Minus the Temple of Doom. When I interned with him back in college, I never thought this many years later that he would be my partner in crime and one of my best friends. He was one of the few to give a young woman a chance in this profession.

"Got it!" He looks up at me and grins. "Page 332, the Missing Jewel of Florence."

"Jewel of Florence?"

Standing, Daniel hands me the book, pointing to the page. "Read for yourself."

"The Jewel of Florence," I read, "is believed to be buried in the rubble of earthquake ruins in a town outside the city limits of present day Florence, Italy. It is rumored by many to have supernatural powers giving its holder the ability to time travel." I look up at Daniel with a grin on my face. "Seriously?"

"Keep reading."

"Historians, rightfully so, are skeptical, but numerous accounts exist discussing the mystical powers surrounding anyone that owns the jewel." Hmm.

Daniel leans against his desk and supports himself with his hands. "I read too that the likely reason it was buried is that sometimes it only works one way."

My eyes open wide. "One way? Like you can travel somewhere, but you can't come back?"

"Exactly. There's only one person who can use it going both ways."

"And that person is?"

"Don't know. Somewhere in history, there could be a person who exists who can use the jewel to travel to any point in time and back. They could even be immortal if you think about it. What if they could go hundreds of years in the future and discover the cure for all disease?"

"Interesting."

"Very. Someone believed it was magical enough to hide it."

Handing him the book, I sit in the nearby armchair. "Somewhere in this ruined town, a priceless jewel is buried?"

"Right."

"But an earthquake happened and took the jewel with it under the rubble."

"You got it."

"And supposedly this jewel has time traveling powers."

"Yup."

"You realize that's completely nuts, right?"

"I didn't write. I just read it."

I grin. "Fair. Why are you telling me?"

Daniel smiles. "Because we're going to the site."

I pull my head back. "Where the jewel is?"

"Where it allegedly is, yes. We got permission from the Italian government."