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Malledy had obtained and placed it on his tongue. Twenty Archivists witnessed his seven-minute disappearance from bed. When Otto suddenly returned, materializing out of thin air, he was dead. But in his hand was a whole pomegranate and on his face was a smile.
    Those seeds were just one of many of Malledy’s successes. Over the next five years he pursued and discovered the chain that had been used to bind Prometheus in punishment for stealing fire from the Gods. Soon after, he followed fragments of ancient conversations and cave paintings in Greece to discover the rough reddish fragment of a small trident that Poseidon, God of the Sea, had given to his half-brother, Chiron. The fragment could create massive waves on demand. And one of Malledy’s most recent accomplishments was the discovery of a platinum scepter encrusted with enormous rubies and emeralds that had once belonged to Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love and Beauty. Each stone was dazzling and unique, with sapphire, diamond, and amethyst starbursts in their centers.
    Of course, all of Malledy’s acquisitions were sent to the clients who had paid dearly to acquire them, but the Archivists always retained a tiny fragment of each powerful talisman, storing them in their own vaults. The Archivists had survived through the centuries because they understood that while money was power, ancient artifacts were also power. And Malledy understood this more than most, because the moments when he was allowed to unlock the magic of an artifact and bend it to his will were the only instances in his life where he felt he had an ounce of control….
    • • •
    A clock in the front hall of the townhouse chimed the hour. Malledy opened his eyes.
What am I now? Who am I now? Do I have any choices left or am I just a victim of Huntington’s disease?
    “No,” Malledy whispered. “I’m an Archivist and I need to finish what I’ve begun.”
    Malledy would find one last artifact for his current client—he was already closing in on success. He’d earn a final and impressive fee for the Archivists and leave Juliette proud of her one-time student and charge. “I’ll have come full circle,” Malledy murmured. Zeus’s lightning stone had been his first discovery. His final acquisition, another of Zeus’ creations, would be his last.
    “I do have a choice,” Malledy’s words sounded hollow to his ears. He wondered if his cruel disease would tighten its stranglehold on his body and mind before he found what he was looking for….

Chapter Six

    The last class of the day was always the hardest. Evangeline stared out her classroom window at the soccer field where kids in PE were running sprints with varying levels of intensity. Her fingers traced the key at her throat. It felt like it had always been there—like it belonged there.
    “Evangeline?” Mrs. Hopkins, stood next to her third-row desk.
    “Sorry, what was the question?” Evangeline asked, feeling like she’d been caught stealing. The kids in the English class laughed at her discomfort, but they stopped as soon as Mrs. Hopkins turned to them holding a blackboard eraser. She threw erasers at kids who were passing notes, whispering, or laughing and she had great aim, usually hitting them mid-chest, leaving a rectangular chalk-mark on their clothes.
    Mrs. Hopkins turned back to Evangeline, peering at her through oversized horn-rimmed glasses. Her hair was pulled back severely in a low, tight ponytail, and even though she was probably ancient (at least fifty), the English teacher’s skin was unlined. “I asked what you thought F. Scott Fitzgerald meant by ‘the green light.’ So?”
    Evangeline felt like she’d been thrust into a spotlight and couldn’t find her voice, instead opening and closing her mouth like a fish flopping on dry land. It wasn’t that she didn’t know the answer—she just couldn’t get it out because everyone was staring at her.
    “We’re talking about The Great Gatsby,” Melia hissed from