Page 60 of Us in Ruins
“Where?” Astrid asked, a tinge of disbelief to her voice.
Margot moved to the other eye, mimicking each deliberate motion. Her grip on the brush tightened. “In Pompeii. And when I did, he came back to life.”
“Please.” It was more laugh than word.
Shaking her head, Margot said, “I know what it sounds like, but why would I lie about this?”
“How?” Astrid pestered.
Switching brushes, Margot moved to a softer blue and swiped it onto Astrid’s lids. The familiar movements did little to soothe the exposed nerve of her emotions. She knew why Astrid had suddenly regressed to monosyllabic responses. She didn’t believe her. Worse, she didn’t believe in her ability to do it at all.
“You wanted the truth. That’s the truth.”
“That’s not all I want.” Astrid’s words sharpened, determined. “Stop looking for the Vase.”
Margot groaned. “This again?”
There was something different in the way Astrid looked at her—warning, protective. The way a friend would look at you. “It’s going to get you in major trouble.”
It already has.
“I can’t,” Margot said as she dropped the eye shadow palette back into Astrid’s pile of drugstore cosmetics. “I told you. Van’s cursed. And without the Vase, he’ll turn back into a statue.”
“That’s too bad because you’ll never find it.” Astrid reached for her mascara tube. All kindness sapped from her face, like maybe it had never been there to begin with. A mirage or a figment of Margot’s overactive imagination.
The words were out of Margot before she could stop them. “You don’t have to take my word for it. I know it’s real. And I have proof. Cold, hard, indisputable proof.”
“Yeah, right.”
Sliding out her phone, Margot tapped to her photos and thumbed through images of palm trees against blue skies, heaping bowls of pasta, and sneaky candids of Van until she found it. A photo of the first two shards after they’d survived the Nymphaeum. Their gilded edges fit together perfectly, and the start of an inscription wove across the clay fragments.
“Look,” Margot said, “I had the first two shards, and I would’ve had the third if it weren’t for—”
“Had?” Astrid asked.
Margot chewed the inside of her lip. “Have.”
“You said had.”
“Van has them,” Margot said. Her pulse quickened with the lie. “That’s what I meant.”
Astrid peered down at Margot’s phone again and cut her off with a cold laugh. It started as a small, biting giggle, but Astrid couldn’t contain it.
A sickening sludge formed in Margot’s gut. “What’s so funny?”
“I’m not saying I believe you of all people found the Vase, but if you did...” Astrid paused, and Margot had every reason to believe it was for dramatic effect. “Well, I’ve heard about this inscription. You did translate it, didn’t you?”
“Of course he did,” Margot argued. He’d found all the shards before. He must have read what they said.
A tilt of Astrid’s head. “Van did. Not you? He translated every word? You’re sure?”
Margot tried to remember—tried but failed. “I think so, yeah. Why wouldn’t he?”
Astrid finished fanning out her lashes with mascara and sank the wand back in its tube. “Would’ve been pretty convenient to leave out the part where he needs a human sacrifice to unlock the treasure of Venus.”
Margot hated the way Astrid forced her hand. Manipulated the conversation so that Margot had to fold. “What are you talking about?”
“The treasure,” Astrid said, like it was perfectly obvious. “You think Venus would make it easy for someone to waltz off with her belongings? If that’s really shards of the Vase—and, again, I’m not saying I believe you—it’s the key to the treasure. There’s only one way to be loved forever. Lapideum. To turn to stone.”