Pandora's Key by Nancy Richardson Fischer Read Free Book Online Page B

whole day pretending to be something he wasn’t. It was only four in the afternoon but he was exhausted and totally drained. Suddenly Malledy’s hand was gripped by a powerful tremor. His time was running out.
    There was a knock at the door. “Come in,” Malledy called, jamming his hand under his thigh to control the spasms.
    Juliette carried in a tray of food and set it on a low table. “How about a snack?”
    Malledy looked at the plate of steamed spinach and brown rice—Dr. Aali’s prescribed diet. “I’m not hungry.”
    His mentor sat down in a winged-back chair. “You need your energy.”
    “Why?”
    Juliette tucked her shoulder-length hair behind both ears and met Malledy’s gaze. “To fight for your life.”
    “Who would have thought that a few hand tremors would lead to this?”
    “It wasn’t just hand tremors, Malledy,” Juliette’s voice was gentle. “There’ve been sudden outbursts and misdirected anger. Do you remember?”
    Malledy blushed and looked away. “I know. I’m embarrassed. Please tell them I’m sorry.”
    “You’ll get the chance to tell the Archivists yourself.”
    “I may not live that long and if I do, I won’t make any sense.” Malledy was supremely aware that very soon he would experience his biggest fear—logic replaced by dementia.
If I was a God, I would never get sick. I would never die. I would be in charge of my life.
“But I’m not a God,” Malledy murmured.
    “
Quoi?
” Juliette asked.
    “Nothing.” Malledy shook his head. “Would you mind if I sleep a bit longer? Then I’ll eat—promise.”
    Juliette nodded, kissed his forehead left the room.
    Malledy closed his eyes but his mind was churning. Longingly, he thought about the times when he’d felt most in command and powerful, knowing he needed to summon that strength to accomplish his final goal.
I have to do it for Juliette—so she won’t be so sad when I’m gone.
His eyes burned with tears.
    As Malledy calmed a bit, images shifted in his mind like scattered pieces of a puzzle. First the glimmer of an idea formed—he tried to grasp it, but it slid away. Then he almost had an inspiration, but let it go as if it had burned him because it was too bizarre, too…dangerous. And then, an epiphany struck him like a truck barreling down the highway without brakes—he was simply unable to avoid it. It crashed into him, shattering his defenses, leaving him shaken, breathless.
    Malledy opened his eyes and sat up. Throughout his life as an Archivist, whenever he’d held artifacts he’d discovered and demonstrated their ancient magic to his colleagues, he wasn’t just a boy or a young man showing off a God’s enchantment. His mind, his research, his genius had allowed him to unlock every artifact’s power.
    In a blinding flash, Malledy made the connection: if he could control elements and individuals with the Gods’ ancient artifacts, surely he could control his own destiny with those artifacts. If Malledy had been able to wield the Gods’ magic in the past, even as a child fighting for the right to exist within the Order of Archivists, it was not such a great leap to assume that should he find the most powerful talisman in existence—he’d be able to command it, too. If he could do that—and he could—of course he could!—then he could obliterate his disease.
    Pandora’s Box—the artifact required for Malledy’s salvation—was the very artifact he was currently seeking for a client of the Order. Suddenly he realized that fate had conspired in his favor instead of against it.
    His cell phone rang and he answered it quickly with the code name he’d chosen for his latest acquisition. “Magnus.”
    “Cronen,” the caller responded with his corresponding code name.
    “Were you successful?” Malledy asked.
    “No. My two colleagues never returned.”
    “Don’t worry. There are other ways to gain access.”
    Malledy hung up. Opening his laptop, he typed a security code in Clickita and