The Quest for the Temple Key

And now, of course, they were parents of a growing toddler girl. Peter hadn’t been prepared for the overwhelming sense of joy that washed over him at her birth. He’d wept when he first held her in his arms. Even now he was misting up, deep in his remembrances. Amy shifted her feet, pulling him back to the present.

Quietly, she murmured, “I thought so, too. It’s just that yesterday, when I found Danielle in here…you know how fast she moves since she’s been walking by herself. She was right next to me in the kitchen while you were out jogging. I was busy cleaning up. When I looked down, she wasn’t there. I checked the gate to the basement to make sure it was closed. Then I checked here in our office. That’s when I found her holding…this.” She was staring at the now-boxed-up key. “I don’t want her touching this ever again.” Peter saw the look in her eyes grow more intense, even manic. “Ever!” she yelled. “That’s why I had it boxed up.”

“Should we dispose of it, Hon? Give it to a gallery, maybe?” Peter replied.

“I’ve thought about that. A lot…” Amy responded, with a wan smile. “No. We don’t get rid of it. Not yet. Not until we’ve learned what it is. You know, Hector is still deciphering the runes. Maybe he’ll finally have a breakthrough.”

“Fair enough,” Peter said quietly, as he reached over to retrieve the clear box his wife was clutching, pushed aside a huge pile of magazines and placed it on the most open shelf in their office. He didn’t tell Amy that he was thinking Hector was already plenty busy with running his scientific research lab in La Paz and since he’d not broken the runic code yet, he probably never would.