Jenn Bennett - Grim Shadows

“It will take you two weeks just to get to Europe?” Astrid asked.

“A little less. Four days by train to New York,” Lowe said, counting the time off on his fingers. “Six days on the S.S. Olympic to England. A ferry to France, then a train ride to the coast the next morning to catch another three-day steamer to Alexandria.”

Hadley stopped herself from mouthing the schedule along with Lowe; she’d memorized every leg of their journey weeks ago. “Which means that exactly two weeks from now, we’ll be stepping foot on Egyptian soil.” Just thinking about it made her stomach flutter.

“Be sure to take lots of photographs at the pyramids,” Bo said.

“And at the museum,” her father added. “You have my letter to Director Amir inviting him to San Francisco?”

“You’ve asked me twice already, Father.” A stronger relationship between their museum and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo could help bring touring exhibits to San Francisco. Hadley was eager to meet the director and discuss opportunities.

Eager for that, and eager to see the country that birthed the civilization she’d spent her life studying, and that changed her family’s lives so profoundly. Without it, her world would be so different. She wouldn’t have lost her mother nor been cursed with the Mori. But she also wouldn’t be running the antiquities department, and she wouldn’t have met the man at her side.

And those gifts alone made her curse feel almost like a blessing.

The first whistle sounded to announce the train’s impending departure.

“Adventure awaits, Mrs. Bacall,” Lowe said, smiling down at her. “You ready for this?”

She threaded her arm through his and linked elbows. “Darling, I was born ready.”