"I'll go introduce you."
Tory jumped at the sound of Dr. Allen's voice as he moved past her. Just over fifty, he was fit and trim with gray hair and a small moustache. He'd been the professor who invited her to speak about Atlantis as part of the Parthenon's classic civilization series. Now if she could only use this as a way to help finance her next excavation, she'd kill two birds with one presentation.
Just don't let me fall down and stutter . . .
She crossed herself three times, spit and quickly prayed.
"I know many of you are familiar with the Kafieri name and the dubiousness of Soteria's father's and uncle's research and their claims. But in all fairness, Dr. Kafieri has taken her scholarship extremely seriously and I have to say that her findings have impressed me enough that I wanted to bring her here. Not to mention, being one of the few people who received a doctorate by age twenty shows exactly her level of commitment. I've yet to meet anyone who can flaw her theories or her dedication to the field of ancient study. Now if you'll all help welcome Dr. Kafieri."
Ash withheld his applause as he waited to see the professor he was about to roast.
"Shoot!"
The embarrassed word wouldn't be audible to anyone other than Artemis and him, but the stress in her voice evoked a wave of pity in him. He arched a brow as he heard papers being pushed together as if the presenter had dropped them.
An instant later, she popped out of the door behind the podium. Very tall and slender to the point of waifishness, she was pretty with plain brown hair she'd pulled back into a severe bun. A pair of small round bronze-rimmed glasses covered her deep, intriguing brown eyes. The beige box-cut suit did little to compliment her body and it was obvious she wasn't comfortable wearing it. In fact, she looked really itchy.
She set her papers down on the podium and cleared her throat before she offered all of them a sheepishly charming grin he was sure had gotten her out of much trouble growing up. "I know we're not supposed to open a speech with an apology, but I dropped my pages on the way out here so if you can bear with me for a moment as I realign them I'd appreciate it."
Ash hid his smile.
Dr. Allen looked perturbed, but graciously nodded. "Take your time."
And she did.
People around him were getting agitated by her delay as she tried to put the speech together again.
Dr. Allen leaned forward. "Aren't they numbered?"
Her face turned bright red. "No. I forgot to do that."
Several people in the audience laughed while a couple more cursed.
"Sorry," she said, looking up hastily as she patted the pages together. "Really. I'm very sorry. Let me just go ahead and get started."
With one last wistful look at her abandoned speech, she clicked a photo onto the overhead projector that showed an image of the Parthenon in Greece. "Many of you know that it was my father's and uncle's lifelong obsession to find Atlantis—they both gave up their lives to that quest, as did my mother. And like them, I've made it my mission in life to solve this mystery. Since I was in diapers, my family and I've been excavating in Greece, trying to find Atlantis's true location. In 1995, my cousin Dr. Megeara Kafieri found what I believe to be the correct site and though she abandoned her quest, I never did. This past summer I was finally able to find definitive proof that Atlantis is real and that Megeara's research finally uncovered it."
Ash rolled his eyes at the claim so many had made. If he had a nickel, he'd be even richer than he already was.
Soteria pressed the button and switched the photo to one that made him sit up straight in his chair as he recognized it. It was the broken bust of his mother, Apollymi. And there was only one place the good doctor could have found it.
Atlantis.
She pushed her glasses up on her nose with her knuckle. "This is one of many artifacts my team and I have brought up from the bottom of the Aegean." She used a red laser pointer to show the Atlantean writing on the bottom that spelled his mother's name. "I've been looking for someone who can translate what appears to be a form of early Greek writing. Yet no one has been able to decipher the words or even all the letters. It's as if this alphabet has characters that are missing from the traditional Greek."
Artemis hit him on the arm. "Looks like you're broken, Acheron."
"Busted," he corrected under his breath.
"Whatever," Artemis huffed.