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maps you can buy with directions of how to get there, but I am better than a piece of paper. I am a very good guide.”
    “Take us there, please,” Annja said. “To Ping Yah and Pi Man.” The tingling she’d felt moments ago came back stronger and raised goose bumps on her arms.
    The cold sensation was almost numbing. She rubbed her arms to keep from shivering. If the answer to her unease was here in this chamber, she couldn’t see it. The answer had to rest elsewhere in the mountains.
    “Take me to see more of these coffins,” she said.
    Annja felt for the sword at the edge of her mind, seeking its comfort.
    “How many baht, Zakkarat?” she pressed. “For you to take me.”
    “Us,” Luartaro corrected.
    “Take us to Ping Yah and to Pi Man and Tukta and wherever else there are more of these coffins. Places tourists don’t go.” She stood a better chance of investigating without others around.
    “You’re crazy,” the Australian man grumbled.
    Zakkarat scratched his head. “Not easy going like this place. We would need a little equipment for steep places. Not much, some ropes and pitons, a safety line. Helmets. Maybe a pulley—”
    “Do you—”
    “Yes, I have some caving equipment. My father and I used to—”
    “How much?” Annja knew the price didn’t matter.
    “Five hundred baht.”
    “Done.”
    “Each.”
    “Fine.”
    “Plus extras, maybe. And I will pack a lunch and water bottles for all of us. No charge for the lunch or water.”
    She realized he was testing her to see just how much she’d spend. “When can you take us there?”
    “Tomorrow morning,” Zakkarat said. “Very early, we should start. The day I have free. And tomorrow night I take tourists to the bird show. So we have to be back before sunset. We could get in two caves, I think.”
    “You’re not taking us to the bird show,” the ecowife said. “Even though I’ve bought the film, I’m tired and God knows I can’t stand this stink.”
    Her new husband nodded in agreement.
    “The limestone caves that you want to go to…” Zakkarat said, moving close to Annja. “They are off any regular paths, as I said.”
    “I understand,” Annja said. “Lu and I are in good shape. Climbing will not be a problem.”
    “I can see that you are in good shape.” Zakkarat smiled. “Tomorrow morning very early we will leave. When the sun rises. Very, very early so we have time to see a lot. As the saying goes, I will give you your money’s worth.”
    Annja continued to feel uneasy as she looked around the chamber and studied the coffins. “You don’t mind, Lu? Going to more caves?”
    “I would have suggested it if you hadn’t. This is fascinating. And I love caving.” He reached out a hand, but stopped himself just short of touching one of the teak logs. “Too many people have touched these,” he said. “Too many people don’t respect the past.”
    “It’s not that,” Annja said. “It’s not a matter of respect, Lu. It’s a matter of ignorance. Too many people just don’t know any better.”
    She searched the shadows, thinking she saw movement—a spirit, perhaps—something half glimpsed or maybe just imagined, something that was tugging her or begging her to solve some mystery.
    She decided in the end it was just the play of Zakkarat’s light. Still, the troubling cold sensation wouldn’t leave her. What was bothering her? What could possibly—
    “Did you hear that, Jennie?” the Australian man said.
    “Hear what?” Jennie glanced at the coffins, and then at their guide. “Oh, I heard it. Thunder. The man at the hotel desk mentioned that it might rain today.”
    “Rains come unexpected this time of year,” Zakkarat said, frowning. “It is almost our rainy season. Time to leave.” He scratched his head. “Let us hope it doesn’t rain too much. The paths will be muddy and slippery.”
    Annja was the last in line this time, taking one final look at the coffins and the shadows and feeling a stronger