Thorn Fall Read Online Free PDF Page B

we were having a video chat and I could frown right at him. Was he… implying something? “Professor?”
    “Since you graduated from the university’s archaeology program, you are doubtlessly aware of the numerous laws related to the buying and selling of Native American artifacts taken from federal land and national forests. And you must know also that I feel particularly strongly about the looting of the world’s archaeological heritage.”
    “Of course I’m aware, sir. We didn’t take anything.” God, he couldn’t know about the sword, could he? Whoever had left that sword down there, it hadn’t been some Yavapai tribesman.
    “I have a T.A. keeping an eye on your company—” he said company as if it were the filthiest word in the English language, “—eBay page. If illicit artifacts appear there, you can expect someone to take action.”
    I stared at the phone again, heat flushing my cheeks. “Sir, we’re not selling anything illicit. And we didn’t take anything from those caves. Why would I have told you about them in the first place if we had been looting them?”
    “There’s little reason to hide their existence when they’re empty.”
    “They were always empty!” I gulped air, trying to take a deep breath, trying to calm down. Shouting at a professor wouldn’t get me anywhere. “We’re not selling anything illicit,” I repeated.
    “Good. See that you don’t.” The phone beeped as the connection was cut.
    My cheeks were hotter than suns now. I felt like hitting someone.
    Temi, standing a few feet away with her towel still wrapped around her head, was the only one around. Picking a fight with someone fresh off a week of special combat training with elves wouldn’t be a good idea.
    “Problem?” she asked, her dark eyes wary. She probably didn’t know if she should leave me alone or pretend she hadn’t overheard everything.
    I jammed the phone back onto the charger. “Just be glad you got to have a career before you screwed up your life.”
    Pain flashed through her eyes. She gave me a curt nod and strode to the van with her shower kit. I dropped my face into my hands. That had been as tactful as an avalanche. It wasn’t her fault that she had overheard the call, but I couldn’t go after her; I was too embarrassed. Did Tillium really have some nineteen-year-old teacher’s assistant keeping tabs on me? As if I was some criminal? “Like I’d sell artifacts on eBay. I’m not an idiot.”
    “That’s right,” Simon’s voice came from behind me. “Everyone knows black market artifacts go on Craigslist, not eBay.”
    He had hopped out of the van, his Dirt Viper metal detector in hand, and he winked at me.
    I glowered at him. He had business and computer science degrees from the same university. I wasn’t sure how I had grown so notorious, but I doubted anyone back at school cared what he was up to. Or if they were checking up, they probably approved, since he was off being entrepreneurial. Although maybe there was a T.A. following his monster-hunting blog and laughing himself to bed every night.
    Simon’s grin said he wasn’t daunted by my glower. Nothing new there. He patted the Dirt Viper. “She’s all charged up and ready for action. Want to put her to use today?”
    “Depends. Do you want to go hunting for abandoned goodies or signs of monsters?”
    “Absolutely.” He grinned wider.
    I grunted. Yes, why not multitask?
    “Actually, I thought I’d send the Dirt Viper with you so I could stay here and work on…” Simon paused to eye the campsites on either side of us. The one to the right was empty, but an old brown camper van similar to Zelda occupied the one to the left. I had seen a teenage girl and a stringy woman with long gray hair there earlier. Simon lowered his voice to finish with, “Certain defensive and offensive items.”
    “You’re going to do that here? In the van? Shouldn’t you have a lab?”
    “I should, but nobody’s offered me one.”
    “Maybe