Try on the necklace.

It's weird that Jonathan-- a true archaeologist as far as I'm concerned-- would let me put on an ancient artifact. Aren't there acids in our fingertips that cause premature rust and decay? This is silly, but…what’s the harm?

"Alright, I'll try it on," I say, trying not to be so suspicious of Jonathan’s motives. After all, you need to trust your friends if you’re to have friends at all. I pull the bronze strands around my neck but find the clasp a little troublesome. I wouldn't be surprised if it was rusted or broken. Jonathan isn't too fazed.

"Here. Let me," he offers. I turn around and conveniently see myself and the gentleman in a wall-hung mirror. He fidgets for a second and then the necklace is whole. I thank him and smile warmly.

"Oh, the pleasure was all mine," he says slyly, grinning from ear to ear and chuckling. When I try to ask him what's so funny, I find that I can't. Somehow my voice has disappeared. I try to look up to Jonathan, to alert him that something is wrong, but my arms die at my sides as I reach for his shoulders in vain. He starts to laugh! Does he think I’m fooling?

****, I struggle to walk toward him—or away, I’m not sure—but that, too, seems a Herculean task as my feet pick up like they’re immersed in tar. Still, I manage a single step, if not a very good one, and clumsily tumble into his arms.

"Don’t try anything stupid, Alexis, don’t try to resist," he says, righting me back onto my feet and telling me not to move. I can barely seem to do that anyway, but upon his words, it seems solidified.

“Just let the jewel do it’s work and then you can relax.”

Relax? How can I relax like this? I’m dumb and paralyzed while he’s laughing and talking to me as if I’m a child? What’s happened to me?

Suddenly he takes advantage of my frozen form and boldly wraps his long arms around my waist. He turns me toward a mirror, where I can see my face along with his resting on my shoulder. He explains, "I found that jewel and others like it on my last trip to Egypt, and since then it's made me a very rich and happy man...if you know what I mean."

I actually –don’t- know what he means, until I feel something hard poking into my tailbone!