Calling ahead late that evening and confirming they would not have any chance of getting their flight out of the airport in the morning, Nicasio left the alarm turned off and slept late the next day. Following the more cordial dinner they had in the cafeteria at the conclusion of their incomparable evening of love-making, the tired researcher expected that Daniela would still be in bed next to him when he awoke. She was not.

Instead she had returned to the library upon its opening at seven thirty that morning. Her intent was to leave her reassured lover asleep, purposely to revel in his satiated state for several hours. This calculation would give Daniela more time to seek out something which had become a curious compulsion while studying at the Blegen. It involved learning more details of the female research group which had so cryptically disappeared. There were some facts she wanted to know on her own and which she needed to find out before the two of them left the Blegen Library for good. As she knew, this would be her last chance.

The librarian at the American School who had helped her most during her stay was a short, middle-aged woman with kind eyes and a perennial smile. Eleni had an accommodating demeanor and always brought Daniela's requested texts to her promptly and never without a cordial word or compliment of some sort. Though she spoke Greek as a native to some of the Greek researchers, to Daniela she appeared very northern European, seemingly too blond and blue-eyed to not have some cross-cultural, cross-genetic connection in Greece. She insisted in perfect English, however, that this was not the case, and proudly declared herself a "Greek-Greek." Her accent in speaking English revealed the typical Greek-British synthesis of vowels sounds which Daniela had found most prevalent of those who spoke to her in her native language there. Yet, there was something very American about Eleni's openness and gregarious character which Daniela found reminiscent of home. It was extremely approachable when working in the reading room, and she had hoped it would be valuable to her that morning.

She asked her favorite librarian as she approached her desk, one last favor. To search her computerized records for something very specific-perhaps even no longer even available. Daniela wanted to see the text checkout list from one member of the group of scholars who had assisted Professor Vasiliou's in her intensive Amazon study some decade or so ago and had gone with her to Turkey. She told Eleni it would have been approximately eleven or twelve years before, when the professor headed the international team of five women-the team Dr. Santori had spoken of.

If this could be done, she requested, it would be for the resources list associated with the scholar from Yale, the Turkish American student she had heard of from Nefeli. Daniela understood this would have to be the very woman she was to meet when she returned to California-Emel Bahar, now more than a decade older and living in Montecito, just south of Santa Barbara. Eleni listened to her request patiently but was strangely silent when Daniela mentioned it was the Turkish American graduate student from Yale.

"I think I can find those records for you, Daniela . . . but the women were here on two consecutive summers. Each time just before they departed for Turkey in the fall to conduct excavations."

"I see."

"Which research period would you be interested in? Her first year here or the second?"

"I suppose the second. Before her departure for the final excavation."

Eleni's voice suddenly dropped into a quieter, somber tone. "But you must be aware that this researcher you speak of . . . she disappeared during her archaeological studies that second year. She was never really found."

Eleni leaned over the counter to continue speaking in a subdued and uncharacteristic voice.

"They say she was presumed . . . killed . . . or kidnapped while the group was working on that second dig in in the south of Turkey. Were you aware of that?"

Daniela was stunned. She had not heard from either Nicasio or from Professor Vasiliou about anyone in the group who had been abducted or presumed dead.

"No," Daniela replied, emptily. She tried not to show any over-concern, "I was really not aware of that. I only wanted to see what . . . this woman was reading while here. Before she went to dig. Like what her sources were."

"Well . . . I just thought you should know, Daniela."

"Well I do appreciate that information. Though it's . . . very sad. See. . . I've become super interested in her specific research topic."

"Penthesilea, you mean?"

Again Daniela was silently riveted by Eleni's knowledge, and the candid comment.

"Yes. I understand and actually read here about her extensive work on this particular queen of the Amazons . . . but I had really no idea the researcher . . . turned up . . ."

"Missing? Yes. It was quite a shock to the whole community here when we learned of it. And the fact that she was never found . . . at least to our knowledge . . . was just devastating. Her disappearance . . . and professor Vasiliou's retirement were two huge blows to the research community of archaeologists and Classical studies scholars. Especially those who knew her and frequented us generally during those years."

"I can imagine."

"And not just here in Athens. Most have forgotten the story by now, but many abroad still remember it well."

"Naturally."

Daniela waited. To see what Eleni might tell her next.

"Alright, Daniela. I will go search our records for that list you want. It should be easy to locate within the system once I pinpoint the year. I'll run a printout for you of all her checkouts while she was here that second season . . . just before her departure to Turkey."

"Oh you're great, Eleni! Thank you very much."

Daniela remained standing at the counter patiently while the librarian disappeared into the back rooms. On this morning there were a number of other researchers filing in, all having to leave their bags and belongings in lockers, as was the Blegen's policy.

It was in approximately ten minutes that the stout woman returned holding a multi-page printout.

"See?" Eleni smiled. "You're lucky we're so organized here." She then handed Daniela the list, again with her always cheery face.

"You are truly amazing."

"I actually happened to be working here in those days. So I knew where to look in our archives."

"Well wonderful, then." Daniela took the dense listing of resources and stood before her, curiously scanning it over.

"Now, you should know, her name was Nihal Sawyer," Eleni added. "And yes, she was Turkish American. A very polite and decent young woman. She was also an extremely determined classicist and archaeologist, as I remember."

Daniela quickly thought there must have been some mistake with the name.

"Nihal had been working towards her PhD," Eleni added. "In . . . Near Eastern History at Yale, as I recall. She . . . and all the five or six women in that consortium, spent the entire month of August here at our facilities. It was their second year to do so. As I said they had already been to Turkey the late summer before on an extended dig. Like Greece, fall is the better season for excavations over there."

"Yes. . . I see . . . and . . . what did you say was her name again . . . this researcher from Yale?"

"Sawyer. Nihal Sawyer. She was born in Turkey. Her mother was from there, father an American. I remember she had told me this. We had many lovely chats."

Daniela only blinked back at her.

"You see, there were about four researchers in addition to Dr. Vasiliou in this group. She was by far the brightest. The most dedicated."

"Yes. I'm sure she was."

Eleni looked down at another paper she carried with her for reference.

"Two of the others were from . . . let's see . . . Stanford. One British girl from Kings College? No. I see here she was from Cambridge. But I do remember Nihal from Yale . . . very well. Such a shame they never found her."

Daniela was surprised by the information Eleni had provided her. Was their some mistake? The name she gave made no sense to her in light of the name Nefeli had given. Everything else seemed to be as she understood it. Emel's history and her involvement with Dr. Vasiliou had been personally related to her by the professor herself.

"Now, as you will see from this inventory, Daniela, most of the works on Nihal's list do concern Penthesilea . . . as you mentioned. And yes, she was supposed to be one of the more interesting of the legendary queens of the Amazons. Especially as recorded in art. This compilation is complete, as you specified."

"Yes, I see it is," Daniela said, nodding, calmly.

"You'll see also from that list, the second one, that Nihal Sawyer was also quite interested in tomb construction . . . particularly the Mycenaean tholos variety. We have abundant information on that type of sacred architecture here if you have time to peruse it."

"Yes, thank you," Daniela replied, running her eyes up and down the copious listing of resources. She scanned it quietly, unemotionally, so as not to show the bewilderment she felt by the unexpected Turkish American's name of Nihal Sawyer. Why did Vasiliou express this woman to be Emel Bahar? And why was she understood now to be presumed dead? Her body never recovered--having apparently disappeared in Turkey so many years ago.

Daniela nodded solemnly for a last time and carried the list with her back to her cubical. There she spent the next hour carefully reading over the titles of books, journals and large folios which the researcher-whatever her true name was, had actually studied. She could see that the young woman was tireless in her time with each source, having the texts from early morning until late into the night. This had continued over the entire month of her second summer she was in Athens. Several of the books, over the course of the next several hours, Daniela requested Eleni to bring her. They had piqued her own interest and were incredibly detailed in scope, mainly about Penthesilea and her mythologized or historical reign of the Amazons around the time of the Trojan War.

The most fascinating sources to her were the English translations of ancient Greek works which referred, however briefly, to Penthesilea's death at that war. How she had gone to fight there with her small contingent of twelve fellow Amazons. She remembered the many images she had seen rendered in the artwork of the Classical Period of Penthesilea's death in combat-always at the hands of the single Greek hero, Achilles. This poignant scene seemed to be a favored motif during the Classical Age and later in paintings and sculptural works dealing with the Amazons throughout Europe and in different ages.

Daniela eventually noticed that only one book the Yale researcher had requested, during the last day of her stay wasn't listed as being kept at the American School of Classical Studies facility at all. It was specified as housed within the private collection at the Gennadius Library, directly across the street. By now she had understood the different jurisdictions of recourses relating to these two libraries. It was a matter of time periods. The American School collection specialized in the earlier, Classical and Hellenistic topics, while the Gennadius was a repository of all later Greek-related historical texts and recourses, following these eras right up into modern times. Researchers at the Blegen were able to use the Gennadius Library as well when needed, if they requested to do so by appointment.

Curiously, there existed on the Yale researcher's list only this one text which clearly related to the Amazons but was housed at the Gennadius, directly across the street. The compiled list Eleni had given Daniela referenced the work simply as "Unavailable-see Gennadius Collection." Daniela surmised this was logical, as the work, obviously written about a later period than classical times, was housed in the private library collection adjacent to the Blegen. Yet, it had been included in the search engine shared by the American School, the British School of Classical Studies in Athens, and the Gennadius Library.

For this book's unique singularity, it stood out as being quite curious to Daniela. It was distinctly different when compared to all the others located there on the premises of the American School. There had to be something about the anomalous text which was deeply intriguing to the Yale student. Of the some two hundred volumes and Folios she had accessed that month on Amazon lore and history, only this book stood out in this way. Daniela had to know if this really mattered. And if so . . . why?

* * *