Ruins (32 page)

Mulder picked up the precious jade artifact, the slick-smooth stone of whitish green carved into the design of a feathered serpent.

This time, the image struck him with an eerie chill, because he had seen the real thing. He ran his fingernail along the notches in the carving, tracing the feathers, the fangs in the open mouth. So many centuries of mystery lay locked in that place, and in this artifact.

But since Xitaclan had been destroyed, no one would believe his explanations.

As usual.

Mulder set the jade carving on his desk with a sigh. At least he could use it for a decent paperweight.

KEVIN J. ANDERSON'S first The X-Files adven-ture, Ground Zero, became a #1

international bestseller. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed novels Blindfold, Climbing Olympus, and (with coauthor Doug Reason) Virtual Destruction, III Wind, and Assemblers of Infinity. His work has been nominated for the Nebula and Bram Stoker Awards. His current projects include a third X-Files novel, based on charac-ters created by Chris Carter.