Arkana Archaeology Mystery Box Set 2

by N. S. Wikarski

  The new diviner eyed his companion with mild reproach. “My methods aren’t universally approved.”

  Faye nodded sagely. “Changing established patterns does take time.”

  “At least I have overwhelming support from the brotherhood for disarmament. It didn’t take long for word to spread about my father’s death. Most in the congregation are interpreting that event as a warning from God. They’ve readily agreed to return to the original mandate to live apart from the Fallen and await the End of Days as pacifists.”

  “Speaking of pacifism,” Erik chimed in. What’s your plan for the lab? Not my happiest place on earth.”

  “I’m working with Dr. Aboud’s successor to dismantle the operation and destroy the research files,” Daniel said. “Once that’s done, the facility itself will be demolished.”

  “The Arkana still has one hundred and fifty plague dispensers to get rid of,” Maddie reminded him.

  “I’ll put you in touch with Maskeen,” Daniel suggested. “He’ll help you transfer the virus back to the lab where it can be disposed of safely.”

  “Now that the compounds have been demilitarized, I should think that some Nephilim might want to return to the outside world,” Faye ventured.

  “A smaller percentage than I’d like.” The new diviner sighed. “I’m instituting rehabilitation programs for the ones who want to go. The brotherhood certainly has the financial resources to make that possible. I myself will be leaving once I’ve undone as much damage as I can.” He glanced at his daughter. “Sarah and I are moving into an apartment in the city.”

  “What about your other wives and daughters?” Hannah asked in surprise. “You won’t forget about them, will you?”

  Daniel smiled bleakly. “They’ve chosen to stay. I can’t force them to see things my way, but Sarah is different. She’s still very young, and her mother is gone, so it’s up to me to decide for her.”

  “I like being outside,” his daughter informed them all over a spoonful of potato salad.

  “There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Out of the mouths of babes,” Chris said. “Too bad she can’t convince her elders at the compound that outside is better for everybody.”

  “If it were up to me, I’d dissolve the organization altogether,” Daniel stated flatly.

  “That’s a wonderful idea!” Hannah enthused. “Especially for the consecrated brides and their children. What’s stopping you?”

  The new diviner hesitated. “The message Cassie received from Jedediah Proctor, that’s what. He made God’s plan for the Blessed Nephilim quite clear.”

  Daniel’s Arkana listeners reacted strangely to his comment. They all turned toward Cassie expectantly.

  The pythia flushed. “Uh...”

  Maddie tapped her long fingernails on the table. “That’s your cue, kiddo. You insisted we do this, remember?”

  Cassie winced. “I should learn to keep my mouth shut.”

  “You did say it would be better if he received the news from you,” Griffin hinted.

  The pythia transferred her attention to the new diviner. “Yikes, this is awkward.” She smiled fleetingly. “OK, here goes. Daniel, you’ve helped the Arkana in so many ways that we consider you an ally. That’s why we feel we owe you an explanation about what happened on Ahkka Mountain.”

  Daniel peered at her uncomprehendingly. “I don’t need an explanation. I saw it all unfold with my own eyes.”

  “Yeah, that’s just the thing.” Cassie faltered. “Do you remember what your father said right before he died? He claimed that nothing he saw was real.”

  “My father was rambling and out of his head.”

  “Maybe so but he was also right.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  Sarah began to fidget. She twisted around in her seat, looking for new territory to explore.

  Chris rose from the table. “It might be a good idea if I took Sarah for a walk around the neighborhood while the eyewitnesses have a chat. This topic isn’t rated ‘For General Audiences’ anyway. Daniel can catch me up later if I miss anything important.”

  “An excellent suggestion,” Faye concurred.

  “There are more cookies in the kitchen if she wants one,” Hannah called after him as he took Sarah by the hand and led her through the screen door.

  Once they were out of earshot, Cassie began. “Daniel, you can go ahead and disband the Nephilim with a clear conscience because that message didn’t actually come from Jedediah Proctor. I faked the trance. In fact, everything you saw was an act. We staged the whole scene for the diviner’s benefit.”

  The pythia waited a few moments for Daniel’s glazed expression to fade.

  “But what about the prophecy?” he asked. “My father confirmed that he never told anyone about it before you channeled those words aloud.”

  “I actually learned about it one night while I was searching Metcalf’s office,” Erik said. “He wandered in and started quoting from it. All I had to do was copy down the text.”

  “And I made Cassie memorize it,” Maddie added. “In fact, nearly everything she told the diviner was scripted and rehearsed ahead of time.”

  Daniel glanced from one face to another, still obviously confused. “I don’t understand. Why would you bother doing any of that?”

  Zach spoke up. “We were trying to avoid a body count, and the only way we could think of was to mess with your dad’s head.”

  “We figured a message from the Nephilim’s founder and a quote from his own prophecy might cause him to scrap his plan for doomsday,” the chatelaine explained

  “A very risky ploy.” Daniel sounded skeptical. “My father could be exceptionally hard to convince of anything that ran contrary to his own wishes.”

  “Yeah, we know,” Cassie agreed. “That’s why we also let him fumble the retrieval by using the fake artifacts and then showing him that we had the real ones. More proof that he wasn’t destined to control the Sage Stone.”

  “But you yourselves failed to open the reliquary using the real artifacts,” Daniel retorted.

  “That was part of the plan too,” Cassie disclosed uncomfortably.

  “Ridiculous!” the new diviner objected, sounding nearly as autocratic as his father. “Why on earth would you pretend to fail?”

  “Because we needed to establish my cred.”

  “Your what?” Daniel tilted his head.

  “My credibility as a psychic. If your dad saw me getting an otherwordly message that solved the riddle of how to use the key, he’d be primed to believe me when I started channeling Proctor.”

  “Pretending the key didn’t work very nearly cost you your lives,” Daniel pointed out.

  “Tell me about it!” Zach gave Maddie a dirty look. “Losing our weapons sure wasn’t part of the plan. That mistake almost got Hannah and Erik killed.”

  “Almost doesn’t count.” The chatelaine waved her hand dismissively. “End of subject.”

  “But Father Abraham actually did fire at Cassie!” Daniel turned to the pythia for confirmation. “I saw him shoot you twice and you survived.”

  “Another trick. I was wearing a bullet-proof vest under my sweater.”

  Daniel’s mouth hung open.

  “In fact, we were all wearing body armor,” Griffin said. “Except for Hannah and Erik, of course.”

  “Yeah, thanks for that,” the paladin grumbled.

  “Well, we could hardly pass you Kevlar vests during the confrontation, now could we?” the scrivener countered. “Admittedly, we miscalculated Metcalf’s willingness to kill Hannah. But as for you, a vest would have been pointless since your captors were far more likely to shoot you in the head anyway.”

  Erik was about to offer a blistering retort, but Maddie intervened to forestall a squabble. “We were hoping to draw all the fire away from the hostages. OK? Let’s just leave it at that.”

  “And it’s not like I expected Metcalf to hit me,�
� Cassie said. “Who knew he could aim straight?”

  “Seeing you fall nearly gave me heart failure!” Griffin exclaimed.

  “You and the rest of us,” Erik agreed.

  Cassie continued. “When I realized I hadn’t been hurt, I figured I could use those bullet holes in my jacket to feed the scenario. I played it up as proof that I had received the power of the Sage Stone.”

  “That part had to be true,” Daniel insisted. “How else could you have crushed the artifact with your bare hands?”

  The pythia smiled cryptically. “Funny thing about that rock.”

  Maddie dug inside her voluminous handbag. “It wasn’t the real Sage Stone.” She slammed a heavy object on the table next to Faye’s plate. “This is the Sage Stone.”

  All eyes turned to a nondescript black rock about eight inches long and five inches wide.

  “But how...” Daniel trailed off, even more perplexed.

  “Our people snagged it the week before,” Zach informed him.

  “That’s impossible.” The new diviner rubbed his forehead distractedly. “When we all entered the cave, I checked. Nothing had been touched.”

  “Like Cassie said, you saw what we wanted you to see,” Maddie informed him. “I wasn’t going to risk losing the biggest find in Arkana history, no matter what the outcome of our confrontation with Metcalf. All five artifacts were already locked in the vault, so there was nothing to stop us from opening the reliquary. Sure, Lars was guarding the place, but he was there to protect it from outsiders—not other Arkana agents. I sent a crew to Sweden while we were all waiting for your father to pick a date for the rendezvous. Our people took the real artifact, substituted a fake, reset the mechanism, and patched up the wall.”

  Daniel squinted at Cassie. “But even if the relic was false, it was still a solid piece of rock. I saw you destroy it. And what about the green glow?”

  “It was a baetyl from the Arkana’s extensive collection,” Griffin interjected. “Nothing with any special significance but it was approximately the right size and shape. We encased it in several inches of crumbly material and applied a luminescent coating.”

  “Gave it more bling than the original,” Cassie said. “We needed something your father would believe had mysterious powers. Nothing says mysterious like glow-in-the-dark. Also, crushing a chunk of rock bare-handed is guaranteed to wow an audience.”

  Faye picked up the Sage Stone and inspected it. “Given its legendary reputation, it’s not very impressive as a physical specimen, is it? Looks rather like a lump of bread dough that hasn’t risen.”

  “Hence the need for bling,” Maddie said.

  Addressing Cassie, the memory guardian asked, “Has the artifact spoken to you yet?”

  “Not a peep,” the pythia admitted.

  “Well, perhaps it’s just groggy after its three-thousand-year nap.” Faye laid it back on the table.

  “But the power of the Sage Stone surely protected you from my father’s second attempt to kill you,” Daniel insisted. “Are you saying that was a trick too?”

  “No,” Cassie conceded. “The split second before Metcalf fired, I could sense he was about to pull the trigger and that he was aiming for my head. I tried to shield my face the best way I could. The rock I was holding was made of iron, and when a bullet hits iron, it ricochets. I expected the rebound, but there was no way I could have controlled the trajectory of that bullet.” She shrugged helplessly. “I have no explanation for how that happened. It was purely an act of goddess.”

  Daniel rubbed his temples. “This is a lot to take in.”

  “Forgive us the elaborate charade, my dear,” Faye said. “I am truly sorry if our strategy distresses you.”

  “We thought that if we could rattle Metcalf enough, he might back down and call off his army,” Maddie explained.

  “Best case scenario, everybody might have walked away from Ahkka Mountain in one piece,” Cassie added. “Of course, we also had a last-ditch backup plan to trigger a cave collapse.”

  “That option would only have worked if our guns hadn’t been confiscated.” Zach darted Maddie a sullen glance.

  “You’re never gonna let that go, are you?” the chatelaine muttered. “Everything worked out anyway since Leroy Hunt took care of the cave-in for us.”

  “All’s well that ends well, kid,” Erik advised. “Take the win.”

  “We really didn’t want anybody to die,” the pythia reassured the new diviner. “Not even Metcalf or Hunt.”

  Daniel regarded the group solemnly. “It’s strange that you would seek my forgiveness after my father and Mr. Hunt repeatedly tried to kill you all. As far as I’m concerned, they both met the fate their murderous actions invited. I understand that you only resorted to trickery in the hope of saving lives. I just need a little more time to make sense of it all.”

  “I’m sure we’ve left Daniel with a lot to think about.” Hannah stood up. “Maybe we should switch to a less intense topic. Anyone for pie?” she asked brightly.

  Chapter 55—Réveille

  Before the dessert course was served, the guests pitched in to clear the table and carry food back to the kitchen. While everyone was busy with plastic wrap and storage containers, Erik tugged at Cassie’s sleeve. “I need to talk to you.”

  She registered surprise. “What about?”

  The paladin glanced around him. “Let’s go outside.”

  As they moved toward the dining room, Griffin asked in an overly casual tone, “Where are you off to?”

  “Erik wants to talk to me in private.”

  The scrivener’s eyes narrowed as he watched them go.

  Erik led Cassie through the parlor and out the door. He came to a stop in front of his Corvette which was parked by the curb. Leaning back against the vehicle, he folded his arms. “You can tell your boyfriend he doesn’t need to be jealous. I’m not trying to hit on you.”

  “He’s not my—”

  “Oh, don’t even.” Erik cut her off. “I’ve seen how you two act around each other. It doesn’t take a psychic to pick up on that vibe. How come you don’t see it?”

  Cassie peered at him. “What are you talking about?”

  The paladin sighed. “There’s a saying in the Arkana. Never play poker with a pythia.”

  “Because we cheat?” she speculated blankly.

  “No.” Erik rolled his eyes in exasperation. “It’s because pythias have mad skills at reading intent. They don’t even need a physical tell to know when a player is bluffing. So, why is it that a chick with trans-dimensional 20/20 and X-ray vision into people’s psyches suddenly gets so nearsighted that she can’t see past the end of her own nose?” He stared at her fixedly. “I think it’s because of us.”

  “You can’t be crazy enough to believe that I want to get back together with you,” she protested in irritation.

  “Calm down.” He raised his hands. “I know that ship sailed and sank a long time ago. That’s not it. I mean...” He hesitated, searching around for the right words. “It’s just that... When it comes to romance, I play at the shallow end of the pool.”

  “When I play at all, I play for keeps,” she shot back.

  “Yeah, I get that now.” He lowered his head briefly. “In my defense, I never hooked up with a pythia before. I should have realized your entire job is to feel things that the rest of us can’t. Or maybe the rest of us are just too scared to jump that far down the rabbit hole. Either way, it’s not a skill you can leave behind when you clock out at the end of the day. It’s who you are. While I was splashing around in water up to my knees, you were piloting a mini-sub on the ocean floor. That pairing was doomed from the get-go. So, after I bailed I’m guessing you made up your mind to dodge a future catastrophe by taking yourself out of circulation.”

  “I’m massively defensive, remember?” In a small voice, she admitted, “I had to protect myself somehow.”

  “Protection doesn’t mean shu
tting yourself down,” Erik insisted earnestly. “I like the wall around my own heart just fine, but I’d hate like hell to see you build one around yours.” He placed a hand on her shoulder. “Listen, it’s simple. All you have to do is find somebody who can brave those rip currents right alongside you without drowning.”

  Erik grimaced as a new thought struck him. “I mean, can you really see us together as a long-haul couple?”

  “Honestly?” Cassie smiled in spite of herself. “After six months with you, I’d be tempted to set your head on fire just to see if you could feel anything at all.”

  “Six months, huh?” The paladin raised his eyebrows. “Frankly, I would have given it three.”

  They both grinned.

  Erik continued. “I may not be Mr. Right, but we both know who is. Jeez, the guy took a bullet for you in Spain and another one in Sweden. What else does he have to do to prove he’s head over heels?”

  “And I care about him too. I care about everybody at the Arkana,” Cassie asserted primly.

  Erik snorted in disbelief. “Try again.”

  “You’re gonna make me say it, aren’t you?” She glared at the paladin. “OK, fine! I think Griffin is terminally adorable. He’s the kindest, most decent human being I’ve ever known and the only guy in the world I’d actually trust with my heart. There! Are you happy now?”

  The paladin listened impassively to her declaration. “Don’t tell me. Tell him!”

  Cassie stepped back and studied Erik.

  “You’re reading me!” he noted uneasily.

  “Uh huh.” Her tone was distant. “Like you said, mad skills at judging intent. Right now, I’m scanning for a hidden agenda, but I’m not finding one. So, here’s what I can’t figure out. During our last face-off, you pitched a hissy fit because Griffin and I were getting close. Now you want to play Cupid. What’s up with that?”

  The paladin rubbed his jaw, considering the question. “Let’s just say that several recent brushes with death adjusted my attitude. I’m feeling the need to make amends for cutting out on you.” He chuckled ruefully. “I don’t know how long this surge of generosity will last so you’d better take advantage of me while you can.”