Levi nodded approvingly, his head bent over the lock.
Arkady had spoken to some of the kids we’d rescued as well, who’d assured him that Tatiana’s experiments had not been conducted on them.
“That’s a relief,” I said. “Okay, Rafael. You’re up.”
To Rafael’s credit, slim though it was, he delivered a clear and precise summation of Jezebels’ history, worthy of the finest university professor.
“All Jezebels are descendants of their namesake, with the potentials’ bloodlines traveling through the mother, like in Judaism,” Rafael said, in conclusion to this portion of the lecture.
Levi nudged me. “I’ll pay you one hundred bucks to tell that to Talia.”
“Get real. That’s worth at least a cool five hundred. Besides, I’m saving it for a special occasion,” I said.
Arkady raised his hand. “Is anyone else having trouble with the fact that we’re talking about a goddess like she was some random historical figure? Goddess, people. Original divas who are only supposed to exist in myth and legend?”
Priya raised her hand. After a second, Levi joined her. I shrugged and threw in with the rest of them.
Rafael gave a tiny smirk. “I shudder to think how you’ll all handle it when I bring up angels.”
Arkady thunked his head on the desk.
“Angels?” Priya said weakly. “First there are goddesses walking around, and now we have angels, too?”
“Get ready for your minds to be blown,” I said and cracked my knuckles, “because the real fun part? Nefesh magic is diluted angel magic.”
Arkady patted down his chest and arms. “I’ve been touched by an angel? Where?”
Priya brayed like a donkey, and Levi made some joke about how they’d all been touched by angels at some point, and Rafael looked extremely uncomfortable again.
Ladies and gentlemen, my team. “Never a dull moment in Jezebel investigations.”
Chapter 12
Rafael moved on to the Sefer Raziel HaMalakh and the scroll breaking apart when it fell to Earth.
I stifled a yawn as he explained in unnecessary detail about how difficult the second piece had been to obtain.
Levi pulled out the lock pick, turning to me with a forlorn look. “Help,” he whispered.
Blinking away my stupor, I covered each of his hands with mine, adjusting his hold. They were warm and strong, but he yielded completely to me.
“While Jezebels are given strength to aid them in the fight,” Rafael said, frowning at me, “that isn’t their prime talent.”
I snapped my attention back to him, hands folded on my desk.
“You don’t have to be the strongest,” Arkady said. “It’s like how Frodo, a seemingly unremarkable little hobbit, was the best ring bearer because he could resist its lure.”
Rafael nodded smugly. “Quite.”
“Nerds,” I muttered, my eyes darting back to Levi. There was the cutest littlest dip between his brows, drawn together in intense concentration, while he bit his bottom lip with even white teeth.
“How many pieces do we still need to find?” Priya said.
Rafael smoothed down the front of his vest. “We have three of the five pieces that make up the Sefer and Chariot has one.”
“How can you be certain?” Levi said.
“The pillars that house the pieces were also a gift from Asherah. Each pillar with a scroll in our possession is lit up. When Chariot gets a scroll, a pillar goes actively dark, and for any scrolls unclaimed by either side, the corresponding number of pillars remain neutral in appearance. When Gavriella flatlined, she’d just stolen one of the scrolls away from Chariot.”
“Right before my powers activated,” I said. “About fifteen years ago. The message.” I flipped open A Study in Scarlet. “The ‘3’ stands for our pieces of the scroll and the first ‘1’ is for theirs. But there’s a question mark after the second ‘1.’ My father didn’t actually claim to have the scroll, he just dangled the possibility.” I licked a smear of sugar off my finger. “What’s the criteria for a pillar going dark, thereby confirming Chariot has one of the pieces?”
“As far as we can ascertain, one of the Ten must take possession of it,” Rafael said.
“If Adam had the scroll,” Arkady said, “he’d have handed it over and the pillar would darken.”
I shook my head. “You’re not thinking of this like a con. Chariot has had over four hundred years to amass information on the Jezebels, and I guarantee that my father combed through all of it. If there was even the slightest possibility they knew about the pillars…?” I glanced at Rafael.
“They might,” he said.
“Then my father would have made sure our side couldn’t know for certain one way or the other whether he was telling the truth. That would have been part of the lure with the coded message. All the Ten had to do was not technically take possession of the scroll for Adam’s con to work. Leave it with Adam to hide. As for Adam not making contact in the end?” I filled them in on my theory.
“If you’re right,” Priya said, “then we don’t know whether that one scroll is still in play or not.”
“What are the chances of you turning your dad to our side?” Arkady said. “Because we could use someone like him.”
“And yet we have someone like me,” I said waspishly. “The actual Jezebel.”
“Pickle, don’t be jealous. It’s unseemly.”
“What do we know about the missing piece?” I said.
“It has an interesting history,” Rafael said. “I assume you all know of Hitler’s obsession with the occult?” Off our murmured assent, he continued. “The Nazis forced Jews to register their possessions. At first it was the more valuable items like artwork, stocks, books. That was extended to dishes, toys, even family photos. This was part of Hitler’s campaign to stamp out all Jewish identity, but it was also a way for him to root out precious occult items. He coveted the Sefer.” Rafael was completely in his element. “There was even more historical precedence for Jews being tied to
