“Jews were responsible for bringing magic into the world, which gave Hitler a focal point for his hatred,” Levi said. “They had it. Hitler didn’t.”
“Smarter than you look,” I murmured.
“Not on everything.” Levi scowled at the lock.
When my dad had taught me how to pick locks, I was eight and it seemed like the hardest thing in the world. I’d felt clumsy and confused, but he’d never let me keep on feeling that way. He knew that it took time. And when I’d finally gotten it, he took me out for a towering sundae with all the toppings that made us both sick, but we agreed had been totally worth it.
“You’ve lifted three of the five key pins,” I said. “It just takes practice. You got this.”
Levi rolled out his shoulders one at a time. “Hell yeah, I do.”
“Ironic that this obsession with supernatural power was something that Chariot and Hitler shared,” Arkady said.
“What’s ironic,” Rafael said, “was that during WWII our side formed a sort of truce with Chariot, acknowledging Nazis as the greater threat. We both wanted to keep the missing scroll out of their hands. While we weren’t going to help each other, there was a tacit agreement not to hinder each other, either. A Jezebel in 1943 tracked the piece to a Jewish family in Germany, but by the time she got into the war-torn area, the family had been deported to Dachau and all their possessions seized.”
“You said it yourself,” Priya said. “Jews had to register their belongings. That meant there were records and those records were used by various governments, initially the French and German ones, to reunite objects with their owners.”
Rafael’s eyes gleamed with approval and interest. “Yes, exactly. Not many people know that. How did you?”
No, no. Go back to the cool professionalism. Didn’t these people know the saying “Don’t shit where you live”?
I glanced at Levi, who winked. Hypocrite, thy name is Ash.
“Records are databases,” Priya said, with a hair flip. “And I excel at getting data that people like keeping hidden.”
“That would be an incredibly useful skill,” Rafael murmured.
Priya smiled like the cat that swallowed the canary and daintily popped a piece of carrot muffin into her mouth.
Rafael blinked as if to compose himself.
Arkady avidly watched all of us, his coffee mug cradled in his hands. I was tempted to give him a bowl of popcorn.
“Yo, Attendant,” I said. “I’m guessing your people also searched these records.”
“Of course.” Rafael said. Priya got approval, I got frostiness. “My predecessors failed to find anything that matched the description. For all intents and purposes, the scroll was lost.”
“Too bad you didn’t have more bodies on this before,” I said. “Why didn’t Asherah create an army of us if this was such a threat?”
“She never expected the fight would be dragged on this long,” Rafael said. “Not only did the pieces prove more challenging to find, other factors came into play that she could never have anticipated, such as war, politics, and other interested parties.”
“I don’t buy it. She’s a goddess and this was pretty damn important.” I’d heard enough half-truths to recognize one now. “What aren’t you telling us?”
Rafael glanced down at his sleeve that concealed the gash he’d gotten from our encounter and his lip curled for a fleeting second. “I’ve told you the salient facts. A smart strategist understands when to illuminate a truth to aid a cause and when revealing it merely weakens the foundation.”
I picked up one of my many non-working pens and tapped it against my thigh. “If that’s the normal M.O. of Attendants, no wonder we’re still searching for pieces.”
“Ash,” Priya admonished.
“How fortunate that your brief time as a Jezebel has given you such a grasp of what’s best for the cause,” Rafael said.
Priya and Arkady exchanged glances and even Levi looked over at us.
I snapped the pen in half, a drop of ink splashing onto my thumb. Our dynamic around my cravings wasn’t ideal, but Rafael was the one who’d chosen to serve up himself up on a magical healing platter, so how about he took some damn responsibility for his actions, instead of nursing his wounds and his pride?
“Being a Jezebel has given me perspective you don’t have,” I said. “This is our first team meeting, and while I appreciate you wanting to present our side in the best possible light, if we’re to succeed, we need all the facts, no matter how unpleasant. I’m sorry if I pushed you out of your comfort zone, but maybe I was the shock this system needed.”
“Beg to differ,” he said coldly.
A loaded silence choked the room.
I jumped up, grabbed a handful of darts and began firing them into the dartboard.
“Was Asherah not strong enough to make more Jezebels?” Priya said to Rafael. “You mentioned that she only had a few faithful left and a lot of myths involving gods speak of how their power is tied to people’s belief in them.”
Rafael bestowed a smile upon her, like a teacher with a clever student.
Imagining the dartboard was his stupid mug, I shot those suckers into where his eyes would be.
“You’re quite correct,” Rafael said. “Asherah wasn’t strong enough. The goddess only possessed a fraction of her power by this point, since so few believed in her. As you can imagine, this isn’t a fact we like bandied about publicly, should Chariot find a way to use it against us.”
Arkady leaned back in his chair until it was tilted up on two legs. “How much damage could they do with the info? It’s not like she’s made an appearance since and could be captured.”
“Chariot are masters at manipulation and exploitation,” Rafael said. “All information can be weaponized. You mustn’t show weakness on any
