Hannah gave a dispirited nod and left.
Annabeth leaned her head against the door, her mind racing to process a whole new set of possibilities. From her own perspective, Hannah’s reassignment was far from bad news. She considered the implications. Perhaps she still had a chance to rekindle Daniel’s affections. If she produced a second child, she would be elevated to the rank of principal wife. Then the diviner might look more favorably on her. She could hold her head up in the community as a person of consequence. She dared to give a little smile. Maybe this was a sign that God hadn’t abandoned her after all.
Chapter 23 – Relative Proximity
“I don’t see how you can sit there so calmly and sip your tea!” Maddie protested. She had taken up a position on Faye’s parlor sofa, with one arm slung over the camelsback while rotating a cigarette lighter between her fingers.
Faye raised a quizzical eyebrow. “I don’t think it’s time to hit the panic button just yet. There’s a great deal we still don’t know.”
“Fine,” sighed the operations director, tossing the lighter on the coffee table and folding her arms across her chest. “Let me recap what we do know. Somehow, some way, against all odds, the Nephilim have managed to dig up the critical missing line of the riddle and are ready to move on to Turkey.”
“When did we get the information on this?”
Maddie consulted her watch. “About an hour ago. I figured this needed a face-to-face with you, so I didn’t call first.”
Faye nodded. “Of course, dear. I understand. You’re distressed.”
The red-haired woman let out a short bark of a laugh. “The fact that the bad guys are zeroing in on the right mountain doesn’t distress me nearly as much as the way you’re taking the news.”
Faye allowed herself a brief smile. “What do you suggest I do?”
Maddie stood up and began to pace. “Something. Anything! We need to move fast on this. Call out reinforcements. Get our team out of the country.”
The memory guardian set down her tea cup. Her eyes swung back and forth like a pendulum as she tracked her visitor’s movements across the parlor rug. She allowed Maddie to tire herself out before speaking again. “I’m an old, old woman so you’ll have to indulge me, dear. Give me all the facts and don’t leave out any details.”
Maddie stopped short and whirled to face her hostess. “Fine!” She flounced back down on the sofa. “I got a call from one of our operatives who had been keeping tabs on Leroy Hunt. Apparently, he and this Daniel character are trying to line up a Nephilim contact in Istanbul.”
“What on earth would have made them want to retrace their steps to Karfi in the first place?” Faye mused.
“There was another call earlier in the week between Abraham Metcalf and Hunt. He told the old man that the boy had a hunch they were missing something. We didn’t know exactly what that meant, until now.”
“Indeed,” Faye said. “A Nephilim who trusts his instincts is a rarity.”
“One who trusts his instincts and totes around a computer is more than rare, he’s dangerous,” Maddie countered.
Faye reached toward the teapot on the table between them. Maddie declined a refill, but the old woman poured herself another cup. “I wonder how the Fallen Lands will affect him,” she speculated.
“Huh?”
“Think about the way that Nephilim children are raised. No contact with the outside world. Minimal education unless it pertains to their scripture. And now we have this young man who is not only given the freedom to travel but unlimited access to computers and the internet. He’s being exposed to all sorts of people and ideas that the rest of his cult will never know about. I’m sure it’s going to change him in profound ways.”
“Yeah, that’s great,” Maddie replied dismissively. “His quality of life really isn’t the issue now.”
“On the contrary, it may be the central issue.” Faye raised her teacup to her lips and took a sip. “I suspect the more he learns of the outer world, the harder it will be for him to unquestioningly accept the dogma of the Nephilim. Harder still for him to accept his father’s ruthless obsession to possess the Bones of the Mother.”
Maddie paused to consider the idea. “Maybe so,” she relented. “But how he changes over time isn’t my main concern. Right now, I’m worried about how fast he’s figuring out the clues to the artifacts.”
“Have you gotten any recent updates from our own intrepid crew?”
Maddie sighed deeply. “As of this afternoon, they still hadn’t found anything. They searched some calendar stones on Ida but so far no Bones. For some reason, Stefan Kasprzyk showed up, and now he wants Cassie to tell him about an artifact he can’t identify. The last thing they need is to get sidetracked now!” She paused to stare at the memory guardian in exasperation. “Oh, come on! Don’t tell me you aren’t worried. We’re cutting the timing pretty close, don’t you think?”
Faye smiled placidly. “Stefan has appeared with an obscure artifact that requires the assistance of the pythia? Hmmm. I wonder what this can mean.”
“It means they’re gonna lose valuable time talking to him when they should be out searching the mountain instead!” Maddie flared. “And pretty soon the Nephilim will be breathing down their necks. If Hunt hasn’t already figured out our guys aren’t dead, he’s about to.”
Faye didn’t appear to have heard the comment. “The Kurgan trove keeper feels impelled to seek out the pythia at this most inopportune moment.”
Maddie was too nonplussed by her leader’s meandering thought process to speak for several seconds. She stared open-mouthed at the old woman. “Just what are you driving at?”
“Synchronicity. Odd coincidences that, in hindsight, seem to dovetail.” She held a plate of lemon squares toward Maddie. “Are you sure I can’t offer
