The operations director waved the plate away irritably. “You picked a hell of a time to wax philosophical,” she muttered.
Just then a knock was heard at the front door. It was actually more an insistent hammering following by an impatient jiggle of the doorknob.
“Are you expecting anybody?” Maddie sprang off the couch.
Faye shook her head, perplexed. “Please answer it, dear.”
Maddie flung open the door to reveal a wiry teenage boy. He tilted his head to look up at the Amazon glaring down at him. His hair was blackish brown, spiked out with enough hair gel to make him resemble a porcupine. He wore a faded tee shirt and ripped jeans. A threadbare camo backpack hung off one arm. He gave Maddie a cursory glance and said “Hey” before sliding past her.
Dropping his backpack on the parlor rug, he threw himself unceremoniously on the couch. “How’s it going, Gamma,” he offered.
For the first time during the evening’s conversation, Faye actually registered shock. “Zachary?” she asked uncertainly. “What on earth are you doing here?”
The boy sighed and rolled his eyes. “I can’t stand it anymore. They’re driving me nuts. You gotta let me crash here for a couple of days.”
Maddie remained standing by the door, witnessing the exchange. “Who is this kid? Why’s he calling you Gamma?” she finally asked.
The other two turned to her in surprise, apparently having forgotten her presence.
“Oh, I’m sorry dear. You don’t know many of my relatives, do you? This is Zachary. Gamma is his special name for me. He started calling me that when he was two and still couldn’t say grandma. Though technically I’m not his grandmother. He’s my great-great-great… oh bother, I can’t remember how many greats come before grandson, but he’s—”
“Run away from home,” the boy cut in. “Lemon squares. Excellent! You guys gonna finish these?”
Chapter 24 – Twinkle, Twinkle
The Arkana team sat around a circular table eyeing the dagger in their midst as if it were a poisonous snake. No one made a move to touch it. It was very late in the evening. After a meal in the hotel dining room and a hurried telephone conversation to give Maddie a progress report, the group had adjourned to Stefan’s suite. They wisely concluded that Cassie’s telemetric abilities shouldn’t be on display in the public areas of the hotel.
“I suppose we ought to begin,” Griffin offered uncertainly.
“Can you tell me anything at all about this knife?” Cassie asked the trove keeper.
He shrugged helplessly. “Only that it is out of place where I found it. Such a dagger does not belong in a Kurgan burial mound. I know nothing more than that.”
“What if it’s a tainted artifact?” Erik challenged. “This could be bad news for Cassie.”
“I cannot assure you that it is not,” Stefan admitted. “Such a thing is used for killing, no? Knives do not generally have pleasant stories to tell.”
Cassie sighed. “Look guys. Whatever it is, I think I can handle it. It’s not like my head is going to explode and spatter my brains all over the carpet.” She scowled and turned to Griffin for confirmation. “That isn’t a possibility, is it? I mean you haven’t heard of that happening to a pythia, have you?”
“Good grief! Of course not!” Griffin protested. “Just try to stay grounded as best you can. We’ll all be standing by to assist you.”
The pythia laughed nervously. “After that Vinca artifact nearly decapitated me, what have I got to be worried about?”
Her companions looked grim. No one spoke.
“Cassie, you don’t have to do this,” Fred reminded her.
She gave him a brave smile. “I sort of do. It’s in the job description.” She took a deep breath. Sitting forward in her chair, she reached around her neck for the pendant Faye had given her and grasped it tightly in her left hand. Then she stretched out her right. “OK, I’m ready.” Stefan slid the obsidian dagger across the table toward her. She shut her eyes and placed her hand on top of the knife. “Gentlemen, fasten your seatbelts.”
She went into free fall. She was nowhere and everywhere at once. This was unlike any trance she’d experienced before. Images strobed through her consciousness. The dagger was passing from hand to hand in fast rewind mode as one person after another grasped its antler handle. She didn’t become any of them. The weapon was moving too fast though its impulse was always the same—to appease its rage with blood. She could feel flesh tearing, screams of pain, bodies falling to earth. Too many to count. Backward in time, the dagger traveled for thousands of years, leaving a mountain of corpses in its wake. Finally, the blade stopped moving and settled in the hands of a burly young man. Cassie touched down in his consciousness. She had scarcely caught her bearings before he leaned over a kneeling woman and, with one deft stroke, cut her throat. The woman collapsed on the ground choking. Blood streamed out and covered the snow around her body. The burly man snatched an amulet from her forehead. Fury churned inside of him like molten lava.
The blood in Cassie’s veins felt polluted. Offal from a slaughterhouse. She tried to disassociate herself from the dagger. Pushing her awareness upward through a sea of gore. she gasped for breath, fighting a wave of nausea at the same time. Someone was calling her.
“Cass!” the voice reverberated inside her head. “That’s enough. Come on, snap out of it!”
She blinked several times. Erik was kneeling next to her, shaking her by the shoulders. “Cass! Come back!” he urged.
“I… uh… I’m.”
“Are you alright?” Griffin was beside her too.
She stood up dizzily, leaning on the table for support. “N… n… no,” she finally stuttered. “No, I’m not.” She ran to the bathroom and managed to reach the toilet just as another wave of nausea hit her. She vomited so violently that her head throbbed, and her rib cage felt as if it were broken. She nearly blacked out while one
