Maddie drew up a chair beside Faye.
Nobody spoke for a few moments while the visitors got settled and sampled their refreshments.
Hannah held her glass forward tentatively. “Could I have a little more lemonade, please?”
Faye beamed at her. “Of course you may, my dear.”
Maddie rushed to pour, apparently hoping a friendly gesture might put the girl at ease.
Hannah did look slightly less terrified than at first.
Cassie glanced at her questioningly, and the girl nodded, signaling the pythia to begin. “Yesterday afternoon, Hannah came to find me. She ran away from the Nephilim because she doesn’t like being married to some old creaker instead of a guy her own age.” Cassie paused long enough to note the shocked expression on Hannah’s face at her choice of words. “Uh, that is, um, it’s not like she wants to be married to anybody. I mean, for crying out loud, she’s only fourteen.”
“But how did she get out?” Faye asked. “The compound is guarded at all times.”
“D... Daniel helped me,” Hannah stuttered.
“Daniel! That—”
“Whoa, Maddie.” Cassie preempted her tirade. “I already gave her an earful about what we think of Daniel. She doesn’t need another lecture from you.”
The operations director shot Cassie an incredulous look. She was obviously struck by how quickly the pythia had stepped into the role of guardian. “Since when did you turn into Sybil Junior?” she asked.
Cassie smiled sheepishly. “It’s pretty strange, isn’t it? I swear I’m channeling my sister. This morning, I even caught myself telling Hannah not to pick at her breakfast because there are starving kids in Africa who would be happy to have that food.” Then her smile faded. “I guess hearing what she’s been through made me want to help her out.” She then repeated what she knew of the girl’s story including her unexpected pregnancy.
Her listeners looked grim.
“It’s a miracle she was able to escape at all,” Faye said.
“We can all thank that Daniel dude for making it possible,” Cassie added. “My theory is that he’s really torn up about doing his father’s dirty work. Because his conscience is pestering him so much, he’s trying to do a good deed by helping Hannah.”
“How very interesting,” Faye murmured. “It’s just what I suspected would happen all along. A Nephilim exposed to the outside world can never view his faith in the same way again.”
“Daniel says he isn’t ready yet,” Hannah piped up.
The other three women turned to her in surprise, almost having forgotten her presence.
“I asked him to run away when I did, but he told me it wasn’t as bad for him yet as it was for me...” The girl trailed off uncertainly.
Maddie was about to lunge in with more questions, but a glare from Cassie made her moderate her approach. “Hannah,” she began gently. “Do you know why your diviner wants these relics so much?”
The girl shook her head. “Nobody knows. In fact, nobody besides Daniel and me know about this relic hunt at all. Father Abraham has only told Daniel that these heathen artifacts are very important to the future of the Nephilim.”
Faye and Maddie traded startled glances.
“Why on earth would the Bones of the Mother have any significance at all to him?” Faye wondered.
“Things have been different ever since Daniel started searching for those things,” Hannah added.
“Different how?” Cassie prompted, helping herself to another sugar cookie and handing one to the girl.
Hannah took a bite before continuing. “There are rumors. Some of the younger men are being given training with weapons.”
“What!” all three women exclaimed at once.
The girl grew flustered and dropped her cookie on the ground. She dove to retrieve it, but Cassie forestalled her. “I’ll get it. Here, take another one.”
In a deliberately soft voice, Maddie asked, “What was that bit about weapons training?”
Hannah started on a new cookie. “Nobody knows very much. Some of my sister-wives were whispering about a place for training some miles away from the compound. All the boys who were involved were sworn to secrecy.”
“Oh, that can’t be good,” Cassie commented ominously.
“And then there’s the other building which is even more secret. I’ve caught a few words when Father Abraham didn’t know I was listening. He said something about a laboratory.”
“A what!” Maddie caught herself. “Sorry, guys.” In a whisper, she repeated, “A what?”
Hannah shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know much. There’s a foreign doctor. Very dark-skinned and he speaks with an accent. He’s the one Father Abraham brought to this country to work in the laboratory, but that’s all I heard.”
The group grew silent, each one contemplating the possible uses the Nephilim would have for a secret laboratory.
When no one spoke, Hannah asked, “You won’t send me back to them, will you?”
Faye rushed to reassure her. “Oh, you poor dear, of course not.”
“I don’t think it’s safe for her to stay with me though,” Cassie added in a low voice. “In fact, I don’t think it’s safe for me to stay at Sybil’s anymore either. If anybody was sent to look for Hannah, they might follow her trail straight to my door.”
The girl turned to peer anxiously at Cassie. “Oh, I’m sorry. I never thought—”
The pythia gave her a brave smile. “It’s OK, kid. It was only a matter of time. We couldn’t hope the Nephilim would stay off our backs forever. I just need to find a place that they can’t connect to Sybil or me.”
“A wise decision,” Faye concurred. “In any case, I think Hannah would be much safer out here in the country with me than in the city with you, Cassie.”
The pythia didn’t argue the point. “Yeah, I agree. I won’t be around to keep an eye on her anyway once we start hunting the next relic.”
Maddie caught Cassie’s eye and shook her head slightly, apparently fearing that the pythia was revealing too much about the Arkana to
