An idea was nagging at the back of his consciousness. He felt he had missed something. Thinking back to the riddle that had preceded this one, there were lines in that clue which he had never understood. Perhaps it all fit together. Perhaps he needed to solve the earlier puzzle in order to understand the current one. At the very least, he might legitimately burn up some additional time in doing so.
He buried his face in his hands and rubbed his eyes. He hated living this way. His mind drifted back to his last conversation with Hannah. He remembered her final words to him before she disappeared. “How bad does it have to get before you finally walk away?” Perhaps that was the greatest riddle of all.
Chapter 5—Baggage
Faye made her way across the main office of the underground vault. The ceiling lights mimicked a sunlit sky and the waterfalls in the corners trickled soothingly. Everybody was working intently at their desks though a few of the denizens of the Central Catalog raised their heads and smiled at her as she passed. She paused in front of the desk of a woman whose outbox held a caged Toucan.
“Have you seen Griffin? He isn’t in his office.”
The woman pointed off toward a series of five doors on the opposite side of the room.
“I think I saw him duck into one of the continent rooms,” she added.
“Of course,” Faye nodded. Given the team’s next destination, she directed her steps toward a door at the far wall with the simple word “Africa” stenciled on it.
She peeked inside and saw a silent corridor of more doors. At the far end, light shone into the hallway, indicating that one of the doors had been left open. She travelled toward it. The door bore the inscription of “San.”
“Hello?” Faye asked tentatively as she peeped around the corner.
The narrow room was lined on two sides with floor to ceiling filing cabinets. Even though there was a reading table and a pair of chairs at the far end, Griffin was seated in the middle of the floor surrounded by file folders, journals, and loose paper.
“Are you building a fort?” Faye teased as she came to stand in front of the Chief scrivener.
Griffin stopped muttering to himself long enough to look up and regard her with a blank stare. Apparently, his brain was too crammed with data to make room for the new fact that he had a visitor.
He blinked several times. “Oh, Faye, do forgive me.” He leaped to his feet and guided the old woman around the debris on the floor over to one of the chairs at the back of the room.
“How are you, my dear?” she asked, somewhat concerned by his distracted demeanor.
“Quite well, thank you.” He attempted to shake off his preoccupation and focus on his guest. “What brings you here?”
“A much-needed break,” she replied. “Zachary is helping Hannah with her lessons this morning, so I thought I might pop in to see how the plan for your next expedition is coming along.”
Griffin perched on the edge of the table and gestured toward the mound of uncooperative papers lying on the floor. “I’m in the final stages of packing and thought I’d try to bring along some relevant material from the Catalog. We’ll be leaving in two days for Botswana.”
“Botswana. That’s a bit off course, isn’t it?”
“Yes, the latitude I calculated using the lapis dove would put us in equatorial Africa, but I thought we might take a short side trip as long as we’re already on the continent. I wanted to have Cassie validate something for us.”
Faye smiled knowingly. “Ah, I see. We’re in the San file room, and your destination is Botswana. Obviously, it’s the Python Stone you’re after.”
“Always three steps ahead of the rest of us, aren’t you?” Griffin observed. “There’s been a great deal of speculation in the archaeological journals lately as to the Python Stone’s purpose. I thought we might have a go at it ourselves.”
The old woman nodded. “I agree. It would be wonderful to have some first-hand documentation about it in our files. Have you told Cassie yet?”
The scrivener shook his head. “I didn’t want to give her too much information because it might influence her telemetric reading.”
“I suppose that’s wise. Best to let her tell you what she senses, rather than have you tell her what she ought to sense.”
“There’s no urgency for us to begin the quest for the next relic immediately, is there?” Griffin’s voice sounded worried.
“No, not at all. Maddie’s latest intelligence has the Nephilim safely tucked into the compound. No travel arrangements have been made so I think you have a little lead time.”
“That’s good,” Griffin sighed and then lapsed into silence. He appeared lost in thought again, staring at the floor until Faye interrupted his reverie.
“Is something troubling you, dear?”
The scrivener caught himself. “No, nothing,” he said a trifle too quickly.
“Nothing at all?” Faye urged with a hint of skepticism.
Griffin appeared to be debating whether to tell her or not. He sighed again and quitted his perch on the side of the table. Drawing up the other chair to face the old woman, he said, “It’s nothing that will affect our mission if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Faye chuckled. “I’m not worried at all, but you seem to be. Please do tell me what it is, dear.”
Griffin clasped and unclasped his hands. “I think something is about to happen between Cassie and Erik.”
“How do you mean?” Faye was taken aback.
“I have a feeling that they’re
