They could hear a voice echoing down to them. It was a gravelly female voice, and it was raised in anger.
Griffin smiled nervously. “That’s our operations director. Don’t worry. Her bark is far worse than her bite. You have to take some of what she says with a grain of salt.”
“And let the chips fall where they may?” Cassie asked wryly.
“What?” Griffin looked puzzled.
“I thought we were swapping clichés.” She laughed.
“Oh, yes, of course. How stupid of me.” He cleared his throat and looked at his shoes. “Very amusing.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you.” Cassie felt instantly guilty.
“No, certainly, you didn’t.” He rushed to reassure her. “It’s me. I always…” He trailed off and then changed the subject. “Well, up we go.” He tried to sound cheerful as they climbed to the top of the staircase.
Chapter 18 – The World According to Maddie
Cassie peeked above the final spiral stair. To her surprise, she found herself emerging in the middle of the bell tower. It was a bell tower in name only because the room had been remodeled, and there was no bell anywhere to be seen. The open-air tower had been fitted with glass picture windows. It was a bright, airy space, or it would have been if not for the smell of cigarette smoke. The atmosphere was thick with it. Cassie was about to make a comment, but Griffin anticipated her.
“She would resign if we didn’t let her smoke somewhere in the building,” he whispered. His tone was apologetic.
The room was comfortably furnished with chairs and couches and tables.
“Is this her office?” Cassie asked in disbelief.
“No, her office is downstairs. This is a lounge area.”
“A smoker’s lounge?”
“That wasn’t our original intention, but you’ll discover it’s very hard to say no to Maddie.”
They advanced into the room. There was a woman seated on a sofa near the front window. She was talking on the phone but gestured for them to draw closer. “Uh huh. Uh huh. Well, you can tell him from me that he’ll get paid when he delivers. No, that’s not negotiable. Just tell him, all right?” She slammed down the receiver, looking irritated.
Griffin stepped forward. “Cassie, allow me to introduce Maddie, our operations director.”
Maddie rose to greet them. Her bangle bracelets clanked. She towered over Cassie and matched Griffin’s height which was about six feet. She looked to be in her fifties with an olive brown complexion and bushy hair that had been dyed a burgundy shade of red. When they shook hands, it made Cassie wince. Maddie’s grip was as powerful as her physique.
“My name’s Madeleine, but everybody calls me Maddie.” There was a piercing quality to her eyes. Sharp and dark like obsidian arrowheads. “Have a seat.” She indicated a spot next to her on the couch.
Griffin remained standing. He looked at Maddie questioningly. “You’ll show her out when you’re done?”
She nodded.
“Right, I’ll leave you to it then. Until next time, Cassie.”
“Bye, Griffin.”
Maddie was scrutinizing a piece of paper and apparently wasn’t pleased with what she saw. She muttered something under her breath and tossed the page face down on the coffee table next to the phone.
“Like my work space?” She laughed ruefully. “My real office is downstairs, but I needed a cigarette break, so that’s why we’re meeting up here.”
She reached for a lighter that was balanced upright on an end table. Cassie noticed her fingernails—long red talons.
“Sorry about the smoke. Nasty habit. I keep trying to quit. Been trying for about ten years. I keep thinking it’ll be easier when the pace slows down around here.” She lit a cigarette and blew a puff of smoke up toward the ceiling. “Except that it never slows down around here.”
Cassie didn’t know exactly what to say. She must have looked sheepish because Maddie tried to put her at ease.
“Lots to take in, isn’t it? Your sister. Us.”
The girl nodded uncertainly. “I suppose that’s why Faye sent me here. To get some answers.”
“Then you came to the right place, kiddo. I’ve got answers for everything. At least that’s what my colleagues tell me. Sometimes they don’t like my way of putting things. What do you want to know first?”
“That’s easy. It’s the thing I’ve been asking for weeks now. Who are you people?” The words were spoken before she could catch herself. Out loud, the question sounded abrupt and rude.
Maddie threw back her head and laughed. “You know, I ask them that all the time.”
“Maybe I should rephrase that. What is the Arkana exactly?”
“You’re not gonna start with something easy like what’s my favorite color?” Maddie teased. “It’s red in case you hadn’t guessed. But never mind that. Faye told me to give you the big picture and to give it to you fast. You’ll get down to the nitty-gritty soon enough.”
The operations director settled herself back into the couch cushions. “How much has Faye told you about the name Arkana itself?”
“Nothing.” The girl shrugged.
“‘Arkana’ comes from the Latin verb arcere. It means to ‘shut something up,’ so you can to keep it safe. The noun is arca which means a ‘chest’ or ‘strongbox.’ In English, arca became ‘ark’ as in Noah’s Ark, or the Ark of the Covenant.”
“I’m guessing you call yourselves the Arkana because you’ve locked up all sorts of artifacts to keep them safe?”
Maddie paused a long moment, considering the question. “The artifacts aren’t the real treasure. They’re simply the physical proof that we haven’t always been the way we are now.”
The older woman glanced as Cassie. Noting the girl’s perplexed expression, she elaborated. “You have to sift through layer after layer of myth to get to the real truth. Let me explain by telling you a little story about a goddess named Gaia. Do you know who she is?”
“Yeah, I’ve heard of her,” Cassie answered readily. “She was some Greek earth goddess, right?”
“Some Greek earth goddess.” Maddie snorted in disgust. “That’s pretty funny. Here’s your first lesson in mainstream mythology,
