Faye sighed. “We don’t know.”
Zach’s eyes widened in surprise. “That’s it? That’s your answer? I wasted one question on that?”
“No, dear. I’ll give you the background on the artifact.” Faye pulled her chair up closer to the table so as not to be overheard. “There are five relics scattered all over the globe that point to its location. Each one is inscribed with a clue to find the next one. All five must be retrieved in sequence to find the ultimate prize—a legendary object called the Sage Stone. Some people in my organization think it’s mythical—like the Holy Grail. However, the evidence we’ve turned up so far suggests that it’s quite real and was hidden about three thousand years ago. It is reputed to have some sort of mystical power though I myself don’t credit that rumor. Sacred objects only have meaning to the people who believe in them. It’s the power of belief that imbues them with whatever properties they are reputed to possess.”
“Sounds like that preacher believes it’s got some major mojo,” Zach observed.
“Yes, I’m sure he does. Once my retrieval team has located it, we intend to substitute a forgery for him to find.”
“One that he thinks is real,” the boy added uncertainly.
“One that he thinks is real,” Faye concurred.
Zach was silent for several seconds puzzling over something. He unconsciously reached for another tea cake.
“I appear to have lost you somewhere, dear,” the old woman remarked gently.
The boy frowned in concentration before answering. “No, I was just thinking. If what you say is right and this Sage Stone only has power because he believes in it, then it wouldn’t matter if you gave him a fake. He’d still believe he had the real deal and he’d go ahead with whatever mayhem he wanted to cause with it. Right?”
Faye stared at her descendent in shocked silence.
Zach waved his hand in front of the old woman’s face. “Gamma? Are you having a stroke or something?”
She laughed ruefully. “That was an excellent second question. It’s given me quite a turn. You’re absolutely correct, of course. My council and I hadn’t considered the diviner’s faith in the forgery. Perhaps because we’re so close to the problem, we couldn’t see the obvious hitch in our plan.” She paused to give him an affectionate glance. “You really are a remarkable boy, Zachary. My instincts were correct in bringing you into the Arkana.”
He pounced on the word. “The Arkana! Is that what your group is called?”
“Was that your third question?” Faye asked archly.
The boy blanched. “Crap, I didn’t mean to ask that.”
His ancestor chuckled. “As a reward for your keen observation, I’ll answer that one gratis. Yes, my organization is called the Arkana because it preserves secret knowledge—arcane knowledge.”
“I can’t wait to get the 411 on them.”
“I’m afraid you’ll have to. That’s a much longer discussion which we’ll postpone for the time being.” She looked up at the ceiling, again lost in thought. Murmuring half to herself, she said, “We’ll have to create a replica and then disfigure it in such a way that Metcalf believes it has lost its power. Yes, I believe that strategy may work. I must remember to speak to Maddie about it.”
The boy appeared lost in a reverie of his own, digesting both his snack and the new data which had been presented to him. He finally peered at Faye and said, “This is even bigger than I thought it was.”
“Indeed,” the old woman assented. “And now you have the additional burden of keeping all this knowledge secret from Hannah.”
“But why?”
“Because if, by some catastrophe, she is recaptured by the cult then the less she knows, the better. It’s for her own protection.”
“Can’t I at least give her a hint?” he persisted.
Faye’s voice was unusually grave. “Zachary, these people will kill with very little provocation to get what they want, and they want the Sage Stone very badly. Sybil’s murder proved that. If they thought Hannah knew anything at all about its whereabouts, there’s no telling what they’d do to her.”
The boy blanched at her words.
Faye reached across the table and squeezed his hand reassuringly. “I don’t wish to alarm you, but you need to understand the sort of people we’re dealing with. Both your welfare and Hannah’s mean a great deal to me.”
Zach nodded gravely. “I get that now. I promise not to tell her anything.”
Having made her point, Faye took a sip of tea and reached for a miniature eclair. “You still have one question left,” she reminded him.
He sat up with a start. “Right!” A sudden change came over him. He seemed alarmed at the prospect of asking his final question. He cleared his throat several times, looked at the floor, then at the walls, and tapped his fingers on the table. After a deep sigh, he gazed directly at Faye. “Here’s the thing. I want to ask Hannah out on a date.”
“A date?” Faye echoed in surprise.
“Yeah. I thought we could go to a movie. She’s never seen anything on the big screen. Never had theater popcorn. It would be good for her to get out in a crowd of normal people.”
“Zachary, I really don’t think your polka dotted car is the right vehicle for an outing like that,” the old woman protested.
“Yeah, I know. Aside from the paint job, the muffler is acting up again,” he replied sheepishly.
“The whole neighborhood can hear it whenever you come to my house for a visit.”
“What if I promise to take my dad’s car?” he offered.
“Well, I suppose that would be alright.” Faye dabbed her mouth delicately with her napkin and
