“You know, chief, this wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t tried to quit smoking in the middle of a crisis,” Erik remarked.
The chatelaine regarded him through bleary eyes. “I guess you’re right. It was a mistake to go cold turkey. Too much going on. Always DEFCON One. I’m no good in a crunch without my smokes.” She reached into her robe pocket to retrieve a pack of cigarettes. She shook the paper container and turned it upside down. “Empty,” she murmured wistfully.
Erik gingerly removed the unlit cigarette from between her lips and placed it in an ashtray. Maddie seemed not to notice.
“I’m sure you’ll feel much better once you’ve had a shower,” Faye hinted. “Our team has returned, and they’re eager to tell us both everything that’s happened. You want to hear about that, don’t you?”
With a supreme effort, Maddie temporarily pulled herself out of her stupor. “Did they get it?” she asked weakly.
“We sure did,” Cassie answered readily. “And what a time we had. It was epic!”
A feeble spark glimmered in Maddie’s eyes. “Yeah?”
“Absolutely,” Erik affirmed.
“We can’t wait to tell you all about it,” Griffin added enthusiastically.
The chatelaine seemed to rally slightly. She struggled to sit forward.
“After you’ve had a shower and changed your clothes, of course.” Faye’s voice was more insistent.
“Sure, sure,” she said nebulously, struggling to her feet.
Erik and Griffin leaped up to assist her.
Faye conducted her to the bathroom while Cassie dug through the closet for a clean change of clothes.
Once Maddie was safely deposited in the shower, the others sprang into action. Cassie ran around the house raising blinds and opening windows to release the residual smoke.
Griffin and Erik found a supply of garbage bags and began collecting used food containers and wine bottles. They emptied all the ash trays and cleaned up the other detritus of Maddie’s fugue state. Faye washed the dirty dishes in the sink and tidied the kitchen.
By the time the chatelaine lumbered back into the living room, she looked almost human. Her hair had been combed, and she was dressed in a clean sweat suit and gym shoes.
“I’ll start a load of laundry,” Cassie suggested, scampering upstairs to collect Maddie’s cast-offs and any other clothing she found strewn on the floor. When she returned to the living room, Faye was already pouring cups of freshly-brewed coffee.
Nobody uttered a word of objection when Maddie asked, “Mind if I smoke?”
Erik dove for the lighter on the coffee table and held it under her nose. “Let me get that for you,” he offered.
“How do you feel now, dear?” Faye asked gently.
“I’m fine. Thank you for asking,” the chatelaine replied in a sing-song voice. “How are you?”
Her four visitors looked at one another in dismay. Cassie could read their minds. They had all secretly hoped that Maddie would have revived by now, but she still seemed disconnected.
Erik leaned over and whispered confidentially in the pythia’s ear, “Relax, toots, I got this.”
The paladin slid to the end of the couch next to Maddie’s chair. “I’m glad you’re feeling better now, chief, because there’s something I need to talk to you about.”
“Oh, what’s that?” Maddie asked dreamily.
“Well, you see, there was this car chase in Cairo when we were trying to outrun the Nephilim. I crashed a rental car right through the plate glass window of a butcher shop. Live chickens flying everywhere. The owner was really mad. I told him we’d cover the damages. He said it would cost, what was it, Griff? Something like fifty thousand dollars US?” The paladin looked to the scrivener for confirmation.
Catching on, Griffin replied, “Actually, I think the bill was closer to one hundred thousand dollars.”
Erik turned to Maddie. “I told him it would be no problem. You’ll cover it, right?”
For the first time that day, the chatelaine seemed to focus. She sat up straight, her eyes burning holes into Erik. “A rental car?” she growled.
“That’s right,” he replied innocently.
“Was the car totaled?” Her voice held a menacing tone.
“Totally.” He mimicked puzzlement. “That’s not a problem, is it?”
“Not a problem...” she echoed through gritted teeth, grinding out her half-smoked cigarette and reaching for a full pack on the table. Immediately lighting up another, she continued. “If you think I’m gonna cover yet another one of your reckless escapades, think again, kiddo! I’ll be docking your pay until the day after Armageddon!”
Instead of flinching at the onslaught of Maddie’s wrath, Erik beamed at his teammates. “She’s back!”
Maddie, not realizing that Erik had fabricated the incident, continued to berate the paladin for several more moments. He took it all with a relaxed smile.
During the chatelaine’s tirade, Cassie leaned across the table and whispered in Faye’s ear. “You said Maddie went off the deep end years ago. Is this episode worse than what happened way back when?”
Faye’s eyes sparkled with mirth. “Oh no, dear. Last time she tried to blow up the vault.”
Chapter 51—Crossroads
Daniel grew exasperated by the sea of traffic in which he found himself drowning. He looked at his watch fretfully. He was becoming used to expressway congestion while driving into the city, but this was the middle of the afternoon. He drummed the steering wheel impatiently. Finally, throwing the car into park, he allowed his thoughts to drift. They turned inevitably to the events of the past two days. His father had returned home yesterday evening to regale him with Hunt’s account of the retrieval in Sudan. Daniel chuckled at its dramatic license. The cowboy had invented quite a yarn to cover his humiliating defeat. He was a combat-seasoned veteran who had been bested not once, but twice, by a girl half his size. No doubt if the diviner ever found out the truth of that encounter on the mountain, he would fire Hunt immediately. It made sense that the cowboy would try to
