“Well, what you got in mind to do tomorrow then?”
The anxious look returned to Daniel’s face. “My brethren and I are going to spend the day at the palace ruins outside of town. If nothing turns up there, I’ll have to call Father and let him know.”
“Bet that’ll be a hoot,” Leroy observed mordantly. “Then what?”
Hunt could see the reaction his question provoked. The boy’s pasty complexion lost what little color it had. Leroy wondered how a body could spend all day outdoors in the Greek sun and still look as pale as a fish’s belly.
“We’re running out of options. There are only two other known locations where Linear B tablets have been found. Those would be the palaces at Chania and Knossos.”
“They anyplace hereabouts?”
“No, they’re on the island of Crete,” Daniel explained.
“Crete, huh. They got ouzarias there?”
“Ouzarias?” the young man repeated blankly.
“Never mind, boy. Never mind.” Hunt waved him away. “See you tomorrow around four.”
“Until tomorrow then. Good day, Mr. Hunt.” Daniel tensely gathered up his papers and left.
The amount of alcohol in Hunt’s bloodstream rendered him briefly philosophical. He hadn’t spent much of his life contemplating the fiery inferno. In fact, he didn’t believe in it. But now that he was working for a cult that was obsessed with it, the nether realm featured prominently in his musings. This trip to Greece had convinced him that hell was real and that he had managed to land smack in the middle of Satan’s back forty.
Chapter 31 – Knossos
Cassie and Griffin wearily staggered off the plane at the Heraklion airport on the island of Crete. The pythia’s head was spinning and not merely from jet lag. Everything was happening so fast. It had only been three short days since Faye had revealed her plan, and already they were in Greece.
At the last minute, Erik had been called away to handle an important relic shipment which meant he would travel separately and arrive later. Cassie was relieved. The thought of being trapped on a transatlantic flight with the security coordinator was unnerving. Ever since Faye’s pep talk he had maintained a sullen silence around her. While she considered this a good thing, it was tempting fate to assume he could behave himself all the way from Chicago to Crete.
Once Griffin and Cassie had cleared customs and picked up their luggage, they took a cab to the hotel where their Minoan contact was supposed to meet them. Cassie saw her immediately when the pair entered the lobby since the woman’s leopard print dress was hard to miss. It was the tall dark-haired trove keeper from the Concordance meeting. Her name was Xenia Katsouris. At close range, she appeared to be an attractive fortysomething with shoulder length hair, prominent eyebrows, and hawk-like features. Not the sort of person you’d want to cross even though she was smiling at the moment.
“Ah, I see you have arrived safely. Welcome to Crete!” She stepped forward to shake hands with them.
They walked together to the reception desk to check in, despite the fact that it was only 9 o’clock in the morning. They had agreed that sleep was a luxury they couldn’t afford, and it would only make the jet lag worse. The trove keeper waited patiently while they went to freshen up and stow their gear in their rooms. Half an hour later they were all seated together in the hotel restaurant drinking coffee and struggling to shake off their fatigue.
Xenia smiled sympathetically. “It is a long trip, is it not? I just returned myself two days ago.”
“How do you do it?” Cassie asked in amazement. “I feel like I’ve just been run over by a truck.”
“I am a very good actress,” Xenia joked. “I only appear to be awake.”
“Have the Nephilim been seen on the island yet?” Griffin asked worriedly.
The trove keeper hastened to reassure him. “Do not concern yourself. I have sent several members of my team to monitor Minoan archaeological sites. They tell me that no tourists are engaging in any unusual search activity. I believe we are still ahead of them.”
The scrivener relaxed his troubled expression.
While Cassie ordered another cup of coffee, Griffin passed out sheets of paper to his companions. “These are enlarged photographs of the markings from the granite key. Study the line of hieroglyphics on each page. Those characters are what we’re trying to find.”
Xenia perused the sheets. “Where do you propose to start the search?”
Griffin hesitated a moment. “I brought along the field journal of the operative who first mentioned the Bones of the Mother. According to legend, the secret of finding the relics was kept at the high place of the goddess. It seems to me the most likely location would be Knossos.”
The trove keeper nodded her agreement. “Yes, that would make sense.”
“What’s Knossos?” Cassie looked around for the waitress with the coffee pot.
“The ruins of a Minoan palace. The largest Minoan palace on the island,” Griffin explained. “Though palace is an inaccurate definition. The site fulfilled many functions, one of which was to act as a shrine to the Minoan great goddess. It might have been considered her high temple, so the reference in the journal to a high place of the goddess may well refer to Knossos. Aside from that, Knossos is also strongly connected to the Linear B language. The largest cache of Linear B tablets found on the island came from the palace.”
“And you think we’re going to find these symbols carved into a rock at Knossos?” Cassie squinted at the photographs.
Griffin sighed. “It’s a stab in the dark really. We have so little information to go on, but we have to start somewhere.”
While the other two were speaking, Xenia had been studying the pages carefully. When she spoke, her voice held a note of concern. “So much of the palace has collapsed. Fire
