To the paladin’s relief, the diviner didn’t pull out his chair and sit down. Instead, he shuffled to the other side of the office. Erik leaned down and peeped under the bottom of the desk to see what the old man was doing.
Metcalf pressed his hand against one of the carved wooden inlays in the wall, and a panel door slid noiselessly aside.
“What the hell?” Erik murmured inaudibly.
The diviner disappeared, but the paladin heard what sounded like a metal door opening in a hidden passageway.
Several minutes later the old man returned and sealed the wall behind him. He was talking to his god again. “As you can see, Lord, I have taken special care to preserve your holiest prophecy. Not safe in my prayer closet any more. No, no. Not after Annabeth. Her satanic master wanted her to destroy all the sacred writings. But I have protected this in my vault where her demon claws can’t tear it to pieces.” He trundled to the front of his desk and dropped what sounded like a heavy book on its top.
Erik could hear the sound of Abraham leafing through the pages, whispering gibberish all the while.
In a louder voice, he announced, “The devil shall not prevail. Your words tell me so, no matter how sorely I am tried. You imparted this foretelling to my predecessor, but it was meant for me. For me alone! I will heed your command, Lord. I am faithful to the end.”
The diviner flipped another page and began to intone a passage aloud from the book he’d retrieved. “‘And in the end times shall arise a mighty leader. He shall rule the Blessed Nephilim and set their feet upon the path of righteousness. His name shall be called Abraham for he shall be the father of his people as it was in the beginning. And he shall cleanse the world with pestilence and plague. He shall grind the Fallen to dust beneath his feet. But let him be mindful of the Bones of the Mother. For whosoever shall lay hands on them will claim the Sage Stone and receive the power to change the world forever.’”
Erik stifled a gasp. He’d struck the motherlode. This explained everything. Metcalf’s insane quest for the Sage Stone finally made sense. The paladin wanted to commit the entire passage to memory but doubted he could. His attention was immediately diverted as the old man started mumbling again.
“Phanuel, you’ve returned.” His voice sounded glad. “Lo, the Lord has taken pity on me and sent you. I have seen dark visions of late. Too many dark visions. I took double the medicine tonight, but it wasn’t enough. It’s never enough these days no matter how much I take. Not like at the beginning when you showed me the splendors of paradise. A shadow has passed across my heart. Across my eyes. Banish the shades of night, I beg you.” Metcalf paused as if listening to a voice. “You want me to come with you?” He took a few paces toward the door. “Yes, of course. I will gladly follow wherever you lead. Open the gates of the celestial kingdom to me once more.”
The diviner had apparently forgotten about his book of prophecies entirely. He was now engrossed in a conversation with an invisible angel. There was some kind of dialogue going on, but Erik couldn’t make any sense of it. Metcalf walked out of the office and locked the door behind him.
Erik waited until the echo of the lopsided conversation had receded down the hall and out of earshot. Then he crept out of his hiding place to assess what he’d learned. It was finally clear to him why three surveillance cameras were pointing at a blank wall. Metcalf had concealed a secret vault behind the paneling. It probably housed all the artifacts he’d been accumulating over the years including what he thought were the genuine Bones of the Mother. He must have felt the prophecy itself was at risk and stored it among his other treasures.
The paladin considered it a lucky break that Metcalf had been pestered by bad dreams tonight and needed the reassurance of his sacred text. He grinned broadly. The book still lay open on the opposite side of the desk. The paladin briefly examined the cover and realized it was a book of prophecies made by a diviner who’d lived a century earlier.
He drew a sheet of printer paper from a stack lying on the windowsill. Then he copied the prophecy verbatim. When Maddie had sent him on this errand tonight, she’d hoped he might find some tiny clue to give them a tactical advantage over the Nephilim. Erik felt confident that what he’d just stumbled across would help them shut down the brotherhood once and for all.
Chapter 45—Do You Believe in Magic?
“We’re back,” Cassie announced as she strode into Maddie’s office at the vault.
“So I see.” The chatelaine looked up from her paperwork. “I’ve just been going over the status report Griffin emailed me. Is the Sage Stone secured in the cave?”
“Lars is guarding the site even as we speak,” the scrivener assured her.
The visitors drew up chairs in front of the chatelaine’s desk.
“So, we’re gearing up for the final showdown.” Maddie pushed her files aside and regarded the two intently. “Would it be safe to assume a double-cross?”
Griffin and Cassie both nodded gravely.
“We’ll be lucky if all Metcalf does is cheat us out of the prize,” the pythia said. “More likely he’s planning to kill us and drag Hannah back to the compound for keeps.”
“I wish I could tell you that you’re wrong, kiddo.” Maddie pursed her lips. “But based on what he’s devised for the rest of the world...” She trailed off ominously.
“Was Erik able to figure out what Metcalf is up to?” Cassie asked.
“Yup, and it’s not good.” The chatelaine gave them a recap of the diviner’s scheme to release pneumonic
