you right there.” Cassie placed a cautionary finger on his lips. “Are you trying to tell me you love me?”

“Yes, thank you!” He beamed with obvious relief. “You’ve hit upon the very conversational precipice I was inching towards.”

Cassie laughed. “That’s not news. I care about you too.”

“You do?” He searched her face eagerly.

“Absolutely.” She gave his hands a reassuring squeeze. “Everybody at the Arkana matters to me—Faye and Maddie and Zach and Hannah and maybe even Erik, a little. But you most of all.”

Griffin sighed. “No, love. You don’t understand.”

She blinked at his choice of words.

“What I’m trying to say is that I’m in—”

“Hey, stop dragging your feet!” Maddie’s voice bellowed from the porch. “We’re all waiting for you!” She gave the door several thumps with her fist for emphasis.

“On our way,” the pythia called out. Turning to Griffin, she said, “Hold onto that thought, whatever it is. We’ll have plenty of time to talk when we get back home.”

She clutched her abdomen in alarm. “Oh, wow. My stomach is doing flip-flops. Who knew I’d get butterflies just because death is staring me in the face.” She leaned over and pecked him on the cheek. “For luck,” she whispered before jumping up and running to the door.

“Right! Brilliant! All the time in the world to get our relationship sorted out,” the scrivener remarked bleakly as he followed her to the waiting helicopter. “Assuming this isn’t our last day on earth.”

Chapter 51—Lives in the Balance

 

The Arkana helicopter touched down on the heath plateau below the cave entrance. Cassie saw Lars emerge from his tent and shield his eyes as he observed their approach. He’d been camped on the mountainside for two weeks now, keeping constant vigil over the Sage Stone’s hiding place.

Once they’d all disembarked, the guide headed straight for Maddie with outstretched arms. “Greetings, Madame chatelaine!”

Cassie and Griffin exchanged a knowing glance, expecting Maddie to quash his enthusiastic welcome. Much to their surprise, she allowed the hug and gave him a hearty back slap in return.

Lars settled for an all-inclusive wave to acknowledge the rest of the party.

“Any trouble during your watch?” the chatelaine inquired.

“No trouble. Not even a lost hiker. Everything has been very quiet.”

The group gathered beside the diamond-shaped seide to wait for their adversaries. They were all armed with pistols just in case matters took a bad turn. Cassie mentally assessed their odds of survival in a firefight. Maddie and Griffin were poor shots. She and Zach were better than average. Lars was the wild card in the deck.

She walked up to the guide and asked, “Can we talk for a minute?”

He nodded, his curiosity piqued.

She drew him aside and smiled tentatively. “Lars, I wanted to make sure you understand just how dangerous this mission is. It’s one thing to ask you to stand guard over a site. It’s something completely different to ask you to risk your life against bad guys with real guns. I mean, you might not be as experienced with firearms as we are. We’ll totally understand if you want to take a pass.”

“Lady Pythia, walk with me,” the giant suggested cryptically.

“Um, sure.” Cassie darted him an uncertain glance.

They moved down the slope about a quarter mile away from the others.

“Do you see that large stone?” Lars pointed to a boulder protruding from the earth fifty feet away from them.

“Yeah, what about it?”

“Wait here.” The guide strode down to the boulder and picked up a small rock lying nearby. He balanced it on top of the boulder and returned to where Cassie stood.

Next, he withdrew a pistol from a belt holster and took aim. Firing without hesitation, he sent the small rock flying off into space.

“I had no idea you could shoot like that!” Cassie exclaimed.

Lars chuckled. “I am often alone in the mountains, and sometimes curious bears like to visit.”

“So, you kill them?”

“Oh, no. Never!” His face grew owlish with concern. “I fire over their heads to make them go away. I learned to shoot well so I could avoid hitting what I do not want to hit. You understand?”

“I get it.” Cassie chuckled. “Good to have you on the team.”

They ambled back up the hill to join the others.

“What was that all about?” Maddie asked.

“Lars was just demonstrating how not to shoot a bear,” Cassie said.

Before anyone could pose a follow-up question, the sound of an engine cut through the air. They all looked skyward to see a second helicopter nearing the plateau.

Maddie took that moment to light up her fifth cigarette of the hour. “If I don’t make it through today, at least nobody will be able to say that smoking killed me.”

***

Daniel peered out the window as the Nephilim aircraft prepared to land. The Arkana party was assembled near the cave entrance. He recognized Cassie, Griffin, and Lars. The tall, dark-skinned woman with burgundy hair was unknown to him. She was accompanied by a teenage boy. The scion assumed this must be Hannah’s sweetheart Zach. Two armed sentries with automatic rifles stood grimly behind the rest of the group.

As the helicopter touched ground with a slight bump, Hannah recoiled in alarm.

“Everything is going to be fine,” Daniel assured her with more confidence than he felt.

She stared at him bleakly, still pretending to be mute.

His father scowled at them both. During their days of travel, the diviner had repeatedly exhorted his wife to have courage. He assured her he would never turn her over to the Fallen. This assertion made Daniel uneasy. It implied his father didn’t intend to honor the bargain he’d struck with the Arkana. The scion impatiently dismissed his paranoid forebodings and reminded himself to focus on matters at hand.

Father Abraham rose tremulously to his feet. The two Argus guards sprang up to help the diviner disembark.

Before exiting, Abraham turned to Daniel. “You will carry the artifacts for me.”

His son nodded.

Once the initial group had descended, Hannah followed meekly. Daniel glanced out the window in time to notice Zach lunge forward at the sight

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