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TWO DAYS AFTER THEIR near brush with death, the Arkana team was standing on the front porch of Faye’s farmhouse waiting for her to answer the door. Cassie felt a strange sense of discontinuity as she gazed at the apple tree and the blue gingerbread railings. It was the sensation a person might have if they visited their childhood home after being gone for decades. Everything looked smaller. Although Cassie had paid her last visit to Faye’s house a little over a week before, it felt like a lifetime ago. Nothing in her world would ever be the same again.
Erik was about to knock one more time when the old woman opened the door, her eyes twinkling with delight. “My dears, welcome back.” She held out her arms and gathered them all into a hug. “I’m sure you must be hungry. I’ve set up some refreshments out in the garden. Come in.”
The trio followed her out to the yard.
“Nobody gets out of this place without eating,” Erik whispered.
Cassie noticed that every flower in the garden seemed to be blooming at once. The wisteria that covered the pergola had leafed up to form a green canopy over their heads.
They spent several minutes arranging their chairs, pouring lemonade and iced tea and helping themselves to freshly baked peach pie.
“I bet M never baked James Bond a pie when he got back from a mission,” Cassie noted to Erik.
He grinned at her without malice. “One of the perks of working for the Arkana. But it means I have to hit the gym pretty hard after a visit to Faye’s.”
The old woman seated herself and folded her hands in her lap. “Tell me everything.”
“We actually don’t know everything yet ourselves.” Cassie stared pointedly at Griffin.
The scrivener avoided her gaze. “I thought it best to chat about the matter once we were all together. It was hardly something we could discuss over the telephone.”
“Why don’t you begin at the beginning?” Faye suggested.
They all started talking at once until she held up her hands for silence.
“One at a time, please. My hearing isn’t what it used to be. Cassie, dear, why don’t you start.”
The pythia didn’t need much encouragement to regale Faye with her impressions of Knossos and the Cretan trove even though neither location turned up any key symbols.
Griffin took over to describe their trip to Psychro Cave.
“Psycho.” Cassie chuckled.
Her male companions groaned in unison.
“You think she’s ever gonna get tired of that?” Erik asked bleakly.
Griffin shrugged. “In a decade or two she may give it up.”
Faye eyed them all closely. Her lips curved into a subtle smile. She obviously concluded that the three had worked out their issues during the course of their adventure.
Griffin proceeded to talk about the tombs at Karfi and Cassie’s role in discovering the key symbols on the boulder.
Erik recounted their narrow escape from Leroy Hunt.
The memory guardian seemed troubled by this part of the tale. “I am so sorry you three were subjected to such an experience.” She sighed. “The Nephilim’s ambition to possess these relics seems limitless. I only wish I knew why.”
“It must be pretty important because they sent one of their leader’s kids on the mission,” Cassie said.
“Really?”
“We never got to see his face, but the cowboy called him Daniel. Kind of a wimp, but it didn’t seem like he wanted to hurt us. Hunt threatened to report him to his father if he didn’t cooperate.”
“One of the diviner’s own sons,” Faye mused. “This relic quest certainly has top priority. They generally don’t allow their young people to mix with the outer world at all. The diviner must want the Bones of the Mother very badly indeed.”
She furrowed her brow, pondering the situation, but didn’t seem prepared to offer a theory. “No doubt an answer will emerge in time,” she mused. Shaking off the problem, she brightened. “What happened next?”
Cassie picked up the narrative with their discovery of the hidden line of code.
“What was the translation?”
“We don’t know,” the pythia replied irritably.
“Griffin wouldn’t tell us,” the security coordinator clarified. “The minute he got done with his secret decoder ring, he said we had to come back here and talk to you about it.”
“I thought it was something that needed to be discussed by the whole group,” the scrivener hedged defensively. “Faye’s input will be instrumental in deciding what to do next.”
“That sounds ominous,” the old woman observed.
“It isn’t really. In fact, it’s quite amusing.” Griffin chuckled.
“Then let us in on the joke!” Cassie could barely suppress the urge to shake him.
“Very well. As I said earlier, the translation of the first three lines of symbols is: ‘You will find the first of five you seek, when the soul of the lady rises with the sun, at the home of the Mountain Mother.’ While we aren’t sure of the meaning of the second line yet, we do know the term Mountain Mother refers to the peak sanctuary of the goddess on Mount Ida.”
“And we know that particular mountain is on Crete,” Cassie added helpfully.
“It would be reasonable for one to reach that conclusion,” Griffin remarked slyly.
“OK, there’s something else you aren’t saying,” the pythia challenged.
“Oh, a great deal, I assure you.” The scrivener was reveling in the suspense he’d created.
“So, spill already!” Erik cried in annoyance.
Faye’s lips twitched in amusement. Cassie suspected she was already five steps ahead of them and had probably guessed the part of the puzzle that Griffin was withholding.
“Why don’t you just give us the translation of the final line of code, dear,” the old woman prompted. “The suspense is killing your colleagues.”
“Yes, I imagine I’ve tortured them enough. But it was just too good—”
“Griffin, I swear to goddess!” Erik threatened.
“Yes, yes, all right,” the scrivener conceded. “The fourth line is: Where flows the River Skamandros.”
“What?” Cassie asked blankly.
“This is the full translation of the code: You will find the first of five you seek, when the soul of the lady rises with the sun, at the home of the Mountain Mother, where flows the River Skamandros.”
“Ah!” Faye nodded appreciatively.
“Glad you two get it,” Cassie said bitterly. “Want to explain it to the mythologically challenged over in this corner?”
Griffin beamed. “It’s brilliant actually! As you know, there is a Mount Ida on Crete where the Mountain Mother has a shrine.” He paused for effect. “But that isn’t where the relic is.”
Cassie and Erik both sat forward.
Faye continued the explanation. “The River Skamandros isn’t on the island of Crete.” She turned to Erik. “Perhaps you’ll remember it from the Illiad as the Skamander River?”
“But that means it’s in Turkey!” he exclaimed.
“In Turkey! But what about the Mountain Mother business and Mount Ida?” Cassie asked.
“That’s the brilliant bit,” Griffin said. “There are actually two Mount Idas. One is on Crete, the other in Turkey. The Skamander River flows from Mount Ida in Turkey.”
“And the Mountain Mother?” Cassie was still puzzled.
“That name also refers to Cybele, the great goddess of ancient Anatolia—modern day Turkey.”
Erik looked thunderstruck. “Holy sh—”
“Language, dear,” Faye corrected him gently.
He looked at Griffin, then turned to Cassie excitedly. “They won’t have a clue that they’re looking for the relic in the wrong damn country!”
The pythia laughed jubilantly. “They could be at it for months before they figure out their mistake! If they ever figure it out at all!”
“Precisely,” Griffin agreed, still beaming. He shifted his attention to Faye. “I believe there’s a way we can take advantage of this misdirection. It can do far more for us than give us a good head start. That’s why I wanted to wait until we could speak to you before taking any further action.”
“What do you have in mind, dear?”
Griffin sat forward. “When we started on this expedition, we assumed that this would be a race against the Nephilim and that sooner or later they might become aware of the Arkana’s involvement, perhaps with disastrous consequences. But that is no longer the case.”
“Meaning what?” Cassie was lost again.
The scrivener smiled. “They think we’re dead. If we orchestrate this correctly, they need never know about our resurrection.”
“How are we gonna pull that off?” Erik seemed just as bemused as Cassie.
“Time will be on our side,” Griffin explained. “We should get to the first relic long before they realize their mistake.”
“Yeah, but assuming they do realize their mistake, they’ll know somebody took it the minute they get to the right spot and find it’s missing,” objected Erik.
“But it won’t be missing,” the scrivener said quietly.
“Yes, of course,” Faye concurred. “I see where you’re going with this.”
Griffin continued. “We will substitute a forgery for the real relic, whatever it turns out to be. We succeeded in duplicating the granite key, didn’t we? As long as we remain two steps ahead of them, we’ll have time to retrieve the artifact, duplicate it, and place the forgery in its original location. Unless they decide to authenticate the date of the relic, they’ll assume they have the original.”
“But we’ll collect all the originals in our troves, right?” Cassie asked.
“Yes,” Griffin affirmed. “Given the lead we’ll establish with the first relic, there’s no reason why we can’t stay several steps ahead of the Nephilim in retrieving the other four. They’ll never discover the Arkana’s involvement at all. Let the diviner have his forgeries and welcome to them.”
“We will have to plan our strategy carefully.” The old woman frowned in concentration. “Forgeries, substitutions. This may require the full resources of the Arkana if we’re to orchestrate it correctly.” She lapsed into silence.
The other three gazed at her eagerly, waiting for her to say something more. She remained silent for several minutes, lost in thought. Cassie wondered if they should tiptoe quietly out of the garden and come back another day.
Just then, Faye roused herself from her reverie. “Yes,” she said decisively. “Yes, I believe this is a workable plan.” She regarded each one of them gravely. “My dears, you are about to play a very dangerous game. You should understand the risks.”
“You don’t need to tell us,” Cassie agreed in a rueful tone. “We already caught a preview of what’s in store.”
“Of course, we can’t go anywhere just yet,” Griffin interjected. “There’s still the small matter of interpreting the second line of code.”
“Any chance our friends will figure it out first?” Erik sounded wary.
“Unlikely,” the scrivener replied. “And even if they did, it wouldn’t change the fact that they would be searching the wrong mountaintop in the wrong country.”
“Before we get cracking on cracking any more codes, I need to get a few hours of beauty sleep. I want to be well rested for the next time I’m in mortal danger,” Cassie observed.
“I need to get in touch with some of my Turkish contacts. This isn’t gonna be a walk in the park,” Erik admitted.
“Judging from your comments, I take it you’re all up to the task?” Faye inquired pointedly.
The trio exchanged glances. A wordless message seemed to fly from one to the next.
In a determined voice, Cassie translated for the group. “Try and stop us.”