Enticed (24 page)

I took in what, to me, was a windstorm of papers, highlighted photocopies and newspaper clippings and felt more exhausted than ever. It looked like it would be difficult to make any sense of the material and impossible to actually
get
to it all. But I should have had more faith. Steph is, after all, a genius of sorts. Not to mention her super-handy photographic memory she never willingly flaunts.

„Dare I ask?" I queried nervously, worried that she would snap at me. This workout definitely went above and beyond the normal call of friendship.

Steph barely looked up from a newspaper clipping she was reading. „Wel , let"s just say the guy doesn"t have a Facebook page. It"s not that it"s difficult so much as there is not any one piece of significant information about him. Only a few words here and there. I"ve had to trace him through other people I think he has done this kind of corporate stuff to – you know, other victims.

„Wow, I never would have thought to do that."
Or known how.

„The bottom line is, I"m not getting very far. Al I can real y tell you is that he"s been around – involved in a whole heap of extremely profitable companies and by the time he leaves or disappears they"re going under or already bankrupt. There always seems to be some scandal with the owner or a major financial controller – Skase, Conrad Black; he"s been everywhere. Someone else always ends up getting the blame and later, there seems to be a lot of mysterious deaths. One guy even jumped off the back of his yacht – Maxwell, I think, or something like that. It"s like the stuff you see on TV when a shonky businessman gets blamed for overpaying himself and stealing money on the side, but when it comes down to it the authorities can never actually find where he stashed the money and six months later you hear he had a sudden heart attack or similar."

„Oh my God," I said.

„Yeah, and while there"s always a fall guy, I think the one actual y getting away with the money is-„

„Nahilius," I finished for her.

„And?" Steph pushed.

„And that"s why he didn"t want me involved," I said, trying to calm my heart that was now racing. Part horrified, part excited.

„Because?"

„Because … he cares about me the most."

„
Because
he loves your ass in the epic sense!" Steph said, giving me a little job-well-done pat on the back. This was as far as her deep and meaningful would extend. „Right," she said, standing and starting to pack books away. „What"s the plan?"

„
And as soon as he came near the camp … Moses" anger
Burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and
broke them at the foot of the mountain."

Exodus 32:19

The God squad, as Steph was still tagging them, were sitting at what was becoming the usual table in Hades.

When I walked in I was surprised to see Onyx at the bar chatting to one of the bar staff –

semi-civil. He was dressed in pants and a black shirts and he was clean, recently shaven and though he was sipping on what I was sure was straight bourbon I was also quite sure he wasn"t drunk. Every time I saw him lately, he looked more … human. Stil flawed in many ways, he was definitely less insane and though I wouldn"t ever want to test the boundaries he seemed less sinister. Now, well … now he was just mean.

Right on cue, as I walked by he gave me an icy stare and looked me up and down.

„Ha, no wonder you seem to be partnerless these days. Wardrobe counts, especially when your face looks like that," he snapped his fingers in my face.

„Go to hel , Onyx," I said, not stopping.

„Already there thanks to you," he called after me. I ignored him.

Griffin was deep in conversation with Nyla and Rudyard when I approached. I got the distinct impression from the look on his face that I wasn"t invited to be part of the secret whispers. Neither was Zoe, Spence or Salvatore, who were all hammed down the far end of the table, playing with coasters. I"m pretty sure it was a drinking game – the one where you balance the coaster on the edge of the table and have to flick it up in the air and catch it on the spin in one, otherwise you drink.

Steph and I had tried it one night, but never got past the first attempt. It probably wasn"t the best game to play when we"d already had too much to drink and didn"t know what we were doing. We ended up in hysterical laughter. Steph, who can"t hold her alcohol at all, actually fell off her chair and stayed under the table laughing until we got kicked out of the seedy little bar where underage kids could get away with drinking. I can"t even remember how we discovered it, but Steph made the place famous at our school and now it"s where everyone hangs out.

Except us, we"re stuck in Hades.

I felt a twinge of guilt. I"d been asking so much of Steph. Just because
I
was bound to this life didn"t mean she had to be. I wouldn"t be surprised if she ended up hating me. I made a mental note to do something really thoughtful for her to say thank you.

What gift really says – Thank you for tracking down the insane exiled angel that is
tormenting Lincoln?

„Hey," I said, pul ing out the chair beside Zoe.

Zoe and Salvatore exchanged a glance when they saw me.

„What? What now?" I asked. But I already knew it wasn"t good news. They kept looking at each other, as if waiting to see who would draw the short straw. Zoe hitched a shoulder and flung her hands on the table. Her wristbands made a blunt whacking sound on impact.

„We went to the farmhouse with Beth and Archer and it was all cleared out. We couldn"t really sense anything but definitely felt something odd as we got closer to the airport.

Anyway, there wasn"t much else we could do without tipping them off so we got back early and decided to see if we could fit in a training session over at Lincoln…"

Zoe looked down nervously.

„And?" I prompted, while dreading where this might be going.

„Well, when we got there the door was open so we just kinda walked right in – we didn"t think to knock."

Salvatore coughed loudly. Zoe rolled her eyes. „I didn"t think to knock," she corrected, giving Salvatore a cold glare. „I mean, everyone"s just been coming and going from there so I didn"t except to interrupt …"

Oh no, please God, don"t do this to me.

Spence shifted in his seat – he was dreading the same thing I was, he knew how much it would hurt me. I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek and stared at the spot just over Zoe"s shoulder.

„Was he with Magda?"

„Yeah," she said, but then taking in the look on my face and the trepidation on Spence"s she straightened in her chair and started waving a hand in the air.

„Oh … Whoa – I don"t mean … yuck! I didn"t walk in on them naked or anything … yuck!

Now I"m going to have freaky mental images all night!"

„Then what?" Spence and I asked together.

„They were loading up," Zoe said with a shrug, as if compared to the alternative this was now simple.

I had no idea what she meant and looked around to the others. Salvatore shimmied closer in his chair.

„They were armouring themselves. Guns in fact," he said in his Italian English.

What was Magda thinking? Is she really that desperate to get her claws into Lincoln that
she would drive him to murder?

„Do you …" I swallowed through a suddenly dry mouth. „Do you guys know what happens to an exile if they"re shot?"

„It doesn"t return them, I know that much," Spence said.

„I think it"s meant to hurt like hell, not kill them but it"s a kind of torture," Zoe offered.

„Some Grigori use them – guns – to help get the upper hand, but it"s frowned upon."

„Cowardly," Salvatore said.

I shot him a fierce look.

„I am sorry, Violet. This may have been the not right wordings."

And yet, I had a feeling it was exactly what he meant. As much as I wanted to defence Lincoln, I couldn"t.

Griffin, Nyla and Rudyard a chose this point to move down to where we were sitting.

„Sorry to keep you waiting. We were just trying to double-check our research. We believe we know where the Scriptures are." Griffin looked at me. „Are you okay? Spence fil ed us in on the plane situation."

„Yeah, I"m good," I lied, knowing he would let me.

Even when you can tell someone isn"t being honest, you have to pick your times, decide when you wil and won"t pul them up on it. This was one of the
won"t
s
.

„Is it commonly known that titanium does something to shield exiles against our sense?" I asked, embarrassed for not knowing more.

Griffin sat down beside me. „No. it"s not general knowledge and we had no idea it could be harnessed in this way."

„So
you
knew about it?" I asked, wondering how many other things weren"t „general knowledge".

Griffin spun a glass of Coke in his hand. „I knew. But up until today we believed the only people who knew were Grigori leaders."

„So how did Phoenix figure it out?" Spence piped up before I could ask.

„I"m not sure," Griffin said plainly. Then he looked about and his expression turned quizzical. „Where"re Lincoln and Magda?"

I shrugged and tried to play it cool. „Your guess is as good as mine, boss," which was as close to the truth as I could get.

„Well, we can"t wait for them," Griffin said, shaking his head but not real y surprised.

„Back to the Scriptures," Zoe said, impatiently. „Where are they?"

Nyla, Rudyard and Griffin all looked at one another and then back to us.

„Jordan," Nyla said.

„Jordan?" we all repeated.

„The country?" Spence added.

Griffin nodded and then gestured to Rudyard to speak.

Rudyard cleared his throat. „Yes, Jordan. We believe the Rules the exile we captured at the farmhouse was referring to are the Ten Commandments."

My mouth wasn"t the only one to drop open and al but hit the table.

Rudyard smiled, looking positively thrilled at the reaction to the developments. „I know it"s a lot to get your head around. We believe that when Moses received the Ten Commandments almost three and a half thousand years ago, he in fact received two sets of three stone tablets. On one set were the Ten Commandments as we know them, while the second was to be held for subsequent discovery by the Grigori, and the third was for exiles.

When Moses realised humans were not the only inhabitants of the Earth and that exiled angels existed, and even more concerning, that angels existed in the angel realm in both light and dark capacity, he was enraged. He smashed a complete set of tablets and never revealed anything more than the Ten Commandments for humans. For humans the second tablet while the Ten Commandments was uncovered and stored away. What remained were hidden for safekeeping and eventually translated into Scriptures, only to be revealed by their own kind. We believe that the Scripture for Grigori and exiles are in this same place –

concealed somehow – waiting to be discovered."

„And that"s in Jordan?" Zoe asked again.

„Yes, we think Moses was buried after this, the Scriptures were placed in that tomb, too. a prophet, Jeremiah, was sent on an angelic quest with the Ark of the Covenant, within which the Scripture were concealed. Jeremiah was charged which delivering the Ark and its contents back to their original owner. If our information is correct, he took the Ark to Jordan."

„It is a very old legend, not one widely told. Over time, the legend has been almost completely lost," Griffin added.

„Yes," agreed Rudyard, placing an ancient-looking leather-bound book on the table and opening to a yellowed page. „Al ow me to read a small passage from the Second Book of Maccabees," he cleared his throat.

„
The prophet, Jeremiah, having an oracle, commanded that the tabernacle and the ark
with him, he went forth into the mountain, where Moses climbed up, and saw the heritage of
God. And when Jeremiah came thither, he found an hollow cave, wherein he laid the
tabernacle and the ark, and the altar of incense, and so stopped the door. And some of
those that followed him came up to mark the way, but they could not find it.

„When Jeremiah learned of it, he blamed them, saying: As for that place, it shal be
unknown until the time that God gather his people again together, and receive them unto
mercy."

„Well, I have no idea what that meant," Zoe said, slouching back in her chair.

„We believe the Ark of the Covenant may be hidden in the tomb of Moses, which is in Jordan."

„So we"re going to Jordan," I echoed.

Rudyard nodded.

„Well, it"s about time something went in our favour," Zoe said.

I got the feeling I wasn"t the only one who agreed with her wholeheartedly.

„So," Griffin said, clapping his hands together to get everyone"s attention. „We need to get organised. Dapper overheard some exiles in here last night, they were talking about flying out tonight, so we have to assume it"s Phoenix. I"ve got Archer and Beth taking care of things here. Violet, you need to clear things with your Dad somehow – we need you on this trip."

I nodded. Finding a way around Dad was the least of my concerns.

„Nyla and Rudyard are heading straight to the airport to get a plane organised and the rest of us need to be there in two hours. Since we now know that Phoenix has a military plane we have to assume that he is going to Jordan himself he will be flying into the military airfield in Amman. The Academy us owed a few favours so Nyla is confident she"l be able to get us a military plane, too."

Nyla and Rudyard stood up simultaneously to leave, their hands unwittingly intertwining, and at that moment I felt like standing up and putting my foot right through their beautiful connection.

„Spence," Nyla said, standing over him. „You will stay here. I"m sorry but this trip is too dangerous – we don"t know what"s ahead."

Contrary to his tight-fisted hand, Spence surprised everyone by looking up at Nyla and Rudyard and smiling. „No problem," he said. „Have a good trip – bring me back a souvenir."