The Granite Key (Arkana Mysteries) (31 page)

Chapter 44
– Double Trouble

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 looked around at the apple tree and the blue gingerbread railings with a strange feeling of discontinuity. 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 had elapsed. Nothing in her world would ever be the same again.

Erik was about to try knocking one more time when the old woman opened the door and beamed at them with a radiant smile.

“My dears,” 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 latticework shelter in the yard.

“Nobody gets out of this place without eating,” Erik said sotto voce.

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 roof 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. Though I do 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, an expectant expression on her face. “Tell me everything.”

“We actually don’t know everything yet ourselves,” Cassie offered. She stared pointedly at
Griffin
who avoided her gaze while trying to look innocent.

“I thought it best to discuss the matter once we were all together,” the Scrivener explained. “It was hardly something we could talk about 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 girl 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
picked up the narrative to relate the part of their journey involving Psychro cave.

“Psycho,” Cassie giggled.

Her male companions exchanged a look.

“You think she’s ever gonna get tired of that?” Erik asked bleakly.

“Oh I have great hopes that in a decade or two she’ll give it up,”
Griffin
replied in resignation.

Faye gave them all a searching look followed by a secret smile which she didn’t choose to explain. Apparently she was satisfied that the three had somehow worked out their issues during the course of their adventure.

Griffin
continued to talk about the tombs at Karfi and Cassie’s role in discovering the key symbols on the boulder.

Erik took over the story when it came time to explain their narrow escape from Leroy Hunt.

Faye appeared 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 I think they sent one of their leader’s kids along,” Cassie offered.

“Really?”

“We never got to see his face but the cowboy had somebody with him. Somebody he called Daniel. Kind of a wimp but it didn’t seem like he wanted to hurt us. Hunt threatened him and said if he didn’t help that his father would hear about it.”

“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 conventional society at all. The Diviner must want the Bones Of The Mother very badly indeed.”

The three were silent for a few moments, each speculating on a reason for the Nephilim to pursue the relics.

“Then what happened?” Faye prompted.

Cassie leaped in to explain about their return to the boulder and the hidden line of code.

“What was the translation?” the old woman asked eagerly.

“We don’t know,” Cassie and Erik said in unison. They both shot
Griffin
an exasperated look.

“He 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.”

Griffin
defended himself. “I thought it was something that needed to be discussed by the whole group. 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
looked as smug as the cat who swallowed the canary.

“Then let us in on the joke!” Cassie had to resist 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
commented though he seemed to be smirking when he said it.

“OK, there’s something else you aren’t saying,” the girl challenged.

“Oh, a great deal, I assure you.” The Scrivener was enjoying the suspense he’d created.

“So spill already!” Erik cried in annoyance.

Faye seemed to be chuckling to herself. Cassie suspected she was already five steps ahead of them and had probably guessed the part of the puzzle that
Griffin
was concealing.

“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.” He laughed. “But it was just too good
—
”

“
Griffin
, I swear to goddess!” Erik threatened.

“Yes, yes, all right,” the Scrivener conceded. “The fourth line translates to say: Where flows the River Skamandros.”

“Huh?” Cassie asked blankly.

“The full translation of the code 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, where flows the River Skamandros.”

“Ah!” Faye exclaimed 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.”

“What?” Cassie and Erik both sprang to attention.

Faye picked up 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 added.

“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 business?” 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, flushed with excitement. “They won’t have a clue that they’re looking for the relic in the wrong damn country!”

The girl laughed jubilantly. “They could be at it for months before they figure out their mistake!” she exclaimed. “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.”

Faye’s expression had grown solemn. “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.”

“What do you mean?” Cassie was lost again.

The Scrivener smiled. “They think we’re dead and if we orchestrate this correctly, they need never know about our resurrection.”

“How are we gonna pull that off?” asked Erik, 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.

“Aha!” Faye nodded wisely. “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.”

“Of course,” Faye concurred. “Unless they decide to authenticate the date of the relic, and there’s no reason why they should, they’ll assume they have the original.”

“But we’ll collect all the originals in our troves, right?” Cassie asked.