Nibal shrugged. “I will take you to them. They are safe, don’t worry.”

“Safe is a subjective word. Why isn’t anyone keeping watch?” Estelle asked, as she observed their surroundings.

“Because they believe this place is still a secret.” Nibal smirked. “Jiri is arrogant.”

“Let’s get on with this,” Barak said, impatient to end it. “We do as we originally planned. Lead us to the room where all the Nephilim are gathered, and we will try to get the others to join us. If not, we fight. Pirro will die first. As for Jiri?” He cocked his head at Shadow, who was fully kitted out with sword, daggers, long bow, bombs, and JD’s weapon. “Perhaps bomb his precious War Room.”

“My pleasure.” She pointed at a Nephilim called Dorian who hadn’t spoken yet. “You can take me.”

“Then I’m with you,” Gabe said to her, clearly still determined to talk to Jiri. “Barak and Ash, you’re in the hall with Lucien. Estelle, do you need assistance?”

She shook her head. “No. I just want to make sure they’re safe, and then I’ll join Barak.”

Gabe nodded, then gripped Barak and Ash’s arms, reinforcing his message. “Let’s try and talk first, get them to come around. Help Ozan make them see sense. Especially if we negate Belial’s power! They have nothing to fear, and everything to gain!”

Barak nodded, returning Gabe’s strong grip with his own, and wishing he had half of his optimism. “We’ll try our best.”

Nahum met Eli and Zee at the entrance to the emerald cave. They carried the large, spelled box between them, and placed it down on one of the trestle tables to catch their breath. Anna left them to it with barely a backwards glance.

“An uneventful trip, I hope?” he asked his brothers in greeting.

“Unexpected, but yes, uneventful.” Eli’s lips were compressed into a thin line with resentment. “I had to dump my date.”

“You’re always dating, I’m sure she’ll recover,” Nahum said, smirking. “A new addition to your harem?”

“No. A regular.”

“Lovely. I’m sure she’s thrilled.”

Eli gave him a slow, knowing grin. “Not all of us are a one-woman man. How’s that going for you?”

“Just fine.”

Eli leaned against a table, arms folded across his chest. “Just fine?

Nahum knew they were winding him up, especially as Zee had a goofy grin on his face, too. He arranged his features to an impassive stare, sure that guilty pleasure was radiating out of every pore. He’d eventually tell them that things had progressed, but not now. He wanted to luxuriate in their privacy for a while. If Harlan kept his mouth shut. “Yes. Fine. That’s all I have to say on the matter.”

“Oh, brother,” Zee slapped him on the shoulder. “We’ll just have to assess for ourselves. I take it,” he cocked his head at the cave’s entrance, “that used to be the Emerald Tablet?”

Nahum massaged the bridge of his nose, glad of the change of subject, but knowing it wouldn’t last. “Yes. It still is! It’s even crazier in there than when we first went in. JD has found the original lab, and it’s nuts.”

“The actual lab of Hermes Trismegistus?” Zee asked, almost scoffing in disbelief.

“Yes. And in the intervening hours since I called you, he has tested various alignments—I have no idea what to call it other than that—and has replicated the protective dome’s effects and blasted Belial’s ring again. He’s weakened it further.” He had already explained some of it over the phone hours earlier. “He’s making a few minor adjustments, and then we’ll try again.”

Zee and Eli were both silent with shock, but Zee recovered first. “Are you saying he can negate Belial’s power?”

“He has already weakened it. He’s trying to eradicate it completely.”

“So, we don’t have to be dragons forever?”

“Hopefully not. Not to his treasure, at least.”

“And what about the other tokens out there?” Eli asked.

“Herne’s hairy bollocks! I don’t know. Seems like a stretch, but ask JD.”

They followed him into the cave, carrying the box between them, and after allowing them a few moments to gasp at their surroundings, he waited for more shock when they saw the lab.

“I must admit,” Eli said, when he finally put the box down on the stone table in Hermes’s lab, “I really have seen everything now.”

Everyone was gathered down there after leaving JD alone for hours. Some had caught up on sleep, Olivia included, but Nahum had continued to explore the cave, trying to ignore the booms that emanated from the lab.

“Guys! Good to see you.” Harlan marched over and shook their hands, and Nahum introduced his brothers to Maggie, JD, and Jackson.

“You’ve brought the box of tricks, then?” Harlan asked, eyeing the box as if it would bite.

“Everything we have,” Zee confirmed.

Maggie, normally a stalwart in every situation, eyed up Zee and especially Eli. “Well, you two are a sight for sore eyes. Do you stir up as much shit as your brothers?”

“Sometimes,” Eli confessed with a wink.

Nahum rolled his eyes as Eli exuded his normal charm. Fortunately, Olivia didn’t seem the slightest bit interested. Instead, she watched Nahum out of the corner of her eye, and every now and again she gave him a teasing, shy smile that was for him alone.

“Whatever!” JD interrupted them. “Open the box. I need to see it all.”

“In your dampening field first,” Nahum reminded him. JD had set one of the geometric grids up with a protection field. “This packs a powerful punch.”

“I really need to feel it first, if I’m to assess it properly.” His stare was implacable.

Nahum relented, knowing it made sense, and addressed the humans. “Cover your ears. It will help a little.”

Zee flipped the lid, and immediately Belial’s power rolled out. Actually, roll was the wrong word. It reared up like a jack-in-the-box, and everyone except the Nephilim recoiled. Insidious whispers assaulted them like spears, and Zee quickly snapped the lid shut again.

“Enough?” Nahum asked JD, who looked pale with shock.

He swallowed. “They’re more than I expected.”

“I did warn you.”

JD waved his concerns away. “I had to know.” Wrinkling his nose with distaste, JD pointed to a hexagonal area to the right of the eternal flames. “Put it there for now. You all need to stand over there.” He pointed to an area on the far side of the lab. “There’s a line of pure obsidian. Stand behind it. I have one more test to make on the sample ring.”

JD had made several alterations to the lab, and now had his mass of strange, gemstone-powered beams pointed at another octagonal shape laid out on the ground made only of precious metals. The ring they had found in the garden was at the centre, and JD had erected a forcefield around the whole area.

Everyone shuffled nervously back, and Nahum stood next to Olivia, ready to protect her.

“Er, JD,” Harlan asked, “is it safe for us to stay?”