In a few minutes they reached the end room down a side corridor. There was nowhere to go from there. Mouse opened the door and Niel stepped inside, expecting to feel a blast of power, or something insidious, but still felt nothing.
“Bollocks.” The room was a mass of boxes and shelving, and he progressed down them, looking into bigger boxes, and ignoring the rest. “It’s not here. I’d feel it anyway, I’m sure.”
“Okay,” Mouse turned to the door. “I suggest we check every room in this corridor, and then head to the far end of this level. At least then you’ve checked the end rooms, as your source suggested. Then we work our way from there. We could split up, if you’d like?”
“No. I don’t trust the horn, and if we’re discovered somehow, it’s best we’re together.”
It didn’t take long for them to ascertain that the horn wasn’t in their corridor, and with a weary sigh, Niel said, “The other end it is, then.”
Twenty-Seven
Harlan watched the last of the local police leave with Anna, feeling very relieved that Maggie was there to liaise with them.
He’d grown bored of watching JD investigate the central area of the cave, and desperate for fresh air had headed into the grounds for the latest news. There had, not surprisingly, been several reports of noise from the neighbouring houses, and a few reports of fireworks that would be the interpretation of the incandescent angels that attacked them.
“Is that it?” he asked her, as she turned back to him and Jackson.
“For now. They were a twitchy pain in the arse.” She rolled her eyes as she pulled her jacket around her. It was another cold and misty day, and JD’s grounds were barely visible. It was with the greatest difficulty that they had kept the police out of the marquee. Jackson was responsible for that. He’d flashed his government badge around, which had not impressed the local police at all.
“You two,” Harlan said to them, as they headed back to the marquee, “make an impressive power couple.”
Jackson exhaled, sounding resigned to the issue. “They didn’t like being restricted, but Waylen pulled a lot of strings. It was still tricky, though.”
“Fuck ‘em,” Maggie said with feeling. “No one sees that emerald cave except us. I don’t care how much they complain.”
“What did Layla say?” Harlan asked. She had arrived much earlier, when he’d been with JD.
“She’ll do the autopsies on the Nephilim. She’s quite pleased, actually, having obviously never done one on them before.”
Jackson laughed. “It’s a strange world we live in.” Then his laugh was replaced by a frown as he looked beyond Harlan, pointing to the flower borders by the house. “Is there something in the grass over there?”
Harlan turned. “I can’t see anything.”
Jackson strode across the grass and other two followed, Maggie almost running to keep up with his long stride.
“There!” Jackson said, triumphantly. “That’s a ring.”
The ring was battered, its metal dull and the gemstone cracked, but it still exerted a trickle of power. Enough that Harlan could feel it, anyway. Jackson stepped towards it, but Harlan pulled him back. “Don’t touch it! It must have fallen from the dead Nephilim.”
Maggie’s eyes widened with horror. “The one that died in JD’s protective field? I thought it was destroyed!”
“If it was that easy,” Jackson pointed out, “we’d be throwing them all at the shield. I need something to put it in. It could help JD.”
Maggie pulled an evidence bag out of her pocket. “Use this.”
“No.” Harlan grabbed a stick from the shrubbery. “Use this. I wouldn’t even touch it through plastic. Just poke it inside and hold only the bag. You two must be able to feel it, too. No whispers, though, which might mean it was affected by JD’s alchemy last night.”
Maggie nodded. “I feel uncomfortable. Like it’s trying to draw my attention.”
“It will be interesting to see what Nahum and Olivia think of it,” Jackson said. With careful manoeuvring they swept the ring into the bag, and Jackson carried it gingerly in front of him, as if it might explode.
Their find subdued their mood, and when they entered the marquee, Maggie swore. “Herne’s bloody horns! This place looks even worse than I remembered.”
“JD lost a lot of equipment last night,” Harlan observed. They had cleaned the place up, but many of JD’s instruments and alembic jars were smashed. Fortunately, his alchemical wheel had survived, although it was covered in blood. “Not that he cares right now. He’s too caught up in there, especially since he’s discovered the map room.”
Jackson cocked his head. “A map room? You didn’t mention that.”
“It’s hardly a conversation to have with the police around. He thinks that there are instructions to find a hidden laboratory in there.”
Maggie frowned as she led the way down the cave’s long entrance passage. “What makes him think that?”
“The fact that so much information is in there, and that Hermes was an alchemist. I see his point. You’d want your lab close to all the knowledge. It’s like being in the midst of a vast library or museum. He thinks the six-pointed star is the key.”
Jackson stopped. “Can you feel something? Like a hum?”
“You can’t feel a hum!” Harlan pointed out as he and Maggie stopped, too.
“You know what I mean. It’s like the air is vibrating. Like there’s a giant beehive somewhere.”
“That’s a really weird suggestion.”
Maggie scowled. “If he’s unleashed killer bees somehow, I’ll never fucking forgive him. Fucking lunatic.”
Harlan increased his pace, curious to see what the noise was about. “I applaud your imagination, guys, but surely not even JD is that nuts. And he’s a genius, Maggie, not a lunatic.”
Despite his reassurances to the others, Harlan couldn’t help but feel trepidatious as they entered the cave. The humming sensation became more insistent, a dull throb, like a pulse. Had JD released power, somehow? Knowing that Nahum and Olivia were inside too, Harlan increased his speed, suddenly terrified at what he might find. However, when they reached the centre of the cave by the eternal flame, all three stopped dead in their tracks, eyes wide.
“What the hell has JD done now?” Jackson said, breathless from shock and the run.
