The room was the size of a janitorial closet and the shelves were crammed with artifacts the way my pantry was crammed with food containers for the menagerie. There was only one chair which Antonia now sat on. I perched on the pile of empty crates in the corner.
“The stone isn’t on display,” I explained. “It’s a recent discovery. I thought you might know its history.”
“Egyptian?”
“I don’t know. It was discovered in Devon.”
Her brow creased. “And what’s so special about this stone?”
I had no choice but to share more. Without enough details, she couldn’t help me. “It seems to have a negative impact on werewolves.”
Her head jerked slightly. “Can you elaborate?”
“I’d rather not.” No need to induce mass panic. Right now there’d been isolated incidents and I didn’t want anyone sounding alarm bells.
Her gaze flitted over me. “You’re a knight like Mack?”
“Different banner but yes. I need to find this stone. If someone’s trying to unload it on the black market, is it the kind of thing you’d know about?”
She shuffled papers around on her desk. “Museum policy prohibits the acquisition of stolen pieces.”
“I’m not suggesting you’d buy anything off the black market. I’m only asking if you’d be made aware of its existence. Maybe a contact who tries to sell you items of uncertain origin?”
She clasped her hands on the desk. “Can you at least describe it?”
I described the elemental stone instead. If my theory was correct and the missing stone was related to the other two, then they’d share certain characteristics.
Antonia’s eyes seemed to grow wider with each additional detail.
“I love my job,” she said, once I’d finished.
Hope flared. “You know something?”
“I know lots of somethings. Are you familiar with the story of the Tower of Babel?”
“Of course.”
“Don’t say of course,” she admonished me. “It’s a fair question in this day and age and you’re what?” She scrutinized me. “Twenty-six?”
“Thirty.”
“Hmm. You’re closer to my age than I thought.” She slipped on a pair of glasses and selected a book from the pile on the corner of the desk.
“You keep a Bible on your desk?”
She glanced up at me. “As you can see, I keep a lot of books on my desk. Tell me what you know about the tower.”
That was easy. My mother’s interest in history encompassed world religions as well. She often said it was impossible to separate one from the other.
“The Babylonians got too big for their britches and wanted to build a tower that reached the heavens. God wasn’t thrilled with their plan and disrupted the work.”
She smiled. “The best laid plans. Go on.”
“God confused the language of the workers so they couldn’t understand each other and the tower was never completed.”
Her eyes blazed with equal parts intelligence and excitement. “Have you ever heard of the Great Pyramid of Cholula?”
I tried to pull the name from my memory bank but came up blank. If my mother knew of it, she hadn’t seen fit to impart that particular nugget of wisdom.
“No. It’s similar to Babel?”
“A certain North American culture believed that, at the first sign of light upon the earth, giants went in search of its source.”
“They went to find the sun?”
She nodded. “They realized it wasn’t within reach and so they built a pyramid to use as a ladder.”
I thought of the Tower of Babel. “Let me guess. It didn’t end well.”
“No, certainly not. The giants upset a god of the heavens and the pyramid was destroyed and its inhabitants scattered.”
“Sounds about right. Gods are a testy bunch.”
She smiled. “There are other versions of the story in cultures around the world. Did you know that?”
“No, but I don’t see what that has to do with the stone. The shifters aren’t suddenly speaking French. They’re…” I stopped short. “It’s a behavioral issue.”
“It doesn’t take a genius to figure out they’re losing control. Are they killing others?”
I released a breath. If Antonia had knowledge that might shed light on the bigger picture, then I had to offer more information.
“It isn’t just that they’re losing control and attacking others. They’re losing control of their bodies. They can’t choose when to shift in either direction. They go…”
“Berserk,” she finished for me. “I’ve heard of berserkers. I didn’t realize there was a connection, but it makes sense.”
“Makes sense how?”
“There’s a reference to another story somewhere in here.” She flicked through the book. “It’s called Friseal’s Temple.”
“Never heard of it.”
“If your stone is what I think it is, that means there are others.”
“Others? Like maybe a stone with elemental magic?”
She lit up. “Yes. Elemental. And I think the one you’ve discovered is transcendence. There are three other types if I recall correctly.” Her fingers trembled with excitement as she flipped to the index. “Hang on. Let me find the right section. What an incredible discovery.”
One of the three remaining types had to be the immortality stone. That meant there were two more powerful stones, yet to be found. If this story was accurate, it could change the world as we knew it.
Antonia turned back to the middle of the book. “Here it is.”
The sound of alarm bells jolted us.
Surprise etched Antonia’s features. “Must be genuine. There’s no drill on the schedule.”
Keeping ahold of the book, she began to gather items on her desk in a hurried fashion. “There’s a staircase further along the corridor that will get us out faster.”
I held out my arms. “Tell me what to carry and I’ll help.”
She handed me a stack of folders from the desk. “This way.” She rushed past me and I quickly followed.
We entered the corridor and I was surprised to see it empty. Shouldn’t everyone be evacuating? I sniffed the air. No smell of smoke.
I glanced at Antonia. “It was the fire alarm, wasn’t it?”
“I assume so. Security would handle any other kind of threat.”
Unless this was security’s way of warning us that they’d failed.
We turned the corner and ran into a guard. “What’s going on? Where’s Reginald?”
The stout man shrugged. “Not sure. Seems to be an unscheduled drill. They sent me up here to remind everyone to lock their office door.”
Antonia blinked. “Oh, dear.”
“No worries.” The guard angled his head toward the exit. “You should keep going, miss. I’ll escort Ms. Birch back to her office and make sure she gets safely out of the building.”
“I’ll stay with you,” I said.
Antonia shook her head. “Absolutely not. I’m not aware of any drill and I won’t be responsible for risking your safety.”
I clutched the folders to my chest. “I’ll keep these until I find you.”
Once outside, it was clear the security team had no idea what was happening. This wasn’t a planned drill, nor was there evidence of a fire. I frowned when I noticed a security guard being treated for a wound on the back of his head.
“Are you sure you didn’t fall, Reginald?” another guard asked.
Scowling, Reginald rubbed his head. “I know when I’ve been whacked on the back of the head, Clive.”
Where’s Reginald?