‘So how did you find it?’ Griffin asked, enthralled.
‘By looking in places where angels who were once on earth might have left it behind. We searched Egyptian tombs that predated the flood until eventually we found one small vial in a just-discovered tomb in 1922.’
Steph gasped. ‘Tutankhamun.’
Evelyn nodded.
‘Why Egypt?’ Lincoln enquired.
‘Some of the Pharaohs believed this potion eliminated evil spirits and would elevate them to angelhood after death. They called it the First Breath of the Afterlife.’
‘If this potion’s purpose is just to incapacitate her, wouldn’t Violet’s power do the same thing?’ Griffin asked.
I rolled my eyes. Clearly Griffin and Evelyn had been talking. I’d never explained the extent of my abilities to her and had asked Dad not to discuss them with her either. But from the look on her face now, she wasn’t surprised to hear that I was able to hold exiles immobile without the physical contact other Grigori needed.
‘It could …’ Evelyn said to Griffin. ‘But I doubt very much she is strong enough yet.’
Nice.
I gritted my teeth, defensive. ‘And I doubt very much that you have any idea just how strong I am!’
Evelyn ignored me and kept talking. ‘And relying on Violet is a big risk to take. The more I think about it, the more I question if it will be enough. I’d prefer that this didn’t all rest in her hands.’
I scoffed. ‘Yes, God forbid. We both know the chances are much more in favour of me getting dead long before I can be of any real use.’
Evelyn looked right at me, her stare unfaltering. ‘Yes.’
‘What?’ Dad snapped, looking at Evelyn as if seeing her for the first time. I couldn’t help but be pleased he was finally start to see the real her.
Evelyn turned to face him. ‘We may all die trying to stop her, James; I’ve seen countless humans and way too many Grigori fall at her hand. We must be responsible. We must plan for every outcome.’
‘Tell us more about the poison,’ Griffin interjected. ‘How do we find it?’
She shook her head. ‘That’s the thing. It took us half a century to find the vial, and I used it. You’ll never find any more.’
‘What’s it called?’ Steph questioned. She’d been studiously writing down all the details Evelyn had shared.
‘It has a few names. Qorot is one, but the most common is Qeres.’
‘The perfume?’ Steph replied. ‘I’ve read about that – it was used in the mummification process.’
Evelyn looked impressed. ‘Yes, though what they refer to as Qeres now is simply that – a perfume. The original concoction was something quite different. It was both an angelic weapon and, when treated with the potion, a way to elevate the sacred tabernacles to become more powerful than anything in the human world.’
I thought of the Ark of the Covenant that we’d opened in Moses’ tomb in Jordan. It certainly had not seemed like anything from this world.
‘Do you know of any books that might be able to help us?’ Steph asked.
‘No,’ Evelyn responded. ‘There were rumours of some ancient texts that had documented its history – but they were destroyed long ago. I know most of the ingredients – frankincense, myrrh and lotus to start – simple earthbound components. But we only ever knew of ten of the ingredients with certainty, leaving us to guess the last two. This problem and the unidentified thirteenth ingredient were the reasons we had to find the potion in its finished state.’
Steph stood up, staring into space.
‘What are you thinking?’ Griffin asked. He’d come to respect and appreciate Steph’s geeky tendencies.
‘We should talk to Dapper. If anyone would know where to find a reference to this stuff, I have a feeling it would be him,’ Steph said.
‘Dapper?’ Dad asked.
I couldn’t hold back my smile, looking at Dad and Evelyn. Lincoln seemed amused, too. Not only were they about to meet Dapper for the first time, but my parents were also about to be introduced to Onyx.
CHAPTER SIX
‘Today there exist in temples book chests which we ourselves have seen, and, when these temples were plundered, these, we are told, were emptied by our own men …’
Paulus Orosius
‘Isn’t this the restaurant we came to on your birthday?’ Dad asked as we all piled out of the cars and into Hades. Dapper had painted the door again in what was becoming a monthly occurrence. It was now a high-gloss lime green, deco-chic.
‘One and the same,’ I answered, suddenly worried about how Dad would react if he discovered that Hades had become a second home to me. ‘Actually, Dad, I … I’m not sure you should come up …’
‘Not open for negotiation,’ was all Dad said.
I glanced nervously at Griffin.
‘He deserves to be included,’ Griffin responded.
‘Okay, but just stay away from Onyx,’ I pleaded.