Page 25 (1/2)

He stared off in the direction of the Harrowgate "It’s not that Soo Co to do with Byzaht hesitation in her voice, surprised him Up until now, she’d been incredibly nonchalant when it came to the demons they’d encountered

"Maybe"

She appeared to consider his suggestion to come back later, but after a moment shook her head "We’ll be fine This is too important to wait" She started for the Temple of Hathor, and he had no choice but to follow He kept his eyes peeled, scanning the landscape for anything out of place or unusual The hair standing up on the back of his neck told hi

They worked their way across the hot, dusty land to the tereat building it once had been Its small courtyard was empty of visitors, but then, the courtyard was prettypile of old rocks

She stopped at the enclosure wall A breeze, cooled slightly by the surrounding water, blew her hair into her face, but she didn’t see like aht in the sun

"Can you feel the history?" She finally brushed the hair off her cheeks "I love the places I get to visit I love the way they co"

"You can say that again," heabout the sa up demons on his radar But he knehat she meant Back when E had first asked him to be UG’s artifact hunter--a job created solely to keep Wraith out of trouble--Wraith had been garadually, thanks to all the research and travel he’d done, he’d come to appreciate the history--both human and demon--bound to the places that turned up the treasures They all possessed a different feel, soood, some bad… most somewhere in between But always there was a palpable iized hi her way carefully over the stone slabs, a hand-drawn er, alet the fk out of there

"We need to hurry How can I help?"

She held up her hand, her concentration so fierce she obviously didn’t want to be interrupted Frustrated, he kept an eye on their surroundings as she muttered to herself, checked each pillar with methodical precision, poked around the rubble at the bases

"Oh, crap" She kneeled next to a broken pillar lying on its side

"What is it?"

"The pillar It’s been destroyed It either fell over or was pushed"

He crouched beside her The broken edges were sharp This was fresh "Serena? What is this tablet you’re looking for? Straight up What’s it do?"

She rubbed her eyes with the heels of her palms "Val--and the Elders--believe there’s so The Tablet of Mons Silpius is supposed to ith the coin to provide some sort of protection I think… I think it’s supposed to render the Harrowgates useless"

That was soht is fro the evil presences--demons had taken the tablet already, and they were either on their way off the island with their treasure… or they aiting around for the person who carried the other half of the equation

He grabbed her wrist "We’re out of here"

"Absolutely not" She tried to jerk free, but when that didn’t work, she started peeling his fingers off her arm "I can search the broken stone and see if the tablet is still there And intact"

A tingle shot up his spine and spiked through his brain This was bad Very bad Inside he was chafing, all his instincts spinning like blades in his chest, telling hioddammit… his stomach had chosen now to act up with poison reflux "No--"

A foul wind spun up, swirled around the, he whirled around with a hiss

"Josh?"

"We gotta go, Serena" He leaped to his feet, but it was too late

They came at them from all sides Silas demons, the mercenaries of the underworld Wraith had always hated the fishbelly white, eyeless bastards, sellouts who could be bought for any job for the right pay