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"This jewel will enhance your abilities. If you were a king, it would make you a better ruler. If you were a warrior, it would make you fearsome on the battlefield. For you, it should enhance the physic abilities that you’ve already began to manifest."
Leaning back, I chewed on my bottom lip. "I'm not sure that's a good idea. My visions are already hard to handle. Something like that might make them unbearable."
Ruth slid the pendant from the box and held it up by the golden chain. "It's not a miracle worker. It simply speeds up the process of developing your powers. With this jewel, you will be able to handle those visions with the clarity of a harpy who has been training for decades. No more headaches, no more fainting s
essions. This will help you master those skills."
I had to admit, the idea of having visions without the hangover was tempting. My hand reached for the chain before I could stop it, and soon, the jewel was in my hand. For such a little stone, it was surprisingly weighty.
"Put it on," Ruth encouraged.
I obliged and pulled the chain over my head. The pendant hit my torso, just below my breasts. I tucked it under my shirt, suddenly struck by how much unwanted attention such a gift would attract. Arcana was usually safe, but I didn't need every mugger hot on my trail for this jewel.
"I don't feel any different," I told her. No sudden clarity had come from the weight of the jewel. Just a dull weight on the back of my neck. "Should I feel something?"
She smiled, a tightlipped grin that pulled at her hollow cheeks. "Not at first, I imagine. Make sure you’re always wearing it. The next time you get a vision, you'll feel the difference."
Turning on her heels, she marched back into the hallway. I scrambled to follow her, Athena’s jewel bouncing against my chest under my cami. She took a sharp left and led us further into the HQ headquarters. Gone were the offices and conference rooms. Replacing them were rooms full of gym equipment, a locker room, and training spaces.
I caught glimpses through the glass doors of harpies with their wings unfurled, running drills, lifting heavy barbells above their heads, and training with combat dummies. None of them even glanced my way as we passed.
A million questions bubbled up from my gut, but I didn’t dare ask them. The more I knew about the HQ and its inner workings, the more deeply entrenched I would become in their organization. I didn’t intend on staying around once my mother was free. There was a supernatural museum waiting for me back home – a museum I intended on making half mine. That plan hadn’t changed with my sudden kidnapping.
“Do you know how I’m supposed to infiltrate Caro’s organization?” I asked Ruth. Back to the plan. That was a safer topic. “You said you had a man on the inside?”
“Well, he’s not fully in the organization, but on the fringes.” She stopped and looked over her shoulder at me. “It’s the best we could do. He’ll get you inside and then you’ll need to make contact with Olivia.”
“And how exactly do I contact you once I find her?”
“That’s the tricky part,” she said, pursing her lips. “The people we’re dealing with, they know how to scan you for magic. We can’t send you in there with a communication device. They’ll find it right away.”
I swallowed hard. No communication with the outside world was a scary thought. What if something went wrong?
“Do you at least know where they’ll take me?”
Ruth gestured for me to continue following her while she talked. “From what little we know about this group, they like to change their location daily. Finding you would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
“That’s reassuring.” I raised my eyebrows at her. “Why can’t you just use GPS like the rest of the world?”
She stared at me for a moment without blinking. “They’ll have sensors for that, too. Electronics and magic.”
Yikes. I was beginning to think I’d never make it back home.
“Luckily for us, we have Athena’s Jewel,” she added.
I stared at her. How would something so powerful fool their magic sensors?
“The necklace is a different type of magic. Ancient and unbreakable. We’ve tried all of our sensors on it and nothing unusual popped up. It’ll appear to them as an enhancement charm, like the little trinkets tourists buy to make them more beautiful, or charming, or something mundane like that.”
I pressed my hand to the necklace and felt its weight. It brought up a million questions, none of which were important at this moment.
“How does that help you locate me?”
“We were able to piggyback on the jewel’s enchantment with our own untraceable tracking spell,” she said with a flippant wave of her hand. “It’ll lay dormant for five days. That means, when you meet our contact tomorrow night, you’ll have four days left to make contact with Olivia, and prepare her for our assault. After your time has expired, it’ll send out a signal to our servers and then we can come in, guns blazing. Just be certain to complete your mission within that time.”
Only five days. That didn’t seem like enough time. What if my mother never showed? It would be all for nothing.
“And most importantly of all,” Ruth stepped in close, her breath warm on my face, “that means, don’t lose Athena’s Jewel. Without it, you’ll be lost forever in the underworld crime scene of Arcana.”
