Chapter Ten

Before anyone could say more, Hades came bursting into the room. “Someone has stolen my dogs!”

I looked from him to the Pomeranians gravestone and my blood went cold. No. This was a joke. This person wouldnt kill a poor, defenseless . . . hold on. “Did you say dogs—plural?” I asked Hades.

“Yes, Vervain! Princess and Cerberus are missing. Cerberus never leaves the Underworld without my permission. Never!” Hades shook his head. “Hes out there somewhere, cold and alone. My poor . . .” He went still. Then the King of the Greek Underworld took off his shades. Raging fires burned beyond the clear brown lenses of his irises, but Hades still managed to look horrified instead of horrifying. “What in all the realms is this?” His shocked, fiery stare slid around the room.

“Focus, Hades!” I snapped as I picked up the gravestone. “I think the trickster has taken Princess.”

He looked at the marker. His eyes narrowed. In a deeper voice, one resonant with power, Hades declared, “If this person dares to harm one hair on Princesss head, I will incinerate them.”

“Aw, so you do care about Princess,” I said.

“Only because my wife does. Persephone will be beside herself if someone hurts that dog. Now, if they hurt Cerberus, I will cut them into tiny pieces before I incinerate the bloody pile.”

“I had no idea you loved Cerberus so much.”

“He is one of my oldest friends.” Hades grabbed the gravestone and shook it in my face. “Take off your fucking mask. Theres no bleach.” He shoved the marker back at me. “I need your nose, Godhunter.”

I yanked off my mask and took a hesitant sniff. “Holy hamburgers, hes right.” I took a deeper sniff. A scent came to me but I didnt recognize it. Then I passed it to Trevor. “Sniff, sniff, pass, baby,” I said to him.

Trevor shook his head but took off his mask to sniff, then passed the marker to Kirill. But Kirill was already sniffing the Pringles can. Then he made the mistake of opening it. A fake snake burst out of the can, scaring the crap out of all of us.

Kirill stood holding the can, the only one who didnt react. He looked up at me. “Snake has vords on it.”

I frowned and looked at the snake on the floor. It was as pink as the wand and, sure enough, something was written on it in thick, black ink. Before I could reach for it, Artemis bent over and collected the snake. But I didnt need to hold it to smell it. It had the same scent on it that the marker did.

Artie read aloud, “Thanks for the manna.” She looked from Az to Jesus. “What does that mean?”

“There was a pot of manna in the Ark,” Jesus said.

“Along with the stone tablets that were given to Moses there was also his brother, Aarons staff.”

“Why would you leave a jar of immortality food in that thing?” I asked.

Jesus shrugged. “It was part of the spell that empowered the Ark.”

“So, the Ark wont work now?” I asked.

The J-man looked at the gold box and shook his head. “I might as well make it a couch in truth. Its kinda pretty.”

“The Pringles for the manna, the gravestone for the tablets, and the wand for the staff,” I said as I retrieved the fairy wand. “The same scent is on all three items.” I sniffed again, this time at the room in general.

“Bad idea,” Kirill said.

And it was. The scent of sex instantly bombarded me. But what wasnt there was the smell of bleach. Or the scent Id found on the items.

“Theres no bleach here at all,” I said. “No trail to follow.”

“So they were replaced when the Ark was first taken,” Thor concluded. “No ones tampered with it in here.”

“Thats a relief,” Jesus said.

We all looked at him.

“Well, its nice to know my plan hasnt failed.”

“What plan?” Azrael asked.

“To hide the Ark in plain sight,” Jesus said as if it was obvious.

Azrael rolled his eyes. “Yes, that worked fine, Brother. Congratulations. Unfortunately, theres still the matter of missing manna, holy tablets, and a magical rod to deal with.”

I snickered.

Az looked at me.

“You said magical rod,” Re said for me.

“Have all of you gotten a contact high from walking through the lingering haze in my brothers house?” Azrael demanded.

“Sorry, babe,” I said. “Youre right. We need to focus on whats important.”

“Thank you.”

“Finding Princess.”

“And Cerberus,” Hades added.

“Oh, for fucks sake.” Azrael threw his hands up in the air and walked out.

“Death has left the building,” I declared.