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“And towers,” Arik mused. “They speak of towers.”

Arik turned back to the Isfet, and they engaged in another conversation. “Okay,” he said. “The location wasn’t lost to legend. It was lost to translation. You know they can barely understand or speak Sheoulic… they only know a few words, enough to sell their product.”

“Why couldn’t they learn Sheoulic?” Than asked.

Arik shifted to address them all. “It’s like communicating with dogs. They can read our body language, and they can understand a few words, can read the tones of our voices. But they can’t understand conversations, and that can’t be taught. It’s a species thing.”

“So you’re saying that the Isfet are like dogs?”

“Yes. They’re like no other demon. Hell, they might not even be demons.”

Limos glanced over at the Isfet. “What else would they be?”

“No idea.” Arik shrugged, making his shirt stretch tight over his broad shoulders. Yum. “Aliens, maybe?”

“Aliens.” Thanatos’s voice was flat, disbelieving.

“Your skepticism is funny, coming from one of the Four fucking Horsemen of the Apocalypse.”

She supposed Arik had a point, but still, in all her time, she’d not come across a single alien. She didn’t think so, anyway. “Okay, so whatever they are, you understand them, now, right?”

“Sort of. He said the cup is in a chamber of… I can’t figure out the right word.”

The Isfet shuffled over to the altar and tapped one od t" width="2f the stones.

“A crystal,” Arik breathed. “That’s it. It makes sense. It’s in a chamber of crystals.”

“Not ice?”

“No. That’s how it was translated into Sheoulic, so that’s how you understood it. And it was flooded with hot water.”

“Boiling glass,” she murmured. “What about the towers?”

He spoke with the Isfet, and then turned to Limos. “Not towers. Columns. Huge columns of crystal inside a big cave. And he said that since I know their language, I’ll know the signs inside. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know where the cave is.”

“Google.” Everyone turned to look at Ares, who shrugged. “Cara likes to say that you can Google anything. Can’t hurt.”

“So we Google for caves of crystal?” Arik grinned. “Let’s get Googling.”

Twenty-one

They found the cave in half an hour.

Google searches for crystal caves turned up a bazillion results, but after refining the searches, one stood out; a giant crystal cave discovered in Mexico… once filled with scorching water. Miners had pumped out the water, but volcanic vents kept the cave so hot that it could kill unprotected humans within minutes.

According to one of the Internet articles, scientists theorized that over the course of the million years it took for the crystals to form, water levels inside the cavern had varied from full to empty. Limos’s agimortus could easily have been placed inside during one of the low-water periods.

Arik had called Kynan to aid in the search, but Kynan had been dealing with an attack on an Aegis stronghold outside of Frankfurt that had left twenty Guardians dead, so he’d sent his vampire-demon buddy in his place. The demon, Wraith, was some sort of expert treasure hunter, and Kynan swore he’d be as useful as he’d been a couple of months ago at the big battle they’d had with Pestilence.

Kynan had better be right, because Limos had never met a more annoying Seminus demon in her life.

Currently, Wraith was exiting the mining facility and sauntering toward Limos, her brothers, and Arik. He’d arrived before they had, so he’d gone in to check things out and grab Arik an orange “ice suit,” which apparently kept chilled air blowing on the inside via a miniature air-conditioning unit. He handed it to Arik.

“Here, dude. You get to play astronaut. Oh, and I took care of the humans who were inside.”

“Took care of?” Arik asked.

“Don’t get your panties in a twist,” Wraith said, shoving his hands in his jeans pockets. “They’re still alive. Just… tired.”

< the >

Limos helped Arik get the bulky suit on. “From what?”

Wraith flicked his tongue over a fang. “Anemia.”

Thanatos laughed. “I like this guy more every time I see him.”

“Good,” Limos said, as she helped connect