“Jade?” Dorion leaped out of the car. “Where did you go?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “Your friend Professor called. They’ve made an amazing discovery in Delphi. We have to hurry if we’re going to catch our flight.” He stopped, looked at her. “Why are you all wet?”
“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you after I dry off.”
“Were you able to make the switch? Did everything go as you planned?”
Jade dropped a hand to her pocket and brought out her prize. She thought about Roche groping in the mud at the bottom of the river, rooting around like a catfish. How would he react when he finally found what he was looking for, only to discover that the orb she had dropped into the Thames was not Dr. Dee’s Shew Stone, but a cheap reconstituted quartz crystal ball she’d picked up at an occult bookstore a few blocks from the British Museum?
The thought brought a smile to her face. “Almost exactly as planned.”
EIGHTEEN
Professor gazed up into the darkening eastern sky, and found the moon, a misshapen white disk that looked more like an over-inflated football than a sphere. The technical name for the current phase was ‘waxing gibbous’ but in a few more days it would be completely full. If Dorion was right about tidal forces cancelling out the dark matter field, then they might have already missed their opportunity.
After his conversation with the physicist, it had occurred to Professor that there might be another explanation for the oracle choosing to speak only on the seventh day of the lunar month; the timing of moonrise and lunar zenith. The first quarter moon would be in the sky during midday, when the oracle was active. As the month progressed, moonrise would come later and later, until in the latter half of the month, the moon would only be overhead in the middle of the night. Perhaps it wasn’t the alignment of sun and moon that mattered, but simply having the moon overhead. That too was something they could test, which was why he and Ophelia had been cooling their heels at the hotel until after dusk.
He turned to Ophelia. “Ready to play oracle?”
She returned a playful smile. “You know, according to tradition, we should ritually bathe first.”
“We also should have spent the last few days fasting,” he replied, evenly. “Let’s hope it doesn’t make a difference.”
She laughed and seemed content with his answer. Professor waited until she had turned away to roll his eyes in frustration. At first, he had thought perhaps he was misreading her, but after a while, it had been impossible to miss the signals; the sly glances, the comments thick with innuendo, and perhaps most significant of all, the fact that she was trying her damnedest to impress him with how intelligent she was. He had been flattered, and then he had grown suspicious. He wasn’t arrogant enough to believe that every woman swooned in his presence, and since Ophelia was both beautiful and wealthy, it seemed unlikely that she was desperate for suitors, especially someone so far outside what he assumed was her normal social circle. So why was she trying so hard to get his attention?
He decided that, despite her seemingly confident manner, Ophelia was either a narcissist, in which case what she really wanted was for every person in her life to worship her; or deeply insecure, which essentially meant the same thing. Either way, nothing good could come of indulging her. He had decided it was better to feign being oblivious to her advances; this was a partnership of convenience, nothing more, and it would be over soon enough.
“Okay, but if this doesn’t work, it’s your fault.”
“Fair enough.” He donned his hat and headed for the door. He wasn’t, in truth, prepared to accept any kind of blame in that regard. As far as he was concerned, the visit to Delphi had already borne fruit. If he or Ophelia actually experienced some kind of precognitive vision at the ruins of the sanctuary of Apollo, well that would just be icing on the cake.
Flanked by Ophelia’s security detail, they headed out through the bustling streets, toward the archaeological site. The site was technically closed for the day, but years of generous donations from the Doerner Charitable Trust had earned her “special access.”
They made their way along the trail by moonlight, and came to the ancient temple. Professor had seen pictures and models of what the temple might have looked like during the heyday of Delphi; now, all that remained was a foundation of cut stone blocks and five upright columns, only one of which was still mostly intact. As they approached, Ophelia stepped ahead of him, practically racing to the edge of the temple site.
“Watch your step,” he warned. His advice was probably unnecessary. Ophelia had been here so many times, she probably could have negotiated the irregular maze of footings and excavated trenches blindfolded.
She looked spectral in the silvery moonlight, more a wraith than a prophetess. The vision — no, don’t call it that — left him ill at ease, but he kept his anxiety to himself.
Despite his scientific skepticism, he had grudgingly come to believe that both Jade and Paul Dorian had glimpsed some kind of alternate reality, and that Dorian’s dark matter hypothesis was accurate. It furthermore seemed very probable that a solid sphere could act as a dark matter collector, and that one sphere could seed another, drawing in WIMPs like iron filings to magnet; maybe Costa Rica had been some kind of ancient Omphalos farm.
Ophelia roamed back and forth across the ruin, moving more slowly but not, Professor suspected, because she was unsure of her footing. She walked with her arms slightly apart, palms facing down, as if she might somehow feel the energy of the ancient oracle rising up from the below. Professor just watched, hanging back to observe the outcome of the experiment.
After ten minutes, in which Ophelia never stopped moving for more than few seconds, he finally called out to her. “Anything?”
She stopped. “No. Maybe we’re doing something wrong.”
“There are too many variables. Maybe we’re not close enough to the dark matter field. The oracle always received visions in the lower level of the sanctuary. Maybe there’s too much earth in between.” He took a breath, and then told her what he was really thinking. “Or maybe the field has dissipated over the centuries. I spent the afternoon looking for anecdotal evidence of any kind of paranormal activity at Delphi, and came up empty. There are dozens of so-called ‘power spots’ all over the world — Stonehenge; the Pyramids; Sedona, Arizona; even Teotihuacan — where people report all kinds of weird stuff. I couldn’t find so much as a whisper of strange activity at Delphi. Maybe there was a residual dark matter field after the Phoenician raiders stole the original Omphalos…maybe that’s how the oracle was able to prophesy…but it’s gone now.”
Ophelia seemed to deflate. She picked her way across the ruin to join him. “Let’s go,” she said, dejectedly.
Professor thought about reaching out to her, giving her a hug or holding her hand as they made their way back up the trail, but resisted the impulse. Now was definitely not the time to send her mixed signals.
As they started toward the theatre, he spied lights moving down the trail toward them. Immediately wary, he extended a hand to block Ophelia. “I don’t like the look of this.”
“It might be the night watchman.”
Professor watched the lights bobbing as they moved along. “I don’t think so. There’s more than one. Let’s find another way out of here.”
Before he could turn however, one of the security men called out. “It’s okay. They’re friendlies.”