Chapter 5

6.30 am. October 18, 2021. Scotts Mills, Willamette Valley, Oregon

Ellie stretched carefully, feeling the pull on each group of muscles and easing them into full extension. She needed to exercise, needed to stay flexible and strong, but, at the same time, she had to be careful of the changes in her body, the hormones released that were allowing her tendons and ligaments to stretch out further, the needed adjustments to allow a baby through her pelvis. It marked the beginning of a new era, one in which she would never again think of only herself, but it came with frustration, this obvious and unrelenting slowing down right at the time she wanted to be at her fastest, and her strongest.

"Hey," Tricia said, walking up the path to the trailhead. "Mind some company?"

"Not at all." Ellie smiled. It didn't really matter if Tricia was here for herself or if Dean had asked her to keep a watch. "I wanted to talk to you anyway."

"What about?" The tall, dark-haired woman began stretching, and Ellie averted her envious gaze from Tricia's graceful reach. With only three more weeks till she was due, she felt like a beached walrus, unable to see her feet, her gait more side to side as she compensated for the weight load transferred to directly out in front and sharp pangs of missing the ability to bend down.

"Your career, for one thing," Ellie said. She turned to the fence and worked on her plies. "You were at the top before your father was killed. Do you want to go back?"

Tricia was silent for a moment, her expression guarded. "I've thought about it. I'm still thinking about it, on and off," she admitted. "I didn't just join you and Dean and Sam because of Dad's death. It wasn't just because I could help in Sunrise, either, and it wasn't just because of Sam."

She leaned against the fence in an inclined plank. "What I did, what I was learning and pioneering, with others, were techniques that can really help here. Injury recovery much more effective and faster than hospital, infection treatments. I know we're all over the place at the moment, with the Leviathan, but I will be returning to more research-based work, especially of some of the more difficult infections in this life."

"Wow, I'm thrilled to hear that." Ellie blinked at her. "Why haven't we talked before?"

Tricia laughed, looking pointedly at Ellie's bulge. "You had a few things to deal with?"

"True that." Straightening and sighing, she waved a hand at the path. "Shall we?"

"Definitely." Tricia pushed off the fence and turned. "The thing is, I want to be here. Maybe that's a part of what I feel I owe to Dad. I'm not sure about that. But I want to stay a part of this community."

"Good," Ellie said, cautiously extending her stride. "Because we do not want to lose you."

"You're going to need a doctor in the house anyway," Tricia added.

"That's true too." Ellie turned to grin at her. "Is it serious with you and Sam? Don't answer that if it's too personal."

"Yeah, it's serious, I think."

"Are you happy?"

Tricia snorted. "I am, in an odd way. I thought I'd be chasing the Nobel Prize in Medicine or something like that a couple of years ago, and that made me happy in a different kind of way, but thinking about it now, even if I'd found the bacterial or viral causes to some of the monsters, how could I have ever convinced anyone else about them?"

"Tests in laboratory conditions are often quite convincing?"

"Would you willingly volunteer to have a disease and cure tested on you?" Tricia shook her head. "One of the things I realised, quite a long time before Dad was killed, was that I'd have to start working with hunters—preferably with you guys—to do any real research on living subjects."

"No Franken-Tricia?"

"No!" The other woman shuddered.

The path dipped down and they followed it through the forest, skirting the curve of the hillside. Cloud had covered the sky, the air growing colder. Ellie stepped up her pace and Tricia, with her longer stride, matched her easily.

"The action against the Leviathan—" Tricia said, her brow furrowing. "—is it likely to be effective?"

Ellie gusted out an exhale. "Death told Dean and Sam the Levis were locked into Purgatory to prevent them overrunning the earth," she said. "Lucifer, apparently, played around with their DNA, wanting to create a force that would remove humanity from the planet. Being an angel, he had the ability to make a part of the failsafe magical, or at the very least, not strictly tied to the laws of physics, chemistry and biology. We think that's the fertility bowl—maybe it needs a ritual to allow them to multiply. I'm not sure about that. The biotech engineering seems to be geared toward to improving their immunity against some kind of virus. Also not sure about that."

She waved a frustrated hand in the air. "Patrick told me that there are rumours the Vatican holds several tablets, well pre-biblical, and not to be talked about."

Along, she thought sourly, with other things the Church wolf wouldn't talk about.

"Tablets? What do you mean?"

"Ten Commandments-styled tablets, but aimed at teaching humanity a bit about the problem children that share the planet with us," Ellie said. "The Church—or at least some of their investigative area, or whatever they are called now—believes they were instruction manuals, the Word of God, transcribed by Metatron to help us."

"What?"

"Yeah." Ellie shrugged, focusing on her breathing as they turned back uphill. "I know it sounds…like a bad Wagnerian opera, but it might be true. The trouble is, true or not, we don't have the time to do anything about that. The Church might still have the tablet, and it might hold the keys to destroying the Levis. Or they might not and it might not. If we can take out their research centres, if we can destroy the bowl Dick was looking for, if we can get one step ahead in finding out the weakness of their immune system, that will work just as well."

The path turned into a broad and winding set of log-defined steps and she stopped talking as they climbed them.

"Sam hasn't been keeping you up to speed on all this?" Ellie asked when they reached the top. The trail came out at the bottom of their street and they walked along the asphalt.

"I didn't ask, really," Tricia admitted. "I was thinking about what I wanted and after Sunrise, I was trying to work out how much use I could be here."

"I hope you came to the conclusion that you're incredibly useful here and we don't want you to go—unless you want to go?"

"Well, something like that." Tricia laughed. "That didn't seem long," she added, looking back over her shoulder.

"Two miles," Ellie said. "It's enough. The hills are what really help."

"Don't they always?" Tricia laughed. "Can we go back for a moment to the last thing?"

"Sure."

"I didn't get much of a churchy upbringing, as you might imagine," Tricia said. "Who or what is Metatron and how much of this God stuff is the truth?"

"Ah." Ellie slowed down. "All of the God stuff is the truth, but like every other truth, the details depend on the viewpoint expressing them." She glanced at Tricia. "The angels, even amongst themselves, hold differing ideas of what their Father wanted for humanity, and what part they should play."

"Yeah, okay, I get that." Tricia nodded. "Big family syndrome."

Ellie snorted. "Well, they're not human and the correlations aren't exact, but yeah, I suppose they're close. In any case, Metatron was the angel who, in Hebrew lore, sat at the feet of God and took down his dictation. He doesn't appear in the Bible so much. Now, whether or not this is a truth or just an interpretation of Enoch, who could imagine having a cleric to hand and didn't see why it should be different for God, is unknown and likely to remain so, you see?"

Tricia sighed. "Interpretations…"

"And translations, from Aramaic or Hebrew or Sumerian or Akkadian to Greek, or to Latin and then through a few more languages and versions and centuries in which society changed and old mores and traditions were forgotten, until it reached English. It's none of it what you'd call accurate to the letter."

"Okay." Tricia stopped, turning to Ellie. "So, how do we find out?"

"The Watchers are angels. They fell with their Grace and were there when it all happened." Ellie lifted her arms and stretched. "It was a long time ago and a lot has happened and their memories aren't like ours, but they can at least confirm or deny. We need to find the records, those tiny kernels of truth from which the myth and legend evolved. Penemue was looking for what we're looking for. I think we have what we need."

She grinned without much humour. "Except for time, of course."

11:30 am.

The basement windows were tiny, and the light was augmented by fluorescent tubes in hooded pairs over the long tables. Through the judicious use of insulation and wall panelling, the temperature in the big open areas was regulated and despite the number of people sitting and standing around the long table, it wasn't too hot. On the surface of the table, a map of the country had been laid out, the Leviathan targets marked out in red, blue and green. The red marks were in Wisconsin and California; Roman's most heavily guarded buildings, one with the fertility bowl, the other Frank believed contained the Roman enterprises backup servers—all the data the Levis might have collected on all their projects. The blue targets, in Illinois, Virginia, New York, Alabama and Arizona were known operation buildings for the food additives being pumped into the public. The green targets in Texas, Pennsylvania, Idaho and Oregon were the research facilities.

Ellie watched their faces, the hunters and Watchers and nephilim, as Dean detailed the overall plan of attack. Their expressions were calm, focused attention without tension. Professional, she thought to herself with an inward smile.

"If you hit the centres at the same time, but do the ones furthest apart first and work your way inwards, you should be able to keep them scrambling around and not having the time to track you." Dean leaned on the table, and brushed a hand across the map laid on its surface. "Sam, you and Tricia take Alabama. Chaz and Adina will ride with you."

Laney and Moses would be meeting up with Shamsiel and Sagi in Illinois. The Watcher and his son would bring them up to speed on the plan. Laney's little girls had gone again to stay with their grandmother and Ellie realised belatedly that she'd have to think about that for the future as well. No grandmothers to share for her and Dean's child. She chewed on her lower lip as she listened.

"Katherine, you've got South Dakota. Not happy about you going alone, but you'll have a team next time out. Twist and Adam, Virginia. Duvsha will go with you. You're leaving now. Trent and Garth hit Arizona, and take Sariel and Oran, you're leaving now as well."

"They'll realise what's happening sooner or later." Trent wiped a hand over his face.

"Yeah, well, we can't get around that. The only option we have is to hit them hard and as fast as we can." Dean shrugged. "Sam and his crew goes up to Wisconsin as soon as they've hit the Alabama factory, while you and Twist and Katherine move onto the next targets, which are in Texas, Pennsylvania, and Idaho." He stabbed a finger against the targets on the map, then turned to his brother.

"It'll take you twice as long to get up there as it will for the others to get to their targets, so figuring out the timing is gonna be important. The attacks have to be simultaneous, we gotta keep them running in circles."

Sam nodded in acknowledgement. Ellie thought they'd be able to do it. Both Chazaquiel and Adina were turning into good drivers and would be able to take shifts with Sam and Trish. That would give them an advantage.

Dean's gaze swept around the table. "The second targets are a long way from Gleason. If they send out reinforcements and start dividing their forces, it'll make it easier for Sam and Trish to find and destroy the bowl." He straightened, his expression dark. "All of this is gonna depend on good communication. We've got burners and radios and codes for everyone to use. Make sure you do use them, because one open call will bring them down on you."

"Frank's got his mobile network running. He sent the codes this morning. Change your codes with every call." Ellie got to her feet and passed out copies of a list of phone codes to each of them.

"Ten days." Dean looked around at them. "That's it. Ten days and you head back here. We'll do another run later on if we've missed any."

Sam caught his eye and they walked a little way from the table. "We've been over the footage Frank sent. There's still no sign of the bowl. We're not even sure if it's there."

"It'll be there, somewhere. Roman's there and he won't let it out of his sight." He looked down. "Frank'll get the location before you get there, Sam."

"And if he doesn't?"

"Then come home. We'll figure out a plan B."

The temperature dropped rapidly and the brothers turned to see Bobby manifest next to them. "Bobby, you're going with Sam and Trish." Dean handed the flask to Sam. "You can search for that bowl without anyone being the wiser, even if Frank's gadgets get made."

"You ain't got that many who read ancient languages, Dean." Bobby glanced over at Ellie.

"Yeah, I know." He followed the ghost's glance. "But I don't hold out a lot of hope for finding the answers to that problem anytime soon, Bobby. And destroying the bowl before Roman finishes whatever ritual he needs is more of a priority right now."

Sam and Bobby exchanged a look and the ghost vanished, Sam tucking the flask into his jacket pocket.

"Wow, he's gonna be fun to travel with," Sam said softly. He looked at Dean. "We'll leave now, Dean. Twist as well. We've got the furthest to go."

Dean nodded. "Just don't take any unnecessary risks, Sam."

Sam grinned at him. "We're going to full on Ryan Gaerity fourteen Leviathan research centres, Dean—define unnecessary risks?"

"Shut up. You know what I mean."

"Yeah. We'll be careful."

8.30 pm.

"So," Baraquiel asked, as he served himself from the dishes at the end of the dining table. "Everyone got away?"

"For what it's worth." Dean nodded, studying his plate. The hunters were on their way to their targets with their teams. He'd elected to stay and keep training the remaining nephilim. There was no way in this world or any other he was leaving Ellie alone from now until she delivered. He'd tried to stay off the pregnancy and expecting sites but he couldn't help wanting to know what to prepare for and a lot of had downright terrified him.

"It's a good plan," Baraquiel said. "It will keep the Leviathan occupied and pursuing ghosts."

"Well…" Dean shrugged and loaded his fork with food. "…until we can get confirmation one way or the other on the God stones and other assorted legends—" He glanced sideways at Ellie. "—we're going to have to stick with what we know."

The stone tablets were a point of contention. Ellie'd had confirmation from her contacts in the Vatican that at least one such stone tablet existed. No one, Patrick had relayed, had been able to read it. Rubbings made of the markings carved into the stone held their own power and some had disappeared. The location of the tablet itself was unknown, though apparently it had been in the vaults of the holy city and now was there no longer.

Ellie made a face at him. "Cas says that Michael will tell us if the Princes begin to move. Until then, all we can do look and hope we find something."

"Needle in a stack of needles," he said. "We don't even know what it is we're looking for."

Talya, Baraquiel's partner, shook her head. "We do. The rumour in Heaven was clear enough. The precise joining of the bloodlines to make a doorway for Lucifer to come through: a body and a soul for power."

"It's not like there isn't a precedent, Dean," Ellie pointed out. "Your family was the result of just the same meddling for a similar reason."

"And we didn't find out about that until it was way too late!"

"Well, hopefully we'll be ahead this time around," she said pacifically.

"Never happen." He finished the food, dropping his fork onto the plate. "Can we just deal with one major world crisis at a time?"

"So long as the world keeps to the deal, I don't mind."

"Huh." He got up and went to the fridge, pulling out a beer and walking out onto the porch. The longer she searched for information on the myth of Lucifer's second rising, the less he wanted her to find anything.

Castiel's expression when he'd talked about it had been shocked, and disbelieving, but behind that had been a real fear. It gave him a bad feeling when angels were afraid.

October 20, 2012. Millbrook, Alabama

Sam chewed on the inside of his cheek as he scanned the building for any signs of movement. It looked dark and quiet.

Behind him, Tricia looked at the screen of the infra-red scanner she held. One of Frank's toys, handed out to make sure that none of the hunters killed any people when they took the buildings out.

Chaz and Adina were moving on either side of the building, well outside the fences, the business end of the scanner moving over the complex as they walked alongside it.

"There's no one in there, Sam. At least, no one producing any heat in there," Tricia said in a low voice.

"Good."

They repacked the gear and waited for the Watcher and nephilim to return, Tricia leaning slightly against Sam's shoulder.

He looked down at her face, half-hidden in shadow. "You didn't have to come along for this, you know."

She smiled slightly. "Yeah, I know. I wanted to come."

He sighed. They'd been together for a few weeks now, and he'd trained with her, watched her when they'd been working, even kept an eye on her basic skills…she knew what she was doing, he couldn't argue that. She was strong, and fast and competent, and he liked that, more than he thought he would. He liked that she could handle herself, that she didn't freeze or panic. There was a part of him, however, that still thought of Jess, of Sarah. A part that wished she was an ordinary girl, maybe the sort who freaked out at a spider on the roof, or the thought of dead rats.

He smiled disparagingly at himself. Not enough to have to protect the world? Had to have a damsel in distress as well? He felt her move and turned, sliding his arm around her shoulder, to draw her back against him.

Tricia resettled herself comfortably. The man beside her was a bundle of contradictions. He was full of rage, but she'd never seen it turned outward, only inward. He was comfortable in his own skin, confident in himself, yet he worried about everything. He'd told her a little of his past, but what hadn't been said were great, gaping holes that made the things she did know confusing and vague. He trusted her enough to watch his back, but not enough to tell her how he felt. Physically they were a great match, especially in bed … he was a sensitive lover, intuitive and aware. But she could feel the ghosts of other women, or maybe just one other, between them when they finished, his eyes darkening with some memory. The murdered girlfriend, she thought. Ellie had told her a little of Jessica, had advised her to ask Sam herself. But she couldn't bring it up. His expressions were too complex when the name was raised, she couldn't follow what he was thinking or feeling, and it scared her.

Two shadows moved slowly below them.

Chaz and Adina climbed the hillside and emerged from the scrub soundlessly.

"The buildings are empty of people, completely quiet," Chaz said when they were close. "There are three guards, all black-bloods."

"We'll need a diversion." Sam looked from Chaz to Adina. "To draw them off while Trish and I set the charges."

Adina gave him a shy smile. "I can lead them a dance through the buildings on the far side."

She could, he knew. She was almost as tall as he was and much faster. She would need some covering fire, but the Watcher could provide it, circling around to avoid being pinpointed.

"Chaz, take the rifle. You'll need to pin down the guards to let Adina get clear, but you'll need to keep moving around so they think there's more than one. We'll start with the northern side and work our down." They'd had the schematics of each of the buildings for two weeks now, and he knew where the structures could be compromised on each one. "We'll need about five minutes, then you have to get out of there," he said to Adina.

"Let's go kill some orc." She laughed softly and began to move down the hill, skirting the forest and working her silently over the gravel and rock.

"How many times has she watched The Lord of the Rings?" Tricia looked at Chaz.

He shook his head helplessly and slung the rifle over his shoulder. "Too many times. They all do. It's like a new religion to them."

When the Watcher had disappeared into the darkness, Sam and Tricia went down to the fence by a different trail, cutting through on the northern end of the lot. They'd just stepped through the chainlink when they heard distant shouts. Sam handed Tricia a small black bag, heavy with blocks of Semtex and detonators.

"I'll see you at the other end. Make 'em count."

She nodded and trotted to the nearest building, slipping around the corner into the deepest shadows.

Sam walked along the other side, his mind focused on the blueprints of the building, his hands automatically unwrapping the next bright orange block and moulded them to shape. He packed chunk after chunk against the frames, spiking each with a small pencil detonator and worked his way around the building at a steady walking pace.

Adina ran, ducking and dodging the gunfire that followed her, moving around the buildings with the guards in pursuit. Twice, a bullet grazed her, and she could feel the trickle of blood down her leg and back, but so far she was staying ahead of them and the occasional crack from Chaz' rifle was slowing her pursuers as he took out their joints. The seconds ticked off in her mind as she ran, and when she reached two hundred and ninety five, she turned abruptly, running flat out for the fence. She jumped into the air and caught the top of the supporting post, using it to vault over the eight foot height. On the other side, she landed in a roll, springing to her feet and gaining the cover of the copse of trees just as the buildings began to explode.

Sam took Tricia's bag and threw it in the trunk as Chaz and Adina squeezed past the front seat and into the back.

"All in?" He slid into the driver's seat, starting the engine and turning the wheel, headlights off but the road clearly lit by the flames roaring behind them. Through the rearview mirror, he saw that four of the five buildings had collapsed completely, piles of metal and plastic, drywall and carpet now burning ferociously and sending clouds of toxic black smoke into the sky. The fifth, although still standing, was an inferno: the windows had blown out and whatever they had kept in there burned extremely well, the flames crawling over the exterior, white hot and too bright to look at in the centre.

"I'd say that was successful," Tricia said. "Wisconsin, next stop."

Sam nodded. Whatever the Leviathans had been doing there, it would take a few weeks to set themselves up again. He'd seen the three guards, black silhouettes against the fire, wandering around the open concrete car park. If the others had hit at the same time, they would have at least gotten Roman's attention.

Glendale, Arizona

Trent checked that everyone was in and took off, the truck's rear end swinging wildly on the hard clay dirt as he accelerated. Behind them, on the other side of the small ridge, a towering column of fire roared into the sky.

"Garth, figure out the quickest way for us to get to Round Rock."

Sariel leaned back against the back seat, keeping his arm still as Oran bound the gunshot wound.

"You okay, Sariel?" Trent looked in the rearview mirror at the Watcher. Sariel nodded.

"Just a flesh wound."

Trent nodded. "We'll all take machetes next one."

Watertown, South Dakota

Katherine dragged herself into the truck, her hand pressed hard against her side. She'd left a blood trail from the building, she knew. She reached for the cell in the console, entering the code as fast as she could. The explosion lit up the night, the sound reaching her a second later with a push of warm, expanding air that rattled the vehicle when it passed over. Then the driver's window smashed inwards and the cell phone fell to the truck's floor. She stared in disbelief at the Leviathan's face as the mouth opened—and kept opening, the top of the head disappearing, the jaws stretching toward her.

Her fingers found the key and the engine started straight away, her foot slamming down on the accelerator as she tried to get her hand on the wheel, under the serried rows of teeth. The Leviathan clung onto the side of the vehicle and hit the gate post as the truck bounced off it, the post removing the creature effectively. Staring out at the road ahead, Katherine shuddered. She glanced up to the rearview mirror and her stomach turned when she saw the figure get to its feet and walk slowly back to the burning buildings.

She made two right turns and got onto the 29, heading south as fast as she could. The numbness had vanished from the bullet wound in her side, and it burned like acid, blood soaking her jeans and shirt slowly but steadily. Not immediately fatal but she would have to deal with the shock soon, and the hangover and lack of protection as her adrenalin dissipated.

She needed to find a safe place to hole up so that she could fix it, and soon, she thought. The thought of stopping anywhere near the creature she'd just left behind filled her with a crawling terror, but there wasn't much choice; the pain would get bad quickly and she wouldn't be able to drive at all. She'd go as far as she could, she thought. At Sioux Falls, she turned west onto the 90 and kept going.

Hot pink neon against the darkness, the camping ground and motel sign caught her eye, off the interstate to the right. She took the exit and slowed down, driving through the small town and rummaging in the back seat for a dark jacket to disguise the fact that she was covered in blood, and still bleeding.

The jacket must have done a reasonable job because the office manager didn't so much as glance at her. They had a room, with parking in the rear and with the keys in one hand, she drove around to it, killing the engine and getting her gear out, each movement sending a freshet of pain through her nerves, her muscles responding more and more slowly under the demands of her nervous system. She retrieved her cell from the floor and managed to get inside the room and lock the door, spilling an entire container of salt over the threshold. Then she staggered to the bathroom, the first aid kit in one hand, the cell phone in the other.

The wound was high, just under the ribcage on her right side. Stripping, she looked at the holes on either side, both reasonably small. Full metal jacket, in and out. She didn't think it had hit anything vital; her blood pressure was still good, and she could breathe without pain.

That was lucky, she thought tiredly, leaning against the sink as she bathed both sides. She ripped open the dressings and taped them down, trying not to twist as she reached for her back. The wide elasticised bandage held both firmly. She dumped her clothes into the small tub and ran cold water over them. They could soak overnight.

In her bag, she found a bottle of out of date painkillers and tipped two into her palm, dry-swallowing them. Then she put on a clean tee shirt and walked to the bed, punching in a code to the cell phone and lying down on the bed. The phone number rang out and Katherine closed her eyes as she hung up. She'd be a bit behind schedule, but a night's sleep would see her through. She could let them know about the blood trail and her condition in the morning.

Burlington, North Carolina

Twist, Adam and Duvsha sat in the Cutlass, watching the buildings burning on the other side of the river. The job had been easier than expected, the two guards had not been Leviathans, but humans. They were drugged, tied up behind the diner two blocks from the centre and would be found by morning.

"Okay then. Let's get going. We got an eight-hour drive to Lewistown." Twist shifted in the seat, rolling his shoulders. Adam glanced at him.

"I'll take the first shift, Twist. You should get some sleep."

"I'll take you up on that, Adam." He got out of the car and walked around it, switching with Duvsha at the same time. "Getting old too damned quick."

Adam started the car, glancing at Duvsha as he turned to reverse away from the bank.

"Yeah well, you're entitled to do some delegating, you've got experience on both of us," he said. Twist smiled, closing his eyes and settling along the back seat.

"Take you up on that too, Adam."

Adam drove east, finding the I-81 N and heading north.

6.05 pm. October 21, 2012. Scotts Mills, Willamette Valley, Oregon

Ellie shifted her position as the baby moved to one side again. She looked briefly down at her lop-sided stomach, then focussed her attention back on the manuscript, her pen moving slowly over her notepad as she carefully translated the words.

"For then it was known, that the adversary was accordant with three lines of Heaven and none included the seraphim but those of the octavu versu, those who guarded and gave out of the fruit of the tree of wisdom."

She lifted her pen, looking back over what she'd written, absently rubbing her forehead with the inside of her wrist as she double-checked her translation. When she was satisfied, she looked at her watch, and yawned. It was just past six and she'd been here all day. There'd been no real emphasis on the idea of adversary, nor on the ideas of the angels. She wasn't sure what that meant. The octavu versu was a very rough term for the Eighth Choir, the name given in some medieval documents to the archangels. The rest seemed to be fluff. This adversary was in accord with the archangels? Lucifer was an archangel. He hadn't been in accord with all of them but he'd been one of them.

The manuscript was one of the oldest, so the time was right at least. So far, they'd discovered quite a lot about the agrarian society in which the authors of these documents had lived, but not much that could reasonably be construed as information about the mythology of Lucifer. Perhaps she was clutching at straws, she thought tiredly. Perhaps there was nothing here that could help them.

"Ellie? Can you come and look at this? I think it's related," Talya said from the other table, the dark auburn of her hair a deep, rich red under the lamplight.

Ellie turned and got up, supporting herself against the table as her back protested. Kiddo, you're putting on too much weight too quickly, she told her son, and straightened up, stretching all the muscles. There was a kick from inside then he subsided again.

Talya was reading through Pen's journals. She'd made a pile of notes on the pad beside her but her finger rested against a page near the end of a recent journal.

Ellie stood beside her, reading the page.

From the transcription of the fourteenth book, what I took to be a myth appears now more likely to be a prophecy. The 'rising of the dragon of the east', and of 'the black beast from beneath the earth' – could these things be related to the failure of the Apocalypse and a subsequent reordering of the lines of destiny? If so, it means that the chains were never broken, merely moved to a new line and that destiny itself is still functioning as a blueprint for the struggles on all the planes of existence. Why were these prophecies never recorded and stored in Heaven? Or were they at one time?

The passage stated: The prophecy will come to pass in a series of connected events, each event bringing about the necessary structure for the next…was that a reference to the events of the Apocalypse being the necessary structure for a further set of events?

What events are required for the second rise of the dragon? I have found some references that might pertain, but I fear that I am following a path of wild geese, to all points of the compass and beyond. There must be a way to confirm – somewhere in these documents. I do not think I will have the time or the luxury of study to find them.

Ellie looked at Talya. "Have you found anything else in Pen's notes that refer to this?"

"Yes, several references are made to the possibility of prophecies, and also to the events he believed may have formed a series of chains, each event or variation of event necessary before the lines of destiny could be moved." She looked at the small pile of leather-bound journals at her elbow. "These I haven't been through yet, they're the last journals he wrote over the past couple of years, I think. Do you want me to go to the last and work back?"

Ellie chewed on her lip, considering the possibilities. It was unlikely that Pen would have summarised his findings into one neat exposition and not told anyone. She shook her head. "No, keep going through linearly, as you are. Fine-tooth comb them for any possible references, and make you sure you list his sources; we need to double check them anyway."

Talya nodded, bending her head over the journal. Ellie straightened awkwardly and walked back around to her desk.

What if Pen was right? What if there was not just one Apocalypse but many, each tied to a different line of destiny, each only activated when the previous one failed? Stop speculating about nothing, she told herself. Get the data, verify it. Then you can start hypothesising.

She returned to her seat automatically, and sat down. Her thoughts wouldn't leave her alone, the sense of a huge pattern spread out in front of her, showing tantalising glimpses, was one she couldn't ignore.

In nature, God had made back up systems, redundancy systems. Every living creature had them. Every pattern in Nature was designed to swing in one direction and then self-correct, self-balance. Why not this as well? In fact, didn't it make more sense that way?

Dean stretched out in the leather recliner in the living room, the big television on in front of him, showing the news of the day. He was tired and sore and the beer he held, though ice-cold and refreshing, wasn't doing much to relax him.

The training had gone well, and the little army he commanded were picking everything up fast, but it was hard work. If Sam had been here…or if Ellie could have helped…but neither option was available. He wondered if he should start training Idan as a second. The thought vanished as the scenes shown on the television changed: burning buildings and serious-looking reporters and worried-looking anchors.

He turned up the sound as the first reports of a mass, country-wide series of terrorist attacks came in.

"At this time, it seems that the attacks are unrelated, although the timing cannot be discounted." The news anchor put his hand to his ear for a moment, nodding. "Sorry, this just in. In Charlotte, North Carolina, it seems that one reporter has found a connection to all the attacks. Rob, can you fill us in on this development?"

The camera focussed on a young man standing in front of a tall glass building in downtown Charlotte. Behind him, several figures stood on the steps of the building, surrounded by camera crews and reporters from across the country.

"Yes, Steve, here in Charlotte, our own editor of the Observer appears to have made a connection between the attacks." He turned and the camera zoomed in on the steps, the figures resolving into people. Dean leaned forward as Dick Roman's face filled half of the screen.

"I have no idea why my companies would have been targeted for these horrifying examples of violence and terror," the head of the Leviathan was saying, looking down at someone just off the camera.

"Mr Roman, can you tell us what the properties were being used for at the time of the attacks? And why the security around them consisted of high voltage electric fencing, armed guards and state of the art surveillance equipment? Even with terrorism at an all time high, it seems overkill for food production and research?"

Dean froze. He knew that voice. The camera panned slightly right and her face appeared, smooth, warm brown skin and tight dark curls dampened with the drizzle that was blanketing the city.

Cassie.