landlord might not be fully on top of things, but he had built an accessible ramp up to the building, and the elevator seldom broke down anymore.
As I stepped into the waiting room, I saw Talia behind Angel’s desk. She gave me a cheery wave. “Did you see the crowd out there? It’s like a party.”
“It is, in a way. Remember? Urban Street Fair Days? That’s this week.” I glanced around. “Angel still not here? We took separate cars.”
“Nope, she hasn’t come in yet. Herne’s been here and left again. Yutani and Viktor are waiting in the break room. Rafé called, he’ll be in when he can. Herne sent him on a post office run and there’s a huge wait because there was a bomb scare and the police are just now clearing the area.”
“Bomb scare?” I froze. We had been through far too many bomb scares with the Tuathan Brotherhood.
Talia picked up on my thoughts and shook her head. “Random psycho, false alarm. They caught the guy and they’re just checking to make sure that there really isn’t any bomb. But since he’s down there with all the packages, Rafé didn’t want to come all the way back, just to have to go again later.” Talia glanced at the calendar. “Remember, Herne has to meet with the mayor this morning, so you and Yutani are supposed to do intake for the Jessaphy case.”
I nodded. “She’s coming in at ten, right?”
“Right. So it’s up to you to run the staff meeting as well.” Talia paused as the elevator opened and Angel appeared. “Here she is. Why don’t you head to the break room and I’ll lock up and we’ll meet you there.”
“Sounds good,” I said. Slinging my purse over my shoulder, I headed toward the break room.
“Let’s see.” I looked over the notes Herne had left for me, scanning the checklist. “Henny Jessaphy will be here at ten. Yutani, you and I will field that one. How are the research efforts on locating Echidna? Anything new?”
Talia glanced at her tablet. “We’ve uncovered a few things. Legends have it that she vanished shortly after Typhon was put into stasis and the dragons driven into the Forgotten Kingdom. She was last to go—she was actually working with Gaia at that point to corral Typhon, a little-known fact—and it’s unclear where she went. There’s no record of her being consigned to the Forgotten Kingdom like her children.”
“Hmm…all this took place near Greece, right? Because…well…Olympus and the Greeks and all that?” I asked.
Talia snorted. “And the Greeks…and all that. Right. Remember, that’s where I hearken from, missy.” But she was laughing as she scolded me. “Honestly, nobody’s quite sure where the actual battle against Typhon occurred. It might have been Greece, it might have been somewhere else in Europe…who the hell knows at this point.”
“Gaia…wouldn’t Gaia have information on all this? Why can’t the gods just go ask her?” As far as I was aware, Gaia was still aware and active.
Talia shook her head. “No, they can’t. For one thing, the Titans…well…they aren’t like the other gods. They were primal forces, embodied into form. Gaia is literally the soul of the planet, and when she takes form, it’s for appearances only. She doesn’t act or think like the rest of the gods at this point. Same with the other Titans. Every one of them is a primal force, and every one of them is so far away from humanity—or the gods they engendered—that you can’t predict how they’ll act when approached.”
“Which means, we can’t have Herne just ask her to meet with the gods and grill her on what she remembers from that time period.” I sighed. “Is there any way of contacting her? I suppose that’s a question for Herne to look into.”
“Yeah, because none of us is going to be the best choice for that investigation.” Talia shrugged. “We think Echidna left Earth after Typhon went down, and after her children were banished.”
“But you’re not sure?”
Talia shook her head. “No, we’re not.”
“Maybe she went into hiding?” I frowned. “Think about it—she helped trap her husband. She helped drive her children out. Maybe she decided that the day might come when she would be needed again.”
“You mean she might be hiding out in some ancient cave? Or someplace like that?” Yutani scratched his chin. “I suppose she might be. We can run a search on any mentions of dragons over the past few hundred years…see what we come up with. A number of