Gold, round and shining, it was a beautiful thing.
Before Kessar could guess his intent, he grabbed it and ripped it free of the demon's throat and kicked him back. Xypher rolled away from him.
Kessar screamed out, his face changing as he grabbed for the chain.
Xypher was sure Kessar had him. But as the demon reached for him, he was knocked back.
Zakar grabbed him and pulled him toward the throne. "Tell Sin the Rod is in the house. He'll understand."
The next thing Xypher knew, he was back on Olympus, in the quad between the temples of Zeus, Apollo, Artemis, and Ares. "What the..."
He didn't move as he ran through the last few seconds in his mind and came up with the only plausible outcome.
To save his life and get a message to Sin, Zakar had just condemned himself to death.
Sin leaned against the bar, studying the map in silence while Kat and Damien made notes on a pad across from him. There had to be some way to settle this without everyone dying.
But damned if he could think of it.
No matter how he looked at the situation, it was going to be a bloodbath. He could feel it. Every scenario, every plan he devised ended up with them being eaten.
There had to be something he was missing...
Sin cocked his head as a new thought entered his mind. Scowling at the map, he moved closer to it as he realized what he'd over looked.
"Where's the lock?"
Kat glanced up from her pad. "What lock?"
"The one I have to reset to keep the Dimme in their cage. Zakar was the one who reset it last time. It should be somewhere near them on a chain, but I don't see it."
She got up to study the diagram with him. "What would it look like?"
"Sumerian."
She gave him an unamused stare. "I don't see it."
"That is a really bad thing," he said. "If there's no lock, there's no stopping them."
Her eyes widened.
The hair on the back of Sin's neck stood up as he felt a new presence behind him. He spun around, ready to battle, only to find the Dream-Hunter Xypher there, looking a lot worse for wear. "What happened to you?"
Xypher snorted. "Was mistaken for a punching bag again." He wiped the blood from his lips as he joined them by the diagram. "Your brother just resigned himself to death to get me out of danger."
Sin's stomach sank. "What?"
He nodded. "We have to get him out of there immediately. Kessar is planning on using him as a sacrifice to the Dimme-if Kessar doesn't kill him over the fact he freed me."
As bad as Sin felt about that, a tiny part of himself was relieved to know that his brother wasn't completely converted. He was still trying to do the right thing.
"Zakar also wanted me to tell you that the Rod is in the house. I really hope that makes sense to you because I have no idea what he means by it."
Sin frowned as he shook his head. He had no idea either.
At least not at first. "Wait a sec... The Rod." He spun around and headed for his bedroom. He could feel Kat behind him, but he ignored her as he went into his closet and opened the safe.
He pulled several old scrolls out of their clay containers, then headed to his bed to spread them out.