Talon let out a nervous laugh. "I try to avoid descending into hell realms as much as possible."
Ash scratched at the back of his neck as if that comment made him uncomfortable for some reason. "Out of curiosity, do you know what level they're in?"
"As far as I can tell, the first."
Ash let out a relieved breath. "You think Ren knows better than to descend past the fourth level?"
Cabeza thought it over. Ash was right, if Ren and the Ixkib descended below the water level, there was no coming back. They would be in Xibalba forever. "Since it's Mayan, I wouldn't count on it. He might not even know where he is."
"Well," Talon said, "we can look on the bright side."
This, Cabeza had to hear. "And that would be?"
"No one can reach the time stone, right?"
Cabeza inclined his head to him. "True. But there is a problem."
"And that would be?" Talon explained.
"If she doesn't make it to the temple by week's end, the Daimons won't be our worst fear, amigo. Imagine every known piece of evil from all pantheons unleashed simultaneously on this earth. Every demon and predator that has been put down by priests and shamans for centuries..."
Ash went completely still at those words.
"Is something wrong?" Talon asked.
Ash didn't respond. Rather, he vanished from the room where they had gathered, and took himself to his own realm. Katateros. It was the Atlantean heaven realm where their gods had once ruled their island kingdom and made war against the Greek pantheon.
It was here that Ash's mother, Apollymi, had destroyed her family over what they'd done to Acheron when she'd been forced to hide him in the human realm.
Using his god powers, he threw open the ornate doors at the main hall and walked across the foyer where the symbol of their power lay. The moment he did, his jeans and T-shirt turned into the ancient robes of his people and his own symbol of a sun pierced by three lightning bolts appeared on the back of it.
"Alexion!" he called as he entered the throne room.
His friend and servant appeared instantly. Barely three inches shorter than Acheron, Alexion had once been an ancient Greek soldier and was one of the first Dark-Hunters Artemis had created.
He was also the first Dark-Hunter who'd died without his soul. To save him from suffering over Acheron's mistake, Acheron had pulled him into Katateros, where Alexion existed in a noncorporeal form. While not ideal, it wasn't nearly as bad as the alternative.
His blond hair tousled, Alexion was still buttoning his shirt. "What's wrong, akri? You never bellow like that. Simi eat someone she shouldn't?"
Ash ran his hand over the dragon tattoo on his forearm that was Simi in her dormant state. She was his Charonte demon and his personal bodyguard.
But more than that, she was his daughter, and he would do anything to protect her from harm.
"No, she's fine. It was you I was worried about. Has anything happened?"
"In terms of what?"
Ash didn't want to scare him, but at the same time he couldn't take a chance on not warning his steward what might happen in the coming days.
"The gods might awaken."
Alexion froze for a full minute. Then he blinked. "You mean the creepy statuary in the basement is going to start moving around?"
"If they don't reset the calendar, yeah." That's exactly what's going to happen. And when they do, they're going to be pissed.
"Well, that sucks." Alexion sighed. "They're not friendly to us, are they?"
Ash shook his head. "They have one hell of a grudge against me and my mother. You, they might spare."