Chapter 22

Silence reigned in the richly appointed room as Dashiell made this pronouncement. Finally, Regina broke it.

“An army?”

“That’s what I’m afraid of. It’s the only explanation for raising a demi-goddess. They want numbers.”

“Well then,” Dr. Wexler said, “that makes it fairly obvious where they’ll go, doesn’t it?”

Dashiell and Regina both turned to regard her.

“Well...” she hesitated. “If you truly believe that raising an army is their goal…there’s only one place to go around D.C. - Arlington National Cemetery.”

Dashiell looked thunderstruck. “Of course. They can literally raise an army. My God. Think of the damage they could do.”

Regina turned to Dashiell. “Okay, Dash. So they can raise a lot of corpses. Probably thousands. Is that about the size of it?”

“It’s a little more disturbing than that, Regina. The dead often recall the skills they had in life. Even I can take advantage of the skills of a trained corpse I’ve raised. But with divine involvement, the dead may have better recall. I’ve never dealt with this situation. But it’s possible that not only will they have numbers, they’ll have trained troops. And troops who can’t be killed conventionally. If they manage to arm them….”

Regina and Dr. Wexler shuddered.

“So we need to stop them before they succeed,” Regina said.

“That’s the conclusion I’m coming to,” Dashiell replied. “So where would they set up? Arlington is a big place. We need to narrow it down.”

Dr. Wexler spoke. “Well, they’ll need a fire. I’ll believe they can do without the cave, especially since being in one of Hecate’s domains will strengthen their connection to her. But the spell repeats the phrase ‘Fire burn and cauldron bubble.’ They have to build one.”

“Well,” Regina said, “as large as it is, it’s dark at night. A fire is going to be visible for some distance in the park. They might risk it, since they wouldn’t expect a lot of foot traffic at night.”

“But remember, the park isn’t entirely empty,” Dr. Wexler chimed in. “There’s a dress Marine guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier twenty-four hours a day. If he saw a fire, he’s sure to call it in.”

“Unless, of course, he’s used to seeing one,” Dashiell said quietly. “There’s one place in the cemetery an open flame wouldn’t be noticed, because it’s already burning. The tomb of JFK.”

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