“Good one, babe.” I fist-bumped Viper as I tried to peer around the shoulders of the owls on the outskirts. I finally gave up and asked them, “What did you find?”
“A trap,” one of the owls said. “Arrows shot out of the walls. Several of our people are hurt. We're tending them.”
“Let me through,” Teharon's voice came from behind me.
The Squad shifted aside so Teharon could approach, then the owls moved for him as well. Six of them were revealed on the floor, propped against the cave wall—all being tended to by their fellow owls.
“I can help,” Teharon offered.
“We have it under control, but thank you, He-who-holds-heaven-in-his-hands,” an owl woman said respectfully.
I looked at the arrows embedded in owl chests and grimaced at Viper. “That holy owls thing was kinda spot on. Get it? Owls with holes—holy.”
“Vervain,” Viper scolded.
“What? They're going to be fine. These are the super-healers, remember?”
“I apologize for my rudeness, but if your wounded are stable and being seen to, we must move on,” Odin said to the owls as he eased past them.
“We were just preparing to do so,” Shaw said as he joined Odin. “The wounded and those tending to them will remain here while the rest of us go ahead.”
Odin nodded crisply and the two men started to lead the rest of us through the tunnel. The cave had widened a bit and the ceiling lifted a few feet but the passage was still only large enough for two people to walk abreast. I scanned the tunnel as we walked.
“What triggered the arrows?” Odin asked Shaw before I could.
“A trip line,” Shaw's voice conveyed his irritation at being caught by so simple a trap. “We should have been paying more attention but there was a sudden flight of bats that distracted us.”
Odin glanced back at Re with a grimace.
“Don't blame the Sun for shining,” Re said defensively. “I only turned on the light because I was asked.”
“They're called a cauldron,” I informed Shaw.
“Excuse me?”
“The bats.” I grinned. When was I going to get another chance to use the term? I had to jump on it while the bat iron was hot—or the bat signal still on. “A large group is called a cauldron.”
“I don't believe that's correct,” Shaw protested.
“It's not often used, but itiscorrect, I assure you,” I insisted.
Then something clicked beneath my foot. I froze and looked down. A portion of the floor had sunk in—a square portion just beneath my boot. Damn it, I'd allowed myself to get distracted by bats too!
“Do not move, Vervain!” Odin said urgently as he hurried back to me. “Everyone stay where you are and look at the ground around you carefully. There are likely to be more traps.”
“I can't just stand here all day,” I grumbled.
“We're gods, whatever happens when Vervain lifts her foot, we'll likely survive it,” Blue pointed out. “I suggest that she just steps off and we take our chances.”
“The first trap was arrows.” Eztli grabbed her husband's forearm. “What if the second is a giant ax swinging at the level of our necks?”
Blue swallowed visibly.
“Anyone got a boulder?” Torrent asked. Then, in response to the looks he was getting, he added, “To set on the trigger plate and hold it down.”
“I don't carry boulders in my pockets, Torrent,” Finn said dryly.
“When did they find the time to do this?” I whined. “This is some serious Indiana Jones crap.”
