"We may still be, in Nathan's words, royally screwed," Bella pointed out. "Of the four of us, I have the most experience with the occult, but divination has always escaped me. I may be able to pick up a few clues, but I will not know if they apply to our situation or not. Have any of you ever done anything like this?"

"I own an occult book and supply store," Nathan reminded her, not a little sarcastically. "I've used tarot cards before."

"Ah, good." Bella's face lit up. She reached for a box of cards and slid them across the table to him. "That can be your job. Since he has expressed disinterest in helping us, Max can try to reach other assassins through his donor."

"What about me?" I eyed the pile of bones. I wanted to be included, but maybe not that included. "I'm a quick study. Give me something to do."

She considered the array of objects before her and pushed a jewelry box toward me. I opened it to find a slender crystal dangling from a delicate chain.

"A pendulum" Bella, informed me. "Nathan, can you instruct her? I thought perhaps it could be used to try and pinpoint the Oracle's location on an atlas."

"I'm sure she'll get the hang of it." He winked at me.

"Good. We should all keep track of our results." She sounded like one of my old professors explaining the etiquette of laboratory experiments. "Until we know specifics about our situation, everything is important."

She reached for a bottle of what looked like ink and poured it into the glass bowl, which she lifted from its stand to swirl it a few times. Then, taking a lighter from her pocket, she lit the charcoal in the small, tabletop cauldron at her left.

"So, are we dismissed then?" Max asked, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

Caught up in sprinkling foul-smelling powder onto the burning block, Bella didn't look at him. "Yes, of course. We need to get to work immediately."

Max waited until we were in the foyer, at least, before he exploded. "You've got to be kidding me! She comes into my house, assigns us jobs, declares herself Dwight fucking Eisenhower of the occult, and stinks up my dining room with… whatever that was?"

"Honeysuckle and camphor," Nathan supplied. "They're powerful divination aids, but they smell better fresh than burning."

"No shit." Max's face had turned a queer shade of red. "Listen, she's got to go. I don't care where, she's just got to get out of my house."

A terminally stupid person could see his problem wasn't with incense and tarot cards. Still, I had to proceed cautiously. Any mention of his feelings for Bella caused a total shutdown, in which Max would storm off and nothing would be resolved. "I know you're having a hard time with her here, but look at us. Three of us against the Oracle? Possibly against the Soul Eater, as well?"