Jack Templar and the Lord of the Werewolves (Book #4 of the Templar Chronicles) by Jeff Gunhus

belly-button there,” T-Rex said.
    “I doubt there’s a belly button,” I said. “But hopefully there’s someone there who can tell us where we can find Kaeden’s lair.”
    Daniel still wasn’t satisfied. “You know, Xavier told me there hasn’t been an Oracle at Delphi in like a thousand years.”
    “Almost two thousand, actually,” I said.
    “So what makes you think there’s going to be anyone there to help us?” Daniel asked.
    T-Rex and Will nodded as they considered this.
    “Not only that,” Daniel continued, “but justice and mercy establish your worth sounds like a trial or something, doesn’t it? Maybe a battle?”
    Daniel was right. I hadn’t really thought of it that way, but I should have. . “So, what are you suggesting?” I asked.
    “Just that we go in with the assumption that this is a Creach trap. We go in on our toes, weapons in hand, ready for anything.”
    “You’re right. We go in like hunters, not tourists,” I said. The train shuddered as the brakes were applied. We looked out the window and saw the world that had been streaking past us slow down. “We’re here.”
    We hurried off the train. I immediately tasted the salt from the ocean on my lips and smelled jasmine and olive trees in the air. To our right, the Aegean Sea stretched out from the small rocky port shaped like a half moon. Brightly painted fishing boats moored there probably looked about the same as they did a thousand years earlier. Smoke wafted toward us from a nearby restaurant. The unmistakable smell of chicken cooking over charcoal carried hints of lemon and rosemary.
    T-Rex walked toward the smoke like it was a leash pulling him. “This place seems great. Maybe we should get a bite to eat first.”
    I pulled him back. “Sorry, T-Rex, but we need to get to the Oracle as fast as we can.”
    “I admit it smells pretty good,” Will said. “C’mon, Jack. We’ve had nothing but that horrible food of the train for two days. I want something that’s not processed or fried. Besides, how far can we be from this place?”
    I turned and pointed to the snow-covered mountain looming behind up behind us. “That’s Mt. Parnassus. And that’s where we’re going.”
    Daniel eyes searched the train station on hyper-alert. I’d scanned the area too and hadn’t turned up any Creach, but I knew Daniel had a better radar for them than I did. He noticed me watching him.
    “Looks clear to me,” he said. “For now.”
    “Okay, let’s grab some chicken… for the road though,” I added. “We’ll eat while we hike.”
    Minutes later, I couldn’t have been happier that Will and T-Rex had asked to grab some food. The dish was called souvlaki, big chunks of marinated chicken with spices, grilled over an open flame. It came with fresh bread cooked in a traditional stone oven. We ate as we walked through the small town, taking in the sights.
    Rows of two-story colored houses lined each side of the steep cobblestoned streets. There were cars in the town, but not very many, and most of those were rusted with faded paint. Several of the upper floors had balconies decorated with flowers in hanging planters and sheets of cloth held out on poles so they billowed in the wind like flags.
    “Pretty secretive location, huh?” Will said, jabbing a finger at a sign pointing the way with Oracle of Delphi written in about ten different languages.
    “I guess looking like tourists is a good thing,” T-Rex said.
    A bus stopped near us and off-loaded dozens of new arrivals. They stretched and groaned as they shook off the bus ride from their bones. Many snapped pictures with their cameras. I pulled Daniel’s arm. “C’mon, let’s join that group. We’ll stand out less that way.”
    Daniel scanned the new group for potential threats. As he did, I noticed a little girl, a local by the looks of her, working her way through the new arrivals, her hand out asking for money. The tourists ignored her as if she wasn’t even