I1

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"Show it to me."

"Sir, my father told me to only bring it out at need."

"You need to show it to me."

Gabriel unlocked a supply room similar to the one downstairs in the temple basement. A red butter cookie tin sat on a shelf. It was empty but Gabriel needed  the can  for his trick. When che reached outside of the universe it always  looked like somebody chopped hez hand off with  an ax, which would  need explaining. Gabriel produced the relic. To Hansen's eyes it looked like che pulled it out of the tin.

"How do I know that's not just something you whipped up in metal shop and painted gold? Make this box disappear for me."

Paul Bergin set down a cardboard box he was carrying.

"What's in the box, sir?"

"Old clothes and shoes. Never mind what's in the box, just make it disappear with your alleged relic."

Gabriel squeezed the Artifact. The hissing shifted down in pitch as the black rip in reality grew, drinking in the light and air of the room. Hez ponytail tossed in  the growing breeze  as he lapped up the  box into nothingness. He tried not to damage the floor but it was unavoidable.

Neither Klaus Hansen nor Paul Bergin had never been so close to the Golden Gift  in operation. They were entranced by the sheer otherworldliness of it. Gabriel was amazed at hez self-restraint for not slicing the men in half where they stood.

When the thrill of the Golden Gift wore off,  Hansen said, "Put it back in the can and lock this room back up."

Gabriel gave  a  very  convincing performance  of  putting  the Artifact away. Slight-of-hand never entered the mind of Klaus.

When it was done Klaus  told hem to hand  over the key  and the look on his face seemed  to dare hem to  show even a  twinge of insubordination, but he got nothing. "Who else has a key?"

"Mr. Bergin never returned his key after he quit."

"I never quit," Bergin said.