Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Imight not be able to walk on the real graveyard, but I could walk the planar space.
The caramel sweetness of the maca root filled me with a new level of dread as the monsters in the graveyard shifted to the planar level.
The ground rippled in waves crested with shimmering white sparks.
The white bony demons were now a creamy color, and Harold glowed with green-yellow intensity.
The Olumie demons had undone their circle and focused on me.
I heard Ranth yell as the bone demons charged across the crested waves of grass.
Clamping the maca root between my teeth, I ground my boot heels into the grass for leverage and connection. Planar space mirrored the graveyard, but the ground answered to intent; momentum would bend if I pushed. I stuck out my wrists and called upon my ancestors to fuel my power.
To disperse the pack, I whipped two vials of thistle distillate at the Olumie. Demon screeches echoed in my head, but the unaffected demons surged at me. I took out the two on the left with the first of my cornflower blue power balls.
Four on the right and three on my left. I poked one with a silver spike as I shot a second fuzzy blue ball. They screeched and dissipated through the portal. That left five.
The Olumie on the right had recovered from thistle sickness and surrounded me warily. The remaining one from the first wave slunk into the circle, then they crept in together. The energy balls I had left would only take out two based on their organization.
Risks had to be taken. I dropped to a crouch and pressed my hand flat on the ground.
I drank one of the cornflower vials, and the essence surged through me.
The acrid taste of sulfur and buried bones caught the back of my throat.
I coughed, but the maca root was still firmly clenched between my teeth. Bracing myself, I mumbled, “One, two…”
On “three,” I threw my first fuzzy blue ball at the rippling ground under my feet.
The burst sent me flying into the air. The demons could fly too, but I had planned for that.
On my fourth count, I hit them with the other cornflower energy ball that buffeted me even higher.
This time a blast of blue-silver pushed them back, dissipating at least three.
It was hard to tell from the flash and the terror ripping through me as I went into free fall.
Curling up, I prepared for the mind-numbing pain of impact.
But I didn’t hit. The ground surged up, and I landed on the shimmering crests of blue. A cloud of energy absorbed my fall.
All the Olumie had dissipated. I spit out the maca root.
Ranth and Harold hadn’t moved. Why had the Olumie targeted me?
Either our bond was a beacon that Harold was shielding on Ranth, or Harold was driving them at me.
The ripples in the grass stopped. I sprinted toward Ranth. By the time I was close enough to see his face gleaming in the filtered moonlight, I wished I’d run the other way. His features were frozen. He couldn’t move at all.
I glowered at Harold. “What did you do to him?”
Harold’s voice sounded in my head. “Don’t worry, my dear, he’s well. I wanted to see what you could do with them on your own. Very nice work. You’re much stronger than I expected.”
“Explain. And while you’re at it, add how you even found us here.” I crossed my arms.
Harold’s voice sounded in my head. “I don’t have to explain anything, but I’ll humor you.
As you are aware, it takes an inordinate amount of energy to travel.
While I have a fair amount of power, my time in your world is exhausting, and that is limiting.
Your split curse had my hand on it, so I know exactly where you are.
By the way, he now owes me a boon for helping you with the Olumie.
His death means a lot of death to others, which I expect you’d both like to avoid. But if you’d like another favor…”
I balled my fists. “I’m not making deals with you.”
His attention moved from my hands to my face. “If you change your mind, young witch, then you know where to find me.”
With that, and a splatter of blue fairy dust that looked surprisingly like fireflies in the movies, Harold disappeared, and Ranth crumpled to the grass.
I dragged Ranth into my lap with a strength I didn’t know I had left in me.
He was unresponsive, but his skin was warm and alive.
I trailed fingers across his forehead, willing him to wake up.
He’d become important to me. His hair was inky silk against his smooth skin.
When his eyelids fluttered, so did my heart.
His lush rose-colored lips parted, and I bent closer, listening for breath or words, and his eyes opened. He pushed himself up, and I toppled back, bursting with relief.
“What did you do?” he seethed.
He was blaming me? “Nothing. It was all Harold.” I snapped back.
His eyes searched mine. “What are you saying?” He pushed the longish hair out of his face.
I scrambled up. “Harold froze you. He said he asked for a favor. Did he take the bone?”
Ranth searched his jacket. “Yes. It’s gone.”
I was too busy staring at the new glowing, green script on his forearm to listen.
He pushed his jacket sleeve back with a hiss. “That mother of lizards has amended the curse.”
“Wait, what? How can he mess with the curse? And what does amended mean?”
“Because he split it, he now has limited power over us. We gave him permission. I am as addled as a drunk asp,” he said, scrubbing a hand over his face.
“You’d better explain in the car. It’s edging on ten, and Mrs. Finnegan will be wondering where we are.” I brushed grass off me and started across the cemetery with Ranth muttering something like “sashimi,” which I assumed was an Ahknim swear word.
I wasn’t even sure I wanted to hear what he had to say, but I needed to know.
On the way back to Mrs. Finnegan’s to return her car, I barraged Ranth with questions in between bites of a plant-based energy bar.
“What is a Collector, and why does Harold have some inside knowledge about what a collector is—and who you are?”
“I don’t have the answers you want. He’s apparently older than we think, or he has connections to the past on this world.
Harold said he talked to the Serpent, but I believe that to be a lie.
No mortal has ever spoken to the Serpent and lived.
The Collector part is easy. The word doesn’t translate well, but the idea is the same.
Collectors gather power and objects others can’t—my specialty is harvest and retrieval.
The other two members in my group had specialized focuses as well.
Kelis is what you might call a Feeler, and Rei is a—Constructor. ”
“Like a builder?”
“Sort of. Rei can use spells to make constructs and assemble spells and components that can’t be gathered.”
“And a Feeler?”
He rubbed his fingers along his temples, like he had a headache. “Hard to explain. They can pull things from emotions and thoughts. It’s an ethereal kind of skill not easily described.”
“Like an empath.”
“I don’t know what that is.” He opened the energy bar I’d given him.
“It doesn’t matter. And the Serpent is a big snake?”
He sniffed and smiled, then took a bite off the corner. “It’s not a worldly creature. It doesn’t have a form, actually, unless it takes one,” he replied between chews.
“So not a snakish thing? No scales?”
“It appears in our texts as a serpent, and that’s the way it is depicted in the ancient books. But a serpent is a common symbol rather than a name. It would appear to you as you wish to see it.”
“Oh, right. You all would have used pictograms.”
He took another bite. “Hmm?”
“Little pictures instead of words.”
“Not pictures, symbols, but yes.” He polished off the rest of the bar. There was one left. He grabbed it before I could. My stomach silently wept.
“Let’s say Harold spoke to this Serpent thing. Would he have to be old to do that? Doesn’t the Serpent exist in this time?”
He opened the bar. “Not this world. He would have to world travel.”
He was bigger than me and probably needed it more. It wasn’t like we’d had a real meal since he’d gotten here. But it was rude. “You mean like switch to planar like I do?”
He broke the bar in half and handed a half to me. “No. The planes are between worlds. The demons come from different worlds, and that’s why they look different.”
The light changed to red, and I slammed on the brakes, jerking us both forward.
The words sank in as I stared at the intersection, chewing my half of the energy bar.
I’d been thinking about planes wrong. There were planes between worlds.
If I knew how, I might be able to walk between the worlds like Harold.
The light turned green, and I stomped on the gas pedal. The car leaped forward. “Then did Harold mean that he is a world traveler?”
“His abilities seem well-developed. The place we visited took significant power to construct.”
“Who could have taught him that? Where did he come from?” Rose had said he was new to San Francisco, but maybe he was new to Earth or this time.
“I don’t know. Even the high priest of the Ahknim would not have his skill.” Ranth crumpled the wrappers.
“You’re saying that on this world, no one has ever had his skill? How would you even know that?”
“I don’t, but to open a door to that place we visited would require significant energy.
That street of buildings was a construct.
Even Rei could not make that on her own.
It would take a team of wizards to make a small room on another plane.
If he built that place, his ability has a level of sophistication I have not experienced.
But it is possible.” He rubbed his chin.
“Then Harold could be from another world, where there are other powerful wizards?” Why hadn’t I asked Harold when we’d had the chance?
“I don’t know. Maybe our high priest would have thoughts.”
“And how would we find your high priest?”
“Mine will be long passed in time. But perhaps you could find someone on Ori’s laptop or your phone.
” He reached for it like it was a piece of enticing candy, and I grabbed it out of the hands-free carrier.
“Stop touching my stuff without asking.” But I grinned.
I’d appreciated him breaking the bar in half.
We pulled into Mrs. Finnegan’s driveway, and I called Ori before I got out of the car. “We need to find an Ahknim high priest.”
“I looked up Ahknim before. Do you mean… Oh! I get it, you mean Ahknim—now, in whatever form they evolved into. That’s so obvious.
I have no idea why I didn’t think of it.
There wasn’t anything online, so it would have to be a secret society or called something else.
But on it. I might have to call Freddie.
I doubt a secret society would have a receptionist.” Keyboard keys clicked in the background.
Freddie was part of our gaming circle. In real life, he was incredibly talented at finding people. It was his special thing. “We’re going home, so let me know when you have something.”
“How’d the rising go?”
“Don’t ask. We survived, but I’ll rebook because we couldn’t complete it.”
“Stay safe, Sorrel.”
“Don’t worry. I’m being careful.” Mostly. I’d taken a risk in the graveyard, but to preserve both of our lives, it had to be done. Ori worried enough about me already.
I hung up and returned the keys to Mrs. Finnegan.
Despite the energy bars, exhaustion rippled through me.
It had been the longest day, and now the spirit raising was a mess.
I winced. Maybe helping Ranth get back to wherever he came from would also help me find the Sisters of Luce.
I should have asked Harold about the Sisters.
I realized I hadn’t asked Ranth the most important question.
“What did you promise Harold?”
“To make sure you didn’t die, I asked him to transfer some of my energy to you.”
“That doesn’t come without a price. What was it?” I crossed my arms.
He rubbed the scar on his neck. “I promised I would let him know before I returned to the Garden. But he amended the curse—that I wasn’t expecting. When he split the curse, some piece of him must have been involved.”
“You didn’t need to do that. I wasn’t going to die. Doesn’t having him know where you are, and when you’re going to return, potentially endanger the Trees?”
“It was a risk I had to take.”
The words unsaid echoed in my head. To save you.
I liked to be the one to do the saving. Muttering a fountain of floral expletives, I took out my copper key. Home was where I needed to be.