Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
My phone rang as we walked in. I put Ori on speaker. “Hey, that was fast. Did you find them?” I asked as I set my messenger bag down on the kitchen table.
“Not yet, but I found something else. You know those pictures you took of the book?”
“Yep.” I pulled salad greens out of the fridge.
“They match something on Pinterest. I haven’t been able to track down the original source, but the caption says it’s the Spell Book of Jarthrush.”
I exchanged glances with Ranth. He shook his head. “But they weren’t spells.”
“It’s Pinterest. That could mean the pinner labeled it like, ‘look: spell book, cool.’”
I laughed. Ori disliked posting stuff on Pinterest without noting the source.
She used it to trace images, but it killed small parts of her to click and see no documentation.
However, she was incredible at finding things online.
“I assume you found it then?” I opened the waxed cotton and arranged greens in a bowl.
“Yup. Jarthrush was a medieval philosopher known for his poetry, and scholars think the verses hide a key. The ‘incantation’ is every nth word, which changes by page. In the photos, the instruction strip is at the bottom, but you have to use a second key from his other writings. Classic cryptology where one pattern unlocks the real text. At least, that’s what the internet says. I mocked one up for you.”
My cell dinged with an incoming photo, and I held it up for Ranth. “Okay, I see it now. Simple and obvious. How could I have missed it before?”
“Not simple if you didn’t have the whole picture. Besides, you weren’t looking for it.”
“Right, that makes me feel marginally better. Thanks.” Ranth plucked a leaf of lettuce from the bowl and popped it in his mouth.
I set the phone on the counter. “The book is not all I found. I was cross-photo searching the amulet, and I got an image match on something similar. Same deal though, no source. The caption says its Etruscan garnet. But get this, it’s in the Egyptian Museum in San Jose.
There’s no photo on their website, but I assume that’s the same one.
I figured it’s worth a shot to try to get a picture, right? ”
“Definitely.”
“Hang on, Freddie’s on the other line.” Ori put me on hold.
Freddie had come into my friend circle by accident.
He’d been a friend of a friend of Rose’s, who’d helped us find a mysterious book collector in possession of a demon reference book I needed.
Freddie could creep you out if you didn’t understand him.
When he’d found the person in question, I’d offered to pay him, but instead he’d asked to have dinner with me.
I’d made it clear it wasn’t a date, but over dinner, I’d discovered he loved gaming and puzzles—and he was a little lonely.
I’d invited him to try our gaming group, and it turned out he was a brilliant strategist and had a crush on me.
Ranth was leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed, watching me finish the salad with chickpeas, sweet potatoes, and leftover quinoa, with an herb dressing of oil and fresh lemon.
I offered him a salad bowl. “Hungry?” My voice was hushed because we were still on speaker, even if we were on hold.
His attention moved from my eyes to my lips, sending a flutter through me as he grasped the bowl. I turned away and grabbed my own salad. My heart was bouncing around ridiculously.
Skirting him, I went to the table. “We should eat, then reset the wards, so one of us can get some sleep.” I set the phone down beside the bowl and sat down.
Ranth stripped off the fleece jacket. His arms flexed as he placed it over the back of the chair.
We were both munching mizuna and arugula when Ori’s voice filled the kitchen.
“Hey! Exciting news. Freddie got a phone number, but there’s no answer.
It’s an Egyptian country code. He’ll try again in their morning. ”
“The Ahknim have a listed phone number? I thought it was a secret society?” I chuckled.
“It’s not the Ahknim, but something that’s supposed to be affiliated. You know Freddie, he’s vague. He called a friend who has a cousin, who has a friend that once knew someone…”
“Quit. I get it. I suppose we’ll owe him for this?”
“He’s coming over to collect.” Ori giggled.
“What does he want?”
“First born,” we said together and both laughed.
I speared some sweet potato. “Seriously, what did he ask for?”
“Love charms. You’d better give him a super duper one.”
“Okay.” I laughed again, then mused over charm recipes.
Freddie was an incredible person but hard to get to know.
He’d been raised by his aunt, but his family was the pack of brothers he ran with.
At his core, he was a loner with a standoffish presence and an affinity for too much cologne.
But if Freddie took you into his fold, you were like blood to him.
That part of him, I really appreciated and respected.
I knew deep down he was a friend for life.
I ate the last two chickpeas. “Will you send us the photo of the amulet and the museum hours? Ranth and I can go in the morning. They have an epic alchemy exhibit I’ve been wanting to revisit, anyway.” Ranth had finished his salad. He got up with the bowl.
I took the phone off speaker and held it to my ear.
Ori yawned. “Sorry, I need some sleep. The piece might not be in the viewable collection. If it’s close to the description, I can get someone to call in, and we can make an appointment.”
“That sounds perfect. Thanks, Ori. Sweet dreams. I’ll call you first thing.”
“You going to be okay? I can come over. I mean…”
She meant Ranth. He was leaning against the counter, studying me. I studied my empty salad bowl and replied, “I need you rested, and you coming over means we’ll stay up all night talking and plotting.” I laughed. “I’ll keep my phone off silent. But I feel the love.”
“If you’re sure.”
The salad turned into rock in my stomach.
“Yup. All good.” I hung up. It was the first time it occurred to me I would have to sleep in the same room with him.
Did I really trust him? I could give him the guest room, but what if the wards didn’t hold?
My room was the safest place in the house, and we both needed to stay alive.
I sat back in the chair. “For safety, we’re going to need some house rules…” I was channeling my stepdad.
Ranth crossed his arms, nodding for me to continue. Had his lips twitched?
“I get the bed. You get the floor. Zones are rigid. No crawling into bed with me in the middle of the night. No snoring. No leaving the room without waking me up and no opening doors or windows. And no touching my stuff. Deal?”
Ranth continued to look at me as if I were saying a bunch of words he didn’t understand.
“Agreed?”
He raised his hands, palms together under his chin, and closed his eyes. In that moment, he glowed with a light I hadn’t seen before. It made my memory of the skeletal version of him even brighter in my mind.
“I need to ask you something. It’s going to sound weird.”
He opened his brown eyes.
“Maybe you’d better sit down.” I waved at the chairs.
He sat down, and his gaze roamed over me as if I was an interesting object that would reveal a secret.
I took a breath and exhaled. “When I’m in a protective circle, I see you differently. Do you know what I mean?”
He tilted his head. “I don’t think so. What do you see?”
I sucked in another breath, trying to find words that didn’t sound as harsh as the image. “From inside a salt circle, you look like the human conception of death incarnate.”
He laughed. “I’m not sure what that means, but it sounds dire. Would the incarnation of death be a specter or more in the style of a scythe wielder?”
“You’re skeletal and dark, kind of like a mummy meets a skeleton if they were dark and filmy. There’s not much corporeal form when I look at you, but I only see you that way from inside a circle.”
“Different from how I look now, without flesh?” He waved a hand in front of him and then rubbed his chin, studying me with serious eyes.
“Bones and less form. I can see through you, and you have a wispy gray aura.”
“Gray?” He dropped his hand. “That’s not good.” He rubbed at his upper arm. “Dark ash gray, or silvery dove gray?”
“Dark. Closer to ash,” I replied, my voice dropping to a whisper. He was getting the weight of what I felt when I saw him that way. “What does that mean?”
“It might have something to do with my real form in this time. I’d be dead now, so passed into the otherworld. Perhaps my corporeal form you see is tied to the bracelet, so I look like you, but in actuality…”
“You’re ancient. But that would mean your death…”
“My death must have turned me to skeletal form. It’s possible my flesh was removed, or it could be time has taken its toll.”
Dread uncurled in my stomach as I got up and stumbled to the sink. The thought of Ranth being flayed or burned or… I poured a glass of water from the fridge and gulped it down, hoping the alkaline would resettle my chi.
“Are you okay?” Ranth got up.
“Mostly, a bit grossed out on the flesh thing. Let’s not talk about it. I’ll let you know if it becomes a problem.”
“It’s already a problem. I hadn’t realized the time would cause a change to my form, but it correlates that, now the curse is split from the bracelet, my form would alter.
It’s disconcerting that I’m dead in this time.
” He smoothed his fingers over his cheek, and I got a flash of what he looked like in my workshop.
“Disconcerting isn’t quite the word I’d choose, but yeah. It’s weirding me out, and I do this for a living. I don’t understand what it means that you can ‘die’ here if you are already dead.” I refilled the water glass.
“I think I’d be in spirit form if I were truly here. I expect it means I would disappear from this world and go to the spirit world.” His words were steady but drifted as though he was thinking.
“But you look real. You have a solid form. You can touch and eat.”
“Because I am here by your magic. That’s why if one of us dies…”
He didn’t have to say the rest, again. I got it, and now I understood it. It was because my magic was keeping him “alive” that he was here at all. I was responsible for him, but it was more than that now.
He pushed hair off his forehead. “It’s the aura color that concerns me most. Mine should be white. Something must have happened to taint it.”
“What does gray mean? I mean I know what a gray aura means now, but do you have a different meaning? Look I’m tired, I’m not making sense even to myself.” I dragged a hand through the sides of my ponytail and caught the loose strands more tightly, then rewrapped the hair tie.
“Silver would be positive. Dark gray is close to black. It’s possible what you see is filtered by the curse that bound me to the bracelet. Or it’s a version of your silver one. It may be that my form gives a wrong impression.”
“We shouldn’t worry about it then.”
“I don’t think it’s a problem for you to be concerned with. Were you?”
“Yeah. It’s damned weird. I’m used to demons and spirits, but you look like the kind that seeps out of dark corners.”
“That’s the taint of a wizard who is reanimated after death with otherworldly power.”
My thoughts finally aligned. I’d seen it before but in a game.
I leaned against the counter. It was so obvious.
“You’re an undead wizard. Sort of like a lich, but that doesn’t exist in real life.
It’s a fictional character. Wizards can’t be brought back after they die, not in human corporeal forms, anyway.
” Explaining it to him only made me feel marginally better about it, and I wasn’t dealing with the ramifications of this new concept without sleep.
I set the glass in the sink and got out a fresh water bowl for Antimony. As if summoned, Antimony popped through the cat door.
Ranth stilled.
I crouched down and held out a hand. Keeping to the edge of the cabinets, Antimony came to me and rubbed against my arm. I ran my fingers over her head, finding the spot behind her ear that she adored.
I set her bowl down. “Hey you,” I said, picking her up and draping her over one shoulder.
She nipped at my hair, and I inhaled the traces of thyme and rosemary.
“Okay sweetie, time for bed,” I whispered, stroking her as we walked past Ranth.
I set her down, and she ignored Ranth and went to her bowl and began to drink.
“Seems as if she is accepting you?” I breathed out.
“Cats pick up on human emotions.” His wry smile did not hide the sparkle in his eyes.
“Well she usually sleeps with me, and there’s no chance I’m leaving her down here with random portals opening.”
“Right. Well, I like cats.”
I smothered a yawn. “Let’s go to bed,” I said, thinking the words weren’t a great choice. I knew exactly what sleep meant, and my personal safety was more important than any mission. First, be safe. My mother’s words echoed in my head.
“Bed sounds good,” he replied, his lips twitching.
“Look, let’s get this out on the table. You’re attractive but not my type. Okay? You got that? I need to know I’m safe with you.” I crossed my arms.
“You will always be safe with me.” He rose, and my heart leaped into my throat. “But you’re lying about the other part.” His voice dropped to almost a whisper. He came close. Too close. He held me spellbound as he focused on my lips.
“I don’t lie.” But my heart was beating against my ribs.
I didn’t have a type. That part was true.
But a lich wasn’t usually a consideration.
“But good, let’s go and see if Ant comes up.
” I walked around him, heading for the stairs, conscious with every step that the bedroom was a place to sleep and do other things that I shouldn’t be considering, but the memory of the kiss lingered close.
I had to trust Ranth, and I did, but there’d be a graphite circle and a wormwood and lavender spell that would wake me up if my line was crossed.
Because the one person I knew I could trust was always me.