Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Iwoke with sunlight streaming through the windows, and Antimony nestled full length beside me like a graphite line.
Ranth was still on the floor, lying on his back with arms crossed like a mummy.
We’d spent most of the night and early morning exchanging childhood memories.
I knew his deep love for fresh dates and milk, silence on a clear night staring at the stars, and the joy of mud on his hands as he made his first pots with his grandfather.
He’d described the bliss of days pounding papyrus into flour with his mother and collecting the bounty from date palms. Dates also grew in the garden they tended.
I hadn’t considered the garden was an actual place where plants would grow.
Vegetables and fruits of every kind I could dream of and some he could describe but we had no names for, perhaps lost to time.
I’d shared adventures foraging for porcini mushrooms, where I’d once slid into a ravine, broken my arm, and had to be hauled up with ropes.
We’d talked about wildcrafting, and how Mom and I would spend part of the day wandering and gathering.
My favorite things to find were horsetail and wood sorrel, for which I’d been given my name, as well as plants that had survived the ice age, like elderberry and blackberry and, in the spring, miner’s lettuce.
It had felt good to share my life on the farm with someone who could understand simplicity and not judge our freedom to explore.
Someone who understood the value of nature.
Ranth had given me the gift of his past. The names of his two brothers and parents and their favorite things, but the memories for him were like turning leaves in autumn, quickly fading and brittle.
He didn’t talk much about the people in the Temple.
For him, the past was ages, for me only years.
I couldn’t imagine that much time. I’d fallen asleep to his breathing.
I have no idea if Ranth had slept or not, but he’d been a perfect gentleman. Despite my promise to Ori to leave my phone on, I’d texted her that Ranth and I were setting the wards on the room which nulled all electronics. Since no portals had opened overnight, I was calling that a win.
Antimony hopped down as I got up to open the ward.
I turned on my phone, and she curled around my ankles, then tore down the stairs.
It was almost noon. There was one voicemail from Bud, and Ori had texted a half hour ago that she was worried about me and on her way with news.
I texted Ori I was fine, and she replied with relief, which I breathed out. It would be good to see her.
Ranth’s eyes opened as I crossed the room.
“Good morning. Ori’s on her way. I get the bathroom first,” I said, fleeing past him to the bathroom. A shower was non-negotiable.
Fifteen minutes later, I emerged clean and wrapped in a towel. “Your turn,” I said, nodding at the bathroom.
He tilted his head, but he went in and closed the door. The water ran. With him secured in the bathroom, I got dressed, then dried my hair.
The water stopped.
My pulse tripped. I braided my hair to focus on anything but the bumps and creaks in the bathroom.
In a few minutes, Ranth emerged wrapped sarong-style in one of my lavender-striped towels.
His chest glistened with water drops. My fingers ached to touch him, as if he was made of a rare mineral that transferred energy.
I scrutinized his jaw. “Did you use my razor?”
His lips curved into a silent smug “yes” as the front door chimed.
“That’ll be Ori. I left you a new shirt,” I said, pointing to the shirt I’d left on the bed. Hopefully, my biggest purple sleep shirt would fit better than the kitty one. Fleeing the towel-drop, I dashed down the stairs.
When I pulled the front door ward, Freddie slipped in, reeking of incense and patchouli with a fair dose of the black leather that covered him from foot to neck. In my head, black leather smelled like the fake black licorice you get in ropes. In other words, the most disgusting thing on the planet.
“Hey, gorgeous,” Freddie said, playfully attempting to grab me, which he knew pissed me off.
I sidestepped him, close to using un-Sorrel-like swear words. “Wait here. I’ll get your goods.” I’d entirely forgotten Freddie was coming.
“Ori said we’re going to hang out a bit and discuss your problem.
” He wrinkled his nose as if sniffing something questionable, and the embedded diamond twinkled at me.
“My hot date isn’t till seven.” He brushed the long, fallen black bangs off his forehead.
He’d gotten a haircut recently. One side of his head was shaved close to the scalp.
I glanced at the stairs, wondering what Freddie would make of Ranth. “Come in. I can catch you up, and maybe you can shed some new light. You asked for a love potion, but I don’t do those because it’s not ethical. I can give you something for positivity to enhance your appearance if you want that?”
I only did intention oils for an occasional wedding or people who needed to love others more, like kids going home for miserable family gatherings who wished to love people they loathed, or to help with job interviews and stuff.
He rubbed a baby smooth jaw. “I was hoping you could, you know, give me a leg up?” He surveyed the living room.
“For your date?” I breathed through my mouth. “Look, Freddie, you are one of the sweetest people I know, but we’ve been through this. Even if I could make you a love potion the way you want it, it wouldn’t work. You can’t make someone love you unless something is already there.”
Freddie winced, like he’d been caught cookie-stealing.
“Actually, that’s not true,” Ranth said, coming down the stairs. He crossed his arms and scrutinized Freddie. “I overheard you had a guest. I’m Ranth of the Ahknim, and you are?” He didn’t extend a hand, and something rolled off him. Jealousy?
Freddie surveyed Ranth, glanced at me, and then narrowed his eyes at Ranth. “Freddie. Freddie Darko.” His hips jutted out. Great. Just what I needed, a testosterone face-off.
I shifted so I was a little more between them. “His name is really Frederico Fernandez, but he likes to be edgy and mysterious.”
Ranth smiled, locked in a stare-off with Freddie.
“He’s the one with the Marahk?” Freddie sized up Ranth as if he was a bark scorpion.
“Freddie has mad people skills,” I replied. “He found a number for your old group of friends.”
“These Marahk are pretty sketch, Sorrel,” he said, lowering his voice.
“Define how sketchy?” I shifted. It wasn’t easy to rattle Freddie. He pretty much had contacts in all fringe gangs in the Bay Area.
He straightened up, his attention glued to Ranth as if he was making a personal attack.
“You know. Off the track. Bad raps from locals. The guy I know over in ‘Zandria knows a guy that says his cousin is a member. They’re super secretive. The cousin isn’t allowed to have a family.
The org became his family when he joined. ”
“A cult?”
“Yeah, I guess. Though darker stuff. Not like a religion. There’s talk of them being connected with the markets.”
“You mean black market?”
“Gray. There’s money definitely. So, he’s with them?” He gave a chin-led nod.
“I’m standing right here. You can ask me directly,” Ranth replied, his chin slightly raised, and his arms crossed.
Freddie narrowed his eyes. “You admit you’re a Marahk then?”
“I am of the Ahknim and proudly so. I don’t understand your other name. I believe your friends are poor informants.”
“Yeah, you’re real classy, I can see.” Freddie sneered, nodding at Ranth’s borrowed Keens and my eggplant purple sleepshirt, which was skintight on him. I really needed to take Ranth shopping if he was going to stay around. Ranth looked down at his feet and tugged the shirt down.
“Did they say anything else? Your friends?” I asked.
“Nah, all secret. But I got a number I gave to Ori. How about that love oil?” Freddie asked, his lips curling into a smile as he refocused on me.
I glanced at Ranth and then back at Freddie. “I’ll be right back. Try not to start a fight,” I said, walking around Ranth to my kitchen stash. I’d give him a couple of my best-quality lovers’ massage oils. A couple of drops would give him positive attraction vibes.
I returned to the living room and handed Freddie the vials. “There. That should hold you for a while.”
“Should we try it out and see if it works?” He grinned rakishly.
“Don’t push it,” I said.
The doorbell rang again, and my cell buzzed. Ori. I walked around Freddie and opened the door. “Hey.”
“I ran into Juke and thought…” Ori replied.
“Good call. Come on in and join the party.” I opened the door wide.
Juke’s waist-length, pink hair was fishtail braided in green ribbons that matched the glittering throwing-up emoji on her T-shirt and her neon sneakers.
She hugged me, and I coughed at the cherry oakmoss perfume she loved mixed with the scent of her blueberry bubblegum.
I had met her at a concert after-party where she DJ’d, and I found out she’d overlaid some of her own digital tracks in a remix.
We’d gotten to talking about beats and ended up having dawn matcha.
Ori nodded at Freddie. “Speaking of parties. Vivian is mailing me some stuff about the amulet. It sounds like it might be the kind we’re looking for.”
With the whole crew, maybe we could brainstorm some actual plan. They were excellent at plotting the demise of monsters in our monthly gaming night; maybe I could put their combined skills to a more real-world use. I texted Rose to come over as soon as she could.
“Hey, Freddie, want to help me get some drinks?” I asked. He brightened up and gave a head nod to Ranth as we passed him on the way to the kitchen. Ranth raised his eyebrows and straightened up to follow us. I waved him off.
I closed the swinging kitchen door behind us, cutting off Ranth’s view. Ant mewed a greeting and leaped down from the counter. She twined around my legs. I reached down and petted her, and then she rubbed Freddie and walked to the cat door.
“Okay, Freddie. These Marahk, you know more about them than you are saying. Spill. And don’t bother. I paid you already.”
“Fine. That guy is super creepy.” He nodded at the living room.
“Creepy isn’t strange around here. Be specific.” I straightened up, and Ant trotted off to her water bowl.
“The Marahk are all secret society. They practice edgy stuff, but they’re organized. From what I can get, they’re based in Alexandria, the one in Egypt, but they have people elsewhere. A friend of a friend said he knows someone in LA. It’s not a big network, but they have cash.”
“Edgy? As in human-touch magic?”
“Yeah, and demon summoning stuff, I think. There are stories of people disappearing. They have resources, and they are on the for hire, list.”
“For what?” I asked, pulling two jugs of kombucha from the fridge.
“Maybe thievery. They say they are trained for stealth.”
“Ranth doesn’t look very stealthy.” But I wondered about him. I handed Freddie the two jugs and filled a tray with glasses.
“Anything else?”
“There’s some talk about them being aliens. But you know I don’t believe in that stuff.”
I didn’t either, but images of Harold danced in my head. Then I realized I knew something that no one had figured out. Harold must be an Ahknim. It was the only thing that made sense.
By the time we returned to the living room, my head was swimming with ideas and questions. Stuff I couldn’t put together without food. Maybe with some takeout and the extra help, I’d get myself some focus.
The doorbell chimed, and I opened the front door.
Rose bustled in, in a cloud of rose petals and incense.
“Hey, honey, I was nearby when you texted. You caught me at a good time because I come bearing cookies,” Rose said, pecking me on the cheek and handing me a plastic container.
Today’s black skirt was embroidered with red cabbage roses.
“I see you still have your wizard problem.” She locked eyes with Ranth.
“It’s better and worse,” I replied, popping the lid on her signature rose-lavender shortbread.
“Sounds about normal.” Rose nodded at Ranth and went to greet Ori.
I popped a cookie in my mouth and set the container on the coffee table.
The delicate, rose-lavender, cashew butter divinity melted on my tongue.
Goddesses she was an amazing baker. My stomach growled, seeking another one. It wasn’t like we’d had breakfast.
“Juke, how do you feel about Nepalese? They are open all day?” I asked.
“On it,” Juke replied with a toothy grin.
With her heart-shaped face and the feathery false eyelashes defining her contact-enhanced emerald eyes, she resembled one of her favorite anime characters.
She was flipping gorgeous. If she hadn’t already had a partner, I’d be up for dating her.
But her partner Katrina was like the kindest person ever. Totally made for Juke.
“Use the wallet pay card. I’m buying, or rather Bud is.
” I laughed. Looking around the room, we had people, history, research, tech, and the sketchier edges of magic covered.
With this group’s mental headspace, we should be about to take over the earth, but the question remained if we could take over other worlds.