Chapter 25 #2
“It appears so, though we can’t be sure who directs the Derellers and Essifers. The gold came from another world and holds traces of power. Collected, it may be of use to them, a source of energy.”
“Energy is what brings them here in the first place,” I added, marveling at how my friends were dealing with everything like a game puzzle we needed to solve. I turned to Ranth. “How about you explain what you’d need to get back to wherever or whenever you came from?”
He sat down on the arm of the couch next to me, his heat tracing my side.
“The ritual would be the same as that which sent me to the Garden. Three gold items. This”—he held up the bracelet—“and the two others to represent the other Keepers. Then we would have to travel to the dome with the sky scene.”
“The what?” Rose asked.
“In our temple, the stars are painted on a dome. The ritual is done in the center of the golden triangle. When complete, the sky opens and we enter.”
“Constellations, then? What season?” Ori asked, typing.
“The first day of Epip in summer,” Ranth replied.
“In Egypt, right? Or thereabouts?” Juke asked, swiping through her phone screens.
“But we have no idea what stars?” Ori interjected as she typed. “The Coptic calendar has an Epip in roughly July.”
“Midsummer, yes. The stars are the Serpent or crocodile body and tail. But it is called the head of the Serpent,” Ranth said, peering down at the screen as Ori clicked.
“You mean Alpha Draconis?” Freddie had been leaning on the wall with his arms crossed.
“Are you secretly an astronomy buff?” I asked.
“No secret. I like stars, always have,” Freddie replied.
Ranth straightened up. “Draco is the Serpent. It has other names.”
“Got it,” Ori said, turning her screen around. “It also ties up the Serpent and at least the idea of a tree. The Norse had that myth with Yggdrasil.”
Juke fondled the rhodochrosite worry stone around her neck, lost in thought.
She was all about crystals. The link between their modern use in technology and ancient ritual intrigued her, and Rose kept her hooked up with the best ones.
“That should be easy to superimpose on a screen. I can put it at roughly Egypt time in the sky, and that should work, right?”
“It’ll have to,” I replied.
“We’d need a sky stone, though. I don’t have one,” Ranth said, staring at the wall.
“A sky stone?” Juke asked, suddenly focusing on Ranth.
Ranth rubbed his chin. “They fall from the sky. A large flaming sky rock.”
Ori had already begun to type. “Okay, so a meteorite? What’s the stone look like?”
“It’s green and shines,” Ranth replied.
“Meteoric glass. He’s talking about moldavite, a form of tektite,” Juke replied. “It’s usually a groovy shade of mossy green.”
Rose smoothed one of her buns. “I can get that. My friend Sascha is a jeweler, and she’s used that before. She sources stones from all over the world online.”
“I’m on it,” Ori said, switching to her tablet. “How much do we need?”
Ranth held up about four inches of finger space.
Ori tapped on the screen. “Do you want it raw or faceted?”
“Raw, I think,” Ranth replied.
“Hammered okay?” Ori asked, still typing.
“Smooth would be better,” Ranth replied.
“How about this one? It’s in Hawaii,” Ori turned the tablet toward us.
“That’s it. How is this possible?” Ranth pointed at the screen.
“Globalism makes distant and rare things more accessible. It’s one big world market now,” I explained, but I wasn’t sure if that meant anything to him.
Ori sighed. “It’s three hundred and fifty dollars, but we can have it here the day after tomorrow.”
I looked at Juke. She pulled off her glasses and rubbed her forehead. “It’s going to take at least a day to set up a grid big enough to put a star map on it. I’ll need a circular projector and some…”
I rubbed my forehead. “You’re already going way past my need to know. How much will it cost?”
“Two grandish. I’ll borrow what I can.” Juke’s parents were innovators, and she’d been raised on early adoption tech, which had sparked her to tinker around. If anyone I knew could figure this out, it was her.
“Let’s do it. Grid tomorrow, stone here the day after. I’ll carve out the house account and warn Bud.”
Rose cleared her throat and straightened her skirt like she was readying for something.
Her presence rolled with a stillness we all inhaled.
In the quiet, her voice was like a candle.
“It sounds like all is set except for the gold, then? I have an idea about that. What about a finding ritual?” She turned to Ranth.
“The gold is the same as the one you wear, right?”
Ranth nodded. “Yes, from the same rock.”
Rose toyed with her necklace. “Perfect. Same finds same. If we have one piece, we should be able to narrow down where the others are. It’s not exact, but it will take some of the pressure off Ori to do a global search.”
“This is a good idea. I will do it. This ritual. We have done such things in the temple,” Ranth replied, a smile curving his lips.
Ori asked, “Great, what do we need?”
Rose replied, “A map and some elements to gather. Herbs to burn, crystals to power it. We might need some special stuff. I can ask the coven for help.”
Ranth shook his head. “No, it won’t be enough. The temple building itself powers the spell energy. It must be tethered to something of greater power, so my magic can rise to it.” He raised his hands, drawing a space in the air.
Juke leaned forward. “You mean power like energy? How about we superimpose the map on the dome I’m making? It’ll be electrified and have plenty of energy. I don’t know how exactly the spell works, but the map could be virtual, or we can get one printed.”
Ranth brushed the gold bracelet. “I think this idea is something beyond my understanding. In the temple, it works because the area is finite.”
I leaned over. “Let’s assume it works because Juke has to build the dome anyway, and right now, we don’t have a better plan. Tell us, in detail, what we’d need for your ritual, in case it’s different from Rose’s.”
“It will be. Your methods seem to be learned by passed words.”
I replied, excited we might have a plan, “You mean hand-me-downs? Oh, you mean generational. Like Mom taught me stuff my grandmother taught her.”
“With a formal education, you would have a better idea of how to build on your own knowledge.”
“You’re calling my skills lacking?” I crossed my arms, half wondering how my magic looked from his point of view. I really hadn’t anyone to compare myself to, and now in front of my friends, it prickled like nettles.
“Not your skills, your method.”
“Hey, that’s my method too, and it works, wizard-boy,” Rose replied, but Freddie poorly smothered a laugh.
I glared at him and did a self-check. I had my hands on my hips, and tension was like a rod through my shoulders.
I blew out my frustration while rubbing Rose’s shoulder.
“How about you explain what you really mean later and give us the list?”
Ori’s hands hovered over the keyboard, waiting.
Ranth stroked the back of his neck. “Goat’s milk still warm of the mother, salt of the sea, a brazier made of potter’s clay, rope of local fibers, and Shedeh.”
“Spell that,” Ori and Juke said together.
Ranth spelled, “S-H-E-D-E-H.”
“Pomegranate wine?” Ori asked, her fingers roving over an eyebrow like she did when her mind was tearing through possibilities.
“It’s ruby colored. A special wine,” Ranth said, crouching down beside Ori as she typed.
“Wait, I think it’s made from red grapes. Does it have to come from Egypt?” Ori looked up from her screen.
“I know a guy,” Freddie said, straightening up and slicking back his hair.
“How much do we need?” I asked Ranth.
“A cupful.” Ranth raised fingers showing four inches of space.
“A bottle then. It’s going to be a cash deal. Might cost us,” Freddie replied, patting his jacket.
I rummaged through my messenger and took out a pile of cash I kept around for emergencies. Some of my older clients liked to pay me in paper money. “That enough?”
Freddie tucked the bills into his pocket. “Probably, but if not, I’ll make up the difference. You can owe me. Be back soon.”
I was not looking forward to that future conversation. “Anything else we need?” I asked Ranth.
“Temple incense, the solar type. Because we will require the light of the day for the incantation.”
“Wait, what? No can do,” Juke replied. “If I’m using an LED grid in sunlight, it’s not going to show up very well. Not unless we put a tent over it. Or…”
“Or what?” I asked, considering the complexity of whatever we were about to do and mentally ordering a list.
“I could go a different way with the map. It’s going to be more expensive. Unless… let me check a couple of things.”
“What about the incense? Frankincense? Myrrh? What’s in it?” I asked Ranth.
“The temple master makes it. There are twenty-one ingredients, as per the ancient ritual instructions.”
“Like what?” Rose asked, smoothing a hand over one of her hair buns.
“Honey, wine, raisins,” Ranth replied.
“He’s talking about kyphi, a temple incense,” Rose replied. “We use it for some cleansing and some rituals.” She twisted her silver ring cast from cinnamon bark. I glanced over at the obelisk Ranth and I had built. So far, the ward had worked.
“Can you get us some?” I asked Rose.
“It might not be the same thing, but I bet our maker can do it. Or we can figure it out together.”
Ranth rubbed his upper arm, lost in thought. “Temple incense is a sacred art.”
Rose pursed her lips, like she was holding back. “Our incense maker is really good at what she does. She’s studied all the ancient recipes. I’ll ask her. You said solar and twenty-one? We’ll see what she can come up with,” Rose added. “I’ll text you.”
“Anything else?” I asked Ranth.
“Not that I recall. But I’ve only seen the spell performed.”
“But you know the incantation?”
“By heart? No. It would be in the Ahknim Temple.”
“And how are we going to get that?” I asked.
“I can think… Perhaps, I can remember enough.” Ranth closed his eyes.
Ori’s phone chimed. “Hey, we got a call back.” Ori held up her phone, showing an unknown caller. I lowered my hands, shushing the group as she put it on speaker. Ranth’s eyes snapped open.
“Hello, this is Ori,” she said.
“Alu. You wished to connect with us?” a low, gruff voice replied. My insides shredded like wet paper. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea.
“I asked to speak with a member of the order. Are you one?” Ori asked, toying with the end of a braid.
“What is your purpose?”
“My friend is an old member who has lost his way and needs guidance to reconnect. Can you help him?” Ori asked.
“His name?”
“Ranth of Thebais.”
All we could hear was the clicking of keys. “We have no record of him.”
“I don’t expect you do. It’s complicated, but I assure you, he was a member. He’s right here if you’d like to speak to him.” Before I could stop him, Ranth leaned over the phone and shouted at it. “Alu.”
“Alu, Ranth of Thebais. What is the rule of the sky song uttered on the third night of The Beautiful Festival of Khonsu?”
I ran my hand up Ranth’s arm and waved my hand in a quietening motion, wondering if I should stop him from answering. But didn’t we need to find out?
His reply was marginally softer. “The door is open until I close it.”
“And the bones are made from?”
“Silver.”
“And the first words spoken upon waking?”
Ranth replied in a language I didn’t know.
“I will send an emissary to you.” The line clicked off.
Ranth’s look froze the moment. My pulse raced. What had we just done?