Chapter 32
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
My phone buzzed, jingled, dinged, and beeped with a riot of pings with dozens of notifications as we walked into the hall. There was an email from Mrs. Finnegan, twelve voicemails, and texts from Ori, Rose, Freddie, and Juke.
“We should leave here,” Ranth said, holding the outside door open. The brilliant sunlight flooded the hall. I slipped on my lavender shades, and we sprinted up the street to the Muni stop.
On the bus, I called Ori. It was nearing noon—we’d been gone for hours.
“You’re alive, thank the goddesses. Where are you?” Ori gushed.
“On the Muni, going home—no. Not home. Not while they’re hunting Ranth.”
“We need to change our plan,” I whispered to Ranth. “Where are you?” I asked Ori.
“With Freddie, at Rose’s. We’ve been waiting all night. We thought…”
“I’m fine. Ranth is fine. I’ll explain when we get there. Did the packages arrive? Do you have transportation?”
“Freddie’s got his car, and we have shiny moldavite. Juke’s got the goat and the other stuff. We just need Ranth.”
“We have him.”
At this point, the third gold piece could wait. But the Marahk and Fabra would be coming for us. However, getting Ranth to a place of safety, by reuniting him and breaking our curse, also sounded good.
Three buses later, we made it to Sage, Flame, & Crystal.
“Thank the gods and goddesses,” Rose said, pulling us through the door and locking it behind us. I inhaled the layers of herbs, beeswax, and plant resins full of the power of nature.
“What happened to you two?” Ori asked, sliding into a bear hug. Her hair smelled like jasmine and sunlight. I lingered in her arms, absorbing the joy.
“We were trapped in the portal thing again. The one Harold took us to the first time.”
“The canal place with the weird shop?” Ori replied. She walked over to her messenger and pulled out two bottles of green juice and energy bars.
“Let me look at your wound.” Rose darted behind me and prodded my shoulder.
“How did you get healed?”
“Harold, I guess. It happened sometime between leaving the hall and ending up in canal-land. But good job, right?”
“Yeah, I want the recipe,” she mumbled. “What’s our plan now?”
The wound had healed but the blood on my shoulder had crusted, drying to a dark brown. “I guess we go to Juke. Did you get new information?”
One of Rose’s buns was loose and lopsided.
She prodded at it. “Not new, but I did get to chat with one of the red scarves. He has a tattoo thing, too, and a necklace. Turns out it’s some kind of twisted initiation thing with a scorpion and a goblet of squid ink laced with absinthe.
At least, that’s what he thought it was.
Anyhoo, after the ceremony, he had the weirdest dreams, and when they had their group meetings, he swore he could see stuff in the air.
No magic stuff himself but he heard stories that as you rise in the ranks, the tattoo lets you learn how to hold power that’s been placed in you. ”
“He’s splintering. Or one of them is,” Ranth said.
We all turned to Ranth.
“What’s splintering?” I asked. Ori flipped open her laptop.
Ranth crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe. “Splintering is taking pieces of power and embedding them in vessels which don’t have power of their own. So, the Marahk can use theirs if the wizard needs them to, or they can be taught how to access it.”
“Like a phylactery but with different access?” Ori asked, glancing at me.
I shrugged, my thoughts racing through gaming lore.
A phylactery was what held the internal organs of a lich.
It couldn’t be a coincidence. “Fabra doesn’t have power of her own, but she called the earth.
I assumed it had to do with the necklace and the tattoo. But splintering would explain that.”
“That’s risky magic,” Rose said, rubbing her eyes like she hadn’t had much sleep.
Ranth scratched his head. “I think I don’t understand the use of a phylactery.
It’s to hold prayers? But splintering keeps power safe until the splintered one needs it.
A vessel can be used. That’s base magic.
The splintered one would have had to die first, and maybe sacrificially, to dissipate their power.
I agree it is likely the source of Fabra’s energy. ”
“You mean someone died, and they cut them up?” Ori asked.
“Not the body, just the power,” Ranth replied.
“Not a soul then, well, sort of.” Ori thoughtfully stroked the tip of a braid.
“How is that possible, though—to cut up power?” I asked.
“You would need an obsidian knife and a cup made from the Life Tree.”
“You mean a goblet made from the Tree of Life? Like Yggdrasil?” Ori typed.
“From a branch from one of the Garden Trees. They are called by many names, but their true names are never spoken.”
“This person must have the cup then?” Ori asked.
Ranth nodded.
“Anything else it does?” Ori asked.
“It’s supposed to grant the maker eternal life,” Ranth examined a baggie of unusually shaped dried parsnip roots from Rose’s oddities section. Rose glared at him.
“But it’s already made, right?” I asked.
Ranth nodded, setting the roots carefully back in the basket and smirking at Rose.
“They must want another one for some reason. Or someone who hired them does.”
Ranth crossed his arms and leaned against the shelves.
“We called and asked them to come get you. But why didn’t they kill you?” I asked, pressing the pressure points on my forehead.
“I expect because they don’t want to release the Serpent, but they do want to get into the Garden. To do that, they need a way in.”
“Right, and they think you have the key for the sky ritual.”
Freddie had been listening but hadn’t said a word since we’d arrived. He walked over to Ranth and pushed him backwards. “How do we even know this wizard guy isn’t selling you out? He could have staged his own abduction. He’s one of them, after all. Ahk-Nim or Mar-akh or whatever.”
“Back off.” I stepped between Ranth and Freddie. “He had no motivation to have us come and get him. There’s nothing in it for him. If he dies, I die. Putting either of us in peril is not in his best interest.”
Ranth stared Freddie down. I laid a hand on Ranth’s shoulder. “He didn’t mean it,” I said.
“He did mean it. He doesn’t like me because I like you, and so does he.”
I looked at Ranth like he was an alien creature. “You… you like me?”
Ranth gave me a “duh” eyebrow raise.
Ori interrupted. “Juke just texted that Liesl’s goats are trying to eat her cables, and she’s berserking. She called for advice, but apparently a goat’s natural interest is in eating everything.”
We split up to confuse anyone potentially watching us. Ori and Freddie would drive in a looping route. Rose would go with us by CalTrans, and we’d get a rideshare to South San Francisco.
“Can I grab a few things, Rose?” I asked.
Rose nodded. She slapped Ranth as his hand reached out for a pile of quartz. “If you want something, get Sorrel to pick it out. I don’t want you clouding my crystals.”
I interrupted Ranth’s answer by stuffing my messenger into his hands. “Here, you can hold this while I pack it. Anything you need?”
“I’d like some resonance crystals.” He glared at Rose.
She smirked at him, fondling a silver hoop earring.
“Raw Quartz? Rose, smoked, or clear? Double terminated or single?”
Ranth replied, “Raw. You must always use raw stones. Never use polished or cut.”
“What? Why?” I asked.
“Because man’s hand on nature doesn’t improve its resonance, it changes it. It may appear more concentrated and purer, but actually, it’s less resonant to those who know how to listen.”
“Oh. Kay.” Basically, he was saying everything I’d learned and experienced was wrong. It wasn’t the way modern crystal power worked. Finer clear–cut crystals sparkled more, and the points were supposed to give you clearer focus. But Ranth’s perspective made perfect sense.
“That’s a load of crap,” Rose replied. “And don’t you ever say that in my shop again, you hear me? The crystals absorb all that negative energy. You need to get him out of here, soon.” Rose’s tone was tight and cranky.
Wondering about Rose’s reaction, I shoved a bunch of raw quartz, fluorite, hematite, and tourmaline into the pack.
It was different from Freddie’s, but sort of the same.
Rose loved me. Was she worried about Ranth?
In the bag, I added some smudges, matches, and a few extra herbs from Rose’s locked section that I hoped I wouldn’t have to use.
Rose handed me a jacket. “Here, honey, you’ll need a new cover up. It’ll be a little big, but it’s clean and not blood-crusted.” Her smile told me everything. She wanted all the best for me.
“Thanks,” I said, but it wasn’t only for the jacket.
I stripped off the shredded denim and shrugged on the black velour stadium coat.
A wave of calm descended. The brushed fabric was baggy but caressed my skin and smelled like Rose’s incense.
I rolled the sleeves up over my wrist bands, then picked up the pack. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”