Ranth crossed his arms, the flash of the tattoo reminding me he belonged more to Harold’s time than mine. “If he is able to enter the Garden, then he may be able to return to any world of his choice with a new life.”
“Reincarnation? But he has so much power now, why do you care about being alive?” I asked.
Ranth nodded at Harold. “There are other worlds where a corporeal form allows different magics. It’s all about knowledge and a hunger for power.”
I whispered to Ranth, “Why don’t you do that, then? Why not be reborn? Ask the Trees? You could be reincarnated here.” My heart skipped a beat. Ranth was so majestic. Powerful. Part of something bigger than himself.
He took my hand. “That is not my place. I have a duty to fulfill. Without me, no sages can be reborn, and the world is suffering. Can’t you see? There have been no great leaders or wise men in hundreds of years. Your world spirals deeper into the abyss, closer and closer to self-destruction.” His voice had lowered, and his fingers stroked mine.
“That’s your purpose, then? You going back allows for a wise man in this world? A leader to be born?” My heart broke at the thought of him leaving me in that moment. Even more because the cost was so much bigger than me. A cost I might not even get the option to choose. Would I give my life for this?
“Time and destiny don’t work like that. It’s my position to assist the Garden. There are no promises. If a wandering soul has acquired the knowledge to make a difference to your world,then it is possible. One could be reborn here or elsewhere. Minute things can cause momentous change.”
He wasn’t entirely talking about the Garden now. “How about Harold, then? Couldn’t he be one of the future leaders?”
Ranth’s chin rose and lowered as he appraised Harold. “Possibly, but it is not my decision to make. If he were allowed into the Garden, then new paths and possibilities may open.” He squeezed my hand.
I let go of him and turned back to Harold. “The Sisters, the Tene, they have my mother, and they’re doing things I need to know about.”
“Many are with them. Where once they guided, now they take spirits against their will and keep them until they are done with them.”
“Then what happens to the spirit?”
“The depleted usually rest in their domain but are unable to travel on to the spirit world. Energy allows us to move between worlds, and without it, we are static.”
“And how do you get your energy, then?”
His green eyes leveled with mine. “I take a little here and there. You barely notice. Like how you healed. I give things, you get things. We make bargains.”
I gasped. “You stole energy from me—without me knowing?”
“A little, not enough to bother you.” His wide lips stretched into a smile.
I rubbed my forehead. “Let me get this straight. You’re an energy vampire?”
He laughed. “Vampires of your mythology feed on blood. The spirit walkers have no such ties to man. Blood is animated by energy. Without it, blood cools and dies.”
“That’s a new perspective on life. What about the unmoving souls, can they be re-animated?”
“I assume so. Everything decays, but time moves differently in the otherworld. However, it still passes. They are what you call husks, but in a spirit term.”
“How would I do that? Reanimate. Is there a spell? A method? Can you re-energize a…” I didn’t want to say the word aloud because I didn’t want to imagine my mother that way. It would make it real. I pushed the ugly word out. “A husk?”
He nodded his reply, his head bowing slightly as if he recognized the cost of the question.
I sucked in a breath and held it. Asking the next question would change everything. Ranth’s hand slid over my shoulder. “What would it take for you to find my mother?”
Harold locked eyes with me. “I will not walk the world of the Sisters. It is gated and perilous, and their hunters are strong.”
“Then whocanwalk there?”
“Those they take themselves, the hunters and their seekers, but no others. At least not to my knowledge.”
“What do you mean by hunters? Like the Derellers and the Essifers?” I paced, trying to find a way through the logic. Maybe if I sat down with my friends, we could see an opening besides having the Sisters take me there or letting the Essifers capture me. Was I strong enough to live through it and return? And if so, what would it cost me? I had nothing to bargain with…
“You will return tonight, then?” Harold asked Ranth, ignoring me.
“If we find the way, yes. We’re close, but we need the incantation,” Ranth replied.
