I stifled a snort as Ranth slipped an arm into a leg of the track pants as if it was a puzzle.
“What happened to the garden?” Ori asked, turning her back on Ranth. She mouthed, “Can we trust him?”
Ranth picked up the T-shirt like it was rotting lettuce.
My insides twisted. “What’s wrong with the garden? And I have no idea.”
He dropped the towel. The muscular bronze was everywhere. My hot-person meter rocketed to ten, and Ori and I stared at each other to give him some privacy. It would be a story we’d laugh over later, but right now it was a horror movie. I was torn between laughing and sobbing.
Ori settled a hand on my shoulder and rubbed it. “Hey, you should know, the mosaic is all singed like it was on fire or something. All the green is brown. Liesl is going to freak.”
Ranth’s honeyed voice cut through the despair that my garden was likely ruined. “The Essifer you saw at the old woman’s house was the brimstone kind, and that one might have been the fiery type.”
Ori pushed a cinnamon-colored braid back into her ponytail. “Fire and Brimstone? Interesting. Are they biblical demons, then? What’s the mythos?”
I interrupted, “Demons can’t leave traces on the earth. They’re predators. They only deal with human energy.” How did he know what kind of demons they were?
Ori glanced over at Ranth and tapped my shoulder to let me know it was safe to look. Ranth had figured out the track pants and was sticking his massive feet into the strappy Keens. He was still shirtless.
“I’m not sure what you’re asking. Essifer aren’t regular demons. They have more power and can interact with things as well as absorb human energy. It’s what makes them good hunters.”
The room swam as our eyes met. “That can’t happen. It breaks the demon laws. It would mean…”
“Essifers and Derellers are the most dangerous of the demon types when they are hunting.”
“And what are they hunting?”
I knew before he answered.
“Me.”
I hugged myself, dealing with the magnitude of demons being able to burn or destroy real world things, and they were tracking Ranth—and obviously now me.
“Why are they hunting you?” Ori pulled out a notebook. “How do you spell S-See-Fur?”
“E-S-S-I-F-E-R,” Ranth replied, his accent turning theIinto another type ofE. “The Essifers are after this bracelet. This one, not yours.” He pointed to the gold band circling his upper arm.
I slid the gold snake chain up my forearm.
Ori was scribbling notes. “So, Essifers are the demon type?”
“Yes,” he and I replied at the same time.
I glared at him and crossed my arms. “Why did they want to kill Brenda if they wanted you?” If they were after his bracelet, then they were after him, not me, so if I got rid of him, that would solve the portal problem for now.
“For me, the death of the wearer usually results in a renewed period of boring confinement—which I’m rather sick of. You seem entertaining and resourceful at eluding the Essifers and potentially the Derellers. I am pleased with the change of situation.” His grin dimpled his right cheek.
I was ready to start casting random spells to see what worked.
His gaze flicked from my boots to my lips. “And your ability interests me. I don’t believe I’ve met someone like you.”
I dug my fingernails into my upper arms to smother the snappy reply. Making this man mad was not my goal. “What are Derellers?” He was going back to where he’d come from as fast as I could get him there.
“They run the Essifer like hunting dogs. I’m not a demon expert, I only—” He stopped speaking.
“Yes? What about them? Keep talking. Besides, I have the demon part covered.”
“Maybe not. They’ll do anything to get to the gold, which they think they need to harvest. But it’s not really what they need.”
