Cold sweat trickled down my back as goo ate through the leather boots with a sizzle. My feet would be fine. No way demon-goo was getting through my magic-laced socks. Still,dissolving boots were not ideal. Once the demons disappeared, the boots would be whole again because planar damage wasn’t real-world damage for me—but the concerning bit was the rapidly dissolving planar floor under my feet. That could cause me trouble.
I stepped cautiously sideways, testing the structural integrity while glancing behind me to check on Ranth. It wasn’t the real-world floor, so Ranth should be fine. But his shout turned my blood way colder than the demon’s cry.
The floor rippled in a spiky wave, and a knee-high demon rose out of it in a trail of goo. I jumped sideways to a more stable patch of floor as Ranth ran up a wall, did a flip, shouting something in a language I didn’t know.
The air thickened. My chest tightened as I fought to breathe, and I dropped in a crouch, huffing with the effort. Silver sticks in front of me, I eyed the demon, focusing on my shallow breathing. Ranth had gone quiet, but he was still behind me. I couldn’t risk taking my eyes off my target to check on him.
Going through the floor would likely suck me into the demon portal—that wasn’t an option I could come back from. Calculating the spaces left of the floor, I sprang up with a war cry and bounced from spot to spot in a wild, obstacle course hopscotch dance.
I sliced at the demon as I passed, but the stick missed an inch from its throat. It leaped to the ceiling as I missed the intact part of the floor and fell through the dissolved surface. With the sticks extended, I couldn’t grab something to pull me out. Using the slowed air of the planar space to my advantage, I brought my knees up and threw myself sideways, hitting the wall and sliding down it. My silver stick sliced through the edge of my Doc Marten as I landed hard on my shoulder. I leaped up, panting from the energy drain. The maca flooded my mouth with sweetness, but the effect was waning.
Ranth was wreathed in leafy greenery, and his face glowed with a golden light. The demon on the ceiling had fixated on him, giving me two seconds to pull myself together. Springing up, I readied to take out the demon on the ceiling. Ranth raised his hand. The demon opened its maw, and the ridges down its back rippled like the goo. It was going to attack Ranth; I couldn’t wait any longer.
Tapping deep into my magic, I leaped up to slice at the demon on the ceiling. Before I could reach it, the demon expanded as if it were made of golden marshmallow fluff and exploded all over me and the hall, like a microwaved pink Peep.
I yelped as I fell out of planar into the real world and spit the maca out onto the now solid floor.
“What the foxgloves was that?” I snapped, wiping clingy demon bits out of my eyes and leaning on the wall to straighten up. Ranth walked over to me. “I’m going to need a bunch of explanations, but let’s go before they come back.” I grimaced at my sock peeking through the slice in my boot I’d made myself. That wasn’t going to heal like planar damage. Dianthus—I loved these boots.
“They won’t come back here for a while,” Ranth replied.
“How do you know?”
“The last one didn’t come through the portal. It retreated, and it will inform the others that I am no longer bound to the bracelet. Though I expect the Essifer sensed that—and that is how they found us. When they come again, we will need to be ready. Are you all right?”
I nodded and did a self-check. I needed real food, and my aching head didn’t help my racing thoughts. Now that he’d been released, he could fight them, but they could also find us again.
He leaned against the wall and pushed hair out of his face. His non-tattooed forearm had four raised blisters each about the size of a quarter.
I cringed, imagining the pain. “You’re hurt. Let me see.” I reached out a hand.
He looked down at his arm. “It’s nothing. An insignificant abrasion.”
“Blisters are not minor.” I dug into my messenger and pulled out my wildcrafted burn salve with myrrh and calendula. He pressed one of the spots on his forearm and grimaced, then with a shrug, offered his hand to me. I took his wrist and turned his arm over. Using two fingers, I lightly smeared a thick layer of salve on top of the skin. “That must really hurt. It needs to stay moist.”
“Thank you.” Our eyes locked, but the amber-apricot thing hadn’t happened like it had when I was touching him before. There were still bubbles from the closeness, but maybe whatever Harold had done had released us from the spell that affected our emotions. That would make things easier, but I wasn’t forgetting the taste of him, or how his body had melted against mine. There might not be a reason for it, but he was dry timber to my match.
“You’re welcome,” I replied, dropping my attention to the jar. When he was sweet, I almost liked him. I wasn’t sure which was concerning me more, that Ranth had access to whatever power he had shown in the fight, that he could be injured by demons, or that if he died, I would die with him.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Avoiding discussions with the wizard-elephant, I pulled out my cell as I led the way to the Muni stop. Ranth seemed completely fine, despite the chaos we’d experienced in the last hour. Was that a superpower? I’d love to be that unruffled, but my insides were still churning. Besides there being three portals in one day, every muscle ached from demon fighting. I needed a salad.
Ori had texted me seven times. Her latest was:
Ori:
R U OK? Where are you? I have STUFF to tell you.
She answered on the second ring. “You okay? I was worried,” she said.
“Sorry! I’m fine-ish. We’re trying to catch a bus.”
“We?”
I glanced at Ranth. “Yeah. Ranth is still with me. We went to meet someone to help us with the bracelet problem, but he might have made it worse.” Ranth was examining bougainvillea flowers outside a house. “So, what did you find out?”
“That doesn’t sound good. I didn’t find any direct Ahknim references, but I cross-searched with the places the wizard mentioned and the time frame, and I think I might have something,” she gushed, and I grinned. I loved when Ori got passionate about research.
