Ranth’s eyes narrowed. “The term is incorrect. A poor translation. But it’s hard to explain.”
“I’m good at understanding.”
“I have a skill…”
“Go on.”
“The fore-bone, please.” This time Harold’s voice sent shooting pains behind my eyes.
“What is your skill?” I shouted as searing agony clawed through my head. I fought against the attack and pushed Harold out of my thoughts.
“I can collect things others can’t,” Ranth replied.
“So that’s how you got the fore-bone? How does Harold know that?” I shouted again.
The ground rumbled.
“Now, that is an excellent question.” Ranth’s expression twisted as he glanced at Harold.
The ground rippled, and I stumbled sideways. I rolled into a crouch, ready to sprint. The path was clear—for the moment.“Explain later. Let’s get to the car!” I leaped up and dashed toward the parking lot. I was getting off this hallowed ground before we—and the Olumie demon about to appear—unsettled graves.
I leaned on the car’s hood, panting while the world narrowed to a sharpened point of wrongness.
Ranth and Harold hadn’t moved.
The ground undulated like ocean waves and ten sigil–crusted, white bony Olumie demons spilled out of an orange-edged portal that had opened up next to the grave we’d been working.
Foxgloves.
I threw my satchel on the hood of the car and rummaged in it, breaking open the emergency kit. Ten demons were twice the number I’d ever fought at once. I ran around to the trunk and popped it open to grab the second catastrophe kit, keeping tabs on the graveyard horror cinema.
The Olumie demons ambled toward Ranth and Harold, who still hadn’t moved. With the maca root in my palm and the power-enhancing vials tucked into my waistband, I slung a garlic-herb wreath over my neck and extended the silver pins on my wrist bands. To tackle multiple demons, I’d need a boost, and I had just enough cornflower juice to blast four extra energy balls.
“Ready or not, here I come,” I said under my breath as I walked back on the cemetery ground. Or rather tried to. I got to the gate and couldn’t walk over the threshold.
My blood turned colder than the air. Like a spectator behind a glass panel, I stood helplessly as the demons circled around Ranth and Harold. Why weren’t they attacking? Because if Ranth died…
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Imight not be able to walk on the real graveyard, but I could walk the planar space. The caramel sweetness of the maca root filled me with a new level of dread as the monsters in the graveyard shifted to the planar level. The ground rippled in waves crested with shimmering white sparks. The white bony demons were now a creamy color, and Harold glowed with green-yellow intensity. The Olumie demons had undone their circle and focused on me.
I heard Ranth yell as the bone demons charged across the crested waves of grass.
Clamping the maca root between my teeth, I ground my boot heels into the grass for leverage and connection. Planar space mirrored the graveyard, but the ground answered to intent;momentum would bend if I pushed. I stuck out my wrists and called upon my ancestors to fuel my power.
To disperse the pack, I whipped two vials of thistle distillate at the Olumie. Demon screeches echoed in my head, but the unaffected demons surged at me. I took out the two on the left with the first of my cornflower blue power balls.
Four on the right and three on my left. I poked one with a silver spike as I shot a second fuzzy blue ball. They screeched and dissipated through the portal. That left five.
The Olumie on the right had recovered from thistle sickness and surrounded me warily. The remaining one from the first wave slunk into the circle, then they crept in together. The energy balls I had left would only take out two based on their organization.
Risks had to be taken. I dropped to a crouch and pressed my hand flat on the ground. I drank one of the cornflower vials, and the essence surged through me. The acrid taste of sulfur and buried bones caught the back of my throat. I coughed, but the maca root was still firmly clenched between my teeth. Bracing myself, I mumbled, “One, two…”
On “three,” I threw my first fuzzy blue ball at the rippling ground under my feet. The burst sent me flying into the air. The demons could fly too, but I had planned for that. On my fourth count, I hit them with the other cornflower energy ball that buffeted me even higher. This time a blast of blue-silver pushed them back, dissipating at least three. It was hard to tell from the flash and the terror ripping through me as I went into free fall. Curling up, I prepared for the mind-numbing pain of impact.
But I didn’t hit. The ground surged up, and I landed on the shimmering crests of blue. A cloud of energy absorbed my fall.
All the Olumie had dissipated. I spit out the maca root.
