“Like an empath.”
“I don’t know what that is.” He opened the energy bar I’d given him.
“It doesn’t matter. And the Serpent is a big snake?”
He sniffed and smiled, then took a bite off the corner. “It’s not a worldly creature. It doesn’t have a form, actually, unless it takes one,” he replied between chews.
“So not a snakish thing? No scales?”
“It appears in our texts as a serpent, and that’s the way it is depicted in the ancient books. But a serpent is a common symbol rather than a name. It would appear to you as you wish to see it.”
“Oh, right. You all would have used pictograms.”
He took another bite. “Hmm?”
“Little pictures instead of words.”
“Not pictures, symbols, but yes.” He polished off the rest of the bar. There was one left. He grabbed it before I could. My stomach silently wept.
“Let’s say Harold spoke to this Serpent thing. Would he have to be old to do that? Doesn’t the Serpent exist in this time?”
He opened the bar. “Not this world. He would have to world travel.”
He was bigger than me and probably needed it more. It wasn’t like we’d had a real meal since he’d gotten here. But it was rude. “You mean like switch to planar like I do?”
He broke the bar in half and handed a half to me. “No. The planes are between worlds. The demons come from different worlds, and that’s why they look different.”
The light changed to red, and I slammed on the brakes, jerking us both forward. The words sank in as I stared at the intersection, chewing my half of the energy bar. I’d been thinking about planes wrong. There were planesbetweenworlds. If I knew how, I might be able to walk between the worlds like Harold.
The light turned green, and I stomped on the gas pedal. The car leaped forward. “Then did Harold mean that he is a world traveler?”
“His abilities seem well-developed. The place we visited took significant power to construct.”
“Who could have taught him that? Where did he come from?” Rose had said he was new to San Francisco, but maybe he was new to Earth or this time.
“I don’t know. Even the high priest of the Ahknim would not have his skill.” Ranth crumpled the wrappers.
“You’re saying that on this world, no one has ever had his skill? How would you even know that?”
“I don’t, but to open a door to that place we visited would require significant energy. That street of buildings was aconstruct. Even Rei could not make that on her own. It would take a team of wizards to make a small room on another plane. If he built that place, his ability has a level of sophistication I have not experienced. But it is possible.” He rubbed his chin.
“Then Harold could be from another world, where there are other powerful wizards?” Why hadn’t I asked Harold when we’d had the chance?
“I don’t know. Maybe our high priest would have thoughts.”
“And how would we find your high priest?”
“Mine will be long passed in time. But perhaps you could find someone on Ori’s laptop or your phone.” He reached for it like it was a piece of enticing candy, and I grabbed it out of the hands-free carrier. “Stop touching my stuff without asking.” But I grinned. I’d appreciated him breaking the bar in half.
We pulled into Mrs. Finnegan’s driveway, and I called Ori before I got out of the car. “We need to find an Ahknim high priest.”
“I looked up Ahknim before. Do you mean… Oh! I get it, you mean Ahknim—now, in whatever form they evolved into. That’s so obvious. I have no idea why I didn’t think of it. There wasn’t anything online, so it would have to be a secret society or called something else. But on it. I might have to call Freddie. I doubt a secret society would have a receptionist.” Keyboard keys clicked in the background.
Freddie was part of our gaming circle. In real life, he was incredibly talented at finding people. It was his special thing. “We’re going home, so let me know when you have something.”
“How’d the rising go?”
“Don’t ask. We survived, but I’ll rebook because we couldn’t complete it.”
