Ranth turned to her. “Harold has power I’ve never encountered. What do you know about him?”
“Just what I told you. He’s new in town, and people talk about him reverently—that he helps those he is willing to, andthe rest can’t find him. But I’ve heard stories where he’s turned things around for people. Really amazing things. Problems that couldn’t be fixed by charms or spells. Honestly, I can’t think of a specific example. Maybe they didn’t tell me.”
“How about death? Or planes walking?” Ranth asked.
Rose shook her head. “Not that I know of. Weird stuff, though. Like dream worlds.”
“Our experience was weirder than any dream you’ve ever had. Maybe I’d better try to explain.” I sucked in a breath and closed my eyes, trying to pull my thoughts together.
“I’ll do it,” Ranth said.
I opened my eyes, but before I could shush him, he began to tell the story. By the time he finished, I had to shut my gaping mouth. I learned stuff he’d seen from his perspective that I didn’t even understand. “You knew Harold could walk in planes, and you didn’t tell me?”
“You told me to be quiet, remember?”
“Right. Chestnut.” I sighed.
“Okay, now that everyone is on the same page, let’s get to the new stuff,” Ori said, pulling a folder out of her messenger. Inside were maybe a dozen photographs of illustrations. She handed them around. “I’m not supposed to have these, and I deleted the photos from my phone. They’re from a text in the restricted section.”
I moved closer to get a better view. Ranth was studying one from deeper in the pile. “What language is this?” I asked.
“Indus Valley,” Ranth replied.
Ori straightened up. “Wait, you can read this? It’s supposed to be a lost language.”
“In my time, only scholars could speak it, but I can read it. Where did you say this book was?” His thick brows pulled together as he studied the illustrations. “And why did you choose these from the book if you couldn’t read them?”
“Because they all have this symbol that you drew,” Ori answered, flipping over her sketchbook to show Ranth’s two sketches of the scroll case and the amulet.
“It has more meaning than the symbol that is used in this text. The printed words under the illustration directs the user to put the Ghr near the Tree. But the words here in the illustration clearly says the Ghr was part of the Tree,” Ranth said, peering at the photos.
“What’s a Ghr?” I asked.
“It’s a rare green stone which came to earth from one of the larger sky stones. Because of its special resonance, it allows openings. It’s always used in more important ceremonies, but in the text, it means connection,” Ranth replied.
“Can you read this whole thing to us?” Ori asked, her left eye twitching like it always did when she was excited.
“Sure, but the rest are instructions to make a goat herd fertile.” He chuckled.
“Where are you from?” Juke asked.
“We figure about 330, around Egypt,” Ori replied.
“Wait, what? He’s from ancient time? You said old, but that’s really old,” Freddie replied.
I rubbed my neck. Things had moved fast. “Argh. Sorry, forgot to mention that. Needless, everything you hear stays in this room. You too, Freddie. I’ll fry you alive if you leak. Got me?”
He nodded. He’d be good for it. Freddie only sold out people he figured deserved it. Otherwise, he introduced people who needed to get together. Rose, Ori, Freddie, and Juke actually worked pretty well as a team. We’d done an escape room before Yule, and it had really shown us that our strengths had to be utilized. After that, we’d started a biweekly game day, alternating online games with tabletop pencil-and-paper games. I had to admit, Freddie was an awesome rogue-assassin, but hisgame charisma was way better than his real life one. Gaming honed our skills and made it easier for us to work as a team.
Ori stopped tapping on her tablet and squealed out, “Oooooo! I think I found a pic of the amulet at the Egyptian Museum.” Ori turned the screen to Ranth.
He glanced at it. “It should have more markings on the back. How do you see the other side?” he asked, looking at the back side of the tablet.
“Maybe I can get Vivian to send us photos of the reverse,” Ori said, opening her laptop.
Ranth studied the tablet screen. “This amulet is a piece from Thebes. The stone is inscribed to the Pharaoh to assist him in the otherworld he will travel to.”
“The inscription says it’s from the Book of the Dead,” Ori replied.
