Ranth shook his head. “That’s not what it says. This last symbol is not west, which would mean the afterlife. Here it means this plane, or this world.”
“You can read hieroglyphics?” Ori raised her voice excitedly, her eye twitching again.
Ranth would be incredibly valuable to the history field, but didn’t the rule of no time travel apply? If I let him explain, then wouldn’t it change the future? Was that my responsibility? Maybe letting Ori grill him was not a good idea.
Ranth replied before I could redirect. “It’s important to mages to study texts, and we have to know the old ways, as well as the new ones.”
His comment was pointed at me. I picked at the leftover flatbread, shrugging off the annoyance. He was right, but his delivery was lacking. Still, it had changed the subject.
Ori held up his drawing. “Is this scroll case Egyptian too?”
“No, Sumerian.”
“I get you all are working on a plan for something, but what exactly are we here for? I thought the big issue was the wizard stuck to your wrist problem? Am I missing something?” Rose asked, gesturing at Juke and breaking my train of thought.
“We have another problem, a bigger problem,” I replied. “Unless Ranth gets back to the Garden, we might end up, well, ended.”
“Wait, what? Apocalypse kind of thing?” Juke pulled out her other earbud.
“Yeah, it’s not a good result which is why we need a plan.”
Rose turned to Ranth. “Let me get this framed. There’s some snake somewhere that, if it gets loose, eats worlds?”
Ranth tucked hair behind an ear. “The Serpent is not a snake, but you might see it as one. Yes, if the Serpent is allowed to leave the Garden, then it would most likely destroy this world while it seeks out another Serpent.”
I rubbed my forehead. “You didn’t say that before.”
“I didn’t think it was important.” Ranth smoothed a finger across the scar on his nose.
Freddie crouched down, putting fingers on the floor as if drawing out what was in his head. “But there’s no guarantee this Serpent snake thing will leave the garden? So, we’re looking at worst case, right?”
Ranth locked eyes with him again. “Yes, and it has never happened, so there’s no finite outcome known.”
Freddie nodded. “Okay, so saving the world sounds like it’s more important than the curse thing between you?”
I smoothed loose hairs in my braid. “Sort of. The curse on Ranth means now, if either he dies or I die, we both die.”
Juke’s eyes were dinner plates. “That’s not good.”
I laughed because, honestly, what else can you do when it’s that dire. “It’s worse. If Ranth dies, then there’s a hole in the garden that would allow someone to enter it.”
“What’s the big deal about that? Other than the dying part, which would not be good.” Freddie swept his long coat back as he stood up.
Ranth turned to him. “If I die, the balance of the garden is broken, and anyone can get in to access the Trees. All knowledge could be lost, or stolen, or misused. The Trees are to be protected. The Serpent does that, and we protect the Serpent and the Trees by keeping the plane locked. I am the key.”
Rose rubbed fingertips into her scalp like it would make her brain activate. “I’m losing track. Can you make this simple, please? Obviously, we don’t want you to die, Sorrel, and we don’t want the world to end. But I’m not hearing a solution here?”
“That’s because we don’t have one yet. Ranth needs to get back to the garden and not die before we get him there. To get to the garden, a ritual has to be performed, and in that ritual, there has to be two more pieces of gold. The same gold Ranth wears and the demons are hunting,” I replied.
“Why aren’t the demons hunting the other pieces of gold?” Freddie asked, toying with a button on his coat.
Ranth replied, “Because the gold can’t be targeted on this plane unless there’s a connection to the other worlds.”
Ori continued to type on her laptop. “Oh, I get it. Your gold is like a beacon because you aren’t supposed to be here. Don’t worry, I’m taking notes.” She grinned as Juke breathed out relief.
Juke fiddled with the ribbon in her braid. “And why exactly are you here? I mean, what’s the curse about? Who cursed you?”
Ranth repositioned beside me. “We don’t know, but it may have been around the time the Ahknim temple disappeared.”
