“Let’s go,” she told Ranth, coldly ignoring me.
Ranth crossed his arms. “Tell us exactly who you are, and where you think I’d be going with you? Then I will decide.” He shoved her onto the couch. “And apologize to Sorrel for breaking into her house and talking to her that way.”
“Oh, look who’s all knight and noble. I bet she doesn’t even know what you’ve done.”
I looked at Ranth expectantly. He shrugged his shoulders. “I have no idea what she’s talking about.”
“Of course, you do. It’s all in the archives. Ranth of the Ahknim, right? You were notable in your time as the last Garden Keeper, and once it was rumored you’d left the garden, our order started keeping track. They’ve been looking for you for a millennium. They want a sky key, and you are apparently the only one that can help them. You have no idea how excited my elder was when he got the call. Told me to get my butt over here and pick you up. Because we have questions. A lot of questions.” She leaped up and walked up to Ranth. “So, you need to be a good boy and come with me. There’s a bunch of business that needs to be caught up after we get our answers and before we can decide what to do with you.” She glanced at her phone. “We’re already late.”
Ranth leaned forward so his face was inches from hers. “I told you. I’m not going anywhere with you. At least until we getsome ofourquestions answered.” The sparks weren’t visible, but they were there, making me even more angry.
Ignoring the glare, I walked over and snatched up the rice cakes. My blood thrummed as I crossed the room to the front door and set the ward, adding a bit of my own power to strengthen it. Using this much power was risky, but I didn’t see much alternative. The woman was in my house.
“Sit or stand, it doesn’t matter. You aren’t leaving till I have my questions answered.” Crushing a rice cake, I dropped the bag and dug into my pouch. With the rice cake mixed with a fistful of willow bark, I threw the crumbs at her. The particles feathered to the floor, and we all stared at them as I leaned on a wall and drew on the willow bark to connect with the house energy.
“Bind her and keep her,”I chanted, making the binding spell complete.
“You witch!” Fabra snarled, standing up with curled fists.
“You say that like it’s a slur. I’d be careful talking that way. Our community is tight.” The simple binding spell was a custom one that I’d never seen anyone else use. It only worked because the house was bound by the wards. Now she could move freely within the house, but she couldn’t get over the threshold. The downside was the house’s energy net was holding her, which limited its power.
“You’ll roast when the rest of my chapter finds out about this.” She pulled out her phone.
The residue of my rice cake in her system might be enough for a truth spell. I flipped open the pouch that held the turmeric. It was time for my whipped-cream move.
She focused on me. “But now that we’re going to be stuck here for a while, we might as well get to be buds. How about I answer some of your desperate questions, then me and Handsome can leave. Deal?” She texted something on her phone and stuffed it into her back pocket.
“I’m not making bargains with you, especially for other individuals who have their own minds. I figured that was obvious.” I cocked my head like she’d done, squaring off with her.
“Aren’t you adorable? It’s not like you’re giving me a choice. You know exactly how hard a binding spell is to break when it’s a house holding you. Those rice cakes are salty. Got any juice?” She walked around me and headed to the kitchen.
I locked eyes with Ranth. “What are we going to do?”
“How long does your elegant spell hold?”
“A couple of hours, I think. It’ll be however long it takes her to metabolize those rice cakes. I’ve only done it once. I usually don’t have people breaking into my house that I want to keep here.” I was glowing a little from his nod to my spellwork.
“That’s probably enough time for the others to gather the items we need to create the event.”
“What event?”
“What big ears you have,” I replied as Fabra came out of the kitchen with a glass of my pomegranate juice. I stared at it, realizing what she’d done. “You know that has wheatgrass in it, right?”
“Yeah, it’s de-lish. You press this yourself?”
I glared at her to suppress my grin. Call it luck, but I was not going to ignore this opportunity. The wheatgrass and turmeric in the juice could act as a truth serum if I cast the spell with the rose petals in my kit. I wouldn’t even need the rice cake. But using two spells would sap my energy and possibly weaken the one binding her to the house. Probably worth it. I dug into my side pouch for the vial of turmeric. The vials were set in slots and had coded wax bumps on them, so I could feel them without looking. I smoothed a finger over the four bumps and a line of the turmeric.
“So, I’m curious, what are these burning questions you have for me? I’m going to need a nap after this,” she said, sliding into my bucket chair and slinging her legs over one of the arms like an annoying pixie.
“Who are the Marahk? What exactly do they do now? And who do you work for, and what do you do?”
“Oh, big ones. Okay, let me see if I want to answer those.” She yawned. “Our order is as old as the mud our ancestors used in the kilns. We learn stuff and pass it on to the next generations. I don’t think that’s much different from three thousand years ago. How old are you?” she asked Ranth.
“We’re asking the questions right now. What do you do for the Marahk?”
“I’m like their personal assistant. What do you think I do?”
“I think you steal things, rough people up, and maybe even make them disappear.”
