“I think they aren’t residing here. Instead, they are connected elsewhere. You have to have the key to bring the item here. It’s like a placeholder for an item.”
“Like plastic sushi?” I laughed, but the thought ricocheted around in my head. If the bins weren’t really here, then, where were they? And how were we going to get out of here? Maybe the portal also could be called—or created. “You said you could make a portal. This is an excellent time to show me how.”
“I can’t make a portal out of nothing, and it usually requires more than one trained wizard. Perhaps we are missing the obvious.” Ranth dropped to his knees and ran his hands over the stones. I crouched down beside him, touching his shoulder to get his attention.
A spark rolled down my arm and onto his, and the words on his arm glowed gold, then green. The floor rippled like water as the face of Bacchus bloomed from the stone with twines of purple grapes, brown branches, and green leaves. The body seemed like flesh, and the air filled with the scent of autumn in wine country. A hint of crisp winter air, fading into grapes warmed by the sun, and the loam beneath the wine with the vinegary hints of fermentation. The freshness filled me with energy.
“Ready?” Ranth asked. His hands pulled at the air, turning it into the visible golden threads of a net. He plucked at the strands, and the net burst with a pop. The room blurred as I fell through syrupy space in a bubble of green, which turned to kaleidoscope rainbow. The colors dimmed to gray and finally to no color. When I opened my eyes, we were outside the bank vault door in the Marina. I doubled over, sucking in air in great, gulping gasps.
I dragged myself up, and we sprinted up the nine flights of stairs. I paused at the top, visions of opening it and portals popping on us on our way out. But I was a different person than I’d been two days ago—and I wasn’t alone. Ranth and I were stronger together.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
My phone buzzed, jingled, dinged, and beeped with a riot of pings with dozens of notifications as we walked into the hall. There was an email from Mrs. Finnegan, twelve voicemails, and texts from Ori, Rose, Freddie, and Juke.
“We should leave here,” Ranth said, holding the outside door open. The brilliant sunlight flooded the hall. I slipped on my lavender shades, and we sprinted up the street to the Muni stop.
On the bus, I called Ori. It was nearing noon—we’d been gone for hours.
“You’re alive, thank the goddesses. Where are you?” Ori gushed.
“On the Muni, going home—no. Not home. Not while they’re hunting Ranth.”
“We need to change our plan,” I whispered to Ranth. “Where are you?” I asked Ori.
“With Freddie, at Rose’s. We’ve been waiting all night. We thought…”
“I’m fine. Ranth is fine. I’ll explain when we get there. Did the packages arrive? Do you have transportation?”
“Freddie’s got his car, and we have shiny moldavite. Juke’s got the goat and the other stuff. We just need Ranth.”
“We have him.”
At this point, the third gold piece could wait. But the Marahk and Fabra would be coming for us. However, getting Ranth to a place of safety, by reuniting him and breaking our curse, also sounded good.
Three buses later, we made it to Sage, Flame, & Crystal.
“Thank the gods and goddesses,” Rose said, pulling us through the door and locking it behind us. I inhaled the layers of herbs, beeswax, and plant resins full of the power of nature.
“What happened to you two?” Ori asked, sliding into a bear hug. Her hair smelled like jasmine and sunlight. I lingered in her arms, absorbing the joy.
“We were trapped in the portal thing again. The one Harold took us to the first time.”
“The canal place with the weird shop?” Ori replied. She walked over to her messenger and pulled out two bottles of green juice and energy bars.
“Let me look at your wound.” Rose darted behind me and prodded my shoulder.
“How did you get healed?”
“Harold, I guess. It happened sometime between leaving the hall and ending up in canal-land. But good job, right?”
“Yeah, I want the recipe,” she mumbled. “What’s our plan now?”
The wound had healed but the blood on my shoulder had crusted, drying to a dark brown. “I guess we go to Juke. Did you get new information?”
One of Rose’s buns was loose and lopsided. She prodded at it. “Not new, but I did get to chat with one of the red scarves. He has a tattoo thing, too, and a necklace. Turns out it’s some kind of twisted initiation thing with a scorpion and a goblet of squid ink laced with absinthe. At least, that’s what he thought it was. Anyhoo, after the ceremony, he had the weirdest dreams, and when they had their group meetings, he swore he could see stuff in the air. No magic stuff himself but he heard stories that as you rise in the ranks, the tattoo lets you learn how to hold power that’s been placed in you.”
“He’s splintering. Or one of them is,” Ranth said.
