Without more maca, I couldn’t plane walk—or could I? Gripping the log, I turned my attention to the Fire Essifer while imagining the sweetness of the maca. The blur of transition was breath-stealing. By shielding my chest with the wood, the Essifer bit into it instead of me. I cheated the shift, riding the oak’s stored earth instead of maca. Risky, but I was out of time. Pulling from the wood, I blasted silvery purple balls at the first Essifer, which exploded violently in a purple-tinged pink goo. Earth power coursed brownly through my veins. I slammed the rest of the oak energy into the second Brimstone Essifer, which dissipated in a shower of pink sparkles.
Ranth had gone planar and now stood behind where the last Essifer had been, looking at me with judging eyes.
“You are going to regret that,” he said.
I tossed the log to the side. “I regret nothing,” I replied as we dropped into the reality of Bud’s living room.
“If there’d been a third one, you’d have been soul-struck,” Ranth whispered as he helped me up from the floor.
I brushed off his hand. “What does that even mean?”
“Your soul would be marked. Five touches. One more and the earth would leave its mark. It will become part of you.”
I glared at him, not wanting him to be right or know more than I did. But he obviously did. “I’m not sure how you even know that, but it doesn’t matter. I had to do what it took to keep us all safe.”
“I can see your marks, and these are not choices to be made on a whim. There are sacrifices that have to be considered before you make them. You need to think on this kind of life step.”
“Preach much?” I snapped.
“Hey, where’d you go?” Ori asked, coming up behind Ranth.
“Uh, I was showing Ranth the view.” I nodded to the dark alcove where Bud kept his smoking chair. It had the best valley view, and at night, you could see stars until forever.
Ori’s mouth twitched, but she let it go. She leaned into me, studying the landscape. “Bud made you a salad, and the first pizza is in. What do you want on yours?” Ori asked. Bud held up a blue Heath Ceramics bowl brimming with greens as I entered the kitchen, and my mouth watered. I took a step forward, and the back of a chair saved me from a face-plant. Ranth was behind me, supporting me. I wasn’t excited about it, but I let him wrap his arm around me. Getting energy was my prime directive.
I ate my salad. Every crunch broke cell barriers, sending green energy coursing through my mouth. If greens were basically earth magic, then they couldn’t be bad. Besides, I didn’t feel that different. Maybe I’d been taken in by old tales and warnings, and Ranth didn’t know what he was talking about.
“Feeling better?” Ranth asked.
“Yeah, but we need to fix the house wards so that doesn’t happen again.”
“I’ll do it,” he replied, his mouth full of pizza.
“I’ll get the stuff together,” I said, not protesting. He was faster, and he’d already shown me how to do them. I gathered herbs from Bud’s pantry, having a hard time shaking the flash of what the lich-Ranth would look like eating. How did I feel about lich-form? It was still Ranth, but…
“You okay?” Ori asked, sticking her head into the pantry.
I tucked loose strands of hair behind an ear. “Yep, a bit tired but still alive. The kitchen threshold apparently is outside the old ward line. Rookie mistake. I need some basics to alter the house ward,” I replied, digging through what Bud had on his shelves.
“Can I help?” she asked.
I handed her a big bag of cinnamon sticks and another of dried lemon peel.
She gathered them to her chest. “Are we making mulled cider?”
“It’s a ward to protect the new kitchen.” I laughed. The levity felt good, as if pending doom was further away.
We set the ingredients on the counter, and I handed Ranth a massive ceramic mixing bowl.
Salt and herbs combined, we were ready to build.
“The wards on Bud’s house are outside,” I said quietly to Ranth.
“Good. I’d like to talk to you alone, anyway,” Ranth whispered with unspoken promises.
A fizz of anticipation swept through me as I chewed a mouthful of micro kale. I called over to Bud and my friends who were clustered around the pizza oven. “We’re going for a walk.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
