Pellini and Roper removed the linen-wrapped body of Agent Knox to the grass beneath the tree, and within a dozen heartbeats white roots emerged from the ground to cradle him. A small measure of the weight on my essence lifted at the sight. Rho would keep the remains safe for now, allowing me to give my full focus to the task at hand.
By the time I had the residual potency cleaned up, the bunker diagrams constructed, and Giovanni and Elinor protected within them, fatigue had begun to infiltrate my defenses. However, there was still half an hour to go before the appointed time to bring our AWOL four home, and long experience told me that if I paused to rest for even a moment I’d never get moving again. Focusing on the crap that needed to be done was the only workable tactic.
With that in mind, I headed inside to check on the Krawkor-Makonite-ilius pod situation. The pods were still the same smooth, shiny black with red veining, but now white potency drifted up from them like arcane steam. Bryce stood nearby, arms folded over his chest, and expression perplexed.
“Those demons are tough to see,” he said. “More smoke than substance.”
“Yeah, part of their illusion camouflage.” I passed my hands through the steam, but sensed only a faint tingle. “What did they do?”
“Each one settled on top of a pod. Then they just . . . melted. I think they’re inside.”
“Huh.” Baffled, I placed my hand firmly on the surface of Cory’s pod. It was warm, with an arcane pulse. I could only hope that was a good thing. “Seems okay, as far as I can tell.”
Bryce flicked a glance at the surveillance camera mounted in the corner. “I need to get some air.”
“I can go for that.” I led the way out to the front porch and waited for him to close the door behind us. “What’s up?”
“Turns out Seretis started picking up my thoughts because of this.” He pulled out a gold disk—the one with Seretis’s image. “And, yeah, Turek knows I have it. We scraped by on the weight without this disk. Short a few ounces, but the contact didn’t bat an eye.”
“I’m glad you have it,” I said, absurdly relived that this one survived. “You’re saying that Seretis could pick up your thoughts, but not the other way around until he got here?”
“Right. I guess the disk worked like a broadcast antennae. Once he came through the rift, we had our normal two-way bond contact.”
“Good to know. That means we might be able to get a message to him, if needed.”
Bryce sobered. “Kara, be straight with me. Is the deal he made worth it?”
“Yes,” I said, utterly serious. “It really is. He saved our asses. I know it kills you to see him fucked up like that, but he’s a real hero. Dekkak would have killed every single one of us and given Xharbek the means to destroy Earth.” I paused. “But it’s not just that. He made one hell of a gutsy move with his proposal, and we ended up with Elinor as well as an agreement that I think will pay off for us in the end. It’s risky, but he made a good call. You can be really proud of him.”
“Oh, I am,” he said, voice cracking only a little. He squared his shoulders and shook off the brief sentimentality. “He also gave me info about the rakkuhr and the Jontari. He said it might be useful to you.”
“Every shred of info is more than I currently have.”
“Here goes.” Bryce moved to the porch railing and drew a donut shape in the dust. “The arcane that you summoners use is the surface potency, while rakkuhr is the planetary core potency.” He added a second donut six inches away. “For both planets—the demon realm and Earth.” A corner of his mouth lifted as I twitched in surprise. “Yeah, that caught me off guard as well.” He drew lines from the outer edges of each donut to their centers. “Core rakkuhr and surface potency are in dynamic equilibrium. If there’s too much surface potency, some converts to rakkuhr and sinks to the core, and vice versa. The planets stay stable.”
“Okay, I’m with you so far. Rakkuhr is supposed to stay below and balance out the surface potency.” Obviously, everything was out of whack now.
Bryce nodded. “Seems like it would be a self-correcting system, but there’s a glitch.” He dragged his finger between the two donuts. “All this time, there’s been an interdimensional connection between Earth and the demon realm, like an energy umbilicus. Through it, the demon realm siphons off potency from Earth, and over the ages, has depleted Earth and filled itself to overflowing.”
I cursed under my breath as I grasped the scope of the problem. “Now there’s so much potency in the demon realm, the core can’t contain the rakkuhr.”
“Exactly. From what I can tell, a few thousand years ago the excess rakkuhr broke through in three locations, sort of like geysers. The Jontari have held those places sacred ever since and have built an entire arcane technology around their use.” His shoulders lifted in a shrug. “Seretis said that would be important to you.”
“It fills in pieces of the puzzle.” Three sacred rakkuhr places. Three Jontari elders who were gatekeepers of the rakkuhr, currently enslaved in essence blades. Radical instability in the demon realm threatening to break up the planet—due to the potency overload. A problem for everyone.
“Seretis told me the lords can’t keep up with the planetary balancing anymore via their plexus work.” His brow creased with worry. “It’s unraveling too much, too fast. He said there has to be another way besides flooding the Earth with rakkuhr.”
“There is,” I said with utter conviction. “We just have to find it.”
“Damn straight.” He erased the donuts with a swipe of his hand then headed off toward the security office. I remained on the porch and allowed myself a few minutes to mull over this new information.
Dekkak blamed the Ekiri for changing her world. Maybe they started the siphoning to suit their own needs, and in the process changed the world? Seretis hadn’t so much as hinted at an Ekiri connection, but he might have been manipulated to forget it. Or perhaps it simply happened before his time.
I turned to go inside but paused at the sight of Eilahn’s decorations surrounding the door. Floodlights blazed around the house, setting the crystal figurines sparkling, and a pang of longing went through me as I realized how much I missed Eilahn. The demon garland was exquisite, but if she were here, we’d have giant pumpkins on the roof, witches in every tree, and cauldrons of apples. Hell, probably even a haunted corn maze.
My eyes narrowed on the slug-squid-octopus figurine Pellini had noted earlier. “Well, helloooo, Slugthing,?
? I murmured. The other unknown-to-me figures were probably real creatures in the demon realm, too. Interesting. And more than a little unnerving.