He told me about Celestia. The more I heard about her, the more I was amazed by what she could do. He talked about fighting Crazy Granny, the kidnapping of the orphans, and finally locking Granny up. He made it sound like it was nothing, but I now understood why Echo missed what he called their adventures. They were heroes. Not just to the orphans, but to their parents. For once, Eirik didn’t paint himself as the star of every adventure. He gave everyone his or her dues. The Eirik I’d known would have made sure he was the hero.
“No wonder you’ve been gone forever. You’ve been busy. Finding orphans, searching for your sister. And FYI, your grandmother deserves to be hanged.”
He chuckled. “She’ll stay locked up in Corpse Strand, until Ragnarok. Celestia’s mom too.”
“Imagine if you hadn’t gone home. You would never have found your sister and your mother would still be thinking she was dead.”
“Mom mourned her death for seventeen years. She wore black and covered the halls and paintings with black linens, every year on Einmyria’s birthday. She wasn’t the only one grieving for my sister, the whole castle grieved with her. They all felt her anguish. The pain she repressed inside almost tore her apart. She even kept the nursery the same way it was before my sister died, her baby clothes, blankets, and decor. It was part of her mourning, a reminder of the loss she’d suffered, and she wouldn’t let herself forget. Now that I found my sister, she has hope again. She’s vowed to celebrate and throw balls in her honor.”
It was hard to imagine a ball in a place so cold Echo often arrived frozen whenever he came from there. “I bet she threw a huge one when Einmyria came home. I love that name. It’s unique like yours. Anyway, Hayden told me most of the orphans you rescued chose to return to Earth to be with their Immortal parents.”
“That’s true. None of them met their birth parents. They weren’t as lucky. There hasn’t been a celebration for us yet, but maybe we can have it soon. I’m hoping Einmyria will want to meet Mom.”
Confused, I shook my head. “They haven’t met yet?”
“Not yet, but they will soon.” He leaned closer. “Give me your hand.”
I frowned. “Why?”
“Because I asked.”
“Dumb answer, bonehead.”
He groaned. “Man, I’d forgotten what a pain you can be. Just give me your hand.” I did, narrowing my eyes at him. He was acting really weird. He studied my pink polished nails. “Remember I told you Mom drew locator runes on my sister?”
I nodded.
“Mom has the same runes, and now so do I.” Eirik rolled back his sleeve and stretched his arm toward mine. I instantly recognized the runes that began appearing on his skin. They were the same ones I’d seen on the green baby blanket at home. Before I could ask him what was going on, the same runes appeared on my skin. I jumped up and stepped away from him, my eyes volleying between his arm and mine.
“What are these?” I rubbed my arm, but the runes stayed.
“The locator runes Mother etched on you respond to mine and hers. Cora, you are Einmyria.”
I shook my head. “No, I’m not. I can’t be.”
“That was my reaction too. In fact, it took me a while to connect the dots because your parents and the Immortals in this town protected us so well we didn’t even know we were different. Your blanket and those runes are the proof I needed to confirm you are my sister. I would have told you last week when I found out, but I decided to talk to your parents first. They wanted to be the ones to tell you about them and your adoption.”
“You’re wrong, Eirik.” I shook my head. “We look nothing alike.”
“I look like Dad and you…” He studied me and frowned. “Damn.”
“What?”
“You’ll have to see for yourself, little sis.”
“Don’t call me that.” I moved away as though putting some distance between us would nullify his confession. “I’m not your sister.”
“You think I wanted this? I thought I had a crush on you, my baby sis.”
“Do not call me that, Eirik. I’m eighteen, and your sister is seventeen.”
“The ages given by the orphanages were wrong. You are seventeen, not eighteen, Cora. Your birthday was a couple of weeks ago, not in December like you were raised to believe. You just turned seventeen. Listen, it took me a long time to find you, and it never crossed my mind you were Einmyria. Unless we engage them, the locator runes can only be seen by souls. They are the reason souls are drawn to you, just like they are drawn to Mom. And me now.”
This was insane. Eirik could not be my brother. “Maybe it is a coincidence.”
“Ask your parents if souls were drawn to you when you were young and before Maliina marked you with medium runes. Medium runes stabilize possession, while locator runes can be detected by souls and Idun-Grimnirs because they are ancient. Locator runes also help our family find each other. Crazy Granny etched them on Mom, too. Ask your parents about the baby blanket you were wrapped in,” Eirik added. “It has our mother’s runes at the corners and locator runes all over it. She never thought you were alive, or she would have moved every obstacle to find you. She tried with me, but she was broken after she lost you. She became angry and bitter. Consumed by her pain. She’s not anymore.” Eirik sighed. “She knows who you are, Cora, because I told her, and that’s why the two Idun-Grimnirs were here. They were looking for you. I didn’t tell her where you were because I promised the Jemisons I’d give them time to talk to you first.”
A wave of dizziness washed over me, and I realized I was holding my breath. I sucked in air and exhaled. I needed to look at the blanket again. Talk to my parents. No, they’d lied to me before. I needed to talk to Echo. Everything Eirik said pointed at me being his sister.
“What do you want from me?” I asked.
“To come to Eljudnir and meet Mom and Dad.”
I cringed. I didn’t need another set of parents. “When?”
“Now would be nice. The Grimnirs will tell Mom they found you, and she’ll expect me to bring you home. She won’t force you or anything like that,” he added quickly. “But she’s suffered enough, Cora. Knowing you are alive and don’t even want to meet her is going to hurt her even more.”
Crap! “I need time to catch my breath and process all this. This is too much.” I still didn’t want to believe it. “This week, I learned Mom and Dad are not my biological parents. Today, you are telling me I’m your sister and our grandmother is not only crazy, she is responsible for the attack on the other kids like me. Why would I want to go to Eljudnir with you?”
“Because you belong there.” Eirik rubbed his nape and sighed. “I know it’s a lot to process, but Mom deserves to meet and know you, her only daughter. She deserves to be happy, Cora, because she’s been unhappy for a very long time. And visiting Eljudnir will give her the same closure you give souls. It’s what you do. How can you give so much to them and deny your own mother?”
“Eirik…”
“And it’s not just for her. There’s our father, who’s known you were alive and has been searching for you for seventeen years. He deserves to know you. Then there are our grandparents, Odin and Frigg. They deserve to know they have another grandchild.”
“I didn’t mean I wasn’t going to go. It’s just too much.” I covered my face, wanting to crawl back in bed and shut out the world again. “It’s been five days, and I still can’t look at my parents without feeling betrayed and hurt. And now this?”
“You will forgive the Jemisons because they are your parents, too. Even though you don’t have biological ties with them, they’ve loved you and provided for you physically, mentally, and emotionally as though you were their flesh and blood. That’s something no one can or will ever take away from you. If it weren’t for them, you’d not be the person you are today.”
I blinked. I’d expected him to say the Jemisons weren’t my parents, period. The changes in him weren’t just physical. Eirik had grown mentally, too.
&nbs
p; “Thank you for saying that,” I said. “You are right. Despite the secrets and the lies, they are my parents.”
“That’s how I feel toward Raine’s family and the Seville’s. But getting to know Mom and Dad filled something in me I didn’t even know was missing. I found who I really am because of them, especially Mom. She has this amazing ability to see things and guide you to your fullest potential. She’s tough, and her methods can be unorthodox, but she comes from a place of love. She and I knocked heads, but in the end, I embraced who I am.” A grin lifted his lips. “Because of her, I found Celestia. When she astral projected into my room and got trapped, Mom knew exactly what she was and never once hinted or kicked her out. It gave me a chance to get to know Celestia and fall in love. I don’t think I would have found her if it weren’t for Mom. You are more than a medium, Cora. She can help you find out who you really are.”
She sounded larger than life. Scary. “I need time to process all this and be in the right place, mentally and emotionally, before I can meet them.”
Disappointment flashed on Eirik’s face, and I felt terrible, but all he said was, “Okay. I’ll talk to Mom.” He stood. “That was a lot to dump on you, but I wanted you to know the truth. All of it. Secrets nearly destroyed our family, and I want us to heal. All of us.”
It was surreal, but it was slowly sinking in. “I agree. Secrets destroy, and that was a lot to dump on me. I was still trying to imagine you as a dragon, then bam… you’re my brother. Next time give me a few days in between to process.”
“So you don’t want to hear about Jessica? She’s the girl who pretended to be you, and is now part of our family because Mom and Dad didn’t have the heart to kick her out after I exposed her.”
I gave him a tiny smile. “Not today, but I’d love to meet Celestia.”
“I left her in Asgard when I saw the Idun-Grimnirs outside the mansion. I knew they’d probably scare you, so I left her behind and raced here. I’ll bring her to meet you.”
“You saw them from Asgard?”
He smiled, the brief sadness caused by my reluctance to meet our parents right away gone. His boyish grin hadn’t changed. “From Odin’s high chair. I’ll show you when we visit. Best place to spy on people in different realms.”
And I once wished to visit the place. My grandparents ruled it. The bed was calling me.
“I’d better head back and take Celestia home. We’ll stop by in a couple of days for the two of you to meet.” He got up and walked around the counter. He opened his arms. “I’m happy you are my baby sister, Blondie, and that you didn’t freak out on me.”
I was freaking out on the inside. I hugged him, then pinched his side. I let “baby sister” slide this time. “Stop calling me Blondie.”
His iris narrowed like a reptile’s, and I stepped back.
“Your eyes. They were like a lizard’s. Did you just shift?”
He laughed and showed me his arm. Golden scales appeared on the surface of his skin, and then they disappeared. “Nah, that’s something my body does to protect me. When I shift, you’ll know, baby sister.”
Damn it. Now I had to object. “Until an hour ago, I was older than you in here.” I tapped my head. “So ease up on the ‘baby sister’ crap.”
He smirked. Yeah, he wasn’t going to stop. Trust me to get the bane of my existence as my big brother. I sighed, the past rushing through my head.
“You had a crush on me, big brother. Gag on that.”
He laughed. “I did until I started seeing it for what it was—a connection we didn’t understand. We explained it the only way we could, a crush. Now that I know you are my sister, the feelings make perfect sense. I hated seeing you date losers, flirt with stupid jocks who didn’t see beyond your looks, and it annoyed the crap out of me whenever you acted dumb, which you are not.”
That was a nice explanation. “I hated math.”
“Yet you never failed it. Like I said, you acted like a dumb blonde.”
I made a face. He was right. “Echo is either going to like this or hate it.”
“Why? He is getting a goddess as a mate. Because that’s what you are, Cora.” He pressed a kiss on my forehead. “A goddess.”
“Oh, shit!”
Chapter 5. A Goddess
Eirik walked through the portal and flashing rainbow colors swirled around him. He turned and smirked before the portal closed. I was still standing in the same spot when Echo arrived.
“What’s wrong?”
Echo often claimed he could tell when I needed him. I never believed him because I thought I had no magic in me. What if locator runes were the reason he could feel me from afar? They attracted souls just like his scythe. If Goddess Hel was really my mother, I came from a line of magical people. Loki. Frigg. Odin. According to Lavania, all of them had magic in them. A tingle of excitement coursed through me.
“I’m a goddess,” I said, trying it on for size.
Echo grinned and closed the space between us. “I know that. My goddess.”
Oh, he was so cute, and he was going to love my news. “I want to tell you everything, but first let’s get the blanket.” I opened a portal to my room and grabbed his hand.
“Why?”
“Because it explains everything.” I had thrown it in one of my drawers after studying it last night. “I just had a long talk with Eirik, and what he told me answered all my questions. My ability to see souls as a baby, my relationship with him, you always knowing when I need you.” I laughed when Echo scowled. “It’s kind of hard to explain without showing you the runes on the blanket.” I let go of his hand, went to the drawer, and opened it.
The blanket wasn’t there. Weird. I checked the drawer under it. Nothing. Could I have moved it? I checked under my pillows. I glanced at Echo.
“I put the blanket right here, and now it’s missing. Did you take it?”
“No, sweetheart. You told me not to, and I respected your wishes. What did Eirik tell you?”
I walked to where he stood in the middle of my room and took his hands. “Brace yourself. The Idun-Grimnirs came to the mansion, and Eirik rushed from Asgard to stop them.”
“Why?”
“Because they were looking for me. Me, Echo. We panicked thinking they’d come for Dev. They’d come for me because Goddess Hel had sent them. Eirik told me I’m his sister. Can you believe it?” I paused, giving him a chance to process. Echo winced, but something in his eyes gave him away. “You knew?”
“I suspected it when I saw the blanket. I needed to confirm it.”
Where was the excitement? I’d expected him to bring up me visiting Eljudnir. Instead, I was getting strange vibes from him. He wasn’t taking this well.
“Let me check with my parents first and see if they took it back. Then we’ll talk.”
I raced downstairs and didn’t realize Echo was behind me until Dad looked up and said, “Cora? Echo? What’s going on?”
“It’s missing, Dad. The baby blanket you gave me is gone. ”
“I haven’t seen it since we gave it to you last night. Ask your mother. She brought your laundry upstairs this afternoon and might have moved it. She’s in the barn.”
Beginning to panic, I engaged speed runes and was inside the barn seconds later. The chickens reacted to the rush of air and squawked.
Mom scowled when she looked up, but her face cleared when she saw me. “Hey, honey. Grab this for me.” She handed me a basket of eggs. “We’ll need a new set of rules around here now that you can be yourself. At the top of the list is no super speeding around the chickens or they’ll become more neurotic than they already are.” She chuckled. “What is it?” she added when I didn’t laugh at her joke.
Furrows appeared on her forehead. I used to search her face for a resemblance between us and had concluded I favored her because of our hair color. Dad had a mop of brown hair, but Mom had blond hair, hers lighter than mine. So I’d reached my own conclusions. One, I’d inherited her hair, but our features were d
ifferent because she was older. And two, I favored my grandparents or some relative down the line. If Eirik were right, I should see myself in his parents. My birth parents.
“What’s going on? You’re staring at me with a peculiar expression.”
“Did you take the baby blanket you gave me? I can’t find it.”
“No, I didn’t. I just took your laundry upstairs, but I placed the hamper on your bed and didn’t touch anything. Weren’t you in your room about half an hour ago? I came up when I heard you, but you were gone by the time I got upstairs. I closed the drawers you’d left open.”
“That wasn’t me.” My voice rose in panic. “Oh. Mom? I thought I saw a soul in my room taking it, but she didn’t.”
She reached out and gripped my hand. “Easy now, honey. Tell me what you saw.”
I explained what I’d seen, how I couldn’t move, and how the cloaked woman had disappeared with the blanket.
“I think you had a vision. You saw the person who took the blanket before she did it.”
I shook my head. “What?”
“If you knew who your parents are, you’d see that this makes perfect sense. You come from magical people, so being clairvoyant should come naturally for you.”
Clairvoyant? Me? “I know everything, Mom. Eirik and I have been talking for the past hour.” Why would anyone take the blanket? “I don’t want to believe him.”
“Believe him.” She closed the second coop and opened the last one. “That young man went through a lot to find you and saved a lot of orphans from a very crazy woman along the way.”
Yeah, his grandmother. My grandmother. Yikes.
Mom put the eggs in the second basket and turned to face me. “You don’t need the blanket to prove Eirik is your brother, Cora. He is. We checked everything he told us, and the runes on the blanket are the goddess’ special runes. And you are clairvoyant.” She laughed, then sobered up. “If we hadn’t used warding and dampening runes on you, your ability would have manifested itself years ago. For that I’m sorry. Next time you see a vision, just analyze it. Don’t panic. You are your father’s daughter and Frigg’s granddaughter. Both are powerful clairvoyants.”
Goddess: A Runes Book Page 8
