Heroes (Eirik Book 2)

by Ednah Walters

  Celestia got up to return the cloak to her sling bag before she came back to the table. Instead of taking the chair beside me, she took one beside Hayden.

  “Let’s make a pact,” she said. “From now on, no more secrets.”

  Hayden nodded, and they hugged.

  “Do I get a hug too?” I teased.

  The girls moved apart, and Celestia studied me with a strange expression. “How often did he come to see me, Hayden?”

  I tried to warn Hayden to keep her mouth shut, but her loyalty was obviously to Celestia. “In the first month, almost every day. Sometimes, I’d sense he’d been there without actually seeing him or the portal. He appeared less and less as time went by.”

  I didn’t like this no-secrets pact of theirs.

  “In the last month, I’d say a couple of times.”

  “That’s because I was searching for something.”

  Hayden studied me strangely. “What?”

  “My sister. How many orphans are there?”

  “I have no idea. About thirty of us lived outside Portland, Oregon. Some were older and others younger than me, but we all had the same scars on our arms. I don’t know how we got them and Mom never explained, but I had a feeling she knew. All the parents knew. The Suits first arrived when I was ten, and we took off. We’ve been on the move ever since. Usually, Mom took odd jobs wherever we went—nanny positions or a custodial job, anything that kept us away from the public eye. I’m always on the lookout for the Suits. In fact, every time I see a man in an expensive suit, my first instinct is to run because whenever they appeared, we packed up and moved. Windfall is the first place we’ve stayed this long or even opened a store.”

  “Why?” Celestia asked.

  “I don’t know, but Mom went out of her way to know your grandmother, so maybe she knew you’d become one of us.”

  I frowned. She didn’t know anything about Crazy Granny. Unless she and all the other kids were marked in the astral plane like Celestia, they were orphans the Norns had brought here from the other realms. I wanted to talk to Tammy. She could be the link to finding my sister.

  “Do you know anything about the scars on your arm and where they came from?” I asked.

  “No. I don’t astral project, so I couldn’t have gotten them the way Celestia got hers, but I know they are the reason we can tell when one of us is around. Not just the kids, but our parents, too. We are all linked. Back in Portland, we always knew when we had a new addition. It didn’t matter whether they were babies or not. The bond was always there.” She glanced at Celestia. “Since you came back, I can tell when you are driving toward me or moving away. The closer you get, the stronger the bond.”

  “Is it like an energy bridge?”

  Hayden nodded. “Yes. It’s the same energy. I recognize it every time I meet one of the kids. Have you felt it? Mom taught you how to find a thread and follow it.”

  It sounded like Tammy had been training Celestia to find the others, or join them. I glanced at Celestia and cocked my eyebrows.

  “I don’t know. I’ve never searched for your energy or Tammy’s. I never had a reason to.” She closed her eyes. “I feel it, but it’s faint.”

  Hayden grinned. “I told you Mom did something.”

  I doubted Celestia heard her. She wore a pensive expression as though her mind was elsewhere. Her best friend was bonded to my grandmother, just like her. That must be bittersweet. And she knew other kids just like her. I should feel guilty for being happy, but I was one step closer to finding my sister.

  “Let’s find your mother, Hayden,” I said.

  Hayden stood and pulled out an artavus from inside her boots. Hers looked shorter and slender. She etched runes in the air, and a portal started to form. Before it could become a doorway, it fizzled. I’d never seen a portal do that. I moved closer. She tried it again, and the same thing happened.

  “Try a solid surface,” I said. Solid portals were easier to form and longer lasting than air ones.

  She moved to the nearest wall and tried it again. The wall shifted and grew smooth. Soon, it rippled as though made of liquid, but instead of dissolving into a portal, the process reversed and it became solid again. She could not form a portal to her mother, which meant Tammy might no longer be in this realm.

  CHAPTER 14. MISSED THEM

  CELESTIA

  “Something is wrong,” Hayden said. “She’s blocking me from finding her. Why would she do that?”

  “You don’t know if she’s the one doing it,” Eirik reassured her, but I heard the disappointment in his voice. “Try the other parents.”

  She opened a portal into someone’s kitchen. A woman looked up, saw us, and smiled. “Is it time?”

  “No, Mrs. Masters. I’m looking for Mom. Have you seen her?”

  “You know I’m not supposed to know where she and the children are.” The woman studied me. I felt the tug when she found my energy. She’d just checked and confirmed I was one of them. Her eyes shifted to Eirik, and she blinked as though surprised. I wondered what she felt. “Why aren’t you with them? She’s in charge of the children this time.”

  “She left me behind.”

  “Oh. That’s strange. I guess she must have known you would be safe.” Her eyes went to Eirik again. “May the gods continue watching over you until she returns.” The woman reached through the portal and squeezed Hayden’s hand. “Be safe.” She glanced at Eirik one more time before the portal closed.

  “They’re not here,” the next woman said impatiently.

  “Tammy is not supposed to contact us until it’s safe,” her husband added. “That’s how the rules work. Is something wrong?”

  “I was hoping we’d join her and the others tonight,” Hayden fibbed.

  “That’s not possible now, dear. Once they’re in hiding, we don’t initiate contact. You could stay here until she returns,” the woman offered. Their house must be by the beach because the scent of the sea was in the air.

  “Thanks, but I’ll be okay. I’m staying with Celestia.”

  The couple studied me then Eirik, and frowned. I grew uneasy when they continued to stare at us.

  “Who are you?” the woman blurted out, and then she smiled. “I know that might sound rude, but I thought I knew all the orphans in the southeast region. Are you new?”

  “Yes. They’re from Oregon and are visiting us. Thanks, Mr. and Mrs. Shaughnessy. I’ll see you when Mom returns with the others.”

  Each person she contacted was surprised she wasn’t with her mother, cautioned her to lay low, and gave Eirik that weird look. Maybe they sensed what he was. Almost all the parents we contacted had also been bitten.

  The last portal led to a room with an older couple. There was a lot of background noise as though they were inside a room with a closed door, but sounds still filtered in. The amount of energy coming from their house was staggering.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Webber, I’m looking for—”

  “Your mother,” the woman finished for Hayden. “We heard. No one knows where she is, so stop bothering people and lay low.” She looked over her shoulder, cursed, and waved her hand. The portal disappeared faster than I’d ever seen them do.

  “Liars,” Hayden whispered. “Lying bastards.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Those two looked me straight in the eye and lied. They know where Mom is. I’m opening the portal again and confronting them.”

  Eirik was by her side in a flash. He caught her wrist before she could etch the runes. “No, you don’t know what we’ll be walking into. They looked scared. Let me go and question—”

  “You don’t know these people. I do.”

  Hayden was often the calm one, but she had a temper. Once it erupted, you either ducked or got flattened. She was about to explode.

  “Eirik, let her go,” I warned.

  “Talk to her. I’m not letting her go there because you’ll follow her. That couple was terrified of something. I’ll go first. Th
en you two can follow once I know it’s—”

  He didn’t finish speaking. One second he was standing beside Hayden and the next, she had pushed him across the room. Eirik hit the fridge hard, squashing the door like it was a cardboard box. He blurred, and when he came into focus, he had his arms locked around Hayden. She twisted and cursed, and tried to ram him with the back of her head. He went into a partial shift, but I doubted he was even aware of it. His nails were sharp claws, and scales covered his arms. I was sure his eyes were slits too.

  “You will release me this instant,” Hayden ordered, and I expected Eirik to comply. Her compulsion worked on most people.

  “Damn it,” he snarled instead, his voice deepening. “If your mother is in trouble, we’ll deal with it. I want those orphans as much as you do. That means no telling people they’re lying. No storming in their homes and demanding to know the whereabouts of your mother. Chances are she’s not even in this realm. It might explain why you can’t open a portal to wherever she is.”

  “That makes no sense. She doesn’t have the ability to move between realms and she wouldn’t leave me,” Hayden snapped, still trying to break free from Eirik’s grip. Then she stopped struggling, her eyes on Eirik’s scaly arm.

  “Let her go, Eirik.”

  Something in my voice got to him because his arms fell away and he stepped back, but Hayden didn’t move. Instead, she turned her head and continued to stare at him with wide eyes.

  “Shift back,” I warned him.

  “I’m not going to hurt you,” he reassured her, then controlled the shift. His voice became normal, his claws and scales retreating.

  I reached Hayden. “It’s okay. He’s a dragon shifter, and the scars on your arm and on me were made by a dragon.” She paled. “Not by him. Another dragon.” I wasn’t going to be the first to mention Eirik’s granny to her. It wasn’t my call. “I know because she bit me. I don’t know how the biting and the energy are connected, but once a dragon bites you, she leaves more than a bite mark. She leaves a trace of her energy behind. I’ve felt it. You’ve felt it. It is potent and scary, but you and I are in this together.”

  I escorted her to the nearest chair. Her eyes stayed on Eirik the whole time, even though he was at the farthest end of the room. She was still shaking, so I kept talking to calm her down.

  “We are not the only ones. The same dragon bit all your orphan friends and their parents. There are more in other realms. I felt it the other night when I was in Hel’s Hal. An Elven girl with the most amazing tattoos had the same energy signature blending with hers. An eccentric-looking old man in a bright red and gold cloak. Eirik says is a Jötun chief. A beautiful Dwarf woman with ridiculously long hair, and even a little girl who couldn’t be more than two years old. We were all bitten by the same person.”

  Hayden shifted focus from Eirik to me. She appeared calmer. “You saw Elves?”

  I grinned. “Yes. Different kinds. The girl I mentioned is a Dark Elf, or Dökkálfar. She was gorgeous.”

  “Her name is Niorun,” Eirik said and pulled out his artavus.

  “She was one of the dragon girls sent to meet Eirik. There were Jötnar and Dwarves too.” Eirik was busy etching air runes. While the portal formed, he released his mace from its resting place and gripped it. I stood. “Where are you going?”

  “To the last couple’s home. What are their names?”

  “Lois and Paul Webber.” Hayden got up, too.

  “You two stay here,” he ordered as the portal opened. I recognized the room where the Webbers had been a few minutes ago. He disappeared inside. Hayden and I looked at each other and raced after him before the portal closed. He glared at us. “Didn’t I tell you to stay put?”

  “Someone has to watch your back,” I said, glancing around.

  Tall trees were visible through the window. We followed Eirik to the next room, which was huge and lavishly decorated. There were paper plates with partially eaten food and pop still fizzling in plastic cups on tables. Whoever had been here had left in a hurry, but their energy lingered.

  “Mom and the others were here,” Hayden whispered. “I can feel their energy.”

  “Me too,” I said.

  “And now they’re gone.” Eirik swung the mace and left a gaping hole on the door. “So close.” The second hit took down the rest of the door. I grabbed his free arm. Rage made his eyes glow eerily.

  “We’ll find them,” I whispered, trying to reassure him.

  “Not at this rate.” He whipped his mace and stored it. “Lock on the Webbers.”

  Hayden tried to open a portal. “I can’t. You said my mother might be in another realm and that’s why I can’t open a portal. Does that mean the Webbers and the other kids are there, too?”

  Eirik didn’t respond. From his expression, his mind was elsewhere. His fists were still clenched and his eyes were now unfocused. I had a feeling he was getting more pissed instead of less. I practically dragged him back to the séance room.

  “Are they?” Hayden asked again, impatiently.

  “Very likely,” I said, since I had no idea how all these supernatural things like portals worked.

  “But Mom wouldn’t leave me. She knows how much I want to go too. Visiting the realms of the gods was all she and the other parents talked about whenever they got together. Friday night was no different. The people who came to our house after you called Mom about Witches dying were parents of children like me. I recognized some of them from Portland.”

  Eirik was still pissed, so I did one thing that was sure to distract him. I nudged him into a chair, sat on his lap, and leaned against his chest. He wrapped his arms around my waist, but I doubted he was aware of doing it. Gently, I stroked his clenched hands, hoping to calm him down.

  “That explains a lot,” I said, my voice a little breathless. “I wondered why your mother invited so many Witches when we didn’t even belong to a coven and why they were upstairs instead of the séance room by the store. They also arrived fast, so they must have used portals like your mom and the guy I saw her with. The few times I went to the living room last night, they’d clammed up and waited until I left before resuming conversation.”

  I knew the moment Eirik relaxed because he pulled me closer as though he was trying to absorb me into him, and his head came to rest against mine. I nestled, angling my head so my forehead rested on the side of his neck. Hayden watched us with a questioning gleam, but I didn’t care. “I assumed they were discussing the Witches’ situation and didn’t want us involved.”

  “They weren’t really worried about the Witches. They said the attacks would pass.” Her eyes volleyed between Eirik and me. “I want to know about the scars and the person who bit me. Is it connected with Mom’s disappearance?”

  “I don’t know.” I lifted my head to look at Eirik just as he glanced down at me. For moment, the world and all its problems disappeared as our eyes locked. Something passed between us. I wasn’t sure what it was, but it was powerful. A shudder rocked through him, and my body echoed it. My heart started to pound. It raced so hard it hurt and a ringing began in my ears, yet I wanted the moment to last forever.

  He looked away first and spoke, but the words didn’t register until the ringing subsided. I caught the tail end of his words.

  “…my grandmother bit you and Celestia. She began after my mother and my uncles were taken from her. She started raising orphans, mostly abandoned pups. Out of fear that they might be taken from her, she bound the orphans to her by biting them. A dragon bite creates a blood bond that links the bitten with the dragon. They become loyal to the dragon, drawn to his or her energy.”

  “Does that mean I am loyal to her?” Hayden glanced at me. “We are loyal to her?”

  “Hypothetically,” I said. “She pulls energies.”

  “Crap,” Hayden said softly.

  “She bragged to Celestia about wanting to attack Asgard and get revenge on what the gods took from her,” Eirik continued. “So this biting busines
s may have nothing to do with my mother and my uncles being taken from her. Depending on how long she’s been doing it, she could have legions of followers. Not just here, but in other realms. All waiting for her call and willing to fight ’til death.”

  And we were part of them. I shuddered at the thought. “She’s going after non-orphans, or anyone with a dragon strain. You said that the two-year-old girl was at your ball with both her parents, yet she’d been bitten. And the Ice Jötun boy seemed to come from a protective family, so he wasn’t abandoned.”

  “Where is she? Can the bond be broken?” Hayden asked.

  “I’ve been searching the realm for her for months, and yesterday afternoon, Celestia came with me; that’s how she found the Jötun boy.” Eirik explained about his missing sister, and Rhys and Nara’s search for nearly seventeen years.

  Hayden grew pensive. “I don’t remember anyone called Einmyria when we were in Portland, but there are others around the world I don’t know about. How old is she?”

  “Seventeen. Or she’ll be in six days. She had blond hair and gray eyes as a baby.”

  “I knew a few blondes around my age when I was growing up, but no Einmyria. There was a Miriam and Irina, but Miriam is in her twenties and Irina is fifteen. Names can be changed though,” she added quickly to reassure Eirik, and I realized why. He was getting pissed again and scaling. “I’m sure my birth mother didn’t name me Hayden,” she continued. “But there’s a reason Rhys and his partner couldn’t find us. Someone always erased memories of those who came in contact with us. Immortals or Mortals. I remember once meeting a Mortal girl I knew growing up. She and I were in the same class, but Mom would never allow me to have play dates with her. Still, we’d go to her place after school and her parents knew me. I met them a couple of years later, recognized them, even remembered their names, but they looked right through me. Mom said I was mistaken, but I wasn’t. She’d recognized them, too. Remember, I told you about my father, Celestia?” she asked.

  I nodded. “The Haitian professor? He is real?”

  Hayden made a face. “Of course. He was married to Mom for a couple of years, and I did attend his lectures. Then the Suits came and we had to leave.”