I tried to summon them now. They took longer to appear, their glow dim, and then they disappeared. Damn. I was too weak to do it and I couldn’t add new ones without an artavus. The guards had stripped me of all my runic blades at my mother’s orders.
The door swung open and light flooded the room. I closed my eyes against the glare. Funny I hadn’t heard their footsteps. Maybe my hearing was already gone. My mother often arrived with her giant servant and two guards, as though the more people who witnessed my humiliation the better. I reached up to touch my ears, but I didn’t make it because a bleating cry echoed in the room. The sound was unusually loud. Something was wrong with my hearing because that sounded like a goat.
I opened my eyes slowly, squinting to give them time to adjust. As usual, the redheaded giantess entered first. In her hand was a torch nearly twice the size of a regular one. Her dark pants, tunic, and the hooded cloak only made her look larger. Leather soles slapped on the stone floor as she moved farther into the room. Under her arm was…
I peered at it. A lamb or a goat? She placed it down and it bleated again. A lamb. What new torture had my mother devised now?
She entered the room, stood in the glow of the light, and stared at me with a serious expression. Usually, she gloated. “I’m sure by now you cannot talk without sounding like an idiot,” she said. “You’re probably delirious. Your eyesight is blurry and your hearing is off, and if you tried standing, you’d fall flat on your face.”
Remember why you are doing this. For your sister. For your mother even though she doesn’t know it. She was going to go ballistic once she learned the child she thought she’d lost was alive. Someone would have to be there for her. She had my father wrapped around her finger, so I doubted he could stop her from going postal on the Norns and anyone unfortunate enough to stand in her way.
Since I wasn’t sure whether she was right about my inability to talk, I kept quiet.
“I’ve brought you a little present that should help ease things a bit. A lamb.” She chuckled as though enjoying a private joke. “You think you are hungry and thirsty enough to kill this lamb and sate your thirst and hunger?” She moved closer. “You come from a long line of Witches, shifters, and giants. Most people reveal who they really are when they are at their worst and have nothing to lose, Eirik. Here is your chance.” She stepped back. “Make me proud.”
She turned and walked out of the room. The giantess followed her, the door slamming shut behind them. The lamb cried and my stomach growled in response.
Oh, she was slick, planting ideas in my head. If I were like my grandfather, I could conjure fire and kill the lamb. As a wolf, I could attack it and eat every piece of flesh from its bones. Raw. But as a serpent, I could swallow it whole and lay here while I digested it.
My stomach squeezed, my gag reflex kicking in. The idea of eating uncooked flesh was repulsive. And for the first time since I decided to stick it out in Hel and become the kind of son my mother would be proud of, I wished I had escaped. I wished I had left and never looked back. My mother was sadistic and my sister and I were better off without her.
I let my mind wander to my happy place. I’d spent hours reliving the past, focusing on the one person that mattered, so I wouldn’t think about food and water. Cora. The memories had been vivid. This time, my mother’s words took me to a time I had forgotten.
“Eirik! Not that way,” Raine yelled. “This way.”
“No.” She was four and bossy, but I was nearly five. As the older one, I was the leader. “It flows this way. See the sand here? We can have a big lake.” I scooped the mound of sand out of the way and created a path for the water.
“Daddy!” Raine screamed. “Eirik is doing it again.”
“Cry baby,” I teased.
“Stop it, Eirik! Stop it. Daddy! DADDY!”
Uncle Tristan stepped out of the house and came toward the sand pit. I wasn’t worried about him getting mad at me like my daddy did. He’d stopped our fights and never took Raine’s side even though he was her daddy. I wished he were my daddy, too. He wasn’t even my real uncle. He was just a pretend one.
“Are my engineers having creative differences again?” he asked.
“Look, Daddy.” She pointed at me, tears racing down her face. “They are back,” she wailed. “Make them go away.”
She pointed at me. I had itchy skin, but since I couldn’t see my back, I didn’t care. Sometimes they hurt, but sometimes I didn’t feel a thing, like now. My mom made me go to sleep, then made them go away.
“It’s okay, sweetheart,” Tristan said. “Go to the house and call Mommy.”
Raine ran to the house, leaving me with her daddy. He squatted. Something in his expression had me saying, “It doesn’t hurt, Uncle Tristan.”
“That’s because you, Son, are one tough cookie. May I take a look?”
I nodded and turned. “I didn’t scratch. It wasn’t itchy this time.”
He lifted my shirt and cool air rushed to my skin. I glanced over my shoulder, but I couldn’t see anything. Without saying a word, he lowered my shirt, stood, and offered me his hand. “Put it there, slugger.”
We high-fived and went to the house, where Aunt Svana was wiping Raine’s tears. She wasn’t my real aunt, but that was okay. She was nice, and she liked to give hugs and kisses, and tell funny stories.
“Go to the kitchen with Daddy, sweetheart, while I take Eirik to the doctor.”
“No,” Raine said and moved to my side, her lower lip sticking out. She took my hand. “I’m going with Eirik.” The last time Aunt Svana and Mom put medicine on my back, I’d told Raine that it had hurt. It hadn’t, but I got her to give me her cookie.
“How about we bake him cookies, pumpkin?” Uncle Tristan said. “He’ll want some when he comes back from the doctor.”
Raine didn’t hesitate. She let go of my hand and went to her Dad. “The cookies will make it all better, Eirik.”
I loved cookies, so I didn’t complain. I glanced over my shoulder at Aunt Svana and saw her face. She looked worried.
“It doesn’t hurt,” I reassured her.
“Oh, sweetheart. You make me so proud.” She scooped me up anyway and I looped my arms around her shoulder. She smelled nice and her hair was soft. She didn’t hug me this time because of my back.
“Will I see the doctor this time?” I asked as we left their house.
“Maybe.” She tapped my nose and carried me across the lawn to my house. Mom and Dad stood at the front door, looking pale. They always looked worried when my back hurt.
“It doesn’t hurt,” I quickly reassured them, too.
Aunt Svana carried me inside and sat on a stool in the kitchen. She stroked my hair and my cheeks, and my eyes started to close. I always tried to stay awake. I rested my head on her shoulder and fell asleep.
When I woke up, I was on my bed upstairs and Raine stood by my side, peering at me. Behind her on the table was a plate of cookies. I sat up.
“Did it hurt?” she asked.
I nodded and hopped off the bed. She followed me.
“Is it better?” she asked.
“Yes.” I didn’t really care. I just wanted the cookies. I sat on the chair and picked up one. She grinned as she joined me and reached for one.
The memory faded and the ache behind my eyes grew. That was the first memory I’d had about my life as a child. My mind was trying to tell me something. I never saw my back or what they did to make the problem go away, and I was never treated at a hospital. Chances were they’d used runes.
What if the same runes were messing with my gift or ability to be like my grandfather, or to shift into other forms? My mother could be right. I could be trapped in my human form. Weak and limited by what I could do just like she had said. I needed to be strong to live among the gods, to deal with the Norns, and to take over for my grandfather.
More memories of being treated followed. Second grade. Third grade. They’d stopped by fourth grade. I never used it as a
n excuse to get more cookies or discussed it with Raine again. And recently, I’d wake up from night terrors with pain raking my back, which I now believed was connected to the itchy skin on my back.
I must have fallen asleep because the bleating lamb woke me up. I was feverish, yet cold. Hungry, yet nauseous. Every inch of my body hurt.
I was done. I couldn’t take it anymore. My mother had won.
I carefully slid off the bed, but landed on all fours, my elbows connecting with the stone floor. Pain shot up my shoulder. Without strength and pain runes, I felt the burn. The lamb bleated again.
“Shut up!” I tried to say, but it came out garbled. My ability to speak was gone.
Grinding my teeth, I tried standing, but I couldn’t summon the strength to get to my feet from a sitting position. I cursed silently. The effect was lost since I couldn’t speak. After several attempts, I resigned myself to pulling my body forward like a soldier doing low-crawl drills, each heave harder than the last.
The lamb continued to bleat, the sound getting louder as though it was moving closer. I hoped I would turn into a wolf just to shut it up. I paused to catch my breath, my breathing raspy. If I weren’t so dehydrated, I’d be sweating. Weird warmth suffused my chest. It wasn’t the first time I’d felt it. I was hot and uncomfortable, boiling from the inside.
There was a surge of energy in the room as though someone had opened a portal, but I didn’t see it. Maybe my eyesight was messed up, too. Then a sharp pain shot up my arm. The damn lamb had stepped on my fingers.
“Aah,” a female voice said. “What’s that? Is that you?” Something pressed on my head. “What are you doing on the floor?”
I tried to place the voice, fighting through the fog in my head. Then it hit me. The stubborn pretty soul was back. What was her name? Something heavenly.
Celeste.
No, Celestia. Like Princess Celestia in the cartoon TV series Raine had me hooked on years ago. The stubborn soul was definitely back, and I’d never been happier.
“It’s dark in here,” she said. “Just a second while I create light. My spells aren’t the best, and Doctor B said I have to be careful with spells if this is Hel.”
“If this is Hel?” Did I hear that correctly? Not wanting her to see me on the floor, I pushed and strained as I retraced my path back to the bed. I could hear her mutter something, but the pounding of my heart and the ringing in my ears made it impossible to hear much. I was pushing myself too hard. I made it back to the foot of the bed, pulled myself up, and partially leaned against the wall, my head spinning.
Don’t pass out. Don’t freaking pass out now.
The entire wall on the other side of the room burst into flames.
~*~
CELESTIA
“Crap!” I jumped back, tripping over the man I’d come to rescue, who was probably half-dead from dehydration. He made a weird sound. I landed on the floor and came face-to-face with… A lamb?
“Oh wow! You are a sheep shifter. How cute. I never heard of those before, but it explains the curly hair I touched.” The lamb bleated again, moving around. “You’re scared of the fire? Don’t be scared.” I sat up slowly. “I won’t let anything happen to you.” I extended my hand. “I promise. Come here, pretty lamb. Come here.”
The sheep turned around in circles and cried some more. Poor thing.
“Shhh. It’s okay. I won’t let you burn. I bet Mommy Dearest is not too thrilled by your shift. Bet she’d hoped you were a wolf like your uncle or a snake. Instead, you are an adorable little lamb.” Which meant I could carry it. I stood, eyeing the fire. It was dying. We needed to get moving. I raised my hand palm out toward the lamb. “Don’t make me chase you. I’ll have to use a spell to subdue you if I’m to get you to safety before your evil mother comes back. Ooh, I would have loved to see her face.”
Muffled sounds came from behind me, and I whipped around. Heat crawled up my face when my eyes met the guy’s. He was glaring at me.
“Sorry,” I said. “I thought you had… That the lamb was… Never mind.” I picked up the backpack from the floor where I’d dropped it. “I brought you something to eat and drink. I hope they survived the trip.” I dug inside my backpack as I moved toward him. His eyes watched my hands with an intense desperation. He was pale, his eyes haunted.
I pulled out a sports bottle, released the sippy lid, knelt beside him, and lifted it to his lips. He took a sip and made a face.
“I know. Pedialyte is pretty disgusting, but Aunt Genevieve said it was the best source of electrolytes, so bottoms up.” I kept my voice chipper when I was appalled. He looked so weak and pale.
I placed the back of my hand against his forehead. His skin was icy and he smelled funky. “Slow down. Give your stomach time to adjust.” His hand shot up and gripped the bottle as he sucked on it hard. “I brought several bottles, so there’s more where that came from.”
He didn’t slow down. The lamb cried and I glanced its way. The fire had died down, leaving behind the torch. It didn’t look like it was going to last either.
“I tried to come earlier, but the magic here is strong. It almost stopped me from leaving last time.” I let him hold the bottle and talked while removing the things I’d brought from my backpack. “I’ve never had a problem entering or leaving the AP before. Usually, I just close my eyes once I have the image and astral project. AP, by the way, is not for advanced placement. That’s the acronym for the astral plane.”
I arranged everything on my lap.
“I came bearing gifts,” I continued. “I ordered winter stuff from online. Coat, gloves, and boots, which I don’t usually need back home. We don’t get snow in Louisiana. For you, you get a blanket, socks, and gloves too. I got a coat in a guy’s size, but it turned out to be smaller than mine. Stupid store made a mistake.” I pulled the blanket from the backpack. “I also brought you chocolate. My favorite brand. Aunt Genevieve said high-energy foods like chocolate are good for those recovering from hypothermia.” I reached inside the backpack and found the bag of Hershey bars.
“No, up,” he whispered.
“So, no to my favorite chocolate and you want…” I pointed up at the bed.
He nodded impatiently.
“Okay. You don’t know what you are missing.”
His hands shook when I took the bottle, but I pretended not to notice. He hadn’t eaten or drank anything in days, and with the temperature in the room being so cold, it was a wonder his body hadn’t just shut down. I stashed the empty bottle in my backpack, then slipped my arms around his waist and heaved. He was dead weight, so down we went.
“Okay, work with me here, big guy.” I placed his arm around my shoulder, gripped his wrist, tightened an arm around his waist again, and tried lifting him onto the bed. He must have lost consciousness or something because his body suddenly slumped sideways.
“Damn it,” I murmured. “Your mother ought to be tied up in chains and flogged. She doesn’t deserve to have you as a son. Come on, Helboy.”
I heaved and tugged until I got him partly on the bed. He was starting to shiver. “You are freezing and I’m sweating.” I unzipped my long winter coat, shrugged it off, and draped it on top of him. “You can enjoy that for now.”
He growled something.
“I hope that’s a thank-you or an apology for refusing my chocolate. I specifically selected the ones without nuts and caramel bits. Just pure chocolate goodness.” I lifted his legs and shoved until he was square in the middle of the bed. His legs stuck out from under my coat. He was really tall. “My original plan was to find whatever means of transportation I could in this godforsaken land and get you as far away from this castle as possible, but now I realize I need you on your feet. You are too heavy to drag around. At least, your clothes are not wet.” I grabbed the blanket and draped it over him too, tucking it around his feet. “I spent all my savings on these clothes, so once you are back on your feet, you’ll need to send the amount plus interest to my PayPal account. Hayde
n’s Mom doesn’t pay much, and Dad is stingy with allowance. Oops, I forgot. I have socks and gloves.”
“Stop,” he said, sounding stronger. The next second, he was struggling to sit up. He threw the blanket and the coat on the side.
“What? Too much layering?”
“Too much talking,” he said, his voice sounding gruff.
I yapped nonstop when nervous. “Rude. You’ve recovered fast.”
“My mother is coming,” he said, speaking slowly. He swung his legs to the side.
“Now? Should I leave?” Stupid question. I wanted so badly to confirm I was really in Hel, that all this was real. Maybe some other time. “Of course, I should leave.”
His hand shot out and grabbed my wrist. “No.”
“I have to. I came to help you. I’ll leave the backpack and its contents.” The footsteps drew closer. Heavy slower thuds and faster lighter taps. Funny, he’d heard them before I did. Giants and monsters, Tammy had said. I longed for my room, where Hayden was probably pacing and staring at the clock. “I have to go.”
He growled.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Stay. I need you.” He sounded as though it pained him to admit it and his voice was still croaky like a toad’s.
I studied his face in the dying light. He looked like crap warmed over. “I don’t know if I’m ready for her.” My voice shook with nervousness.
“I’ll protect you,” he vowed and lowered himself to the floor, his legs almost giving away. I grabbed him on the waist and steadied him. I’d just hauled him up on the bed and now he was down again.
Demons (Eirik Book 1) Page 11
