“I’ll leave,” Trudy whispered, but I wasn’t sure whether I responded or not. I was busy staring at Grams. Tears rushed to my eyes.
She wore her favorite apron, navy-blue with large pockets at the hip and a small one across her bosom. I had decorated it with fabric markers when I was seven. By the time she died, the smiley faces of the three of us—Dad, Grams, and me—had faded. But to see her twinkling green eyes and brown hair with very little gray brought back memories.
“Now, where is my little gem,” Grams mumbled, hurrying along the hallway. “Celestia? Sweetheart?” Giggles came from the left hallway. Oh heavens, she’s in there alone. Please, let her be okay. I can’t lose her, too. Her mouth didn’t open, yet I heard her.
Worry replaced concern as she ran along the hallway, yet she carefully pushed open the door as though afraid that sudden movements might startle me. She peered in and a small, “Ooh,” escaped her.
The girl with messy brown hair and dimples looked nothing like me, yet I knew it was I at age eight. A year after Mom left. I had white powder on my face like a sack of flower had exploded on it. I didn’t look up from the open family grimoire.
Poor child. So much darkness coming her way. I must prepare her. She tries so hard so I won’t leave too. If only she knew I’d never do that. Once again, Gram’s mouth didn’t open, yet I heard her thoughts.
“Look, Grams. I started without you,” I said, grinding something in a crucible. I glanced at the grimoire. “Add a pinch of mandrake root powder.” I dipped my fingers inside a sac and scooped the powder.
“Whoa, slow down, sweetheart.” Grams hurried to my side. “What are you making?”
“A drink for Daddy. He has a stomachache again.”
Hangover. The poor man is drinking himself to death with worry. “That’s too much, Celestia. This is a pinch.” She demonstrated and waited patiently as I copied her. “Now you throw it in there and if you hear popping and see white smoke, then you know it’s right. If you don’t?”
I sighed. “I start all over again. I’ve already done it three times.”
“And we’ll do it again and again…”
“Until we get it right,” I finished. I threw the powder in and pop-pop sounds like firecrackers filled the air. White smoke rose.
“I did it, Grams. I did it.”
“I think you just found your calling, my little Witch.” She hugged me. Poor thing. So much darkness surrounding her. So much death.
I giggled. “You said that when I saw Mr. Laroche fall down the ladder and we went to his house to stop him from falling.”
“That’s because you have many callings. Let’s add this to your daddy’s tea and make him feel better.”
The scene faded and another took its place. In all of them, Grams thoughts drifted to my darkness and death following me. Even when I’d helped people, she would have the same thoughts. Before her death, they’d consumed her. She never indicated she’d had the same visions as Mom or that she’d worried about not preparing me.
I was crying hard by the time the memories ended. I wasn’t even sure why I was crying. Was it seeing Grams again and missing her so much it hurt? For being trapped in Hel with no way of going home? For knowing death and mayhem would follow me?
Arms wrapped around me, and I leaned against a warm chest. Even without turning I knew it was Eirik. He sat with me until I was spent and the tears dried. Without saying a word, he lifted my chin and wiped the wetness from my cheeks. From his expression, he hated seeing me in pain. Just like yesterday when I’d burned my arm.
“I’m so sorry for asking Trudy to find your grandmother. I thought seeing her would make you happy.” He glanced over his shoulder and added, “It’s okay. Leave us.”
I wasn’t sure whether he was talking to Trudy or the guards. I tried to move, but his arms tightened around me. Only then did I realize I was on his lap. My first thought was to scramble off, but his arms were so comforting and I just needed someone who cared about me after listening to Grams. I sunk against his chest.
I was really the harbinger of death. Maybe I was better off staying here in Hel with the dead, so I didn’t have to harm the living. The thought only pulled me under.
“Dimples?”
“Thank you. Seeing her did make me happy, but hearing her thoughts was hard. She was worried so much about me.”
“That’s normal if you love someone,” Eirik whispered, stroking my cheek. “You worry about them. You feel their pain. You hurt for them.”
I nestled against his neck. If only that were true. He worried about me, acted like he felt my pain and hurt with me, but he was in love with someone else. I was so miserable all I wanted to do was crawl in bed and stay there. I didn’t remember Eirik carrying me back to his place. But I focused on his face when he tucked me in bed, told me to rest, and disappeared. When he returned, he looked pissed about something. I didn’t want to deal with his anger and its source. I had enough on my plate.
“Do you need anything else?” he asked.
“Sleep runes. My arm hurts.” He didn’t hesitate, but the anger stayed and I couldn’t ignore it anymore. “What’s wrong?”
“Just something I need to deal with. Do you need anything else?”
“No. Sleep.”
~*~
The next several days were a blur. I kept hearing Grams’ thoughts. All this time, she had talked about how Mom had misread her vision, yet she must have had the same premonitions. People were going to die because of me. When? How? I wish I could have the same premonitions to see what they meant, but magic was weird like that. You never saw your own future. Even Odin had to come all the way to Hel to resurrect a Völva to learn the fate of the world.
I tried not to think about my father or Hayden. They were better off without me. As long as I stayed in Hel, I would not bring death and mayhem to those I loved.
Eirik tried to talk to me, but I pushed him away. Frustrated, he lost himself in the gym. He left early in the morning while I still slept, and when he came back, he ate enough food to feed an army, then worked out again in the afternoons and evenings.
Things changed and became awkward between us. We had long uncomfortable silences and exchanged glances I didn’t understand. I’d look up to find him staring at me, but he always looked away, his jaw tense. Or he’d stare back and get angry. Because of his odd behavior, I spent less and less time with him. He was changing, physically and mentally.
Creed and Frode—I finally learned his name—still followed me around like guard dogs wherever I went. The only time they didn’t was when I was in Eirik’s quarters. Eirik’s parents had an influx of visitors, so I hardly ever saw them, but I was sure Creed reported everything I did to Baldur.
I spent more time with Trudy, sketching, painting, and watching people’s memories—Victorian balls, high society parties, fashion shows, and concerts. We had front row seats to some of the world’s major events. You name it and Trudy could find it. She was still mean and annoyingly arrogant, but it didn’t bother me as much.
A few times, we watched the dragon leave or come back to the castle. It flew a lot, spending more time in the air. Trudy still thought it was hilarious that I refused to meet him. My fear for scaly creatures wasn’t about to change just because one lived in the stables, or wherever they kept it. I even had nightmares about the damn creature and woke up screaming. When I told Eirik, he grew glum. I didn’t understand why it bothered him that I didn’t like dragons. It was a phobia, and there was nothing I could do about it.
Saturday morning, I woke up to find Eirik gone, as usual. I was done hiding. My arm had healed and it was time to join the living. I showered and changed. My singed sweater was somewhere in Hel’s waste dump, so I just pulled on Eirik’s sweatshirt. I’d continued to borrow his clothes, sleeveless shirts and hoodies, even sweatpants. He even let me borrow his boxers. You gotta love a man who did that, although I was sure that whatever feelings I once had for him were slowly morphing into something I
didn’t understand. I wouldn’t call it love. Love was sweet and fun. We hadn’t had a sweet moment since he held me after I saw Grams’ memories. As for fun, he hardly spent time with me to have any. And when we had our meals, he was morose. Things had changed between us and I didn’t know how to fix it.
I was about to leave the closet when I saw his mace. He must have decided not to take it. I reached down for it and tried to grip the handle. I still couldn’t lift it. Kneeling, I gripped the chain and tried to lift it with both hands.
“Still trying to play with my weapons?” Eirik asked.
Warmth crept up my face as I glanced up. He was dressed in black—black pants and a tank top, his defined, masculine arms glistening with sweat. I was drooling, something I seemed to be doing a lot lately when he wasn’t watching. The beautiful boy next door I had a crush on was becoming this all-muscles, in-your-face sexy but moody guy, and I didn’t like it. I didn’t know how to control the way I felt around him. Didn’t like the way he looked at me. I even stopped going to the gym with him because of Trudy’s teasing.
“Dimples?”
“You didn’t take the mace,” I said, looking down.
“Was I supposed to?” he asked, entering the closet. Somehow, he dwarfed it with his presence and brought heat and a scent that was uniquely his. That was another thing. All of a sudden, he had a different scent. Even after he sweated, the scent lingered on him. It overwhelmed my senses.
“Seeing how I couldn’t help you with the fire abilities, I thought you needed it to fight the psycho warriors,” I said in a voice I didn’t recognize.
He joined me, kneeling until our knees almost touched. My heart stopped. Yeah, my heart did that a lot lately, too. It was so annoying. I’d also taken to staring at the little spaces between us with morbid fascination while dread and anticipation coursed through me. I knew he had Cora, but that didn’t seem to matter. Something had changed between us. Or maybe it was just me.
Nighttime was the hardest, because I got in bed first and made sure there was a huge space between us. Yet I’d wake up in the middle of the night to find myself draped over him. He always engaged his runes and his arms would tighten whenever I tried to get off him.
“I haven’t fought those guys yet,” Eirik said.
He was a lot closer than I’d thought. My eyes drifted to his shoulder. A thin layer of fine blond hair covered his skin. I caught myself before reaching out and running my hands over his arm.
“Then where do you go every morning?”
He sat and rested his arms on his bent knees. He pushed a finger through his hair. It had grown longer since we first met. He still trimmed it short on the sides and left it longer and curly at the top.
“It’s not anywhere near here,” he said and I realized he was talking.
“Sorry, what?”
“The cave. I can’t find it.”
I blinked. “You’ve been searching for it?”
His lips twitched. “That’s what I said. Morning, afternoon, and evening.”
“It’s way up the mountain. You’d need to fly to see it.” The only thing that flew around here was the dragon. “Are you flying the dragon?”
He chuckled. “Let’s put it this way. My dragon has been flying and gathering information.”
“Right.” His mother must have gifted him the dragon. Everyone in the hall was talking about how she doted on him. Trudy even said the visitors streaming through Eljudnir really came to see Eirik. “I didn’t know it could read maps.”
He gave me a smug smirk. “It’s a he, and he talks.”
“Yeah, right. Whether the cave is here or not, I’m astral projecting home.”
“And end up in the cave?”
“Yes. I’ve let fear rule me. Fear of what would happen to you. Fear of getting stuck in that cave. Fear of killing people back at home because I watched Grams’ memories and convinced myself I was better off here among souls and magical people than at home.”
“You believed that nonsense?”
I blinked. “You watched Grams, too?”
“No, Trudy told me. I had to know what made you cry and why you kept saying you’re not evil.”
Heat crawled to my cheeks. “Oh. I didn’t know I said that.” I frowned. Was that why he was pissed afterward?
“Why would your grandmother even believe such a crazy thing?”
“It’s stupid.”
He took my hands and scooted closer until I was kneeling between his legs. “I don’t care how stupid it is. Start talking. I want my kickass Dimples back. The last three days have been torture.” He didn’t crack a smile, so I wasn’t sure whether he meant it or not.
I told him about Mom. He didn’t say anything while I talked. Only the tightening of his lips and the way his eyes narrowed told me he was pissed. When I was done, he just studied me with such intensity I started to fidget.
“Do you really believe that?” he asked.
“I didn’t because I believed Grams. She always told me Mom got the visions wrong. But after watching her memories, I realized she’d lied. She had the same premonitions. I don’t know what it means. Am I going to cast a massive spell and destroy a city? Start another plague?”
“Don’t say that,” Eirik said and scooted closer.
“But I can’t continue to stay here out of fear, Eirik. My life is out there. I have school. My father.” He scowled. “Please, don’t start talking about possession and using the Grimnirs’ portal. I can’t.”
“Okay.” He stood in one fluid motion and pulled me up. “I’ll shower and change. Then I’ll help you pack.”
“I’ll tell Trudy I’m leaving.” She was going to hate that. She’d loved having me around.
While Eirik disappeared in the bedroom, I found my coat and backpack and placed them by the door, then let myself out.
“Morning, Creed, Frode.” I wanted to tell them I was going home. They’d been my shadow for so long I’d become used to them. I was going to miss them. They didn’t talk much, but I knew Frode recently got married and Creed had two young daughters. Trudy had told me. “Ask Maera to bring breakfast, please. He is in the shower. I’m going to see Trudy.”
Frode left to see Maera while Creed followed me toward the rotunda. No one could open a portal into or out of Eirik’s room. I reached the foyer, but before I opened a portal, Creed stopped me. His eyes were wide.
“What song is that, Miss Celestia?”
I frowned. “What are you talking about, Creed?”
“You were humming a song.”
“I was?”
He nodded. “The Ironwood Maiden’s song.”
I had no idea what he was talking about. “Who is the Ironwood Maiden?”
“Come with me. The Golden One will want to know how you know that song,” Creed said.
“Now?”
“Yes, miss. It is important.” He sounded worried.
I followed him to the goddess and Baldur’s quarters. Eirik’s father was having a late breakfast when Litr announced us, but he ignored and stood.
“What a wonderful surprise, Celestia. Have you had breakfast?” he asked.
“Not yet. Eirik is still in the shower.”
“Litr, bring Celestia a cup and a plate.” The Dwarf pulled out a chair, then placed an extra plate and a cup of tea in front of me. Creed was busy whispering in Baldur’s ear. Baldur grew pale. He dismissed Creed and sat.
“How is your arm?”
“Better, thank you.”
“I’m sorry we haven’t had time to talk about getting you home. Creed tells me you were humming a song in the foyer. Can you repeat it?”
The tune had stuck in my head for some reason. I started humming it.
“Stop,” he barked. It was the first time I’d ever heard him speak so harshly. “Where did you hear it?”
The story came pouring out. My attempts to leave and ending up in a cave, the giantess and the humming, and finally, my last visit and the hummed conversation. He got to
his feet the moment I mentioned telling Eirik about the cave.
“You should have told me about the cave when we first spoke about this, Celestia. He’s been going out on his own every day to find her. Stay here. Eirik’s mother will want to know about this. Creed, tell the guards to meet me in the Waiting Hall.”
The hum started as he walked away. Creed froze and reached for his dagger. Baldur heard it too and whipped around, his eyes darting around.
“Show yourself, Angrboda,” he yelled.
Who was he talking to? And where was the humming coming from? Then I realized something. I was drifting toward the ceiling. I screamed.
Chaos broke out. Baldur yelled something and ran toward me. Litr dove for my leg and grabbed air. The taller Creed tried to help me too, but I’d already changed from solid to energy.
“Help me!”
I didn’t know if they heard me. The last thing I saw before I disappeared was Baldur’s horrified expression. The humming grew loud.
CHAPTER 20. BONDS THAT BIND
EIRIK
The bedroom was empty when I stepped out of the shower. Celestia’s coat and backpack were by the door, the cart with our breakfast by the coffee table, yet I knew something wasn’t right. I couldn’t explain how I knew.
I yanked open the door. The guards weren’t there. Of course, they were with her. My father took security too far. Celestia wasn’t Maliina.
I engaged all my runes, then let go of Odin’s. My dragon prowled, eager to come out, but I wasn’t ready to change. I could control the shift now. Most of the time. I tapped into my dragon’s senses, using my amazing sense of smell, sight, and hearing. I sniffed and listened. My chest tightened and cold knotted in my gut. Celestia was not in the building. Her scent lingered around my room, but that was it. She couldn’t have gone outside without a coat. That meant she’d astral projected home.
Demons (Eirik Book 1) Page 30
