“No answer. Crap.” Taran scowled at his phone. “I’m not supposed to leave the house.” He looked at me. “It’s not just the grounding. The police don’t want me leaving until this mess with my hammer is figured out.” Taran slid his arms into the thick black jacket I’d first seen him wearing.
I touched his arm. “I don’t think the cops are going to have a problem with you leaving the house right now.”
Grim spread the white blinds apart and looked out of the front window. “There was actually a cop car parked out there earlier when we got here.”
“Really?” Taran looked out the window. “Why didn’t you tell me that?”
He shrugged, checked his pockets—probably for Fun Dip. “Didn’t want to piss you off. You were pretty mad when we went home yesterday. Josh and I were surprised they had enough manpower to sic someone on you with all this going on.”
“Someone else must have been hurt.” Taran frowned as Grim let go of the blinds. “It really wasn’t on the news,” he murmured under his breath.
“Listen...” Josh’s face still resembled chalk, which made his red hair and goatee really bright. “We have to get out of here. Grim and I parked the truck a street over and cut through the backyards in case you wanted to leave. We’ll sneak out that way.”
Thunder rumbled, so loud it felt as if it shook the ground. I started toward his bathroom, where I’d left my bag, but Taran pulled me toward the kitchen. “We have to leave now!”
I started to argue that I’d need the stuff in it, but another rumble of thunder cracked the air. Taran’s bare hand was sweating in mine. His agitation was making the weather worse.
He pulled me to the back door and I gave up on getting my bag.
The wind and snow that hit us when we went out the back door blew me toward the kitchen, ripping my hand free. I squinted, reached for Taran. He took my hand in a firm grip again and tugged me through the yards. Snow kicked up around our feet, swirling in gusts along with rain and more falling snow. Josh ran ahead and climbed into the driver’s side of a red pickup. Grim crawled in next, then me, then Taran. I had to pretty much squeeze between the dash and Taran’s lap. I had a moment to hope my car was going to be okay before Josh tore down the street.
People ran out of homes, climbed into their vehicles. One heavily bundled lady hadn’t bothered to push any of the snow off her Honda, and she pulled out of her driveway, backing into the side of a truck. Josh cursed and slammed on the brakes when a kid ran out in front of us. An adult swept the boy up and ran toward a house.
We finally got out of the neighborhood only to drive into something worse—stopped traffic. Josh hit his brakes hard. I didn’t go through the windshield only because Taran held me tight around the waist.
“Josh, you’re turned south.” Taran put one hand on the dash, tugging me closer on his lap. “Shouldn’t we go north?”
“Everyone is going north, so it’ll just be one big traffic jam. Worse than this one, anyway. There are some tall hotels south.”
“Makes sense,” I murmured, eyeing the line of cars ahead of us that finally started to move. “There was one near the place you were eating yesterday.”
Josh nodded. “That should work. It’s like eight or ten stories. That should work, right? I mean the surge couldn’t go that high. It’s just a surge, not a tsunami.”
Grim braced himself on the dash, too, as the truck lurched forward. “At this point with all the god stuff, the disappearing hammer and the crazy weather, I’d say anything could happen.”
We got to Miracle Strip Parkway and that was it. We were stuck. Horns honked like crazy and suddenly, people were jumping out of cars, abandoning them on the street. A group ran past the truck. I held my breath and looked out of the passenger window.
Everything in me froze because water was already spilling over the ground. I remembered seeing news footage of another storm surge and how the newsman stressed that the water could go higher fast. The horrifying realization sent acid up my throat. “We’re out of time. We have to do something now!”
Taran looked out the window. “She’s right. The water is rising.”
Leaving the truck on the street with the other abandoned vehicles, the four of us ran with the crowd past a restaurant and an empty lot. We dodged cars. People were climbing onto the roof of a pawnshop. An elbow slammed into my side and I cried out. Taran pulled me close to him, tried to shield me with his body. We were all like terrified cattle on a stampede as we fought the mix of rain, wind and snow—and each other. It didn’t take long for my cheeks to sting, my lungs to ache. Each deep breath felt like spears of ice going down. We were soaked in seconds. Taran held on to my hand with a death grip as people pushed and shoved. I lost feeling in my fingers, but I wouldn’t let go for anything.
“I think we lost Josh and Grim!” I yelled so Taran could hear me over the crowd.
Taran suddenly changed direction. So did a lot of the people running alongside us. He headed for the closest hotel. The screams were deafening as Taran and I reached the stairs inside the hotel just as the water seemed to just hit. And rise. Fast.
The roar of the water smashing and breaking things was like something from my worst nightmare. Glass crashed below us as we reached the second floor. Wood creaked so loudly I could hear it over the terrified cries of the people racing up the stairs behind us.
Images of the wave rushing through the stairwell and scooping us up hit me so hard I stumbled.
Taran gripped my hand tighter as he raced ahead of me on the stairs, half dragging me. That grip, which was slightly painful, told me he had no intention of losing me in the crowd that suddenly swarmed us. People were crying and fighting to move in wet clothes, shoving others out of their way. Taran pushed through, but I noted he took care not to push anyone too hard. There were a lot of kids hanging on to adults.
We spilled into the hallway. Taran and I ran to the window at the end. Earlier, there’d been a pool on this side of the hotel, but it was covered. Lounge chairs and chunks of what looked like buildings and boats bobbed in the water—which was moving toward the second level fast.
I met Taran’s gaze. “One more floor?”
He nodded. We waded back through the crowd. Hotel guests had opened their rooms to the stranded. Some had started crying, but most were still in shock, glued to windows, mouths slack.
I met the gaze of a small, black-headed boy. His chin rested on what I assumed was his daddy’s shoulder, his arms tight around the man’s neck. Fear clouded his brown eyes making them darker, close to black.
Taran tugged on my hand and we went up two more floors. There weren’t as many people on this one, which surprised me. One of the doors at the end had an Out of Order sign on it. Taran let go of my hand and ran for that door, slamming his shoulder into it so it crashed open. He turned to find me and the swarm of emotions in his eyes stabbed into my gut.
The cold hit me, shivers racking my body so hard I thought my knees would give out. Taran walked toward me and took my hand again before sliding his arm around my waist. “Lean on me. We need to get you warm.”
His skin was icy. “You, too.”
I jumped when a door to my right opened. The man who came through it held something in his hands. “I heard through the door.” He handed Taran a gray sweat suit. “It’s the only extra set of clothes I brought that might fit you. Don’t have anything for the little thing.”
His kind eyes belied the rough tone of his voice. A woman’s sobs sounded from the room behind him.
“Thank you.” I smiled at him. “I can use the top and he can use the bottoms. It’ll give us time to let our clothes dry.” That’s the way the words were supposed to sound, but they came out clackety from the slamming of my teeth.
“Better get yourself warm. No one is going to care if you use that room. It was closed because of a plu
mbing problem, so you’re welcome to use my bathroom if you need it.”
“Appreciate it,” Taran said, and his voice had less teeth. He nodded at the man and pulled me toward the open hotel room.
I immediately went to the window. The water hadn’t receded yet, but it didn’t look higher. A red chair bobbed toward one of the rooms below me. Something was attached to it. I pressed my hands to the glass, looked closer, dismay sending acid into my throat when I realized it was a person holding on to the chair leg. There were others in the water. I saw an orange coat...someone’s feet.
Bare feet.
Turning away from the horror going on outside, I worked to calm the frantic sobs starting in my throat, tried to focus on the tidy room with its two beds covered in brown comforters. A cushioned, striped chair took up the corner with a desk and chair on the other side of the window.
“Hey, we’re safe.” Taran touched my cheek. “Crap, you’re like ice!” He handed me the sweatshirt. “You can wear this and wrap up in one of the blankets.”
I jammed my shaking fingers into the pocket of my jeans and dug out my phone, setting it on the table between the beds. There were missed calls from Kat. I’d have to call her back.
Shivering, I took the shirt into the bathroom. I wanted to be dry more than I wanted air. Water and snow had seeped under the waterproof coat. My fingers were so cold they hurt, and getting a grip on my wet, icy clothes was so hard, it took me five minutes to remove my coat, sweater and socks. Bra? I thought about being braless with Taran and actually felt real warmth spread in my stomach. I unhooked the soggy, yellow thing and dropped it on the floor.
Trying to peel off the wet, frozen jeans had me forgetting the warmth, the bra, everything. I thought about running hot water over them to loosen them up, but was scared about the water on my icy feet.
“You okay in there, Coral? Still awake?”
“Yeah,” I breathed. My shivers were starting to hurt, my muscles aching. I gritted my teeth and sat on the edge of the tub to tug the bottom of the jeans. “My fingers are cold. Having trouble with my jeans.”
“Let me help.” The door rattled.
“Wait!” I tugged the sweatshirt over my head, groaning with the small bit of warmth it provided. It fell to midthigh. “Okay, come in.”
Taran had already shed his wet clothes and he wore only the pants. He laughed when he saw the shirt. “It could be a dress on you.” He knelt in front of me. The smooth, golden skin of his shoulders made my fingers itch to touch. He was built long and lean and looked thin in his clothes, but he was anything but. Muscle definition rippled over his chest and stomach. His arms were well defined, strong looking. My mouth watered. I held my breath, surprised I was feeling all this while the world was falling apart.
But then, like the night before with the movie, the need for normal consumed me.
“I cranked the heat up crazy high in the room. Let’s get the jeans off and then we’ll work on those sleeves.”
I tore my eyes from his chest to look at the sleeves of my sweatshirt. I raised one arm over my head and wiggled it to get the sleeve to slide down enough to free my hand. “One free hand is all I need.” That made me think of Josh and Grim for some reason. Okay, because it could be taken dirty. Josh would have already made some kind of nasty, funny comment. Worry for the funny boys made my gut twist. “Do you think your friends made it ahead of the wave?”
“They’re tougher than they look and as stubborn as billy goats.” He sounded certain.
But all thoughts of Josh and Grim disappeared as Taran finally got my jeans off and put his palm on my thigh just above my right knee. His hands felt like fire. I sucked in a startled breath.
“Sorry,” he murmured as a faint hint of red crawled up his jaw. “You’re just so cold and it’s cramped in here.”
He abruptly stood and picked me up. He seemed to be completely over his fear of touching me. I really wished I’d freed both hands because only one got to touch the hot skin of his back as I held on. He cradled me against him, carrying me into the room to set me on the bed. I was hyperaware of my yellow underwear showing.
So was he.
He’d stopped in his tracks. As if my underwear was the headlight and he was the deer.
“Taran?”
He looked up at me and our gazes locked. Then the clackety-clack of my teeth ruined the moment, but the electricity from that brief connection raised the fine hairs on my arms like static.
I closed my eyes as intense emotion flooded my cold body.
He paused and I opened my eyes and met his gaze again. “I’d apologize.” He quirked one corner of his lips. “But I don’t want to. You’re beautiful. I’ll end up saying more. I’ll end up trying more. Eventually.”
“Trying more what?”
He didn’t move. “Touching.”
I stood, my nerves acting like springs. Tugging the top cover off the bed, I wrapped it around myself and nearly lost control of my legs—the relief of warmth was just so strong. But a lot of my heat was coming from the inside. I don’t know what made me walk to him. Don’t know what made me open the blanket and wrap it around him, too—when we both had half our clothes off. I barely knew him but something about dealing with the end of the world made me feel reckless. Or maybe I just really needed the touch of another human being right now. His back, bare and warm, brushed against my hands. Something glinted in his eyes, something that made me think he’d have very little trouble talking me into a bed someday.
“Just so you know, I won’t take advantage of you.” He wrapped his arms around me under the blanket.
I sighed into the warmth, laid my cheek against his chest, frowned. “I know that.”
“We’ve been through a lot. Doesn’t mean that bed isn’t tempting.”
I lifted my head. “Wait, the bed is a temptation?”
He grinned that sly, wicked grin. “Yeah, but not nearly as much as that yellow underwear.”
Chapter Seven
My phone rang—it wasn’t either of my sisters’ rings. I gritted my teeth and wondered if it was possible to do a spell that would affect whoever it was from here.
“Your phone rang like five times while you were in the bathroom, so you should probably get that.” Taran stepped back.
I kept the blanket around me with one fist and grabbed my phone off the table. “The other calls were all Kat,” I told him. “What?” I nearly yelled into it as I watched him walk into the bathroom and shut the door.
“Coral?” It was Raven.
“Yeah, I’m in the middle of something and Kat keeps calling. She’s bugging the crap out of me, totally freaked about what’s happening down here.” I rubbed my temples, realizing I had been picking up on Kat’s worry through our triplet bond. It wasn’t Raven’s fault—she didn’t know she was interrupting. “Sorry, Raven.”
“In the middle of what?” she asked.
I paced to the other side of the bed. “What do you mean what? Haven’t you been watching the news?”
“Not today. Are you okay?”
Sighing, I rubbed my eyes. “I found Taran—”
“Taran?” she interrupted.
“The warrior I was supposed to find, remember?” I knew I sounded like a bitch, but he’d been about to kiss me and I’d liked sharing that blanket with him and right now, that warmth and connection seemed like the only thing that would keep my terror over the water at bay.
“Are you okay? Really?”
“I will be. We had to sneak out of his house because the cops told him he couldn’t leave and then a huge wave hit Florida.” And other places, I thought. I rubbed my forehead. Exhaustion crashed into me so fast and hard, I wanted to cry.
“A wave? Like a tidal wave? Or a tsunami?” Now she sounded as freaked as Kat probably was. “Gods, Coral, are you
okay? This is happening crazy fast. Too fast. Where are you?”
“Taran and I busted into a hotel room on the fourth floor of...” I trailed off because I couldn’t remember what hotel we’d ran into, only that it was a sort of yellow color and had four floors. “I have no idea what hotel we’re in. We just ran with the crowd.”
“Are you sure this Taran is the one?”
“Yeah.” I walked to the corner farthest from the bathroom and cupped my hand over my mouth and the phone. “He’s in the bathroom. Raven, there’s something else going on here. His hammer’s missing and I’m not sure he really gets that he’s carrying Thor’s soul. Even though he has goat friends.”
“Goat friends?” She paused. “I don’t know about this, Coral. Goats?”
“Not real goats. Boys. Friends. Josh and Grim Tanner. But they have pointy chins with little beards on them and everything. And you should hear how they talk!”
“Why did the cops tell Taran not to leave his house?”
“Suspicion of assault. Twice. But there wasn’t enough proof to hold him, and I think it also had something to do with the fact his dad is a cop. But then the wave came.” I thought about the boy I’d seen in the vision. Was it three or even more now? The exhaustion pulled my thoughts every direction.
“Um, Coral, maybe you guys should go back into the crowd.”
“Look, I’m okay. Safe for now. What’s up there? I hear something in your voice?”
“Do you know a spell that would have cedar and peppermint?”
I thought for a moment. I knew several. “Did you touch it? Was it oily?”
“Could have been, but it was dry by the time I got to it. Whatever it is, I think it’s created a mob riot. Coral, people have lost it—they’re beating the crap out of each other in a Walmart parking lot.”
“Really—” I lost my train of thought when Taran came out of the bathroom. Guess the plumbing problem had nothing to do with the shower because he was rubbing a towel over his wet hair. His sweats had slipped low enough to show a slight trail of hair under his belly button. This time, I felt like the deer. Then he held out his hand and closed his eyes. I narrowed my own. He glanced at me and red crept up his neck.
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