“You ask for my help with anything and you’ll get it. No questions asked.”
Echo studied me and nodded. “Deal. When Tristan Cooper dies, he’s not going to Asgard.”
“Why not?”
“Because I was supposed to reap him last year, but Torin convinced me to give him more time with his family. The man is terminally ill and emaciated. When he dies, he’s coming down here.”
I put my drink down. Raine was going to go nuts when she learned about this. “But Svana is a Valkyrie. For them to be together, she needs to take him to Valhalla.”
Echo shook his head. “Your father is a god and he still came here.”
“Things are different now.”
“Things never change. Not when it comes to souls. She’ll have to let him go, or ask to be reassigned to Hel.”
“Is that why she’s here?”
“I don’t know. She told me she was making arrangements. Could be anything.”
I left Echo’s place and went back to my parents’. Svana and my mother were still talking. Raine was going to go ballistic when she realized her father was coming to Hel. As a Ragnarok announcer, she had leverage over the gods. She should insist her father stay with her in Asgard.
“No,” Svana said when I suggested it to her while we were on our way back to her place. “Raine has accepted that her father is dying. She’s helping people and is finally happy. I don’t want her to spend the little time she has with Tristan worrying and fighting the gods. Angering the gods now when we’re going to need their help is not wise.”
“Then she should visit Eljudnir and see for herself that it is a comfortable place. Uncle Tristan will be okay here. He could rest with the gods and royalties.”
Svana stopped. We were on the bridge and the boat to Corpse Strand was pulling away. She stared after it. “This place is really amazing, and your mother is nothing like they say.” She took my arm. “Yes, Raine should visit you and see Eljudnir for herself. She will love your mother. She should come after her honeymoon.”
I left Svana at home early enough to make quick stops in New Orleans, Rio, and Melbourne, where it was still daytime before visiting the other Guild centers. By the time I was back at Celestia’s school, I knew there would be enough Witches attending Raine’s wedding. When Celestia left the school building, I was waiting by her car.
CHAPTER 12. A LIFE OWED
CELESTIA
Finding Eirik waiting for me outside the school was sweet. The parking lot was deserted since I had to stay behind and see the teachers about homework. Daiku and Ranger had stayed cloaked the whole day, but were never far whenever I turned around. Even now, I could see them from the corner of my eyes as I hurried across the street to the parking lot.
“I don’t know how long I can stand having them around the school every day,” I griped. Eirik grinned. “It’s not funny. Every time I turn around, I see them. They try to be inconspicuous, but that’s impossible in reaper clothes and Ranger’s cowboy hat and boots. Worse, I’m the only one who can see them.”
“Hayden does, too.”
“She doesn’t count because she thinks the whole having personal body guard thing is romantic.”
“That’s me, Mr. Romantic.”
“Mr. Overprotective. No one is going to hurt me around here, Eirik,” I insisted. “Not the students, teachers, or the staff. They know we are together and they fear you.”
“Danger can come from outside.”
“You mean the Norns? Did they want the dagger like in my vision?”
“Not this time. The Wise Ones wanted a meeting.”
He didn’t seem worried. “Did you go?”
“No.”
“Are you going to?”
“Yeah, just not today. Or tomorrow. They have to agree to a few things first.”
Oh brother. “Don’t you think you’ve pissed them off enough?”
He laughed. “I just need them to do the right thing. I explained and they listened. They were nice. I never thought I’d ever call Norns nice. This was my first positive experience with them.”
“See? I don’t need the guys to shadow me. Even the Norns aren’t interested in me. Nothing can step onto the land because of the warding. Can’t you feel the magic around the school?” Eirik’s expression said he didn’t feel anything, and even if he had, it wouldn’t change a damn thing. “The entire place and the surrounding land is protected by powerful spells, so the guys hanging around here is pointless.”
“Then allow me to be the judge of what’s pointless and what isn’t, Dimples. It’s either the guys or me.”
I shook my head. He’d distract me, and we only had six weeks to go. “It’s not fair to them, Eirik. Ask them.” I glanced over my shoulder, but the Grimnirs were gone. I tried to find their energy, but couldn’t. Eirik had probably signaled them to leave. Wait a second. What was that? I tried to find the energy, but it was faint. It was the same energy I associated with the Norns I’d seen at the mall. Could they be the same ones he’d met?
“I’ll drive.”
“No. My car, so I’m driving.” I slid behind the wheel and slammed the door. He was impossible. What was the point of arguing with him anyway? He always charmed his way in and out of situations.
“Are we having our first fight?” Eirik asked, adjusting the front passenger seat to accommodate his long legs.
“No. We are agreeing to disagree, which is not surprising since you are so stubborn. Buckle up.” I waited until he was seated before turning the key. A clicking sound followed. I tried again, and the damn engine still refused to kick in. Third try wasn’t a charm. I hit the steering wheel. “Stupid car.”
“Do you want me to check the engine?”
“No. I have this covered.” I popped the hood and got out of the car. Eirik was already standing by the hood, arms crossed. He really thought I knew nothing about cars? I lifted the hood and checked the wiring to and from the starter for a loose connection.
“How do you know so much about car engines?” he asked.
“Dad. He made sure I was self-sufficient.” I closed the hood. “My battery is dead. What are you doing?” He was at the back of my car, his head tilted to one side as he studied the fender.
“Trying to fix your engine problem.”
“By staring at the fender to death?”
He chuckled. “No, smarty pants. Someone etched a few runes to make your car stall. All you need is a rune or two to counter theirs.” I was by his side before he finished speaking.
“Who would do this?”
“Someone who wanted you stuck out here.” He turned and studied the surrounding trees.
“Witches don’t have runic knowledge, so this could be the work of the three girls from the mall. They were here.” I looked around. The parking lot was empty, but I found traces of the blonde’s energy.
“Norns don’t use runes.” Eirik pulled out his artavus and etched several runes on the car. “This should protect the car against theft and tampering, and this should fix your engine problems.”
“What if they were not Norns? They moved at super speed, so we ruled out evil Witches. They could be Immortals.”
“Then I’ll deal with them. I didn’t think they’d dare come after you after the little chat we had. On the other hand, they might be factions of Norns that are renegades. Rogue Norns. A subunit of mean, terrible Norns.”
I studied his face. He had every reason to hate the Norns after everything they’d done to his family, but his feelings might be clouding his judgment. I was convinced we were dealing with evil Immortals.
“You think those were the ones at the mall?” I asked, not wanting to start an argument.
“Yep, which means Daiku and Ranger stay. Can I drive now?”
“No.”
“You know I can always open a portal or run beside your car.”
I shook my head. “I’m driving, you sit in the front passenger seat and talk. I want to know what you told the Norns.”
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The more he talked, the more I was amazed at the depth of loyalty to his family and his love for his mother. If I weren’t already in love with him, I’d be a puddle of goo at his feet.
I entered the street that ran in front of our house just as an ambulance came barreling toward us. I indicated and pulled to the side. It zipped past us, the siren wailing. I stared after it and pulled back onto the road. I stepped on the gas.
The next second, something hit my car, causing cracks to fan out like a spider web across my windshield. At the same time, something black slithered off my hood. I lost control of the car, swerving to avoid driving over whatever I’d just hit and almost landing in the drainage. I slammed on the brakes and our bodies jerked forward.
“Are you okay?” Eirik asked.
I nodded, too shaken to speak.
“Stay here.” He stepped out of the car and walked to the front to see what I’d hit. My heart still thundered and my chest hurt. Despite my fears, I pushed opened the door and stepped out, imagining the worst. Cats climbed trees, didn’t they? Or maybe it was a wild animal—a raccoon or a squirrel.
I closed the door and went to join Eirik despite his orders to stay put. He was holding a crow. It was still twitching, but the head lolled at a weird angle. I’d killed it. Eirik gently stroked its neck as though soothing it. Did birds have souls? Did their souls go somewhere nice? I had no idea where the thoughts came from or why. Maybe it was because I’d killed it.
“I think it is gone,” Eirik said. “Its neck is broken.” The bird had stopped twitching. “Sorry, black bird. Guess your number was up.” He laid it on the ground and straightened.
I wasn’t crazy about nature, but leaving the bird there in the gutter just seemed wrong. “Poor thing.”
“Birds die in the wild all the time, Dimples.” Eirik stepped over the bird and joined me. He rubbed my arm. “I’ll drive the rest of the way.”
“No. We can’t leave it here, Eirik.”
“Of course we can.”
“You said birds die in the wild, but this one didn’t. I killed it.”
“Don’t, Dimples.”
“No, I’m not going to burst into tears or anything like that. I just want to give it a nice burial.” I shuddered at the thought of touching it. It was dead, so I should be okay with it. Blowing air, I squatted and reached for it. I hesitated.
“Are you sure about this?” Eirik asked, joining me.
“Yeah.” I looked up at him. He probably thought I was being childish. “I refuse to leave it here.”
“Okay. Fine. Want me to carry it?”
Yes. “No. I’ll do it.” I should do it. Biting my lower lip, I lifted the dead crow from the ground and carried it to the car. “Open the door, please.”
I sat in the passenger seat and wondered whether I should put it in the backseat, or on the floor by my feet. Eirik sat behind the wheel, but instead of gunning the engine, he studied me.
“Are you okay?”
I started to nod, then shook my head. “I feel bad I killed it. Its body is still warm.” I stroked the black feathers the way he’d done minutes ago. “Do you ever wonder if bugs, birds, and animals have souls?”
“No.” He started the car and eased back into the street. “I’m still wrapping my head around souls walking, eating, fighting, and having babies.”
I relaxed against the seat for the rest of the drive. He pulled up in front of the house, and I got out. Funny, I suddenly felt tired.
“Dad keeps lawn tools in the shed. I think I can find a nice place to bury…” I gasped as the crow twitched. Within seconds, it was struggling to escape my hands. I dropped it and jumped back. “It’s not dead. How?”
The crow landed on the ground, made a weird sound and wobbled as though its legs were weak. The crow was still on the ground, one of its wings dragging at a weird angle.
“It’s alive,” I whispered.
“It wasn’t a few minutes ago. Its neck was broken. I checked.” Eirik walked to the crow and picked it up. I was surprised it didn’t take off. I took a step back when he turned toward me. “It needs your help, Dimples.”
“What do you mean?”
“Put your hand on it and find out.”
I blinked. “What?”
“I’ll explain later. I have a theory. Trust me on this, please.”
I swallowed nervously, but did it. I trusted him. Eirik covered my hand, pressing it against the bird. The body twitched. I had no idea what was going on, but I felt weird. Woozy. The crow grew restless, kicking and pushing against my hand with its wing.
“Don’t do that. Your wings are broken.” But it kept struggling. Claws dug into skin and left a cut. Eirik released my hand, lifted the bird, and threw it in the air. This time, it flapped its wings and headed up instead of down. It did a loop and cawed before taking off.
“How do you feel?”
“Woozy. What just happened?”
Eirik studied the cut on my wrist. It wasn’t healing. “You know what happened, Dimples. The bird was dead and now it is alive. You brought it back to life.”
“No, that’s not possible. I didn’t use the spell.” I pulled my hand from his and took a step, almost losing my footing, but Eirik was there to catch me. “Not this time.”
“You don’t have to use a spell. Let me see your hand.”
“It’s nothing.” I hid my hand behind my back and moved away from him. I was by the patio steps. “Of course I have to say the spell. It’s how I healed Tammy.” I cringed. I had just blurted out the truth. “Hayden didn’t bring Tammy back. I did.”
Eirik stared at me for a moment after my revelation.
“I know, but you didn’t do it using a spell, Dimples. You have the gift to heal and raise the dead, no spells necessary. It is a rare gift, but you have it. When you heal someone, it drains your energy. That’s why you feel lightheaded now.”
“I can’t be a healer. There’s something inherently dark and evil inside me.”
“Dimples.” Eirik shook his head and grinned. Why was he smiling? He should be repulsed. “You could never be evil.”
He didn’t understand. I turned, ran inside the house, went straight to my bedroom, and closed the door. I headed to my childhood hiding place. My bedroom might be different, but a closet was a closet. I crawled in the corner, pulled down a coat to cover me, tucked my knees to my chest, and curled up.
Marguerite had been right about everything. I was the harbinger of death. First were the dead Witches. If I hadn’t issued the Call, they would not have died. Now I was raising the dead. Who was to say I wouldn’t step on an unmarked grave and raise a decaying corpse and start the zombie apocalypse.
Eirik appeared at the entrance of my closet. “Dimples—”
“I don’t want to be a necromancer,” I whispered. “You should not have let me bring that bird back to life.”
“You’re not a necromancer, Stjärna mín. You are a healer. A beautiful, gifted healer. There’s nothing evil or dark about you.”
Of course, he’d never believe I was evil. And even if I were, he would stand by me because he was that kind of a guy. I could see his legs by the door as he waited for my response.
“Go away, Eirik.”
“I can’t.” His voice was low, throbbing. “Ask me to do anything, but that. I could never walk away from you, Dimples. Don’t you get it? You are my world, the light in my darkness.”
“Why?” I whispered.
“Because I loved the possibility of you before we met. Then when we did, you fulfilled every dream, every hope, every craving I ever had. You are my reality. And you are not evil. Because someone so beautiful and gifted, so selfless, kind, and forgiving could never be anything but good. Look at how you are willing to give your mother a chance after everything she did to you? Would someone evil and dark do that?”
Tears rushed to my eyes at his words. I never knew someone could ever love me as much as he did. I could be the supreme of an evil coven and he’d onl
y see the good in me. Maybe he was blinded because I rescued him and helped him with his grandmother.
“I don’t know a lot about Witches and healing powers,” he continued, sitting down by the door, “but I know they grow weak when they heal someone. The more severe their patient’s wounds, the weaker they become. If the person is dead and they bring him or her back to life, they get knocked out for days or weeks. It explains why you slipped into a coma after healing Tammy. Do you remember the girl cub in Jötunheim? She said you took the pain away. I didn’t check to see her wound, but I think you healed it. And her mother’s unborn baby reacted when you touched her belly. You are a healer.”
I wanted to believe him. I wanted to so badly, but I couldn’t. I’d never met a person who healed or brought someone back to life without spells. Grams had warned me repeatedly against such practices. She’d probably had the premonitions about me raising the dead.
“Dimples, talk to me.”
I buried my face in my knees and wished he would go away. My closet had always been my safe haven. Whenever I got in trouble as a child, I’d curl up like a ball inside one until Dad came home. Marguerite never bothered to look for me. She’d yell once or twice, threatening to beat the evil out of me, then forget about me. I’d stay in the closet and miss lunch—if I got in trouble before lunch. At times, starvation would force me out of hiding. Maybe she would have succeeded in stopping my spiral into evil if she’d stuck around.
I became aware of Eirik crawling closer. “May I join you?”
No matter what I said, he wasn’t going to leave. I used the coat to wipe tears from my cheek before he could see them, but I sounded stuffy when I spoke. “How do you know so much about Witches and healing?”
“I don’t, and the person I asked about it didn’t either. He just said it was a rare, but coveted ability and the healer becomes fatigued during the healing. Maybe Tammy can explain.”
“No. I can never believe anything she says again.”
“Then I’ll find someone with answers. Can you come out now?” He extended his hand.
“No. Find me some answers then I’ll come out.”
He chuckled. “I know I’m awesome, but even I can’t work miracles. Unless you plan on staying in here for the next several days, you’ll have to come out now.”
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