“I wanted to go for a walk and take her with me. Could she be reporting what’s happening here to the goddess?”
Femi shook her head. “Why would you think that? Most familiars are loyal to their owners. Especially after you link. You two are linked, right?”
I felt a little bad for suspecting Onyx. “We are. I hate doubting her, but after my dealings with the Norns, I don’t trust my judgment when it comes to supernatural beings. Although, she did save my life when we fought the Draugar.”
“It is her job to be your eyes and ears, and warn you of any imminent danger.” She went back to sorting clothes. “It was nice of you to tell Hawk about the burial site where the Draugar attacked your team. He’s taking care of it. In fact, it was all he could talk about last night.”
Femi was gone last night. Could she have taken my dagger? Once again, I felt bad suspecting someone I cared about, but I had to know.
“So Hawk was your date last night?”
She dismissed my words with a wave of her hand. “You don’t call someone as distinguished as Hawk a date. Dates are fruit. Hawk is a man.”
“So where did you and your man go yesterday?”
“He escorted me to a Broadway show and then we spent an enjoyable evening together at his secluded, beautiful mountain home.” She sighed, and threw me a conspirator’s glance. “I thought I’d have to dance naked in front of the store for him to notice I was interested.”
That didn’t give me the answer I needed. “Have you seen my dagger?”
Femi frowned. “Your artavo?”
“No. My special dagger.”
She shook her head. “I didn’t know you had a special dagger.”
I sighed. “I’ll ask Mom.” I turned and almost stepped on Onyx. “Onyx! Thank the gods. Where have you been?”
Valhalla. What’s wrong?
“Come on.” I took the steps two at a time. She raced up and was already waiting when I got to my bedroom. I closed the door. “My staff is missing.”
She went to the other side of my bed and pawed on the handle of my trundle bed. I hid it in here.
I couldn’t remember the last time I used the trundle bed. Eirik used to spend nights on it until he left for Asgard. The dagger was wedged between the mattress and the wall of the bed. “Why?”
Onyx hopped on my bed. He told me to move the dagger around every day. Several times a day actually.
I frowned. “Who?”
The young god who came to Asgard and left to join his mother.
I blinked. “Eirik? When did you talk to him?”
A few nights ago. I wasn’t letting him come close to you, but I recognized him. He said to hide the dagger because they will come for it.
“Who?”
The Norns.
Air rushed from my lungs. Eirik. Always playing the hero, then disappearing. How did he know about the Norns? And why hadn’t he come to see me during the day? “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Onyx lay down. He said to only tell you when you need the dagger, because the Norns can link with you any time and know where the dagger is hidden.
I stood. “I want you to find him.”
Onyx sat up. What?
“Eirik. You said you could find anyone. Find him and tell him I want to talk to him.”
I don’t like him. He joined the other side.
“Really? If he’s evil, would he be warning me about the Norns? I want answers, Onyx, and he has them.”
Why can’t you just open a portal to wherever he is?
“I tried when we were in Florida and got nowhere. He’s powerful.” The doorbell rang. “Please, Onyx. Find him. I gotta go.”
I left the dagger inside the trundle bed and ran downstairs. My eyes met Echo’s when I opened the door. He was carrying boxes of pies. I hadn’t expected Cora to bring her boyfriend. He winked.
As soon as Cora and I hugged, everything faded to black before a bright hallway appeared. Moonbeam Terrace. Again. I hadn’t opened my mind, yet I was having a vision. It was the same premonition I’d had the night I met the two Grimnirs.
Cora entered the hallway, saw them and broke into a run. As she got closer, she slowed down and talked to them. I didn’t hear their conversation, didn’t need to. They didn’t grab her or open a portal. After a few minutes, she disappeared inside a room. The Grimnirs opened a portal and left.
They’d listened to my warning. I wondered what did the trick. Probably threatening to unleash Echo on them.
I blinked and the vision disappeared, my eyes connecting with his. He stared at me with a weird expression, and I knew why. He must be seeing my glowing eyes and knew I’d gotten a vision. I held on longer to Cora, not wanting her to see my eyes and start asking questions. I hoped my magic didn’t have the same effect on them as it did on Torin. I pushed the magic back. Echo nodded when my eyelids lifted and I shot him a questioning look.
“Hey,” I said in greeting, hoping he didn’t blurt out what he’d seen.
He grinned. “Do I get a hug?”
Of course, he wasn’t going to let it go. “You’re carrying pies.” Cora, completely oblivious to the vibes, plucked the pies from his hands and nudged him toward me. I had no choice but to hug him.
“What was it?” he asked.
“It’s nothing. She’ll be okay.” I stepped back. “Come inside.”
Cora glanced around. “Where’s Femi?”
There were no sounds coming from the laundry room, “With Dad,” I said. Cora glanced toward the study, but Echo continued to stare at me. He was beginning to annoy me. “Are you coming with us?”
He nodded. “Cora insisted.”
Cora elbowed him and a look I couldn’t explain passed between them. She started for the kitchen and called over her shoulder. “I’ll put these in the kitchen. Two are for your family and one is for Mrs. J at the nursing home.”
“Quit worrying,” I whispered to Echo as I walked past him. “You are the first person I’d tell if I saw something bad happening to her.” Echo tended to react first and ask questions later when it came to Cora. I didn’t want to give him a reason to turn on his fellow reapers over something that might be nothing.
“Promise?” he asked in a hard voice.
“Promise.”
Cora was arranging the pies on the counter and didn’t even notice our exchange. Her devotion to Mrs. J, the old woman she’d adopted at the nursing home, was cute. The Cora I knew a year ago wouldn’t have lasted a week at a nursing home. But a stint in a mental institute because of her ability to see souls changed all that. She went two to three times a week to read to Mrs. J and keep her company. According to Cora, the poor woman’s family dumped her at the nursing home and ignored her. They never visited or called.
“Someone should track down her daughter and force her to visit. It’s been what? Three months since you started there and she’s never visited?” I asked.
“The nurse said it’s been six months. Maybe there’s something you can do.” The glance she gave Echo said she was only teasing. Echo’s response was classic.
“Sure, hun. I can scare Mrs. J’s daughter to death, then take her soul to Corpse Strand for being ungrateful.”
“Good one,” I said laughing.
Cora sighed and shook her head. “Don’t encourage him.”
I led the way to the mirror and opened a portal, going for the last area I’d seen during my search. The foreboding feeling was there, only stronger. I stepped into the forest and it hit me from all sides like thousands of ants crawling all over my skin. Goose bumps spread across my skin despite the blazing spring sun and my jacket.
~*~
Cora and Echo stayed behind me. “You’re sure this is the place?” he asked.
It was. There was nothing evil lurking in the trees. It was the forest itself. It was suffering. Where was the source? I closed my eyes and let the power surge to the surface. It was coming from our left.
“I’ve spent the last couple of hours searching di
fferent sections of the forest, but I couldn’t see—”
I gasped, the pain so sudden it paralyzed me. I stopped and pressed a hand against my stomach, but it only grew stronger. Cora ran to my side and said something. I could barely hear her above the pain. The trees were dying.
I followed the scent of death, and the closer I got the more excruciating the pain became. I should have come here right after we came back from Florida to make sure the Norns did their job.
I reached the clearing and fought tears. The devastation was too much. The trees were either snapped off at their trunks or completely uprooted. The leaves drooped, starving for water and nutrients. The roots of the uprooted ones were caked with dry soil. It wasn’t just the trees. They were crushing the vegetation underneath them.
Cora appeared beside me. She didn’t speak, which I really appreciated because any sign of sympathy and the tears I’d been fighting would escape.
“I hate them, Cora,” I whispered. “They could have fixed this, but they chose not to.” No, I should have listened to them when they’d said I must fix the forest. They said it the night of the battle and yesterday at school. This was also my fault. I was the nearest witch with the ability to communicate with nature. Why hadn’t I felt their cry for help?
Cora put her arms around me and whispered, “Can you contact them to fix this?”
Yes, I could contact them, the manipulative hags, but what good would it do? I shook my head. “I’m fixing it. It’s my fault.”
“How do you figure that?”
“It just is.” My chest hurt and my stomach felt gutted. In the back of my mind, I wondered if they were deliberately making me feel their pain because I’d failed them.
I’m so sorry, forgive me.
I wiggled out of Cora’s grip and reached down to connect with one of the fallen plants. Then another. The pain in my core grew, making me feel worse. A sob rose from my chest and escaped my lips. I felt, rather than saw, Cora squat beside me. I knew she spoke, but I didn’t hear a thing.
I engaged my strength and pain runes, closed my eyes, and pushed my fingers into the soil. The connection was instant. Magic flowed through my fingers and into the earth. I struggled to find the words of apology and ended up repeating the same words.
I’m sorry I have been gone so long.
There was utter silence. Even the birds stopped chirping. Yet I felt the forest come alive. I didn’t need to see them to know that roots sank back into the earth and trees lifted. Branches reattached themselves to the bigger stems, and water flowed upwards again to the leaves and flowers.
The birds and the insects went back to their singing. Leaves swayed in the breeze and hugged the sun rays. I felt weak and drained, yet my magic still burned hot. I still didn’t understand my powers.
I opened my eyes, stood, and looked around.
Beautiful.
Every tree, bush, and vine was thriving again. They whispered their appreciation. I laughed, moving from tree to tree. Branches swayed as though to show off leaves that no longer looked starved for food and water. Flowers showered me with their scent, their colors so vibrant it hurt to look at them.
I felt rather than saw Torin arrive. My connection to him was equally magical. I had stopped trying to understand it.
Images of him walking toward me while I danced with the trees flashed in my head. Same indulgent smile. Same intense look in his eyes. Like he couldn’t take another breath unless I was in his arms. I wanted him to look at me like that every day.
I floated to him and he lifted me up, arms tight around my waist, sapphire blues reflecting the skies.
“You just couldn’t resist coming here, could you?” he scolded.
“It was hurting, Torin. I created a portal to this place and all I felt was decay and pain. Now look at it. I fixed it. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” he said, frowning.
“Stop frowning and dance with me,” I whispered.
He chuckled. “There’s no music.”
“There is. You’re just not listening.”
He angled his head and pretended to listen. “Now that you mention it, I think I hear it.” He turned around, laughing. He was so graceful. I closed my eyes and welcomed the energy pulsing through me. When I opened my eyes, Torin had stopped moving. Funny, I hadn’t realized it.
His eyes were brilliant in their intensity. “I’m crazy about you, Freckles.”
I grinned. “I know.”
“Even when you disobey my orders, get drunk on magical energy, and dance in the woods like a wood nymph, you complete me.”
Tears rushed to my eyes.
“No, no, don’t cry.” He lowered me to the ground, hands tightening around my waist. “Don’t spoil this perfect moment.”
“Nothing could ever spoil this moment.” I put my arms around his neck and kissed him. For a brief moment, everything else disappeared except us. The moment. The kiss. With both of our runes blazing, my magic flowing through my veins, every nip, lick, and touch became enhanced until I couldn’t tell where he began and I ended. And I could swear that the forest became a part of us.
When he lifted his head, I rested my cheek on his chest and we continued to sway while he stroked my hair. I liked to believe that he could hear the music in the forest, but I knew he was only indulging me.
“I keep having visions of us,” I said.
He chuckled. “You’re not supposed to see your own future.”
I hated leaving his arms, but this was important. I had to see his reaction. “I know, yet I keep seeing us. When I saw you walk towards me, I saw visions of us in these woods. I was dancing and you were watching me. Then you lifted me into your arms, but it was different from today. It was dark and we were alone. Then there was the shower yesterday.” My cheeks warmed, remembering the moment. His eyes darkened. “What is it?”
“I think another witch is projecting images into your head again.”
I nodded. Before the battle against the Immortals, a witch had created illusions and totally screwed with my head.
“I haven’t sensed any Witches at school or in town since last weekend.” I frowned, trying to remember some of the things the Norns had said that night. The euphoria from winning had made me forget their annoying presence, except for their smug smiles. Someone was playing mind games with me. Eirik might help me figure things out. He was chummy with Witches and had issued the Call that had brought them to help us. If a witch were in town, he’d know about it.
“Let’s ditch them,” Torin whispered.
I blinked, focusing on him. “Who?”
He chuckled and turned my head, so I could see Cora and Echo. They were by the trees to our right. I’d completely forgotten about them. But then again, whenever I was in Torin’s arms, nothing and no one else mattered.
“Say yes,” he whispered, his breath warm and stimulating on my ear. “I can open an air portal right now that leads straight to my place. We could spend the afternoon just the two of us. I have these things I’ve been dying to try.” He bit my earlobe, sending sensations through me. “You’ll love them.”
More fantasies. I would love nothing more than to make-out with him the entire afternoon, but I knew he was under the influence of my magic. He probably forgot his soccer team was playing this afternoon. “Okay, but what about the game?”
Torin looked at his watch and swore softly under his breath. “Hel’s Mist. I’d completely forgotten about it. I’m meeting the students in less than two hours. Are they coming too?”
“No, Cora is volunteering at a nursing home this afternoon, but I’m bringing Ingrid. I may have to drag her out of bed. When I checked on her earlier, she was still asleep.”
“They didn’t come home until this morning. I had to drag Andris out of bed too. It’s like every pissed off Immortal’s soul had minions of dark souls. This time, they’re using dogs.”
“Bastards.”
“Nice souls use electronics to communicate, but evil on
es don’t care what bodies they use. When they get tired of animals, they might target humans.”
My eyes flew to Cora and Echo. Souls were attracted to Cora like moths to a flame because of the runes Maliina, Ingrid’s evil sister and Andris’ ex, had etched on her. It didn’t matter whether the souls were good or evil. I’d seen her become unconscious for hours after a soul entered her body. The effect of being possessed by an evil one could be permanent. “We have to protect Cora, Torin.”
“Echo said he’d deal with any soul that dares to come near her.”
“That’s ridiculous. He can’t be around her twenty-four-seven. I’m telling Cora everything. Then we’ll sit down and come up with a way to keep her safe.”
“Okay, Freckles. We’ll do this your way, but be warned. Echo won’t like it.”
“I don’t care. This is about her, not him. Cora would not be going through this if it weren’t for me,” I reminded him.
“No, luv. Maliina targeted her because she thought Andris liked you. Her insane jealousy did this, not you.”
I sighed. That was true too, but still…
Torin chuckled and pressed his forehead against mine. “Will you take a rain check for this afternoon? I’ll make it up to you on Friday after my birthday surprise.”
His birthday. Crap! I’d completely forgotten about it. I needed to buy him something special. “What surprise?”
He pinched my nose. “If I tell you, it won’t be a surprise, will it? Come on.”
We walked toward Cora and Echo. I blew out air; my head was ready to explode. So much was happening when all I wanted was a moment to breathe and be a normal teenager in love with an awesome guy. I should be planning his birthday party, shopping for his birthday present, not worrying about Witches projecting images into my head, dark souls possessing my best friend, and Norns.
Cora might have some birthday ideas. She’d dated before and knew what guys liked while Torin was my first real boyfriend. Eirik didn’t count because our attempt to date had been doomed before it had even started. Having grown up together, we were like brother and sister.
Witches (Runes series Book 6) Page 24
