“I can get that,” I said. But he moved closer, his hands groping around under my jacket for the snaps on the back.
“Let me help,” he said. “You want to make sure it’s right so they don’t fall down and trip you on board.” I turned to make it easier for him to reach those buttons, but his hands were still all over me for what felt like an eternity. Neither of us needed to have Graham walk in on a scene like that. Finally he straightened. “Perfect.” He squeezed my shoulder before returning to the boat.
“That was the lamest excuse to paw a girl,” Tuck said, coming up behind me. “I’m surprised you went along with it.”
“What was?” I challenged. “Preventing me from tripping and falling overboard?”
“A pair of suspenders can do all that?” he said. “Would they also keep you from falling into the pool, or do you still need me for something?”
“You got me there,” I said. “But at least they could double as a noose if you get on my nerves.”
“Never took you for the tying-up type.” Tuck smirked back. That playful smile curled his lips, the one that crossed the line Graham so vigilantly maintained on my behalf. “I like this new side of you.”
I should have been mad, or at least pretended to be outraged, but all I could do was stare at him, utterly baffled that he would push this game so far into dangerous territory. I couldn’t imagine what he was thinking.
“Don’t get so deer in the headlights. I know you can keep up.” His eyes were elusive as ever. “And if you’re planning to go through life looking like that, you’d better.”
I didn’t need a mirror to know I was blushing. Which just made Tucker laugh as he slipped his hand into mine and pulled me toward the boat, where Graham and Kjell were waiting. For once, I was all too happy to indulge his blatant attempt to secure the last word.
KJELL’S FATHER MET us at the side of the boat, ready to welcome us on board and to offer us a hand. My shoulder nearly popped out of its socket as he swung me up past the railings and onto the painted metal deck. His accent and slow, deliberate speech reminded me of my grandfather. As did his bright blue eyes, set in the deeply creased face of a man who’d divided his years between scorching sun and biting arctic winds.
He gave us a quick lecture on safety and a tour of the bridge, which was just a glorified shack on the deck, crammed to the ceiling with navigational equipment, radios, and other beeping and pinging devices.
The boat pushed off at five o’clock sharp, and as we motored out into the fjord, I leaned against the railing, watching the green hills drift past, polka-dotted with white cotton wisps of sheep. The fjord we traveled through was just one of many winding inlets riddling the coast. Norway is a country of stark contrasts, from the impossible height of its steely mountain peaks to the dizzying depths of the icy blue water churning underneath the boat’s engine. Most unexpected were the massive waterfalls that appeared every few miles, spanning hundreds of feet, crashing down from the steep rocky bluffs and feeding the fjords below.
I counted seven other fishing boats making the same pilgrimage through the harbor toward the open water beyond. White-capped mountain peaks in the distance dwarfed the nearby hills—it still amazed me that there was so much snow in the summer. But Norway is home to glaciers and everlasting winter.
“This is my favorite part,” Kjell said, coming up and leaning his back against the railing. “Another day has started and nothing awful happened to me during the night.”
“That’s morbid,” I said.
“Is it?”
“I mean, what would happen to you?” I instantly regretted my question.
“Apparently nothing, when you’re around.” He shifted closer, and I involuntarily took a step away. The intensity in his eyes gave me goose bumps, and not in a good way. “And that’s part of the reason I asked your brother to come today—and hoped you’d come too.” He glanced around to make sure we wouldn’t be overheard. “I drove by your house three times yesterday. I wanted to see you again—no, I needed to see you again.” His hand brushed mine along the railing, and my goose bumps grew goose bumps of their own. That might explain why all afternoon I’d felt like I was being watched. And suddenly I wanted off that boat so badly, I found myself glancing longingly at the lifeboats.
Kjell was dangerously close to sounding like a stalker, particularly when he grabbed my elbow to emphasize his next words. “I’m worried about you—about your safety. You heard what happened yesterday?”
“I’m assuming you mean other than Grandmother’s flower beds being pillaged by a family of deer?”
“Your grandmother didn’t tell you how much worse it’s gotten?” he asked, his eyebrows furrowed and his lips pursed like he’d just tasted something bitter. “Did she at least warn your brother to be careful in town?”
The genuine concern in Kjell’s voice made me feel guilty about how I was treating him. It also made me wonder, for the millionth time, what exactly my grandmother was keeping from me. I shook my head again.
“What can she be thinking?” he muttered to himself. For an instant, he looked so young—his wide blue eyes were too boyish to carry the weight of so much worry. “Like I said the other night, people have been disappearing for weeks,” he said softly. “But the last few days it’s gotten worse. Before it was never here, never in Skavøpoll. It was always something you heard about happening in the distance. Somewhere else. But now it’s like the town is under attack.”
“That’s terrible,” I said softly. “I had no idea.”
“And it’s getting more public,” he said. “Yesterday three crew members from my dad’s boat disappeared all at once from the dock. One minute they were there, and the next they were gone.”
“I’m so sorry, Kjell—but you should focus on yourself, then. Don’t worry about me,” I said. “I won’t disappear too.”
“No, I don’t think you will,” he said drily. “They only take boys. Boys around my age. And they take the best. The strongest and smartest.”
Fear stirred to life deep in my heart. No one fitted that description better than Graham. “Well then, no reason to worry about me, huh?” I replied, trying to sound lighthearted. Like what he was saying hadn’t sent me into a cold sweat.
“That’s not why I’m worried about you,” he said. “No one’s been able to stop them—until you did. According to legend, only a Valkyrie can defeat another Valkyrie.” He paused and looked me straight in the eye. “That’s why my friends think you’re one too. Because of what you did.”
I stood there in stunned, stone-cold shock.
“Plus, every single boy who’s disappeared was last seen in the company of two or three girls—tall, beautiful girls who make people stop and stare.”
“So naturally they thought of me.”
The eyes he turned to my face were completely devoid of humor. “No, I mean … yes, you’re young, but you fit the description,” he said. “These things weren’t happening here until you came.”
I started to incoherently defend myself, but he interrupted. “Look, I know you’d never do anything to hurt anyone.” He paused, and his fingers brushed my cheek. “But I’m biased. I don’t think I’d care if you did.”
The conversation was cruising right past creepy and taking a hard left into horrifying. “It doesn’t matter,” I said. “It’s not true. Your friends are nuts.” I started to move away, seriously needing to be by myself. Because as the shock of the accusation subsided, I found myself wondering how I had stopped those girls from taking Kjell.
“There’s more,” Kjell said, grabbing my arm again before I could take another step back. “And you need to know this.” His tone warned me I would not like what would come next. “Margit and Sven have, well, joined this group—they’re keeping watch on the bars and sports clubs. Places where people have disappeared. They’re planning to put a stop to this.”
“Like vigilantes?”
“Exactly.”
“Interesting.” A shive
r rocked my spine as I realized where this was headed. “That’s who those guys were. The guys who came to the bar the other night after we left?” The guys who were armed with rifles and fully prepared to use them.
Kjell nodded. “They’ve been watching you.”
“Excuse me?”
“They’ve been watching you.”
“I heard you,” I said, annoyed. “I just wish I hadn’t.” At least now I knew my instincts the day before had been dead-on. Spying on the Overholt household was the new national pastime.
“They think you’re dangerous.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“I know,” he said. “But they’re scared.” He paused, and said the rest in a voice so low, I had to strain my ears to catch it all. “There’ve always been rumors about your grandmother. That she has some sort of powers. Fifty years ago, when she first moved to town, she rescued the crew off a sinking trawler. Most of the town was grateful, but others were suspicious. They said what she did was impossible. And some of them, well, they never let go of their fear, even after she married your grandfather. You heard what Margit said. They think she’s a witch.”
“She’s not,” I said, shaking my head like that would drive away his words.
“I know. I’ve known your grandmother my whole life. But the old people in this town have been saying this. For years. And now, well, other people are suddenly listening. After that incident at the pub in Selje, I’ve heard your name whispered a few times, too.”
A pool of panic was filling in my chest. I wondered what the change fee would be for my ticket home if I just hopped into a taxi and hightailed it to the airport.
The fishing boat’s engines revved as the boat accelerated into the open ocean beyond the mouth of the fjord. “I need to go,” he said, squeezing my arm. “Be careful, Ellie, but don’t worry. I’ll be watching you too.”
Somehow that didn’t make me feel any better.
I was nauseous, and not from the waves, as I walked around to the front of the boat, staggering to keep my balance on the rocking deck. There had to be a place on that stupid trawler where I could be alone. Where I could put my head between my knees and try to stifle the mayhem in my mind.
A burly sailor rounded the corner in front of me. There was resentment in the eyes that met mine. He sped up, gaining momentum before ramming his shoulder into mine. Throwing me into the fire extinguisher lashed to the railing. It would definitely leave a bruise.
“Go back to America.” The words were thick and awkward, like he didn’t speak English but had memorized that phrase just for me. How touching.
As he straightened, moving away, an image flashed across my mind—of how easy it would be to grab the sailor by the arm and flip him over my back. One quick step to the left would be enough to clear the railing, hurling him into the churning water of the sea, where he’d disappear forever.
A wave of anger and aggression washed over me, frightening in its intensity. I did the only thing I could: I turned and walked away, wrapping my arms around myself, like that would stop them from bringing my daydream to life.
My legs were shaking like a colt’s as I made my way toward the bow, hoping I could avoid everyone for the rest of the morning and seriously contemplating heading back to shore in one of the lifeboats.
The boat turned sharply as we passed through the mouth of the fjord and headed south, hugging the coast. Jagged gray cliffs stretched above us, softening into green pastures that lined the bases of the mountains beyond. I grabbed the thick railing along the side of the bridge and used it to pull myself around the corner. And came face-to-face with Tuck.
I could have told him right then. Everything that had happened was on the tip of my tongue and fighting to get out. In my fear and shock, I almost let the words come tumbling out—last night it had seemed like something between us had changed. Maybe he would take me and my crazy-sounding problems seriously.
Until he reminded me exactly how overly protective he and Graham could be.
“You’re getting pretty cozy with Captain Ahab,” Tuck said, proving once and for all he could irritate me on command. Although Kjell had passed him the baton with a hefty head start. “Who needs prom when you can clean fish?”
“For your information, Kjell is in medical school.”
Tucker frowned. He didn’t like that answer one bit.
“For your information, Graham will rip his head off if he tries to play doctor with you.” His face softened just before I would have smacked him for that last comment. “What were you two whispering about, anyway?” he asked. “You looked upset.”
If he was this pushy about someone talking to me, I couldn’t imagine what he’d do if he knew people were blaming me for bizarre crimes I didn’t commit. And that realization was all it took to get my emotions back under control.
I threw a decoy in his path. “Apparently he can’t stop thinking about me.” I kept my tone neutral, not letting Tuck know how disturbed I was by that and everything else Kjell had told me.
“Really?” One eyebrow arched, but the rest of his face was bland, flawlessly indifferent. “After one date? That’s a pretty heavy line, even for a fisherman. But maybe he thinks you’re stupid enough to bite.”
“Not everyone runs around throwing out insincere compliments like you do,” I snapped back. “Maybe he means it.”
“It’s possible,” Tuck said, his voice and expression so controlled he could have been thinking anything. “I think it’s more likely he assumes you’re naive and wants to take advantage of that.”
“Only because that’s how you operate.” I started to turn away. The danger of standing near the side of the boat in choppy water couldn’t compete with my desire to be as far away from everyone as the boat would allow.
“Ells, wait,” Tuck said. His fingers trailed along my wrist, as if that would be enough to stop me. “Don’t be mad. I’m not saying he wouldn’t adore you if he had the chance to get to know you. Is that really what you want? For Kjell to like you? Because just now you seemed freaked—”
But the rest of what he said was drowned out by a loud, metallic grinding. It sounded like the time my mom stripped the transmission in her old station wagon—only ten million times louder. And it was coming from the engine room.
Tuck pulled me out of the way as three crewmen pushed past, running toward the source of the noise.
The boat jerked to one side at a precarious angle. Then it tipped the other way just as quickly, rocking back and forth like a Tilt-A-Whirl. The sudden shifts threw me to the deck. Before I could even wrap my mind around the possibility of what was happening, I was sliding down the deck feetfirst, scrambling to grab on to something, anything. The rain boots and rubber suit were useless on the slick surface of the deck—absolutely zero traction.
At that speed, I’d hit the water with a spectacular splash.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, bracing myself for my grand entrance into the freezing-cold water. But the toe of my boot hit the railing and I pushed off hard, buying myself a few more seconds to think.
I’d barely managed to catch my breath before strong hands slid underneath my arms and pulled me up onto my knees.
“Tuck!” Graham shouted, his voice sounding impossibly far away given how small the boat was. “Get her away from the edge!”
As Tuck helped me to my feet, the boat heaved again, violently rolling onto its other side. But Tuck stood firm and steady, as if the ground beneath our feet weren’t bucking like a rodeo bull. With one arm locked around my shoulders, he took three huge steps forward and grabbed the railing of the bridge, pulling me with him. He pinned me against the wall of the bridge with his body, wrapping his hands around the railing and wedging one foot behind a crate. We were pressed together so tight I could barely breathe.
“What’s going on?” I asked as the metallic grinding gave way to a high-pitched mechanical wail. Three more fisherman ran past at full speed—or as fast as was possible, given the
waves.
“Engine broke down right as we hit a rough patch of water. It’s all part of Captain Ahab’s plan to get in those sexy rubber pants,” Tuck replied, a smile in his voice. “Danger is hot. A daring rescue is even hotter.”
Only Tuck would turn this into a joke.
“But you’re the one who rescued me.” The words were out before I realized the implication.
“Backfired,” Tuck replied. “Poor Ahab.” The screeching engine was so loud, I could barely hear him as he added, “Don’t worry—this is the safest spot on the boat. The most stable.” The words were warm against my cheek, as was the scent of reckless summer radiating from his skin. Up close, Tuck had his own gravitational pull. It tempted me forward until my nose and forehead rested against his throat. I heard his sharp intake of breath, his surprise, but I couldn’t help myself. Even if it meant I wouldn’t be able to look him in the eye when this was all over.
It seemed Tuck’s theory about danger had some merit.
The boat rocked back and forth like a teeter-totter, picking up speed each time. A wave broke over the railing, sending a spray of ice-cold water over our heads, but Tuck held on to the railing with both hands, locking me in place. I looked around for Graham but couldn’t find his face among the running crewmen.
That’s when I smelled the smoke. At the same instant, a deep voice bellowed one of the handful of Norwegian words I knew.
“Fire,” I repeated. “Tuck, there’s a fire. We’ve got to get out of here.” I started to push him away, just as another wave hit us and the boat rocked so hard, I thought it would flip right over.
“Don’t move,” he urged. “We’ll be fine. Promise. I saw lifeboats if it comes to that, but these guys know how to handle emergencies—they’re pros.”
Over Tuck’s shoulder, I finally caught a glimpse of Graham. He was hauling himself one-handed along the railing, struggling against the force of the rocking waves. He had the tarp from one of the lifeboats wrapped in his other arm.
Someone was shouting orders in the distance. After what felt like an eternity of being tossed back and forth and slapped with ice-cold water, the engines roared to life. The boat started to turn, slowly at first, but before long it was facing directly into the waves. While we still bobbed up and down, it wasn’t like it had been before, when the boat was utterly at the mercy of the ocean. The deck just swayed back and forth like a hammock in the breeze, so gently I could have stretched out and taken a nap—if my heart weren’t still thundering to a techno beat.
Valkyrie Rising Page 8
