“What the hell?”
“And that would be Hallur,” Vanir whispered into my hair.
I scrambled off him fast, pulling down the T-shirt when my feet were unsteadily planted on the floor.
Hallur and Ari stared at me as if they’d never seen a girl before. Clearing my throat, I shifted my feet, nerves threatening to send me screaming from the room.
Hallur reached down to squeeze Vanir’s shoulder. “Glad to see you’re okay.” He straightened, narrowed his eyes at me, and his cast scraped the floor as he came to me and grabbed my arms. “What are you?”
Geri and Freak shoved themselves between us, pushing him off balance so fast he fell across the bottom of the bed and hit the anchor with his shoulder. He sat up and both wolves growled, planted in front of me like guards.
“I can explain,” I said quickly, hating the way my voice wavered at the end.
“You’d better. And quickly.” Hallur started to stand, frowned at the wolves when faint rumblings started in the backs of their throats. “You’ve known me most of your lives, so pipe down!”
“Holy crap!”
Ari’s yell made all of us jump. We followed his pointing finger and I gasped when I got a good look at Vanir. He’d sat up, pulled the sheet snugly across his waist, which showed off his chest nicely. But it wasn’t his chest that pulled the noise from me, impressive as it was—no, it was his eyes.
They were glowing a faint, creepy yellow.
Chapter Fifteen
“It’s past midnight—technically his birthday.” Ari stuck out a finger as if he planned to poke his little brother in the eye. Vanir turned the glow toward him and Ari released a nervous chuckle. “Hey, back off, demon boy.”
“He’s not a demon,” I snapped without thinking. “He’s a... a...well, he’s a warrior.” Oh, man.
Ari snorted.
Even I had to laugh. A little from relief that Vanir was alive and breathing, yeah, but I did sound like an idiot.
The warrior thing sounded a lot cooler when used in a prophecy of magic and disaster. Said aloud without context, the word hovered in the air like an unclaimed, silent fart.
Hallur narrowed his eyes at me, still rubbing his shoulder.
I put one freezing foot on top of the other. How to explain? The different ways cycled like a mantra in my head. I still didn’t want to tell them about my mother. Especially now that the killer could be the giant.
“How do you know what he is?” Hallur dropped his hand.
I noticed the cold creeping up my bare legs and under the shirt now that I wasn’t distracted. I snagged a pair of Vanir’s sweatpants out of the pile on the floor and pulled them on. Overly conscious of their gazes on me, I missed with foot number two and hopped a couple of times.
Ari put his hand over his mouth.
I finally got the stupid things on and, of course, they flopped over my feet. I ignored the embarrassment hanging out in a hot knot at the back of my neck. Yeah, it was probably the most awkward moment of my life. Putting on pants. In front of three guys. After straddling one of them on a bed.
“Warmer?” Hallur asked, and when I nodded, he continued. “What exactly do you know about Vanir? What did you mean, he’s a warrior?”
“It’s not so much what he is, but what he carries.”
The tension in the room increased.
I swallowed, clasped my hands to stop their shaking. “Odin had two wolf companions. Freki and Geri. It wasn’t too hard to figure out that Vanir carries the god’s soul.” I glanced at Vanir. His stare usually sent butterflies zinging through my gut, but with the glowing eyes, it felt more like bees—like tiny, hot stinging creatures buzzing around in there. A shiver crept up my back. “I know the old prophecies about the warriors and Ragnarok. I know what this snow means. I told you my ancestors were Norse. And since he’s about to turn eighteen, it’s easy to see something is changing. I think he’s supposed to be in the gloaming grove today. There’s a part of the sayings you might not know about. It says, ‘A young warrior will herald the beginning of Ragnarok.’”
“Question is,” Hallur broke in. “How you know about the grove?” He turned a glare on Vanir.
This struck me as funny. Vanir was nearly as big as Hallur and his eyes were glowing with power—no, it was more than his eyes. I could feel a new energy on my skin like a blistery sunburn. And since it was so new, it was probably as dangerous as one. But Hallur wasn’t the least bit intimidated.
Unless... I wondered if the power reacted to Vanir’s emotions. Those strong emotions he could push into people. That could be bad, actually.
“Vanir hasn’t been giving away family secrets. I asked him about the gloaming grove. Put him on the spot. There’s another reason I recognized Vanir as a soul carrier.” I knelt, rubbed my hand down Freak’s back. “It’s because I have one. I have a goddess’s soul.”
Hallur’s hands tightened into fists, his lips thinned and his neck flushed red. “I knew something was off about you the moment you stepped through that front door.”
“Hey!” Vanir sat up. He held the covers over his lap in a tight fist. “There is nothing off about her. She’s one of us. Or more...” He looked at me. “One like me. I told you I felt something when I touched her.”
“Please!” Hallur limped around and sat next to his brother. “You’re boiling with hormones—don’t think I can’t remember being eighteen. And she’s pretty, so of course you felt something, but that doesn’t mean anything.”
I cleared my throat. “Actually, I think it does. I think I’m supposed to be here—to help him. I don’t know why, I just know it.”
Silence filled the room, thick and uncomfortable.
“Tell them,” Vanir said, his voice low, his eyes thankfully fading back to the normal, dark, chocolaty brown.
Taking a deep breath, I clutched the notebook to my chest. “My sisters and I come from a band of Norseman who traveled north of here. Minnesota. According to legend, most of them were killed in some sort of slaughter, but my ancestors wrote of a plague—one that would return during Ragnarok. And it was said that when the descendants of those who were favored by the gods started awakening with gods’ souls, the time was upon us.”
I swallowed, trying to move some kind of moisture in my dry mouth. Wished they would say something—not just stare.
“My sisters and I share a magic like your aunt’s. Seidr. Only ours leans more toward the divination part than the healing. Past. Present. And future.” I watched their faces. They were probably the only people in the country who would take me at my word. “I’m past. I carry the soul of Urd.”
“She stops time and writes runes,” Vanir added. “I saw—it’s happened twice since she’s been here. Happened just now.” He grinned. “It’s wicked.”
Hallur stood up. Frowned. “And you don’t think you should have shared this with us?”
Vanir shrugged.
“How do you know about the warrior thing?” Ari asked.
I met his eyes. Didn’t answer right away. I couldn’t share the personal prophecy I shared with my sisters. Not yet. “My sisters and I studied a lot of the old writing. I recognized Vanir for what he held right away. Because of the wolves mostly. And I told you—I don’t know how I know, I just do.”
Lame, Raven. So freaking lame.
The seconds stretched. I put one cold foot on top of the other. Thought about grabbing some socks off the floor. Hallur stepped toward me, looked at the wolves. They ignored him. Guess they realized the threat was over.
Hallur studied me another minute before turning to his brother. “You seem okay now. Except for the eye thing—which I sincerely hope doesn’t come back. Do you know what happened?”
Vanir shook his head. Blond, sleep-mussed hair swayed. I curled my fingers into fists. Loved to
uching that hair.
“Bad dreams,” he said. “Like usual. Only this time, I guess they were a little more real. I mostly remember not being able to breathe. Oh, and waking up to Raven breathing for me.” He shot me a grin.
Hallur rolled his eyes. “Yeah, you’re fine.”
“If I am, then why did Ari call me demon boy?”
Ari smirked and threw a pair of shorts at Vanir. “Your eyes were glowing like a cat’s in the dark.”
Vanir bunched the shorts up in his hand. “Seriously? I don’t feel different. Maybe it was some kind of leftover residue from the bad dreams.”
“Those were no bad dreams,” I said. “Well, they were, but someone was causing them.” I didn’t think the glowing eyes came from the dreams. I think they came from Odin. Maybe the turning they all talked about was more like a takeover. Like I’d expected with my norn. I shivered with the thought.
“Someone get Raven one of my sweatshirts. Or a blanket.”
“How about I leave the room so you can get dressed?” I started to walk to the door, but the wolves growled and, along with their noise, a peal of thunder rolled across the sky, loud, angry. I glanced at the windows in time to see lightning rip the night sky in two.
“Great.” Ari frowned. “Thundersnow.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “Thundersnow?”
“Yeah, rare, but they happen. This is weird.”
“And snow in May isn’t?” I smiled.
“Got me there.”
We all jumped when the phone rang.
Ari picked it up but didn’t speak into it, just handed it to me. “I’m sure it’s your sister.”
I took the phone, thankful for the diversion. “He’s okay,” I said into the receiver. “I figured out what to do.”
“Oh, good,” Coral answered before letting out a deep breath. “Can they hear me still?”
“Probably.”
“Darn it.” She lowered her voice until I had to strain to hear her. “I don’t think Mom is there, Raven.”
“You don’t?” I turned from the brothers. “Why?”
“Because I found the other warrior and someone has already tried to take him out.”
Take him out? That didn’t sound like Coral-speak. There was a clatter, like a chair falling over in the background, then several hushed, male voices. “Gods, Coral! How many people are staying there?”
“Three besides me. Raven, haven’t you been watching the news? We don’t have electricity because the wave took out the power plant—not to mention Grim and Josh’s house.”
“Wave? Grim? Josh?” Oh! The goat boys she told me about. And speaking of sharing, I was dying to tell her about the rune tempus but not while Hallur and Ari were standing here. “Wait, if you don’t have power, how are you using the phone?”
“I’m not using a cordless phone. Grim found one of those old corded office phones in a pawn shop.”
“I’m so confused.”
“Look, I know. So am I. But listen. If someone is hurting your Vanir and my Taran, then...” She faded out as if suddenly remembering Vanir’s brothers might be able to hear.
“Your Taran?”
“Raven!”
“But—” I broke off. I wanted to say I’d smelled the lavender, that I’d thought I’d spotted Mom in her old, red coat in a Walmart parking lot, but I couldn’t. Every McConnell ear was turned my way.
“Believe me, I know her magic. She’s here,” Coral whispered. I was listening so hard to her low voice, her sudden loud, exasperated sigh hurt my ears. I heard another clatter, then she rushed off with a “I gotta go!”
I replaced the phone and rubbed my fingers on my temples. That was the weirdest, most annoying conversation. Ever.
“Is your sister okay?”
I jerked around, my gaze instantly traveling down his body when I realized it was Vanir. He’d snuck on the red shorts. I still went hot when I caught the amusement riding on that concerned question. He’d caught my perusal.
“I guess she’s fine. She had other people in the house. Can’t believe I didn’t think to watch the news. She told me about a giant wave earlier.”
“That’s right!” Ari slapped his forehead. “You told us where you’re from! I should have thought of that. I’m glad she’s okay. Florida was hit with a massive tidal wave this afternoon. Flooded—” He broke off, went pale and slumped to the bed. “The bottom part of the state. And there were storm surges all over.”
“The earth will sink into the ocean.” I whispered the next prediction of Ragnarok. Twisting my hands together, I held my breath as a hot ball of panic flared in my chest, made breathing suddenly difficult. “Sinking earth. Midgard. But...what happened to the three years of winter first?”
“Maybe the translations were off. Or the predictions. Who knows?” Hallur settled next to Ari. “But this is fast. Too fast.”
Vanir tugged a T-shirt over his head, faced his brothers. “I have to be in that grove at sunset tonight. In the gloaming.”
Hallur stood immediately. “No.”
Ari moved to stand with him. “Gotta admit, I don’t think that’s the best idea. Not with Mom’s warning and a giant woman running around out there.”
Vanir snorted. “Please. If she’s after me, what’s to stop her from coming here? She could bust through the walls if she wanted. I’m not going to be safe anywhere else if you think about it. Look at tonight. Someone got to me without even being in the house.” He held his hand behind him and I instinctively slipped my fingers between his.
He continued. “Something doesn’t want me to get to that grove tonight. Steven, Dan...their deaths were supposed to have been mine. Whoever is looking for me only knows my coloring.”
“Or did,” Hallur pointed out. “Obviously that changed, considering you were just attacked in your sleep.”
“You know I have no choice,” Vanir continued. “Maybe Mom’s understanding of the prophecies was off. Who knows?”
“What do you know about the grove?” I asked them.
“That it’s sacred, a place of magic and healing.” Hallur said. “That our family is supposed to keep it secret until—” he glanced at Vanir, smirked “—warriors carrying gods’ souls herald the beginning of Ragnarok.”
His hand to the death of a norn.
I didn’t share that part of my family’s prophecy. Supposedly, it had been given only to my mother. Plus, it occurred to me the fated norn could still be me.
Chapter Sixteen
A shelf of snow-covered branches from leafless trees filled the view from the parking lot of the Heavener Runestone area.
We’d all gone back to bed that morning, but I doubted anyone had slept much. After a late breakfast, Vanir had placed his finger over his lips and pulled me silently from the house. Hallur came limp-running through the front door as we peeled out of their driveway.
They didn’t want Vanir away from them.
But he and I both knew he wasn’t safe anywhere. Not with magic in play.
My eyes burned from exhaustion. Unease rested heavy in my gut, eating my stomach raw. Though he didn’t say, I knew Vanir had brought me here to see the stone because he believed he wouldn’t last the night. Lifting my face, I closed my eyes and let the snow melt on my cheeks. I wanted to scream.
“I always get the urge to yell, ‘I can see my house from here!’ when I stand here.” Vanir stood tall on an outcropping of rock, his blond hair whipping about his head because he hadn’t bothered to grab two hats. He’d pulled his own over my head. “Of course, I can’t really see my house.”
The view stole my breath, the valley below deep and sparkling white in every direction.
Odin had loved to sit high in his chair and look down at the world. Vanir liked trees, wanted to fly.... I looked past h
im to the drop-off, the land that stretched out for miles.
Vanir was already changing. Power radiated off him in tingly, electric waves.
He turned, smiled at me, and the warmth in his eyes twisted me all up. I was completely attached. Didn’t matter, though. He wouldn’t return my feelings long. Even if we managed to survive the night, he’d hate me once he learned I might have known who murdered his friends.
The little bit of sleep I’d gotten had cleared my head enough to make me realize the giant couldn’t be responsible for two of those deaths. Vanir was right about the night Steven died. The woods had been as quiet as death. And I hadn’t imagined the lavender scent. But it made no sense because Coral had said Mom was there. She couldn’t be in two places at once.
Shame burned steady inside my chest. I should tell him. But I was selfish—wanted this last day with him. I held up the cell phone he’d let me borrow. “I’m going to call my sister now. Give her your number so she can reach me.”
He nodded and turned back to the view. I dialed Kat.
“It’s freaking weird seeing the word Vanir in my caller ID,” Kat said without even a hello. “Didn’t his Norse mama know that Odin was actually a part of the Aesir?”
“Kat, what if I’d let Vanir call you?” His name did carry a certain irony. The Aesir were the main gods who lived in Asgard—the highest level of the Norse nine worlds. The Vanir were the other gods—the ones always at war with the Aesir.
She snorted. “Then he’d answer my question.”
I frowned. Her voice sounded a little shaky. “Are you okay?”
“Honestly?” She sighed. “No. Been a bad, bad couple of days. Dru here, by the way.”
I’d started to pace, but stopped. Shivered when the wind picked up. I turned to cradle the phone out of it. “That’s impossible. I thought she was here and Coral swears she’s there.”
“I can’t explain it yet, but she is. I heard her voice. And if we thought she’d been acting crazy before, it’s nothing compared to now. She’s set up a wicked little alliance with a real, certifiable pyromaniac. His name...wait for it...is Sutter.”
Foretold Page 15
