Prophecy

by Julie Anne Lindsey

  I spun in the mud and cursed him before regaining composure.

  “Sorry.”

  A crow cawed in the distance, flapping his heavy wings overhead.

  “Let’s get inside.” Liam took my elbow and led me out of the corn. Chester trotted behind.

  Every step closer to the oversized door of Hale Manor killed me. A million campfire stories warned me away. I’d begged local kids not to do what I was about to do. My feet turned to cement on the porch. Surely I had a solid reason to stay outside.

  “What’s wrong?” Liam stopped with one hand on the doorknob.

  “You have no idea how much this place scares me.”

  He looked around. “Callie, I’m not sure I understood your text, but assuming I did, this house is the safest place for you.” Liam shoved the door wide and Chester bolted inside, pulling the leash from my hand.

  “Chester!” I reached into the air. “Ugh.”

  “Come on. They’re waiting.” Liam tugged me inside and shut the door. “Open your eyes.”

  I peeked one lid open. Where had all the bravado I’d had a few minutes ago gone? Where was my insane sense of purpose now?

  “Callie.” Liam bent to my eye level. “Should you sit? Can I get you some water?”

  The manor was as I’d expected. Creepy. A sweeping stairway wound upward to the chandelier where I pictured his great-grandmother swinging. Deep mahogany wood lined everything in sight. Light filtered weakly through thick drapes on every window. Oil lamps protruded from the walls like sconces and nothing in sight came from this century.

  “Chester?” The clickety sound of his nails echoed into the recesses of Liam’s home and disappeared.

  “He’s with Mason. Can you walk?”

  The insult cut through my fear. “Of course I can walk.”

  Liam’s eyes twinkled. He pressed his lips to mine. “Good.”

  This kiss broke my haze. Last night wasn’t a dream. I followed him through the foyer and into a kitchen my home could fit inside. White tiles lined the floor and walls to waist level. The room was the opposite of all the rooms we’d passed through. Every kitchen appliance looked new and smarter than my phone. The giant steel refrigerator had a touch screen on one door.

  “Whoa.” I trailed a hand over the marble island. “This is phenomenal.”

  “Make yourself at home.” Liam’s mother appeared in an apron. Her hair was back in a low chignon and beneath the apron was a silk blouse and Chinos. “I’m sorry for leaving your home in such a hurry the other day.” Her feet were bare and she looked years younger than she had in the suit and heels she wore when she visited my home. Lines formed between her thin brows. “Time is different here. I lose track easily.”

  I nodded. Time differences were rough, I supposed. I’d heard of jet lag after crossing time zones in a plane.

  She smiled sweetly. “We catch up on the day’s events at dinner. I nearly missed it. I hope your mother wasn’t offended.”

  “Not at all.” I folded and unfolded my hands on the island, remembering Victoria’s strange behavior that day.

  “What is it?”

  My face always gave me away. The eyes don’t lie. I pulled in a quick breath. “I watched you walk home.”

  She leaned against the counter, eyes twinkling with mischief. “You were afraid I’d get lost?”

  A blush burned my cheeks. Right. Stalk much, Callie? I pressed ahead before I changed my mind. “You stopped on the sidewalk before going inside. What happened?”

  Victoria lifted her attention to Liam. “I thought I saw something on the roof.”

  The roof? What on earth could be on the roof? “Like?”

  “Ravens.”

  I smiled. “The cornfield draws them in. You’ll get used to them. I saw two the size of Volkswagens outside Roll With It the other night.”

  The room grew still for a long beat. They really must not like crows.

  Victoria straightened her stance. “Liam told us you remembered something from last night?”

  I climbed onto a stool at the island and steadied myself.

  “What do you remember?” Oliver’s voice drew my attention. The man I’d seen on their porch and in the car, Mason, stood with him in the arching doorway to the kitchen. Chester sat at their feet.

  Liam nodded.

  I wasn’t sure what I was allowed to know. What he’d told me seemed like a secret. “I saw Liam and Tony in the woods.”

  All eyes turned to Liam. His eyebrows dipped together, confusion spread over his features. He looked to his mother. “I told her to forget.”

  “Victoria?” Mason moved to her side. Chester flopped at his feet. Traitor. “What does this mean?”

  “I’m not sure.” She turned her careful gaze on me. Her expression was far lighter than the others who looked as if I might explode. “You see the runes?”

  “Yes.”

  Liam had told.

  “Impossible.” Oliver moved closer to me, taking a seat across the island. He grabbed an apple from a giant bowl between us and bit. “People can’t see them.”

  “I do.”

  Mason kept his eyes on Liam. “Impossible.”

  “What does it mean?” I asked Victoria.

  Her sweet smile comforted me. “Well, I don’t know. I think it means you’re special.”

  “Like you?” I bit back the comment a moment too late. Of course I wasn’t like them. Obviously. I’d only learned they existed a few hours ago.

  “Women aren’t Vikings,” Oliver scoffed. The implication sent prickles over my skin. Excuse me, but I’d make a kick ass Viking.

  “Historically, he’s right,” Victoria confirmed.

  I focused on Liam before I lost my nerve. “I saw what happened to Tony.”

  “What do you remember?”

  “I saw you fight.” Shirtless and all beefed up. “You killed him.” Cut his head off with a sword of lightning or something equally unbelievable.

  Oliver lifted both hands in the air, exasperation on his face. “Careless.”

  Liam’s gaze drifted over me. “I told her to forget.”

  He had. I’d even called him on it. I squinted at Liam. He’d tricked me.

  “Did you really?” Oliver buttered the final word.

  “Yes. Really. Why wouldn’t I? Of course I did, Oliver, don’t be daft.”

  “Don’t be angry, Liam. After what we talked about…” Victoria hummed a familiar tune and turned to the stove a moment before it buzzed. “Popovers. Who’s hungry? Oh, I miss baking so much.”

  My head spun. My mom would never make popovers. They were filled with refined sugars and processed flour and other magnificent things. The oven door opened, filling the kitchen with scents of baked apples and cinnamon and salted butter. My mouth watered.

  They smelled delicious, but my questions multiplied with every answer. Victoria slid a popover onto a plate and pushed it in front of me. I leaned back.

  “It’s not poisoned, for goodness sakes,” she chided.

  I focused on Liam. “Why’d you tell me to forget? You can’t do that to people. It’s not right. Do you guys make the whole town forget you were here every time you come? Is that why people think this place is haunted? Besides…you know…all the deaths.”

  “Humans.” Oliver smiled. Finished with his apple, he dragged my plate to him and dug into my popover.

  “Hey.” I glared across the island. I hadn’t decided about eating it yet.

  “You didn’t want it.” Flakes of crust puffed out of his mouth as he spoke.

  “Can we do that?” Mason asked. “Make the whole town forget?”

  “No.” Victoria dished another popover and slid it in front of me. “Ordering you to forget is a gift. Humans have a hard time dealing with the perceived tragedies in their own lives. Imagine witnessing battles like ours all the time. You’d all be in psychotherapy. The whole lot of you.”

  A humorless laugh
escaped me. “I went to therapy for years. Don’t knock it.”

  The popover broke my concentration. I leaned over it, inhaling the aroma. A fork appeared beside my plate. Liam’s fingers grazed my hand as he left the utensil for me.

  I pressed the side of the fork tines into the popover, separating a bite from the rest. “I suppose all the deaths here were coincidence?”

  The last bits of my first popover clung to Oliver’s chin. “Yes. Signs of the times, really. Lack of resources, technology, and adequate medical attention.”

  “Wipe your mouth, Oliver,” Victoria tossed a napkin his way and huffed. “Men are animals.”

  “We’re Vikings.” Oliver’s eyes flashed green as he spoke. Pride filled the words.

  Their attention turned to me, perhaps gauging my response. My wheels turned on overdrive, organizing my questions and processing new details.

  “What happened to Tony? After you, you know.”

  Liam touched my cheek. “He died in battle. I believe he went to Valhalla, where true warriors assemble in the After.”

  “Oh. I meant, you know… He’s not lying in the trees near Justin’s house. Right?”

  “I picked up the pieces and buried them,” Oliver smiled. He waved his hands in front of his face like a magician. “I make things disappear.” Worst magician ever.

  “Okay. Good.” I held up a finger before anyone changed the subject again. I could barely keep up with all the information and didn’t know when they’d be so forthright again. “Do you have to…” I moved a finger across my throat. “Do they have to die like that? Like Highlanders? Or can you kill them other ways? Do you have to use the Jedi light saber thingy?”

  Liam chuckled.

  Oliver’s head hit the counter with a groan, “Highlanders. Light saber thingies. This is why women aren’t Vikings,” his muffled voice whispered over the counter. He waved a hand over his head in my direction.

  I swallowed a bite of popover. “Is it hard to kill them? Emotionally? You’re all related, right? You’re like ancient cousins.”

  “No more than you and Allison are cousins,” Oliver corrected. “We began with three brothers, but that was many generations ago. The bloodlines were varied and numerous, like your Adam and Eve. The human race began there, but you wouldn’t say you’re related.”

  I let his words sit a while. His analogy hit home. I’d spent my share of time in Sunday School. We were all related. Ew.

  “I’m not a Viking, but I can see your runes and I can remember when you don’t want me to, which I assume is unusual, and I can see your eyes when they go green. Why do they do that and are you sure I’m not the first woman Viking?”

  “Only one way to be sure.” Oliver twirled his fork in one hand.

  I tensed, half expecting him to throw it at me and test my reflexes.

  “Stop.” Liam spoke and the kitchen fell silent.

  Victoria cleared her throat. “Their eyes flash when their senses become heightened, when their urges surface.” She always said “they” or “them.” There were no women Vikings. What was she? Why did she know all of this? Mason stood close to her side. Were they together?

  “What sort of urges?” How many times had I seen the odd flash of green in Liam’s eyes? I scrambled for a link between the instances.

  Victoria smiled. “Inclinations might be a better word choice than urges. I’m sure Liam explained a bit about his kind. They’re sons of powerful forces. They crave battle. Satisfying these primal needs makes them strong. Vikings must compete, conquer, and be victorious.” She bobbed her head, as if I missed an inside joke.

  Liam rubbed my shoulder in a reassuring gesture. “It’s not always a bad thing. We often appear different when we’re eager, irritated, proud, or…”

  “Pissed,” Oliver inserted. “When we’re jealous, too.”

  “Like when you want to fight,” I said.

  “Yeah, or f—” Oliver disappeared. His chair had flipped over.

  Mason nodded to Victoria. “She made me do it.” He extended a hand and helped Oliver up.

  Victoria stripped off her apron. “Mind your manners and watch your language. You’re not at sea.”

  “You go out to sea?” I was thankful for a subject change. Oliver had told me more than I wanted to know in the last second he was upright. Green eyes meant lots of things. Got it.

  Liam leaned against the back of my chair and played with my hair. “We haven’t been at sea in a very long time. These last few years we’ve moved continuously in search of new Vikings. We never linger. Staying is too risky and our clan is too few.”

  The sorrow in his words pierced my heart and I turned my face, placing a cheek against his chest. He wrapped protective arms around me.

  Victoria sighed.

  I understood what it was like to lose a loved one. My biological mother had come into the hospital the day I was born. She was in labor and she didn’t want me. She’d begged my mom to deliver me and keep me. Bio Mom didn’t want to meet me, hold me, see me. Nothing. If the Ingrams hadn’t struggled to conceive for six years before she’d appeared, and spent their entire savings on fertility treatments, I liked to think she would’ve reconsidered. She didn’t. Mom was weak with desperation for a child and she’d agreed to do the unthinkable. She’d taken the woman home at the end of her shift and delivered me in her bed.

  I batted tears from my eyes as Liam stroked my hair.

  “You see,” Victoria pressed her palm to my exposed cheek. “This is why we protect you. This is why they tell you to forget.”

  “It’s not you,” I assured her. “I lost someone, too.”

  “I’m so sorry.” Victoria sounded heartbroken.

  After a minute, I posed the next most important question. “Oliver asked Liam if he really told me to forget. He sounded like he didn’t believe Liam. Why? You said you talked about something with him? What did you mean?”

  Liam tightened his arms over my chest, but I pushed free.

  “Come on. You’ve told me all this. What’s left to hide?”

  They looked at one another. Mostly at Liam.

  I slid off the stool and craned my head back to look in Liam’s eyes. “You need to be honest with me. I won’t tolerate lies.”

  Oliver snorted and chuckled.

  I ignored him. My dad had lied. Kirk had lied.

  “It’s not important.” Liam’s voice lowered an octave, reminding me of the way he’d spoken to Tony in the woods.

  “It is important to me.”

  Liam pushed on the small of my back. “I think this is enough history for today. I’ll walk you home.”

  “What?” I gripped the island. “Wait. What about Kristy?” I’d almost forgotten why I’d come over. “Who do you think killed her? My mom says two other girls were killed this month. They were from other towns, but both attended the same community college. Wells.”

  Oliver’s laughter ceased. “Allison attends Wells.”

  “Yes. And Tony and Adam.”

  “Oh dear.” Victoria sat on a stool beside Oliver. “How many are in town from Tony’s clan? Do we know if they’re Stians?”

  Liam slid his hand down my arm to link our fingers. The simple gesture calmed me. “Aside from Tony, I’ve only seen the one they call Adam, but Tony had to answer to someone. I didn’t get the feeling Adam was his superior.” He spoke to Victoria without looking away from me. “We can only assume this was a Stian considering he’d attack a human girl. Their clan is always looking for a power fix. Greedy, repulsive lot.” His breathing became deep, as if he worked to conceal his temper. “Who else would do this? There’s something else. He may have followed Callie because she was claimed.”

  “Hey.” I shot Liam a pointed stare. “Excuse me? Claimed?”

  “Associated,” he self-edited. “With me.”

  “I don’t think…” More pieces snapped into place. “Wait. You came to the diner the night Tony and Adam were ther
e. The only time they were ever there. You followed them.” I poked a finger into Liam’s chest.

  “It’s my job. Only, I expected to find a new Viking, not two evil ones. It was a matter of luck and their utter distraction with you and Allison that kept them from identifying me right then.”

  “But you think he saw us talking and came for me because of you? So, he did recognize you.”

  “I think he was clearly drawn to you when I saw him at the diner. If you’re right and he did identify me that night, it’s possible our association made the attraction sweeter. I’m certain he knew who I was when I arrived at Justin’s party. It seems we aren’t the only ones performing reconnaissance.”

  I sucked air. “A girl from my class died last night. She got beat up after she went to a party in the cemetery here last week. Now…” I trailed off, unable to state the horrible truth again. “Now, she’s gone. It happened again, but this time she didn’t survive. He killed Kristy because she was with you at the party. He followed you like you followed him. She got away before because you intervened.”

  “That was me, actually.” Oliver looked pleased with himself. “I got between them, and got her to the hospital. I made sure she forgot the attack and went to join my brothers. These two”—he motioned to Liam and Mason—“lost the trail. It happens. We aren’t what we used to be.”

  Liam was in danger. Weak. Outnumbered. The other Vikings had known he was here all along. “What if they’ve come to finish what they started? They could’ve followed you guys here. You have to go.” My voice hitched in a childish way.

  Liam squeezed my fingers. “I can’t.”

  “Not now.” Oliver rolled his eyes. “This is why we don’t get involved.” He motioned between Liam and me.

  Victoria rested a hand on his shoulder. “Love strengthens you, Oliver.”

  “And it gets them killed.” Liam snapped. I assumed by “them” he meant the women they loved.

  “You mean they take your loved ones to punish you?”

  “They take because they are Vikings and they take what matters most to show their power. They want to be victorious and make themselves known as conquerors.” Liam pressed his arm against my side, forcing me to take a step away. His hand heated in mine and his arm doubled in size. His chest widened to gladiator proportions.