Foretold (8 page)

“A lot, actually. But I want to hear what that was from you. And don’t give me some story—I’ll know.”

I crossed my arms. “So, what, you think I’m going to lie to you now?” Okay, in a way, I was. But not outright. It was an omission thing and that was a gray area still. I hoped.

He sighed and leaned against the wall next to the window. Moonlight streaked his hair, making it look silvery in the light. “I don’t know what to believe at this point. But your arrival here is kind of strange. Especially with all we have in common with our ancestors. My father was Choctaw and Irish. You look like you have something similar.”

“Arapaho.”

“Most people would be shocked to know about the Vikings who settled so much farther south than everyone thought.”

“My family is from the north. In Minnesota.”

“Really.” He was silent a few moments, frowning the whole time. “Minnesota would explain a few things,” he murmured more to himself. “So tell me about that thing. You really stopped time. How?”

Turning so my face was out of the light, I looked at the shadows on the floor. “My sisters and I have trance magic—seidr magic. We make predictions or in my case reveal useless crap that happened in the past. I say useless because it’s always too late to change anything.”

“I don’t know. Could be useful when you need answers. You and your sisters are like the sisters of fate.”

I nodded. “I know, it’s weird.”

His chuckle eased the tension. “Not so much.”

I thought of the wolves, of his aunt and her mix of medicine and magic...of the strange comfort that seeped through his touch. “I guess not.”

“So what do you think that meant earlier? ‘In violence conceived’?” he asked.

“I have no idea and I’m not sure I want to.”

He was silent a moment, then leaned closer. “Do you think it’s about you?”

“If it is, then it’s about me and my sisters. We’re triplets.”

His teeth sparkled white in the moonlight as he grinned. “You mean there are two more just like you running around out there?”

“Yeah. The only real difference is our hair.” I shrugged. “And our personalities. Coral, the middle sister, is pretty laid-back unless she gets really ticked off. Then watch out. Kat, the youngest, is pretty much the opposite.”

He laughed. “People need to watch out for her all the time unless she’s mad?”

I pursed my lips, lifted my eyebrows, then nodded with an answering smile.

“So where does that put you?”

“I’m the boring, responsible oldest. I don’t have time for moods.”

“Funny.” His tone said he didn’t believe that for a second. But then his expression went flat, his gaze turned serious. “Raven, when I first came into the bathroom downstairs, you looked—” He broke off when there was a muffled crash down the hall. Vanir quickly pulled away from the wall and put his hands on my shoulders. The guy did like to touch. Heat crawled through my gut.

“Hey,” he continued. “I’m sorry your car went into the river. I’m sorry to meet you during all this—the weather, my friend...” He trailed off and I knew he thought of Steven.

“I’m so sorry about that.”

He cut me off, cupped my face again. “
I
wasn’t done apologizing.”

“Okay,” I whispered, surprised. He had nothing to apologize for.

“I’m sorry you came at such a bad time, but I’m not sorry I met you.”

Any chance at saying something intelligent took flight. I got the feeling he was looking beyond the scratches at my thin face, my overly large eyes—maybe even looking beyond my face altogether to what lay beneath.

I just hoped he missed that black, yawning chasm of guilt.

“You should probably go back before Hallur figures out where you are. You can explain the runes tomorrow.” He let go and stepped back, his words still a breath of sound. “I just needed to see that you were okay after you nearly hit the floor.”

There was a sudden thump, thump, thump in the hallway and I froze. Sheesh, we weren’t doing anything, yet my heart pounded like I’d been caught with my pants down and scorching fire burned my cheeks. The door slammed open.

“I had a feeling.” Shaking his head, Hallur leaned in the doorway, and even in the near-dark I could the sheen of perspiration on his face. “She should be in bed. Her own. I only let her go so she could use the restroom. Did you even give her time to do that?”

Vanir let go of me, crossed his arms. “Didn’t think I’d have much time before you came thumping after her.”

Another dark head popped around the corner as Ari joined Hallur in the hallway. “Did the boy sneak her into his room?”

“The boy?” Vanir growled, and started across the floor.

Hallur laughed. “You’re three years older, Ari. You’re both boys. Go back to bed.”

Ari’s chuckle faded as he complied. Vanir reached his brother and draped one of Hallur’s arms over his shoulders. “Come on, I’ll help you back. Or I can help you to your room and take the next shift.”

“Yeah, right.”

I cleared my throat. “If you guys don’t care, I’m going back through there. I want another glass of water.” And a shower, I was thinking, but that would have to wait.

Hallur nodded, but Vanir’s wink had me grinning back at him before I opened the door. We’d left the light on and one look at my dirt-encrusted hair and scratchy, red face had me shaking my head. I had to have imagined the warmth in his stare.

Had to have.

Chapter Seven

The next morning, the abrupt silence yanked me from a nightmare. I scrambled out of the covers until my back slammed against the headboard. Morning light filled the room and I scanned the corners, sniffed for smoke. Looked for fire. Luckily, I was alone.

It was just a nightmare
, I reassured myself.
Kat is okay.

Tremors shook my hands and I fisted them in the blue-and-white-striped comforter before burying my face in it. The faint scent of lemon chased away the lingering odor of smoldering hair.

Kat had been hanging upside down from a branch in a giant tree
,
one sheltering the world
,
the Yggdrasil.

The Norse believed Yggdrasil was at the center of everything—it gave life. At the end of my bad dream, the ash was burning to the ground with my sister in it. She hadn’t been alone.

It could be nothing. Just a bad dream. Or this could have been a part of our weird triplet connection. It felt like something that was going to happen and my abilities had nothing to do with the future usually. But I had to know—had to check on her.

Pulling the covers from my face, I glanced at the nightstand and found one of those old-fashioned, curly corded office phones. Since I couldn’t call Kat’s cell phone collect, I went ahead and punched in the number. I could give the McConnells the cash.

The phone rang a long time. She didn’t pick up, so I called again. This time it took three rings. “Yeah?” she yelled into the phone.

In the background, I heard the slowing of a big rig’s air brakes. Closing my eyes, I sucked in a deep breath before answering because all I could see were the images from the dream.

Kat in that massive
,
gnarly branched tree.

That...that thing hovering over her.
Some kind of fire demon.

Red
,
peeling burns covering her skin and her hair...
Her long hair had been burned to her scalp.

I blinked away the horrifying images.

“Hello!” Kat yelled into the phone. “If you don’t answer, I’m hanging up. Who the hell is this?”

“Raven.”

“Gods, Raven! You’re lucky I answered. It’s freaking noisy here and I didn’t recognize the number. Where are you?”

“Oklahoma. I found him. Found Vanir McConnell.”

“I know. Coral told me.” There was a muffled curse and then a string of clattering thumps. She yelled, “I dropped the stupid phone! Just hold on while I find a parking space away from these loud trucks!”

I waited, looked out the window and realized why everything was silent. That loud, heavy driving precipitation had stopped, but white insulated the morning world. Trees, the two trucks by a detached garage—everything—had a layer of sparkling snow. There were drifts taller than me in places. As I stared, something dark skulked among the trees. Vanir’s wolves.

“I’m back,” Kat breathed into the phone. “Where have you been? I called you, like, five times last night and Coral is totally freaked. You’d better call her right away if you haven’t already.”

“I will. I don’t have my phone. Might have lost it.” I held my breath for a second, not sure how to tell her what had happened.

“You’d better find it, or pick up another somewhere because we have to stay in touch. I’m in Wyoming already and holy goddess
crap
it’s cold up here.”

“I expected it to take you longer. It took me forever to get here and Oklahoma is closer.” Yeah, me stalling. Nothing new there.

“Me? You’ve already found your
warrior.
Coral told me
.
” She snorted. “How?”

“I crashed into a river. He helped me out.”

This time, her silence wasn’t from dropping a phone. Strong, bordering on violent emotion trickled through the phone lines. Kat might have the temper of a badger but her ability to love, her loyalty to those she loved, was scary fierce.

“I’m okay,” I hurriedly added. “The car is in a river and will have to be towed, fixed—hopefully. I don’t even want to think about how much of my savings that will suck up. But I came out with only a lump on my head. Vanir’s aunt is a doctor and she stuck around to make sure I was fine. And get this, Kat, she has seidr. Big-time. And her name is Sarah Eir.”

“No shit.” She was silent then until a loud engine rumbled past on her end. “Wait, you met a doctor with seidr magic and her name is Eir? Like the healing goddess? That’s whacked.”

Shivering, I pulled the covers tighter around my neck, cocooned myself underneath. “It’s not only her. Vanir has brothers, all with Norse names and they look like their Choctaw-Irish father. And everyone here knows what’s going on, I just know it. This whole situation is too surreal, Kat. We’ve spent all our lives hiding our magic, knowing others don’t even know about it, and I walk into a family who knows things. Even the sheriff, I think. It’s liked I marched right into a book.”

“Sounds like it’s all coming together. Ragnarok. Just like the stories.” She went quiet.

I got why. Coral believed wholeheartedly and while I did some—I mean, we were all living proof there was more to reality—Kat had shrugged off everything but what she personally experienced. The bunch of bunk as she called the stories that had been schooled into us. Our mother’s constant fear had been drilled into us. Mom had been told outright that one of us would die. And though we didn’t believe it, at the same time, now that all the rest was happening...

“I still can’t believe this is happening,” Kat said on a groan.

I nodded, though she couldn’t see me. “Kat, I’m really nervous about the aunt. She’s going to know what’s going on.”

“What do you mean? That our possibly crazy mother might be there? That she might scare your Vanir? Probably not a good idea to share. Just stay low. See if you can find Dru. But first, let’s back up just a sec.” She drew out the last word. “You said Vanir’s name with a
lot
of familiarity for just having met him last night.”

I started to run my fingers through my hair, then remembered the tangles...and the bump that throbbed underneath. I’d kill for a shower. “No, I didn’t. I said his name in a normal voice.” The heat in my cheeks disagreed. “Gods, Kat. That’s not important right now. You wouldn’t believe what...” I stopped, swallowed.
How the hell do I tell my sister about my suspicions?
Kat and Mom had never been close, but she was still our mother—no matter how rocky their relationship. I held my breath.

Too long by the way Kat released a dramatically loud sigh. “I wouldn’t believe...” she prompted.

“It’s bad, Kat. Mom’s here.”

“Coral didn’t tell me that. How do you know?”

And like that, all the grief from last night came crashing back into my chest like a tidal wave. The tears I’d managed to hold back spilled and a moan escaped my throat before I could stop it.

“Raven?” Fear and concern raised Kat’s voice.

I was probably freaking her out. I never lost it. Well, hardly never. I had in Mom’s room a week ago. In front of Kat unfortunately. But I couldn’t stop the emotion this time. Maybe it was the relief of knowing Kat was okay after that bad dream, maybe it was just the full-on acceptance that our mother had crossed the line. Maybe it was the terror I’d been holding back over the very real end of the world that was happening right at this very moment.

And that boy, Steven—it was just so wrong.

“Hold on,” I whispered on a sob. Setting the phone down, I tiptoed to the door and opened it as quietly as possible to make sure no one was in the hall. Seeing it was clear, I got back under the covers, shivering, trying to hold in the tears.

“Raven! What is it? Hey, talk to me!”

“I think she killed a boy, Kat,” I whispered before rushing in with the story starting with Vanir and the wolves and ending with being questioned by the sheriff. Kat was quiet throughout.

“I can’t believe that,” she said when I was done. I had to strain to hear her.

I closed my eyes. “I don’t know for sure, but there wasn’t a mark on him and it looked like he was killed with magic. Plus, I smelled the lavender.”

A truck engine sounded on her end. Kat stayed silent, even when it stopped.

“Kat?”

I heard her deep, shaky breath. “You know I’ve stayed mad at her, that I’ve always thought she was kind of loopy, but this? It doesn’t make sense. I don’t understand.” She made a pained sound. “Oh, gods...Coral! This will kill Coral.”

“She won’t believe it.” A cabinet slammed downstairs. I lowered my voice. “I have to find Mom, Kat.”

“Argh! No. You don’t. If she’s already crossed the line, you have to tell them! Why do you feel this need to protect her? I don’t get it! Look at how we grew up! All I ever wanted was a normal life and she made sure that didn’t happen. You should have just told them the truth last night. She’s
killed
someone, Raven.”

“We don’t know that for sure. And I have to be absolutely sure. Have to give her that. Anyway, have you been paying attention on your trip? On mine, nuts were coming out of the woodwork. It’s snowing at the equator, Kat! People are scared! We don’t know the situation here. What if this was something else?”

“You sounded pretty certain a minute ago, Raven.”

I clutched the phone tight. A part of me agreed with her. Wanted to turn Mom in and not be the host for this massive guilt. But I couldn’t. Not just yet. “My
rune tempus
hit last night and the runes said ‘in violence conceived.’ What do you think that means?”

Again, there was silence on her end of the phone. From her, anyway. In the background I heard several engines.

“I think my norn is trying to tell me something about our birth,” I added.

“No,” she said, voice low. “No. Dru doesn’t hold back. Innocent childhood isn’t a sacred thing in her world. It’s not her style. Gory bedtime stories are my first memories. She would have told us.”

“Maybe not.” I stared out of the window, wishing I could whitewash the horrible thoughts buzzing around in my head.

“What if it isn’t?” She growled so loudly, I could almost feel the rumble of it through the phone. “What if it’s something stupid from the past that has absolutely nothing to do with this? You could get in big trouble, Raven.”

I closed my eyes. “I know.”

“Sounds like you’ve found the right guy. I’m calling Coral and we’re coming to help. In the meantime, you know where to look.”

“Not really. Campgrounds are out in this weather. She has to be in a hotel, but I can’t figure out how. She didn’t have much cash.” I picked at a loose thread on the blanket. “How long do you think it’ll take you to get here? I have no car and I can’t waste the money to rent one. I still have to find a hotel and I’m worried about the cost on that. Have you had trouble finding rooms? I did every single night. Spent a fortune to get here.”

“Yeah, I’ve had trouble, but it got easier up here. People are used to driving in snow, so they didn’t all stop immediately. Since Coral’s guy lived closer, she’s been driving around, trying to find him, but she told me last night every hotel in the area is packed. Our neighbors are taking people in.”

“Coral’s not, right?”

“Don’t think so.”

My tears had stopped, but my chest felt heavy. “Kat? I can’t let Mom hurt Vanir. He’s...well, he’s really cool.”

“I thought I detected heat. So, I guess you won’t end up in Gefjon’s hall, after all?”

I frowned, tugged the covers over my shoulders, recognizing Kat’s need to tease to diffuse the situation. In Norse myth, women who die virgins end up in Gefjon’s hall. We’d grown up teasing one another about ending up there if Mom was right. The air in the room felt chillier as my cheeks heated up. I squirmed under my tent. “Probably not.”

“Really? Holy crap! I’m coming down there now. Get off this phone, call Coral and tell her you’re okay.”

“Bossy much?”

“I told you. She’s
freaking.
”

This was a bad thing. Our middle sister was as interested in magic as our Mom and she didn’t have control of hers. Besides, seidr worked a lot off human emotion.

“Raven?” Kat’s voice was so low I hardly heard her.

“What?”

“Do you have the feeling one of us isn’t making it through this? All the other stuff Dru told us is coming true.”

“We are. All three of us are going to make it. We’re going to fight. And think about it. Mom changed things so maybe she’s altered all of it and fate is now in our hands.”

“I’m not sure that makes me feel better.”

“Yeah, nothing like a little pressure. But I’m determined to keep Mom from hurting Vanir and I plan to do it without dying. Stubborn as you are, it shouldn’t be hard for you, either.”

“But Coral...Coral’s—”

“Coral is a lot stronger than we think. She’s going to be fine.”

“You know you’re channeling that parent vibe again, right? You’re, like, minutes older than me.”

“Sometimes every minute counts. I gotta go. Promise to call you again later.” I hung up the phone and purposely shoved the nightmare vision of my sister’s bare, bloody scalp to the back of my mind.

I had to believe we were changing things.

* * *

Awkward didn’t come close to describing breakfast.

Ari chuckled when I padded into the room, my fists full of sweatpants. I’d snatched a shower—after carefully locking
both
doors to the bathroom.
Finally
. Felt better, but I was in serious need of some gel. My hair sproinged all over my head like I’d fought an electrical outlet and lost. Other than the monster bruise on my forehead, the numerous red scratches and dark circles rimming my eyes—oh, and the red from the tears—I looked pretty normal.

I smirked with the thought.

Vanir threw me a smile while he rummaged noisily through a drawer.

Glancing around the kitchen, I took in what I couldn’t last night. Big and bright with three huge windows, two by the table, one over the sink. The cabinets were stained a light brown offset by a dark granite counter in black with lighter specks of brown and cream. A healthy fern hung in front of the sink’s window and I wondered which of the brothers had the green thumb.