Heroes (Eirik Book 2) (41 page)

I opened a portal and stepped into the middle of my grandmother’s army.

CELESTIA

The tension in the room was thick. Trudy and Olea were talking in low voices a few feet away. They’d tried to include me, but given up after my monosyllabic answers. Zack and Hayden shared a settee. He’d done everything to help her relax, but nothing seemed to work. Every time my eyes met Zack’s, I felt guilty. He shouldn’t have come with us. Hayden curled up in his arms with her eyes closed, but her face wasn’t relaxed, so I knew she wasn’t sleeping. She was probably reliving everything my mother had told us. She hadn’t cried since. But then again, she wasn’t the crying kind.

“Would you like more water?”

“No, thanks.” I smiled at the
Dökkálfr
woman. I couldn’t remember her name, but she’d been nice and attentive since we’d arrived. She’d offered us something to eat and drink. I couldn’t drink or eat when all I could think about was Eirik. What was taking him and the others so long? Portals made travel much easier. They should have been in and out. Were they fighting again?

“Oh, may I use your bathroom?” I asked the woman before she went to where Trudy and Olea sat.

“Sure. Follow me, please.”

I got up, keeping my cloak but leaving my coat behind. The castle was too warm for a winter coat, and the architecture was unique. It looked like it was carved out of a giant marble stalagmite. Surrounding it were similar castles connected by steps and bridges.

Everything inside was made of gray marble, and runic writings decorated the borders—the stairs leading to the other floors, the columns, and the floor. Long, narrow windows dotted the walls on the ground floor, possibly to minimize the amount of sunlight coming inside, but the door was massive. Murals of
Dökkálfar
covered the walls, including one in the foyer of a woman who looked like Niorun. Like most realms, the place pulsed with magic.

As I followed the woman, I could see the front entrance of the castle. Our people were not back, but there were more guards outside. I didn’t know if that was good or bad.

The woman indicated a door, and I thanked her and went inside. Unlike the modern toilet in Hel’s Hall, theirs was basically a pit with a slab to sit on and a lid. Instead of using it, I splashed water on my face and stared at my reflection in the mirror.

I looked like crap. I was scared and completely out of my element. I didn’t know how Eirik had adjusted so fast to moving between realms without missing a beat. I wanted to go back to the familiar. Helheim, where Maera fussed over me and Grimnirs worked out in a gym like the ones at home and ate foods I recognized, was the farthest I had wanted to go when I left Earth. Hopping from one weird realm to another was so not my thing. My mind shifted to Eirik.

Were we going to date after this? How was that going to work out with him in Helheim while I had school?

Screams reached me from behind the door, and I hurried out of the bathroom. More yelling came from the gate. I peered out the nearest window, and my stomach dropped. She was here. I ducked out of sight, my heart pounding. This was bad. Blowing out air, I peered outside again and tried not to panic.

I recognized Angrboda in her flowing robe and scepter and long white hair. Beside her was Tammy with a blond girl around my age. Could that be Einmyria?

“I demand to see General Gathrode,” Angrboda bellowed.

“The general is visiting King Dainn,” a female guard said. She was the same one Niorun had asked to bring us to the castle.

“Then hand over my children so I can leave,” she said.

“We cannot allow you entrance when our master is not home,” the guard said. “And anyone in Gathrode’s Hall is under the general’s protection.”

“You will not
allow
me? Do you know who I am? I’m Angrboda. No one stops me from getting what I want,” she bellowed. “Your general learned everything he knows from me, you silly girl.” She raised her staff and lightning shot from the stone, sizzled through the air, and hit some of the guards right between their eyes. One by one, they dropped. The others used runes to block the hit. The blond girl hid her face on Tammy’s shirt. She was probably terrified.

“Where are my Witches?” she called out, and I thought she meant us. Once again, I ducked from the window and raced toward the living room, where the others were gathered. They all looked petrified.

“Don’t worry,” the woman who’d been looking after us said. “She cannot enter the castle. It’s protected. Stay away from the window,” she warned, but I had to see what the crazy Jötun was doing now. Besides, the girl out there might be Eirik’s sister.

I reached the window as another bolt of lightning shot from Angrboda’s crystal, creating a portal. I recognized the cabin in the woods, where we’d gone searching for the orphans.

“That’s Mr. and Mrs. Webber’s home,” Hayden said from behind me, and I realized we were all crowded around one narrow window. Seven women in flowing white gowns walked through the opening like zombies. Some of them looked familiar.

“Those two look just like the Witches in the sketches, Celestia,” Zack said. “The ones from your visions at the Guild meeting.”

I heard Zack, but I was busy listening to Angrboda. She moved from Witch to Witch and said the same words. The women’s demeanor changed. They looked around, some hugging each other. Had she brought them back to life? Was that why someone had stolen bodies of dead Witches?

“GET THEM!” Angrboda yelled and once again, I thought she meant us. But the Witches turned on the remaining guards, casting spells and rendering them unconscious.

“Holy crap!” I whispered. “She’s brought the Witches back to life.” And now they were looking at the house.

“Bring me Celestia,” she ordered. Tammy said something, and she snapped at her. “Celestia and Hayden.”

The Witches walked toward the stairs, chanting a spell. One of them stepped on the first stair, and her body crumbled as though the life had been sucked out of her. The remaining six continued to chant. The second one made it up three steps before she dropped. The remaining five tried. One by one, they fell. The spell around the house must have been a lot stronger. Not only that, the female servant who’d taken care of us was standing near the door with her hands extended. She was countering their spell.

Angrboda roared, grabbed the girl from Tammy’s arms, and pulled her toward her. “Celestia, this young lady here is your Eirik’s little sister, Einmyria. Everyone calls her Ann Marie. If you want her to go home, come out to me.”

My heart pounded as I turned away from the window and faced the others.

“You can’t go,” Hayden said.

“I have to. That’s Eirik’s sister out there. She’s petrified.”

“I agree with the Immortal,” Niorun said, walking toward us. She must have just arrived. Her knees were dirty like she’d been crawling on dirt. “You cannot go out there. She’s using her to get you out because she and her resurrected Witches cannot come inside. Stupid to use a resurrection spell without a soul in the body. Our homes are protected by powerful magic and she knows it.”

“Celestia!” Angrboda roared.

I jumped. “Is it also blocking her ability to find our energy?”

“Yep. Eirik will be here soon. I took them to the children.”

A scream made me peer outside. Angrboda still gripped the girl’s arm, but her hand was now scaly.

“Stop wasting my time, Celestia,” she bellowed.

Feeling sick, I looked away. “I have to go.”

“No!” everyone in the room said.

“I’ll go,” Hayden said. “Give me your cloak. I’ll pretend to be you. Tell her Einmyria should walk toward the doors as you leave. I want to talk to my mother, and this—”

“I’m not sending you out there,” I snapped. “But I have a plan.” I pushed past them and walked to the door. Zack grabbed my arm. I shook him off. “Don’t. Eirik will come for me.”

“I won’t let you sacrifice yourself,” Zack said.

“We won’t,” the others chorused.

“It’s my choice. You don’t understand what that girl has gone through. I’m not hiding here while Angrboda terrorizes her.” They each tried to convince me to stay. I ignored them and opened the door. “I will come out if Tammy brings Einmyria inside,” I called out. Of course, I knew she’d say no. “Think about it and let me know.” I closed the door and leaned against it while I fought vertigo and nausea.

Hayden touched my arm. “Don’t do it. Not for me.”

“You want to talk to your mother. You’ll get the chance. Eirik will get his sister.” I glanced at the people gathered in the room. They were looking at me like I was crazy. “She doesn’t really want me. She wants to use me to get to Eirik. He is the one she wants. Not me or his sister.”

“I know why you’re doing this, Celestia,” Hayden said. “The things your mother said were ramblings of a crazy woman. The deaths of Angrboda’s followers at the market had nothing to do with you. She wanted Eirik just like you said. And the Call is about casting a spell to protect the young Seeress. Don’t go out there.” Tears filled her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. “Please. I don’t care what my mother has to say. Whatever explanation she has for the lies and working with that crazy woman out there won’t make up for what you’re about to do.”

We hugged, tears threatening to fall. I refused to let them. I looked up and blinked. I had a plan, and it had better work. If it didn’t, Eirik would find me. Screams came from outside, and I wiggled out of Hayden’s arms, pushing her toward Zack.

“I’ll be okay. Eirik will find me. He always does. His dragon will help him.” My eyes connected with Trudy. She was crying, too. I hugged her and then Zack and Hayden since Hayden was in his arms. “Open the door, Niorun.”

The
Dökkálfr
girl gave me a weird look, but she opened it.

“Don’t close it behind me.” I lifted the hood of my cloak and wrapped it tightly around me.

“Where did she go?” Niorun asked.

“I don’t know. She was here, and then she was gone,” Hayden said.

“The cloak,” Trudy whispered. “That’s brilliant, Celestia.”

I lowered the hood so they could see me again. “Pray that it works. Leave the door open and if she yells out my name, yell back that I’m coming. She won’t know I already left the house. Once I get to Einmyria, I’ll wrap her under the cloak and run to the steps. All I have to do is get to the steps and we’ll be out of her reach.”

“It might just work,” Niorun said.

“Of course, it will work.” Despite my words, I had my doubts. Hayden didn’t speak again, but she was worried. Zack too. “Wish me luck.” I covered my head and walked slowly, so my entire body was covered. I had no idea how the cloak worked, but I really hoped she wouldn’t see me. I stepped outside and almost gave myself away.

Angrboda stood at the foot of the steps. She must have just shifted because instead of the woman, the dragon had taken its place. No wonder Einmyria was hysterical. The arched steps were many and wide, so I moved away from her line of vision and stayed at the farthest end.

“Come on, Celestia!”

“Celestia wants Tammy to walk with Einmyria up the steps while she walks toward you,” Niorun called out from the doorway while I continued down toward the courtyard.

“No. She comes down here, where the protection magic stops,” Angrboda said.

“Fine,” Niorun said. “I will walk down with Celestia and we can trade them at the bottom of the steps.”

Angrboda studied Niorun. “I never liked your mother, and you are so much like her, down to your cunning ways. You helped them escape in the market and you probably showed them where the children were staying.”

Niorun grinned. “Oh yes, I did. Because like my mother, I’ve never really liked you.”

Angrboda laughed. “One day, I will have you exactly where I want you, child. Right now, consider yourself warned.”

“So are we doing this? We don’t have all night,” Niorun called out insolently. I had reached the last step. I worked my way past the fallen guards and Witches.

“Fine,” Angrboda said, but she kept Einmyria by her side. I was close while she continued to stare at the door. “Come out, Celestia.”

Einmyria was an arm’s length away. I moved behind her.

“Are my guards dead, or did you just knock them out?” Niorun asked, obviously buying time. Angrboda must have scared the neighbors because the lights were off and no one was coming out to help us.

“They’ll be fine. They’ll wake up with massive headaches in a few hours. Stop wasting time,
Dökkálfr
. Tell Celestia to come out now.” She pushed the blonde with her wing and she bumped against me. Einmyria felt me while I froze. She had gray eyes and the same golden coloring as Eirik’s father, but that was all the resemblance I noticed. The second I opened my robe I’d be visible. I hoped she caught on fast and joined me.

I opened and indicated that she should join me under the cloak. Her lips turned up, and her eyes changed. A chill raced down my spine. She was smirking with glee.

“Please,” I whispered. “Come.”

Einmyria reached out, but instead of joining me, she yanked the hood from my head and pushed me toward Angrboda. I lost my footing and fell, rocks digging into knees. Tammy rushed forward to help me. Her eyes were red as though she’d been crying. She opened her mouth, but someone yanked her away. I looked up, expecting to see a dragon claw or teeth, but instead, I was staring into Einmyria’s eyes. I still didn’t understand the glee or the twisted smile.