Seeress: Book Three (Runes Series) (12 page)

“Nope. Texting, Femi.” I did, asking her when dinner was going to be ready and what we were watching tonight. I knew both answers, but Torin didn’t know that. “Let me know what Echo says.”

Torin gave a long-suffering sigh designed to make me feel guilty, but it wasn’t working. “I’m sorry for being a jerk.”

An apology from the mighty Torin? The realms just became one giant blob of goo. I turned and eyed him suspiciously. “Really, really sorry?”

His eyes smoldered. “I’m going to regret this.”

“I could make you grovel,” I warned.

“Not in this lifetime.” He finger combed my hair, cupped my face, and added, “There’s absolutely nothing I’d change on your face. I love your eyes. Your freckles,” he touched my nose, “and these,” he touched my lips, “are a work of art. Your face is perfection.”

It wasn’t. My brown eyes weren’t poetry-worthy and even though I’ve grown to love my freckles because of him, I still hated when new ones popped up. “You don’t play fair.”

“I never do. Now, I didn’t want to tell you what we found out because you’d feel bad and blame yourself, and I’d feel like a total shithead.”

“Torin—”

“Then you’d want to visit them or attend their funerals and give eulogies while crying.” I scowled, but he pretended not to see. “Which would piss me off because I hate to see you cry. Of course, I’d want to console you in the only way I know how and become even more frustrated because I can’t fully make love—”

I covered his mouth. Seriously? He could drive a saint crazy. “First, Mr. Smarty Pants, I gave a eulogy at Kate’s funeral because no one else volunteered and I’d known her, like, forever. Second…” I groaned. “I can’t believe it you’re doing it again.”

He pulled my hand down and gave me a fake innocent smile. “What?”

“Distracting me instead of answering my question, you faker. What did you find out about the Seeresses?” He hesitated. “I can handle it, Torin. Please. Just tell me.”

He sighed. “The visions you’ve been having are real. They happened at the exact moment you saw them, so these are not premonitions. The Seeresses are reaching out to you. Talking to you.”

Instead of a Norn. Freaking great! Then something occurred to me. If they were happening in real time, the person I’d seen couldn’t have been Torin. He was here with me at the time.

“But the time kept changing,” I protested, but inside I was celebrating.

“It was three in the morning where it happened. There were other attacks before that and more since.”

“Yikes.”

“There’s more.” The change in his voice should have warned me. “The reason they are after the Seeresses is… you.”

My breath got caught in my lungs. I listened to the pounding of my heart, which seemed loud and heavy. I should have seen this coming. I swallowed a sob.

She’s watching us,
the last Seeress had said.
You must protect the others. You must stop them from hurting our kind.

She’d been communicating with me. She’d known I could see them. It always came back to me. I’d bet it had something to do with the Norns too, bitter old hags.

When I could speak without sounding like a banshee, I asked, “Why?”

Torin scowled as though my calmness surprised him. What had he expected? Tears and a why-me pity party? I might not blame myself for what happened at the swimming pool months ago when a lot of my teammates died, but everything that had happened since then had been my fault. Ever since I met the Norns in charge of my destiny, I saw things with amazing clarity.

The love of my life still watched me as though he expected me to, I don’t know, throw a fit, or summon the Norns. I might do that later. Right now I needed answers.

“Torin?”

His eyes narrowed. “We don’t know. We talked to the relatives of the Seeresses. One texted a boyfriend before she left with them. Another sent a vision to her twin. These people wanted the location of the young
Völva
who could talk directly with the Norns. The Seeresses did what they could to protect you and led them on a wild goose chase. The first one happened at three o’clock in Amsterdam. They are nine hours ahead of us. That’s why your clock stopped at three. The next one was in Australia, then Italy, West Africa, Dominican Republic, New Orleans, and Maine. All of them practice trance magic.”

Seven dead in two days. How many more before? Then what he’d said registered. “Practice? Does that mean they’re not… dead?”

He shook his head. “No. Remember, we haven’t been able to reap. These are good witches. Unfortunately, they are in comas. All of them.”

They were not dead. The relief was sweet. I laughed and hugged Torin. Then I remembered the coma part. “Will they be okay?”

“I don’t know. Two of them are brain dead.”

Yikes. “Can’t we heal one and—?”

“No.” He shot me a censuring glance. “You know the rules. We either catch these people in the act or hope they use an evil Seeress Echo can reap. You started to blame yourself, didn’t you?” Torin said. I gave him an innocent smile. Didn’t fool him one little bit. “I tried to lighten things up by mentioning your eulogy.”

I elbowed him. “
That
is what made me think they were dead. Does anyone know who these people are?”

“No.”

“What do they want from me?”

Torin shook his head. “If we can help you get a clear vision, we could catch them in the act and either ID them or their location. Blaine already mobilized more Immortals, so the word is out. No Seeresses are to hold a séance without our say so.”

“They were forcing the last one. We should talk to Ingrid. Maybe she knows a way I can sharpen my visions and get a future reading.”

Torin’s eyebrows slammed down.

“What?”

“Echo will tell us all we need to know.” He seriously needed to chill.

“Listen, I get it. Your reasons for disliking witches are valid. I’d feel the same if I was in your shoes, but you shouldn’t hold Ingrid’s past against her. Even though she practiced Seidr, Maliina was the one who was powerful and evil.” His expression was unrelenting. “Can’t you see what a hypocrite you are? If you dislike her just because she’s a witch, you should dislike me, too. Seeresses are witches, and I happen to be one.

“I don’t dislike her.”

I studied his shadowed eyes. “Then what is it?”

He shot me an unreadable glance. “We don’t know anything about Ingrid except that she’s Maliina’s little sister. Andris never bothered to find out. I didn’t care before because I assumed she and her sister were Andris’ problem. But then Maliina targeted you and she became my problem. Anyone that hangs around you must be vetted as far as I’m concerned. She has not been vetted.”

Seriously? He was beginning to sound like the freaking head of the Secret Service. “Then talk to her, get to know her, ask her about her past or whatever you need to know so we can get past this. She is the only one around here who knows about trance magic.”

“I can’t talk to her. She clams up whenever I’m around.”

“Then turn on the charm.” He gave me an annoyed look. “Fine. Get someone else to talk to her or something. You’re Mr. Solutions.” A thought occurred to me. “What about Femi? We could talk to her. She seemed to know something about magic.”

“We shouldn’t involve her yet.
Echo
will answer our questions for now. Druids knowledge of magic surpasses anyone’s.”

“Femi is from Ancient Egypt. The magic there is older than the Druids. No one could be wiser.”

“Yet their gods disappeared. Never to be heard of again. That should tell you something. Norse gods rule. Druidism is the oldest religion, so Echo it is.” Torin stood and pulled me up. Then it hit me.

“You don’t trust Femi.”

Torin made a face. “I wouldn’t go as far as to say that. She is an open book with tattoos and pictures to prove it. She also yaps non-stop about her colorful past, so it’s easy to confirm everything she says. I just don’t trust her to put
your
interest first.”

I pouted. “That’s an insult to my mother’s judgment. She hired Femi.”

He dropped a kiss on my lips. “And she chose well, but Femi’s first priority is your father. Anyone who doesn’t put you and your interest first cannot be trusted.” There was no hesitation or apology in his voice.

“That’s ridiculous.”

He shrugged. “Works for me.”

“Other than you, me, and my parents, I don’t think anyone cares about me or—”

“Andris does. He’s like the annoying little brother I never had, hot-headed, shallow, gets bored easily, and does something every couple of decades that makes me want to disown him or beat the crap out of him, but I can count on him. He’s loyal, smart, and in a fight, once he’s resigned to it, he watches my back. He’d go to Hel’s Hall and back for you.”

Was he talking about the same Andris? The one who whined and complained every time he had to keep me company? “If you say so.”

“The other is Eirik,” Torin added softly.

The fight drained out of me. Eirik was a painful subject. He could kick some serious ass. I wished he were back. I wished I could see him even just to make sure he was okay. Echo hadn’t seen him, but then again, Hel’s Hall is humongous.

I shifted focus.

Seeresses were willing to die to protect me. But protect me from whom? What? I needed to know how to communicate with them while in a trance, so we could stop this craziness. It was obvious now that the person I had seen wasn’t Torin.

“Okay,” I said. “Let’s talk to Echo.”

***

Echo didn’t look too thrilled to see us. “Let’s make this quick,” he said.

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen, so chill,” Torin said. “Andris needs to be here.” He touched my arm and left through the portal.

Seated on a stool by the wet bar, a drink in hand, Echo studied me with a tiny smile. He looked like a normal guy in a black tank top and jeans, instead of his usual leather pants. Of course, he was barefooted. What was it with these people and bare feet? Or maybe I had a foot fetish because my eyes kept drifting to them.

“How’s the
Völva
doing?” Echo asked.

“The
Völva
has a name, Echo. Use it.”

He chuckled. “The Seeress has claws. Want a drink?”

“No, thanks.” I looked around. The décor was contemporary, done in silver and slate, but I could see Cora’s influence. The colorful pillows and vases had her name written all over them. “Where’s Cora?”

Echo moved away from the stool and sauntered toward me while sipping his drink. The Druidic rings looked dark against his skin. He had an aura around him that was both menacing and fascinating. I forced myself to stand my ground when I wanted to take a step back.

“Cora?” I called out.

Echo grinned as though he sensed my unease. “I sent her home.”

I scoffed at the idea. “Right. Is she in the bedroom?”

He stopped in front of me and studied me. “Are you as powerful as the Norns think you are, or are we wasting our time protecting just another ordinary Seeress?”

“
You
are protecting me?”

“Somehow, I’ve been forced to be part of your little group of whatever you call yourselves.” He stepped away just before the portal opened. Torin and Andris stepped into the room. “Okay, the cavalry is here. Let’s get started.”

Andris made a beeline for the bar and poured himself a drink. Torin angled his head, walked to the bedroom door, and opened it, almost hitting Cora, who was obviously listening through the door. “Want to join us?”

Face red, she looked at Echo, then me, and finally Torin. “Okay.”

We all found seats. Andris sipped his drink by the bar. Echo took a side chair and pulled Cora down on his lap. She had a gauzy cover over her swimsuit. Torin sat on the arm of my chair, and I sunk against his side.

“Did Echo tell you what’s going on?” Torin asked, looking at Cora.

“No.” The look she shot Echo said he’d refused to tell her.

I told her everything that had been going on the last couple of days. She left Echo’s lap and came to sit beside me. “Why didn’t you tell me last night when I was at your place? We watched a stupid TV show, for pity’s sake.”

“I like doing normal things once in a while. Yesterday was normal.”

“Ooh, me too,” she whispered then glanced at Echo. “We should do the date thing we discussed at school.”

“I agree.” Torin cleared his throat. I patted his thigh. “We’re not ignoring you. You can come, too.”

He gave me a look that said there was not going to be a double date. “We need answers, Echo. What Raine forgot to say is that she gets the vision every time she touches this.” He dangled the seal.

Echo stared at me and rotated one of his rings. “And you’re coming to me because…?”

Torin studied him with narrowed eyes, and I could imagine his thoughts. He barely tolerated Echo. “You are a Druid. This pendent has Druidic symbols. Unless of course, you’re a poser and those rings your wear are just for show.”

Silence followed as they seized each other up. I’d bet on Torin any day. Echo might look like Hel swallowed him and spit him out, but Torin was the calm and collected type, until he turned into a raging tornado mowing down everything in his path.

Echo must have decided not to take the bait. “People have signature energies, which they leave on things they touch. You know, like the scent dogs follow after sniffing someone’s clothes. Certain Seers and Seeresses, the rarest of them, can touch people or their personal things and connect with that person’s soul. Raine is connecting with that energy.” He slanted Torin a glance. “You told me the pendant belonged to your family when I came across it.”

“My mother,” Torin said.

“That makes sense. Magical energies are a lot more powerful. Like this. Catch!” Echo threw his ring at me. I caught it, and everything around me faded to black.

The next second, I was in a forest. Like my visions before, everything was blurry. People in long robes and hooded cloaks hurried past me. Some carried satchels; others had wooden staffs. I didn’t understand the language they were speaking, but I sensed their fear. The men weren’t many, but they flanked the women and children, who appeared to be the majority.

Then the ground shook, and screams filled the air as everyone started to run. My heart pounded, panic surging through me. Behind us came men in medieval skirts and armor, wielding swords. Without hesitation or remorse, they cut down the people. Men. Women. Children.

“No!” I screamed as a mother went down, leaving behind a defenseless child. “Run. Someone help her.” I tried to run to the child, but I couldn’t move. A sword swung down on her head. I screamed.

I was still screaming and kicking when I came to. Everyone was yelling at once. “I’m going to break every damn bone in your body, you bastard,” Torin vowed.

“I needed proof,” Echo protested.

“Stop it, you two,” Cora yelled. “She’s coming around.”

Silence followed. I opened my eyes and wish I hadn’t. Torin looked ready to rip something or someone apart. “Are you okay?”

After the vision I’d just seen, I didn’t think so. I was still shaking. I knew it happened in the past, but still… To be hunted like that? Slaughtered mercilessly? It was gruesome. Inhumane.

Cora reached out from my other side and wiped the tears from my cheek. I gripped her hand. Did she know about Echo’s past? He kept his distance. I wanted to kick him into the next century for making me see that, yet something in his eyes told me he’d known firsthand what I’d just seen.

“I’m okay.” I pushed Cora’s hand away and tried to sit up. Torin’s arms eased up, but he didn’t let me go. “I didn’t need to witness that, Echo. No one should ever go through that.”