Goddess

by Julie Anne Lindsey

  Activity flurried around me. Boots rocked the floor beneath my head. Tom stood guard, probably to keep me from being trampled.

  Liam paced. “Why would he ask you to meet him at a pool? What advantage does that give him?”

  Justin’s voice broke through the chaos, echoing across the speaker. “She didn’t learn to swim in a pool.”

  I learned to swim in the lake beneath a waterfall at the state park where we camped every summer before Dad got a good job and left Mom and me, to spend more time at the office.

  I peeled my face off the floor and wiped my tears. “I have to go. I’ll be back in an hour with my mom.”

  Tom stepped into my path. “I’m coming with you.”

  “No.” I shoved his chest. “Move. He said come alone. He’ll kill her.”

  Liam stood beside Tom, creating a ridiculously strong wall of Vikings. “They lost half their men last night. We don’t know how many others were beaten as badly as Justin. They’re no match for us right now. We can overtake them and set your mother free before they know we’re there.”

  I shook my head, feigning bravery. “I can’t take that chance. No risks. This is my mother.” She was innocent, loving, and pure. She escorted spiders out of the shower on a piece of tissue. “I need to do this alone. Once she’s safe, we’ll go back for their men and drive them here by force. We’ll bring as many as we can into the clan and disband the rest.”

  “Callie.” Liam reached for me.

  I stepped back. Tears pressed against my lids. “It’s my mom. Don’t you remember having a mother?”

  His shoulders rolled back. “Fine.”

  Tom shot him a crazy face. “Have you gone mad?”

  I didn’t stay to hear the response.

  Chapter 21

  I crept into the clearing on high alert. My senses were strained to find evil in the darkness. Moonlight shimmered over the water, and memories of Mom sunbathing on the shore overcame me. Images of Dad tossing me into the air and the cool crash of water on my skin sent tingles down my spine. I shook off the nostalgia and focused on the tree line surrounding the lake. The crashing waterfall made listening for danger impossible. I widened my stance and closed my eyes. The Stians had probably hoped to stifle my senses, but I had more than five.

  A carpet of fear rolled along the frost-covered ground. I opened my eyes. Mom was near.

  I turned in place. “Come out. I know you’re here. I sense you.”

  Mom’s face came into view across the lake. Her dark mass of hair coiled around Calder’s hungry fingers. His second hand gripped her throat. I swallowed bile as her too-small hands clawed helplessly at his. Soon, her desperate, tear-stained gaze fell on me and nausea beat through my stomach like wild horse hooves.

  “Let her go, Calder. I’m here like you asked.”

  He shoved her to the ground as if she were nothing of importance, not a precious human life with a soul, not my mother. “Alone. You’re wiser than I thought.”

  I forced my attention on Calder as Mom floundered on the ground behind him, reclaiming the air she’d lost and pulling into a crouched stand. “Mom. Go to Hale Manor. Don’t go home. Don’t call anyone. I’ll be there soon.”

  She gaped, rubbing her chest and throat. “No.”

  Calder’s enormous hand whipped out and mashed into Mom’s face, throwing her against the rock. “Silence!”

  I rounded the lake in seconds.

  Calder stepped between my broken mother and me. “First, you agree to lead with me.”

  “I won’t.”

  Mom moaned and pulled her head off the ground. Relief loosened my heart. She was alive.

  Calder stepped into my personal space, at least a foot taller than he’d been in human form. His inner Viking unleashed was an intimidating sight.

  I forced my feet in place.

  “Atta girl.” He grabbed my chin in one hand and stroked the length of my arm with the other. “You’re more beautiful than I remembered. The transformation has suited you.”

  Mom struggled back to her feet, one hand pressed to her head. Blood seeped and dripped between her fingers.

  His foul breath churned my stomach. “Say we’ll lead together and my men won’t tear her head off.”

  His men. I scanned the area again. Vikings stepped free of the trees, hulked out, and muscled up, with weapons in hand.

  Calder released my jaw and grabbed my side, towing me against him. “I haven’t been with a nymph in centuries. I’d forgotten how powerful the attraction can be.” His mouth fell on my throat and he moaned against my skin. “You taste like heaven.” He pulled back for a look in my eyes. “Half my clan is dead. Unite with me, and I will lead the most powerful clan on Earth. Your mother lives and you can claim the seat at my right hand.”

  Mom stumbled. “Please, don’t do this. You can have me. Take me. Please.” Sobs broke every wretched word. She fell against his legs. “Take me.”

  Calder released his grip on me and swung his arm wide.

  I caught his wrist midstrike and pulled him down to me, pressing my face into his cheek. “Don’t hurt her. Don’t say anything more. She’s human and knows nothing about this or me. The Hales can alter her memories and spare her the pain. Let her live.”

  He turned his mouth to mine and crushed thick, hot lips over half my face. He lifted me against him and growl-laughed into my mouth. There was no mistaking the hardness of his body or what he planned as his first act as my king. Ten mammoth fingers dug into the flesh of my hip and bottom.

  Mom bawled and screamed at his legs.

  “Mom. Run!” I freed my sword, yanked it through the air over our heads, delivering it against his back.

  A mighty roar broke through his chest and I was on the ground, dropped like the dangerous thing I was. The carved flames of my blade glowed and rippled along the silver, now streaked with thick crimson blood.

  I hopped to my feet and pointed the sword at Calder. “I am Calypso.” I forced my words into the distance, projecting so his men along the trees were certain to hear, despite the roaring waterfall. “I’m here to ask you to come to Hale Manor and see what we’ve done there. The clans are destined for unity, not division. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a liar.” My voice carried upward in the open air between the trees. I stretched my sword toward Calder. “I want us to work together. We have a much bigger problem and you all know that. Frost giants are here to eliminate us in battle for the entertainment of the gods. I won’t allow it. If you come with me, they can’t win, but we have to fulfill the prophecy first. I’m not the whole story.” I dared a glance into the distance. “You are. This is about your bloodlines, not mine.”

  Liam flashed into the clearing, lifted Mom into his arms, and jogged into the trees.

  A tear pricked my eyes. He’d come for me. Behind the handful of Stians, lines of my men emerged from the trees, and my heart swelled further. They’d all come. Light swords flamed to life in the night.

  I kept watch on Calder. If anyone would do a stupid thing when surrounded, it was him. “We came to offer Stians a family where every voice matters. We didn’t come to fight.”

  Slowly, his men extinguished their blades.

  “Lies!” Calder’s sword burst into existence, blinding me momentarily and sliding through the flesh of my side. My skin split open, spewing blood onto my pants and the ground. The sword in my hand clanged against Calder’s, jumping into action on its own and forcing him back. The sword blocked his every attempt at hurting me more. I held a palm against the pouring wound and fought one-handed, wielding the blade as it performed the work. Several beats later, my body fell in time with the deadly dance.

  Sweat beaded over my brows and temples. My sword worked harder, faster, beating against Calder’s sword until it flung from his grip and skittered over the ground toward the water. We locked gazes, pulling in long breaths and executing an unspoken dare.

  Footfalls pounded toward us. Justin c
ollected Calder’s blade and wound an arm behind me. “It’s over, Calder. You lost.”

  I leaned into him, daring a look at my bloody side.

  Liam returned from the direction he’d disappeared with Mom. He led Adam by his hair, sword poised against his throat. “We can talk about this reasonably or we can add your death to the growing toll, Calder. Maybe we should start with your second in command.” He shook Adam. “Will you spare his life and show your men you’re capable of doing the right thing?”

  I winced at the trickle of blood falling from Adam’s throat and spoke to the masses again. “The giants will kill us without unity of the clans. Come with us and we can all survive this.”

  Calder raised his palms in sudden acceptance.

  Adam swallowed long and slow. “Thank you.” He blinked back emotion and deflated into the college-boy facade I’d met last month. He pleaded with Calder. “She’s right. We can’t handle the giants on our own.”

  Liam extinguished his blade and stepped away from Adam. “You’re choosing what’s right, Stian. Your men will see you as someone worth following.”

  Calder spun on him, producing a second blade and swinging hard at Liam’s head. “I am the one true leader.”

  Odin’s ravens cawed and complained as they circled overhead.

  Calder’s body bounced against the ground at my feet. His head rolled along the lakeshore in the soft afterglow of a Viking’s sword. I stifled a scream and raced to understand what I’d missed while looking at the blasted birds.

  Adam opened his palm and dropped his bloodied blade. He stepped away in surrender to Liam without being asked. “I’m sorry.” His arms trembled. His gaze fixed on Calder’s body. “May the Valkyries find honor in your soul.”

  * * * *

  I sat with Mom in a guest room on the second floor of Hale Manor until she woke. The gash on my side had healed, but the bruises over her body and the wide cut across her forehead had grown uglier in the hours since she’d fallen. The manor was a flurry of activity below as everyone worked to organize room for the new recruits.

  Zoe knocked on the half-open door and poked her head inside. “How is she?”

  I swiped tears off both cheeks. “Still asleep. I think we should take her to the hospital.”

  “May I?” Zoe slid into the room and approached the bed.

  I stood on shaky legs, allowing Zoe room to work. She checked Mom’s vitals and laid a palm across her forehead.

  Mom’s eyes opened.

  I raced to her side. “How’d you do that?”

  Zoe smiled. “I was only checking for a fever and steady heartbeat.” She tiptoed toward the doorway. “I’ll leave you alone.”

  “Wait. How are you? Shouldn’t you be resting?”

  She raised her arms wide. A sad smile tugged her lips. “All healed. You know how resilient we are.”

  I nodded. Her heartbreak rolled across the floor to me. She and Lisle were lucky. The others were gone. Guilt for surviving consumed her.

  The door snicked shut, and Mom forced her body semi-upright. “Where are we?”

  I dried falling tears of joy. “This is a guest room at Hale Manor.”

  She relaxed her shoulders a tiny measure and pressed fingertips to the bandage on her head. “Callie. I saw them.”

  I inhaled and exhaled, counting silently to ten and steadying my nerves. “I know. We need to talk.”

  I explained everything. From my powerful attraction to Liam at first sight, to the truth about his family and my biological mother. I set the entire truth between us like the facts of a court case for her consideration.

  She flopped back onto her pillow. A small humorless laugh worked free of her chest.

  “Mom?” Alarm tingled over my skin. Was she in shock? Was the truth too much? Nike had warned me that removing human memories was a gift. We weren’t meant to deal with the twisted rituals of petty gods. Should I call for a Hale?

  She rolled her head in my direction. “Do you know you were never sick? No lasting injuries or broken bones. Perfect school attendance every year. I thought I did that. I assumed my wonderful nursing skills and dedication to healthy eating gave you the edge over your peers.” She rolled her eyes.

  “It didn’t hurt. You’re an amazing mother. I might be naturally healthy, but you’ve always protected me. Taught me to be strong. Smart. Stubborn.” I smiled.

  She squirmed onto her side and appraised me. “Deep down, I think I knew it was something more. That you were something more. I haven’t been completely honest with you either.”

  “What?” I peeked over my shoulder, hoping no one listened at the door.

  “I never really believed you were named after Calypso music.” She rolled her eyes and bit into her lip. “Your mother was badly beaten the night she arrived at the ER in labor. We were swamped, so I dressed her wounds and left her to clean up. I came back to wish her well before I went home, but she was nearly healed. I told myself the wounds were never as bad as I’d thought. Maybe she was more dirty than bruised. She begged me to take her with me before her labor progressed.” Mom shook her head. “How ridiculous is that? She wanted me to deliver you at my home. I would never do that. But I did.”

  I squeezed her hand. “The Hales have the power to influence. I don’t know what she was capable of. She probably fiddled with your judgment somehow. It wasn’t your fault.”

  Mom tented her eyebrows. “That’s a relief. I’ve hated myself for eighteen years over such a selfish, unethical decision. In those moments, though, nothing else mattered. I wanted you to be mine so badly. I did everything she said. I took her home. Delivered you there. I named you Calypso at her suggestion, and I listened to her sing you to sleep. The next thing I knew, she was gone and you were swaddled in Grandmother’s shawl, lying in my favorite wicker laundry basket. Poof.” She wiggled her fingers. “Just like that. She was gone as suddenly as she came. And I was a mother.”

  I gripped her fingers. “Are you afraid?” I raised my gaze to hers reluctantly. “I don’t want you to be afraid.”

  “I was abducted by an enormous creature-person and thrown against a rock. I saw the thing attack you and someone else whack the first guy’s head off. I’m not going to lie. I’m questioning my sanity.”

  I smiled. “He was a Viking. Not a creature-person. A demigod. I’m supposed to unite them to fulfill a prophecy. They look like other people until they get all worked up, then they kind of hulk out, but mostly they’re all really nice.”

  “Uh-huh.” She frowned. “All the changes you’ve been through lately? Your eyes. Your streaks, the growth spurt.”

  “I changed too.” I didn’t have the heart to tell her I’d died. I’d had weeks to come to all this knowledge. I’d thrown it on Mom while she had a head injury.

  Liam opened the door. “How’s she… Oh, hi, Mrs. Ingram.”

  She lifted and dropped one hand. “Call me Marcy. I get the feeling I’m actually quite a bit younger than you.”

  He nodded. “Yes.”

  “Is everything okay?” she asked.

  He looked to me. “It’s time for the new clan members to pledge fealty.”

  I exhaled and leaned over Mom for a hug.

  She tossed her covers back. “I’m not missing this. Are you kidding? The fealty is to you?”

  I helped her to the top of the winding stairs, saying as little as possible. Fealty made my palms sweat.

  Mason met us with curiosity twinkling in his eyes. “Hello, Marcy.”

  Mom blushed. “Hello.” My extra battle-practice clothes were clingier on her than anything I’d ever seen her wear. She tugged her arms tight around her middle. “Callie caught me up on some things.”

  Mason appraised her. He smiled an ornery, crooked smile. “You’re handling it well.”

  “I have about ten thousand questions.”

  He lifted her hand and slid it through the crook of his arm. “I’m glad to help.”


  They followed me down the stairs to the foyer where a row of men, including Adam, lined up and knelt. I forced eye contact with each man as they promised to honor and protect me. Nothing in life could ever be as awkward.

  Justin was the last to move. It only then occurred to me he hadn’t officially done this. He was my partner. He probably didn’t need to. I lifted unsteady hands to stop him, but he cradled my fingertips in his steady ones. He stepped forward and knelt, holding my hand when no one else dared. “Callie Ingram, I pledge my fealty to you this day, for all of eternity, or for as long as my life will last. I will honor and respect you, protect you, and stand by your side. I will lead these men with you, sharing in the trials and victories every step of the way. It was no accident you came into my barn ten years ago, looking like a ragamuffin with stringy, pool-soaked hair and leading a pony far too mild to keep you entertained. I don’t believe in chance. I believe in you.” He bowed his head and lifted our joined hands above his head. “I pledge my fealty to you. Unwavering. Whatever you need. I’m your cowboy.”

  He stood and scooped me into an embrace, arching his back and swinging my feet off the ground.

  “You’re squeezing the air from my lungs,” I gasped.

  “Marshmallow.”

  My feet hit the ground with a thud.

  A cheer went up around us.

  Liam’s hands found my waist. “Quite a speech.”

  Justin tipped his hat. He turned away as if someone had called his name. Against the far wall, Nym stared through the crowd at us.

  “How’d she get in here?” I stepped forward. “How dare she come here after what she did?”

  Liam held me tight. “We don’t know for certain she set that fire.”

  “I know she didn’t care that they died.” I jerked against the grip of his hand, hoping to launch free and land Nym in the road out front.

  “I’ll talk to her.” Justin walked away, without a single look in my direction.

  Mom stroked my arm. “That boy has never stopped amazing me.” She pushed hair behind my ears. “I hate to say this, but I’d better get home. I have to work soon.”