Liam stretched to his full height, healing rapidly before my eyes. “Release her.”
The Jotunn’s hands dropped away. I fell forward, thrown by inertia onto my palms. Liam raised me in his arms. His rigid frame tightened. Maybe he wasn’t healing? Was it pain in his stance? I opened my emotional radar and snapped back to the moment. I turned to defend the next attack.
Tom stumbled to my side and clamped a hand over my shoulder. “I couldn’t find you after the food court. I looked away for a few minutes and you were gone.”
I pointed to the scene before us. “Later.”
Kraven knelt. A glowing orange cord dug into the skin of his throat. Behind him, the black cloak of a beautiful woman beat in the furious wind.
“Liam?” I angled my ear to him, unsure if we were saved or in worse danger than before. The power emanating from the woman was enough to stop my heart permanently. Any advice he had was welcomed.
He wrapped his fingers around my forearm and moved to my side. “Hello, Mother.”
Chapter 23
I mounted my usual stool at the Hales’ kitchen island, surrounded by allies, Nym, and Liam’s mother, Bia, the goddess of force. My limbs, brain, and lungs refused to work. Tom poked me occasionally, reminding me to breathe, but the once-cavernous room had shrunk to the size of a coffin and an invisible pickup had parked on my chest.
Allison had texted several times before I had a chance to tell her I was fine. I made excuses and invited her for pizza and movies soon. Our talk really couldn’t wait.
Bia’s fervent eyes landed on me, and I shoved my phone into my pocket. “You.” She dragged out the word. “Little nymph. What do you have to say for yourself?”
“Mother, please.” Liam rubbed my hand on the island. “Be sensitive to what’s happening to her. We’ve spent a century dealing with Stians and a millennia with Zeus. She remembers none of that. This is her new life. Quaint country towns and high school swim meets. Before I arrived, her biggest enemy was a handsy football star.”
I gagged. “I wouldn’t really call him a star.”
Bia slapped the countertop. The crack reverberated through the room. Everyone jumped. I gulped air.
“I addressed the young lady. Also, stop touching her. She’s destined for your brother.” Bia waved a nonchalant hand in Justin’s direction, and stroked the length of her blond ringlets, all five feet of them. Mason put on a pot of coffee and set a kettle on the stove for tea.
I sucked more air into mostly flattened lungs. I noted for the first time the lightness in Justin’s hair and fairness of his skin. He was tanned from a country life, but not in the natural olive way my mom was. Underneath the rugged jeans and tattered button-downs, his skin was as light as mine. I studied Liam’s jawline and compared it to Justin’s.
A long moment later, it occurred to me how simpleminded and rude her initial statement had been. “Justin and I are friends. We’ve never been more, and we’ll never be more.” I squared my shoulders for effect. “But we make great friends.”
I couldn’t get a read on Justin’s blank expression, but Nym looked pleased enough with the declaration.
Bia stared with narrow blue eyes and parted pink lips.
Electricity buzzed over my skin. I pressed onward, filling the tense silence with my specialty. More words than necessary. “Justin and I can lead together. We don’t know how, but we’re willing to figure it out, and we will. We’ve been solving problems together for a decade. That has to help us, I think.” Granted, most of our previous problems involved scheming on our parents, but still.
She smirked. A decade probably didn’t seem like much to someone her age, but ten years was more than half my life, and friendships that long meant something.
“You’re Justin’s partner.” Her matter-of-fact tone implied more.
Liam released my hand and scraped his fingers through his hair.
I clamped my palm over his thigh. “Yes. Justin and I are partners and friends, but I’m in love with Liam. That’s how it is. I can’t be told who to love or how to love them. I won’t. The prophecy said a nymph and Viking will lead together and we will, but if you think I have to be in love with Justin to make that happen, you’re wrong. Fate’s wrong.”
Bia lifted her scowl by a fraction. She turned to Justin. “You can go. The storm’s settled. Gather the remaining Stians and return here. There are several hiding in the woods on your property. Convince them to follow you so the Vikings can be united and Zeus can win his game.”
Justin stood without a word. He tipped his hat to the room and left with Nym on his heels.
“You.” Bia turned her icy-blue eyes on me. “Nike said you were a contender.” She raised a perfect eyebrow at her son. “You may have found your match. I approve. The Fates may not, but your little nymph doesn’t seem concerned. I’ll leave that mess to her.”
I didn’t need Bia’s approval, which was my entire point, but clearly she refused to let me be in control. I turned my focus onto more pressing issues than my love life.
“If you know where the remaining Stians are hiding, do you know where the men are who’ve gone missing?”
She looked to her sons. “I’m sorry. They’re gone.”
I raised my hand. “You’re sorry they’re gone? Or sorry they’re gone.”
She touched a petal pink fingernail to the tip of her nose. “Dead.”
My heart collapsed.
Liam turned me against his chest, but tears didn’t come. “Are you sure?” I mumbled against his shoulder.
“Quite.”
Liam spoke over my head. “Tom, what do we know about the giants? After the scene outside the mall, I think they’re beyond reason. He wanted this win for Gaia.”
Bia poured a cup of tea, looking more like I imagined a Viking princess than a goddess of force. “We will win this for Zeus.”
I had no choice but to win if I wanted to live and the world not to end. I pressed shaky fingers to my eyes. “Do we have any new information that might help us?”
Tom shifted on his feet, careful to look at me and not Bia. “According to the reconnaissance team, they’ve put eyes on a dozen Jotunn but have reason to suspect at least three more. It’s likely the Jotunn had their scouts on the move. We eliminated Gil and his two flanks last week, plus Kraven and the two others at the mall today. That’s a half dozen we’ve dispatched so far.”
Dispatched. Was that a soldier’s word for killed or a friend cushioning his word choice for the fearful leader? My heart and tummy tumbled. Would I ever get used to this life. To death? What would that even mean if I did?
Liam rubbed a heavy palm against my back. “We’re down to six Jotunn if they only started with the twelve our men saw. If they had scouts out, there’re nine. Maybe more.”
I perked. “Only nine of them? There have to be fifty men staying here.” The Hale property was crammed full of Vikings from all over the globe who’d come to pledge fealty and stayed when they heard about a chance to battle giants. The hangar-sized garage was lined in bunks like a barracks. Every room in the house was filled. “We can win this.”
Liam’s hand stilled on my spine. “There are seventy-four of us, with the addition of the former Stian men and the others who arrived this week.”
I straightened. This was great news. Amazing news. “What’s wrong?” Three sullen male faces looked everywhere except at me.
Bia glared. “When the giants come for battle, do you expect them to come in suits and golf gear like the ones who’ve made attempts at your abduction?”
Yes? I looked at the guys for assistance. “I’m new to this. A little help, please? The giants have another form, like you? Is that it? The creepy blue shimmer over their skin isn’t the whole deal?”
Liam dropped his hand from my back and turned his gaze on me. “When the Jotunn are in their true form, the form they will absolutely choose for battle, they’re at least ten feet tall. They’re stronger than
us, but slower in that form. They control the elements. They can withstand more extreme temperatures and greater wind gusts than we can. We easily lose footing and they’ll pound us into the earth with one fist. Like those games with the mechanical mole at fairgrounds.”
“Whack-a-mole.” Tom blushed immediately. “Sorry.”
I stood on shaky legs. “I need to walk.” I treaded a strip of tile in front of the door. “So, they have the advantage of size and strength, but we have the numbers and Tom.”
Tom’s already pink cheeks flushed deeper. He dipped his chin. “I’m at your service.”
I turned to Liam. “Will your influence work on the Jotunn?”
Bia answered for him, examining him and Mason. “Perhaps, while the Jotunn are in disguise, but not for long, and not in their true form.”
I nodded. “Okay. Zeus says I need to lead with Justin. Maybe there’s something important about that. Not just that we align our efforts but that we fight together. When we’re close, we seem to read one another’s mind. I think that’s important, too.”
Mason arched his eyebrows.
Bia shot Liam a coy smile. “How close do they need to be for this little benefit?”
Memories of the ambush kiss in Justin’s Jeep rocked through my mind. Liam had played witness to the embarrassment. Heat rose up my neck. “The first time it happened was during a kiss. It happened again when I felt fire tearing through the nymphs’ home. I couldn’t speak, but Justin came when I called and held onto me. He somehow saw what I saw. I saw his thoughts when he was unconscious.”
Tom moved around the island to my side. “That’s a major tactical advantage. You’re like human walkie-talkies. With video.”
Technology had improved since Tom’s days in the military, I guessed. Walkie-talkies weren’t exactly cutting edge science, but he had a point. Unlike cell phones or radio frequencies, we could communicate on a private channel. We couldn’t be easily lost or damaged like tiny handheld devices and we were silent. No chance of the enemy overhearing what was communicated through our thoughts.
I pulled out my phone. “I’m calling Justin back. He needs to be here for this.”
Bia swept through the room. “Agreed. Not Nemesis. He can leave her.” She glided toward me, apparently working something out mentally. “Nemesis came here looking for justice. She wanted you to lose this battle, and she’s tipped the scale against you. Tell Justin his girlfriend owes you for that. I believe she sees she was wrong for feeding information about you to the giants and for facilitating their attacks. Tell him to insist on her favor during battle.”
Liam leaned over the counter on his forearms, clarity easing the lines in his forehead. Of course, Nym had told them where to find me. She’d shown up everywhere I went since she came to town. “What about Auntie? Can’t Nike return for the fight?”
She shook her head. “Nike says you don’t need help. Gaia would call her presence an unfair advantage and Zeus a cheat. I’m afraid having the goddess of victory at your helm would seem to say you couldn’t win on your own.”
“Can we? Really?” Liam’s voice was a slow lament. “And if so, at what cost and given that, is it truly a victory?”
Bia scoffed. “Love normally makes you more valiant.” She turned furious eyes on me. “Have you broken him?”
My chest constricted. Breathing near the goddess of force was nearly impossible. “You’re stealing the oxygen?”
Bia touched my fist with featherlight fingertips. “It’s my nature.”
“Mother, stop.” Liam came to my aid. “Callie hasn’t broken me. She’s caused me to see the ripple effects I missed before. I’ve always treasured lives. You know this, but only since meeting Callie have I paid attention to how far the reactions reach and the ways they impact lives of those far removed from the tragedy. The loss of one warrior, leading a dual life as man and Viking, affects his spouse, human parents, children, and friends. His coworkers, teammates, and people he never met. Strangers become aggrieved at the loss of a community staple, like Buddy who owned the deli. Places become tainted with tragedy. Money is lost and commerce suffers. The ways all those impacted people respond to the loss will affect the people they interact with, and it goes on and on forever. The force diminishes as it gets farther from the point of origin, but the results cannot be denied.”
Pride welled in my eyes. Could I have taught someone as experienced as Liam something? I closed my eyes to concentrate on oxygen and the goddess of force before me. “Why doesn’t your presence bother them?” I waved a palm through the air in no general direction. “Can you back up, please?”
Bia floated gracefully across the room.
I swallowed hungrily at the fresh dose of air, enjoying the sensation of my lungs no longer collapsing.
“They’re from my bloodline. My child and my nephews.” She looked at Liam with distaste. “You always were a philosopher. If your body ever dies, you’re sure to return as a street artist or one of those fruits who wander the forest with a pack of matches and a knapsack, writing poetry.”
Parented by the goddess of force. No wonder Liam was so grouchy when we met.
Her flawless skin and golden hair looked more angelic than what she was. My current nightmare.
“Don’t worry. I’m not staying for the battle either. We can’t offer Gaia a reason to request a rematch.”
I stepped farther away, enjoying the oxygen. “Obviously.”
“Are you calling Justin or not?” she snapped.
My mind scrambled to catch up. Right. I dialed the phone and pressed speaker. Static crackled through the line. Thunder and screams poisoned the backdrop.
“Justin?”
Everyone in the room was on their feet and closing in on me, leaning over the phone. Tension zinged between us. Bia, thankfully, stayed behind the others.
“Callie?” Justin’s voice relieved and terrified me.
I raised the phone to my mouth. “What’s happening?”
“The horses are out of our stables. They’re running through the woods, spooked by the storm. My folks are in Stone Creek for the night, but some of the Stians were here when I got home. They were trying to help with the horses, but there are giants in the woods. They freed the horses to lure us out so they could pick us off.”
Tom vanished. Mason followed.
Bia watched me as if I could somehow right this. What could I do? Hunt giants? Corral horses?
I opened my palm and called silently to my sword.
Justin bellowed a few choice swears over the line. “These guys are huge. They’re like monsters!”
The sword lodged into my grip with a snap. What I couldn’t do was stand around and hope Justin was safe. “We’re coming. Find the men and keep them together. Avoid the giants. The horses will come back once we stop the storm.”
Chapter 24
Clouds in infinite shades of gray encased the town. Darkness rolled through the sky in every direction and the temperature had risen off the charts for a day that began with frigid rain. Wind raged through historic trees along Main Street, snapping off branches and tossing them into power lines, onto porches, and into streets. The Mercedes moved at an infuriating pace through debris-covered roads to Justin’s driveway and bounced violently over the pitted gravel to his empty stables.
I jumped out before Liam put the car in park.
“Justin!” I screamed into the wind. My phone buzzed against my thigh.
A text from Allison. “Oliver’s on his way. Dad made me stay home. Be safe.”
I’d almost forgotten about Oliver and Allison. I jogged through sopping grass to the swinging stable doors. Oliver must not have told her anything yet or she’d have texted that. Probably his influence had more to do with her staying home than her father’s insistence. Her father was putty in her hands, and she was eighteen.
Liam grabbed the door and pulled it wide. I screamed.
“It’s just me.” He shoved me i
nside and tethered the stable door shut behind us. “Tom’s gone scouting with the men.”
Justin’s voice echoed off the empty wooden stalls. “We’re in the corner office.”
I jogged toward the addition his dad installed last fall.
Liam clutched my arm, stopping me short. “Where are you going?”
I shook my arm. “To the office. Didn’t you hear?”
I broke free and jogged ahead.
Liam whispered, “No.”
I stutter stepped. Justin had spoken to me mentally from the office. That was so far away. We were like walkie-talkies.
The office door creaked open as we came near. Justin poked his head out. “Come in slow, okay?”
I screwed up my face. Why? What’d he have in there?
Liam opened the door and motioned me inside.
Nym sat on the floor under a desk surrounded by Vikings, all in their full demigod, hulked-out forms. Every one of them had a hand on their sword. Nym looked almost guilty. Her superior attitude felt a little defeated. Maybe she wasn’t glad to see the chaos she’d caused.
A Viking shifted, and I snapped my focus back on the task at hand. Trouble-causing goddesses had to get in line.
I lifted my palms. “Hi. I’m Callie. Remember me from the waterfall?” My throat thickened, and dryness pasted my tongue to the roof of my mouth. Memories of that event weren’t my favorites. My mom’s battered face swam before my eyes. Also, these guys hadn’t chosen to follow me then. Why would they change their minds now?
Wind howled through the rafters, banging loose shutters and threatening to uplift the entire structure.
“Look. I’m here to fight for you. Beside you, not against you. I won’t let anyone else die if I can help it. You don’t have to be alone. You have a family. One you’re destined to join. I don’t think we can beat the giants separately, but I think we have a chance if we face them together. This isn’t about me leading you. This is about unity waiting a millennia to happen. Will you join us?”
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