I planted silent feet on the steps and moved down, my back to the wall. Without electricity, descending into the basement felt like entering a tomb.
Justin’s sudden voice gave me a ministroke. “Send Liam down first and get your sword ready. The basement’s full of weapons.”
My body stilled on the bottom step. The battle-training room.
I wrapped my fingers around the hilt of my blade and crept toward the training-room door. Lightning flashed, illuminating the room through small basement windows near the ceiling. A swath of dark hair splayed across the training mats, fanned out around a face I couldn’t live without. Mom. Beside her, Lisle stared toward the ceiling, wide-eyed and shaking.
I steeled my nerves and called into the room. “What are you doing here, giant?”
“Come and see.” His voice was a hoarse taunt.
Mom sat up. Her silhouette scared the air from my lungs. Another flash of lightning revealed a worse picture than my imagination had conjured. Her clothes were tattered and her feet bare. Her face and arms were laced with cuts and darkened with bruises.
“Move where I can see you.” I forced the words through gritted teeth. My sword vibrated in my hands, ready for battle. “The others are dead, but you can still leave with your life.”
An enormous palm slapped into my back. “But you can’t.” The rumbling voice rocked through my eardrums.
I stumbled forward, only barely regaining my footing before falling into Mom and Lisle. I recovered into a defensive stance and held my weapon toward the second giant. He lumbered over me, swinging a war hammer.
“You can’t win.” I inched back, pushing the girls behind me. “The clans are united. Your men are dead.”
Disbelief danced across his eyes. “Lies.” He struck the war hammer in my direction.
I deflected the blow with my sword and absorbed the impact with my bones. Colliding metal screeched through the manor. Heavy footfalls thundered down the stairs. My sword illuminated with silver flame. “I’m not alone. This is your last chance to surrender.”
The first giant marched toward me, curved blade in hand. “I will not leave like a coward.”
Liam’s bulked-out frame filled the doorway. “Then you will die like a fool.” His sword glowed to life, casting an eerie green shine over the room and changing the giants’ strange luminous blue skin to a sickly brown.
The giants attacked Liam.
I gathered Mom under her arms and hauled her to her feet. Lisle rose beside us with a wobble and a wince. There was only one way out of the training room. Mom hopped on one leg, favoring the other ankle. “Now what?”
Armed giants and a Viking blocked our escape.
Justin arrived with the swing of his glowing blade. “Move them aside,” he yelled to Liam, probably hearing my panicked thoughts.
Liam forced the giants two paces left. Enough space to make a narrow escape.
I shoved the girls forward, but they didn’t budge. They dug their injured bodies into the ground. Mom pressed her back to my chest. “We can’t get through there.”
“Yes, you can. Take Lisle’s hand.” I gave Lisle a confident nod. “I need to stay.”
Mom turned on me, angry, adamant, ready to fight about the most obvious decision I’d ever made. “I’m not leaving without you.”
Justin cut one giant’s Achilles to the bone, nearly detaching his foot in the blow. Blood sprayed over us. “The hell you say! Get moving, Mrs. I. You’re a distraction. God love you, but move your ass.” He raised his blade over the giant’s head for the kill strike and his blade swooped away, crashing and skittering across the mats. Before I registered the cause, Justin flew into the cinderblock walls, crunching a section large enough to collapse other homes.
“Look out!” His voice ricocheted through my head and I landed beside him.
Mom raced to my side, despite a now-clear doorway. “Callie!”
The world blurred into view, suddenly topsy-turvy and a bit out of focus. Mom tugged my arms and begged me to get up and run. Lisle screamed in a language I didn’t know, wrestling Mom’s arms away and attempting to pry her off me.
Justin’s eyes were closed. His internal dialogue silent.
A giant grabbed each woman by the hair and lifted them onto their tiptoes, necks bent at awful angles. I wrenched my body upright and called to Justin silently. He didn’t respond. Across the room, Liam groaned. He lay pinned beneath the injured giant’s weight, like a sick version of television wrestling. A pool of purple blood crept along the floor beside the giant’s dangling foot.
I concentrated on the one with my mom and Lisle. “Let them go.” I forced my limbs into attack position. “If you hurt them, shake them, drop them…” The words stopped forming as pure rage filled my soul. I needed to think my way out. Battling him directly would hurt Mom in ways she wouldn’t recover.
He dropped Lisle into a pile on the floor and positioned his curved blade at Mom’s throat.
“No!” I screamed and fell onto my knees before them. “Don’t. I’ll do anything you ask. Let her go. I’m begging you, please. Anything you want. I’ll come with you! Anything!”
“No!” Mom cried, working her toes to find purchase on the mat where he suspended her like a child’s toy.
The giant chuckled. “Anything?”
I folded myself into submission on the mats and hid my face to the floor, eager to cover the snarl growing there. “Yes.” I raised my weapon toward him without looking. “Take my sword.”
My mother collapsed a foot away, bawling out my name in repetition.
The giant stomped to my side and tittered with excitement. I listened to the air move as he reached for the blade.
Power coursed through me like rocket fuel, and the fire sword flamed to life in my hand. I sliced through his arm as if it were no denser than the air. I rose to my feet, feeling less like myself and more like the monster before me. I charged him, sword flaming silver, and my limbs aching to deliver him punishment. He jumped back, too quick to be cut again, but a guy his size couldn’t go far in a room with seven people. He stepped on Liam’s arm and lost his balance. The second giant lunged to his aid, freeing Liam from its weight.
I kept moving forward, pulled by rage and adrenaline. My sword worked swiftly beside Liam’s, stabbing their flesh and relieving them of their weapons and arms. With a final, synchronized blow, the giants’ heads rolled free.
The storm outside fell silent.
The only sound on Earth was my mother’s desperate sobs.
Chapter 26
My old bedroom was exactly the way I’d left it, which was shocking in numerous ways. I’d imagined Dad would have renovated and added a home theater, gym, or something equally representative of a midlife crisis. Pictures of us in my childhood clung to the mirror as if nothing had changed. It was like moving backward in a time warp. Since the tornadoes ripped through downtown last month, plenty had changed. Waking every morning to a room full of posters I’d hung before my life went sideways over a cliff on a ship full of Vikings was comforting. Maybe some things could stay the same, even if the entire world wasn’t what I once thought.
“Do you think he’ll like it?” Allison twirled in front of my closet mirror. Her silver sequined dress threw rainbows across her arms and everything else in reach. The hem was too short, the keyhole neckline too plunging.
“He’ll love it.” Oliver Hale was easy to please. If Allison wore it, he’d love it and I’d never heard him complain about seeing a little skin.
She fluffed her hair and tried on more of Mom’s heels while I admired the new set of runes on my left arm. They’d appeared the day of the tornadoes, though I didn’t know when, only that they weren’t there when I went to the mall with Allison and they were there when we got to Dad’s house that night.
Allison turned up the music and flipped through hangers in my closet. “I can’t believe you left all these amazing clothes behind. You were mad
at your dad, not fashion.”
“I was trying to make a point.”
She scoffed. “What? That his idiocy led you to a lifetime of hoodies and warm-ups?” She smiled. “That’ll show him.”
“Hey.” I grabbed the red leather crop jacket she held as evidence of my poor decision. “I wanted to show him we didn’t need him or his stuff.”
“Well, I would’ve needed that Jimmy jacket.”
I looked at the rows of clothes lining my walk-in. “It is funny, right? I left everything behind on a whim and started over with Mom, then our house was annihilated and now I’m right back here as if I never left.” Like someone pushed a Pause button while I took a varied route through life. Like I’d pushed against my destiny and it snapped back with the destruction of our town.
She stared. “That’s not funny in any way, actually. It’s kind of freaky.” She snapped her fingers. “Unless you were meant to live next door to Liam so you could fall in love.”
“Maybe.” Had I gone against fate by moving with Mom when she’d learned about Dad’s affair? There hadn’t seemed like a choice at the time. Stay with a cheating liar or support someone who never stopped supporting me? There was no decision to make. Still, I couldn’t ignore the possibility that things might have gone differently if I’d stayed with Dad. Things might have taken another turn with Justin, but it wouldn’t be the same. Life wouldn’t be perfect the way it was now. A life without Liam’s love couldn’t be anything but average.
Mom knocked on my door. Her bruises were healed. No one had doubted any of her injuries had been the result of escaping the tornado. She never mentioned the giants after that day. “Are you girls ready? There are two dashing young men here to collect you.”
Allison grabbed her clutch and breezed past Mom. “Thanks, Mrs. I.”
I wrapped Mom in a long hug. If I’d lost her… My eyes stung with barely tamped emotion. “I love you.”
She held me until I let go. “I love you, too.” She shoved masses of hair off my shoulders and played with the narrow platinum streaks. “I know we don’t talk about some things, but I want you to know we can.” She dipped her chin. “Do you know what I mean?”
I nodded, speechless.
“I’ve had plenty of time to think through the past few weeks, things I’ve seen and heard. Things I’ve read. Most importantly, I’ve had time to contrast those things with what I know about my little girl.”
A tear escaped. I swiped it away as fast as it fell and braced myself for a reprimand. I’d killed a giant in front of her. I’d lied to her endlessly. I’d caused the destruction of our home and town, and inadvertently the death of Ginger, Buddy, Allison…. Allison. Argh. I’d put off telling her the truth for too long. There was never a right time for that conversation, and I couldn’t bring myself to ruin her normalcy. Plus, the longer I waited to tell her, the angrier she’d be when I did, and it’d already been too long.
Mom lifted my hands in hers. “I am so utterly and completely proud of you.”
A tear rolled free. “What?”
She handed me a tissue from her pocket. “You’re more than any mother could ever hope for, and I don’t mean because of the other thing. I mean because you are kind and loving and honest.” She wiggled my hands in hers. “I can see the guilt on your face. I know now you were keeping some pretty heavy secrets, and I don’t blame you. You shouldn’t feel guilty for trying to protect me.” She smiled sweetly. “I know that was what you were trying to do. It’s who you are.”
I sniffled. “So, you definitely don’t want your memory adjusted?” A little giggle slipped out. How crazy did that sound? “You might be a lot happier without all those horrible images haunting you at night.”
She wrapped an arm around my shoulders and led me toward the steps. “You mean the ones where my daughter rescued me and saved the world.”
I leaned into her as we walked.
Below us, in the entryway, Dad and Liam talked with wild hand gestures, presumably about the latest sports fiasco. Allison doubled over in laughter at something Oliver had said.
Mom kissed my head and let me go. “I’ve never been happier. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
Liam looked up and waved.
Mom laughed. She turned her back to him and bit her lip. “Honestly, I’m glad your secrets are what they are. I worried you and that boy were...” She mouthed the words, “Having sex.”
My cheeks scorched. “Mom. Oh my goodness. Stop.” I started down the steps before she saw the truth on my guilty face.
She giggled as she followed. “Well, you know how boys can be. Especially the cute ones.”
“Stop,” I whispered.
Mom bounced into Dad’s arms, and I grabbed my coat.
Liam’s eyes flashed green as I buttoned the little black swing coat over my chiffon minidress.
“Home by midnight,” Dad said.
I glared. “It’s New Year’s Eve.”
“Perfect. Why don’t you guys stay here? Welcome in the New Year with your mother and me.”
“Good night, Dad.” I kissed Mom’s cheek and waved. “Don’t wait up.”
Dad extended a hand as if he might try to pull me back. “We’ll be up. We’ll be on the porch at ten after twelve.”
Mom shoved his chest and laughed. “Stop.”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh my goodness, can we go?”
“Good-bye, Mr. and Mrs. I.,” Allison and the guys called as we ran for the car.
The drive through town was interesting, like a half-drawn painting. Historic homes stood untouched beside empty lots where other homes had been destroyed last month. Shops lined in twinkle lights neighbored boarded storefronts. Half the century-old oaks on Main Street were missing or damaged, making for a patchy, broken wall instead of the pristine tree-lined look from before. The air smelled like ash most nights. Farmers slowly burned the pieces of their destroyed outbuildings in controlled fires. The town seemed desolate.
My old street was the opposite. The line of cars outside Hale Manor stretched into the night. Pickups were parked as far as I could see in both directions and in a nearby field. Most of the Vikings had reassembled into clans and left to do whatever they did throughout the world until I needed them again or they needed me.
Zeus had made a thirty-second appearance when we took Mom to the hospital to be checked out after the tornado. He’d said Gaia was livid, so he was pleased. He hadn’t said thank you or asked how I was. He had, however, said, “This concludes our arrangement.” At the time, I’d only wanted clarification. After some niggling, I got him to say, “We’re settled. You’re required to do no more to fulfill our deal.”
Then he’d blinked out and never come back. Thankfully, neither had the giants. The storm stopped when the last one fell. The town had gone into recovery mode and the national newscasters still talked about that unprecedented Ohio weather.
Allison squealed when Oliver opened her door.
“Ready?” Liam asked.
I took his hand and stepped into the crisp winter air, thankful for predictable weather and a clear view of the night’s stars. Justin’s Jeep rumbled to a stop in the field a few yards away.
I pulled in a long breath. “Here we go.” I’d barely seen him without her for a month, and it never got easier, though for some reason which escaped me, she tried to be less heinous. Not an easy task, I presumed.
Liam slid his arm around my waist and kissed my hair above one ear. His lips warmed the sensitive skin there. “We can’t force her away, so we may as well keep her close.”
Nym draped her body over Justin’s arm and cuddled into his side. If not for the overpowering sense of joy encasing him, I’d have called my sword to send her home.
Allison danced on the porch beside Oliver, tugging her tiny dress lower on her thighs. “What are you waiting for? It’s freezing!”
We moved up the walk, Justin and Nym lost in a cloud of wonderment and me wait
ing for the ground to split open and consume her. When we reached the porch, Allison and Oliver ducked inside. Justin held the door, but Nym stepped aside.
“I’d like to talk to Callie if I can. Alone.”
The guys exchanged a look and shuffled into the toasty-warm house pulsating with bass and laughter.
I bit my tongue.
“Look.” She cocked her head. “I know we got off to a rough start.”
“You tried to kill my dad and you sat by and watched someone set a fire that killed four of my sisters because you decided my life was unfair.” I emphasized the insanity of that. “You came here to cause chaos and aid the giants against me.”
She straightened. “But I helped you in the end. Once I understood.”
I guffawed.
She flattened a palm over the door as I pulled it open, smacking it shut with a crack. “Wait. Please.” Impatience seethed in her voice. “I’m trying to make amends or something.” She rolled her head over each shoulder, looking annoyed. As if I somehow irritated her.
“Fine. You want to start again? Stop causing intentional trouble.” I thought through my quick list. “Don’t mess with Justin’s heart. No more executing punishment without all the facts, and for Zeus’s sake, start being honest.”
“Done.” She extended her hand.
I lifted my palm. “Who started the fire at the bed-and-breakfast?”
Her lips parted, and she stilled.
I waited.
Something akin to fear washed over her face. “Maybe we should go inside.”
I blocked her. “Nope. You wanted a do-over. I say show me you can be trusted. Tell the truth.”
She leaned closer. Her eyebrows crowded tight on her forehead. “Hades.”
“Hermes?” My true dad?
“No,” she snapped in a whisper, grabbing my wrist and pulling me close. “Hades. Hades set the fire. He says you owe him for letting Allison go. He doesn’t do that. Ever. When he made an exception for you and raised her from the dead, it indebted you to him. As leader of all Vikings, he expected repayment in souls from your many glorious battles. He considered it an investment, but you turned out to be a flake.”
Goddess Page 27