I made an awful face. “Hey.”
“His word. Not mine.” She brushed invisible dirt off her shoulder. “You’re a pacifist leading warriors. It’s unconscionable. Anyway, I saw him outside the bed-and-breakfast when I first got here, so I asked for a tour, thinking there was something about the building he liked. He collects more than the dead, you know. He’s the father of riches. I didn’t see anything special about the place. I didn’t realize they were your people or his vendetta against you. I split my time between watching him and watching you. I saw what he did and I asked him why he was here. He said he took a few people from your life as down payment and motivation for you to embrace your legacy. If you wouldn’t provide warriors, he’d claim them himself. I think he’s right. Better to lose warriors than humans, right?”
I wrapped my arms around my fast-freezing torso, partially to warm up, mostly so I wouldn’t puke. “This is the truth?”
“Yes.”
My mind raced over her story. Hades had taken miscellaneous Vikings as repayment for Allison’s life. My tummy soured further. Something seemed off. “I thought the Vikings went to Odin in Valhalla after death.”
She shook her head. “That’s Norse legend. They were into wars and power through conquering. The Valkyries come for the Vikings and decide who goes to Valhalla. Not every warrior makes the cut. Odin only dines with the select. There’s more than one facet to a story. Hades gets the rest.”
“And he helped me, believing I’d lead men to slaughter for him?” My voice crept higher on every word. “That’s insanity. It’s ridiculous. Crazy.” I circled a pointer finger around my ear at a loss for better words. “Nuts.”
“Yeah, well, you asked. I answered. You may have squared yourself with Zeus, but he’s not the only one you’ve got to worry about these days.”
“Isn’t Hades satisfied now? The giants killed plenty of Stians before we united, plus he came for men from both camps.” And the nymphs. I inhaled cold night air, hoping to settle my stomach.
She shrugged. A helpless movement accentuated by droopy blue eyes. “He’ll get what he wants or welcome Ragnarok trying.”
My mouth fell open, and my heart stilled.
The door sprung open. Allison grabbed my arm and yanked me inside. “Come in, you lunatic!” She ushered me straight to the makeshift dance floor under the foyer chandelier. “Shake your ass, woman. It’s senior year. We’re halfway finished.” She swung her hands overhead and her hips side to side. “This is the end of an era. Make some memories. Kiss your boyfriend.”
I caught Nym’s gaze in the blinking strobe lighting. Her expression was grim.
She moved through the crowd to me. “Are you okay?”
Was I? How could I be?
She leaned in closer. “I’m sorry. I was wrong coming here the way I did without all the facts. I didn’t see the whole picture until it was too late, and you were right that day at the deli. I had forgotten what it was like to have something to lose.” She raised her chin in Justin’s direction.
He and Tom played with a length of rope across the room. He’d almost taught Tom how to rope.
Liam circled his arms around my waist and dropped a hot kiss against the back of my neck, sending shivers over my skin. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah.” Nothing we couldn’t talk about after the ball dropped. I pressed fingers to my forehead, smoothing creases gathered there.
Nemesis stayed close, feigning dance moves, playing the role of teenage party girl. “I want you to know I’ll do anything in my power to protect him, and I owe you. If Hades comes at you again, I’ll favor you.”
Hades had taken my men in retribution for a promise I’d made to Zeus. I’d come clean about that in the morning. The men deserved to know the truth. Allison did too.
Music rocked the room. Joy coursed through the crowd like a drug, despite my every inclination to the opposite. Tomorrow was a new day. I shook my body, loosening pent-up stress. Tonight I was eighteen and not dealing with things that could wait. Liam had taught me that.
I’d united the clans, made peace with Justin as my partner, and set Gaia in her place. It was New Year’s Eve. A new start. Another chance to do better. I’d also possibly converted the goddess of retribution to a goddess of gather-the-facts-before-you-act.
Mason arrived with a tray of champagne flutes. “A toast.”
Oliver, Allison, Justin, Liam, and I each chose a glass. Justin took a second and passed it to Nym, who I ignored wholly. I needed time to decide on her.
Mason set the tray on the table and raised his glass. “Sparkling cider, in case you’re wondering. Not everyone here is legal to drink in this country.”
Nym opened her mouth to state the obvious, her specialty, and Justin kissed her.
Allison barked a laugh. “Uh, you are the only one legal here, Mr. H.”
“Right.” He smiled. “To a year filled with victory, blessings, and friends.”
Liam lifted his glass and squeezed me tight. “May we all meet right here again next New Year, stronger, happier, and wiser.”
Allison bounced in place. “To friends!”
“Friends!”
Liam kissed my nose. “I love you.” Pride lifted my heart as his gaze weakened my knees. “Have I told you lately what a kick-ass leader you’ve become? Or how enamored I am with you?”
I shook my head, stunned.
“I’ve always believed in you, but I couldn’t truly imagine how you’d own this life. You’re amazing. You turned pacifism, something I saw as weakness, into a tool and used it to connect with Vikings from all over the world. You made them trust you.” His face illuminated with crazy joy. “Your levelheaded approach defeated Gaia’s giants and quite possibly saved the whole damn world.”
I locked my lips against his and showed him how much I appreciated those words.
“And you’re all mine.”
I tipped my head back and laughed. “Finally, you believe me. Jeez. If I’d known all I had to do was save the world…”
Liam’s lips covered mine, stopping the words and redirecting my thoughts.
We laughed and shimmied under the soaring ceiling, surrounded by friends, many who’d literally die to protect me. This year I’d do better. I’d make sure they didn’t have to. There was only one thing left to do.
Allison bumped her hip against mine and squealed. “I love New Year’s Eve!”
I caught Oliver’s gaze and smiled. In the interest of starting the New Year right, I had something else to take care of. “Allison?”
She shimmied closer.
I grabbed her hand and led her up the great stair case toward the library. “I have a story to tell you that’s way overdue.”
She beamed. “If it includes a tour of this creepy place, I’ve already had one.”
I rolled my eyes. She’d seen the foyer, kitchen and Oliver’s bedroom. Hardly the grand tour. “It’s about a cowardly girl who told a bunch of lies to her best friend and pretended they were for her friend’s good.”
Allison stopped me short. “What did you do?”
Liam, Oliver, and Tom lined the bottom step, looking up. Justin stood in the pulsating crowd, eyes locked on me. His voice popped into my head. “You’ve got this.”
I smiled at Allison. A zing of energy shot through me. “You’re actually going to love this, you lunatic.”
She squealed and dragged me up the steps to get the story she’d waited far too long to hear.
My entourage followed at a distance, probably to press their ears to the library door.
Meet the Author
Julie Anne Lindsey is a multi-genre author who writes the stories that keep her up at night. She’s a self-proclaimed nerd with a penchant for words and proclivity for fun. Julie lives in rural Ohio with her husband and three small children. Today, she hopes to make someone smile. One day she plans to change the world.
http://wwwJulieannelindsey.com
/> Keep reading for a special sneak peek of Julie Anne Lindsey’s new novel
IN PLACE OF NEVER
Mercy was fourteen when her older sister, Faith, drowned in the river. Their mother followed three months later, leaving Mercy, her little sister and their father in emotional shreds. After three years cocooned in grief, Mercy will do anything for information about the night her world unraveled. Faith’s official death report indicates accidental drowning, but her father blames the people in a traveling sideshow that passed through town that summer.
When the traveling sideshow returns on the third anniversary of Faith’s death, hope drags Mercy from depression to desperation. She needs answers from the sideshow members before they disappear again. Curiosity leads Mercy into the unwelcoming world of Roma travelers and into the arms of Cross, a sideshow member. With Cross’ help, Mercy navigates an intricate web of deceit where the cover-ups go much further than she ever dreamed. The truth she finds will rock the foundation of her small river town.
A Lyrical e-book on sale February 2016.
Learn more about Julie Anne at http://www.kensingtonbooks.com/author.aspx/31621
Chapter 1
The Sideshow
“Faith is dead.” The words had formed my first thought every day for three years. Strangely, on the anniversary of her death, my mind was blank.
My bedroom door stood open, courtesy of my little sister, Prudence, no doubt. This was her way of nudging me into motion. Muted shades of gray light filtered through rain-washed windows, barely enough to illuminate dust motes floating overhead. Time to face the worst day of the year.
Sounds and scents of breakfast climbed two flights of stairs and settled into my thoughts with an eerie echo. I pulled clothes from the pile and brushed my teeth and hair. These were the things I’d only begun to appreciate before everything changed.
Far too soon, my toes curled over the top step outside my room. I pulled in a deep breath and braced my palms against cool stairwell walls, dragging my fingertips over the grooves and planes in the wood paneled wall as I inched downstairs.
From the quiet hallway outside our kitchen, life looked surreal, like the setting for a play with actors in motion but no audience or script. Dad’s clothes were as neat as a pin and his hair fell in the same schoolboy style he’d outgrown thirty years ago. The morning paper lay open in front of him, beside a full cup of coffee that had lost its steam. Pru stood at the stove shoveling eggs from a pan onto a plate. She, too, appeared ready for the day, if you didn’t notice the tremor in her hand or the lilt of her mouth. She nearly dropped the plate when she turned from the stove.
“Mercy.” She pressed a hand to her heart and stumbled to the table with the eggs. “Why are you just standing there?”
Dad turned blank eyes on me. “Morning, Mercy. Did you sleep okay?”
Like the dead. “Yes, sir.” I moved to the counter and filled Mom’s favorite mug with coffee, ignoring the palpable tension.
I sipped my coffee, savoring the familiar taste. Something Mom had loved. The bitter reminder turned my stomach. Our home brimmed with family ghosts, figurative and literal. We were a family of apparitions.
Pru untied the apron from her waist and folded it on the counter. She stared at me. “Aren’t you eating?”
“I’m not a breakfast person, you know that.”
Dad tensed. The paper crumbled around his tightened grip.
Pru bit her lip but didn’t argue. Not today. Today we’d tiptoe around one another. Three months from now, we’d do it again.
Dad pressed the paper against our ancient Formica tabletop and lifted cold coffee to his lips.
I settled onto a chair and tapped my nails over tiny flecks of gold and silver embedded in the table’s white surface. He and Mom had received the kitchen set as a wedding present from her parents. A grooved metal wrap curled around the table’s perimeter. My sisters and I did homework at that table. Birthday cakes and Thanksgiving dinners were served there. When our family was whole, we’d played cards and board games together every Friday night. Family night.
The legs of Dad’s chair scraped over worn linoleum. He poured his coffee into the sink and kissed Pru’s head. “Thank you for breakfast, Prudence. Everything was delicious.”
Her arms flopped at her sides. “But you didn’t eat.”
Dad patted her shoulder and freed his jacket from the chair back where he’d sat. He threaded his arms though too-large holes. His troubled eyes turned my way. “You should eat.”
I nodded. He didn’t eat, but I should.
He scooped his Bible and keys off the counter and pulled the front door closed behind him. A measure of tension faded in his absence.
Pru collapsed into the seat across from me. Bony elbows slid across the tabletop. “Please eat something.”
I lifted Dad’s unused fork and stabbed a piece of scrambled eggs. Tendrils of steam wound in the air around it. On my tongue the egg was flavorless, but I forced a smile. “Mmm.”
Her cheeks twitched in appreciation. “No one eats around here. It isn’t healthy.”
“We don’t sleep or talk either. At least we’re consistent.” A deep cringe pinched my heart. I’d promised myself not to provoke Pru. She was only a kid. The least I could do was use restraint and good manners. “Sorry.”
I stared into her wide blue eyes, wanting to say a million things I couldn’t. “You didn’t need to make breakfast. It’s not your responsibility.” The word lodged in my throat, filling the space until air struggled past. “Sorry.”
Hurt welled in Pru’s eyes. “Whose responsibility is it then? Mom’s? Yours?” She stood in a burst of energy I couldn’t fathom, rocking her chair onto two legs before it settled with a thump. “I’m fifteen, not five.” Pru whirled through the room, dumping eggs in the trash and shoving dishes into the sink.
“I’m seventeen. I’m older, so I take care of you. Not the other way around.”
She turned on her heels and glared at me. “You’re leaving in six weeks. Then what?” She bit her bottom lip and scrubbed a plate hard. “You could at least pretend you don’t want to go. Even if it’s a lie.”
I nudged her with my elbow. “Hey. I’m not leaving you. I’m going to college. You will too in a couple years. For the record, I was eating those eggs.”
Her wary eyes drooped at the corners. “I can make more.”
“Stop.” I carried my coffee to the counter.
Pru turned off the water, defeated by her loved ones before nine a.m. It wasn’t fair.
I wrapped my fingers protectively around Mom’s mug, as if Pru might take it from me. “I can keep my coffee, right?”
She smirked. “Whatever. Shut up.” She dried her hands and pursed her lips. “What are you doing today?”
Thunder rocked the house. “I’m going out.”
“Out where? There’s a storm. Besides, my friends are coming over for movies and popcorn. Why don’t you stay? Company could take your mind off…stuff.”
Stuff. Right.
“Me, Prudence and the color guard?” I flipped a handful of sandy curls off Pru’s shoulder. “I’m not sure that’d be fun for anyone.”
“Please.”
“Can’t. I’m going to go see Mom and Faith. I’ll be home later. If you want, you can come up to my room when your friends leave. We’ll eat cold pizza and drink warm soda after Dad falls asleep.” My throat constricted further with each word. Faith and I had spent many nights that way when Pru was small and sound asleep in her room next door.
She paled. “Maybe.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Maybe?” That was the best invitation I’d ever offered and she’d turned me down. Something was up. “Why? Do you have plans after Dad falls asleep?”
Her tan cheeks brightened. “No. I just think I might be tired after hanging out all day, or I might stay over at Casey’s.”
I sucked air. “You can’t.”
She crossed thin a
rms over her chest. “I said maybe. Anyways, since when are you in charge?”
My gut wrenched. Uh, since everyone ahead of me on the chain of command either died or otherwise checked out. “You can’t stay out all night. Dad won’t let you sleep away, and I’ll check on you if you try.”
She clenched her jaw.
I grabbed my bag off the coat tree and secured it cross body before she lashed out. “I can’t do this right now. I’ll be home soon. I won’t interrupt your movie day, but I will look for you tonight.”
Pru scoffed as I edged past her and out the door where Dad had disappeared minutes before.
My muddy Chucks waited on the rack against the railing.
Pru glared at me through the window.
I couldn’t stay. I had to visit Mom and Faith before the storm washed the roads away.
I gathered my hair into a knot as I sloshed through the rain toward the edge of town. Puddles splashed warm water onto my ankles. Raindrops swiveled patterns over my forehead into my eyes, blurring my vision and masking a hot tear of frustration on one cheek. The streets were empty of pedestrians. Cars with wipers on warp speed settled at stoplights or outside shops, collecting women in raingear and children wielding umbrellas shaped like storybook characters.
Dad’s car sat alone in the church lot. He dreamed of inspiring the town and he prayed fervently for a healing of our broken community. The concept was nice if you weren’t one of his forgotten daughters.
I ducked my head and moved faster, dashing through the lot and across the intersection at Main Street. Soggy, wind-battered flyers waved from light posts on every corner. The annual River Festival returned this month, assuming St. Mary’s didn’t wash off the map before then. I tugged my hood over my ears and sloshed onto the sidewalk. American flags adorned every store window. Support our Troops shirts and Uncle Sam bobbleheads monopolized every retail display in town. The Fourth of July fun was right on schedule. Only three days until the big parade and concert in the park. My family didn’t celebrate this weekend anymore.
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