Cross realms? So Echo was right. Then the last thing she said registered.
“I did not summon anyone.” They glanced at each other and started their telepathic communication. I let my need to listen in fill me until I heard them. So they didn’t know who called the witches either, but their main suspect was Eirik.
“Why would Eirik make the Call?” I asked.
Catie shot me a disapproving glance. “You should not listen to private conversations, Lorraine. It is rude.”
My cheeks warmed. She sounded so much like Mom. Except she wasn’t Mom. “And you should not go around stalking me and interfering in my life. Why would Eirik send the witches here if he’s working with Torin’s father?”
“Has it ever crossed your mind that maybe the witches are not here to help you?” Marj finally spoke and she did it with some serious glee. “Maybe they’re part of the Earl’s army.”
My stomach dropped. The protection runes in the town covered all homes. Could we be protecting the very people out to get me? “You’ve infiltrated them, so why haven’t you found out anything. At least you must know why Eirik is with the Earl.”
“We don’t,” Catie said. “We thought he was with his parents in Hel’s Hall. We are trying to find out what’s going on and, if possible, help him find his way.”
“Then get rid of Torin’s father. You’re powerful. Change his destiny. Kill him. Create an accident and chop off his head.”
“We’re not in the business of killing people,” Marj retorted.
Yeah, yours is to screw up people’s lives. “What can we do to help Eirik? His dark side has taken over. and if we don’t do something, people are going to get hurt.”
“We?” Marj asked.
“Yes, Marj. We. Eirik means a lot to us. To me, my mother, my father.” My eyes watered. “I will not let him disappear into a black hole if I can help it. And if you try to use him to get to me again—”
“Eirik is just as important as you are to Ragnarok, Lorraine,” Catie said.
Marj and Jeannette exchanged a horrified look. Marj shook her head. “She doesn’t need to know all that now, Catie.”
Catie smiled. “Actually, Marj, she does. It’s time to stop this senseless cat and mouse game and work with her. I’m taking the lead from now on.”
Whoa. I’d never heard her sound so badass. The others blinked and nodded. Way to go, Catie. She just kicked Marj to the curb and hijacked leadership. I loved it.
“Good. Let’s get comfortable.” She waited until they sat before she took the seat in front of me and smiled. “What do you know about Ragnarok?”
Seriously? “You want to discuss that now?”
“Yes, dear. Your next class is in,” she checked her watch, “fifteen minutes. You have enough time to understand a few useful but painful facts. Now tell us about Ragnarok.”
“It is the battle between the forces of good and evil and the end of this world,” I said and almost rolled my eyes when they nodded. This was stupid.
“Go on,” Catie said calmly.
“There will be signs of course: three years of nonstop war, chaos, and lawlessness followed by snow covering the entire world and blizzards. Finally darkness will be everywhere, as the sun, the moon, and the stars will be swallowed by the wolves. Scientifically, that doesn’t make sense unless the earth goes off tangent instead of following its orbit and ends up floating in space where there are no stars, until it finds a new star to revolve around.”
Catie chuckled. “Nice theory, but you forget that your science doesn’t explain everything. Go on.”
“But that’s where theories come in.”
She sighed. “Focus on Ragnarok, Lorraine. You can regale me with your theories later.”
I could work with her. She was nice. “Three roosters will crow and call people to war. One will call the gods, another will call the giants, and the third will wake up the dead,” I said.
They all groaned.
“What? I Googled it.”
Catie jumped up and paced. “Why are you reading half-truths we left behind to placate Mortals? What is the name of your teacher?”
Did she have to ask it like Lavania was the village idiot? “She is very good, but she’s been gone for a while. You know because of Mom’s hearing. Maybe if you guys hadn’t fought so hard to make Mom a Norn when it was obvious she wanted to be a Valkyrie, I would have gotten info from my tutor instead of Wikipedia.”
“Who is this Wikipedia?” Marj demanded.
“She is right,” Jeannette said at the same time, her animosity down several notches. “At least tell us you know what happens after Ragnarok.”
“Some gods and goddesses survive. I’m hoping Eirik takes over for Odin, of course. There are perks to having your best friend as the main god.” If Torin didn’t kill him first for betraying me. Then there was the kiss he and I would share. Probably a planted vision by these three hags.
Catie shot me a pointed look, and I realize I’d stopped talking.
“Yeah, uh, the next Adam and Eve will be sheltered in the hollow space in the Yig… Ig...” I could never pronounce Yggdrasil like Ingrid. “The Eternal Tree of Life.” Catie scowled. “The World Tree? The Tree of Knowledge?” Now all of them were scowling. “Are you saying the books and website are wrong about that, too?”
“The tree, Ihg-drah-sill, will not only house the new human couple who will repopulate the earth,” Catie said slowly with her infinite patience, “there will be couples from the other realms, three Norns to continue taking care of Yggdrasil and weaving new destinies, Valkyries to see to the future dead, and gods too young to fight.”
“Oh, so technically the tree is Noah’s Ark?” I asked.
Marj cocked her eyebrows in question.
“New religion,” Catie said before continuing. “A lot of the things you’ve mentioned are metaphors. Real wolves will not swallow the sun and the roosters crowing at the start of Ragnarok are not really roosters. They are metaphors for Völur. You, as the main Seeress, will awaken the gods in Asgard. Eirik will awaken the dead in Hel’s Hall. And a third Völva will awaken the giants. We are still searching for her.”
“Or him,” Marj corrected.
I had developed selective listening as soon as she’d mentioned Eirik and Hel’s Hall. Torin was right. “Eirik is really a seer?”
Catie frowned as though surprised by my question. “Of course. He inherited the ability from his grandparents. You do know that Odin and Frigga both—”
“Practice Seidr,” I finished. Thank you, Ingrid.
Rattling came from the door as someone tried to turn the handle. My watch said I still had seven minutes. I pushed against the wall and started for the door.
“We’d hoped to have the three of you in Asgard to signal Ragnarok and give us the upper hand,” Catie continued as they followed me again. “We’d attack the giants while they sleep and stop the fire giant Surtr before he leaves Muspell. Catch Loki and Hel’s army before they leave Hel. This way more gods and our people would survive, not just those hidden in the Yggrasil.
Now their actions made sense. They were stacking the odds in their favor. Attempting to alter destines. Basically doing their job. Unfortunately, they needed me and Eirik, and the third Seer or Seeress to make it work. I already ruined their plans by falling in love with Torin. Eirik did when he went to visit his parents. This is their chance to get him on their side. The problem was they weren’t able to control my destiny like they did average people. The Eirik I knew would never let them control his either.
I engaged my runes, unlocked the door, turned, and faced them. The familiar faces were gone and once again. Sabastian and the twins were having a mini conference. Students trickled in, but we were cloaked and they couldn’t see us.
“Where is Eirik?” I asked.
They looked up, but Catie was the one who spoke. She sounded like the twins. “We don’t know. He is not our charge anymore, so we don’t monitor his movements. The two of you share
a strong bond so you might find him faster than we. When you do, bring him to us and we’ll stop William’s shenanigans.”
Right. Like I’d ever betray Eirik. “So you know where the Earl is?”
“Yes. We don’t usually monitor Immortals, Valkyries, or those fulfilling their destinies. The Earl hasn’t needed monitoring for centuries, until now.”
Footsteps and voices approached. The band room was at the end of the hallway, near a side entrance students rarely used, so I knew the students’ destination was here. I engaged my invisibility runes and unlocked the door.
“Which one of you planted images of Eirik in my head at the store?” I asked, heading for my oboe.
“What do you mean?” Marj asked.
“What images?” Catie added.
Their confusion appeared genuine, which meant evil Eirik had done it. What game was he playing? By the time I removed my oboe from its case, the three Norns were gone and more students were pouring into the room. If anyone noticed that I appeared suddenly by my Oboe, they didn’t say anything.
***
I hardly paid attention during band, my mind going over what the Norns had said. Mr. Zakowsky, my band teacher, had Vulcan hearing and usually never missed a wrong note or whispers. I made a gazillion errors, but he must have decided to give me a free pass after my performance last night.
As soon as I left the class, I searched for the Norns among the students hurrying past. I still couldn’t believe I’d failed to realize they were Norns. The music must have dulled my senses at the club. When we’d met in the hallway and they’d called me a witch, I thought I’d felt their witchy powers. I should have paid more attention.
Rita and Gina stared at me as I crossed to the parking lot, but I focused on Torin and Andris. The two were conferencing by my car.
Torin looked up as I drew closer, his eyebrows lowering until they were dark slashes. “What happened?”
I must have my emotions plastered on my face for the whole world to see or he was really in tune with my feelings. He’d said he could tell when I needed him, but I’d chalked that up to male ego.
“Nothing. I’m okay. Really.”
He was by my side, lifting my chin, searching for… proof? “You’re not okay.”
A sudden urge to cry washed over me. It was stupid really. I could stand up to anyone, but the minute he asked me what was wrong and gave me his “I’ll rip apart the person responsible for making you unhappy” look, the waterworks started. Totally pathetic.
“Let’s talk at the mansion,” I said in an unsteady voice.
Andris watched me with worried eyes. For him to be worried, I must look like roadkill.
“It’s about the Norns,” I said, removing my car keys.
Torin’s eyes sharpened. “Gather the troops,” he instructed Andris. Then he scooped me up before I realized his intentions.
Students walking by stared and grinned. My cheeks burned. “Put me down.”
“You look like crap, Freckles.”
“Doesn’t mean I can’t walk.” I wiggled, but the ground seemed too far away and I was too tired to engage my runes or fight him. The fight in me died a quiet death. I just wanted to go home and pig out on spicy chips and soda. I really should have waited until I analyzed everything the Norns told me, again, before mentioning the talk at the mansion.
The purr of the engine forced me to focus. I must have spaced out because I hadn’t noticed Torin put me in the car or buckle me up.
How had I morphed from the girl who stood up to the Norns to this helpless wimp? No, that shouldn’t even be important now. How was Torin going to react when he learned about the Norns? He’d probably flatten something.
Thank goodness we were going home. He didn’t deal well with the Norns. Every time our paths crossed, he got caught in the middle. They’d love nothing better than to get rid of him, but so far, we’d escaped their little traps. They’d gone too far this time.
Torin took my hand and threaded our fingers as he drove. “Talk to me.”
I swallowed past the knot in my throat. “When we get to the mansion.”
“Not about that. About anything. Do you want to do something special this weekend? We could use a portal and go to a beach somewhere far from here. Just the two of us.”
I would love nothing better than to run away and never look back, but our problems would come with us and they’d be waiting for us when we got back. “After we help Eirik.”
He sighed. “Why is he always your problem?”
“Because our destinies are linked.”
“That’s the Norns’ bullcrap. He’s making you unhappy again, dragging you down with him.” He slanted me a look, lifted my locked hands to his lips, and pressed a kiss on my knuckles. “I know. I’m an ass. We’ll help him. Hopefully for the last time.”
If he only knew.
Instead of branching off to our cul-de-sac, he continued up Orchard Drive to the mansion. The last two days I’d gone straight there after school for lessons, so I knew Lavania was waiting with more. We were finally working on my witch abilities, but the last thing I wanted to do this evening was work on focusing my powers and getting in touch with my inner witch or Seeress. I’d rather run with Torin and the others.
Using love as the focal point for my witch powers wasn’t hard. Until Dad’s accident, my life had been filled with sunshine. My childhood could even be called perfect. I had a loving mother and a doting father. Finding happy memories to draw from wasn’t hard. Eirik had been part of that life. It was impossible to visualize my happy memories without him in them. Maybe that was why I couldn’t see him as evil or bad.
We headed straight to the kitchen for drinks. They didn’t have soda. Just bottled water. Torin opened a drawer and removed a large bag of spicy chips.
He knew me too well. He disappeared into the hallway. By the time I opened the bag and took out a chip, he was back with two sodas, ginger ale for me and root beer for him.
“I keep a stash at my place.” He gave me mine and took my arm.
“Where are we going?”
“Living room.”
We rarely used the room. Most of our conferences were held in the kitchen or at my place. He pulled me down to sit with him, but I ended up on his lap. I chugged my drink and dug inside the chip bag.
“When this is over, I’m definitely taking you away for the weekend,” Torin said, nuzzling my neck.
I grinned. It was a nice fantasy. “Mom won’t allow it.”
“We’ll take Andris as a chaperone.”
I choked on my drink. “You’re kidding. He’ll fill his room with women and not come out the entire weekend. What about Lavania?”
His lips pinched. He focused on his drink, guzzling most of it.
“You have to forgive her sometime, Torin.”
“We could take Cora and Echo,” he suggested, sliding his fingers through my hair.
Preferring those two over Lavania? I turned my head and studied his hooded eyes. “She was following orders.”
“She’s had over eight hundred years to tell me that my mother needed my help. How can you justify that?”
I couldn’t. “If you don’t forgive her, you’ll never be happy.”
“Are you kidding? I have you.” He angled my head and took possession of my senses with a single kiss. When he lifted his head, he chuckled at my response. I elbowed him. “And soon I’ll have the satisfaction of setting my mother free,” he added.
Did he realize he kept saying his mother instead of his mother’s soul? I tried to focus on something else other than him. He lifted my hair out of the way, dropped a kiss on my shoulder, and trailed a line to my neck. I started to sweat and wished I had removed my hoodie.
The SUV pulled into the driveway. The gang had arrived. I tried to get off Torin’s lap, but his arms tightened around my waist.
“Where are you going?” he breathed in my ear, and I shivered as his warm breath fanned my skin. Chuckling, he nipped my ear lobe and
soothed the sting. I was a goner.
It was a wonder I heard the voices coming from the foyer. I recognized Mom’s. My struggle to get off his lap was earnest this time. I smacked his arm. “Stop it. I can’t talk while we cuddle.”
“We do it all the time.” He buried his face in my neck.
“When we are alone, not with a room full of people.” He let me go, and I scooted to the other end of the couch.
He laughed. “They can tell we’ve been making out.”
“No, they can’t.” Then I saw the orange patches of powder from the chips on his cheek. Yep, that will confirm it. I reached out and swiped at them. Dang it. “They’re not coming off.”
His lips curled some more, eyes twinkling. “Lick your finger and clean them off.”
“Ew. That’s gross.” I used the sleeve of my sweater. “There. Clean.”
“You missed the one telltale sign.” He touched my lips.
Nothing I could do about that. I sucked on my lower lip, and another chuckle escaped Torin. He could be such a douche sometimes.
His smile disappeared when Lavania entered the room. I focused on the problem of their new relationship. He avoided her like the plague. Walked out whenever she walked in. Ignored her when they were in the same room. I sighed, wishing I could help him cope with the betrayal. Even I didn’t understand why she never told him about his parents.
Mom and Femi entered the room. Mom’s eyes sharpened on me as though checking to make sure I was unhurt.
“I’m fine, Mom,” I reassured her.
She still came where I sat and rubbed my back before grabbing a seat. Andris, Blaine, and Ingrid arrived last. Ingrid’s eyes were bruised as though she’d been crying, and Andris looked worried. They sat as far away from each other as possible. I’d stopped trying to figure Ingrid out.
Torin gave me a nod, but I could feel his tension. It settled on his shoulders, his clenched hands, and taut jaw.
“The three witches at our school, Bash, Alejandro, and Mattias, are really my usual three Norns.”
The shock on their faces was clear.
Seeress: Book Three (Runes Series) Page 30