Drawn to her glow, I joined her on the dance floor to the delight of the women. Lost in the moment, I completely forgot about leaving. When the music stopped, sanity returned. Another hour had passed and the sun was setting. Still, she didn’t want to leave.
“We’ll come back,” I reassured her and got a kiss that went on forever. When she stopped, my head was spinning. The women laughed. I guessed they loved her take-charge attitude.
“I’ll visit again soon,” she called out, hugging everyone—the women, their men, and their children. She even patted Laufey’s mother’s stomach and whispered to the baby, “Come out healthy and well.” The woman grinned and hugged her again.
“No more Jötun mead for you,” I whispered to her.
“Stop being a party pooper, Eirik,” she said, but she was wasted. I carried her on my back all the way to the portal with Karle and Olea leading the way. The sun was setting when we arrived at her house.
“That was fun,” she said, propping her chin against my chest. “Let’s do it again.”
“Maybe.”
“Come on. Are we meeting more people tomorrow? Will they throw a party and serve mead?”
Probably, but I was keeping her away from mead. The Vanir served varieties of fruity meads; some so sweet you didn’t realize it was alcoholic until it was too late.
“No party tomorrow. We’ll pick up snacks from Freya’s Hall, meet her sisters, and head to the beach.”
“Is she okay?” Chief Deveraux asked and I glanced at him over my shoulder.
“Yes. Too much sun.”
“We went to Jötunheim, Dad.” She insisted on telling him about the giant tortoises and the cubs, the food, the singing, and dancing. The look her father gave me before I left said we would discuss why his daughter sounded wasted.
Mother was waiting when I arrived at the hall. “How is Celestia doing?”
“Drunk, but she’ll be okay.”
“Eirik! What did you do?”
“I took her flying, then we had a picnic and she had some mead.” I didn’t dare say I took her to Jötunheim, or Mother would be insulted I hadn’t brought her to the hall first.
“When are you bringing her home to visit? We want to make sure she’s okay.”
“Soon, Mother,” I promised, but I knew I needed a few days alone with her.
We were visiting Vanaheim tomorrow, and Alfheim the day after. We might even stop by Nidavellir to check if Lavion was done making Celestia’s runic blades. Once she looked healthier and was more like her old self, I’d bring her home to face my mother.
Mother wanted to know what happened before Celestia slipped into a coma. She’d asked everyone and gotten nowhere. I was still hoping she and Einmyria would talk about what happened before Celestia came to the hall. Learning that her daughter beat up Celestia would make Einmyria look bad and put even more strain on their already non-existent relationship.
CHAPTER 3. RESURGENCE
CELESTIA
“I want to see Marguerite and ask her about Einmyria.”
Hayden made a face. “Is that why you’ve been texting me non-stop? My phone vibrated the entire last period.”
“You hate PE. Besides, you always get out of doing it.”
She thumped through her phone texts and read them out loud. “I need your help. Get here ASAP. Where are you? Why are you ignoring me? Red face emojis. Eyes shooting tears emojis. I thought you were hurt or something. I used a portal to get here from school and even left my car back there.”
I grinned. “Sorry. Listen, I’ve reached a decision. I have three days to find out what’s going on before I start school on Monday. I’m ready to face her.”
Actually, I wasn’t, but there was no need delaying the inevitable. Marguerite might have given birth to me, but she was crazy and evil. I had every right to never want to see her again, but for Eirik, I would brave anything.
“Eirik just left, but he’ll be here tonight. We’ve spent the last three days visiting his favorite places in three different realms and tomorrow he’s taking me to Eljudnir, so if I don’t confirm Marguerite had another daughter before then, that’s all I’ll be thinking about, and he’ll know something is wrong and demand an explanation, and our day will be ruined because I can’t tell him yet. You have to help.”
“Damn,” Hayden muttered. “I’ve forgotten how much you talk. Take a breath and press pause.”
“After three weeks of not talking, I have some catching up to do.” I hadn’t told her about my visit to the plane with the redhead.
“I was hoping you’d told Eirik about her by now.”
“We have better things to do than talk about that woman.” I still couldn’t bring myself to call her Mother after the way she’d treated me.
“I meant tell him about his sister,” Hayden said.
“No way. Have you noticed how happy he is?”
“Not really. You two have been literally wrapped up in your little world for three days straight. Not that I’m complaining. Okay, maybe a little. You went to Vanaheim and Alfheim without me. Still, you deserve a moment after all the crap you went through.”
My cheeks warmed at her knowing expression. The last few days with Eirik had been amazing—fun and hot. He was still holding back when we made out, but I was determined to show him I could handle anything he threw my way. He’d held me while I slept every night, woken me with a kiss before heading home to exercise Garm, and came back to spend the rest of the day with me. He was gone now because I had to see my doctor again for a checkup, which I’d purposely missed to spend time with Hayden. Aunt Genevieve was going to be livid when she found out.
Even after all this time, my aunt still tried to confirm magical healings with medical machines. She’d insisted on taking me to the hospital to see my doctor on Monday. Poor Dr. DuBois had run every test imaginable to prove what I already knew—that I was okay. Yes, I’d been weak and had grown tired easily when I’d first come out of the coma, but I was fine now. Thanks to Eirik and his crazy outings to different realms. I still had a long way to go before I could call myself an Immortal, but he had healed me with runes, and I could regenerate cells and self-heal. The problem was I healed slowly. I didn’t know why. But it was surreal thinking about self-healing. Immortality and Eirik’s love were two things I was still trying to wrap my mind around.
“He’s happy and relaxed,” I continued. “He even told me how relieved he was to have found his sister. Yesterday after we left Lavion’s house in Nidavellir, I was this close”—I indicated with my thumb and forefinger—“to telling him she was an imposter. He’d talked to Lavion about making her artavo too.” I sighed. “But what if I’m wrong about her? What if the pain caused me to hear things?”
“Oh no. Don’t you start doubting yourself now. I’m with you a hundred percent about that blond bitch. I was there. Remember? I saw how viciously she attacked you. I’m surprised she didn’t break every bone in your body.” Hayden’s voice rose, as she got angrier. “Immortals don’t attack Mortals unless they are evil. That girl cannot be Eirik’s sister.”
I smiled with relief. I could always count on Hayden to have my back. “Okay, let’s prove it. Once we do, I’ll tell him.” I ran to my closet for my cloak. “You know what Marguerite looks like. Focus on her and open a portal.”
Hayden pulled an artavus from the back pocket of her pants and walked to the mirror, but instead of etching runes on it, she turned and faced me.
“There’s something you should know before we go.”
I didn’t like her expression. “What?”
“Your father and Eirik kept you in Helheim because Marguerite came to the store a couple of times, wanting to see you. She was hysterical and seemed genuinely worried. Both times, my mom took her to the séance room to calm her down then called your father. Davies and Sullivan came for her.”
Now that was a change in attitude. Last time, she couldn’t wait to condemn me for helping Eirik or to throw the premonitions she’d had
about me in my face. According to her, I was evil, a death bringer, and the worst daughter in the world. Unless my near-death jumpstarted her maternal instinct.
“Did she say anything else?”
Hayden shook her head. “You know how the séance room is sound proof. I couldn’t hear a thing. You could ask Mom.”
“Later. Right now I just want to find Marguerite.”
If Hayden was bothered by my reluctance to talk to her mother, she didn’t show it. I wasn’t ready to face Tammy yet. There was the fact that she’d worked with Eirik’s crazy grandmother. The Jötun would not have soul-napped me if Tammy hadn’t marked me. I now questioned everything she’d ever done and said. It was obvious she’d become close to my family to get to me. Part of me even wondered if she’d encouraged Hayden to seek me out. I hated that I was beginning to question our friendship, too.
On top of that, Eirik believed that Hayden had brought her mother back to life when I was the one who’d done it. Even thinking about it made me feel a little sick to the stomach. Resurgence, or resurrecting the dead with a spell, was the hallmark of an evil Witch. I wasn’t evil.
Laufey the wolf cub had insisted that I’d taken her pain away. I had no idea what that meant. I’d only stroked her leg. I hadn’t even said a spell. Just like I didn’t recall if I’d repeated Crazy Granny’s resurgence spell to bring Tammy back. But the weird connection I’d felt with the baby when I’d touched Laufey’s mother’s stomach and said a simple spell, made no sense either. I’d felt a pull on my energy. That had never happened before. Something was definitely wrong with my spell. I realized Hayden was still talking and focused on her.
“The last time Marguerite was at TC, I overheard Officer Davies tell Mom they were taking her home,” she said.
“Home where?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Could be where she was staying while in town or a psych ward. Like I said, she was hysterical. A bit, you know, not really there.”
“Definitely a psych ward,” I said. Not that a Mortal facility could stop her from leaving. As an Immortal with runic knowledge, she could open a portal to anywhere. I put on my cloak and my glasses. My vision was blurry. I removed the glasses and cleaned the lenses.
“You still need that?” Hayden asked, indicating the cloak.
“Not to see past the Veil.” Whenever I touched the clasp of the cloak, I could see the supernatural world, but Eirik’s runes had fixed that. I was officially a part of his world. “The cloak is handy when I need to go invisible since I don’t have cloaking runes yet.” She pulled out her artavus and started etching runes on the mirror in my bedroom. “Slow down. I want to see the portal runes. I plan to master all of them fast.”
“So you can visit your man whenever?”
“Yep.” Living in different realms wasn’t going to stop us from having a normal relationship. “We are going to make this work.”
I watched her carefully as she etched runes on the mirror. I recognized two of them. The third one looked complicated. I believe Eirik called them bind runes—a combination of two or more regular ones.
“How often did you visit Helheim while I was in a coma?”
“Your father and I went twice a week. Zack came with us on weekends. He watched the Grimnirs train and glared at Eirik when he thought no one was looking. Talk to him. He shouldn’t blame Eirik for what happened to you. I tried, but he wouldn’t listen.”
I’d seen Zack last night, but we hadn’t discussed anything serious. I was happy he’d finally embraced his magic. As for blaming Eirik, I planned to fix that.
Hayden stepped back as the portal started to form. “I gotta tell you something, though. The goddess impressed the crap out of me. Every time I was there, she always stopped by to check on you. She never talked to me, which was just as well because she’s intimidating.”
“It’s all for show. You should see her with Eirik. She’s very loving.”
“Or with you. She always stroked your forehead and murmured words in her language. At first I thought she showed interest in you because of Eirik, but I think she really cares about you. She came even when he wasn’t there and sat with you. I had to skedaddle whenever she did.” She looked through the portal and frowned. “That’s weird.”
I followed her gaze. The portal had opened outside a red brick home with ivy on the walls and roof, right at the foot of a ramp leading to the entrance. A couple of gardeners on ladders were pruning them while a few more tended flowers on large flowerbeds bordering the house.
My stomach hollowed out with nervousness. The last time we met, Marguerite had blindsided me. I hadn’t expected her to be an Immortal or to be working with Eirik’s grandmother. I was prepared this time, so I wasn’t sure where the nerves came from. How hard could it be to ask her if she’d adopted a girl and named her Anne Marie?
“The portal is supposed to open to wherever she is.” Hayden stepped back and let the portal close, then reopened another. It went to the exact same place. This time, a man in a suit was leaving the building. He wore a badge of some kind. He walked right past us without slowing down. I noticed the initials SH on his breast. On top of the letters was a symbol that looked like a rune.
“You think it’s a psych ward?” I asked, staring after the guy. There were only a few cars in the driveway and he took one of them. The gate opened before he reached it and closed behind him.
“Or rehab. Look.” Hayden pointed at the entrance.
I put my glasses back on and squinted to read the sign, but my sight was still blurry. I needed a new prescription. I tended to wear contacts, but after three weeks in a trance while wearing a pair, I was giving my eyes a break. I removed my glasses and blinked. Interesting. I didn’t need the glasses to read the sign.
The Serenity House written on the glass doors explained the SH on the man’s badge. The white letters were hardly noticeable though. I glanced at the gate. There was no other sign on the gate or outside. They obviously didn’t advertise their facility.
The compound appeared to be outside a town and on a hillside. Undeveloped land and trees separated it from nearby homes. The fence was made of iron, interspaced with the same red brick columns that manned the gate. Throw in the trees along the perimeter of the compound and carpets of well-maintained grass with patches of flowerbeds, and you’d think it was some rich family’s estate.
“Fancy place,” I mumbled.
Hayden pointed. “Look at the walls and the entrance.”
I tried to see what I’d missed. It took a few seconds for the runes to register. They were on the visible wall, which wasn’t much because of the ivy. More runes covered the windows, the entrance, and the low wall running along the ramp leading to it. The colors of the runes blended nicely with the materials, making it almost impossible to notice them.
“Wow, those are some seriously camouflaged runes.”
“They have them on the gate and the fence, too. Most of them are protection runes mixed with camouflage runes. Some I don’t recognize, but they might explain why we couldn’t open a portal inside the building.”
“I guess this must be an Immortal facility for women like Marguerite,” I said, studying the ivy-covered brick walls and roof.
“Except the man who walked past didn’t see our portal, so they must have Mortals working here too. Lift the hood over your head and cover yourself,” Hayden said, then she stepped through the portal. She’d already engaged her invisibility runes. They looked exactly like the ones on my cloak with just a few variations.
I followed her and the portal closed behind me. The gardeners didn’t even look up, indicating they were Mortal. However, some of the girls picking up flowers stopped to watch Hayden. They appeared to be in their late teens to early twenties. They wore flowing white gowns and wide brim hats, hardly a crazy-house outfit. Two women in tan pants and blue polo shirts kept an eye on them.
“Immortals,” I murmured, waving when one smiled.
“Psycho bitches,” Hayden added,
eyeing them warily. “I wonder why they give them scissors when they could turn into Dexter and gut some poor Mortal working here.”
“Maybe they’re not your run-around-the-mill psychos.” We made it to the entrance without being stopped. The glass doors swung open before we reached them.
The foyer looked nothing like a hospital. The room was beautifully paneled with velvet blinds and valance treatments covering the windows. Plush leather couches and bookshelves chocked-full of books and magazines helped fill the room. A large flat screen TV on one wall was on, but muted. A few staff members crowded a table across from the information desk, where a man and a woman sat looking at a split computer screen. On the screen was the front entrance, the gate, and possibly the back of the building, which meant they’d seen Hayden coming. Unlike the others, the two manning the desk wore suits.
“You should never use portals outside the building or walk in here while invisible,” the woman behind the desk said without looking up. “If you have a family member who is a resident at our facility, you should have received a SH visitors’ manual.”
“I didn’t,” Hayden said, without missing a beat.
“Some of our staff are Mortals, so do exactly what I say. Walk straight ahead toward the residents’ common room, the first door to the right is the staff bathroom, use it to uncloak, then come right back here to sign in,” the woman instructed.
“Yes, ma’am,” Hayden said.
A couple of staff members walked into the room and stared after her. No one could see me. The cloak blocked energy detection from everyone—Immortals and Mortals—in case the person could read energies. Inside the restroom, I removed the cloak and rolled it up while Hayden looked around and gawked. The bathroom was made of tan marble and had gold fixtures. The orange light added a warm glow.
“It’s like a five-star hotel,” she mumbled.
“Which makes me wonder how Marguerite can afford it.”
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