“Do you know who her parents are?” Eirik asked, impatiently.
“Of course not. The adoption agency doesn’t give out such information. Not even her name or her age,” Mrs. Jemison said. “We chose a name and a birthday for her, just like we did for our previous daughter.”
“The blanket,” her husband whispered to the wife.
“What, dear?”
“We have the blanket,” Mr. Jemison said.
“Oh yes. The blanket is the only thing of hers from the other realm. We kept it just in case this”—she indicated the meeting with a wave of her hand—“ever happened.”
“Can we see it?” Eirik asked.
“Why?” the Jemisons asked at the same time, their voices rising.
“Because I know Cora’s parents and they want me to confirm it.”
Panic flashed on their faces. Mrs. Jemison looked at the husband.
“No,” she said in a tiny voice, tears filling her eyes. “Not our baby. He can’t.”
The husband put his arms around her. “It’s okay, honey. I’m sure even if they want to take her from us, Cora will always be ours. We’ve loved her since she was a baby. Raised her. Watched her turn into a lovely woman. Remember how small she was for her age? And how you’d wake up in the middle of the night to check if she was breathing? The ear infections, flu, boy problems… She’s ours. No matter where she goes, she’ll always be ours.”
She shook her head and stared defiantly at Eirik “I threw away the blanket. We don’t have it anymore.”
I felt the woman’s pain and her husband’s frustration, but they didn’t know Eirik. He wasn’t going to stop until he got what he wanted. He opened his mouth, but I gripped his hand and shook my head.
“Let me,” I mouthed, then leaned forward. “Mrs. Jemison, Cora will always be your daughter. You are the one who woke up at night to feed her and change her, you stayed up with her when she was sick, watched her take her first steps, say her first words, worried when she first went to school, and when she went on her first date.” Mrs. Jemison stopped crying. “I heard you homeschooled her until she was in fifth grade, so you laid the foundation of the woman she is now.” She smiled. “And now she helps souls find closure. I’m sure you already know that.” They nodded. “I met her for the first time this week and I saw beyond her beauty to her kindness and sweetness. She’s giving and loving, and unstoppable.” They smiled and nodded, again. “That’s your doing and no one will ever take that away from you. You deserve to be very proud of the person she’s become.”
“We are,” Mrs. Jemison and her husband said in unison.
“Good. Now imagine you carrying her for nine months. You spend months decorating her room with beautiful murals and perfect furniture, making sure her clothes and things are carefully sewn with the softest of fabrics and you even monogram them with your special rune. You lost a son a year before, so you’re looking forward to having your little girl because maybe, just maybe having her will make the pain bearable. Then she’s born and she’s perfect.” The Jemisons watched me with unblinking eyes. “For three days, you nurse her, listen to her breathe and cry, study her every feature until you memorize her every expression. You laugh when she grips your finger and sigh when she curls up in your arms because finally, you have another baby to love. You’ve been given a second chance to be a mother and a father. You and your husband plan her future. She’ll never want for anything. But just because you don’t want your daughter stolen the same way your son was, you etch special runes on her body. And with those runes, you believe you’ve protected your child against everything. On the fourth day, they show you her lifeless body and tell you she is gone. Everything changes. For seventeen years, you mourn her death. On her birthdays, you cover everything in your house with black sheets. Portraits. Statues. You go to the beautiful room you decorated and grieve, wondering how you’ve been able to survive the pain of losing the only two children you ever had—every year for seventeen years, Mrs. Jemison. And then you learn that your little girl never died. That someone lied to you and she is alive.” I released a breath and studied the couple. Mrs. Jemison was crying again, except this time, the tears were for Cora’s birth mother. “What would you do? Would you walk away or do everything in your power to find her, seize the chance you’ve been given, and get to know your daughter?”
“We had no idea.” She looked at her husband and he squeezed her hand. “I’ll get the blanket.” She got up, gave us a brief smile, and left the room.
I leaned against Eirik and sighed. Mr. Jemison studied me. “That was the saddest yet the most moving story I’ve ever heard. Is it true?”
I glanced at Eirik and found him staring at me, emotions I couldn’t describe churning in the depth of his amber eyes.
“Every word,” he whispered, awe in his voice.
Mrs. Jemison came back. In her hand was a green baby blanket. Even before Eirik got up and took the blanket, I saw the runes.
“Do you recognize it?” I asked.
“Yes.” He turned the blanket, until he found the rune sewn at the corner. Mrs. Jemison’s eyes volleyed between Eirik and me.
“The story she just told us…?” she asked.
“Is my mother’s story,” Eirik said. “My mother has drawers filled with my sister’s things. Blankets. Clothes. Towels. This is one of them.” He handed the blanket back to Mrs. Jemison. “Can I see her?”
The Jemisons frowned.
“She’s resting,” Cora’s mother said. “I think a soul possessed her against her will. It usually drains her.”
“I’m not going to wake her up,” Eirik said. “I want to show you something.”
The Jemisons led the way to Cora’s room. Eirik went to stand by her bed and stared down at Cora. She was sound asleep. He let the black runes cover his arm, and then he squatted and let his hand hover close to Cora’s. It wasn’t long before similar runes appeared on her arm. He looked up at us.
An array of emotions flashed in his eyes—relief, happiness, and concern. His eyes slitted and scales appeared on his arms and face. Gasps came from the Jemisons, but I didn’t try to reassure them. I stepped forward and went to him. I knew him well enough to know he’d shifted to contain his emotions, not because he was losing it. He was in control of his dragon. He gripped my hand and stood.
Man, he was seriously cutting circulation to my hand, but I didn’t complain. Instead, I engaged endurance runes. Without saying anything, we left the room. By the time we reached downstairs, his scales were gone and his eyes were back to normal. He didn’t sit down.
“What do the runes mean?” Mr. Jemison asked.
“They are locator runes my mother etched on her when she was born. They mean she is my sister. I’ve been looking for her for months, but my father, who knew she’d been kidnapped, has been searching for her since she was taken. Mom, on the other hand, thought she’d died. Tell Cora she was adopted, Mr. and Mrs. Jemison. Tell her who you really are and show her the blanket.” They glanced at each other. “Don’t mention me or my family. You have one week.”
Mrs. Jemison glanced at her husband. “Please, we need more time. A month maybe to prepare her and ourselves. Say our goodbyes”
“You’ve had seventeen years, Mrs. Jemison,” Eirik said, his voice firm. “My mother should not be forced to wait another minute, but I’m giving you a week. If she learns I’ve found Einmyria, she’d be here right now, demanding to see her. I want Cora to have her prom. You have a week with her. Tell her where she came from and who you are. And please, continue to protect her, more so now than before. If anyone learns of her true identity, they could kidnap her.” He pulled out his artavo.
I felt a little sorry for the couple. It was obvious they loved Cora, so this was going to be painful. Worse, Cora might feel betrayed because they’d hidden the truth from her, and lash out. So Eirik coming back too soon after she’d just learned the truth might not be a good idea. I studied him as we stepped out of the house and onto the p
orch. He looked worried.
“Are you okay?”
He glanced down at me and smiled. “I don’t know. I’m happy I finally confirmed she’s the one, but it’s going to take me some time to get used to it. I mean I’ve known her for years and I even had crush on her, which is disturbing to say the least. And now she’s my sister.”
“I know. But maybe it wasn’t a crush. Maybe it was the blood connection you two share, a brother and sister bond, but you didn’t know how to interpret it at the time. It might explain why you didn’t ask her out when you had the chance. Instead, you stayed friends and loved each other.”
He pressed a kiss on my temple. “You are probably right, but I still can’t help but feel conflicted. Poor Cora. I hope she reaches out to Raine. It’s going to be rough for her. And you… wow. You were awesome in there,” he said. “How do you know so much about babies?”
“Babysitting for my old neighbor.” He was frowning. I hugged him. “About Cora, it’s going to take some time to sink in, but if you need to talk, I’m here for you. She’ll be okay too. She has Echo and Raine.”
“Yeah, she does.” He scrubbed his nape. “Cora. My sister. It was one thing to imagine it, but quite another to confirm it. Can you imagine how she’s going to react?”
“In disbelief. Maybe even go through denial. She’ll also need time to adjust. And the last thing your mother needs is a daughter who refuses to believe she’s her daughter. When you see Cora in a week’s time, talk to her, then let the news sink in. Let her decide when she wants to visit Eljudnir and meet your mother.”
He chuckled. “You’re right, except you are forgetting who is involved, too. Mother. The second she learns we know where Cora is, she’ll want to meet her, take her home, and get to know her. And nothing I do or say will make a difference. Then there’s Echo.” He sighed. “I’m getting a headache just thinking about it.”
“Why should Echo be a problem?”
“His relationship with Cora is about to get very complicated.”
I frowned. “I don’t think your mother will care. She didn’t mind that I was a Mortal when you showed interest in me.”
He smiled. “No. But you don’t work for her either. Echo is her favorite reaper and I just don’t know how sh… You know what, this is something they’ll have to deal with on their own. I’m going to stay out of it.” He took my hand. “I have you and you are brilliant and amazing, and I’m lucky you’re mine. Let’s go home, so we can celebrate finding her.”
Stay out of it? He cared too much about his family not to get involved, but I didn’t correct him. “Can we stop by the police station first? I have this weird urge to hug my dad and thank him for being so awesome.”
Eirik chuckled. “Okay. Cloak.” He opened a portal into Dad’s office, but it was empty. I used his office phone to call him.
“You’d better be calling me from Helheim or Asgard, young lady, because I’ve received a strange call about an attack by swamp creatures from your principal, the ER, and parents of kids from your school. The officers at the scene found nothing but mounds of stinking mud.”
I winced. “I’m in your office. I, uh, had a premonition about the attack while at the hall.”
“And came back to help?” He sighed. “Meet me at home. And Baldurson had better be with you.” The line went dead. I groaned.
Eirik’s brow shot up in question. “What?”
“He’s pissed I came back. He wants to meet us at home.”
Eirik chuckled, stroking my cheek. “Don’t worry. One look at your contrite face and he’ll forget about being mad. Your father is all bark when it comes to you.” He opened a portal and the sound of crows greeted us. They were going crazy above my house and my car.
“I think someone misses me,” I said.
“No, that’s not it. Stay close.”
“I can calm them down, Eirik. All I have to do is call Merle and she’ll lead them away from the house.”
“Not this time. There’s a reason they are behaving like this. They don’t want anyone to go near the house. Keep that cloak on.”
The crows descended on us. Animals and birds could sense what humans couldn’t. Eirik went into a partial shift, scales spreading across his arms and protecting him. He swatted at them when they came too close to me.
“Go by the lake and wait for me,” he said.
“Where are you going?”
“Inside the house.” His eyes became slits and his head angled as though he was listening to sounds. He glanced at me, his expression somber. “Is there anything you’d want me to get from your room?”
“What?”
“You house is filled with gas. I picked up the smell the moment we stepped through the portal. From the sounds, the leaks are coming from several places. I’m going to shut off the gas supply to the house, go inside, and open the windows. Do you want anything from your room?”
“Are you nuts? I don’t care about my things. You’re not going inside a house that’s about to explode.” He was gone before I finished talking. Damn it! I was working up a rage when he reappeared. “The outside valve is turned off.”
“Don’t ever do that again, Eirik. I don’t care about the house or my stupid things. You’re not invincible. If I lost you, I swear…” My voice broke. I lifted my chin. “I’d bring you back just to kill you again.” He laughed. “It’s not funny.”
~*~
EIRIK
Sometimes Celestia forgot I was an Immortal and a dragon. Fire couldn’t kill me. I cupped her face, hating the panic in her eyes. I never wanted her to worry about a thing, which was why I hadn’t told her about the heartbeats. While listening to the hissing gas, I’d picked up several heartbeats. Even now, I could hear them. Four heartbeats. My gut told me it was Marguerite and her girls. How they had gotten inside a house protected by runes was beyond me.
“Look at me, Dimples. My scales will protect me. Where are the keys to the house? I don’t want to break the lock or create a portal. The energy accompanying a portal or a spark from the door knob can set off an explosion.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I’m coming in with you.”
“No, you’re not. I have scales. You don’t. Fire is part of who I am. I can suck in the methane, blow it out, and burn it.”
“Showing off right now is really not winning you points, pal. I’m not standing out here biting my nails while you put your life in danger. Besides, I can self-heal from burns just like you.” Then she frowned. “She’s here, Eirik. Miriam is here.” Another pause. “The other two are here, too.” Her eyes flew open. “Four. That’s Marguerite. I can recognize her energy anywhere. How did they get inside? My house is protected by runes.”
“When Marguerite visited you, she used the bathroom by the den, didn’t she?”
She nodded. “Yes. You think she did something there so she could create a portal into the room?”
“Yes. Counter protection runes can neutralize regular warding runes.”
“That snake.”
I sighed. Now that she knew her mother and the girls were in her house, she wasn’t going to stay outside. She was smart, stubborn, snarky, and sometimes a real thorn in my side, but I adore her, so I couldn’t say no. She needed closure.
“Engage your strength, pain, and healing runes,” I said. “Put your hood up and stay behind me. I don’t want them to see you. That cloak will help us again.” Once the hood was up, even I wouldn’t be able to see her. I’d have to rely on my dragon senses to locate her position.
“It is big enough if you want to share,” she said. “We can surprise them and snap their necks before they realize we are there.”
“No, I want them to see my face and know I bested them. Tell me where the key is.”
“The second rock by the first step. Eirik?”
I glanced at her. She wore a determined look. “Yes?”
“Does it hurt when a neck breaks?”
“When you don’t expect it and don’t engage pain runes, y
es. It hurts like crazy. It happened a couple of times to me when I practiced with Mother’s crazy warriors. Why?”
“I’m going to snap their necks, all of them. Can I do that? Will you let me?”
I chuckled. “Of course. Whatever you need.”
I led the way, and once again, the crows flocked us and tried to stop us from entering the house. But the moment we got to the porch, their self-preservation kicked in and they fluttered away. Only one landed on the porch rail and continued to caw. That has to be Celestia’s Merle. Hopefully, her cries would block any sounds I made.
I unlocked the door and entered ahead of Celestia. I followed her heartbeat as she walked past me then carefully closed the door. The house reeked of gas and voices came from the side of the house where her bedroom was located.
What were they doing in her room? I opened the living room windows, letting in Merle’s caws. It wouldn’t be long before they came to investigate. I headed to the kitchen and opened the windows there, too.
The knobs on the top burners, oven, and broiler were all off, but the valve and the pipe in the back were yanked out, leaving the steel gas pipe open.
“Ah, you found the first leak?”
I turned and studied Marguerite. She stood in the living room, a triumphant grin on her face. I hated this woman. I moved toward her, imagining wrapping my hands around her neck and squeezing it until it snapped. Too bad I couldn’t. Celestia must get her closure first. But before the day was through, I was going to make sure Marguerite was locked up with my grandmother. I entered the living room, and she raised her hand. She had a lighter, her thumb on the ignition.
“One more step and I blow up the place,” she threatened and I wondered where Celestia was. It was time she heard why her mother was after her.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer.
Marguerite’s eyes grew chilly. “Because you took Goddess Angrboda, tied her up in chains, and threw her with the evil souls,” she snarled. “We want her set free. We’ll keep coming at Celestia, until you release our goddess.”
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