by K. Panikian
Julian nodded. He’d looked through the list briefly when Theo first sent it over and he had some ideas on where he thought they should focus first. They would probably need to split up and see if Very and Owen could help also.
When Julian and Cato got to the duplex, Bard opened the door and pulled them in. He grasped Julian’s arm warmly and the two men smiled at each other. Bard looked different too. His formerly shoulder-length blond hair was now tousled and short; he wore jeans and a t-shirt.
It was the clothing, Julian decided, that made the biggest difference. A few months ago, he’d worried about the Varangians finding a place for themselves in the modern world. They were magic-wielding warriors with deep burdens and losses. Their entire culture was based around their powers and their battle against the demons to gain a permanent foothold in that portal dimension. But as he watched Bard lead him into the living room, muting the baseball game on TV and handing Julian a beer, he decided he’d been foolish. Of course, they’d figure it out.
He quelled the idea that he’d misjudged Astrid as well.
They sat and talked for a while, catching up and reminiscing. Cato popped in and out, grabbing food from the kitchen and changing the channel to check the score of another game.
“It seems like you guys are settling in just fine,” Julian noted, watching Cato text furiously from the chair closest to the TV, his legs hanging over the arm.
Bard laughed. “It feels like a dream to be here. To have access to unlimited information, fresh food whenever I want it, healthcare…” he trailed off. “Astrid has ambitions. She’s studying a lot and acing those GED tests when she takes them. Cato works only hard enough to buy pizza and gas for the car. Me, I’m taking it a day at a time, I guess. It still feels temporary.”
Julian nodded. “Where’s Astrid?” He grasped his upper arms and then released them self-consciously. “Cato said she was out tonight. With friends?”
Bard smirked at him. “She’s out. I don’t know with whom. She texted after her shift that she’d be ready to start planning tomorrow morning.”
“You’re not concerned about her?” Julian asked.
Bard shrugged. “She’s 24. She hasn’t lived at home since she was 16. She can take care of herself.”
Julian slowly digested that.
“She’s on a date,” Cato called over from his chair, looking up briefly from his phone. “She had me Google the guy while she was at work. One of her regular coffee customers asked her to go rock climbing.”
“It seems kind of late to still be rock climbing,” Julian noted. He felt an uncomfortably tight sensation his chest and ignored it.
Bard shrugged. “They’re probably grabbing a drink or something.” He stood and carried his glass into the kitchen. “Come on, let me show you which room is yours.”
LATER, Julian couldn’t sleep. Tossing and turning, he listened for the sounds of Astrid coming home. What time did the bars close here anyway, he grumbled to himself. It wasn’t like this was L.A.
Finally, a little after one, he heard the sound of a car pull up in the driveway. He listened to the doors open and shut and a bike chain rattled. Voices spoke low and two shadows passed by his window—Astrid and someone else. Then there was silence for a few minutes. Julian strained his ears.
He heard keys jingling and then a door open and shut. Julian held his breath and released it when he saw a shadow pass by his window again. The car started up and drove away.
Laying in the darkness, Julian berated himself. He was being ridiculous. He had to let this obsession go. When he was in California, it was easier to push his wants aside because he could imagine she was gone already, back to her world where she belonged. But now he was going to see her again, be close enough to smell her, and he would need to tighten his control. She always smelled like woodsmoke and pine needles in his memory, of snow and cinnamon.
His mind filled with the vision of the last time they were together—her long, red hair loose and flowing, her crystal-blue eyes swimming with hurt. He tried to shut those thoughts down.
His father left when Julian was seven years old. That was when he realized that love wasn’t enough. You couldn’t love someone so much that they would stay. He needed to remember that. Astrid didn’t belong here and she didn’t belong to him. The gods were already calling her back.
Chapter 4
In the morning, I lay in bed for a long time before getting up. I’d had fun last night with Josh, my date. He came to my window most days during the lunch rush—he worked at an office downtown, but he drove all the way to my coffee hut just to see me, I now knew. He was cute, with curly dark hair and laughing brown eyes.
He’d been a fun companion at the rock-climbing gym and then after, at the downtown bar.
When he kissed me on my doorstep at the end of the date, I tried to feel an attraction. He’d definitely kissed me expertly, with warm lips and a gentle hand at my back, pressing me close. He’d tasted citrusy and sweet. I’d give him another chance, after my dragon hunt was over, I decided.
After showering, I made tea. Taking my steaming mug and my laptop onto the back deck of the duplex, I started composing a long email to Very. I wanted to tell her about my date and hear about Owen’s family. The sun was bright and created a glare on my screen though, so I gave up after a few minutes and drank my tea, watching a snowshoe hare hop across the backyard, its summer coat mottled gray and brown.
I heard the sliding door open on the other side of the deck and Julian walked out with his own mug. A hot ache blasted through me. Gods. He looked good.
Working successfully to suppress my shiver, I pasted a carefree smile on my face.
“Julian!” I said. I made my eyes wide and showed my teeth. That was a smile, right?
He stared at me for a long moment and then walked over. I hopped to my feet and gave him a quick hug, then sat again before he could notice my heart thumping hard in my chest. He looked younger without his beard, I decided. I missed it. The beard was on the face I fell in love with, though, this one was nice too.
Without the scruff in the way, I could see the shape of his firm chin. His ocean-blue eyes calmly regarded me as I fought off the urge to throw myself at him and muss up that tranquil exterior.
“You cut your hair,” Julian said finally.
“Yeah.” I fingered the shorter length. “All the girls at work have cute hairdos. I wanted to look like them, I guess.”
“It suits you.”
I blushed, pleased, then pinched the arm holding my tea mug. No blushing, I told myself. My pale skin meant my blushes turned my whole face bright pink.
“Thanks for flying up,” I said as he sat in the chair next to me. I pointed to the rabbit so he could watch it too. “I know it was probably the last news you wanted to hear when Uncle Alex called you and I appreciate any help you can offer.”
He frowned at me. “Of course I came. I’m a part of this as much as you are. It’s my world that demon is trying to invade.”
I nodded. “You’re right. I’m just imagining myself in your place. I’m sure you wish you weren’t here.”
His brows knit again and he started to answer, but Bard stuck his head out the door. “Refills?” he asked. I shook my head and he disappeared back inside.
I changed the subject. “How’s your mom?” I’d only met Sophia briefly when we first came to Alaska, when the whole family was at Very’s parents’ farmhouse, but I liked her. She was straightforward, which I appreciated. And she so obviously loved Julian to death.
Julian relaxed into his chair. “She’s good. She’ll help if we need her. I think she was disappointed we never called her from Russia.”
I laughed. I could imagine that.
Bard came back out onto the deck, holding a mug and a notepad. He nodded his head to the door. “Cato will be out in a minute.” He pulled a chair over and sat. “How was your date?” he asked me.
I shrugged. Bard never asked about my dates. I knew he wasn’t intere
sted in my answer.
I knew I was right and smothered a smirk when Bard turned to Julian a beat later and asked, “How did you sleep?”
Julian shrugged also.
Cato came onto the deck and grabbed the last chair with a can of coke and a blueberry muffin in his hands. I shuddered and sipped my tea. He waved the muffin at me in thanks. I brought home extra bakery items most days and left them with the guys. Cato had no qualms about eating day-old donuts and muffins.
“Ready when you are,” he said to Julian.
Julian pulled out his phone. “So, here’s the deal. Theo put a bunch of data about mysterious happenings all over the world into this computer program he wrote. Data like the year, the number of people affected, whether people disappeared, whether people saw monsters, et cetera.
“The program came up with a long list of sites that might be portals, but I think we should concentrate on the top three. We only need a gate, so it makes sense, I think, to focus on only the most likely results.”
Everyone nodded at him.
He continued. “Our top three results are on three different parts of the planet, so we’re going to have to split up. First, the Bermuda Triangle. This site is actually pretty well known in our world as a mysterious, haunted place. It’s in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and both ships and airplanes have disappeared there over the past fifty or sixty years.
“Next, the Indus Valley, which is in Asia, was populated by a huge civilization several thousand years ago. There were cities with millions of people. Then everything collapsed and the cities disappeared. Modern scholars have lots of explanations for the collapse but the fact remains, the program flagged it as potentially a site of millions of missing people.
“There’s one city in particular, Mohenjo-Daro, which is in modern-day Pakistan, where some scholars claim that a massive heat source precipitated the deaths of thousands. A heat source like a nuclear explosion.” Julian took a sip of his coffee.
“Finally, I think we should look at a strange place right here in Alaska. Iliamna Lake, the largest lake in Alaska, has a monster. According to the Yup’ik people who live there, ‘Iliamna’ is the name of a mythical great blackfish, which lives in the lake and bites holes in the kayaks of bad people.”
Julian shrugged, turning a little bit red. “It’s probably only a shark, or a sturgeon, but when I saw the name my intuition snagged it.”
He tapped his phone a few times. “Okay, I emailed the whole list to you guys, and Very and Owen. So, take a look and then let’s talk again. But my vote is for the three sites I just mentioned.”
Checking my phone, I saw the email and then the time. Hopping to my feet, I exclaimed, “I have to get to work!” I added hurriedly, “I have a lot of free time in the afternoon. I’ll read through the list then.”
Julian stood, too, and asked, “Do you need a ride to work? Are you late?”
Flushing, I said quickly, “No, I’m not late. I’ll take my bike. But if you want to pick me up at six? We can talk about everything while I make dinner.” I pointed at Bard and Cato seriously. “It’s Wednesday. I’m cooking. No pizza.”
I got nods in response, plus a grimace from Cato.
Julian said, “Sure, I’ll pick you up at 6. Text me the address.”
I smiled at him, distracted, and ducked inside, dropping my empty mug by the sink. Grabbing my backpack and keys, I ran out the door.
AT the coffee hut, I switched with Paige and got everything ready for the lunch rush. When Josh drove through, I smiled at him and gave him a free cookie. If I wasn’t fixated on Julian anymore, it was time to embrace the unknown. When Josh picked up his iced americano, brushing my fingers with his, and got ready to drive away, I told him that I was going to be out of town for the next couple of weeks, but I couldn’t wait to go rock climbing with him again. He grinned at me and drove off.
When the lunch rush died down, I spent some time with Theo’s list. After reading through the sites, plus Theo’s notes on their possible relevance, I agreed with Julian’s assessment of the top three. In fact, I was pretty certain that all three mysterious locales contained a portal. But which of them led to the dragon? That, I didn’t know.
When Amber strolled in at 4, I was distracted enough with my musings that I smiled at her. Her baffled look in response snapped me out of my daydream. Moving to my window, I concentrated on the increasing flow of traffic. The last part of my shift passed quickly and then I heard Amber cooing into the opposite window. I looked across and saw Julian in Cato’s car, looking confused.
I heard him ask for me and rolled my eyes when Amber said, “Who? Astrid? I’m not sure…”
I grabbed my stuff and stepped out of the hut, slamming the door with a puff of air magic and waving at Julian. I caught his relieved look as he popped the hatchback, letting me stow my bike. I winked at Amber as I climbed into the passenger seat and she glared at me in response. I grinned to myself as Julian drove out of the lot.
“What’s her deal?” he asked as soon as we were on the road.
“Eh.” I shrugged. “She doesn’t like me. I’m sure she was hoping to flirt with you. She’ll probably add that situation just now to my ongoing mean girl tab.”
“Mean girl tab?”
“She’s a mean girl. She responds to me only in ways that make her feel good and me feel bad. Me leaving with you will probably equal an espresso dropped in my lap next time we share a shift.”
“Jeez,” Julian responded. “How can you stand that? Shouldn’t you tell someone? Your boss?
I wiggled in my seat, trying to shake off the warm feeling in my belly resulting from Julian’s concerned questions.
“Very says it will happen in every job I have for the rest of my life. No matter how far I go with my education, there will always be mean girls. And stupid men.” I sent him a mischievous grin.
He took the bait with a smile. “Stupid men?”
“Men that listen to mean girls. Or men that think they know more than me, solely because they have hairier arms.”
Julian glanced down at his own blond, hairy arms. “It’s true. The follicles grant immense brain power. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
I laughed, swatting his side. He let go of the wheel for a second and caught my hand. His long fingers stroked mine. My breath seized in my chest.
He quickly let me go and asked, “Did you look at the list?”
I exhaled and nodded. “Yeah, and I agree with you on the top three. Though I think that you left out another important one. The craters in the Sikhote-Alin Mountains, in southeastern Russia, from the 1947 meteor impact.”
Julian thought for a minute. “Oh yeah. I remember now. I left it out of the top three because of the tigers. I just feel like a region populated by tigers would be pretty efficient at eliminating any monsters sneaking through an old gate. But you’re right, that’s probably a whimsical idea. We can put it in the top grouping.”
I couldn’t help myself; I started laughing, hard. “Because of the tigers?” My shoulders shook and my breath wheezed. “Are the tigers going to save the world if Abaddon figures out there’s a portal there?”
Julian smiled at me. “No, I guess not. Are there tigers in Terra Novum?”
“I don’t know,” I answered thoughtfully. “I’ve never seen one. There are so few populated places though, if there were tigers, it would be easy for them to avoid humans.”
I let my mind wander. “I’ve seen other animals though, that you don’t have here anymore. I’ve seen woolly mammoths.”
“Really?” Julian asked excitedly. “Wow. I wonder if the ice ages occurred differently there?” He paused and tapped the wheel. “I wonder if the continents are shaped differently too? With different ice ages, you probably have different ocean levels as well. There could be species that evolved in entirely new ways, like we’ve never seen before on earth. Animals that humans pushed to extinction, like the Tasmanian tiger, or the dodo, could still exist there also.”
> I smiled at his enthusiasm. “We have maps of the areas around the citadel, but not the shapes of the coastlines. My Uncle Bjorn, the bear berserker, was interested in that sort of thing. When he went east to find the giant azhdaya, he was going to see if he could find the coast as well.”
I stopped. Uncle Bjorn’s azhdaya! What if that was the dragon we were looking for?
“Uncle Bjorn left the citadel a few years ago,” I said slowly. “He’d heard rumors of an azhdaya in the east so large that it had three heads, and it could fly. He wanted to try and hunt it down. He never came back.”
I turned to Julian. “Maybe that’s our dragon.”
Julian nodded. “Maybe. The location is right.”
We pulled into the driveway and I hopped out of the car. I locked up my bike and then led Julian into my apartment.
“With the long daylight hours now, Bard will work late. He probably won’t be home and ready to eat until 8 or so. Do you need a snack?”
Shaking his head, Julian followed me into apartment, looking around with interest. I’d hung a few photos on the walls and a sketch I drew of my dad. He stopped for a long time in front of it.
“Do you miss him?” he asked quietly.
I went to stand beside him, looking at the sketch too. I saw Rurik’s warm, smiling eyes and his rueful mouth. Did I miss him? Like a constant ache. He was my strongest supporter. I had to believe he was still alive, and that maybe someday I’d see him again.
“Yes,” I said simply and turned away.
“Beer? Wine?” I asked.
“Sure, I’ll take a beer.”
I pointed to the fridge. “Couple of different choices in there. Take your pick.”
I poured myself a glass of wine and then sat at the table. I pulled open Theo’s list again on my phone. “How do you think we should divide the sites?”
“I think we should do teams of two, but that leaves one site without coverage. We could ask Uncle Alex to use his Sight and let us know which site is lowest priority?”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea.”