“Ah….”
Khenbu rolled his eyes. “Plus, they’re giant ravens! Perfect guards. Intimidating. A human-sized magpie, me”—he gestured to himself—“is not nearly as impressive. Dorky.”
“I guess that makes sense.”
“Now,” the collector said, smoothing out the sofa cover’s geometrical flower pattern, “tell me about Indriði’s trade. What is it she wants, exactly?”
“A keeper paragon.” Edie wished she had a copy of the page that the Norn had showed her. She tried to make a diamond shape with her hands. “Like—”
Khenbu stopped her. “Oh, I know what a keeper paragon is. Used to capture powerful spirits. Very rare. A few years ago, I collected my second one. Pristine condition. I held a viewing party.” He smirked. “She’s going to have to offer me something good if she wants it.”
“You have two?” Edie frowned. “Do you need two?”
“Yes. One in green and one in blue.”
She exchanged a glance with Sissel, who rolled her eyes almost audibly.
“So, what did you bring to trade?” He set his mug on a nearby coffee table, also swimming in the heap of treasure.
Anxiety churned in Edie’s gut. She avoided eye contact as she held up the piece of chalk.
The room was silent. After a moment, Khenbu said, “Okay. Good. I will give you my priceless magical artifact, and in return, you give me art supplies.”
She sighed harshly and turned. “This is how I got in. Watch.”
Carefully, Edie traced the shape of a doorway on the stone wall. The chalk lines sizzled and sparked, and with Sissel’s help, she shouldered the wall open just as she had before. Stone grated against stone and shook the room slightly, making the lanterns interspersed among the drapery dance.
Once the stone door was fully open, she turned to Khenbu and pointed at him with the piece of chalk. “See?”
The collector rubbed his chin thoughtfully, but she could tell he wasn’t convinced. “Is it rare?”
“Indriði said it’s rare now. Once you use the chalk up, it’s gone, so this is one of the only ones left.”
“And you just used it twice,” he returned flatly. “For no reason,”
Edie threw up a hand. Now he was really starting to annoy her. “Pardon me for not wanting to be stabbed to death by your guards. And you really think you would have believed me if I hadn’t shown you proof?”
The look on his face said he couldn’t argue with that. Still, he didn’t look satisfied. “Hmm. It’s not pretty, is the thing. It’s not shiny or shimmery or glassy. You know? I don’t want to look at this boring piece of chalk.”
“It’s not for looking at,” Sissel cut in. “It’s for using. It’s useful! Come on, bro, you have two paragon thingies.”
Edie wasn’t sure why Sissel, who had no stake in this, was going to bat for her, but she was grateful.
Khenbu, on the other hand, was clearly irritated. “Yes, but if I use it, then it gets used and goes away.”
“So you use it in emergencies.” Edie raised a brow. “Like hiding from the Gloaming emergencies.”
For a split second, the collector looked shaken at that. He glanced away, eyes roving the room, but after a moment of considering it, he shook his head. “No, no. I really can’t.”
“It’s rare. Probably rarer than your keeper paragons. Have you ever even heard of something like this before?” Edie pressed, holding the chalk up again.
He hummed uneasily.
Maybe what they needed was something to sweeten the deal. Edie opened her bag and began to dig through it. If something shiny was what he wanted, something shiny was what he’d get. Surprisingly, Sissel caught on to what she was doing and followed suit, patting herself down.
Edie grabbed a handful of things from the bottom of her purse. She always had such good intentions of wearing jewelry, then halfway through the day, she got tired of it and threw it in her bag, never to wear it again. The chains were all tangled, but she withdrew a pair of diamond earrings and an engraved pendant watch decorated with blue enamel. Next to her, Sissel came up with a bracelet of ivory and obsidian beads. Both of them offered the jewelry to him, hands outstretched.
“Here,” Edie grumbled. “You can look at these while you use the chalk and pretend it’s pretty.”
Khenbu crossed his arms as he leaned over, peering at what they were offering. He didn’t look impressed, but there was something in his eyes…. Edie suspected she had struck a nerve with her Gloaming comment.
After a long, silent deliberation, the magpie heaved a great sigh. “Fine.”
Thank god.
Sissel flashed Edie a smile, then looked back at Khenbu slyly. “Tip?”
Chapter Eighteen
As the two girls rode the elevator up to Indriði’s living area, Sissel flipped her newly acquired gold coin over and over. Technically, Khenbu the Magpie had given the tip to Edie, but Edie was perfectly content just having the keeper paragon in hand. Plus, the teen deserved it for all the hard work she’d done.
As if on cue, Sissel yawned. “Let’s get this bread,” she mumbled—the same phrase she’d been repeating at intervals since they had left the collector’s place.
“You should head home soon,” Edie said. “It’s probably past dinnertime now.”
“I will, I will. But I wanna see what Indriði does with the thingy.” She nodded to Edie’s bag, where the keeper paragon was safely wrapped in the silk that had previously held the chalk.
Edie supposed she could let Sissel stay a little longer. The ritual probably wouldn’t take too long, and it had already been proven that the teen was going to do what she wanted and to hell with anything any grownups had to say about it.
The elevator dinged, and they both stepped out.
“Wow, I’ve never been up here before! Indriði usually meets me downstairs,” Sissel said, peering into the lounge. “It’s pretty.”
“Wait until you meet Augustus.”
They didn’t have to look for the Norn for long; Edie spotted her sitting at her desk when she poked her head into the nearby study.
“Hey, you’re back!” Indriði smiled and rose, coming to the doorway. She paused, looking surprised when she saw Sissel standing next to Edie. “And I see you brought a tagalong.”
“She was actually really helpful. I wouldn’t have been able to find Khenbu without her.”
Sissel grinned up at Edie.
The corner of Indriði’s smile twitched a little. “Miss Sis is very talented, isn’t she?”
“That’s why you pay me so much,” the teen said. “Can I stay for the ritual? What does this thing do, anyway? Edie wouldn’t tell me.”
Indriði gave Edie a strange glance, and she got the feeling that the Norn didn’t want the girl to be involved. Maybe it was dangerous. “To be honest, honey, I’d rather you didn’t. The paragon is for capturing fylgjur, so it’s a really … personal process.”
Sissel tried to hide her disappointment with a casual head toss. “Oh, okay. I’ll wait out here, then.”
Before Indriði could tell her no to that, too, Edie said, “That’s fine.” She wanted to make sure the girl got home all right, if nothing else.
The Norn looked between Sissel and Edie with an unreadable expression.
A skittering noise from down the hall drew Edie’s attention, and she watched as Percy emerged from the labyrinthine halls. He skittered up to Sissel and greeted her by sitting on her feet.
She didn’t seem remotely bothered, or even that surprised. “Whoa, sick! Hi, big boy.” With a grin, she crouched and busied herself petting him.
Edie glanced down the hallway, searching the shadows. “Where’s Augustus?”
“He’s in time-out for biting the cleaning lady,” Indriði replied. “In his room.”
“Who is this Augustus?” Sissel looked between them.
“A baby drake. The one that cut up my jacket.”
“Aw, man, I wanna meet a drake….”
&n
bsp; Edie snorted. “Maybe some other time.”
Indriði watched them with the same unreadable expression as before. Then, wordlessly, she gestured for Edie to follow her and started down the long hallway.
Leaving Sissel behind with Percy, they began to navigate the confusing halls of the living quarters. Edie wondered who on earth had built this house. Maybe Indriði had had the inside completely renovated? Making a maze of one’s house seemed ill-advised, but maybe it was a Norn thing.
Eventually, they came to a hallway that had only one door at the very end of it. From far away, it looked like any other door, but as they approached, Edie could make out myriad runes carved into the door frame, and a protection stave carved into the ceiling just in front of it. She was willing to bet there was one under the floorboards in the same position.
Indriði seemed a bit happier now. She opened the door. “Welcome to my ritual room.”
For the most part, it was a regular empty room. The walls were plain, the floor was hardwood. However, there were no windows; the only light came from a wrought-iron chandelier in the center of the room, its candles flickering with an eerie dark blue light. Shimmering webs hung from the ceiling, crawling with little twinkling shapes that resembled spiders, though as she came closer, they seemed to be made of twigs and gems. Shrines of sticks and bone were clustered in each of the corners. A black spinning wheel sat on one side of the room, flanked by nearly transparent curtains. In the center of the room was a small table covered with a black cloth.
Edie took a deep breath before stepping into the room, but once she was inside, she was surprised. It didn’t feel any different from the hall. It looked mightily intimidating, like it should be mega-energized—but besides the creepy-crawly feeling from the spiders, it felt completely normal … so at least there was that.
She relaxed her shoulders a bit and watched as Indriði went to stand on the opposite side of the little table. “What do we do first?”
The Norn held out a hand for Edie’s bag, eyes sparkling, mouth drawn like she wanted to smile but didn’t dare. “Did you really convince him to give it to you? Can I see it?”
Edie obliged, reaching into her quilted bag and setting the paragon on the table.
The Norn reached forward eagerly and unfolded the silk, exposing the crystal. It didn’t look quite like it did in the book; somewhere along the line, someone had turned it into a necklace, with an ornately etched bell cap connecting one of the points to a silver chain. Hopefully, it would still work.
Indriði was silent as she took in the sight, taking a deep breath. Then she smiled brightly up at Edie. “It’s pretty, isn’t it?”
“It’s nice.” Edie wrung her hands. “It’s not, like, glowing or anything, though. Is it broken?” If Khenbu had two keeper paragons, maybe one was perfect and one was junk. She’d go back there and pluck every last one of his feathers if he’d given them a shitty one.
“Oh, it’s only empty. It should only glow when it’s full.” The Norn raised her brows. “Are you ready to start?”
She didn’t feel ready, but if this ritual would finally unlock her powers, she had to do it. She had to do something if she wanted to be independent from the Reach and start making a real difference, hopefully with Indriði’s help. She clamped her mouth shut and only nodded her consent.
“Wonderful. Here.” Indriði took Edie’s hands and covered the paragon with them.
Edie hadn’t touched the bare crystal yet. When she did, a strange vibration began to thrum through her palms, up her arms. It echoed in her bones almost like a song. She was barely able to tear her eyes away from it as Indriði produced a book from under the table. It was the same one she’d shown her before, with the detailed illustration of the paragon.
“Now, I’ve never done this before,” the Norn said, “but the incantation is pretty straightforward. Fylgjur and Norns are both spirits of Fate, anyway, so if anyone is qualified to work with one, it’s me.” She chuckled, then spread the book out before her, tracing the lines with one finger.
Edie kept her hands covering the paragon. At length, Indriði straightened up and spread her hands palms up, muttering softly in a language Edie didn’t understand. Then, she began to chant in a monotonous, entrancing voice, one word at a time.
“Ansuz … ansuz … ansuz….” Ansuz went on for at least another forty seconds.
The Norn paused to whisper, then continued.
“Perthro … perthro … perthro….
Kauna … kauna … kauna….”
Edie recognized some of the words from their runecasting session. The more she said them, the more relaxed Edie felt; eventually, it was almost as though she forgot where she was.
“Raidho ... raidho ... raidho....
Mannaz ... mannaz ... mannaz....”
Edie’s ears clutched in an oddly familiar way, and she could feel something fluttering against her ear and face. Strangely, though, she didn’t feel startled. She simply let her gaze rove to the side, following the faint blue outline of something that hadn’t been there before but was now swooping around the room.
Indriði’s voice rose in volume. “Algiz ... algiz ... algiz....”
The faint blue mist emitted something like a … scream? It seemed like it was shouting as it circled Edie. Somehow, she could feel that it was drawn to the paragon.
“Ehwaz ... ehwaz ... ehwaz....
Othala ... othala ... othala….”
She couldn’t help but gasp slightly when the thing collided with her, but she felt no impact—it simply melded into her shoulder, and she could feel its cold presence as it rushed down her arms and into the paragon in a flash. Not a moment later, the crystal began to glow.
Indriði put her hands over Edie’s and whispered more. Then, they both pulled away, looking down at the full keeper paragon. Edie was struck with the feeling that she was looking at something she wasn’t supposed to see. She grimaced and crossed her arms tightly across her chest.
“There,” Indriði said. “It’s bound. Let me see if I can empower it.”
She began to chant the rune dagaz, hovering her outstretched hands over the paragon. But nothing seemed to change, and soon, her expression turned to one of frustration.
“Is something wrong?” Edie asked, quietly so as not to break the Norn’s concentration.
“It doesn’t feel like it’s working.” After another moment of trying, Indriði looked up. “Is it? Do you feel anything?”
“No?”
She lowered her hands for a moment, took a deep breath, then raised them and tried again. “Dagaz ... dagaz ... dagaz.... Dagaz, dammit.”
Nothing. Edie didn’t feel so much as a ripple.
Indriði tried an incantation next, in Old Norse. Nothing. Then, in English: “Spirit, I summon you to this place that we may attend to the empowerment of your master....”
She continued, but it made no difference. Edie’s heart sank.
After another long pause with no reaction, Indriði lowered her hands, then brought them to her face, cupping her own cheeks. “I don’t understand why it’s not working.”
Edie hugged herself tighter, rubbing her arms. She felt strange; anxiety roiled in her gut as though a terrifying monster was just out of view in the shadows. She felt naked. “To be fair, you’ve never done it before.”
“But I’m a Norn,” Indriði said, frustration evident in her tone. “Magic is me. I’m never wrong about things like this.”
“I’m sorry.” Edie looked down. Had she done something to fuck it up? She wasn’t sure what that could be, but she wouldn’t put it past herself.
With a sigh, the Norn waved her hand over the keeper paragon. “Tak ór bǫndin.”
The glow fled from the crystal, and Edie only caught a glimpse of it before it snapped out of sight with a faint glint. Her anxiety dissipated almost at once; she felt normal and safe again.
Still, it hadn’t worked.
Indriði put a hand to her forehead, sounding miserable a
s she said, “I’m so sorry, Edie. I was sure there was something I could do.”
“It’s okay.” It wasn’t. It was far from okay, but what else could she say? Indriði had tried her best to keep promise. It wasn’t her fault that nothing could be done.
The Norn closed the book slowly and put it back, then left the paragon on the table as she crossed the room to open the door for Edie. In silence, they walked back to where Sissel was waiting in front of the elevator doors, petting Percy.
“How’d it go?” the teen asked when they approached.
Edie shook her head.
“We’ll figure something out,” Indriði said softly, disappointment etched in her every feature. “I won’t let you be powerless forever, Edie. It’s not fair. Astrid has no right to keep you down like this.”
She disappeared into her study for a moment, then emerged with a purse. She drew out a small pocketbook, rifled through it, and handed Edie a couple hundred in cash.
Edie didn’t want it. She handed it to Sissel. “We’ll figure something out,” she echoed quietly, taking a deep breath. Another day without her proper magic.
The Norn ran a hand over her hair. “I … need some time to work through this.” She pressed the elevator button, keeping her eyes trained on Edie and Sissel. “I have a lot to think about.”
Edie shuffled nervously as she entered the elevator. She had found herself becoming attached to Indriði. It seemed like the Norn was the only person in the world who told her the truth, who really wanted to help her instead of helping her to help them. “When will I see you again?”
“I’ll send for you when I’m ready.” Indriði leaned over to press the button again, nodding somberly to them as the doors closed.
As they descended, Edie couldn’t stop a couple stray tears from leaking. She didn’t usually cry in public like this, but the stress from the past couple months was starting to break her down. What was she supposed to do now? How was she supposed to protect herself and others if she was completely powerless, save for the borrowed knives in her jacket?
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