by J L Terra
He lifted his head and saw Amelia rush toward him. He scanned her but didn’t find any visible wounds. Behind her, Ben walked more sedately, Bryn in his arms. He laid the woman down beside her brother.
“What happened?” Daire asked. “You were supposed to protect her.”
He glanced at Amelia, including her in the responsibility for this. Most of his disappointment was with Ben. Still, Amelia seemed to think this was highly amusing. He ignored her and turned back to his friend.
“I did protect her,” Ben said.
“Are you kidding me?” Frustration welled up inside him along with the mental picture of her flying over the side of the boat back into the water. She was supposed to have been safe. “Why is she unconscious?”
Ben waved at her. “This is me stopping her from going after you for a second time. Besides, she needed the rest anyway.”
That was when Daire realized his friend was completely soaked. His eyebrows rose. “You went swimming?”
Ben frowned. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“What are you talking about?” Amelia asked. “What’s the deal with Ben going swimming?”
“It’s fine.” Ben’s words were sharp.
Daire didn’t believe him. Since the golem, his friend had been determined not to go swimming. It might sound strange to some. But they likely hadn’t been restrained underwater for hours, drowning but never dying, as he had. Ben had the right to choose not to go swimming. And yet he did submerge himself, in order to do what Daire had asked of him.
But they could talk about that later.
He bent his head to Erik and made sure the man was still breathing. Bryn looked like she was sleeping. Though if she was, it wasn’t restful. Her eyes moved under her lids, and he wondered what she was seeing.
Amelia planted her knees in the sand beside Erik and touched his forehead. “What’s wrong with him?”
“The mist.” Daire didn’t explain more than that. She’d seen enough horror in her life that she didn’t need these images added to the ones already in her mind. Even if they were only from his description. “We got through it. That’s what counts.”
Though it was barely the truth, and he didn’t feel any sense of victory. His skin stung. Blood dripped from cuts on his hands. The arms of his jacket hung in tatters, the skin underneath cut and red. He was pretty sure the sword was visible in a couple of places.
Bryn moaned and shifted on the sand. Her eyes flickered before they opened.
He stared at her, wanting to say something. Her gaze focused on him, and he watched the realization that he was here move through her. She looked away and saw her brother beside her. She scrambled to his side. “What happened to him?” Her accusing gaze came to Daire first and moved to Ben.
Daire said, “The Druid.”
She touched her brother’s cheeks and leaned close, touching her forehead against his. She whispered too low for Daire to hear.
Erik shifted but didn’t awaken.
The Druid had come here to get information from Erik, and he’d succeeded. If they were going to find the Druid, then Bryn’s brother had to tell them what he’d told the old man.
Daire knelt and patted Erik’s cheek. “You gotta wake up, man.” He kept tapping Erik’s cheek. “Wake up.”
Ben said, “I made sure an ambulance is on its way. That means cops are coming as well. A lot of people saw the Druid take Erik from the hall onto the ship, and there are a lot of bodies the cops are going to want answers for. This is basically a massacre. Just not one they’ve ever imagined before, let alone seen.”
Bryn lifted her head. Daire kept his gaze on Bryn. He knew this was hard for her. The same way it was for him when someone he cared about was tangled up in a dangerous situation. He hated to see her have to push through another event that forced her to be strong when she didn’t feel it. It was why he’d been compelled to help her. But it was also why he couldn’t be the one who was helping her.
He had to finish this so the Druid didn’t destroy any more lives.
She turned to him then, and said, “What happened?”
Daire sat back on his heels. “The mist, and whatever was in it, surrounded him. I don’t know what happened.” But he could imagine.
“That laughter.”
“His senses were probably overloaded. Passing out can be the body’s protection against trauma.” Daire pointed beyond Ben. “EMTs are here.”
They loaded Erik onto a stretcher. One of them looked aside at Bryn. She lifted both hands. “I’m okay.”
The guy didn’t look like he bought it, but they likely had enough to worry about with all the carnage. There were probably people around with a whole host of other injuries. The EMT turned to Daire then. “You need to get those cuts looked at.”
Daire nodded. “I will.” Because even with his ability to heal from nearly any injury, it didn’t mean he enjoyed having to fight an infection as well.
The group walked back up to the village. Bryn headed for the house closest to the parking lot. She pushed open the front door and called out, “Harold?”
Daire frowned at her sudden surge of energy. If she pushed herself this hard, she would burn out quickly. “Do you want to have a seat?”
She shot him a look. Behind him, Amelia snickered. The two women shared a look he wasn’t even going to begin to try to understand. “It was just a suggestion.”
Bryn motioned toward his hands and arms. “I’ll see if I can find you a first aid kit.”
He was bleeding pretty badly. “I would appreciate that,” he said, just to prove to himself and everyone else that they were perfectly capable of getting along as acquaintances.
A burly man emerged from the back room. The knot on his forehead had blood trailing down his face.
“Harold.” Bryn rushed forward.
“I’m okay, darlin’.” They embraced. The quick hug of two people who were on the same team.
She looked up at the big man and began to speak in words he’d heard Erik say. Harold’s bushy eyebrows shifted closer to each other. “Wha…”
She continued.
When she was done, Daire said, “That was what Erik told the Druid.”
She glanced over her shoulder at him. “I know. It’s an old song.”
“It comes from an old poem,” Harold said. “It’s about the All Tree.”
“Yggdrasil.”
Harold nodded. He wandered away to a shelf where he pulled out an old hardback book with a leather cover. He flipped to the middle and turned the book so that Daire could see the pages. Bryn snatched it from his hand and looked herself. Harold said, “If you can figure out the riddle, that is where the tree is. Legend has it that you can descend into the earth.”
“That’s where the Druid is going,” Daire said. “He thinks he’s Odin now, and that he’s going to destroy all life.”
There was so much more he could’ve said, so many stories he could have told. Things the Druid had done. People he had killed. But there wasn’t enough time if he was going to have any hope of stopping him.
“He doesn’t have the last book, though. Unless Erik somehow gave it to him.”
Bryn blinked. “Erik had a book?”
“The Johansen family has been in possession of the third book for more than a century. I started a lore about the box it was kept in. That it had been handed down through generations.” He paused. “The museum exhibition curator lost the box back to Erik in a poker game.”
“And if Erik gave it to the Druid now?”
Daire’s stomach clenched. “Then God help us all.”
Harold shook his head. “If he thinks he’s Odin, then he’s going to have a nasty surprise when he finds out he isn’t.”
“It doesn’t matter what he thinks he is,” Bryn said. “If he knows how to find the All Tree, then he’s going to try and destroy it. Right?”
“No way,” Harold said, still shaking his head. “You can’t destroy the All Tree. That’s crazy.”
>
“If anyone can, it’s this Druid. Believe me,” Daire said. “So if you two can figure out this riddle, then I’ll be able to get there. Hopefully in time to stop him.”
Daire wasn’t entirely sure that was true, but he was going to try. He was going to walk the path Providence had put before him and do the work he’d been asked to do. He was going to set aside his personal feelings, his need to make sure everyone around him wasn’t affected by the Druid. And he was just going to keep going. He was going to trust that Providence would give him the victory one last time.
Harold lifted his hand and motioned to the book in Bryn’s hands. “Hand me that and I’ll take a look.”
Instead of doing what he asked, she clutched it to her chest, her gaze on Daire. “If you want to know where the All Tree is, I’ll figure it out. And then I can take you there.” She lifted her chin. “But you’re not going by yourself.”
Chapter 28
Bryn’s insides shook, but there was no way she would let any of them know that. She didn’t want to face the Druid at the All Tree any more than she’d wanted to face him on that ship. But she’d done it. And why was it scarier to stand up to Daire now, like this?
She shot Ben a dirty look because he’d made her pass out. The man’s eyes shone. That knowing, seen-it-all gaze that looked decidedly proud of her right now.
Daire didn’t look quite so happy.
The front door of the cabin opened, and two officers strode in. “Folks. I’m Officer Sanchez.” A dark-haired man waved to his partner. “This is Officer Wilkins.” The younger one, a woman, nodded. Sanchez said, “We’d like statements from everyone.”
Bryn reached up and unhooked hair from behind her ear, still clutching the book with the other hand. The hair hung wet and limp beside her face, touching her cheek. Amelia shot her a glance like she knew precisely what Bryn was trying to do. With any luck, they wouldn’t know who she was and wouldn’t recognize her. It hadn’t hit national news, but the story had been covered beyond just local.
FBI agent suffers mental breakdown.
She squeezed her eyes shut. Her brother hadn’t even known. Sure, he didn’t read the news or watch much TV, other than NASCAR and football. But still. He’d have called her if he had known.
“Ma’am?”
Bryn opened her eyes and found the female officer in front of her.
“Let’s find somewhere quiet to talk.”
Yeah, there was no way she was going to rehash everything that had just happened. But how could she say no without raising suspicion? There was no way to decline without it looking like she had something to hide. Cops were smart. This one might not know the reasons she didn’t want to talk, but she’d figure out there certainly was one.
Officer Wilkins led her to a chair in the cabin’s kitchen area, curtained off behind the desk. “Do you have ID?”
“No, I’m sorry. I must have lost my purse in the confusion.” When was the last time she’d carried ID in a purse? Lately, it was just a backpack with all her worldly belongings in it.
“Not a problem.” Wilkins settled onto an armchair, sitting on the edge of the cushion as she pulled out her phone. “I’m going to take your picture. Just for our records. Okay?”
Before Bryn could object, the clicking sound of the camera snapped. She blinked.
Wilkins said, “What’s that you’ve got there?”
Bryn realized what she meant. “This book? Oh, I was planning on buying it when everything went crazy.” She smiled. “I’m not sure why I’m still holding it.”
“You’re wet.”
“Everything is so mixed up in my head. I remember swimming out of the lake, I think.”
“The book isn’t wet, though. So you must have come across it after that.”
Bryn lowered the book to her lap and said, “I just didn’t want anyone else to buy it before I found my purse.” Like she hadn’t noticed there were gaping holes of consistency in her story. “Harold said it was okay for me to hold onto it given everything that happened.”
“What did happen that you remember?”
“People screaming. That’s the first thing I heard.” She bit her lip. “Blood.” Ice washed through her veins and she shivered, not just because she was wet. “There was so much blood.”
Officer Wilkins nodded, apparently accepting the fact she wasn’t going to get a straight answer out of this witness.
Bryn shook her head. “I’m having trouble piecing it all together.” She brushed back wet strands of her hair. “I think I might have hit my head at some point.” She paused. “Maybe that’s why I ended up in the lake.”
“Could be,” Wilkins said. “And you didn’t want to get that looked at by the EMTs?”
“There are people who needed help much more than I did. I didn’t want to make someone else have to wait over a little headache.”
“Well, you get yourself checked out if you’re still in pain, or if you have any confusion or nausea.”
Bryn nodded, then winced. Not feigned in the slightest. Wilkins didn’t need to know it was due to still being weak from having almost all the blood drained from her body only a day or so ago.
“I will,” Bryn said. She wanted to figure out that riddle. And go see her brother. She wasn’t sure which order to do those in but couldn’t do either sitting here with this well-meaning officer who had no clue as to what other worldly forces were really at work here. And Wilkins wouldn’t believe it, even if Bryn told her.
Wilkins’s phone beeped. She looked at the screen and her eyes widened. Her head snapped up to look at Bryn and she sucked in a breath. “Bryn Johansen.” She got up off the armchair and clipped the coffee table with her boot. Wilkins stumbled back. “Sanchez!”
Bryn’s heart sank. Would people quit reacting to her like that someday? More likely she would eventually just get used to it so that it no longer bothered her.
The other officer rushed in. “Yes?”
Ben and Amelia ran in right behind him.
“It’s her,” Wilkins stuttered. “The FBI agent who went crazy!”
Bryn winced. Guilty as charged.
Sanchez unclipped his gun and left his hand hovering over the holster. “Did you snap and kill these people?”
“What?” Amelia moved around them and came to Bryn’s side. And her defense. “Bryn didn’t do this. That’s crazy. She wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
“She stabbed an orderly escaping from a mental institution.”
“Well, then she had a good reason!”
Bryn put her hand on Amelia’s arm. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay,” she wailed. “You didn’t do this!”
She snaked her arm around the young woman’s waist. Amelia lifted hers to wrap around Bryn’s shoulders. Bryn said, “It’s enough for me that you know that.”
“They aren’t taking you to jail.”
“No, they aren’t.” Ben moved into the room. He reached into his back pocket. “I didn’t want to do this, but we also didn’t think you’d learn Ms. Johansen’s identity.”
The cops both shifted. A subtle movement at most. Wanting to retain control, despite being surrounded by people and in an uncertain situation. She wanted to feel sorry for them, but empathy wasn’t going to help remove her from this situation. These cops were determined to do their job. Bryn was determined to stay under the radar.
Ben flashed a badge. “Agent Harris, Homeland Security. Ms. Johansen is helping us with a case.”
“What case?” Sanchez asked.
“I wish I could fill you in, but I highly doubt you have the necessary security clearance.”
“Try me.”
“Be that as it may, we’re going to be leaving now.”
“First, I’ll be calling your superior,” Sanchez said.
Dread rolled through her, though she didn’t react at all. Ben simply shrugged. “Very well. I’ll give you the number.”
That was when the officer made his first mistake. Instead of call
ing Homeland Security and checking Ben’s credentials, he took the number Ben gave him and made the call. He was smart about it though, not explaining the situation first. He just asked for the agent in charge over Agent Harris.
Bryn figured it was Remy on the other end. She also figured the number was one that would alert Remy via her computer as to which alias the caller was related to. It was a complex way of operating, but also comprehensive spy craft.
These people were the real deal.
Bryn absorbed that fact even while catching Officer Wilkins’ gaze and giving the woman a nod. She could be polite—even if she was crazy. Whatever Wilkins thought wasn’t the point. The point was that Bryn was completely in control of herself. No one was going to tell her where to go or what to think. Not ever again.
And yes, she’d decided that already. But it was worth repeating, given everything happening.
Sanchez hung up the phone. “Okay, I guess you guys are good.” He didn’t look too happy.
Ben shrugged like, What are you gonna do? He waved at the door. “Let’s move out, people.”
Bryn buried the surprise and followed Amelia. For Ben to have the skills to change a situation in his favor that fast was impressive. He clearly had the clout to go along with those skills. Bryn didn’t know what she was going to do with her life after they killed the Druid, but would it be so awful to be able to go anywhere, do anything, and be anyone? If she worked with these people for real, she could do all those things. And maintain her identity. And get back to a place where she’d feel like she was making a difference in the world.
She wasn’t a beach kind of person. Not with all the scars she had. Maybe a cabin in the mountains somewhere...for about ten minutes. Then she’d be bored out of her mind.
Bryn stepped out the door. She nodded to Ben, who held it open for her. What kind of boss did that? Certainly not any she’d had before. Bryn had fought and bled for every ounce of self-value she’d ever possessed. Proving herself had become second nature, and yet he made it seem like she was to be protected. Like she held worth, even though she felt it was far from the truth. She was far more of a liability to their team than anything else. And yet they were still here.