Summoning Annika_The Viking Witch Trilogies

by Lizzie Vega

  Stefan nodded, “Imagine the others, this has turned their world upside down.”

  “True enough, but you will protect them. Iris has a strong grasp of the magical world, it will only get stronger, but that’s not why she is afraid.”

  He reached out and put his hand on Stefan’s shoulder, “Her world is now upside down as well,” he grinned, “it’s because of you. She loves you and it scares her.”

  He gestured toward the apartment door, “Go, quickly now and catch up with her. Don’t try and fix anything, just be there for her and listen to her.”

  Stefan smiled, “I will, my old friend.”

  Alec just laughed as Stefan reached the doorway, “I’m not that old anymore, give me a break.”

  The door closed behind Stefan and Goodmund picked up another beer off the tray, twisted off the cap and raised it into the air as a solitary toast, “To powerful forces,” he said with an impish grin, “far beyond our control.”

  Chapter 41

  The ride back to Iris’ was unusually quiet. Iris kept changing the music on her system as if she was looking for a mood to settle into. Stefan wanted to talk about the events of the day but found, for the very first time since they had met, that she seemed very withdrawn.

  Despite her claim that she felt unfiltered around Stefan, she was holding something back. He watched her as she maneuvered the SUV through traffic. Attentive and thoughtful. Defensive to other drivers but also kind enough to let someone cut in front of her without comment. It was like he wasn’t even in the Jeep with her.

  He thought back over their meeting with Alec. There was a lot to process, yet the net result that day was that they had gained a valuable ally. Her feeling of being completely responsible for everyone’s wellbeing should have eased but now there was a palpable tension between them. She was filtering heavily.

  Mentally replaying the conversation with Alec, he tried to edit out his joy of reuniting with his old friend and walked back through their words. It didn’t take him long. So simple at first, he sought to dismiss it, but his mind caught it a second time, “Iris,” he said but she only blinked an acknowledgement as they pulled up at the red light.

  “Iris!” he said a second time, louder, more direct. She turned and looked at him. Her face was tilted down and her eyes looked up at him. A sad, resigned expression he had never seen from her. It surprised him, then suddenly, it didn’t.

  Stefan pointed ahead to an open parking lot at the end of the busy street, “Pull in there, now please,” his voice was calm but firm.

  She nodded and shifted lanes to approach the turn. Bringing the Jeep to a stop, she sat there silently with her hands gripped tensely on the wheel, looking straight ahead, her eyes blinking back her emotions.

  Stefan reached across the console and gently took her hand. He drew it back with his and brought back of her hand gently to his lips and kissed it.

  “Don’t be afraid, Love,” he said quietly.

  She clenched her hand into a fist and she tried to take a deep breath, but it caught and instantly the tears began to flow. Her shoulders jerked and she began to sob. He reached across and put his arm around her. That only made it worse.

  “Dammit, dammit,” she punched out at the steering wheel, making the horn chirp. She sat straight and looked at him, “I’m stronger than this,” she snapped, “I’m working hard for my life, it’s not fair.” She wiped her hand across her face to clear a new surge of tears, smearing her eyeliner.

  Stefan sought to assure her, “You are working hard. No one will ever take that away from you.” He took his hand and turned her face to him, “You’re afraid. Look at me and tell me, Iris. I want to know what you’re feeling. I’m here for you.”

  “But, I am afraid, Stef. I’m afraid you’re going to leave me behind.” She began to sob uncontrollably, “I always get left behind.” He reached his arms around her and rocked her gently, “Sweetheart, I understand,” he said as he stroked her hair.

  “I’m not going to leave you, Iris.”

  She abruptly pulled away from him, “Jesus, Stefan, you’re a goddam prince. From an ancient kingdom no less,” she put her shaking hands up toward the windshield as she looked out into the parking lot full of old used cars, “This isn’t a Disney movie, Oh, fuuuuuck,” she exclaimed, “how am I supposed to compete with that? I just found you, and now, I don’t want to lose you.”

  Stefan reached again and took her hand. He just held it firmly but said nothing until she had calmed down, “Iris, listen to me. I know it’s hard, but try to block out everything we have seen and heard about today and just listen to what I want to tell you, please?”

  It took a minute for her to settle herself and she finally let out a long breath and sort of turned her head to him. She had yet to look at him directly.

  “Almost there,” he said. She understood his inflection and a little smile briefly snuck across the corners of her mouth. She raised her head and looked him right in the eye.

  “Better?” she asked, her voice was shaky.

  “Perfect, thank you,” he reached for her other hand, “Here’s what I think about all of this, I’m not a prince anymore. I was once, long ago, but no longer. My life is here now. It doesn’t matter what happens next. I’m not going to leave you.”

  He looked at her and squeezed her hands, “No more tears, ok? She blinked, and a single tear rolled down her cheek, “Ok, maybe one,” he smiled. That made Iris smile and she nodded her head.

  “Come to think of it,” he said with a thoughtful look on his face, “What self-respecting prince wouldn’t want a beautiful spellcaster like you, by his side?”

  Iris sniffled, “Ooh, you’re good at this. That, and the accent, you’re killin’ me here.” She sniffed again and pointed at the glove box under the dash, “Can you grab me a Kleenex please, I’m a mess.”

  He reached and handed her a bunch of tissues from the console and grinned as she blew her nose and tried to sort out her eyeliner, “Hot mess, I’d say.” She snorted a laugh, “Good one,” she said and kept wiping her eyes.

  Stefan grinned, “Speaking of Disney, I always thought Ariel was the hot one.” That comment hit her just right, “Ya perv,” and Iris began to laugh out loud. “Actually,” she pondered. “I would have voted for Belle, she’s bustier.” She laughed warmly, and her emotions wove together as a few more tears streamed down her smiling face. She looked in the rear-view mirror and just rolled her eyes, “What, again?” That set off Stefan as well.

  They giggled like school kids for several minutes. They would settle down for a moment and one of them would crack and the laughter would begin again. “Just for the record,” Stefan began as they finally settled down, “Don’t always feel like you have to be in control. I’ll never take advantage of your vulnerable side, beautiful as it is.”

  A text alert sounded from Iris’s phone and Iris looked at it. “It’s Katie, they’re just about done and ready to head home.” She looked at Stefan and winked, then texted back a response, her thumbs blurring with speed. She put the phone down on the console and looked at him deliciously, “I told them to take her out to grab a quick bite. I want you, alone with me in my bedroom, for an hour.”

  She put the SUV in drive and squealed out into traffic.

  Chapter 42

  Iris came out of the bathroom pulling her t shirt back over her head. She heard the metallic squeal from the brakes of Katie’s car as she pulled her old Honda into the driveway.

  “Our shoppers are back,” she checked her phone and smiled at Stefan, still lounging on the bed, “You should get dressed, I can only imagine the stories they’ll have for us.” He propped himself up on his elbow, “Sure, I’ll be down in a minute.”

  Iris pulled up her jeans and walked across the big bedroom, only to stop in the doorway and look back at him, “Thank you, Stef,” she said, but he only responded with a puzzled look, she just snickered, “No, not for just now, thanks for listening to me earlier.”

  He just
nodded and smiled. Alec had been right, it made him feel good to see her happy.

  Katie was the first one in the door, with Sam and Annika talking a mile a minute. Katie saw Iris coming down the stairs, “Hey,” she said, “Did I kill enough time? I figured I’d tour the neighborhood for a while, so you weren’t rushed.” She gave Iris an exaggerated wink.

  “Thank you, it was just right.” She returned the wink, “it’s been quite an afternoon.” Stefan appeared at the top of the stairs and started down the steps, he brushed his hand through his long hair and smiled.

  “I’ll bet it was,” Katie said assumptively and then she stopped, realizing the awkwardness of the moment.

  Iris just laughed, it hadn’t bothered her in the least, “You have stories? Let’s get settled and you can share.” She looked at Annika to see that she was carrying several bags from the mall, “Anni, did you have an enjoyable time?” Annika just laughed, “Oh, yes,” she gushed as they walked down the hallway, “Everything is so strange and wonderful, I so enjoyed it.” She turned and looked at her friends, “Even when I embarrassed Sam,” and she set her bags on the dining table.

  To Iris’s delight, they settled around the table, with Sam and Katie sitting on either side of Annika. Stefan sat next to his sister. Iris was the last to sit, “This looks like a holiday to me, we look like a family.” She peeked inside one of the Victoria’s Secret bags, “Let’s see what you bought.”

  Katie burst out laughing, “Oh, I get to tell this story, Sam will leave out the good stuff,” she said teasing her friend. Annika just sat there with a big smile on her face. Samantha’s cheeks were already flushed. “Look, she’s already blushing and I haven’t even started, Ha.” she chortled.

  Katie continued, “It actually started outside the store, here I am walking down the mall with these two babes. There was a small group of high school guys that sort of followed us around.”

  Sam just face palmed, “Oh God, here we go.”

  Katie just laughed, “So I give Anni some lingerie, kinda small pieces, you know, tastefully slutty, and sent her into the dressing room.”

  Sam piped up at this point, “Meanwhile, a couple of the high schoolers had followed us into the store and were hanging around, trying to look cool.”

  “Stalkers” Annika chirped with her little accent and she nodded her head with a grin.

  “Yeah, pretty much,” Katie continued, “Not two minutes later, Anni walks out of the dressing room, stark naked, holding the bra and panties, and asked Sam to help her put them on, out in the store.” Sam just shrugged, “It’s not like I would say no, so I helped her put them on.” She started to snicker and pointed to Katie, “You take it from here.”

  “Sam got them on her in a flash, and being the open and adorable person, she is, Anni just gave Sam a big, almost naked bear hug, right there in the middle of everybody. I think those boys are scarred for life, two hot women hugging it out, it was awesome.”

  Iris laughed, “I’ll bet, every high school boy’s dream.”

  “Yeah, the salespeople got a little excited, but Sam herded Anni back into the dressing room.”

  Annika nodded, “Everyone was very nice, we had so much fun, at least until lunch, but I still don’t understand what happened.”

  Stefan looked mildly alarmed, “Was there trouble?”

  “Mmm, no, not really,” said Sam, “I just found it amazing actually. We went to Taco Bell after you guys told us to stretch the day out a little longer,” she wrinkled her nose up with a little smile at her implication, “So we ordered a bunch of tacos and hung out for a while.”

  Annika took up the story, “There was a man there with a group of children, he was being very mean to one of them, he grabbed a little girls’ hand really hard. I, sort of, told him to stop.”

  Stefan furrowed his brow, “And?”

  “It got interesting really fast,” said Katie, “The guy was a toad and he took offense at being told what to do. Anni, sort of, put herself in between the little girl and the man, He said something, Annika spouted off in Norwegian and suddenly Anni has the guy up against the wall. God, is she strong.”

  “Yeah,” Sam corroborated Katie’s version, “She scared the crap out of him. The whole place came to a standstill.”

  Annika agreed, “He was nicer after that. He was a lot nicer to the children too. Katie said I should,” she looked at Katie for help, “kick his ass, right?” She was beaming.

  Iris looked pale, “You didn’t, right?” Katie jumped to her own defense, “Of course not, we know not to attract attention. Sam just said something about being an exchange student. We left shortly after that.”

  Sam was obviously impressed, she just sat there in awe, “it was so cool what she did, she didn’t hesitate to help that little kid. I’m proud of her.” She reached over and gave Annika a little hug.

  Iris couldn’t help herself, “Good for you Anni, way to stick up for the little ones. It’s funny,” she said as she sat looking at the three girls sitting side by side, “you could all be sisters.”

  Sam jumped at Iris’s comment, “Oh my god, that reminds me,” She picked up her phone and started thumbing through her gallery, “We were in Macy’s and goofing around with scarves in the women’s we can’t afford it department, I grabbed a couple of matching scarves and dressed these two up, “Look at this.” She spun her phone around to show Iris and Stefan, “The scarves hide their hair color. Look at their faces.”

  Iris looked at the phone pic and then squinted to look at Annika and Katie, “I did not see that at all,” as Sam showed Stefan. He raised a surprised eyebrow, “That’s pretty spooky,” he smiled looking at Katie and Annika sitting next to each other, “They could be twins.”

  Iris just laughed, “Yeah, with a little makeup magic, you’d be identical. That is so cool.”

  Stefan sat forward in his chair and touched Iris on the arm, “Speaking of a little magic, maybe we should share some of what we did today?”

  There was a gap of silence in the room but from the collective grinning, he quickly realized how he had framed the question and tried to back gently out of it, “I, um, mean earlier today,” and he just waved his hand abruptly in the air, “Whatever,” he said and looked at Iris for rescue.

  She let him twist slowly in the wind and just grinned at him, finally patting him on the arm, “Sure Hun” and she snickered.

  She rubbed her hands together, “I know what he means. We had a meeting today with Mr. Goodmund at the antique store downtown. The condensed version is, that we have a new friend that’s going to help us.” Not wanting to add to any fears the girls might be feeling, Iris toned down her enthusiasm about his abilities, “He is, um, experienced in this sort of thing. He’s agreed to help us as much as he can.”

  Annika looked at her brother, her face was one big question, “Stef, is it really him?”

  Stefan just looked at her and smiled, “Don’t ask me how, but yes, it’s him.”

  She just closed her eyes, “Takk, Gud, now we don’t have to face Amund, alone.”

  Samantha looked excited, “He’s sort of been in the middle of this from the beginning, Does Michael know? Can I tell him? We’re going to a movie later tonight. I could tell him then.”

  Iris hedged, “Not yet, Sam. I think Stefan and I need to talk with Michael before we all meet, he’s in for a surprise. Alec will help us stay focused on what we need to do.”

  Sam thought for a moment, “Ok, can I tell him that you two are going to talk to him about something really cool” I’m not good with secrets. I have to say something.”

  Katie agreed, “She does, she’s lousy with secrets.”

  Iris smiled, “I’ll bet. What time are you seeing him tonight? We could stop by before you two go out and bring him up to speed. Then you don’t have to keep a secret.”

  “Eight o’clock show at the mall, how much time do you need?”

  Iris looked at Stefan, “Twenty minutes?” He nodded his agreement.

&
nbsp; Iris looked at the others, “It’s not like you won’t know what’s going on as well, but I just think since Michael has met Mr. Goodmund before, I just need to smooth out a couple of wrinkles. Sam, shoot him a text and see if we can get together before you guys go out. No big deal.”

  “Can do.” Sam typed in a quick message on her phone, reading as she typed, Meet with Iris at 6:30 for new cool development? The response was almost instant, Of course. “He’s good to go.”

  Another text announced itself, and then another. Sam read them and smiled, “Ahhh, sweet,” and she realized she was talking out loud and blushed, “Sorry, that one is private.”

  Katie just smirked, “Nah, two or three minutes, she’ll tell me.”

  Iris checked the time on her phone, “If we leave now, we can grab a sandwich before I talk to Michael.”

  Katie quickly mentioned, “Well, we just ate a little while ago. Sam and I can just head back to our apartment, just come over when you’re done. Then you can sort out stuff with Michael.”

  “Deal” Iris proclaimed with a grin, “we can meet up later.”

  Chapter 43

  It was no surprise to Iris that Michael and Sam were sitting on the front steps to the apartment complex when she pulled up with Stefan and Annika.

  “They make a nice couple,” was Stefan’s comment as they pulled into a parking space. Annika leaned forward from the back seat, “He’s handsome and he was very brave the night I arrived. I am so happy for Sam.” She started fumbling with her seat belt.

  Stefan interrupted her, “Hold up, Anni, I think this conversation is for Michael and Iris alone, Ok?” He waved out the window to the young couple, “we don’t want to overwhelm him.”

  Iris got out of the Jeep, “Thanks Stef, I’m curious how he’ll react to Alec’s situation.” She adjusted her Ray Bans, “I’ll be gentle.” She winked at him as she closed the door.”