Prophecy

by Julie Anne Lindsey

  “I think you were intoxicated.” Oliver had gone all Norse demigod on her. I wasn’t sure how to deal with that. If he came out to her, I wouldn’t be alone in the world of light saber deaths and warring Viking clans. On the other side, knowing put her in danger like Liam and his family. For that reason, I hoped the barn scene was a one-time thing.

  She curled the end of her ponytail around one finger. “Whatever. Your turn. What did you really do when you left? Ollie didn’t think you went to sleep. Neither did Justin. I practically had to restrain him so he wouldn’t follow you guys. I pretended you texted a couple times and were ready for bed. Alone.”

  “Oh, jeez. I should’ve called Justin when I woke up.” I flopped into a chair. “I’m such a loser friend.”

  “Please. He’ll survive. At least six girls fawned all over him the rest of the night. Your boy’s a big deal on the rodeo circuit, remember?”

  Justin was a big deal to me, too. I checked my phone for texts. Nothing from Justin. I sent him a quick message. Rain check on the sleep over?

  Allison pulled up a chair beside me. “Did he kiss you good night?”

  “Who?”

  “Liam, duh. What happened after you left the party?”

  The little bell over the door tinkled. Justin walked in looking at his phone screen. Buddy followed.

  “I just got your text.” He stopped in front of me. “Wow. This place is dead.” Justin’s slow drawl warmed my heart. He wasn’t mad. He was patient, tolerant and exactly what the Hale family needed on their side.

  “You should’ve been here an hour ago,” Buddy called from the kitchen. “It was madness. Glorious madness.”

  Justin chuckled. “He’s a weird dude.”

  “Let me recap the day we had until now.” Allison cleared her throat. “Welcome to Roll With It,” she chirped with cheerleader grade perk and a dorky smile.

  I pointed at her. “Are you imitating me? I don’t sound like that.”

  She kept going. “Can I get you a steak dinner or fish and chips without a roll because you can’t understand we only serve rolls with it?”

  I laughed.

  Justin pulled out his wallet. “I’ll take some chili, chips, and a soda. I don’t want a roll with it.”

  “You know how she adores crowds.” Understatement of the century. “The tour bus came for dinner.”

  “Ah.” Justin shoved a ten in the tip jar. “Does that help?”

  Allison nodded with a more sincere smile. “Sorry. I feel edgy for some reason.”

  So did I. Strange. Things were normal before Justin walked in. Allison accepted his additional cash as payment and moved in slow motion to the kettle for his chili. A gentle tremor played over her hand when she lifted the ladle.

  “Allison?” I frowned at Justin and hoisted my tired body off the chair. “Are you feeling okay?”

  “Mmm hmm.” She filled a bowl with chili and placed it on a tray. “Exhausted, I think.”

  Justin led her to a table. “Here. Sit.”

  I placed a bottle of water in front of her and looked at Justin. He shrugged.

  “How much did you drink last night?” Mom’s endless nursing kicked in. “You might be dehydrated. Drink some water.”

  Justin flipped a chair around and straddled it. “I hope Hale was a gentleman. I’d hate to make an enemy.”

  If he only knew they’d soon be family.

  I rubbed his back before taking the seat between them. “I hear you had plenty of friends last night.” Images of cowgirls vying for his attention made me happy. He needed a girl like that. One who liked mudding more than swimming and horses more than cemeteries.

  “Those guys were pretty cool. I invited them to meet me here. I saw them when I pulled up. I’m not sure what’s taking them so long.”

  “Wait. Who?” We clearly had two different groups in mind.

  The bell clanked hard against the door. Adam walked inside and headed straight for Justin.

  “Hey, man.” They did a complicated handshake. “This is a popular place to eat.” Adam looked pointedly at Allison.

  I looked at Justin. “You know each other?” I stood and angled myself between Adam and Allison on instinct.

  Justin raised an eyebrow. “Yeah. I met him last night. You two invited him to my place, remember?” If I’d grown a second head, Justin couldn’t have looked more confused.

  The door sucked open again, sending the bell into a clanking battle with the glass. Four big guys in button-downs and tight jeans ambled in. They dressed the part of regular guys, right down to their selection of Converse and work boots, but I saw what my friends couldn’t.

  My throat thickened with panic.

  Allison leaned on the table, gaining a view around me. “I didn’t see you at Justin’s, Adam.”

  “Well, we saw you.” One of the new guys cocked an eyebrow. An ugly sneer marred his otherwise handsome face. “All of you.” He dragged the word all out for three long beats. Runes peeked from beneath the collar of his shirt, climbing his neck to his jawline.

  I bit my lip and slid my eyes to Allison. Her cheeks grew darker than the chili in Justin’s bowl. Justin gawked at her and then me. How far had things gone between her and Oliver?

  Adam clucked his tongue at Allison. He turned to his friend. “What do you mean when you say you saw all of her?”

  The sneering guy made a rude gesture with his fingers on both hands. An “okay” sign and a pointer finger answered my question about how far things had gone with Oliver.

  “All right.” Justin bristled. “That’s enough.” He crossed broad arms over his chest. “What are you guys having?”

  Adam laughed at Allison and faced the menu board without another word. This was happening. The Stians had found Justin and they planned to claim him before Liam, Oliver, and Mason could.

  “I’d like to have a taste of what Hale had,” a meathead in the back of their group mumbled. He fist bumped the guy beside him. Bright runes curled over their wrists.

  Allison ran down the hallway past the kitchen. A door slammed. The ladies’ room, I presumed.

  I went to the register and glared at the motley crew. Something about the meathead’s posture changed my impression of him. He was calm and focused. While the others joked and generally acted like cavemen, this one watched, unmoving. His attention wholly focused on me. Heat crawled over my chest and back. How dare they humiliate my best friend? They’d spied on her and Oliver and bragged about it. What kind of creepy freaks did that?

  Vikings.

  Men who embraced carnal behavior, lust, arrogance, and power. They probably felt entitled to watch. My spine stiffened. They’d said Hale. They knew she was with a Hale. The hallway was silent behind me. I counted the heads before me, making sure no one somehow followed her when she ran. Oliver needed to tell Allison she was in danger. Making her forget wouldn’t keep them from coming for her now. She was marked.

  “We’ll all have what our man Justin’s having.” Adam held a hundred dollar bill in my direction.

  I made change and returned it to his palm, careful not to touch him.

  “You haven’t seen Tony, have you?” He leaned over the counter and looked down my shirt.

  I shook my head and pressed a palm to my collar. His eyes raked over me and his tongue swept over his bottom lip. “I wonder if he’d mind,” Adam whispered, almost to himself. His gaze climbed back to mine. “You’re magnificent aren’t you?”

  “What are you doing?” Justin clamped a hand over Adam’s shoulder. “That’s my best girl right there.”

  “She’s yours?” Adam didn’t bother hiding his shock. If he announced he’d watched me with Liam in the pool house, I’d knock him sideways with the chili kettle.

  Justin squared his shoulder. “Yeah. She’s mine.”

  Adam nodded. “Nice job.” He extended a fist to Justin.

  “Make their orders to go.” Justin kept his eyes on Adam, his h
and at his side. “We can eat back at my place. These ladies want to close up.”

  We didn’t close for another two hours, but I could’ve kissed Justin for making them go away. I feared for him being alone with Adam’s group, but he had a better chance than Allison and me. We needed to stay out of their sights.

  The bell on the door rang normally as I filled the to-go containers with chili.

  “What’s up, Callie.” Kirk’s cocky voice stabbed through my heart. “You’re looking tight and tempting with a side of ‘I’m not ready.’”

  His imitation of my voice boiled my blood. I kept filling soup containers. Kirk couldn’t even afford a ticket on the freight train of tragedy quickly becoming my life.

  “Hey, Justin.” His highness turned the charm on the crowd behind me. “How you enjoyin’ my leftovers?”

  Oh, crap. This wasn’t the time for Kirk’s tired lines. Justin had just told Adam I was his girl. I turned but didn’t see Kirk.

  “The fuck!” he screamed from the floor on the opposite side of my counter.

  Adam and Justin stared at one another. Neither paid any attention to Kirk.

  “Oh my goodness.” I raced to Kirk’s side and hauled him off the floor. “Hang on.” I yanked a wad of napkins from the pocket of my apron and smashed them against his face to stop the bleeding.

  “What The Fuck!” he screamed again.

  “Sorry!” Could this day get worse? Five angry Vikings surrounded my worst love-life-slash-high-school-nightmare and poor Justin looked like someone had slapped him. What had happened while I ladled soup?

  The Vikings mobilized, flanking Adam in attack formation.

  Crap! I bit the insides of both cheeks and forced my mouth to do the unthinkable. “This is my giant ass of an ex-boyfriend, who promises never to bother me again.” I turned him for the door and shoved. Hard. By the look on his face, it took every ounce of what little self-control Kirk had not to fight the whole group of Vikings on principle.

  His expression wavered. Blood soaked the napkins in his hand. I needed rid of Adam and his clan. Fast. Kirk walked to his truck, phone in hand. He’d text his posse of dicks to come for a brawl and my school would lose a few more students. He could rally the troops in minutes. I needed to clear the deli.

  I ran to the counter and stacked containers into handled bags. “Here you go. Thanks for stopping by. See you soon, honey.” I kissed Justin’s cheek. “Text me.”

  He nodded and rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “You okay?”

  “I’m fine. I’ll take care of Allison and get rid of Kirk when he comes back with the guys.”

  The group moved outside toting drinks, bags of rolls, and bowls of soup. Justin lingered behind.

  “I’m real sorry, Callie. I didn’t know.” Sorrow and embarrassment weighted Justin’s words. He thought he’d brought this on us. My heart broke for him, but he’d understand soon enough. He’d become a Viking and help set things right.

  “S’okay.” I forced a smile. “Hey. Have you heard those guys mention someone named Stian?”

  He frowned. “Calder’s got that tattooed on his chest with some other weird stuff. Do you know him?”

  “The one in the back, bald head, hoop earrings?”

  He nodded once, sharply.

  I did now.

  Motorcycles revved outside, vibrating the wide glass windows. I shook my head, indicating I didn’t know Calder. Justin swept his focus between me, clearly keeping something from him, and the crowd of miscreants waiting outside.

  “I’ll text you later. Tell Allison I’m really sorry.” He squeezed my hand and walked out.

  I made a thousand mental notes to tell Liam. There were at least five of them left, and they were practically rabid. The quiet one was Calder and, I suspected, their leader. Definitely a Stian.

  Justin’s Jeep crawled past the window. He lifted a hand in good-bye.

  I needed to know how someone became a Viking, because Justin needed to change while I was around to get Liam for him.

  Chapter 14

  Liam showed up five minutes before closing and took me straight home. I gave him the short version of my night as he drove. He nodded, grunted, and flashed his green eyes all the way to my house.

  He shifted into park at the curb. The power locks popped up. “The Stians believe you’re with Justin. That should keep you safe for now. Oliver and I will take care of things.” Liam reached across me to push the door open.

  No long good-byes then. “Keep him safe.”

  “Of course.”

  I climbed the front steps with a heavy heart. The moon hung low and bright in the sky. “Keep them safe,” I asked the stars. “I love them.”

  Mom and Chester were in the foyer when I opened the door. I waved over my shoulder at Liam’s car then pulled the door shut tight and locked it.

  “We just finished with our walk.” Mom rubbed Chester’s shaggy fur. “You want some hot apple cider?”

  “Sure.”

  When Mom went to bed, I alternated texting Liam and Justin with researching mythology. Liam needed to protect Justin somehow. I couldn’t help thinking there was an answer somewhere. A way to help them both. Justin was alone with all those Stians for hours before Liam arrived, and I was helpless. Helpless wasn’t an emotion I tolerated well. Hence the obsessive researching. Every question had an answer.

  Justin texted apologies for Adam and his goons. When he claimed he was ready for bed at eleven, I sent him one more text. He agreed to have lunch with Mom and me after he finished his morning chores. A least I’d see him soon.

  Liam didn’t return my texts.

  As tired as my body was, my mind reeled with worry and questions. I made coffee and read random stories from Greek and Norse mythology for hours. Most of what I read didn’t have anything to do with Vikings or the goddess Nike’s brothers. Every site hinted at legends and prophecy within the mythologies. None gave away the details. My eyes blurred with fatigue. Then I saw the crows.

  An online drawing depicted two crows in beautiful shades of sepia and gold. Instead of heralds of death as I imagined, eating the rotting flesh of roadkill, the Internet crows had names and belonged to a god. Like the stories of Vikings and demigods Liam had shared with me, I recognized the truth about the crows. In fact, for a brief moment, I thought I knew their names before I read them. Maybe I’d spent more time in Mom’s old books than I remembered.

  Huginn and Muninn were the ravens of Odin. The ravens flew over the world bringing news to their king. The translation of their names stole my breath: thought and memory. Were they the reason Liam’s order to forget didn’t work on me? I sat straighter and typed “Odin” into my search engine. Liam had mentioned his table. What kind of news did the ravens bring him and why? Who was Odin? I pressed the heels of both hands against my eyes. This was the last search before I slept. If I kept losing sleep, I’d never earn a scholarship for anything. My brain cells would die of fatigue and little children would beat my swim times.

  I blinked through the haze of fatigue and clicked on the top result for Odin. The screen switched to a clinical-looking site with encyclopedia style entries. Odin was depicted by a tree. The caption explained he’d hung there by his own spear for nine days seeking wisdom of the nine runes. Ew. I scrolled. Who was he? My tired, aching eyes skimmed the words, seeking the crux.

  “Oh.” I brushed the screen with my fingertips as if the words might disappear. Maybe I was already asleep.

  Odin was the highest deity. The most supreme. He summoned the lucky ones, the fallen heroes and kings, to Valhalla.

  * * * *

  “Callie?” Mom called up the stairs. Her voice filtered into my nightmare. I worried for her. “Callie?”

  “Mom!” I jumped out of bed and darted to the top of the stairs.

  “Callie!” She jogged into view, one hand pressed to her heart. “What’s wrong?”

  My heart pounded in rhythm with my hea
d. “You scared me. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. Why’d you scream?”

  “You screamed first.”

  She rubbed her temple. “Honey. You have company.”

  Crap. Shoot. Ugh. “Okay. Hang on.” I ran toward my room. “I invited Justin for lunch.” I looked in my mirror and cringed. “Oof. I look nasty.” The remnants of a dream whisked away, lost to the day.

  “Here.” Mom handed me a laundry basket full of neatly folded clothes. “Take a shower. I’ll handle the boys. Did you tell them what we were having for lunch because I had no idea I was hostessing a crowd.”

  “I don’t have time to shower. Make anything. It doesn’t have to be a big deal. Wait. Did you say a crowd?” I stopped on one foot. One leg in my jeans, one leg in the air. “What kind of crowd?”

  “Unless anyone else shows up, I have Justin, Liam, and his brother Oliver in the kitchen. I told them to make themselves at home and I’d check on you.” The amusement on her face surpassed the irritation.

  “I didn’t invite the Hales. I swear. I only asked Justin. His folks are gone till tonight and I thought he could use a homemade meal.”

  Sounds of running water and clanking dishes mixed with the rumble of male laughter.

  “Uh huh. I’d say they get along well, considering.” She motioned to me.

  I yanked my zipper up and stretched a fitted T-shirt over my wild puffy hair. “I’m a wreck.” I twisted my hair into a knot and jammed a handful of pins into the mess.

  “Take a shower. I can entertain a handful of teenage boys. If you dally, I’ll get out our old photo albums.”

  “Mom, no.” I tripped over my feet, kicking free from my jeans. She was right. I needed a shower.

  The doorbell rang.

  She scoffed. “Seriously, Callie. You haven’t had more than two friends over at a time in five years. Those were always girls. You usually can’t wait to get away from me. What’s going on?” Mom planted her hands on her hips and turned for the stairs.

  “I got it,” Oliver called up the steps.