Flock

Spending the morning ball-and-chained to a new kid was
not
my idea of a good kickoff to our senior year.

“Can’t you find someone else?” I asked, hoofing it up the front steps to Norse Falls High.

“There’s no time,” Penny said. “I didn’t expect two of them, and they have different schedules, so we need two welcome guides.” I could hear the
slap-slap
of her clogs as she struggled to keep up.

As much as I admired everything about Penny — including her sis-boom-bah school spirit — I didn’t think I was the right gal for the job. For starters, I still felt new to the place myself. Moreover, I was hardly ambassador material.

“I’m not feeling very welcome-ish.” Reluctant to enter, I paused. It was crazy to think that one year ago I was the new arrival. Twelve short months later and I not only had a best friend but had also inherited a magical ability as a deliverer of souls, a human Stork. Oh, and I had a special someone, too. Standing there on the stone landing, I was already wondering how I’d get through a whole day without Jack, my now-college-enrolled boyfriend and superpower, weather-wielding sidekick. I wasn’t even inside yet and the place felt fundamentally altered: empty, lifeless, and lacking.

“Please,” Penny pleaded. “It won’t take very long. Besides, it’s a privilege and an honor.
Come on.
” If she batted her lashes at me any harder, we’d need a home base and an umpire.

I sighed. This would be the third time she roped me into one of her extracurriculars. Already last year, I’d been shanghaied as the fashion editor of the school paper and pressed into singing and dancing for the musical production of
The Snow Queen.
No wonder I was a little wary around the girl.

“How long will it take?”

“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” Penny hopped up and down and was through the front doors and bounding down the hallway without even answering me.

I scowled and pulled on the massive wooden door.
Happy flippin’ first day of school.

I found Penny in the front office. She had her back to me and was filling out some kind of paperwork. I made a quick note-to-self not to sign anything. She’d have us shipped out with Doctors Without Borders by lunchtime. Triage unit. War zone. Front line. And she’d claim it a privilege and an honor, no doubt.

Ever the what-would-I-wear type, I was mentally tricking out bulletproof scrubs when I caught sight of a guy sitting in one of the waiting-area chairs.

Holy crap. I almost dropped for cover. And now, by comparison, foreign service didn’t sound half bad. Here in Norse Falls, not ten feet from me, sat none other than Marik.

Marik as in the messenger from Vatnheim.

Vatnheim as in the otherworldly realm where mermaids, mermen, and split-tailed sirens are healthy, happy, and in pursuit of an heir to Queen Safira.

Safira as in the queen who believes — because of my impulsive Stork prophecy — that an heir exists here on our earthly Midgard and is none other than Leira.

Leira as in my born-too-soon, still-frail, five-month-old sister, whose name — pre-chosen by our long-dead grandmother — is one from a selkie legend and an anagram of Ariel, like in
The Little Mermaid.
Not to mention she was born with webbed fingers and toes.

Yeah. That Leira. That Safira. That Vatnheim. That Marik.

I wanted to hurl.

Penny, turning, must have noticed my greenish hue.

“Kat, are you all right?” she asked.

“Sorry.” I put a hand to my tummy. “My mom put a shot of wheatgrass in my smoothie this morning.” She had. It was nasty. “I think it and the acai just started a turf war.” It really had left an aftertaste, one that had, if nothing else, provided a tip-of-the-tongue alibi for my puckered cheeks.

“Should you go to the nurse?” Penny asked, hugging the clipboard to her chest.

And leave Marik unattended? No way. “I’ll be fine,” I said.

Like I had a choice. Like I intended to let Marik, who was eyeing me playfully, out of my sight for a second. Unsuspecting Norse Falls had more than its share of the para-abled pounding its streets. Besides my own clan of soul-delivering Storks and my Jack Frost–descended boyfriend, we’d come up against Wade, an evil Raven, and Brigid, the power-hungry Snow Queen from land o’ snow Niflheim. The last thing we needed was —

“Jinky?” I said, steadying myself against the front-office counter.

Jinky, the second of our new kids, arrived and now stood just a few steps inside the office waiting area. Jinky was the tough-chick, rune-reading gypsy girl (Roma, if we’re being PC) who swiped my runes last spring in Iceland. With the help of her Laplander (Sami, if we’re
still
being PC) grandmother, she launched me onto some kind of sweat-lodge-induced vision quest, the one where I met Marik and wrested Jack out of Brigid’s frigid fingers. Uh-huh. That Jinky. And as back-to-schools went, this one was sizing up to be epic in all the worst ways.

“Do you two know each other?” Penny asked, confused. She thumbed through the papers of her welcome packet as if she were out of the loop.

I knew the feeling. Except it wasn’t so much that I felt out of the loop. Rather that it was cinching around me — my neck, to be specific.

“We met in Iceland,” Jinky said, “at the festival. Kat told me such great things about Norse Falls that I was intrigued. So intrigued I talked my cousin, Marik here, into joining me for a study-abroad program.”

OK. So that was the story. It didn’t seem like I had much choice but to go along with it. “What a surprise,” I said, taking a step toward Jinky. “You should have let me know you were coming.”

Penny, still baffled, watched us. By now, she knew me better than anyone around here. And if Jinky had come halfway across the world to see Norse Falls at my — albeit inadvertent — recommendation, I’d be pretty stoked. So stoked I’d — ugh — hug the girl. Wouldn’t I? I took the final step separating us and threw my arms around Jinky. Judging by the way she stiffened, she wasn’t the PDA type.

Marik rushed forward, too, extending his hand, thank God. “So nice to see you again, Katla.” We shook. At least he didn’t try to embrace me. Penny was still looking at me like I was big-time holding out on her.

“Wow,” I said, shaking the hair out of my face. “This is turning into one wild morning,” said the human Stork to the merman and the rune-reading gypsy. Not knowing what to do with either of these unwelcome visitors, I was stalling for time.

Penny pulled two sheets of paper from the clipboard. “Here are their schedules. We should split up and —”

“I’ll take Marik,” I said, fast. Too fast. It earned me another odd once-over from Penny, though this one had a tinge of disappointment to it.

Taking a moment to breathe and survey the situation, I could understand her letdown. To the not-dating-anyone Penny, Marik would be the preference. He wasn’t pretty-boy handsome, but — just like I’d intuited that first time we’d met — there was something appealing about him. His nutmeg-brown hair was shaggy chic with the odd stray swatch tumbling over his broad forehead. His kelp-green eyes were mischievous, his lips were pouty, and, despite his height and muscular frame, he gave off a light-and-nimble vibe. And he was dressed like he stepped right out of an Abercrombie ad, with a distressed sweater over a tails-pulled-out crew shirt, jeans, and sockless loafers.

Jinky, on the other hand, was still into the all-hell-no-angel look with heavy motorcycle boots, leather jacket, teased black hair, and heavily lined eyes. She was, as always, a little scary. Who could blame Penny for the droop in her shoulders?

“I mean, I figured you’d like to tell Jinky about the school paper,” I said to Penny, scrambling. “Jinky’s into photography.”

Jinky chopped me a look, one that could roll a head, and mine was first on the block, judging by the glint in her eye.

“Oh. We
are
looking for another photographer,” Penny said. “Our best one just graduated.”

“If only I had brought my camera,” Jinky said, still staring at me.

“My dad has one,” I said. “A good one.” I was asking for it, I knew. Jinky did not look like the capture-the-moment type. She probably hadn’t snapped a photo in her life. Necks, on the other hand . . .

Penny handed one of the schedules to me. “Marik has biology first period. Mr. Serra.”

“Got it,” I said. Wasting no time, I signaled for Marik to follow me, leaving Penny with the paper’s new photojournalist.

There were still a few minutes before the final bell. The hall was a zoo. I headed in the direction of the science wing but took the first detour — and private space — I came upon. Marik and I ended up at the back of the auditorium. The room was being prepped for a school-wide assembly later that day. A lone janitor was onstage setting up the PA system.

“What are you doing here?” Arms crossed, I rounded on Marik.

“As you may well guess, I’ve been sent to ensure you fulfill your end of the bargain.”

The bargain. The damn bargain:
Leira to whom the waters are home must be returned to the sea.
It haunted me day and night and was a low-down double cross.

“It’s not fair. I was tricked into the deal. I thought Leira was the redheaded selkie who lent me her skin. And, of course, there’d be no harm in returning
her
to Vatnheim. I had no idea that Leira would be the name of my unborn sister. I’d never have made the pact if —”

“Ah, but you did,” Marik interrupted. “You made the pact.” His eyes focused on the ground, not me. “And Queen Safira brooks no disobedience.”

Feedback from the microphone filled the room.

“She’s too weak, anyway. She’s only been home from the hospital for a few weeks. She’d never survive any sort of ordeal —”

“I have been instructed to be patient,” Marik said, cutting me off again.

I bit my lip. There was, I was still certain, a way out of this. All I needed was more time to devise a plan. All summer, fear had gnawed at my insides, but I was still determined. Marik’s presence, despite his mention of
patience,
was a setback. And it started the clock.

“Katla, it is good that we take a moment here to talk. I must remind you that the agreement is secret. We know that you have . . . friends, many who would be willing to aid you in protecting the child. Be forewarned that this would only endanger you and those you seek to involve. Moreover, the pact is charmed with powerful magic. A potent spell connects the essentials of the agreement. Do you understand?”