Foretold (11 page)

He dragged me toward the body. Short, blond hair, same large build as Vanir. Red coat. Tears filled my eyes when I saw the staring green eyes of the boy who’d just a few moments before smiled so sweetly at me. Cold, slicing pain cleaved my chest and I shut my eyes against the vision of Dan’s body before me. Like Steven, it didn’t look like he had a mark on him. I’d seen the other boy at night while freezing and relying on nothing more than moonlight. But here, in the daylight, I saw no blood, no torn clothes...nothing. Only sightless eyes aimed toward the sky.

The sheriff yanked me around.

I could only stare at him as the world around me blurred and everything went numb.

He shook me. “Snap out of it! Get my nephew out of here. Now. Get him home so his brothers can protect him.”

I nodded, my throat too frozen to speak.

“Whoever is hurting these boys is after him, I know it. I also know that you have something to do with it.” His narrowed eyes pierced me. “Don’t leave town. I’ll be at Vanir’s as soon as I can with questions, and this time, you’re answering them.”

I nodded. Still couldn’t speak. Also, I didn’t know whether I could lie outright to him. Not right now. Not with Dan’s body a few yards away.

Surprised he was letting me leave, I pulled away from him to race to Vanir. I got his attention by threading my fingers with his and tugging hard. He blinked down at me, his hair sliding around his face because he’d lost the rubber band somewhere in the fight.

Breathing hard, it took him a moment to focus. I understood. Adrenaline, anger and worry—the mix was powerful. I wondered if he looked much like his ancestors had. The Viking berserkers who’d stormed foreign shores.

He was big, strong and the glittering fire in his dark eyes stirred something in me. Something that just for an instant took my mind off the horror happening here.

My norn picked that moment to make her presence known. She’d never been a willing guest—I’d always felt that about her. It wasn’t as if I’d asked to be her host, either. But in that instant, she reacted so strongly to him I felt an inward pulling sensation. It carried disapproval, too.

She wanted something from me.

A tingling started in my throat. No, a swirling, like a minitornado. Like my
rune tempus
—only inside.

The panic that struck with that thought stabbed into my heart and lungs. I sucked in a searing, cold breath. I couldn’t stop my fear from showing on my face. Was this it? When she wiped out my personality?

“What?” Vanir yelled over the noise, letting go of my hand.

I just shook my head, unable to tell him what was going on. Unable to explain what I didn’t know. The whirling in my throat consumed everything it was so fierce. I sucked in air, grabbed my throat and closed my eyes. With everything in me, I pushed against the inner storm. For the first time, I fought her control.

And I won control back. I felt her settle back. The faintly acidic taste of her disapproval left and I got the distinct feeling I’d proved something important. I didn’t have time to figure out what because a woman cried out behind me and Vanir rushed to help.

I shook it off. Had no choice. Jogging to Vanir, I grabbed him by the arm. “We have to leave now. Your uncle, the sheriff, insisted. I think a bunch of cops are coming and he...” I stood on my tiptoes so I could be closer to his ear. “I can’t explain it but we have to leave. Now.”

He stared down at me, still breathing hard, still trapped in whatever anger had taken over him during the brawl. Someone jostled us and he sneered, turned. Expecting him to start bashing heads again, I threw my arms around his middle. “Stop. We have to leave!”

I pulled him toward the back of the parking lot where his truck had managed to stay unscathed. He took a few steps before stopping and I nearly tripped at the abrupt halt in movement. I lifted an eyebrow.

“I saw Dan go down, Raven. I didn’t see how, I just saw him stop fighting. Do you think he’s okay? His face—” He let go of my hand, curled both of his into fists. “It’s definitely magic.”

Biting my lip, I nodded. “That person could still be here. Your uncle thinks you’re in danger, so we have to get out of here.”

“Wait. You’re saying someone is after me?”

“I didn’t say that. Your uncle did. Didn’t you say they all protect you? Believe you have an important part in all this? Maybe that’s it.”

He looked back toward the crowd of people gathering around the boy on the ground. “He’s dead, isn’t he?” That low, gravelly grief returned to his voice. The same tone he’d used to talk about Steven.

Heart breaking, I grabbed his hand again, tugged him toward the truck. “I think he is. I’m so sorry, but please, let’s just get out of here and go somewhere to think.” I handed him the keys. “I called my sister with your phone. I called my other sister from your house to let her know I’m okay. I’ll pay for the minutes.”

He turned, his expression pale, stark. He put his hands on my shoulders and I flinched. I’d forgotten about hurting my shoulder. Not surprising since most of my body was one big ache.

He pulled his hand away, eyes narrowing on my shoulder. I glanced down to find his brother’s coat had ripped when I’d hit the pavement. Luckily, it had padded my fall because if my shoulder had been bare, that would have been bad. “Oh, man, I’m sorry about your brother’s coat. I’ll get him a new one.” Didn’t know how. This was one of those expensive coats—made for rough weather and built to last.

Well, sort of last, I thought, eyeing that rip.

“I don’t care about the damn coat and neither will my brother.” Vanir got into my face much as his uncle had. I didn’t mind so much with him. “Hallur will understand about the coat when he hears about this. I don’t care about the phone charges, either. Stop apologizing so much.”

I opened my mouth. Maybe to apologize for apologizing. Maybe not. It wasn’t as if all these small apologies would make up for the massive one I owed him. But then a can flew past our heads and that was all the incentive we needed. Vanir picked me up and gently shoveled me into the driver’s side, putting his hand on my butt to push me forward.

I umphed as my face smashed into the back of the seat. Another can hit the hood of the truck as Vanir jumped in.

We peeled out of the parking lot and pulled onto the highway just as more police cars arrived.

Chapter Ten

We were miles down the road when Vanir’s phone rang in my pocket. I’d forgotten I’d put it there. My elbow bonked on the car door as I squirmed to get it. As I handed it over, I hoped it hadn’t been damaged in my tackle move.

Vanir
uh-hummed
into the phone a full minute before saying, “We’ll be there in five. No, it’ll be longer—traffic is bad. Soon.”

When he clicked off his phone, I said nothing. I needed to tell him everything, yet fear had me in a paralyzing, painful grip.

I didn’t know which was scarier—how very alive
she’d
felt in that parking lot or the image of Dan lying there. I turned toward the window and closed my eyes, wishing I could rewind time and stop all this before it got so far out of control.

My mother had been there. I hadn’t smelled her signature lavender, but Coral was right—she’d used that spell before. And her presence had taken on something—a kind of supernatural
ick.
Like she stained the very air. I wondered if a person’s world imprint changed when they let madness take over.

“Is this a different way to your house? Your uncle said we needed to get you home.”

“He can wait.” Vanir frowned at the line of cars jammed ahead of us. “We don’t have time for roads.”

His growling words had me turning back to him as we suddenly veered off-road. I grabbed the handle over the window as the vehicle lurched and swerved. We nearly hit a huge snowdrift when the tires slipped. He found traction, managed to right the truck pretty fast.

A few miles later, we slowed at the bottom of a hill in front the sorriest-looking building I’d ever seen. Vanir stopped his truck by a Jeep and another truck and pocketed his keys. “I’d park closer, but when the ground gets wet up there it’s easy to get stuck.”

Dirty brick that had probably been red at some time framed a crooked structure. Either this had been built by a blind guy or the ground had shifted because what was left of the roof slanted farther over the right side. Looked like it threatened to slide right off. Smoke curled from the open part of the roof, the scent of burning wood strong, even from inside the truck.

“This used to be a warehouse for firewood storage. The owner died last year. The town plans to tear the place down, but no one’s in a hurry. Probably won’t ever get around to it now.”

“Why are we here?”

“No one pays attention to this place so my friends and I use it when we want to be alone.”

I immediately wondered if this was where couples went to make out. I hoped he attributed the red in my cheeks to the cold because I’d immediately pictured him luring some faceless girl in there. Pictured more than I wanted to.

“A bunch of them are here.” He waved toward the other vehicles. “Probably to drink whatever booze Rose jacked from her dad. And to talk about Steven.”

That completely killed the jealous buzz I’d had going. “Want me to wait here?”

His eyebrows met. “Why?”

I shrugged. “Because I’m a stranger. You guys lost a...lost people. Doubt they’ll feel comfortable with me there.”

“If I tell them you’re okay, they’ll believe me. Come on.” He got out and came around to my door before I could get my cold fingers to work. When I stepped out, my feet sank a good half foot in snow.

“They need to know about Dan, too,” he continued. “Obviously being in a crowd isn’t going to keep anyone safe, but with two of my friends—” He broke off, stopped walking. “Willy really thinks whatever happened to Dan was meant for me?” That low, grief-filled tone was back.

I nodded. Guilt had become this whole other living entity inside me. Separate from the norn, but it was starting to feel just as alive. I was getting used to hauling it around and, right now, it felt petrified and heavy. “Was he a good friend, too?”

Vanir shook his head. “Not really, no, but he seemed pretty cool. He moved here about six months ago. Only started hanging with us a couple of months ago and I haven’t been around the group a lot lately.” Snow crunched loudly under his boots as he walked ahead of me. We were going uphill. The snow had piled in deep drifts. He tested each place with one foot before moving farther.

We guessed wrong a couple of times.

My thighs started to burn from the effort it took to get through the heavy snow. But between steps, I suddenly felt a wave of emotion slam into me. I staggered back, tripped over something under the snow—probably a tree root—and went down on my butt. Snow piled up around me. Up to my waist. I was so sick of it already.

And we had so much more of it to come, according to the prophecy. I wondered if this constant exhaustion was going to be a permanent part of my life now.

Vanir held out his hand.

I didn’t take it. Something was radiating off him, something that had creepy fingerlike tentacles. “What’s wrong?”

He closed his eyes, shoulders slumping.

I swallowed. Hard. “Seriously. What just happened?” I whispered. Scrambling to my feet, I brushed as much snow off as I could. I’d put Hallur’s gloves back on and keeping them on was a challenge.

He still hadn’t answered, so I stopped, crossed my arms. I wasn’t going anywhere until he explained how he could affect me like that.

“I’ve always been able to sort of push emotions into people, but lately it’s changed. With you, it seems to be off the charts.”

“What were you trying to push into me?” And yeah, I got the whole other connotation to that question. Luckily, I was too cold to blush.

“I wasn’t trying to do anything. I got pissed and started thinking about Steven and Dan. And you.” He pulled something from his pocket. Another rubber band.

I watched him pop it between his fingers a couple of times before he pulled his hair back and secured it.

“You’re suspicious of me, aren’t you?”

“Do you blame me? I know you didn’t kill either of them, but two guys died since you got here.” He looked away. “And if Willy thinks what happened to Dan at the store was meant for me, then he probably thinks the same about Steven’s death. I know you didn’t have anything to do with either of their deaths—not directly.” He turned back to me. “But there’s more to your story. I’m not an idiot.”

I decided to come clean about my norn right then, but a shadow fell between us. Must have been one of Vanir’s friends because he smacked Vanir on the shoulder and grinned at him. The new boy looked square and bulky in his heavy brown coat. Black hair peeked from underneath an orange beanie and his eyes were just as dark.

Just then, the wind picked up, making one of those haunted moans as it swept through the trees. Two seconds later, the snow started up again.

Great.

The new guy shook flakes off one boot and stomped right back into about a foot of snow. “Heard some of your conversation. Sorry. But unless she was near the runestone this morning, I wouldn’t worry about it. Some guy named Samuel died there.” His voice was awfully deep for a teen. Had to be a football player with those wide shoulders. He nodded at me. “Hey. Name’s Randy.”

I started to answer, but the snow and wind picked up. I shut my eyes when flakes stung my eyeballs.

Randy hunched against the wind, shoved his hands in his pockets and yelled over the new noise. “What do you mean, Dan? New kid Dan?”

Vanir nodded. “Let’s get out of this wind.”

We hurried inside. Didn’t know why, really. With half the roof gone, it couldn’t be much better. But, surprisingly, it was. Not toasty, but better than outside because the walls kept a lot of the wind out. Plus, someone had built a huge, makeshift fireplace in the corner, complete with a two-brick-high border. Char marks crawled up the brick wall behind the fire and wood was stacked on the opposite side of the room. Without a chimney, smoke filled the room. But a lot of it was drawn to the open part of the roof.

It was kind of nice. Like a beach bonfire.

Only freaking cold.

Three more of Vanir’s friends sat in folding chairs near the fire. Randy plopped down next to one of the girls and draped his arm around her shoulders. His girlfriend was his opposite in looks. While he had dark features and high Choctaw cheekbones, the girl had nearly white-blond hair, a sweet, round face and, from the length of her legs, had to top Randy by at least a couple of inches. Bright red splotches decorated her face. She’d obviously been crying, but she snuggled into his side and offered me a friendly, curious smile.

The other girl did not. In fact, her eyes narrowed to slits while she looked me over. I returned the favor, finding another tall blonde who looked a lot like the one under Randy’s arm. Identical, in fact. She’d been crying, too.

I could taste the sorrow and anger in this room it was so thick.

Vanir pulled me forward. I realized I’d been standing in the open doorway like an idiot.

“This is Raven. She got stuck because of the snow. Raven, that’s Randy’s girlfriend, Lily, her sister, Rose, and Tucker.”

Tucker had hair the color of tree bark—a cross between brown and black. Like the others, he was bulked up in outerwear, his thick, red coat with Sooners in white letters on the front. Vanir had one friend who shared his affinity for the school.

“Nice jacket.” Vanir grinned at Tucker.

Tucker glanced down, shrugged. “Was a gift from a clueless relative and I don’t mind it getting messed up out here.”

Vanir rolled his eyes as he snagged a chair leaning against the wall and unfolded it for me before grabbing another. “Most of Raven’s things got ruined in the river, so we were going to Walmart to load her up. Turned out to be a bad idea.”

“You’re telling me.” Tucker moved his chair closer to Rose to make room.

I didn’t miss the short, fierce frown she gave him.

“We were all going there,” he continued as if he hadn’t been affected by, or possibly even seen, her expression. “The parents are all freaking. Wanting canned goods, kerosene, blankets, things like that. We decided not to stop when we saw the Wallyworld battle. Besides, looks like most of the canned goods were rolling around outside.”

Randy cleared his throat loudly. “When we were outside, you said something happened to Dan.”

“What’s wrong with Dan?” Lily asked. “Did you see him at the store? He stayed to get a few things.”

“Idiot,” Rose said with a sneer. “Can’t believe he did that.”

I was sooo not liking her already. And by the glares coming my way from her, the feeling was mutual.

“Dan went down in that fight.” Vanir set his chair so close to mine our sides touched.

The glares from Rose increased.

“I think it’s bad.” I’m not sure he even noticed what he did as he spoke. I thought he was mad at me, so shock went through me when he threaded his fingers with mine. Tightened them with his next words. “He might be dead.”

Four stunned faces froze.

“What’s going on?” Lily whispered. “First Steven...” Her breath hitched, tears filling her eyes as she huddled into Randy. “And now Dan, too? And that kid on the news...Samuel? What the hell is going on around here?”

Tucker threw up his hands. “It’s obviously the ‘end times’ my grandfather likes to preach about. Think about it! It’s snowing all over the world, people are fighting and now they’re dropping from some weird illness.”

Randy rolled his eyes. “Can it, Tucker. The weather anomaly is just that. The deaths are a little more important, don’t you think? More relevant? What makes you think it’s an illness?”

“What else could it be?” He picked at a loose thread on his sleeve. “I caught the broadcast and apparently there wasn’t a mark on that kid at the park.”

“What else could it be? Try murder. Remember the fighting? People are obviously snapping.” Rose bent to the side and rummaged in a black backpack before pulling out a bottle of Bacardi 151. She uncapped it like a pro, took a swig, grimaced, took another and passed it to her sister.

Lily swallowed some, choked and handed the bottle off. “No one’s said anything about murder yet. In fact, I heard Steven didn’t have a mark on him, either.” She started to sob and Randy tightened his arm around her. “I just can’t believe this.”

The tension coming from Vanir intensified, and without thinking about it I scooted closer. He pulled our clasped hands onto his thigh.

“You got here just last night?” snapped Rose as her gaze zeroed in on Vanir’s lap. She reached for the rum, not once taking her gaze off our hands.

“It’s been a long day and a half,” Vanir answered. “A lot has happened.” He took a deep breath, stroked his thumb over the back of my hand—I think he needed the comfort. He stared at Rose. “I’m sorry, I know you liked Dan.”

“We’d only been on a few dates.” She shrugged, blinked a few times and swigged several swallows of liquor. Stunned, I could only stare. She
was
a real pro. She held the bottle out to me, and yeah, I was tempted. Maybe alcohol would help take my mind off what a complete shit I was for sitting here among their grief. But reeking of something that strong wouldn’t endear me to Vanir’s brothers when we got back and I spilled the beans. Or his uncle Willy if the sheriff showed up there. And I’d decided to tell them what I thought. I had to.

Rose waved the bottle at me again.

I shook my head no.

Smirking, she passed the bottle to Vanir, who surprised me when he took a swallow and handed it off to Tucker.

Tucker started to take a drink, then went pale. “We shouldn’t be drinking this! Not now!” He stood and held the bottle up. He narrowed his eyes at the fire, his intentions obvious when his gaze went back to the bottle in his hand.

“Whoa, dude, do not throw that into the fire.” Randy had scrambled to his feet. “One fifty-one. Fire. Think about it.”

“Yeah and I’ll be grounded for swiping that, so I want to enjoy it first,” snapped Rose. She jumped up and held out her hand. “Give it back.”

Tucker stood there, shaking his head. “Everything is going wrong. Our friends are dying. There’s no school and last night someone robbed our store. Took all the cash, jeans, salt and even an iron skillet!”

I flinched and Vanir’s gaze shot to me, his mouth tightening, so I pretended I didn’t notice him looking.