Foretold (14 page)

“I just broke up with Rose about two months ago.” His fingers tightened on the back of my head before going loose. He ran them through my hair and I was suddenly glad I hadn’t had any gel that morning. “I dated her a long time. She never made me want to make out in the parking lot of a hotel.”

“Hotel?”

With that word, the cold came back like someone had doused me with a bucket of freezing water. I pulled back, eyes going wide as I scrambled off his lap. Or tried to. I was stuck between him and the steering wheel. My elbow knocked the windshield wipers back on as my foot slipped off the seat, leaving me in an awkward angle.

“Hotel?” I repeated when I was finally on my own side. “We’re at a hotel?”

“It’s what you wanted and probably for the best, anyway.” He shut his eyes before scraping his hands over his face. “We can’t go see if they have a room for you just yet, okay? You gotta give me a few minutes to cool off.”

Oh, man. Now I really wanted to climb out into the snow. I swallowed, adjusted my coat and stared out of the window. “You think maybe...because we both have seidr that it’s reacting?”

“You mean, you think we make each other hot because of magic?”

I nodded, mortified and not planning to elaborate but my treacherous tongue jumped ship. “Because, believe me, I’ve never caused this kind of reaction in a guy, especially not one like you.”

I could have happily dived off a cliff in that moment.

My stupid, stupid mouth.

He tilted his head, the corner of his mouth twisting in disbelief. “Maybe you haven’t given one the chance. Sounds like you weren’t in one place long enough to meet many guys, anyway.”

“As if. I met you yesterday.”

His chuckle sounded low and intimate and it curled around my heart.

Wait. Heart?

Heart?

We’d known each other less than twenty-four hours, yet somehow I knew him. Like, really knew him. Something stretched between us, something that I knew he felt. A mix of heat and acceptance, and in that moment I knew I’d do anything to keep him alive.

And with that thought, the part of me that wasn’t quite me...the norn...began to shift and settle. I felt her in my arms, my legs, my belly. I touched my stomach, afraid to breathe, and stared at Vanir because any second I could just disappear. Her movements didn’t hurt this time, didn’t feel forced. Frowning, I stared at my hands, feeling the flow of life into my fingers. She flowed into me fully. Then she stopped. And I knew I’d been wrong. All this time wrong and I couldn’t wait to call my sisters and tell them because all of us had been terrified of the norns taking us over.

I’d been afraid of this my entire life.

I shouldn’t have been, because it felt right. I’d been fighting something that was a true part of me and, with the acceptance, I felt her settle and understood my struggle against her had been part of the problem. I also understood what she wanted from me. Not to leave his side. I was here to save him. Not out of a sense of duty because of my mother, no. I was responding to something centuries old, something powerful. In some texts, my particular norn didn’t share information about the past. In some, she had been a representative of fate.

I stared at Vanir—at the person who could be responsible for my fate—and sighed. “I changed my mind. I really can’t afford a hotel and, to be honest, I don’t want to be stranded without a car. If the offer is still open, I’d rather stay at your house.”

After all my huge inner revelation, the very male grin on his face filled me with anticipation.

“Good. I only drove here because I was angry. I was going to talk you out of it, anyway.”

Chapter Thirteen

“Some kind of vanishing arrow killed Steven. Dan, too.”

Vanir and I were both stomping snow off our shoes when Ari stepped onto the porch with the announcement.

“Vanishing?” Vanir pushed him back into the house and held the door open for me. “How?”

“Sarah thinks they were made of ice. The one in Steven went deep, hit his heart and probably had some kind of poison on its tip. Whatever it was either melted or disappeared.”

Ice arrows?

I could
not
see my mother coming up with that one. But I could see a frost giant coming up with it. And for the first time since arriving, I
really
questioned my belief that it had been her. Come to think of it, I’d only smelled the lavender once. In the woods. After crashing. Yeah, she’d used commanding oil before, but it was probably a standard potion. Well, standard in witch circles, anyway.

My heart started pounding and I had to work hard to keep the rising sense of elation in my chest from spreading to my face. What if I’d been hallucinating when I smelled that lavender? I’d crashed in the river, got knocked in the head and I’d been
expecting
it to be my mom.

I didn’t realize I’d been standing in the open doorway until Vanir stepped in front of me and snapped his fingers. “Raven? Where’d you go?”

“Sorry.” I scurried into the welcoming warmth of their living room. The homey atmosphere, the blazing fireplace and comfortable, worn furniture did its magic, sinking into my pores. That, and the knowledge I could have been wrong, had me nearly giddy. “I was thinking about what your brother said. Ice arrows. Remember that giant mentioned Svartalfheim? She was a frost giant.”

“Frost giants lived in Niflheim.” Vanir shook his head. “Besides, we would have seen a giant in the Walmart parking lot.”

“Not if she was far off and had really good aim. Or had some kind of supernatural crossbow.”

“Um, I really want to hear more of this, but could you shut the damn door first?” Ari snagged a hoodie off the arm of the couch and pulled it over his head, cursing when his hair caught. He dropped onto the couch, his gaze zeroing in on my hand. “I thought you guys planned to find Raven a hotel? And what giant?”

I hadn’t even realized Vanir and I were holding hands. I pulled mine free and went to work on the buttons of Hallur’s coat. I draped it over a chair, then squatted to take off my tennis shoes and roll up the doctored legs of the sweatpants. They were soaked and my ankles had rubbed raw from the constant wet and cold.

I smelled the hot chocolate before I noticed Hallur in front of me, holding out a mug. Smiling my thanks, I took it.

“Yeah, what giant?” he asked Vanir.

“First, you gotta hear about Walmart.” Vanir had pulled off his coat and shoes, too, and he gestured for me to join him in front of the fireplace. He didn’t have to ask twice. I hovered there, shoulders hunched, my hands wrapped around a mug of cocoa that smelled like absolute heaven. Exhaustion set in and not only were my knees kind of wobbly, but my head felt a little woozy.

Hallur pushed us to the side and limped to the hearth, tossing another log onto the fire. “Willy called us about Walmart and about your friend Dan. He thinks someone’s after you, Vanir.”

“Of course he does.” Vanir rolled his eyes. “You all think I’m something special.” He tugged me back in front of the hearth.

Ari sent Vanir a hard look.

“Raven knows.”

“Of course she does,” Hallur mimicked Vanir as he limped back. “But let’s hear about the giant. Did I hear someone say Niflheim?”

“Yeah. We didn’t go into Walmart, obviously, and I took Raven to meet Randy and the others at the old warehouse. We were talking when this woman came out of nowhere and flipped Randy’s truck on its side. Looked like a giant.”

Ari crinkled his nose. “Do you mean like in Fee Fi Fo Fum?”

“Yeah, only this one wore a halter top and short skirt—kind of like a loincloth—and she screeched like a bat. A big, hellaciously loud bat.”

One of Hallur’s black eyebrows went up. “A halter?” He shot an amused glance at Ari. “Too bad we missed that one.”

My eyes threatened to bug out of my head. That was the first time I’d heard this brother tease.

Vanir snorted. “Trust me. It wasn’t pretty.”

“Wait...you’re serious,” Ari muttered, sitting up straighter. “Halter tops aside, there was really a giant. She wasn’t just a really tall lady.”

“An actual giant, Ari. Pretty sure I can tell the difference.” He scowled, looked at his oldest brother. “And where’s my hot chocolate?”

“Get it yourself. I didn’t know you were bringing Raven back, so that was originally yours.”

I held out the mug to share and Vanir winked to let me know he’d been joking.

“The giant said something about Svartalfheim.” Vanir turned and rubbed his hands in front of the fire. “And here’s the thing. I think I would have heard her in the woods last night if she’d been there. She wasn’t the most graceful thing. Screamed a lot, too.”

“But ice arrows,” I repeated. “Those would make sense with her.”

“Yeah, but it just doesn’t feel like the right answer. She yelled and raged and threw wild punches. The other two times felt, I don’t know...felt like someone with a lot more stealth and brains was involved. Besides, something was really wrong with those people at Walmart. Had to be magic.”

Hallur settled onto the couch and rested his leg on the battered coffee table. “Don’t be too surprised about the mob. There are always mobs when people get scared. We’ve seen looting and riots before, under less scary circumstances.”

“Yeah, I know.” Vanir nodded and turned back to his brothers. “But this was different. These people were attacking like they’d been set on one another.”

“He’s right,” I said. “An old lady tried to beat me up and she kept accusing me of taking some woman’s food. She was seriously out of it.” I swayed, couldn’t stop myself.

Ari suddenly let out a loud sigh. “Let’s go into the kitchen and eat. You guys are probably starving.”

My stomach picked that moment to growl and I glanced at the clock over the fireplace. The day was gone. It was after eight already.

I moved into the kitchen when it was clear they wouldn’t go ahead of me. I still felt awkward mooching food but the baked pasta dish Ari sat on the table was huge and the scents of garlic and tomatoes made my mouth water. Vanir opened the oven, pulled out a long loaf of bread and set it on the table along with a salad.

The brothers discussed various theories while we ate. Exhausted, I concentrated on getting one bite after another to my face and then finally set my fork down. When masculine laughter surrounded the table, I pried my eyelids high and looked around to find four amused stares.

“She’s beat,” Vanir said. “I’m getting her some fresh clothes. Her stuff is still in the suitcase in the back of my truck. Don’t know that washing will help any of it.”

I wrinkled my nose. “It all stinks.”

Hallur, who’d just stuck a forkful of noodles in his mouth, chewed and quickly swallowed. “We’ll try washing your clothes. Or you can tomorrow if you’re shy about us washing...well, if you’re shy.”

That did make me laugh. It was totally obvious they weren’t used to having a girl in the house. I could almost hear the words
underwear
and
bras
bouncing around in his brain.

Vanir gave me some clothes and I had just enough energy to change and fall into the same bed I’d slept in last night. We hadn’t been able to get me a phone charger. I was thinking I should have called my sisters from the house phone as I fell asleep.

* * *

The wolves had obviously lost their minds.

Their howls slammed into my sleep with the force of a hurricane, ripping me from my dreams and leaving me completely disoriented. I sat up, balling the sheets in my fists. My heart pounded. Those cries—high and keening—grated along my veins, sent fear spinning in my head. Something really, really bad was happening.

When the wolves started slamming into the door downstairs, I tried to crawl from the covers. They’d twisted around my legs, so I fell out of the bed with a thud.

Damn, the wooden floor was hard. I stumbled a few steps before scrambling to my feet and hurrying into the hall.

I crashed into Ari and we both hit the wall. Someone snickered behind us and I turned to find Hallur limping toward us. That was the first time I’d heard him laugh—well, sort of laugh, anyway. Our smiles died when another cry joined the noise the wolves were making. I think his brothers were surprised when I beat them into Vanir’s room.

I didn’t think twice, just ran to the bed and jumped onto it before running my hands over his bare chest. It was too dark to see much, so I felt around for the arrow hole I was sure would be there. A panicked sob ripped from my throat.

“He’d probably enjoy that more if he was awake,” Ari pointed out as he flipped on the light. “And don’t worry. He has dreams like this often.”

I looked up to find Hallur leaning against the tall bedpost, a real grin slashing his face. Ari started laughing and I looked down to realize I was still running my hands over Vanir’s skin. None of them seemed to share my panic.

I snatched my hands up, wishing the bed would open up and swallow me whole.

“I was trying to see if he’d been shot by one of those invisible arrows or whatever,” I mumbled, my embarrassment so deep my tongue felt thick as it tripped my words. Still thought it was kind of weird that he didn’t wake from the nightmare with us talking and the lights on.

I scooted off the bed, then perched on the side of the mattress just as Vanir started thrashing in the bed. The navy blue comforter slipped a little and I nearly forgot his brothers were in the room when I saw nothing but more skin. Smooth skin with hip grooves I wanted to explore. With my hands.

I sat on them instead. My hands, that is.

“Oops.” Ari reached past me and pulled the covers back up, then shook his brother’s shoulder. “Hey, buddy, wake up.”

Vanir kicked again—this time not hard enough to dislodge the covers, but his arm flung up to slam into the dark wood headboard. I winced, expecting him to wake from the pain. He only groaned and thrashed more.

“The light usually wakes him when he has these,” Ari said as he walked around to the other side of the bed. He leaned down, smoothed the sweaty hair off Vanir’s brow. “Vanir!”

“Something’s wrong. They aren’t normally like this.” Hallur’s cast scraped the wooden post as he climbed onto the bottom of the bed.

“What aren’t normally like this? What’s going on?”

Ari took pity on me. “Vanir’s had nightmares since he was nine years old. We usually know because it upsets the wolves. Not to the degree they’re upset right now, though.”

As if on cue, the growling and body slamming against the door downstairs started back up.

“Like, nightmares on a regular basis?” I pulled one hand from under my butt. Patted Vanir’s arm. My hand on his skin seemed to calm him a little. But something told me this was more serious than they were making it out to be.

None of them answered right away because there was a louder crashing noise from below. Ari ran toward the bedroom door. “I’m letting them in.”

“Don’t you dare!” Hallur shouted, but Ari was already stomping down the stairs. “Not when they’re like that!”

Within a minute, the two animals burst into the room. Freak started whining. Geri growled at the window. I stared, trying to see what had set her off but couldn’t see anything besides the snow-covered tree limbs reflecting the moonlight.

Vanir sucked in a breath and clenched his jaw. Sweat ran off his temples into his hair, darkening it. His eyes were squeezed so tight he’d have an even bigger headache when he pulled out of this. He suddenly cried out. The hair on my arms stood. I knew then what was happening. I grabbed Hallur’s arm to stop him when he reached out to shake his brother. “What does he dream about?”

“He doesn’t remember. We’ve always assumed he dreams of the accident. Our parents were killed in a car accident. Vanir was thrown free. It was on his birthday. The same night they came.” He nodded toward Freak and Geri.

Even I was surprised they’d calmed down. But they looked toward the window too often. Creeped me out. “And he normally wakes when you shake him?”

“He normally wakes when we flip on the light.” He cupped his brother’s jaw. “Come on, buddy, wake up. Hey!” He shook him. “He’s a light sleeper. This is different.”

I bit my lip, not sure how much to share here, then I thought,
To hell with it
. “Someone’s using magic.”

Hallur narrowed his eyes. “What do you know about magic?”

“A lot, actually.” I lifted an eyebrow. “It looks like whatever is happening in his dream feels pretty damned real to him. Have you heard about spells that trick the mind into true belief?”

“All nightmares feel very real when you’re in them,” Hallur said, voice low.

I cleared my throat. “What I mean is whatever is happening in his dream is going to feel so real that it could happen in his physical body.”

“Like
The Matrix?
” Ari asked.

It was hard not to roll my eyes. “We have to wake him up.” Though all that bare skin made me want to touch, I pinched instead.

Vanir’s brow furrowed. He sucked in a deep breath. Then another. Then...he held it.

Panic clawed my chest. “Vanir!”

We all started yelling. The wolves growled loudly. My ears rang from the noise. Still, he didn’t wake. I glanced from one brother to another, clenched my hands into fists. “Where’s your aunt? She’s might know something about this.”

“She had an emergency call.” Hallur’s normally brown skin was white. “We don’t have time to track her down. We gotta wake him now!”

All the yelling and shaking wasn’t going to work; I knew it on a soul-deep level. I leaned over Vanir, noticing that his lips had started to turn blue. He was suffocating. Somehow, the nightmare was taking his air. Was he drowning in this dream? Or being crushed? Why had he stopped flailing?

What if he was dreaming he was
already
dead?