Heroes (Eirik Book 2), Page 2

  My grandmother, the evil Ironwood Maiden, will not have her.

  Now that was one family member I’d like to disown. I searched for her scent, inhaling deeply and turning my head. Instead of moving in a straight line above the mountains, I moved between peaks, rose higher over some, and dove into adjacent canyons, always sniffing and searching.

  After an hour, I dipped even lower and landed by a lake. It had a weird name I couldn’t remember. The water was cold and clear, reflecting the snowcapped peaks surrounding it. It was a beautiful day even though a thick layer of clouds hid the sun. Everything was still, as though the entire world held its breath.

  I stiffened, turned my head, and sniffed. There were no shadows on the mountains surrounding the lake, yet I knew I wasn’t alone. The scent was familiar. I sniffed again. It wasn’t my grandmother’s.

  Please, let it not be a girl dragon.

  No matter what my mother said, I suspected she wanted me to choose a female dragon. She equated dragons with strength and a better chance of survival. Maybe I would have chosen a dragon bride if I hadn’t met Celestia first. She was always on my mind. Thinking about her made me restless. All I wanted was to be near her.

  I drank from the lake and caught my reflection.

  My horns rose majestically from my mane, except for the broken tip of one. I tried to ignore it. Anything that marred the perfection of my reflection wasn’t worth noticing. Even though I was tawny in coloring, the horns were white and my mane was darker at the base and lighter toward the top. Since they weren’t covered with scales, only skin and fuzz, the runes tended to glow more at the tips. The coolest part was that I could control the intensity of the runes along the horns. The effect, combined with my gleaming scales, was awesome. After meeting the other dragons, I knew I was a prime dragon specimen. My eyes were drawn to the chipped horn once more.

  It was a constant reminder of the day I’d lost Celestia. I grimaced. I hadn’t really lost her. I’d given her the space she needed to heal. She’d gotten hurt on my watch and had every right to refuse to see me. I had respected her wishes. Sort of.

  I wondered what she’d think of Mother’s manipulations and this ridiculous mating ritual. She’d probably laugh and then get insulted on my behalf. She was a contradiction.

  With one last look at my mesmerizing reflection, I took off and continued flying east. The scent reached me again. Someone was definitely following me. If this were Earth, I would have been concerned about a stalker. In Helheim, only an idiot would mess with me and expect to win. My reputation had reached all the other realms.

  Maybe it was one of the guests. Most of them, I was convinced, used the opportunity to come check out Eljudnir, as Hel’s Hall is often called, in addition to parading their daughters.

  There was only one problem. I wasn’t ready to settle down or be engaged to some girl I just met. I’d barely turned eighteen and had plenty of time to decide what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.

  Then there was Celestia. My gem. Once a dragon found his gem, there was no taking it from him. Celestia was mine. Sneaking off to see her wasn’t enough. I needed her here with me. Letting go of Cora had been a lot easier.

  The scent tickled my nose again, and I glanced over my shoulder and studied the horizon. All I saw were mist and snow-covered mountaintops, yet I knew I wasn’t alone. If only it was my grandmother’s scent I was getting, I’d be celebrating instead of getting irritated. Once again, I tried to place it.

  In the last month, I’d flown over these mountains and searched caves and valleys for my grandmother with little success. The ice Jötnar I’d met and talked to all claimed not to have met her. They could have lied, but I had no way of confirming it. I wasn’t a mind reader. However, I could smell fear. They’d been scared.

  I reached the longest and tallest mountain ranges in the north, landed, and exhaled. The air was crisp and clean. Behind me lay the misty, frozen nothingness of Helheim. Ahead, the land sloped to the endless valley of Urd, the land of the Norns. Mist hugged the bottom, but smack in the middle, the crystal towers and the white walls of Nornsgard rose majestically and gleamed in the afternoon sun peeking from behind the thick clouds.

  This was the fourth time I’d come to this spot. Each time, I’d swooped toward the gleaming walls only to watch them disappear. I’d opened portals so close I saw the crystal walls, only to step through and find myself on a glacier. The last time, I heard voices, female voices, only to fly through the portal and into that damn lake. It was a wonder I’d made it back before the portal closed. Maera hadn’t lied when she’d said portals shifted and opened in weird places in this realm.

  A whoosh of powerful wings came from behind me, and I turned. At first, all I saw was a shadow in the mist. It grew closer and bigger.

  Please, don’t let it be a dragon girl. I could face trouble of any kind, except a girl dragon. A gray dragon came out of the mist, hovered briefly, and landed a few yards away. I recognized him. I’d fought him a couple of weeks ago. He was a good fighter, but had no stamina. I had a feeling he’d just gone through the motions for the sake of his family. He was here with his father, his sister, and half his village. In fact, I believed he and his sister were the ones making a ruckus across the sky earlier.

  He bowed, but I continued to watch him, trying to remember his name. K-something. Could Mother have sent him to follow me? Spy on me?

  “May I approach, Baldurson?” he asked. I knew he probably spoke his language or dragon tongue, which was basically animal language, but used magic so I heard them in English.

  Got it! “It’s Karle, right?”

  “Yes, Baldurson.” The dragon bobbed his head in deference once more. “I hope I’m not bothering you.”

  I hadn’t stopped on an isolated mountaintop to bond with another dragon. I wanted to tell him to get lost, but he didn’t look like a spy. He seemed shy and awed by my presence, naturally.

  “I came here to be alone.” The dragon bowed again. Three times was too much. “Don’t do that.” Confusion flashed on his face. “Bowing. Stop it. I’m not my mother or father. My name is Eirik.”

  “I’m sorry for disturbing you, Bald—Eirik. I will leave.”

  We were two hours away from Eljudnir. Since he’d followed me all this way, he must have a reason. “No, it’s okay. What are you doing here, Karle? And I hope this is not about your sister.”

  He shuddered. “I wouldn’t wish Olea on anyone. She has a big mouth,” he added when I frowned.

  I chuckled. “I know girls like her.”

  “Jötun?”

  “No, Mortals.”

  “Is it true you were raised in Mid—?” He lowered his head. “Pardon my forwardness, Baldurson—Eirik. I hope I didn’t offend you. I’m looking for my sister. She sneaked out of the hall, and knowing her, she’s up to something that will get me in trouble with our father.”

  I wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so I kept quiet. The mountain was far from Eljudnir. There was no way he’d followed me because of his sister. Unless he’d assumed I had sneaked off to secretly meet her.

  “Well, uh, I better continue my search,” he said.

  “Karle,” I said before he could take off, and he looked my way. “How old is your sister?”

  “Thirteen.”

  Jeez. “Why would you want her married at such a young age?”

  “Betrothed, not mated. Olea swore she’d never marry, and Papa would allow her to stay a maiden and join the army. Ironwood is famous for their maiden warriors. I do not want her hanging around forever. She complicates my life as it is.”

  “So you want her to be someone else’s problem?”

  “Exactly.”

  “Sorry, I don’t want the job.” We laughed. Then, as though he remembered he was talking to me, he stopped. I pretended not to notice. “So have you ever been there?”

  He followed where I was pointing and chuckled. “The moving hall of the Norns. So many have tried to find its exact location an
d failed. I’ve flown to the peaks of Nidfjöll, the tallest mountain near home, seen the towers above River Elivagar, and headed straight for it. I crash-landed in the river. Another time, I found myself in a sunny field of flowers. No one is supposed to find Nornsgard unless the Norns want you to find it. That’s what they say.”

  “They who?”

  “Clan elders. They were told by Angrboda, who knew everything.”

  “Who is Angrboda?”

  He stared at me like I’d lost my mind.

  “Is he your leader?”

  He frowned. “Angrboda was, uh, your grandmother, Baldurson.”

  Now I felt like an idiot. Of course, Crazy Granny had a name. No one in Hel’s Hall used her real name. She was the Ironwood Maiden, and Mother avoided mentioning her.

  “I call her”—Crazy Granny, but I doubted he’d appreciate that title—“Grandmother.”

  Karle grinned, dragon teeth bared. “We called her Chieftess or Seeress because she was both to all the southern clans. All the other chiefs would report to her. She taught us how to fight, and used her visions to help our people survive. She was selfless, kind, and nice. Our people loved her.”

  If only she’d extended kindness to her immediate family. I still disliked her. “So you are from Jötunheim?”

  “Yes. Wolf Clan. My village is at the edge of Ironwood Forest, the center of magic in all Jötunheim. When your grandmother was alive, she united all the clans. We even sent clansmen and women to the national army in Utgard after she’d trained them. Most of them were orphans she took in and raised. Things haven’t been the same since she left us.”

  How could someone who’d done all those great things turn evil? What had happened to change her? “Do you know what happened to my grandmother?”

  “She disappeared years ago, but my father says she’s alive.” He smiled. “Would you like to see her hall? Járnvid still stands. No one is allowed inside. The elders made sure the pups didn’t turn it into a pack den in case she comes back. She’s cheated death twice before, so anything is possible.”

  Of course, she had. She was a Seeress and could manipulate time. Celestia had said she’d warped time in the cave. As for going to another realm, especially my grandmother’s village, my mother would go ballistic. Besides, I wasn’t sure whether to trust this guy. He could be working for Crazy Granny for all I knew.

  “How do we get to Jötunheim?” I asked, deciding to play along.

  “Through Eastern Gjöll Pass. There’s portals there to all realms. It takes us two hours from Eljudnir to reach it. Three or four from here. If we open a portal here, we could end up anywhere and never find our way home.”

  Eastern Gjöll Pass was the village where my mother’s workers lived. Some of the Dwarves commuted from Nidavellir, the massive underground city of the Dwarves in Svartalfheim.

  “What about your sister?” I asked.

  Karle cursed. “I’d forgotten about her. Maybe after I find her we can go.”

  “Maybe.”

  “I better head back and continue searching for her. Thanks.”

  “For what?”

  “For not telling me to go away and leave you alone even though you wanted to.” He grinned. “I’m good at reading expressions, especially dragons. I guess I’ll see you at the party tonight.”

  “No, you won’t. I wasn’t planning on attending.”

  “I don’t blame you. It’s a meat market. When I marry, I’m going for the rainbow.” He sighed. “You know, the girl whose smile makes me forget to breathe and her laugh makes me want to kiss her just to share her joy. And her voice…” Another long sigh. “I could listen to her forever.”

  Celestia’s smile was breathtaking, but she drove me crazy when she talked a lot. Grinning at my thoughts, I studied Karle. The dragon could be a harmless romantic or a damn good actor, but I was seriously thinking of taking him up on the offer to visit Jötunheim. Maybe Granny would hear that I was in her village and come out of hiding. Finding my sister was worth the stink Mom would cause after she learned I’d gone to another realm.

  “Okay, Karle. Let’s head back to Eljudnir. I’ll help you find your sister if you tell me more about my grandmother. I saw her a few months ago, but we didn’t have time to talk,” I added, watching Karle’s reaction.

  His mouth opened and closed several times before he said in a whisper, “Chieftess is really alive?”

  Okay, he was legit. No one could fake that borderline idiotic expression. He looked like he was about to cry. “Yes, she is alive.”

  CHAPTER 2. ORDERS

  CELESTIA

  The line to Red Barn was so long it wound around the building to the Windfall Fire Station on North Shore Boulevard. Every high school student from the county was wearing something purple—the official color of Street2Platinum—from locks of fake hair, hair scrunchies, shirts, tops, and pants to nylon bracelets. S2P was an up-and-coming boy band with a hit song about tolerance and bullying, which they’d released straight to iTunes. They made purple cool, no matter the shade.

  Hayden bumped me with her shoulder. “I’m happy you came,” she said. “You’ve become a recluse.”

  “Busy.”

  “Hiding,” she shot back.

  “I’ve been working on spells. I’ve even added a few in our family grimoire. Ask your mom.”

  “You cannot do any wrong in her eyes. I’m so jealous.”

  I rolled my eyes. She had no reason to be jealous of me. Her mother doted on her, and she now had Zack. My cousin was crazy about her and didn’t care who knew it. Seeing them together made me wish I had someone, too.

  A face I’d tried to forget flashed in my head. Eirik. Four months had passed, and I hadn’t heard a peep from him. After that night, when I’d told him to leave, he’d never come back. The Eirik I’d met in Hel would not have listened to me. He would have pushed and pushed until I gave in.

  The worst part was I hadn’t meant it. I’d been hurting and scared, and had lashed out instead of begging him to stay and hold me. Begging just wasn’t me. Grams had taught me to be independent, to depend on my wits and my powers. Being soul-napped and kept in that cave for days had shaken the foundation of everything I believed I was, and poor Eirik had received the brunt of it.

  Still, he hadn’t tried to make me change my mind and that had hurt. Not anymore. I was so over him. I was free. In fact, my plan was to start dating.

  Okay, now I was lying to myself. Freeing myself emotionally from Eirik was hard. In the beginning, I had dreamed about him, felt his presence only to turn around and find nothing. Nights had been the worst. I’d gotten used to sharing a bed with him, and I had found it hard to fall asleep alone. Once I did, the nightmares had followed. I’d relive those horrifying times with his grandmother in the cave, the fight, and the moments before I passed out.

  As a child, I’d wake up screaming from nightmares after my mother left. I’d relive the ways she’d tried to kill me even though I couldn’t remember them, except the fire. She’d voiced them and planted them in my head, and my mind had done the rest. Dad would burst into my room and make the nightmares go away by sleeping on top of the covers and reading to me until I fell asleep. Dad wasn’t the touchy-feely, huggy type. So I’d grip his thumb or shirt. In the end, I’d gone back to sucking my thumb to calm down. Thumb-sucking was a nasty habit. It had taken me years to break it.

  The dreams after coming back from Hel had been weird. I never woke up screaming, and I’d feel refreshed in the morning. I couldn’t remember how I calmed myself, either, but then again, I had the blanket I’d taken to Hel. Magic was crazy that way. I’d held the backpack while trancing and used the blanket in Hel, yet it had Eirik’s scent as though he’d actually used it. Wrapping it around me had helped me fall asleep. Maybe it had given me the illusion of being in his arms or his scent had really transferred to the blanket. Whatever the case, I’d wake up refreshed and surrounded by his scent, until the day I realized how unhealthy my dependence on the blanket had
become. Luckily, the dreams had grown fewer as weeks turned into months. One day I hoped to say, “Eirik who?”

  I pushed thoughts of him aside and focused on Hayden.

  She wore a cute white mini skirt, a silk orchid top, and heeled ankle boots. Beside her, I felt overdressed in ripped white jeans, trendy combat boots, a leather jacket, and a high-neck white and violet shirt to hide a certain scar—another reminder of my stay in Hel.

  “Did I mention I’m digging that outfit?” I asked.

  “Once or twice.” Hayden grinned and gave me a once-over. “Wes is not going to take his eyes off you. You look amazing.”

  “He’s not coming, is he?” I looked at nearby parked cars, but I couldn’t see Wes’ truck. “Please, tell me you didn’t.”

  “I didn’t.”

  I glared at her.

  “Zack did.” She grinned. “So, where’s your shadow tonight?”

  I searched for an unmarked police car. There was no way Dad didn’t send Davies or Sullivan tonight to keep an eye on me. He’d become even more protective since my stint in Hel. “I’m sure they are around. What?” I added when she frowned.

  “You know, you do that a lot.”

  “Do what?”

  “Scratch the scar on your chest.”

  I dropped my hand, warmth creeping up my face. “Yeah, uh, not knowing how I got them drives me crazy.”

  I’d tried to hide my scars from her, but she’d visited me every day after I left the hospital and had noticed the bite marks. Of course, she didn’t know they were bite marks since there were three identical and evenly spaced, half-moon scars. They looked like the same object had made them. My father had concluded that someone had used a weird blade in some ritualistic ceremony at wherever place I’d disappeared to during my trance. I had told them I couldn’t remember a thing, and they’d not pressed me for answers.

  “One day it will all come back, but in the meantime, just push it aside and keep on living. I’m happy you came with us tonight. You need to go out more.”