Foresworn (13 page)

The wind howled and knocked clumps of snow off the roof. I shivered and pulled the bag back up. “Not entirely. Everything she’s showed me so far has involved me actually on fire. She wants me to know that’s how I’m going to die.”

“By the hand of a future warrior, you said. Since I have no intention of setting you on fire, I think you’re safe. Plus, maybe these weren’t premonitions but warnings.”

I grinned. “In that case, what the hell am I doing on top of the most dangerous volcano in the world?”

He chuckled. “True. I’m not sure I should like a girl who just marches into bad situations like this.”

“Yet you live here. Live here and have been spending all your money buying things for other kids who are coming here.”

“Yeah.” He sat on the edge of the bed, reached out and smoothed my hair behind my ear. “That sort of makes you the perfect girl for me then, doesn’t it?”

A lump formed in my throat and I had to look away from him. “I’m not a good person for you to care about. Trust me.”

“Why? Because you think you’re going to die? Is that the plan? You’re just going to roll over and take that as it comes?”

I sat up, too. “Do I really strike you as someone who rolls over for anything? No. But I will say this. If it came down to me, Raven or Coral, I’d jump right in a fire to save them. I’d die for my sisters.”

He stared at me so long, I had to resist the urge to squirm. “That only makes me even
surer
about you.” His stomach growled loudly again and mine answered. He laughed and walked to the end of the bunk where we had the backpack. He glanced at his cell phone, then dug in the pack. “Your choices are spaghetti Bolognese, chicken and rice, chili, mac and cheese and a few others.”

“Which do you want?”

“There are several of each, so have at it.”

“I’m kind of a foodie, I’ll warn you. Normally, anyway. But right now, I could eat all of those.”

He nodded. “Me, too. We used a lot of energy fighting the snow and cold to get here, and we didn’t get a chance to eat much earlier. I’m going with the chicken. It’s really filling.”

“Sounds good to me, too.”

I watched as he poured water into each pack and closed them back up. He dug out a baggie that had utensils and even pulled out a packet of wet wipes.

“Wow. There’s like everything in those things.” It reminded me of Coral and her need to pack half the house before she went anywhere.

“Like I said, I’ve hiked a lot. I wish we didn’t have the snow happening. I would have liked to take you hiking here as true fall sets in. It’s the most beautiful thing in the world.”

“If the snow wasn’t here, then I wouldn’t be, either.” I took the pack of food and scooted back against the wall, making sure to keep the sleeping bag over my bare legs.

Arun had to sit close for us to both stay covered while eating. The food was okay—nothing that would cause a happy dance, but it wasn’t terrible, either. Or I was just starving and it filled a void. Big-time. We ate silently. Or, I should say, we inhaled silently because both of us were starved.

After my last bite, I sighed and leaned my head against the wall. “I feel so much better. We should try and call your mom and let her know we’re okay.”

“My phone didn’t have a signal. New cell towers were installed around here the last few years, so it’s been easier to get signals, so it’s probably the storm. I’ll try again later.”

Now that I was warm and full, sleep pulled at my eyes, but I forced them open only to find Arun leaning his head on the wall and staring at me. He smiled. “You should sleep.”

“I’m too scared to sleep here.” I had pretty much decided dark elves would rival fire in my nightmares for the rest of my life.

“What if I promise to take first watch?”

“You seem to be watching me.”

“You’re the best thing to look at.”

I frowned. “I can’t sleep knowing you’re staring at me.”

“How about if I only promise to stare once you’re all the way out?”

I frowned at him harder.

He laughed, leaned over and kissed me so softly, so gently, I gasped against his lips because inside, I’d turned into a fluttering mass of nerves.

The gasp opened my mouth to him, and he deepened the kiss. I opened wider, wanting this. He slid his fingers over my neck—just like I’d imagined—and his hands were wonderfully warm. Gods, he smelled good, too.

I pulled back and had to actually work at slowing my breathing. This guy really got to me. “First you do that when I haven’t brushed my teeth. Then you do it when I’ve just eaten cardboard-flavored food.”

“Hey, I ate it, too.” He stroked his finger over my bottom lip. “How about you not worry too much and just enjoy the kisses. I’ve loved them all—even the morning breath one.”

I grinned at him. Couldn’t help it. “You’re too easy.”

“Katriel Lockwood.” He said my name on a sigh as he closed his eyes briefly. “You have no idea the power you could have over me.”

“We just met. That’s hard to believe.”

“So, you’re not feeling something?”

I immediately started chewing on my bottom lip.

He touched my lip until I let go. “Hey now, don’t do that. You have the nicest, softest lips I’ve ever seen or kissed. Don’t mess them up.”

“Kissed a lot of girls?” I almost bit my lip again in embarrassment. What a nosy question.

He shrugged. “A few.”

He was about to be eighteen, so it was reasonable to assume he’d had a few more serious relationships than the one he’d talked about.

“There are no girls now, and there haven’t been in a while.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I’d like to be able to say there is a girl now.”

I shut my eyes and groaned. “You can’t say this stuff. You can’t be this nice all the time. It’s not fair.”

“I notice you didn’t answer my question.”

I didn’t say anything for a long time because I was too busy trying to keep my heart from splattering all over him. Every damned girlie part of me was reacting to him and to his words. Why’d he have to be so hard to resist?

“It’s okay if you don’t,” he said softly. “There will be time to change your mind.”

I sighed. “Yes.”

“Yes what? That you do feel it or that you’ll give me time to work harder at catching you?”

I opened my eyes and shivered at the direct stare. “To both. If we get through this—”

“When,” he interrupted.

“Okay, when. I might stick around a few days.”

“Days, huh? I’ll have to step up my game.”

“We just met and your tongue has been in my mouth. Can’t get much faster than that.” I shook my head. “Besides, no games. I hate them. If you want to earn my trust, say what you feel. Be honest.”

“So, the straightforward approach works for you best.”

I nodded.

His poet lips twisted as amusement filled his too-pretty features. And then I forgot all about the pretty thing as he used that crazy strength to prop me in his lap.

Startled, my mouth dropped open.

“You said straightforward approach.” He leaned close, his eyes on my lips.

I put my hand on his chest. “I am not having sex with you.”

“Relax. We aren’t even close to that. I’d like to get to know you. But a little kissing isn’t totally out of the picture, right?”

“I’ve had a sore throat today.”

“Me, too. It’s from the greenhouse fire. I can’t even imagine the toxins we’ve inhaled from all that plastic.”

When I shook my head, my hair spilled around my face and he grinned.

“You’re so beautiful it takes my breath away.”

“You don’t have to say stuff like that.”

“Yeah, Kat, I do.” He slid his palms onto the sides of my neck and into my hair to cup the back of my head. “You might as well get used to the fact that I say what’s on my mind and maybe I’m feeling a little sappy. But it should balance out all that prickly, yes?” He winked.

“I found a flaw.”

One blond eyebrow went up. “Does it help up my bad boy cred?”

“No. I don’t like bad boys.”

“What kind of boys do you like?”

“Honest ones.”

“Okay then. Right now, I’m thinking about how lucky I am to have this gorgeous girl sitting in my lap. How lucky I am to even have someone like you looking at me the way you are.”

“How am I looking at you?” I whispered, sure I was never going to be able to breathe normally again.

“Like you’re terrified but still interested enough to give me a try.”

“What am I giving a try exactly because I don’t live around here, so even thinking about something more is kind of crazy?”

“Tell you what, let’s just get through whatever is happening—probably in the next few days—then we’ll figure this out.”

“You think it’s that fast?”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Don’t you?”

I nodded, then turned my face so my lips touched the heel of his hand. I didn’t say anything, just stared at him.

Those seal-brown eyes reflected images of the fire in the open woodstove, and I left my lips on him because while I was afraid of fire, this sort—the heat building between us—I was starting to like.

A lot.

“Come here,” he whispered as he pulled my head toward him.

This time, I fully participated in the kiss, opening my mouth, sliding my tongue against his. He groaned, slid his hands down my back and pulled me tighter to him.

And I wasn’t afraid. I knew if I called a halt, if I showed any sign of fear, he’d stop things immediately.

I trusted him.

For real.

And that was a big, big deal.

Chapter Eleven

I did sleep finally, and when I woke up, he was still holding me, still keeping watch. And apparently targeting most of that watch on my face.

Blinking sleepily at him, I grinned. “I hope I didn’t snore.”

He shook his head. “Nah. Snorted a couple of times. That’s it.”

“Oh gods.” I buried my face in his neck.

“I’m just kidding. I didn’t stare at you sleeping all night like some creeper, either.”

“So you slept?”

“No. I’ll have to at some point today, though. Like you, I was worried about elves showing up. Just the thought of waking to one of those things standing over me kept me awake.”

“How long have I been sleeping?”

“Few hours? Not long enough.”

I looked around to see it was still dark and the fire had died down a little. “Did you get up to put in more wood because I can’t believe I didn’t wake for that? I’m a light sleeper.”

“That was one of the heaviest sleeps I’ve ever seen. I really was kidding about the snorts. You just slumped over and you were out. Completely and totally out. Was kind of cool actually.”

I pushed away from him and sat up, my eyes wide. “I didn’t have a nightmare.”

“One of the fire ones you told me about?”

“I can’t believe it. I haven’t slept for any stretch of time in years without one.”

He held up his hands. “Magical arms. Wonder what other powers I’m going to get.”

“Well, if that’s what kept the dreams away, we’ll have to try that again.”

“Me watching you sleep?”

I shot him a glare. “You said you didn’t do the creeper stalker thing.”

“It’s not like I could go anywhere and, really, look around. There’s nothing better here to look at.”

My stomach growled so loudly I grimaced. “Sorry.”

Laughing, he moved me away from him and got up. “I’ll get some water going.”

“Have you thought of melting snow?” I was also thinking I’d have to trek outside at some point because the cabin didn’t have a restroom. Just the thought of getting cold again depressed me.

“Of course. But I’d rather do that during the day. The wolves were around the cabin all night. There could be yellow snow.”

“Gross. Bottled it is.”

He shoved his feet into his snow boots and picked up his coat. “I’m going to see if I can get a phone signal outside first. I have a feeling my mother didn’t sleep at all. She’d be worried. I tried once earlier and nearly got one, but now that the storm has stopped, we might have better luck.”

“I can do the water.” I stood and glared at him when he laughed at the way his shorts bagged and nearly fell off. I bunched the waist into my fist. “Yeah, yeah, I’m small.”

“You’re perfect.”

My glare came back. “I told you that you don’t have to say stuff like that.”

He walked toward me and cupped my face again. “And I told you that I won’t stop. So deal with it.” He let go, grinned and walked outside. This time, only a little snow came inside.

And a lot of cold.

Shivering, I added more wood to the fire and hurriedly poured bottled water into the pan. I eyed the food packs. Surely they couldn’t mess up tomato sauce too much, right? I set the spaghetti one out for me.

Arun was gone a few minutes, so I guessed he’d got the phone to work. His smile when he came back inside and stomped snow off his boots confirmed it. “I was right—she was worrying to death.”

“Was she mad?”

He shook his head. “No, she knows what the cell reception can be like in a storm. She knows where this cabin is and said to stay here until they can come and get us later. They’re going to wait until it’s fully light and load up the snowmobiles.”

He shivered and hurriedly put his coat back over the chair, then sat to tug off his boots. “We might as well get comfortable. It should be light in a couple of hours.”

I thought about trying to call one of my sisters, but even with the time difference, I’d be calling them too early. Not that Raven had considered that when she’d called me from Vanir’s house. Not that I’d minded. I knew she was okay, but my worry for Coral had grown. “I’m going to go out and try to call my sister.”

He nodded, stood and grabbed his coat again.

“You don’t have to go. Really.”

“Yeah, I do. From the tracks I could see in the moonlight, there were a lot of wolves circling the place during the night.”

I thought back to a documentary I’d seen about wolves taking down an elk here. “Think I’ll wait until it’s light to call her.” I didn’t care if he thought I was a wimp. I’m five foot one and that elk had been
huge
.

He grabbed another food pack, quickly mixed in the boiling water for us and we snuggled back into the sleeping bag. While we ate, I told him about the campgrounds and some of the people I’d met growing up. Talked about my mom.

Shared parts of myself I’d never expected I’d share with anyone.

And he didn’t judge. He just quietly ate and threaded our fingers together when he was done eating. He listened. Really listened.

At one point, I shook my head and laughed.

“What?” he asked.

“Why’d you have to be so nice?”

He didn’t answer. Instead, he settled back and tugged me against his side. And this time, he dozed.

And this time, I did the creepy stalker staring thing because he was right, there was nothing better to look at.

* * *

We didn’t hear the snowmobiles arriving until many hours later when the sun was high in the sky. Arun had actually slept a long time and each time I got up to put more wood on the fire, then crawled back into the sleeping bag, he’d pull me close and fall right back to sleep.

Sometime in those hours, while I enjoyed his warmth and the weight of his arm draped over me, I accepted that I liked him too much to race back to Florida right away. But I couldn’t stay, either—not without my sisters. So I had no idea what I would do. I just wasn’t ready to give up on whatever this thing was.

When the motors sounded, Arun sat up and I chuckled at the way his blond curls sproinged all over the place.

“Sounds like they’re here,” he said. “Let’s check our clothes and see if they’re dry.”

We didn’t even have time to do that before Alva swept inside the small cabin and started stomping snow off her boots. Her fire-engine-red parka seemed to fill the room with color. She held a long sword in a black holster in her hands.

Arun was just putting his leg into his pants and the red that flushed his cheeks zapped right across the room to burn mine, too.

“Well,” Alva said as she pulled off her helmet and cleared her throat with obvious embarrassment. “Maybe I shouldn’t have rushed here.” She set the sword onto the end of the bunk.

It had a long black grip with a silver pommel on the end. I had the sudden urge to see Arun fighting with it...wondered if I could keep calling him Peaceboy then. Wondered why I was picturing him using that sword with his shirt off and those hip muscles showing prominently above his jeans...

I patted my cheeks to make sure they hadn’t caught fire.

“Our clothes had to dry, Mom.” He finished pulling up his jeans and zipped them up.

“Mmm-hmm.” Alva crossed her arms.

Tyrone and Kara came inside, and Alva had to step out of the way before the big guy smooshed her into a wall. “I knew it,” he nearly yelled. “Living up to the fertility god reputation.”

Alva balled up her gloved fist and punched his arm. “Shut up. Bad. Bad Tyrone.”

Kara rolled her eyes and walked to the fire. “In my home, people their age usually had kids already.” She sighed. “I miss my home.” She picked up one of the open food packs and sniffed it, grimacing. “I miss the food.”

“Like you’ve ever had to eat one of those.” Tyrone shook his head, then looked at Arun. “We brought gas for her Jeep. Why didn’t you wait for some of us last night to go after Branton with you? And what’s up with that, anyway? Why did he take off with the backpacks?”

Arun looked at his mother. “Branton has a god soul, too. He’s been hiding it.”

“Or a giant’s,” I added. “We’re not too sure how this works.” I thought of Sky, who carried Skadi—one who was technically a giantess, but was written as a goddess at times.

“Surt?” Alva’s voice was barely above a whisper. “Branton has Surt?”

Kara pulled off her yellow beanie and shook out her hair. Clumps of snow hissed as they hit the woodstove. “Are you sure? Branton?”

Arun nodded. “He’s been setting the fires. And he’s known the whole time. He never even told me his middle name, which is Sutter. There’s no telling where the backpacks are now.”

“Outside,” Tyrone said. “We found the SUV Branton stole on the side of the road. Only a few packs are missing.”

“I can’t believe this.” Her expression drawn with sadness, Alva walked to the woodstove and held her hands out over it. “I’ve known that boy his whole life. His mother is going to—” She broke off, sucked in a breath. “There was more than one pair of tracks around it, so he met someone out here.”

“We saw him talking to my mother, so it was probably her.” I pushed my legs off the side of the bunk but kept the sleeping bag wrapped around me.

Alva spun around. “What are you talking about? Your mother?” She looked at her son.

“Kat came up here because she thought her mother was coming here to hurt me.”

I stood, hanging on to the shorts with one hand as I walked to him and touched his arm. “I’ll explain.” I told them about how odd my mother had been acting and about thinking she was in Oklahoma. “But she was somehow there and here on the same day, and last night, my sister Raven called and said she’s traveling with a feathered coat. It must be magic. Oh and—” I broke off, took a deep breath. “It’s not really my mother anymore. I don’t even know if she’s still in there. Arun and I, and even Raven now, think she’s been possessed by Loki.”

“I gotta sit down.” Alva collapsed onto the bunk. “This is a lot to take in on top of what we already heard this morning. Give me a minute.”

“What did she hear this morning?” Arun asked Tyrone.

“Some creatures went through Cody and tore up a lot of buildings. Supposedly giants. There are casualties. Some of the firemen who came out last night said there have been sightings of more in different places and they all seem to be headed here. Brigg and Nanna told us they’d seen some, too.” He frowned, looked at Alva. “Loki being here means we need to step up our game.”

She nodded, still staring at me. “Your mother must be using Freya’s coat. How could she have gotten her hands on that?”

“I have no idea. But like I said, it’s not her anymore.” My phone rang, and I jumped toward my pants still draped over the chair, nearly losing the shorts in the process. Worried that I should have pulled it from the wet jeans and maybe not have left it in front of the fire had me fumbling to get it out of the pocket. But the relief and joy that hit me when I saw Coral’s number made me laugh. “It’s my sister,” I told Arun. “The one who was in Florida. I’m glad we have a signal again.”

I answered, still grinning. “It’s about damned time you called me back.”

“Sorry,” Coral yelled over a horrible rumbling background noise. “We didn’t have phone reception there for a while and then it was sketchy up in the air.”

“In the air?”

“Yeah, Grady, Taran’s dad, has a friend with one of those big, fast military helicopters. Can you believe that?”

That explained the noise. “Seriously?”

“I know, right? It’s wild. But listen because I have to keep this short. There are giants and even scarier things headed your way. We got the helicopter because we were trying to find a couple of giants that got away from us in Florida. We found them. Now we’re just about to land in Oklahoma to pick up Raven. Then we’re all going to you.”

“All?”

“Me, Taran, his dad, Vanir, Raven and one of Vanir’s brothers because he’s insisting. He has a broken foot, too, so this should be interesting. Oh! And we have another boy carrying a god’s soul and, get this, a Valkyrie! A real live Valkyrie. We found Magnus and Mist fighting the giants we were looking for. Dead giants now.” She paused and the noise got louder, so her yelling did, as well. “I have to go. There’s so much to tell you, Kat! But Taran’s dad says it’ll take us about eleven hours to get to you after we get Raven. We have to stop and refuel and change out pilots. So, we’ll be getting there in the middle of the night. I’ll call right before to get directions.”

“Okay. But Coral—” The sound cut off. I stared at the phone, then looked around the room. “A bunch of people are coming here. My sisters and they’re with more kids carrying gods’ souls and another Valkyrie.”

“Who?” Kara asked.

“Mist, I think she said.”

Kara nodded and smiled. “It’ll be good to see her.”

“What else did she say?” Arun asked.

“Just that they’re in a helicopter, they’ve been fighting giants and they’ll be here in the middle of the night tonight.”

“We might as well get everyone comfortable here,” Alva said. “Because we’ve already brought in all the snowmobiles. We had to park the trucks and trailers at the gate entrance. Couldn’t get them farther.”

I looked around the tiny room. “Everyone won’t fit in here. Why don’t we just go back to the greenhouses?”

When the room went silent and heavy, Arun and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

“What?” he finally asked.

Alva took a deep breath. “There are no more greenhouses. The fire spread last night. We were lucky to get the trucks and snowmobiles out of there in time. Folks put us up in town.” She glanced at me, then back at Arun. “Your ex-girlfriend took in Gullin and Freya.”

Arun slumped on the bunk next to his mom, and she reached for his hand and held it between both of hers—like he’d done with mine the first night after the fire. It was obviously a gesture of warmth and comfort between them. I felt honored that he’d done that for me.

“We’ll be okay, Arun,” she said softly, leaning her head on his shoulder. “We have insurance and can rebuild.”

“It just the years of work, of planning...” He trailed off, shuddered. “And all the plants. It was a massacre.”

“Better the plants than all of us.” She squeezed his hand and ruffled his curls. Which was funny because he was so much taller than her—even sitting. “Arun, you mean more to me than any of those things. It’s just stuff. And you know what? So do all these kids. We haven’t lost anyone. Do you know how much of a miracle that is?”