Endre (Elsker Saga Book 2) (20 page)

“I’ve never slipped.” Idunn wagged her finger.

“Okay, on the off chance I don’t, uh, make it through this thing, I want you to tell Ull…” I trailed off. There was so much I wanted Ull to know. How much I loved him. How my life was completely meaningless before he came into it. How I felt more alive now than I had in nineteen years, even though there was a very strong possibility I’d face death by one means or another in the next three months.

“You’ll be fine,” Inga swore.

“Right. But just in case. Tell him he’s my world. And no matter how it pans out, it was all worth it.” I squeezed Inga’s hand.

“I’ll tell him.” She squeezed me back. “Just get through this, okay?”

I nodded. “I’m ready.”

Inga moved to my left side, holding tight to my fingers. “I’ll be here the whole time,” she pledged.

“I will, too.” Olaug came up to grasp my right hand. “Bring her over safely, Idunn.”

“I plan to.” The doctor stood directly in front of me, the oversized needle in hand ready to siphon out my mortality. “Now close your eyes, Kristia. And
do not move
.”

I stared at the bookcase directly in front of me. Ull had given my Christmas gift a place of honor on the top shelf. I’d stood outside the Millennium Stadium locker room until every member of the national team signed that rugby ball for him, and he called it the most thoughtful gift he’d ever received. Until today. Knowing that I would give up my human life for him was a gift he said he’d never be able to repay, but he’d spend the rest of his existence showing me how much it meant to him.

Only he had it all backwards.
I
would never be able to repay
him
for letting me be a part of his life. For loving me beyond the bounds of logic, and letting me feel a joy, security, and belonging I hadn’t even known existed.

Ull. I was doing this for Ull. And no matter how scary it was to know I was about to be brain-dead, it was something I’d do a hundred times over if it meant even one extra day with him.

I squeezed my eyes shut and made fists around Olaug and Inga’s fingers. My grip was so tight my knuckles burned, and when the needle pierced my skin I fought every impulse and stayed still. The metal pushed through my flesh, pausing as it touched my skull. I heard Idunn murmur an incantation in Norwegian, and the needle moved through the bone, sending white-hot pain in all directions. My forehead felt like it was on fire, the searing pulses a thousand times more intense than even the worst vision-induced headache. Idunn continued her chant, repeating the same nine words over and over as the needle burrowed deeper in my skull. The slow movement was excruciating, and I hoped when it finally broke through the bone the agony might end.

I must have forgotten what was on the other side.

When the needle cleared the skull it hit my brain. Idunn began a new chant as the object pushed into the soft matter. Mind-numbing anguish shot directly through every nerve in my body. I forgot everything the doctor told me and bucked against the needle. I felt it probing the corners of my head, stabbing the soft matter as I moved. But I couldn’t stop.

“She’s seizing!” I heard Inga’s voice but I couldn’t register anything else. My body convulsed wildly, fighting against the chair’s restraints as I tried desperately to expel the needle from my brain.

“Hold her down.” The edge in Idunn’s voice would have worried me if I’d been able to think of anything but getting that thing
out
.

“I’m trying!”

I fought against the pressure, wrenching and pulling, anything to be free of the object searing my brain, but my arms were trapped. A heavy weight against my chest stopped the bucking. Only the pain remained.

“That’s it.” I felt Idunn’s cool hand on my forehead as she pushed me against the chair. I let out a moan. The cold was a welcome respite.

“Steady.” The burning resumed as the needle found its path again, this time pushing straight into the center of my head. I tried to focus on the image of Ull standing at the altar of the church; pledging his life to me; kissing me for the first time as my husband. I tried to remember the reason I was doing this. But the injection moved deeper and I exploded from the inside, a thousand fissures erupting from the mutinous metal invading my mind. Each fissure felt like a stake driving through the hypersensitive nerve endings in what was left of my mind.

Then the pain changed. Instead of an outward heat I felt an unbearable suctioning. Now my head was imploding. The entire mass of my brain felt like it was being sucked through an impossibly tiny straw. The pressure was unbearable, and I spiraled down an endless tunnel of torture. Just when I thought I couldn’t take it anymore I felt the needle pull out of my brain, back though the skull, and out of my skin.

And then everything was dark.

WHEN I OPENED MY
eyes, Olaug knelt in front of me.

“Stay very still, Kristia. I do not want you to over exert yourself. Blink once if you can hear me.” She stared into my eyes.

I blinked.

“Good. Now I am going to ask you a few questions. Do not answer if it’s too painful. Are you ready?”

I blinked again.

“Okay. What is my name?” She stared into my eyes.

I stared back.

“What’s my name?” she repeated.

“Olaug.”

“Good. Where am I from?”

“Why—”

“Just answer me. Where am I from?”

“You’re from Asgard,” I answered.

“And what are you going to do today?”

I wracked my brain. Where was I? I glanced at my arms, tied down to a white chair. I looked to my left and saw Inga, holding my hand. To my right, Idunn stood next to a table of medical equipment. She stared at me as she wrung her hands together. I glanced at the needles on the table and everything came rushing back to me. The searing pain. The vacuous pressure. The darkness.

“Kristia, you must focus. What are you going to do today?” Olaug repeated.

I sifted through the fog of confusion until I found my footing. A soft smile played at the corner of my mouth. “I’m marrying my best friend.”

“That’s my girl.” Olaug’s shoulders dropped, a visible sign of her relief. Inga let out a quiet sigh, and Idunn closed her eyes and tilted her head to the ceiling. “You’re going to be all right.”

Inga undid my restraints, and leaned in for a gentle hug. “Thank Odin you’re okay. That was scary.”

“It felt scary.” I’d been sure I was dying. I rubbed at my wrists and tried not to think.

“I am sorry, Kristia.” Idunn shook her head. “I should have sedated you.”

“Yeah, that would have been nice.” My head still felt like the byproduct of the mortar and pestle Mormor used to whip up her guacamole. “But I’m good now. You got what you needed?”

“I did,” Idunn affirmed.

“So I’m ready for Odin?”

“You’re ready.”

“Then let’s do this.” I tried to stand and fell back. “Whoa.”

Idunn handed me a cup of juice. “You went through a
lot
this morning. Don’t push yourself too hard just yet.”

“Okay,” I drained the cup and closed my eyes. I gingerly touched my temples. “When will the pounding stop?”

“We don’t really know. I’m so sorry, Kristia. Here, come lie down.” Inga helped me up and moved me to Ull’s bed. It was so soft; the thick pillows pulled me into their depths. Inga tucked a heavy blanket over me.

“I can’t sleep,” I protested despite my brain’s obvious willingness. “I have to get ready for the church.”

“Shh.” Inga stroked my hair. “We’re way ahead of schedule. We don’t have to be back to your flat for another two hours.”

“But my friends—” My words started to slur. I was a heartbeat away from the deepest rest I’d ever known.

“They think we’re at the seamstress with your dress, remember? Brides always lose a few extra pounds in that last week.” Inga’s gentle voice was the last push I needed. I closed my eyes and gave in to the overwhelming need to sleep.

When I came to, Ull’s bedroom was back to normal. Inga and Olaug had rearranged the furniture while I slept, and I’d been so out of it, I’d slept right through them moving the bed. The medical equipment was nowhere to be seen, and the throbbing in my head had stilled to a barely-there ache. For a brief moment I wondered if I’d dreamed the whole thing.

“Well hello, Sleeping Beauty.” Inga grinned from the foot of the bed. “She’s up, Idunn.”

The white-clad woman came to my side, slapped a blood pressure cuff on my arm and held out a thermometer. I opened my mouth obediently, and waited for the beep.

“Your vitals are fine.” Idunn smiled. “You are cleared of my care. Now talk to Elsker and then go get ready for your wedding. I’ll see you at the church.”

“Wait, Elsker’s here?” I sat up slowly, and touched my head. The ache was subsiding.

“She is. And I need to leave to go find Odin so we can go over his part of your change-over.” Idunn leaned over and squeezed me softly. “Take care of our Ull. He deserves this happiness.”

“I will.” I hugged her back. “And thank you. For everything.”

“Are you ready, Kristia?” Elsker came into the room and sat on the bed next to me.

“I didn’t think I’d see you until we got to the church.”

“You didn’t think I’d let you leave for your honeymoon without training you first, did you?” Elsker shook her head.

“Pardon?” Elsker seemed like such a sweet old lady. I really didn’t want her teaching me about honeymoon activities.

“You will be fine, I am sure of it. But you’ll be a full goddess in just a few hours. Let’s go over using your visions before you fly off to wherever it is Ull’s taking you.”

“Oh, like you don’t know, Norn.”

“I would never ruin a surprise.” She smiled back at me. “Now sit with your back against the headboard and close your eyes.”

I did as I was told. “You’re really going to teach me how to use my visions? I’m not a goddess yet. Odin still has to do his part. Will I be able to use them correctly?”

“You will be able to use them well enough. It will be easier for you after Odin completes your transformation, but I need you to have a basic understanding today. I would hate for you to have to summon me on your honeymoon.”

Her and me both
.

“Inga, Olaug,” Elsker waved her hands. “You’ll have to clear out. I need space.”

“Call us when you’re done. We’ll be in the kitchen,” Inga said as their footsteps padded down the hallway.

“Okay. Keep your eyes closed. Now go to a quiet place in your head,” Elsker instructed.

“Shouldn’t I write this down? What if I don’t remember it?” My hand twitched, wanting a pencil and paper.

“No. No notes. Your subconscious will recall everything it needs to know.” Elsker sounded so calm.

“My subconscious has a lot going on at the moment.”

“I am ignoring that. Now, picture something anchoring you to the earth, traveling all the way to its center.”

I imagined a metal beam shooting from my tailbone into the ground. “Like this?”

“Kristia, dear. You’re going to have to focus a bit better than that. Your spirit is turning cartwheels,” Elsker tutted.

“Oh. Sorry.”

“Picture something
bigger
anchoring you to the earth. A tree trunk, perhaps.”

I imagined an enormous redwood with thick, lush bark enveloping me and rooting me to the bed. Its roots stretched all the way to the center of the earth. “Okay. Like this?”

“Well done, Kristia,” Elsker praised. “Now I want you to call all of your energy into your body and be fully in the present moment. Are you there?”

“Yes.” I took a deep breath and centered myself.

“Very good. Now do you feel the life force surrounding you like a balloon? That is your aura. I want you to put a protection around your aura—it can be anything you need it to be, a plastic casing, a suit of spiked armor, raging elements, whatever suits you.

I visualized a fierce wind whipping in a hundred small cyclones just outside my bubble. There had been a handful of tsunamis off the coast of Nehalem when I was younger, and the biggest one had come during an intense rain storm. The winds had been frighteningly strong, and created a funnel cloud over the ocean. It was terrifying. “Done.”

“
Veldig bra
. Now, there are two main ways Norns get information about the future. We use clairvoyance to see images and collect information from those images. Or we visit the tenth realm.”

“Ull started to explain that,” I admitted. “But he said it was too dangerous for me.”

“You’re halfway to becoming a goddess now, so you can handle it. Keep your eyes closed, and I will explain.” I felt Elsker shift her weight on the bed. “The tenth realm is an alternate reality. It is a harmless enough place, but since all the realms have access to it, it has enormous potential for danger. When you go there, stay anchored to your spirit’s cord. If you lose the cord your spirit might get lost between the worlds.”

“That sounds scary.”

“Just don’t lose the cord.” Elsker instructed.

Fair enough.

“We’re going to visit the tenth realm together.”