Fall (The Ragnarok Prophesies) (4 page)

He jerked his chin in the direction of the arrangement. His voice deepened, seething with anger, as he explained, “
Gylfaginning
recounts the story of how Loki tricked Hodh into killing Baldr with an arrow treated with the poison from mistletoe, the one thing on earth that had not sworn an oath to do him no harm.”

“Oh.” I tried to process that and couldn’t. “What else?”

Dace hesitated.

“Tell me.”

“In mythology, black roses signify death or rebirth.”

A chill shot through me. “And white?”

“Silence and secrecy,” he said, his upper lip curling in a menacing snarl. “They thought―” he broke off with a curse. “They’re toying with us, letting us know they’re still out there.”

“That’s why you haven’t left the hospital,” I guessed.

“I’m not leaving you alone.”

Cold swept through me, freezing me with the thought of the twin wolves knowing where to find me, and how to get to me. It wasn’t enough they wanted to kill us. They had to torment us first, twist the knife a little deeper and make sure it hurt. I probably should have expected that, but I didn’t.

Three months ago, I hadn’t even known this world existed. Figuring out what to expect from demigod monsters was hard when you were still coming to terms with the fact that said demigod monsters actually existed.

I sighed, exhaling every little bit of breath left in my lungs, and then I shook my head. “They’re never going to stop coming for us, are they?”

The fierce lights in Dace’s eyes dimmed, replaced with something curiously like defeat. He rubbed his thumb along my cheek, not answering.

Freki fluttered inside me, little threads of anger leaking around the edges of her prison.

I flicked my gaze toward the flowers. My stomach churned as the truth wormed its way through me, twisting through the very fiber of my being and leaving me cold.

Nowhere was safe for us anymore. Nowhere.

“Throw the flowers away,” I whispered, trying not to throw up.

ou look good, Ari,” Beth Michaelson commented late that afternoon, leaning down to give me a hug. She spoke softly, her voice little more than a whisper.

“So do you,” I said, giving her a quick squeeze.

We were both stretching the truth.

I wore sweats and a hoodie with my hair tossed into a messy ponytail. Untamed auburn strands curled around my face every which way, and not even the concealer I’d dabbed on hid the dark circles beneath my eyes. The sleeves of my hoodie weren’t long enough to cover the mass of tape gunk and bruises left from IV lines on the backs of my hands either.

Beth had taken a little more care with her appearance, opting for jeans, brown knee-high boots, a leopard-print top, blush, and lip gloss. But her brown eyes were puffy beneath, as if she’d been crying. She’d tucked strands of her long, dark hair behind her ears to keep it out of her face, which only accentuated how pale she’d become since Dani died.

Neither of us looked great.

Chelle, Beth’s sister and my closest friend in Beebe, didn’t look much better. She stood directly behind Beth, waiting for her turn to say hello. She and Beth―and Dani―were triplets. Beth and Chelle looked more alike in their grief than they had before. Chelle’s dark eyes were clouded, her face gaunt and colorless. Had she not been hand-in-hand with her boyfriend Gage Carter, I wouldn’t have known which sister was which.

Gage, like Dace, loomed above us, well over six feet tall. His blue eyes were a lot like Dace’s―far too bright to belong to an ordinary human. Gage was Nephilim, the descendant of an angel. He was also Chelle’s other half. He looked out for her, protected her, above anything. The first time I met him―the day Dani died―he was so focused on Chelle, he walked right past me without a word. I didn’t hold it against him, and I’d come to count him a friend in the months since.

“Hey, guys,” I said, giving them both a smile.

They stopped by to welcome me home. I didn’t really feel much like company, but I didn’t have the heart to tell Chelle no when she asked. Despite her own problems, she and Gage visited me almost daily in the hospital. I owed her this visit. Besides, I’d missed her since she last came to see me in the hospital.

“Hey.” Gage stepped aside so Chelle could lean down to hug me too.

“Welcome home,” she murmured, pulling back to look at me.

“Thanks.”

“How are you?” she asked, examining my face.

“Surviving. How are you?”

She gave me a little shrug.

I squeezed her hand in understanding. Her life had become as terrifying as mine in the last couple of months. So had Beth’s, for that matter. The only difference was Beth didn’t know the truth about what lurked in the dark. Chelle carried that burden in silence so her sister didn’t have to endure the same awful truths we were forced to face.

Beth, Chelle, Gage, Ronan, and Dace were all fanned out around my bedroom, but I didn’t see Mandy Chapman, Beth’s best friend.

“Where’s Mandy?” I asked.

“She couldn’t come.” Chelle grimaced apologetically, cutting her gaze toward the corner where Ronan sat, observing our reunion in silence.

“Oh,” I sighed, shooting him a wary glance. As usual, he wore dark jeans, a black t-shirt, and dirty boots. He looked like the leader of a biker gang, with dark, severe features. Handsome in a striking kind of way, but nowhere near my type. He was too rough around the edges, not to mention a little dangerous.

The night Hati attacked me, Ronan kidnapped Mandy and left her in the woods miles outside of town. He claimed he did it because he knew I’d send the wolves to find her, and he’d be able to talk to me alone. I think what he really meant was that he did it so he could get me alone in case he decided he needed to kill me. For reasons he hadn’t quite explained to me, he’d thought I killed Chiran when he found me covered in the poor wolf’s blood.

Whatever his misguided reasons though, the results were the same. Mandy had been terrified out of her mind, and Hati nearly killed me. Chelle managed to convince Mandy to tell everyone she’d wandered too far and lost her way, but Mandy hadn’t said a word to Ronan since. When she visited me in the hospital, if he came in, she left. I didn’t really blame her. Ronan did a stupid thing that could have cost her more than a few nightmares.

I wasn’t sure if he cared about that or not.

He looked at Chelle and me levelly, then went back to staring out the window.

“You owe her an apology, you know,” Beth said, stomping across the room. She stopped in front of him, crossing her arms over her chest. Whatever sense of kinship she’d felt for him over Dani, he’d effectively destroyed it. “Your sick joke could have killed her.”

Ronan turned his head to look at her, his expression blank.

I fought the urge to shudder. I hated how he did that, moving nothing but his head in some creepy raven way.

“You knew there were wolves out there. They killed Dani,” Beth said. Her bottom lip quivered, but she didn’t burst into tears. She took a deep breath and scowled. “One could have killed Mandy.”

“They wouldn’t have bothered,” Ronan said.

He was right, if a little too blunt, but Beth didn’t know that. She didn’t know the wild wolves living in the woods surrounding town were harmless. They didn’t kill Dani or try to kill me. The real monsters walked among us, lived beside us… and wanted to kill all of us. But Beth never would know that, because Chelle didn’t want her to, and we couldn’t deny Chelle that right, even if it meant the wolves,
our
wolves, took the blame for the horrible things happening.

“What did you say?” Beth asked, her voice lowering an octave.

“She’s not important,” Ronan said.

Beth blanched, curling her hands into fists.

Dace growled silently, his anger flowing through our bond like the crack of a whip striking flesh. I jerked at the sting, but no one noticed. Everyone’s eyes were on Ronan and Beth.

“Maybe you should leave,” Gage said, glaring at Ronan. He placed his hand on Beth’s arm, to keep her from punching Ronan, I thought.

“I think I’ll stay,” Ronan said.

Gage shot him a dirty look, his eyes narrowing to thin slits.

“Why are you here anyway?” Beth demanded. “Ari doesn’t even like you.”

I cringed at her brutal honesty.

Ronan didn’t react.

“Ugh!” Beth threw her hands in the air, disgust written all over her face. She swung to face me. “I’m sorry, Ari, but if he doesn’t leave, I will. I don’t want anything to do with him.”

“Beth―” Chelle started.

“I’m serious,” she said, cutting her sister off. “He’s an asshole, and I don’t know why you guys even let him hang around. Dani would be disgusted with him if she were still here.”

Beth’s face paled as soon as the words left her lips, but it was too late to call them back.

Ronan and Chelle both flinched, Dani’s name hanging in the air like smoke from a bomb blast.

“She isn’t here,” Ronan said, his voice quiet and remote. “She’s dead.”

He stepped around Beth and out the bedroom door without another word.

Great. Just great.

I rubbed my temples.

“I’m sorry,” Beth mumbled when the sound of his footfalls on the stairs receded. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

“It’s fine,” Chelle said, her voice faint and pained.

Beth sank down in the windowsill, hunching her shoulders as if trying to disappear. Moisture swam in her eyes, misery pooling in twin drops of water. “I miss her,” she whispered. “I miss her so much.”

My heart broke for her, for Chelle. And for Ronan.

All three.