Forecast (10 page)

“Come again?” I asked as I cupped my hand around the phone. Taran still had a sort of intense, slightly stunned look on his face as he stared at me. The pain in my head eased, but didn’t fully go away. Raven was hurting.

“Yeah, wolves. I crashed into a stupid river and now I’m following Vanir—”

“You found him already?” She’d had to drive to Oklahoma to find her possible future warrior so I’d thought it would take longer. Of course, I had just locked lips with mine. “Is he it? Can you tell? Does he look like a warrior?” Which was a dumb question, but yeah, I suffered from kiss-rattled brain. Think Taran knew it too because he chuckled softly. Then what she’d said hit me. “Wait, you crashed?”

“Coral, I’m freaking freezing here. I’ll have to call back, but I think Mom is here.”

I thought she would say more but she made a harrumph noise and there was a harsh clatter.

“Raven?”

When she didn’t answer, acid rushed up my throat. “Raven!” I yelled.

There was more clattering and a couple of loud noises that made me wince and pull the phone away from my ear. “I’m here,” she finally said, sounding out of breath. “Dropped my cell.”

“Why do you think Mom’s there?”

“Because I smell lavender out in the woods in Oklahoma during Snowmageddon.” She paused. “I’m also lost. I gotta go.”

“But if you smell lavender that means she’s—” I broke off, unable to put into words the fear taking me over.

“Yeah,” Raven continued. She sounded exhausted and I pictured her with her new short haircut somewhere out in the woods, shaking with cold in the snow. “She’s doing some kind of spell. And it’s a doozy if I can smell it when I can’t even hear her. I really do have to go. So cold.”

“Call me back soon, okay?” I sighed. “Just let me know you’re okay. I’ll call Kat.”

“‘Kay.” She hung up.

I stared at the phone, wishing we’d decided to travel together now that I knew Mom had gone to Oklahoma first. But then, I wouldn’t have met Taran. I started to call Kat but stopped when Taran took the phone out of my hands.

“What’s this about your mom and lavender?”

It took me a moment to focus. “Mom thinks the scent covers up the other bad smells that sometimes come with doing dark magic. So whenever she’s doing something she’s not supposed to be doing, my sisters and I can always tell. It’s really stupid, but for some reason she hasn’t clued in that we know.”

He sat back, stared at the wall over my shoulder. I turned to follow his gaze and saw that he was staring at the glass cabinet where his hammer was probably kept.

“What?” I whispered, because I could tell something was really bothering him.

“Last night, when I went to throw the paper towels away—you know, the ones that had been on the hammer—I thought I smelled flowers.”

Chapter Six

“Wait.” Josh pressed one hand to his stomach and held the other up to stop my explanation. “You’re saying Taranis here has the soul of Thor living inside him? Like some kind of mythological tapeworm?”

“Sick, man.” Grim tossed his candy into a small trash can by the back door.

Taran’s father had come home late the night before and been fine with me crashing on the couch. And yeah, I took the couch after a fierce and kind of fun argument with Taran.

I felt bad for his dad, though—he’d only been asleep a few hours before he was called back out. And even after he was gone, I kept seeing the expression on his face as he’d left. I couldn’t imagine what he was dealing with out there.

I’d been awake even before he’d tried to tiptoe out the front door. I’d called Kat, but she’d been tired and trying to find a hotel, so I’d kept the conversation short. I told her about Raven and Vanir, about how crazy it was around here, but she cut me off before I could tell her about Taran.

Then, Taran and I had watched the news and the stories coming in had gotten bigger and scarier. It was snowing everywhere; people were looting, fighting; and car accident-related deaths had reached scary numbers. Thirty-five alone in our part of the city. And now storms were getting ready to hit the east coast of Florida, Alabama...and farther north. There was one just south of us. We were supposed to be okay here in the northwest section of Florida, but we would get the backlash and that could be bad. All I could think about were the portents of Ragnarok.

Three years of winter
,
roaring seas that lash the land
,
and an all-consuming fire.

The destruction of the world.

Everything was happening too fast. How was anyone supposed to sleep through all that? Plus, it just felt strange to be sleeping in Taran’s house when I’d only known him a couple of days. And then that kiss earlier, the way his hands felt on my body? Cold wasn’t the only reason I kept shivering throughout the night.

Had Taran really smelled lavender? I seriously needed to hit the spell books at home to see if I could figure out how his hammer was coming and going like that. What thorns could possibly have to do with anything. If this was my mom doing it because he was right, the coincidence was too much. But...my mother had never moved during my
rune tempus
. And Raven had said she was in Oklahoma.

I
really
needed the spell books.

Taran being grounded sucked.

Yawning, I pushed my plate of doughnuts away. Josh and Grim had shown up too early—especially considering that I’d maybe slept a total of three hours—with the sugary breakfast treats. I think in apology for arguing with Taran the day before. Grimacing over Josh’s comparison, I sighed. “A tapeworm? Really? Ew. And no. It’s just a soul—the essence of the god. It isn’t feeding off him or hurting him in any way.”

“He doesn’t look anything like the Thor in the movies.” Josh narrowed his eyes at Taran.

None of us dignified that with an answer.

“No, really. I’ve read about Thor, and he’s supposed to be huge and really strong and fierce. And kind of dumb.”

Taran, who’d just taken a bite of his fourth doughnut, frowned at Josh and flipped up his middle finger.

“Where are your big muscles, man?”

“Don’t think the size of his muscles have anything to do with his strength.” Grim snorted. “I once saw Taran jog with two full paint buckets—without even breathing hard.” He frowned. “Come on, think about all the stuff he’s done over the years. Like picking that dude up right off the ground yesterday. Maybe she’s right.”

My phone vibrated on the counter where Taran had let me charge it. I grabbed it, didn’t recognize the number, so I walked into the living room to answer. “This is Coral.”

“Hey.”

It was Raven. She didn’t say anything more right away and the hair on my arms prickled. “Something wrong?”

Her sigh was loud and she sniffed. Alarm suddenly pricked my skin. Raven hardly ever cried.

“What is it?” I asked softly. “Are you okay? Did you find Mom last night?”

“No, but she was here, Coral. At least I think she was here. And I think maybe...” She let out a long, shaky breath. “I think maybe she killed someone.”

The room spun around me and for a second, I thought maybe my
rune tempus
was happening. I staggered to the couch, then changed my mind and walked down the hall to the bathroom. I carefully shut the door behind me and sat on the closed toilet lid. My bag was still on the blue counter in here where I’d left it earlier.

“Coral? Did you hear me?”

“Yeah, but I don’t believe it.” My heart pounded and I thought of the poison in the vial. I hadn’t really thought she’d planned to use it. I scrubbed my hand over my face.

“I don’t know whether to believe it was her either, but there’s a dead boy and it looks like he was killed with magic.”

“And you smelled lavender in the woods last night.”

“Yeah.”

My hand started shaking, so I clenched it into a fist and rested it on my lap. I stared at the brown, fuzzy bath mat and before I could stop them, tears welled in my eyes and spilled over. I grabbed a handful of toilet paper just as there were two loud thumps on her end, before someone yelled “Breakfast.” Sounded like it was through a door.

“I have to go,” she said.

“Okay.”

“You crying, Coral?”

“No,” I lied. Sniffled.

She knew I had. “It’s going to be okay.”

“Is it really, Raven? Because I don’t think it will be. Not if she did what you think.”

“I don’t know for sure yet. I do have to go. I’ll call you later.”

But I could tell she believed it. At least right then, she did. And if Mom was there, then I didn’t have to stick so close to Taran. I set my phone on the counter and stood to look in the mirror. I wasn’t a pretty crier. Red rimmed my eyes and blotches covered my cheeks. I’d brushed my hair and washed my face in here earlier. I’d even brushed my teeth—my big bag held a lot. Growing up off grid in campsites taught my sisters and me to carry the basic necessities at all times.

Now I blew my nose, smoothed back some stray hairs that had escaped my ponytail and stared hard at myself. Was I the daughter of a murderer?

When I came out of the bathroom, I stopped before I got to the living room because Josh had a hold of Taran’s arm as they stood in front of the huge, metal goddess spiral.

“Dude,” Josh nearly whispered. “She stayed over. What is up with you and this chick?”

Taran shrugged. “I don’t know. I like her. Feel kind of...connected to her.”

Josh lowered his voice. “Maybe you shouldn’t connect yourself to someone who is obviously not playing with a full deck.”

“What, because of the end of the world stuff?”

“No, even I’m kind of leaning toward that now, but she thinks you’re a god.”

“I kind of like that part,” Taran murmured.

“Come on, get real. This is too strange. Even for you.”

Taran pointed at the massive triple circle art next to them. “Even for me? Both our moms were into this stuff. And my dad? The supposed straightforward, logical Irish cop?” He smirked. “Dad’s the one who left all this stuff up.”

“Okay, yeah, you’re right. But what about the girl’s mother? What if Coral’s telling the truth and this crazy woman is after you? What if she’s the one stealing your hammer and hitting people with it?”

“Why would she do that? If she’s magic, why doesn’t she just come in here and take me out? Why set it up so I look like a murderer?”

“The key word there was
crazy.
Taran,” Josh said, lowering his voice. “Maybe the whole family is insane.”

“I don’t think Coral is crazy.”

“No, you think she’s cute.”

“She’s more than cute.” Taran shrugged again. “It’s hard to explain but I feel like I know her.”

“Like your inner god recognizes her inner goddess?” Josh snorted.

I froze because I hadn’t yet told the brothers about my norn.

Taran sighed. “Look, I don’t know about all that. What I do understand is that even if we didn’t have all this going on, I’d want to know her. And not only because she’s so beautiful. I really like her. She’s cool.”

I took a step into the room, smiling, completely unable to pretend I hadn’t heard that.

But Grim ran into the living room before I could say something. “Mom is freaking out with the text messages. Says we need to come home now, that the storm is going to hit.”

Josh released a long, dramatic groan. “Wouldn’t it make more sense to stay inside here and out of the storm?”

Grim’s phone chimed, then rang. “Yeah,” he said into it before listening a moment. “Mom says never mind, that we shouldn’t go home—that we need to get in a car and drive north as fast as possible. You too, Taran. Check your phone because your dad tried to call.” There was yelling on the other end loud enough for me to hear across the room. “No, now she’s saying we need to go to a taller building and get off ground level. Now.” He paused. “Okay Mom, we’re going. Yeah, I’ll keep my phone dry. Love you, too.”

He hung up, looked at us, his face pale.

“What?” Taran asked.

“The storms caused huge waves to hit Florida and Alabama and more. She doesn’t know how bad it is yet, but the news is saying we’re going to get hit with the backlash. A storm surge—worse than the one we got when we were kids.”

Taran sucked in a breath. “Seriously?” He looked at me as I grabbed my purple coat. “I have a winter coat you can use that’s better than that one. It’s waterproof. My mo—” He broke off, his lips tightening as he jogged to the front closet and pulled out coats. “We used to go ice fishing. You’re pretty little, but it should work because I was twelve the last time I wore it.”

I didn’t even take the time to frown over the
little
remark, instead just scrambling into the red coat he handed me and shoving my feet into my orange snow boots as Taran tried to call his dad back.

“No answer. Crap.” Taran scowled at his phone. “I’m not supposed to leave the house.” He looked at me. “It’s not just the grounding. The police don’t want me leaving until this mess with my hammer is figured out.” Taran slid his arms into the thick black jacket I’d first seen him wearing.

I touched his arm. “I don’t think the cops are going to have a problem with you leaving the house right now.”

Grim spread the white blinds apart and looked out of the front window. “There was actually a cop car parked out there earlier when we got here.”

“Really?” Taran looked out the window. “Why didn’t you tell me that?”

He shrugged, checked his pockets—probably for Fun Dip. “Didn’t want to piss you off. You were pretty mad when we went home yesterday. Josh and I were surprised they had enough manpower to sic someone on you with all this going on.”

“Someone else must have been hurt.” Taran frowned as Grim let go of the blinds. “It really wasn’t on the news,” he murmured under his breath.

“Listen...” Josh’s face still resembled chalk, which made his red hair and goatee really bright. “We have to get out of here. Grim and I parked the truck a street over and cut through the backyards in case you wanted to leave. We’ll sneak out that way.”

Thunder rumbled, so loud it felt as if it shook the ground. I started toward his bathroom, where I’d left my bag, but Taran pulled me toward the kitchen. “We have to leave now!”

I started to argue that I’d need the stuff in it, but another rumble of thunder cracked the air. Taran’s bare hand was sweating in mine. His agitation was making the weather worse.

He pulled me to the back door and I gave up on getting my bag.

The wind and snow that hit us when we went out the back door blew me toward the kitchen, ripping my hand free. I squinted, reached for Taran. He took my hand in a firm grip again and tugged me through the yards. Snow kicked up around our feet, swirling in gusts along with rain and more falling snow. Josh ran ahead and climbed into the driver’s side of a red pickup. Grim crawled in next, then me, then Taran. I had to pretty much squeeze between the dash and Taran’s lap. I had a moment to hope my car was going to be okay before Josh tore down the street.

People ran out of homes, climbed into their vehicles. One heavily bundled lady hadn’t bothered to push any of the snow off her Honda, and she pulled out of her driveway, backing into the side of a truck. Josh cursed and slammed on the brakes when a kid ran out in front of us. An adult swept the boy up and ran toward a house.

We finally got out of the neighborhood only to drive into something worse—stopped traffic. Josh hit his brakes hard. I didn’t go through the windshield only because Taran held me tight around the waist.

“Josh, you’re turned south.” Taran put one hand on the dash, tugging me closer on his lap. “Shouldn’t we go north?”

“Everyone is going north, so it’ll just be one big traffic jam. Worse than this one, anyway. There are some tall hotels south.”

“Makes sense,” I murmured, eyeing the line of cars ahead of us that finally started to move. “There was one near the place you were eating yesterday.”

Josh nodded. “That should work. It’s like eight or ten stories. That should work, right? I mean the surge couldn’t go that high. It’s just a surge, not a tsunami.”

Grim braced himself on the dash, too, as the truck lurched forward. “At this point with all the god stuff, the disappearing hammer and the crazy weather, I’d say anything could happen.”

We got to Miracle Strip Parkway and that was it. We were stuck. Horns honked like crazy and suddenly, people were jumping out of cars, abandoning them on the street. A group ran past the truck. I held my breath and looked out of the passenger window.

Everything in me froze because water was already spilling over the ground. I remembered seeing news footage of another storm surge and how the newsman stressed that the water could go higher fast. The horrifying realization sent acid up my throat. “We’re out of time. We have to do something now!”

Taran looked out the window. “She’s right. The water is rising.”

Leaving the truck on the street with the other abandoned vehicles, the four of us ran with the crowd past a restaurant and an empty lot. We dodged cars. People were climbing onto the roof of a pawnshop. An elbow slammed into my side and I cried out. Taran pulled me close to him, tried to shield me with his body. We were all like terrified cattle on a stampede as we fought the mix of rain, wind and snow—and each other. It didn’t take long for my cheeks to sting, my lungs to ache. Each deep breath felt like spears of ice going down. We were soaked in seconds. Taran held on to my hand with a death grip as people pushed and shoved. I lost feeling in my fingers, but I wouldn’t let go for anything.