"Bryn! What are you doing here?" His eyes goggled at the sight of Hugin on my shoulder, and he wasn't the only one. Guess it wasn't every day that Hugin left his post at the All-Father's shoulder to take up residence on another's. Must mean I'm special. My presence drew attention, but nobody ran at us with swords to drive me away. I relaxed and so did Aidan.
"I need to talk to you about Freya," I said.
"Sure, come have a drink." We chose a seat at the end of a long table filled with boisterous men. With the surrounding racket, I was fairly certain we could speak privately. Well, almost privately. I glanced again at Hugin and wondered how much he understood.
Aidan coughed, prompting me to say, "Freya made a deal."
"A deal?" He reached for two goblets on a tray, brought by a young girl who bore an uncanny resemblance to Turi.
I waited until she was out of earshot, then touched my pendant. "She said this jewel is from a necklace that belongs to her. It's called Brisingamen."
Aidan nodded. "I've heard of it."
"She also said I have to find it and return it to her."
"Why would she want you to do that?"
"Because it was the Valkyrie Brunhilde's task to find Brisingamen and return it to Freya all those years ago. And she thinks Brunhilde found the necklace. But she was killed before she could return it."
Aidan bent forward and lifted the warm gem off my neck. Hugin ruffled his wings and I tensed for a moment, hoping he wouldn’t peck at Aidan's hand. Aidan frowned and said, "I've seen this before. Or something like it."
"Where? Aidan, I really need to find this necklace. And I need your help to do it. If you know anything, please, tell me." I shivered. I really didn't want to tell him about Freya's curse on him. I ignored it for now. "I need to leave as soon as possible," I said. "I've got one week to find it and be back here or I'm so dead."
Aidan stared at me. I could almost see his mind turning my words over, analyzing them before deciding what his next option was.
"Will you come with me?" I whispered as another serving girl walked by, tray laden with food.
He fidgeted, picking at a hangnail. Finally he said, "Sure. Probably need the change of scenery right now. I still have no idea what the hell I'm doing here."
We hadn't had a proper chance to talk since he arrived. I wasn't sure if he'd had anyone clue him in on what a Warrior's roles and responsibilities were. I reached across the table for his hand. "What do you know so far? About why you are here?"
"We had one of the Warriors come talk to us. Tell us all about the einherjar and the Valkyries. Valhalla." Aidan laughed. "None of this is supposed to be real, you know."
I withdrew my hand. "Really? Is that why your decision to terminate was negative?" It was nasty to throw this in his face right now, when I needed his help so much, but hurt overruled a commonsense sales pitch.
He flushed, taking a drink from his goblet to hide his reaction. "Guess you studied the book."
"Yeah. It was certainly interesting reading," I said, my vocal chords strained. Then I thought of something. "Did you leave it behind on purpose?"
He stared at me, eyes clear, and amidst the testosterone-induced din surrounding us, I felt the magnetic pull between us. Felt the attraction that had made me throw caution to the air and open my heart to a guy for the first time. It had only gotten me betrayal and heartache, but here it was again.
He ignored my question and asked one of his own: "When do we leave?" Startled, I glanced at his face, checking if he was serious. Was he really choosing to come with me?
He half-sighed, half-laughed at my reaction. "Don't look at me like that," he said. "What did you think? I'd leave you to go back and find the necklace without me? I have access to records, names of the people involved in the dig, lists of items retrieved. You name it, I can probably access it. You'd be lost without me."
Suddenly it clicked. "Your father?"
Aidan nodded, his face darkening, as if the mere mention of his father pulled a cloud over his emotions.
"Okay," I said. "Let me check with Fen to see how we can arrange this. I'll get a message to you as soon as I know what the deal is."
As I rose from the seat and turned to leave, Aidan grabbed my hand. I ignored the spike of heat that ripped up my arm and the shifting of Hugin's weight on my shoulder, and raised a questioning eyebrow.
"Thank you," said Aidan.
"What for?" I asked, puzzled.
"For retrieving me. It seems right . . . that you were the one to bring me here."
Guilt welled in my throat. Not only had I brought him here to serve the gods, disturbing his rest, but now I was lying to him. Convincing him to come with me to find the necklace without revealing one crucial fact.
Aidan's life hung by the filigree thread of a goddess's trinket.
Chapter 32
The jump from Asgard to Craven only took a few seconds, though still accompanied by the usual nauseous twisting in my belly. We materialized in bright moonlight and kept to the shadows as we walked up Elm Wood. The last thing we needed was for Ms. Custer to switch the veranda lights on and for Anna's nosy mother to see us enter the house this late. Who knew what the gossip would be then?
Aidan waited beside the bushes in front of the veranda in full view of the front door. The position was convenient. The veranda light would reach the shadow of the tree and only she would see us.
I ran to the door, stabbed the doorbell with one stiffened finger and sprang back to the shadow of the tree. Inside the darkened house the doorbell chimed, a hollow echo that was a bit on the spooky side. Soon Ms. Custer cracked open the door, staring outside, bleary-eyed and perplexed.
"Mom," I whispered, drawing her attention. Her eyes widened as she saw me, and a smile stretched across her face. A smile that died a quick death. At first, I assumed it was Hugin she'd seen. I'd gotten used to the constant weight of the bird on my shoulder. But her eyes settled instead on Aidan beside me. Concern wrinkled her face. I nodded toward the side of the house, pointing a curved hand in the direction of the backyard. She silently mouthed the word "okay" and closed the door, flicking the light off.
We shuffled in the shadows, keeping to the edges of the house, and made it around to the back without incident. The door opened to reveal Ms. Custer, broom in hand, looking very much like my own personal avenging angel. She stared Aidan down. He hesitated then entered, passing her slowly, having the grace to flush a decent shade of red.
She didn't switch on any lights. Just put the kettle on and drew out cups and plates for tea and cake. The light from the street lamp outside cast a yellow glow through the large windows, enough light for us to get by. The cups and spoons clanked and clattered softly until at last Ms. Custer sat before us, staring from my face to Aidan's.
"What's going on?" she asked, her voice steady. Too steady. Her eyes flicked toward the raven and then back to me.
"We need a place to stay," I said.
"How long?"
Aidan answered, and I wished he hadn't. "Just tonight. We’ll be gone tomorrow," he said. The look Ms. Custer sent him was blistering enough to fry an egg on his forehead.
"You have a lot of explaining to do, young man." She was angry but she still kept her voice low, controlled.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Custer. I know I deceived you. All of you." He looked at me, apologetic, shame-faced, still flushing.
I held my tongue, knowing if I spoke, all that would come out of my mouth was snark. I did plan to tell him how I felt. Soon. But now, sitting in the dark at Ms. Custer's kitchen table, whispering secrets about places and people that just shouldn't exist . . . well, now was not the best time.
I turned to Ms. Custer, who was the one who really needed an explanation. Unsure of how much I should say, I glanced at Hugin, wondering if I should ask his advice, but he avoided my eyes and just stared at Ms. Custer, a message to say I was on my own. Probably not a big enough issue for him to assist with. I decided winging it was my only option.
I took a deep breath and quickly ran through what happened since I'd left her more than a week ago: how Aidan had been left for dead by the stream and how I'd retrieved him, and how we'd been sent back to find the rest of the necklace. I left out the part in which the unpredictable goddess Freya had given me a deadline and Aidan's life hung in the balance.
"Okay." She sipped her tea and stared at its contents as if about to read tealeaves.
The silence was potentially damning.
"If I didn't trust you, Bryn, and if you didn't have a big ol' raven on your shoulder, I'm not sure I'd believe any of this," she said at last. "As long as you stay and leave without drawing attention to yourselves, it's fine by me. But remember, either of you do anything to endanger my kids, and you are out. They don't need any more upsets."
My heart tightened and I asked softly, "How are they?"
"They miss all three of you."
"I wish it could have been different," I said.
And it was the truth. It had been so easy to crave a new life, but when you're handed one straight from ancient mythology, it's a lot harder than just saying thank you and moving on. But given the chance to have things back to the way they were before, I would refuse. New possibilities had opened up for me. The hole left inside me after Joshua's death was easier to bear knowing he was still alive and meant for better things. Meant to make a difference to Midgard in the end. Brody and Aimee too. The part of me that had suffered in enforced silence ever since I'd begun to see the auras no longer suffered. I no longer felt guilty for being unable to stop all those people from dying.