Those scrolls confirmed that, in some subtle way, Mani and I had always been together.
“He isn’t really gone, then, is he? This is proof that someday, some part of his spirit and mine will be together again.”
Skyla blinked, and her face went slack. She swept a finger over Mani’s name, scribed in shimmering, silver ink. The names blurred together when tears gathered in my eyes. I blinked and backed away, taking several deep breaths to recover my composure.
“It’s like a pedigree,” Val said. “We can breed you and get top dollar.”
I grunted and smacked his shoulder. “Too bad there aren’t any suitable studs.”
Skyla opened her mouth to form a retort but stopped. Her face softened. “Do you think there might be a chart for me?”
“That’s what I was looking for in the first place,” I said.
Val huffed. “I thought we were looking for instructions on contacting the dead.”
“I was, but when I stumbled on these scrolls, I thought about Embla having those pictures of Skyla, and I thought there might be more proof in here.”
Skyla peered up at me, her eyes shining and earnest. “Would it bother you to keep looking?”
“Not at all,” I said.
We worked late into the night, stopping a few times to retrieve drinks and snacks to fuel our research. I finished the pile of scrolls without finding specific mention of Skyla’s family, and none of us knew what that meant, but sometime in the early morning, Skyla discovered what we originally had come for.
“Look,” she said, “a grimoire.”
“Oh, oh,” I said, “I know what that means. A book of spells.”
Val’s mouth twisted into a quirky frown. “How’d you know that?”
“I read.”
“The old Valkyries weren’t witches who chanted spells,” Val said. “They lived in our realm and traveled to Midgard, Earth, whenever Odin asked them.”
“Things have changed, haven’t they?” Skyla asked. “You don’t live in Asgard anymore, and there is no Valhalla. The Valkyries had to come up with another way.”
“So what do you need?” I asked. “Eye of newt, wing of bat?”
Skyla briefly smiled as her eyes grazed back and forth over the spellbook’s text. “Looks something like a séance. Draw some runes, meditate, set a conducive atmosphere. The most important thing is the person attempting to make contact be sensitive to the spirit world, which the Valkyries inherently are.” Skyla looked up. “Give me some peace and quiet. I’m going to give this a go.”
“You don’t need us to sit in a circle and hold hands?” I tried not to laugh.
“Do you need a crystal ball?” asked Val, who wasn’t holding back his laughter at all.
Skyla ignored him. “Shoo. Both of you, out.”
I trudged up the basement stairs with Val, my body heavy with exhaustion. He reached over, put a hand on my shoulder, and squeezed. I imagined those strong fingers digging into the tense muscles in my neck and craved the relief it would bring, but inviting Val to my room for a massage session meant inviting the worst kind of trouble. I sighed, letting out my exhaustion and frustrations in a long breath.
“Tired?” Val asked.
I started to assure him I was fine, but my step fell short and I stumbled on a stair. Val caught me and swept me up in his arms.
I squealed. “What are you doing?”
“You promised we could have some fun today.” Val carried me to the top of the stairs before setting me on my feet.
“I walked with you on the beach after dinner,” I said as we crossed the open foyer leading to the staircase.
“You stayed a pace ahead of me the whole time, and the wind blew so hard I couldn’t hear myself think.”
Val was right. I had walked quickly on purpose, keeping a safe distance from his smooth tongue.
“You said we could talk,” he said.
I did say that. Doesn’t mean I don’t regret it.
We ascended to the second floor in silence. When we reached my room, I went to the bed and slouched on the foot of the mattress. “You want to go first?”
Val frowned. “I don’t know what to say. ‘I’m sorry’ seems hardly sufficient.”
I raised an eyebrow and sniffed. “It’s a start. At least it means you take some responsibility for your actions.”
Val stepped closer and leaned a hip against the bed near the headboard. A pensive look stole across his face, masking his usual good cheer. “Our kind have always been passionate, Solina: jealous, possessive, ferocious. We do nothing by halves. Hating. Fighting… Loving. It’s all or nothing for us. For a human, I could see where that would be overwhelming.”
“So you’re saying you can’t help it when you act like an overbearing control freak?”
Val’s eyebrows arched, and he leaned back, his mouth popping open in a soft O. “Is that really how you see me?”
“Not always. But when that side of you comes out, that all-or-nothing side, it’s scary.”
