“You saw them from Asgard?”
He smiled, the brief sadness caused by my reluctance to meet our parents right away gone. His boyish grin hadn’t changed. “From Odin’s high chair. I’ll show you when we visit. Best place to spy on people in different realms.”
And I once wished to visit the place. My grandparents ruled it. The bed was calling me.
“I’d better head back and take Celestia home. We’ll stop by in a couple of days for the two of you to meet.” He got up and walked around the counter. He opened his arms. “I’m happy you are my baby sister, Blondie, and that you didn’t freak out on me.”
I was freaking out on the inside. I hugged him, then pinched his side. I let “baby sister” slide this time. “Stop calling me Blondie.”
His iris narrowed like a reptile’s, and I stepped back.
“Your eyes. They were like a lizard’s. Did you just shift?”
He laughed and showed me his arm. Golden scales appeared on the surface of his skin, and then they disappeared. “Nah, that’s something my body does to protect me. When I shift, you’ll know, baby sister.”
Damn it. Now I had to object. “Until an hour ago, I was older than you in here.” I tapped my head. “So ease up on the ‘baby sister’ crap.”
He smirked. Yeah, he wasn’t going to stop. Trust me to get the bane of my existence as my big brother. I sighed, the past rushing through my head.
“You had a crush on me, big brother. Gag on that.”
He laughed. “I did until I started seeing it for what it was—a connection we didn’t understand. We explained it the only way we could, a crush. Now that I know you are my sister, the feelings make perfect sense. I hated seeing you date losers, flirt with stupid jocks who didn’t see beyond your looks, and it annoyed the crap out of me whenever you acted dumb, which you are not.”
That was a nice explanation. “I hated math.”
“Yet you never failed it. Like I said, you acted like a dumb blonde.”
I made a face. He was right. “Echo is either going to like this or hate it.”
“Why? He is getting a goddess as a mate. Because that’s what you are, Cora.” He pressed a kiss on my forehead. “A goddess.”
“Oh, shit!”
Chapter 5. A Goddess
Eirik walked through the portal and flashing rainbow colors swirled around him. He turned and smirked before the portal closed. I was still standing in the same spot when Echo arrived.
“What’s wrong?”
Echo often claimed he could tell when I needed him. I never believed him because I thought I had no magic in me. What if locator runes were the reason he could feel me from afar? They attracted souls just like his scythe. If Goddess Hel was really my mother, I came from a line of magical people. Loki. Frigg. Odin. According to Lavania, all of them had magic in them. A tingle of excitement coursed through me.
“I’m a goddess,” I said, trying it on for size.
Echo grinned and closed the space between us. “I know that. My goddess.”
Oh, he was so cute, and he was going to love my news. “I want to tell you everything, but first let’s get the blanket.” I opened a portal to my room and grabbed his hand.
“Why?”
“Because it explains everything.” I had thrown it in one of my drawers after studying it last night. “I just had a long talk with Eirik, and what he told me answered all my questions. My ability to see souls as a baby, my relationship with him, you always knowing when I need you.” I laughed when Echo scowled. “It’s kind of hard to explain without showing you the runes on the blanket.” I let go of his hand, went to the drawer, and opened it.
The blanket wasn’t there. Weird. I checked the drawer under it. Nothing. Could I have moved it? I checked under my pillows. I glanced at Echo.
“I put the blanket right here, and now it’s missing. Did you take it?”
“No, sweetheart. You told me not to, and I respected your wishes. What did Eirik tell you?”
I walked to where he stood in the middle of my room and took his hands. “Brace yourself. The Idun-Grimnirs came to the mansion, and Eirik rushed from Asgard to stop them.”
“Why?”
“Because they were looking for me. Me, Echo. We panicked thinking they’d come for Dev. They’d come for me because Goddess Hel had sent them. Eirik told me I’m his sister. Can you believe it?” I paused, giving him a chance to process. Echo winced, but something in his eyes gave him away. “You knew?”
“I suspected it when I saw the blanket. I needed to confirm it.”
Where was the excitement? I’d expected him to bring up me visiting Eljudnir. Instead, I was getting strange vibes from him. He wasn’t taking this well.
“Let me check with my parents first and see if they took it back. Then we’ll talk.”
I raced downstairs and didn’t realize Echo was behind me until Dad looked up and said, “Cora? Echo? What’s going on?”
“It’s missing, Dad. The baby blanket you gave me is gone. ”
“I haven’t seen it since we gave it to you last night. Ask your mother. She brought your laundry upstairs this afternoon and might have moved it. She’s in the barn.”
Beginning to panic, I engaged speed runes and was inside the barn seconds later. The chickens reacted to the rush of air and squawked.
Mom scowled when she looked up, but her face cleared when she saw me. “Hey, honey. Grab this for me.” She handed me a basket of eggs. “We’ll need a new set of rules around here now that you can be yourself. At the top of the list is no super speeding around the chickens or they’ll become more neurotic than they already are.” She chuckled. “What is it?” she added when I didn’t laugh at her joke.
Furrows appeared on her forehead. I used to search her face for a resemblance between us and had concluded I favored her because of our hair color. Dad had a mop of brown hair, but Mom had blond hair, hers lighter than mine. So I’d reached my own conclusions. One, I’d inherited her hair, but our features were different because she was older. And two, I favored my grandparents or some relative down the line. If Eirik were right, I should see myself in his parents. My birth parents.
“What’s going on? You’re staring at me with a peculiar expression.”
“Did you take the baby blanket you gave me? I can’t find it.”
“No, I didn’t. I just took your laundry upstairs, but I placed the hamper on your bed and didn’t touch anything. Weren’t you in your room about half an hour ago? I came up when I heard you, but you were gone by the time I got upstairs. I closed the drawers you’d left open.”
“That wasn’t me.” My voice rose in panic. “Oh. Mom? I thought I saw a soul in my room taking it, but she didn’t.”
She reached out and gripped my hand. “Easy now, honey. Tell me what you saw.”
I explained what I’d seen, how I couldn’t move, and how the cloaked woman had disappeared with the blanket.
“I think you had a vision. You saw the person who took the blanket before she did it.”
I shook my head. “What?”
“If you knew who your parents are, you’d see that this makes perfect sense. You come from magical people, so being clairvoyant should come naturally for you.”
Clairvoyant? Me? “I know everything, Mom. Eirik and I have been talking for the past hour.” Why would anyone take the blanket? “I don’t want to believe him.”
“Believe him.” She closed the second coop and opened the last one. “That young man went through a lot to find you and saved a lot of orphans from a very crazy woman along the way.”
Yeah, his grandmother. My grandmother. Yikes.