“But we’ll give you our blessing in a couple of centuries,” Father said.
“Our daughter wants a wedding a year from now, Baldur, so we will give her one. The bigger the better.”
“Mother! Did you get that from my head?”
“No, dyrr mín. I promised your father I’d never read your thoughts or your brother’s. I just knew you’d want a big wedding.”
“I do.” She was an enabler. It was not bad having one mother who was. I gave her a hug and a kiss. “Love you, Mother. Father, you have one year to get used to sharing me with Echo.” I kissed his cheek and took Celestia’s arm.
“I’m so happy I didn’t have a wedding. Once our parents accepted our decision, we moved in together and Eirik gave me this.” The ring looked ancient. “Grandma Frigg gave it to him just before we left Asgard.”
She really didn’t know they were planning a wedding for her? I couldn’t wait to see her face when she found out.
Raine, Trudy, Jess, and Hayden were in the living room, talking. Baby Hannah was missing.
“Where’s Celestia’s baby?” I asked, and the others laughed.
“Mother is taking care of her,” Hayden said.
“And mine is helping so she doesn’t shift into energy and float away until Raine finds her body and her family,” Trudy added.
“She is powerful. I carried her and felt a tug,” Raine added.
Celestia nodded. “She attached herself to my astral image when I was trying to find the person who stole Cora’s blanket.”
“Einmyria,” Hayden and Trudy chorused.
“She likes to use Einmyria here and Cora when she’s back in Kayville,” Trudy explained, and Hayden nodded.
“I didn’t say that,” I protested. Then I remembered these two sifting through my memories. “Never mind. You two are never getting inside my head again.” The grins they traded said they’d seen more than enough. “What did you two see in the head of Celestia’s baby?”
“Hey,” Celestia protested. “She’s not my baby. The little imp hijacked me. I’ve never seen a child that powerful.”
“Says someone whose powers manifested themselves when she was a baby,” Hayden cut in. “Mom says there are powerful orphans out there who lost their parents when you guys fought the Immortals in Kayville, Raine. Their parents didn’t tell them they were fighting or supporting Lord Worthington or who they really are, and some are younger than others. This baby could be one of them.”
“Mother said she has a brother, Wes, and two sisters, Lana and Talia,” I added.
“We saw them while hiding her memories,” Trudy said. “Her older sister looked and acted just like Hayden.”
“No, she didn’t,” Hayden shot back, but her words lacked heat.
“Same know-it-all attitude,” Trudy continued.
Hayden grinned. “The bratty younger sister acted just like you. And she’s boy crazy. Just like you.”
“Enough, guys. What about her dark memories?” Jess asked. She tended to be quiet, so it was nice to see her participate. In fact, I had a feeling she often mediated disputes between Hayden and Trudy.
Trudy shrugged. “They were there, but we don’t know if they are hers or if they belonged to someone she’s possessed. I mean, the Dwarf healers said memories are rarely transferred.”
“Maybe the dark forces I thought were chasing me were actually with her,” Celestia added. “We might need to do more than find her parents. We might have to protect her. Grandmother Frigg protected me when I was a baby. When she heard about Baby Hannah, she said we should think about protecting gifted younger kids, too.”
“We could start some type of organization and work together to find the lost orphans,” Raine said. “Summer starts soon, and I have time. Who is game? We could bring them here.”
Trudy laughed. “Did you see the goddess’ reaction to Baby Hannah? She’s not going to start an orphanage in Helheim anytime soon, unless she gets grandkids and gets used to babies.” Trudy wiggled her eyebrows at Celestia and me.
“Don’t look at me. I have no intention of starting a family yet. I’m keeping Eirik to myself for the next century or two.” She didn’t crack a smile while everyone laughed. “I mean it. We both have some nasty genes, and the last thing I need is a child asking me about their grandmother.”
Silence followed.
“Your mother is still with Crazy Granny?” I asked, and Celestia nodded.
Raine pointed at me. “That leaves you and Echo to provide the grandbabies, chica.”
I laughed and explained about waiting for a year. “So in the meantime, I’ll just sneak into his quarters without anyone knowing,” I added.
“Nothing happens in Eljudnir without the goddess knowing,” Trudy and Jess said in unison.
“On the other hand,” Trudy added, “you will be at Mystic Academy in the fall.”
“And Echo has homes all over the world,” Raine piped in.
“Okay, enough about me. We were talking about rounding up orphans. Where can we take them? According to Mother, the Norns recently stopped relocating orphans, so unless we search for relatives in other realms, we have to keep them with Mortals.”
“We could talk to Lavania about them,” Raine suggested.
“Or my mom knows some amazing Immortals who wouldn’t mind fostering the children until they were ready to attend the Academy,” Hayden said. “You tired, Celestia? That’s the second time you’ve yawned.”
“No, I’m okay. I’ll wait for Eirik. Raine, you and Torin can take one of our guest rooms, unless you prefer using one in the guest hall.”
“It all depends on Torin. I mean, I wouldn’t mind staying for a few days and maybe visiting with my father again. Seeing him was amazing. As long as your mother’s invitation is open, Cora, I’ll be visiting and sharing my life with him. Children. Grandchildren. Don’t look at me like that,” Raine added when I glanced at her stomach. “I’m not pregnant. I’m talking about the future. Mom is going to flip once she hears about this.” While Raine gushed about her visit with her dad, my thoughts drifted to Echo.
For the first time since I arrived in Helheim, I should be relaxed. Celestia had regained consciousness and my parents were awesome, yet I was worried. Maybe having the ability to see the future wasn’t going to be as cool as I’d thought. A loud rumble from outside reached us, and we looked at each other.
“What was that?” Raine asked.
“Probably Garm,” Trudy said. “He’s been locked up because of the visitors, and he doesn’t like it.”
“No wonder we didn’t see him.”
“That wasn’t Garm,” Celestia said, standing. “That’s my Eirik, letting out steam. I could recognize his bellow from anywhere. Come on.” She opened a portal to the Waiting Hall.
We followed her and ran to the window to look outside, but nothing was happening. Despite the crystal lights inside and outside the tents, there was nothing unusual going on.
“There’s no movement out there,” Hayden said.
“Heimdel hearing?” Celestia teased, then explained about Hayden’s possible connection to the God Heimdel.
“Yeah, that was a joke when I didn’t know about my connection to the other realms. Now that I do, I’m not claiming anything or anyone.” A roar rattled the glass windows.
“I know where they are,” Trudy yelled and took off. A portal opened into the glass hallway connecting Grimnirs Hall to the west Resting Halls.
“Holy crap!” someone whispered, and my stomach dropped to the bottom of my soul.
The macabre scene from my vision was playing out right before my eyes. Echo was in the middle of the arena, wielding two swords and facing off with a man almost twice his size, his shirt bloodied. He wasn’t the only one fighting. His Druid buddies were also facing off with some of the men while the rest of the guests cheered.