Uncomfortable that he’d read me so easily, I looked away. “Tell me the truth. This greenhouse stuff is just a front for your real job as a psychologist or, better yet, a fortune-teller, right?”
White teeth flashed in a grin. “You’re kind of fun.”
“Yeah, well don’t get too attached. I’m only here long enough to figure out this music on the lake thing. My mother is in Oklahoma, terrorizing people, and my sister needs my help.”
“Something tells me I should keep you around as long as possible. At least until you stop scoffing over Valkyries.”
“Who scoffs at us?” The girl who said that stormed into the greenhouse in a flurry of color. Bright yellow coat, matching snow boots and the wildest mane of curly red hair I’d ever seen. Curls caught on the long plant stems as she made her way toward us. She glared at me as she stopped momentarily to free her hair. “Don’t believe in Valkyries? Would a flying horse help?” Her eyes flared wide for a second before she looked at Arun, then back to me. She crossed her arms. Her stare made me feel kind of squirmy.
“Would have helped me,” Tyrone muttered as he came in behind her. “But, nah, I get a pretty girl whose clothes make me have to wear my shades inside the house.”
She plopped her hands on her hips and turned slowly toward him. “You really think you have room to talk when you have that huge thing on your head?”
“She hates the cowboy hat,” Arun said in a loud whisper. “She’s no buckle bunny.”
I had no idea what that even meant.
Arun obviously saw my confusion. He laughed. “Wyoming, cowboys and buckle bunnies sort of go together. Guess you gotta live here to get it.”
Tyrone set down the small television he’d been carrying. On top were six thick wrapped sandwiches. And, yeah, there was a ton of lettuce poking out the sides. My mouth twisted as I worked to hold back a laugh.
“Go ahead and tell Arun what you just told me,” he said to the redheaded girl as he handed one of the sandwiches to Arun and another to me. He smiled, tipped his hat at me afterward.
She turned back to Arun, and her expression made me clutch the sandwich to my chest. If she was truly a Valkyrie, then whatever caused her fear was probably going to cause it in me, too.
“We have a problem. The music just got louder.”
“Then it’s close to time, isn’t it?” Arun set his sandwich down, his face paling.
The Valkyrie nodded, worry bringing her red eyebrows closer together. “But all the warriors aren’t here.”
My heart thumped hard. She used the term warriors like it was a part of her everyday vocabulary. My sisters and I had always kind of giggled whenever we’d said it.
“Someone important must have arrived.” Arun looked at me. “This is Kat, by the way.”
“Oh yes,” the girl agreed. “She’s important. You two don’t even see it, do you?”
“See what?” I asked because she looked at me like she was seeing something the others couldn’t—something even I couldn’t see.
“Even you don’t know,” she murmured. “This changes everything.” She turned to Arun. “She’s the reason the music is louder. It’s starting.”
I shook my head. “No really, I’m not anyone important. I’m just here to keep my mother away from Arun. It’s a long, stupid story I won’t go into, but that’s it. She’s not even here, so I’m here for nothing.” And could I put the word here into my speech any more times? Here be a smart girl. Der.
“When did the music get louder?” Arun asked the girl, but he watched me like he could read my mind.
“Earlier. When you ran to the store and most of the people here watched the world around us spin around, then stop. Gillian threw up in front of Tyrone, and she’s really embarrassed about it, so if you see her, stay clear.” The Valkyrie shook her head. “She has the temper of a Viking returning from months at sea to find his woman has moved on.”
He looked back at me but didn’t say anything. That was when I’d stopped time. When the two of us had been in that truck stop. When he said he’d watched everything. My hands started to tremble, so I closed them into fists. Everyone here had watched it stop. Something big had changed. But why?
“Tell me something, Kat,” she said. “Why wouldn’t you believe in Valkyries when your magic is so potent, it’s singeing the hair on my arms?”
“I didn’t say I didn’t believe in them—just that it’s hard to believe you’re actually here.”
She pointed toward the open door; the rate of snow falling had obviously picked up. “So Ragnarok has begun, you have powerful magic, you know warriors are gathering who carry the old ones’ souls and yet you still question things.” She blew a red curl out of her eyes. “You must be carrying one of the dumber under-creatures.”
“Kara.” Arun’s tone was sharp as he stood up straight and frowned at her. “Kat is the one who stopped the world earlier. Maybe you don’t want to piss her off.”
I had to bite back a yeah. Didn’t want to sound like a petulant child or anything.
A shrewd expression narrowed her eyes and tightened her lips. “You stopped time.”
“You did that?” Tyrone asked before taking a bite of his sandwich. His bite was half a sandwich. “What else can you do?”
“Nothing.” I didn’t like the way the Valkyrie kept looking at me. “That’s it, and I don’t do it—my norn does. Oh and she tells the future.”
“Norn?” Kara shook her head. “I don’t remember them ever sending the world into a spin and freezing people. But looking at you tells me you are more than just a carrier for a norn.”
“What do you mean?” Her colorful clothes made me think of Coral. Then I felt a pang. And another. Realized quickly that I’d thought of my middle sister for a reason. I tuned the others out as this horrific feeling swamped me, made me squeeze my eyes shut, hold my breath.
Dread.
There was nothing quite like that feeling—like being suffocated under a heavy black tarp. Like being caught and knowing there was nothing you could do to stop whatever bad thing was going to happen.
Coral had it bad. Right at that moment.
“Sorry, you guys will have to give me a minute.” I dug out my phone and called Coral. It rang over and over, and with each sound, I grew that much closer to panic. I dialed again, watched as Tyrone finished his sandwich and then carried the small television to an extension cord.
“Hey, Arun,” he said. “I caught the news, and it seems there’s a storm coming in here on top of the snow. I don’t think the power is gonna last long, so you better catch up with what’s happening down south fast.”
“South as in Florida?” My hands shook as I punched in Coral’s number again and held the phone to my ear. “I just came here from there. Is that where you’re talking about? What’s going on in Florida?” I asked Tyrone, my voice going higher in panic as I listened to the ringing.
Arun’s expression went tight with concern as he squeezed past Tyrone and stopped in front of me. “You have a sister still there?”
I nodded, having to stretch my neck back to look up at him. The knot of fear and anxiety from Coral was spreading like wildfire in my chest. “She’s not answering