Time Magic Page 13

  “Sorry about that.” He coughed and tried to sit up, but I put my hand on his chest. He gazed up at me with a slight grin. “Like me in your arms, huh? I’m not surprised.”

  I debated letting him fall and adding a knock on the back of his head to go with his initial injury. Instead, I continued to brace my arm against his side. I wasn’t sure what would happen if I moved it yet.

  “Get over yourself.”

  Gus coughed again and then reached back to feel his side. His shirt was sticky with blood, and he hissed when he touched it. “Is it as bad as it seems?”

  “Give me your hand and I’ll move my arm so you can feel it for yourself.”

  I stretched out my free hand, and he engulfed it with his own. I inhaled deeply and held it while I moved away from his side, the sticky residue making a sucking sound as I did. I wrinkled my nose.

  “That sounded disgusting.” At least Gus agreed with me. “I’m not feeling any pain for all of this blood. What happened?” He probed his side and along his back as he spoke.

  “I think you were gouged by the hawk’s talons. I didn’t realize that could happen.” Another bout of relief surged through me to hear that he hadn’t felt the pain it seemed he should have.

  “There was a burning sensation, if I recall, but I was too busy holding on to you to worry about it. Did I heal on my own, or did you do something?”

  “I gave you a transfusion of my blood. It’s the way Valkyries heal each other if we’re too injured in battle to heal ourselves.”

  I kept my gaze directed at my lap. I didn’t dare look at him . . . My guilt was too high.

  “Cool. Am I going to sprout feathers now? That would be handy,” he said. I could hear the smile in his voice.

  He must have lost too much blood. There was no way he’d be anything but angry with me when he regained his senses.

  “Can you stand up?” I asked him.

  There were far too many people now to stay out of the way, and I’d had enough of getting tripped over and stepped on.

  “Sure. I feel great for how awful I look.” Gus stood up and dragged me along with him.

  I was glad he was better, it was worth how much worse I felt. At least I’d done one thing right.

  “We should head straight for the library. It must be open by now.”

  I had no idea how long we’d sat on the sidewalk, but my legs were stiff, and I couldn’t keep my wings off the ground anymore. The gash I’d sustained from the demon-hawk was just another ache to add to everything else.

  “I was out of it that long? Wow.” Gus was far too chipper for me. “If it isn’t open, we can wait on the steps.” He pulled on my arm and marched off in the way we needed to go. Once again, he’d taken charge, but I no longer cared. He knew where he was going.

  We made it to Fifth Avenue, and when I saw the stairs to the library, I almost cried. After everything, I needed a nap.

  “See the lions? They have names, but I can’t remember them right now. I used to be afraid of them as a little boy.”

  “What’s wrong with you?”

  “Nothing, I feel great. It’s like I’ve been energized or something.”

  “Stop talking. It’s unnerving.” An axe threatened to split my head in half, and he was babbling like a flock of magpies.

  “What’s wrong? Did you get hurt too? Why don’t you feel this great? You must have something real bad going on if you are losing energy, because whatever you gave me was awesome!”

  I stopped walking and waited for his incessant chatter to finish. “If I’d have known what you’d be like, I’d have thought twice about helping you.”

  “I’m sorry. It’s probably annoying, I heard myself that time. I’ll try to contain it.”

  It was wrong to take out my frustrations on him, I knew that. But I didn’t care. I wanted to go home and be done with this nonsense.

  We stood on the sidewalk, looking up at three triumphal arches. Nothing about this day had been a triumph.

  “Let’s get this over with. Do you know where we should look to find the information on the writing?”

  “Yes. We’ll head to the closed stacks—the ones kept away from the public. No one can stop us from looking around for ourselves.”

  I exhaled and then set my resolve. I’d make it up these stairs and find the answers we needed. Then hopefully we’d have enough information to make it home and keep me out of a trial.

  If ever there was a claustrophobic place, the closed stack floor was it. What seemed like miles of steel shelves held millions of books, lined up like warriors. With all of Gus’s extra energy, I would have loved to find a chair and let him bounce around by himself. As it was, he had to drag me along with him to maintain contact.

  “We’re looking for the ancient languages books.”

  I only nodded, happy to sit on a stool while Gus searched a shelf.

  “Don’t let go of my leg, Niasa. I can feel how drained you are.” Gus stopped and stared at me until I nodded again. “Here, scoot closer and lean against me.”

  He reached over and pulled the stool toward him so it touched him. I couldn’t blame him. Nothing sounded better to me than laying down and forgetting everything else.

  His thigh was hard muscle and it twitched as he rose on his toes to search a high shelf, but I didn’t mind. The next thing I knew, Gus was calling my name and gently shaking me.

  “Wakey, wakey.”

  “What?” I sat up and remembered where we were. It felt like I hadn’t rested in weeks.

  “I found what we need, but we have to go to a table to read it. Maybe I can give you a piggyback ride?”

  “What’s that?”

  Gus twisted himself around and squatted down. “Hold on around my neck and wrap your legs around my waist. That way, I can carry you and still be able to use one arm to hold the books.”

  I really needed to drop this guy off at the induction hall. He was too smart for his own good.

  I rolled my eyes at the back of his head, then slid my arms around his neck and pulled my legs up to hold on. Gus used his large hand to grip my thigh, and headed down one of the aisles.

  Minutes later, he slid three dusty, leatherbound books onto a table and set me down in a chair next to him.

  “This one is all in Latin, this is in Greek, and this one is in Hebrew. I figured it couldn’t hurt to look at them. You must be able to read all these languages, right?”

  “I know how to read, but I have no idea in what language.”

  “Interesting. Try the Latin one, and I’ll start with the Greek.”

  “How do you know so much?”

  “I like school. It’s how I was able to skip a couple grades when I was younger. I’m only eighteen, and I’ve finished two years of college already. Old World languages is a hobby.”

  He was so eager to study the pages, I could only watch him. My gut twisted once more at the life he’d never finish.

  I reluctantly opened the leather cover of the book he’d placed in front of me and looked at the words. They weren’t exactly what I knew, but they were similar enough for me to make it out. The pages started to blur together, but one stood out and made me sit up straight.

  “What is it?” Gus asked. “Did you find something?”

  “Maybe. Look.”

  I pulled out my medallion, and we compared the symbols to a chart. One side was hard to read, but it was clear enough.

  “This one looks like the one for ‘open doorway’ and the one down from it, ‘defeat’,” Gus said, his brows pinched as he studied the page.

  He was so focused and intense, I forgot to look at the book in favor of his strong jaw. I rolled my eyes closed.

  Get a grip, girl.

  “The other side is more clear,” he said. “The top one is ‘battle,’ and the bottom one is ‘victory,’ but the middle one, I can’t find.”

  I pulled myself together and studied the chart.

  “It could be this one.” I pointed to a symbol in the book
. “‘Inside,’ or ‘internal,’ perhaps.”

  “Well, that’s all a bit cryptic.” Gus scratched at his temple with a frown. “Open doorway, defeat. Battle, internal, victory. What can that all mean?”

  “And how does any of that match with the runes?”

  “So one side is for the top and the other is the bottom. But which is which?”

  “I don’t know.”

  It wasn’t enough to protect me from a trial unless we could figure it out. It certainly didn’t explain how someone knew I’d be here. We still needed more information.

  I wanted to go home . . . Perhaps I should just try to get us there. All that mattered was getting Gus to Valhalla. Saving myself didn’t seem likely anymore, anyway.

  19

  Sunshine with a blue sky that promised happiness and freedom beamed down as we left the library. If only I could believe it was for me—for us.

  “Where to now?” Gus asked. “We know what it says, but not what it means. How can we find that out?”

  As time had worn on in the middle of the dusty, enclosed room, and more librarians had crowded the space, Gus had settled down from the euphoric high my blood had given him. His love of study and knowledge had tempered some of the effects, as well. Now he was back to the levelheaded, logical thinker I’d become accustomed to.

  “Maybe we need to find more information on that task force. The one that classified the information about those with the calc tattoos. Who are they, who do they work for? Do they work for Donovan, or does he work for them? If we could find him and maybe see where he goes, that might be helpful too.” I let all the questions ramble out as they occurred to me.

  “How do you propose we find him?”

  That was a question and a half. How could I draw Donovan out? This seemed like a great task for my peace-keeper-trained partner.

  “How would you find a suspect, if you were thinking like a cop?”

  “Well, let’s see. I’d go to his last known location and stake it out to see if he returned. If that didn’t work, I’d start canvassing the areas he frequents.”

  Good ideas, but we didn’t have time to just wait around. Gus might be revitalized, but I wasn’t. I needed to get to Valhalla sooner rather than later. Even after the rest I’d gotten in the library, it took all the energy I could muster just to keep my wings from dragging on the ground behind me. Judging the look of the sidewalks, I was glad of at least that much. Thinking of my feathers dragging through all that nastiness made me shudder.

  “What is it? Do you need to sit?”

  Gus was far too attentive.

  I shook my head. “Just thinking of something disgusting.”

  “Like?”

  I mock glared at him. We didn’t have time to waste on idle conversation, we needed to formulate a plan and execute it.

  “Grimy sidewalks. Now let’s figure out a way to find more information on that task force.”

  “I noticed you’re holding your wings up again. I’m sorry they dragged in the dirt before. Does that mean you’re feeling a little better?”

  “You need to focus on helping me gather information that will keep us both safe, not watch what I do with my wings.”

  “They’re beautiful, by the way. I’ve wanted to tell you, but didn’t know how to bring it up. I like how they match the color of your skin. Is that the way it is for all Valkyries?”

  “Did I not just tell you to focus on the task force?”

  “Sure, but I want to know, and if I wait to ask, it’ll be weird to bring it up later. The aura is pretty, too. I didn’t realize there would be something like that. Do I have one or is it just for Valkyries?”

  What did it hurt to answer his questions? We’d spent more time together than I think any other duo in Valkyrie history. It was usually a pretty quick relationship—at least until after the men became einherjar. I’d noticed more than one couple form after that, but they didn’t stay together long. There was a bonding that could occur, I’d been told, but I’d never experienced it, or seen it.

  “Yes, that’s the way it works for our wings,” I replied. “Though most Valkyries have your lighter coloring to be honest, so there aren’t too many varieties, in that regard. Auras are different. They denote our order within the sisterhood. And, to your last question, you had one, but now you don’t. The einherjar lose theirs, but most have a black one and wouldn’t want to keep it.” I had to stop and take a few slow breaths before I could continue.

  I peeked at Gus as he processed that information. He seemed to accept it, but still looked thoughtful.

  “Most have black—what color aura do the other einherjar have then?” Gus asked.

  “There are varying shades of gray, not white like yours. You had gold around the edges.” Though I probably shouldn’t have said that because I didn’t know what it meant or if he was supposed to know about it.

  “Like yours. You have gold around the edges, too.”

  What? I’d always been a little self-conscious of being different. Not that there weren’t others with brown skin like me, they just seemed more elegant and regal. I didn’t know my aura was different, also. Now I needed to know why? I’d have to ask Gertie when we got back. And find out why she’d never said anything before.

  Since he’d seemed lost in thought and dropped the subject, I turned the conversation back to the task force.

  “What is the National Intelligence Committee that our friend in the police building referred to?”

  “Huh? Oh, yes. Back to work, yes ma’am.” Gus nodded to me with a serious face, yet his eyes sparkled.

  I remembered how I’d done the same to him, and had to grin at the returned teasing.

  “I think it would be a parliamentary committee, from the sound of it,” he told me. “That means our government would be involved. At least with whatever group wears the tattoos. I don’t think they’d know about you or your kind, would they?”

  Ignoring the ‘my kind’ comment, I thought about what he implied. If the government had any idea of the spiritual world, it was hidden to me. From what I’d learned of political regimes, they were more interested in power and control than anything else. They’d say whatever they needed in order to get elected—or control the people, depending on the country. Maybe those were the same thing.

  “It makes sense that they’d know about the organization with the tattoos, but not about me. We need to find Donovan. He’s the only one connected to both.”

  “How do you figure that?”

  “I don’t believe we lost him in the crowd because we couldn’t keep up. I think he disappeared. That’s how it looks when I switch from corporeal to ethereal form on an assignment.”

  “You think he’s from Valhalla?”

  “No, but he could be from another realm, or the otherworld . . . those from there do all kinds of things to deceive and block Odin’s efforts. The demon was a good indication of dark forces at work, too. What if he has a contact there, though?”

  I thought on my own words.

  Toril constantly found ways to make my life miserable. Would she go so far as to betray the sisterhood?

  “I need to study up on the different realms, I guess, and who comes from where,” Gus mused.

  “Later. For now, we need to concentrate on how to draw Donovan out. I don’t want to hide and just hope to see him.”

  “No stakeout, then?” Gus pinched his brows. He looked like one of the berserkers when they were hoping to get a little more time on the battlefield as the final horn sounded in the evening. “Fine. We should go scout where we saw him to see if we can find anything that looks out of the ordinary. Hopefully that doesn’t include any more demons or draugar.”

  That was an understatement. I didn’t think I’d last, if we had to face anything like that again.

  “Do you remember where we were when we lost him? I’m all turned around.”

  “Have no fear, my lady, I shall take thee to thy destination.”

  “You need to s
ettle down, I have a headache.” I waved my hand up and down in front of Gus. “All that energy is not working for me.”

  A brash little grin crept across Gus’s face. I could tell he wanted to make some kind of snarky comment, but he held it in. He just squeezed my hand and led us down the street.

  We took the subway again, or “the tube,” as Gus called it. Neither of us spoke until we had gotten back up to street level without incident, and made it to a spot near where Donovan had disappeared. I’d been so focused on following the mysterious man the first time we’d come through, I hadn’t noticed the area. Garbage littered the streets, broken cars sat where they’d probably been for years, and it smelled like rotten cabbage.

  It was an appropriate place to look for someone who was possibly working with dark forces. I snorted to myself.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “What?”

  “You laughed. Do you tell jokes to yourself? Go ahead and try out your material on me. I’ll be honest but kind, I promise.”

  “How are you a serious officer, ready for duty one minute, and a wise guy the next?”

  “It’s all part of my charm. Ask my mom, she can’t resist—”

  Gus bit off what he was going to say. I felt like I’d taken a blow to the chest.

  “I’d love to be able to talk to your mom,” I said as compassionately as I could.

  Gus gave me a polite smile, though his eyes were glassy.

  The warmth in his voice when he spoke of his mother was undeniable. I remembered he’d talked about those he’d followed into the police force, but this was the first mention of his family since. It felt like weeks ago, though it had only been the day before. It was a wonder he’d managed to avoid more slips like that.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered again.

  “I know.”

  We walked in silence for several blocks. The tension swirling inside of me ate at my insides worse than my flagging energy. Our surroundings started to look familiar, though I wasn’t sure if it was because of where I’d found Stuart or Gus.

  “These are similar to the basement stairs where I ran down to change forms when I found Stuart. Nothing else looks familiar though, and aren’t we close to where you were? I don’t think the this is the right place.”