Fall (The Ragnarok Prophesies) (37 page)

“What about Christianity?” Chelle asked.

“Christianity is a lot younger than most belief systems, but it isn’t that much different if you think about it,” he said. “God is the Supreme Being, but we still celebrate His son, if not as a deity himself, then as one-third of the Trinity. And then you have the angels who are powerful beings in their own right. Some believe Christianity was an attempt to unify diverse groups of people under one belief system. Whether that’s true or not, I don’t know. But if you look deep enough, the same themes inherent in early belief systems are there, they merely take a different form.”

“So you think angels are a different take on lesser gods and the destruction prophecies are different takes on the same event?” I asked.

“Possibly. Or each of those prophecies could be one small part of a broader chain of events. Most apocalyptic tales don’t deal with the end of the world, but with the end of a certain reality or time and the beginning of another. If every religion is related, who’s to say their destruction prophecies aren’t also? Ragnarφk is one small piece of the whole. We have to do our part now, so those in other prophecies can do theirs when the time comes.”

I shifted around for a minute and then sighed. “So, basically you’re saying even if angels are still here, they probably aren’t going to pick up pitchforks and torches and help us stop Skφll and Hati.”

“Probably not,” Gage said. “This isn’t their battle.”

Chelle leaned over and kissed his cheek.

I watched them for a moment, and then smiled. Perhaps the angels couldn’t or wouldn’t get directly involved, but I had a feeling they weren’t sitting this one out entirely. Someone sent Gage to keep watch over Chelle.

That had to count for something, didn’t it?

helle and Gage left before sunrise the next morning, leaving me, Ronan, and Fuki to ourselves. Ronan’s nose had healed overnight, and Fuki was still heartbroken. We were all quiet as Gage’s taillights disappeared down the road.

I think they already missed Chelle as much as I did.

We trooped back into my hotel room in various stages of dejection. Fuki flopped down beside Chelle’s bed with a soft huff. I wandered around, touching the table here, running my forefinger across the top of the television there. I felt restless.

Ronan leaned against the door to the room, watching me move from place to place as the sun crept toward the horizon. “Dace is your bridge,” he said.

I set the channel guide back down on top of the television and turned toward him. “What?”

“Dace is your link to Freki.” Ronan pushed away from the wall and strode across the small room toward me. His dark hair was still wet from his shower, and little beads of water dripped from the ends. “Were you thinking about him in the car when you dreamed about Idun?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I was thinking―”

I need your help, Freki.
Dace needs you.

I
was
thinking about Dace before I fell asleep.

My eyes widened. Was that how I reached Freki?

I thought back over all the times my wolf reacted to my emotions or desires.

Ronan was right.

She responded to Dace. Not only in those big moments when she raged inside of me for her mate, but every time she so much as fluttered, she did so because of Dace and Geri.

I dropped heavily onto the edge of my bed, stunned. The box springs creaked beneath me.

“You were thinking about him, weren’t you?” he asked.

The heater kicked on, blowing cool air through the room in a burst before pumping heat into it.

I nodded. “I told her Dace needed her help.”

“You were thinking about him when she responded last night too, weren’t you?”

“Yeah, I….Yeah.” I ran my hands across the comforter, trying to think.

Ronan leaned back against the wall across from me, grinning.

I shook my head again. Why didn’t I see it before? Of course Freki responded when I felt something strongly for Dace. Geri did the exact same thing. Anytime Dace’s emotions surged, his wolf reacted. And why not?

Our wolves were tied to us, bound as tightly as we were bound to one another. Even before my death jolted Freki awake, the little parts of her buried in me remembered Dace and Geri. Now that she was fully alert, why wouldn’t she react to Dace the same way Geri reacted to me? To them, we weren’t Freki and Arionna, and Geri and Dace. We were four sides of the same soul.

“When Freki responded, the walls between me and Dace and Geri came down for a minute,” I said, staring blankly at Ronan. “It was the first time I felt them since we left.”

“You’re both weaker when you’re apart.” Ronan shrugged.

I scowled, his insult instantly reminding me he knew about Dace and Geri and didn’t tell me.

He eyed me levelly. “The four of you belong together. Before Freki woke up, your bond was weaker. You probably only felt her during times of great distress, when your fight or flight response kicked in, right?”

“Yes.”

“When you died, the shock jarred her awake enough to tear a hole in her cage. The hole isn’t big enough to let her out, but it’s probably just big enough to let you reach through and touch her. You don’t do it consciously, but your instinct is to reach for her when you feel anything strongly. Since you feel strongest for Dace and Geri, they’re your link to Freki.”

“How did I feel them last night, though?”

“The same way you felt Freki. You reached for her, and, when your emotions merged, the connection between the two of you tore a hole in the wall separating you from Geri and Dace. If I had to guess, I’d say that’s how he and Geri connected after you died.”

Until I died, Dace and Geri couldn’t hear each other at all. We assumed that changed because Dace let Geri out of his cage, but now that I was gone, they were back to square one. Maybe the change really was Freki all along. When I died, she felt Dace’s grief, and broke part of her cage trying to get to him. As a result, the bond between the four of us strengthened, allowing Dace and Geri to work together for once, and allowing me to reach for Freki when I needed her. That had to be why the connection between Dace and Geri seemed stronger last night, too. Freki and I strengthened it.

“Holy crap.” I blinked, awe running through me.

I didn’t weaken Dace. Together, Freki and I gave him and Geri strength.

“Like I said, you’re stronger together,” Ronan said.

“We have to find a way to widen the crack in her cage.” I stood up to pace around the room, unable to sit still with my thoughts racing ahead of me. If I could make the hole between me and Freki bigger, maybe I could reach through to her long enough to give Dace and Geri the edge they needed to beat Sköll and Hati. It’d be like giving them a shot of adrenaline.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Ronan cautioned, watching me pace. “We still have to talk to Dr. Michel, and try to find Idun, too.”

I stopped pacing mid-step, momentarily stunned. “What if this is why Freki wants me to find Idun? Because Idun can help free her?”

The way Ronan looked at me, nothing but his head moving, as if nothing in our entire conversation surprised him, made me pause. His features were sharp, his eyes almost pitch-black. In that moment, he looked exactly like his memory-guarding raven, and I knew he’d worked this out for himself days ago.

“You knew, didn’t you?” I asked, my tone rife with accusation and irritation. “You knew she could help Freki.”

“I suspected,” he said, with no hint of remorse whatsoever. He arched a brow as if to ask why it took me so long to put two and two together. “Idun doesn’t only grant immortality. She restores youth.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You didn’t need me to tell you.”

I took a deep breath and counted to three, resisting the urge to punch him again. We didn’t have time for that, and his nose would heal too quickly for the effort to be truly satisfying. “You are infuriating,” I muttered instead, narrowing my eyes to glare at him.

“Maybe, but you know I’m right. Had I told you what I thought, you would have charged forward without stopping to consider the consequences.”

“Meaning what?”

“Meaning exactly what I said yesterday. There is no savior here. Even if Idun is able to help you reach Freki, that doesn’t mean she can save Dace, or anyone else for that matter. We’re destined to fail, if not in this life, then the next. She can’t stop what’s already been written, and you need to remember that. I don’t relish having to kill Dace because you didn’t slow down to consider the bigger picture.”

“Are we really back to that?” I asked, rolling my eyes.

“You know what I mean.”

Yeah, I did know. Ronan didn’t like Dace, but he didn’t necessarily want to kill him either. Ronan needed Dace as much as anyone else, but unlike the rest of us, Ronan wasn’t bound by friendship or love for our alpha. His goal was keeping Dani’s sisters alive. Even if Ronan wouldn’t admit it, I had a feeling he preferred to do that with Dace’s help than without.

“Don’t kid yourself into believing Idun will fix your little problem for you,” he cautioned me, the seriousness in his gaze penetrating. “We wouldn’t be where we are now, if it was that easy.”

Right. Facing the apocalypse with no freaking clue how to stop it. Typical Tuesday.

“Our lives are seriously messed up, you know that, right?” I asked with a weary sigh, tipping my head back and closing my eyes.

“You just figured that out?” Ronan laughed.

We spent the next few hours scrolling through the websites of every national florist we found, looking for the creepy arrangement. Midmorning, Chelle called to check in. Gage was being as careful as Ronan, going the longer route through Tennessee in the hopes their trail wouldn’t point right to me and Ronan. I appreciated the effort, but I didn’t think it was necessary.

Despite knowing exactly where to find us at least once since we left, Sköll and Hati opted not to chase after us. Instead, they stayed behind and killed Aki. I wasn’t really sure why they went after the elderly wolf, but I couldn’t obsess over the question. If I did, I’d start wondering if he died because of me, and I knew better than anyone not to go down that road. It led nowhere good.