Relentless (5 page)

I stuck my feet in the closest pair of flip-flops and hurried out the door. She was already in front of the elevator.

By the time we made it to the group of cottages on the far side of the island, droplets of sweat trickled down my face.

“Does it ever cool off here?”

Brynna laughed. “It’s great later in the fall and through the winter. You’ll like it.”

“It’s sweltering now.”

She wiped the back of her hand across her forehead. “Yep, it’s miserably hot.”

We climbed the steps of a small, coral-colored house with cream trim. I brushed my hand over one of the feathery plants that framed the door as Brynna knocked. There was a shout from inside, and Brynna opened the door. A rush of cool air from the air conditioning quickly dried my sweat. Sunlight made the room bright, and at a large, square table, a woman was bent over, twisting and turning a swatch of cloth while waving a large pair of silver scissors.

“Yadira, this is Alexis Miller, Louise’s niece. She’s here to get her savalin started.”

The woman turned. Her brown hair was tipped with silver and pulled back into a tight knot at the back of her head. A few wisps stuck to the side of her face. Her brown eyes widened as she looked me over from head to toe.

“Come in. The sample swatches are in a book over there.” She waved the scissors again in the direction of a small table situated in front of a pair of overstuffed chairs.

Brynna led the way, and I sank into one of the chairs as she dropped a huge book into my lap.

“What am I supposed to do with this?” I whispered.

“Pick the fabric for your savalin.”

“I thought they were all that silvery-black color.”

“All the pants and coats are the same, but the torso protector can be any color. You’ll pick the design, the fabric, buckles, that sort of thing. It’s called the vidar.”

I looked at her dubiously.

She sat on the edge of the chair next to me and opened the book for me. “It’s supposed to be fun.”

It was. After a few minutes, I forgot about the clicking of the scissors across the room and became engrossed in page upon page of fabric samples. I thought I’d never get through the book. It didn’t matter. I flipped a page and found a square of light brown cloth. Strips of dark brown leather ran through it, and the leather was dotted with metal rivets.

“That’s it.”

Brynna leaned over. “Mmm, I like it. I don’t think I’ve seen it before. Yadira, is this a new fabric?”

Her loose, knee-length skirt rustled as she came to stand over my shoulder.

“Yes, this is new. It’s for her.”

Brynna nodded. “It’s the one she picked.”

I glanced up at the woman who only smiled at me and went back to her table. I rubbed the fabric between my fingers.

I scooted closer to Brynna, my voice low. “She knew I’d pick this one?”

“She had an image of you in her mind when she made it.”

I glanced back to the table where Yadira had gone back to cutting fabric. “I’ve never seen her before.”

“That doesn’t mean she didn’t see you in her mind.”

I put the book onto the table, open to the page with the swatch I’d chosen. “She has visions?”

Brynna shrugged. “I guess you could call it that.” She stood and started across the room. “We’re ready to choose the buckles and get her measured.”

Yadira dropped her scissors, bending to pull a large board from beneath the table. It was covered with row after row of buckles and toggles. I chose a buckle that looked like it would match the rivets on the leather part of the fabric. Yadira smiled.

“Perfect. Now let’s get you measured.”

I stood on a round, wooden platform while Yadira strung the measuring tape down my arms and legs and various other directions on my body. She jotted down notes with each measurement. When she was done, she stepped back, her head tilted to one side.

“Your savalin will be just right for you, just as I imagined it.”

She left us then and went back to her table. When we got to the door, I glanced back, and she smiled.

The week had moved along more quickly than I thought it would, and Friday evening seemed to appear almost like magic. My sore muscles, however, reminded me it wasn’t magic at all. If my brain could have been sore, it would have been, too. The week had flown by because we’d stayed so busy every day. I fell into bed exhausted at night. Right now, all I could think about was the fact that I was going to Key West tomorrow morning. I’d called Eric last night to let him know. 

“Alexis, it’s your turn.”

The last class of the day was called Weapons. The title was self-explanatory. Today Brynna was assisting the instructor because the weapons of choice were the short swords that I’d seen at Brynna’s house once. Here they called the sword the anelace. The instructor explained that the ancient sword’s blade had been much larger but the Lycernians had adapted it over time to the double-edged blade we would use today. With their smaller size and weight, the swords were easier to use in each hand. The historic name remained, despite the changes. Brynna was good with anelace, very good. She and the instructor gave a quick demonstration at the beginning of the class and then paired us up to practice the moves. After forty-five minutes of practicing, we lined up to take a turn against Brynna while the instructor critiqued us. Now it was my turn. I went forward, prepared for Brynna to do her best to cut me to bits.

The moves came easily to me, and though Brynna was adept, I was faster and stronger. Sweat dripped down her face. I lunged forward, and she twisted away before coming behind me and pinning my arms to my body. I bent, trying to flip her over my head, but she squatted low, and I couldn’t find the leverage I needed. When I straightened, she followed, and I could hear her breath coming hard behind me.

“We’ve collected an audience. Keep it up, you’re doing great.”

I had no idea why she said this, and I had no time to see anybody because she shoved me away and, in the process, knocked loose one of my knives. It landed several feet away. I slashed at Brynna with my one remaining blade, but she dodged it. I leapt to one side of her, relaxed my knees, and hit the ground, rolling toward the fallen anelace. Grabbing it, I turned to face Brynna again, but she was on top of me and had me down with a sword near my throat. She grinned, winked, and then her upturned lips rounded to an O of surprise as I used a skill learned earlier in the week to toss her to the side. The instructor clapped his hands for the session to stop and called up the next person.

I went back to the sidelines, sweaty and covered in sand. That’s when I saw the people Brynna had mentioned. Five girls. Two looked about my age, and the others appeared to be a couple of years older. They were all fit and muscular and wore their hair long with matching headbands of swirled silver that resembled the design on the handles of the swords I held. They continued to watch until the instructor called everyone together to review the class and discuss what we should work on until we met again next week. I watched as the women disappeared down the path. When the class ended, I caught up with Brynna.

“Who were those people watching the class?”

She smiled and raised her eyebrow. “Valkyries.”

“What? You know I hate it when you do that.” I wiped my palm on the leg of my khaki shorts, trying to get rid of the sand still stuck there.

“Do what?”

“Use some crazy word when you know I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”

She paused on the path, letting two other girls go past us. When they disappeared around the curve, she spoke again. “You’ve never heard the word ‘Valkyrie’ before?”

I thought for a moment. “Okay, it is kind of familiar, so I guess I’ve heard it somewhere. But what has that got to do with the people here?”

“In ancient history, the Valkyries were the women who would decide which soldiers died in battle and which lived. The Valkyries brought the ones they selected to die to the great hall of Valhalla for their afterlife.”

“Va-who?”

She frowned. “Valhalla. It was the place the soldiers spent their time waiting for their next battle.”

“What battle?”

Brynna started walking then turned onto a side path that led away from the dorm. “Sometimes I forget you really have no reason to have studied any of this before.”

“I haven’t studied it. But some of the words are familiar. I’m trying to learn. There’s just a lot of it.”

She snorted. “I guess you’re right. There is a lot of history. Anyway, over time, our pack came to use the word to refer to special females in our pack. Among the Lycernians, the Valkyries are the females who excel at everything. They are the most gifted warriors.”

“Really?”

She pushed a limb aside that hung low across the path and held it for me to catch so I could get past. “Yes, really. And if you keep doing well, you could be one.”

“You think so?”

She sighed. “I know it.”

“Don’t you want to be one?”

She turned back to face me. “Are you kidding? Of course I do. But I doubt I can be. I’m only good with the swords, and I’m good with the lab stuff, collecting blood samples. Occasionally they take on people like that. But you, you’re good at everything. I mean, look at today. I’ve been training for years, and I’m good with the swords. It was your first class, and you tossed me. That’s not training. That’s talent.”

It almost sounded like Brynna was giving me a compliment, except for the hint of anger in her voice.

“If you’d told me who they were, I wouldn’t have tossed you.”

“That’s not the point. You have a lot of natural ability, and the things I’ve worked to learn are easy for you. I’m not sure you appreciate it.”

I shrugged. “It’s still really new to me.”

She was quiet for a minute. “I guess that’s true. Come on, and I’ll show you their house.” She started walking again, and I followed closely behind her.

“Whose house?”

“The Valkyries.”

“They don’t stay in the dorm?”

“No, they have their own place when they come here.”

The path opened onto a grassy clearing with two large houses in the middle. They were built on stilts about ten feet high with wide steps that led to a wraparound porch.

“This is where the Valkyries stay when they’re here.” Brynna continued along the edge of the clearing.

“It’s nice.”

“Very.” She stopped for a moment, never taking her eyes off the house.

“I like the dorm, too,” I added. This house was like a vacation retreat, but really, the dorms were more like a big hotel. It wasn’t like we were living in a dump.

She shook her head at me. “It’s an honor to stay here. The Valkyries are very special, and they are the front line in the battle against the Fenryrians.”

“So they’re killers.”

“No, fighters.”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “You’re saying they never kill anyone.”

“I’m sure they do, but mostly they’re strong fighters.”

“Do they live here all the time?”

“No, they have a home base at one of the schools, but they travel all over to different schools. They’ll teach some of the classes next week.”

I studied the two large homes that were connected by a raised, covered walkway.

“There were only a few of them. Do they have both houses?”

“Each house will sleep up to ten people. One house is for the guys. They’re known as the Einherjar.”

“Why does that name sound so familiar?”

“Because it’s taken from our ancient history, too.”

“But that’s not just werewolf history. Now I remember. I took a mythology class back home. It was mostly about Greek and Roman myths, but there was one class spent on Nordic history.  That’s where I heard the word Valkyrie before. Both the Einherjar and Valkyries were warriors or warrior spirits, something like that.”

Brynna nodded. “You’re right, and you’ll hear more in your history class. It’s where we came from, our history as well.”

“So the stories about the wolves in relation to that history were really the Fenryrians or the Lycernians?”

“Probably. I mean, stories in books are just that—stories. But they’re usually based in reality.”

She motioned for me to follow her, and we turned along another path I assumed led to the dorms. “Myles hopes he’ll be asked to join the Einherjar this summer.  They’re the front line of defense against the Fenryrians who want to kill humans. And like I said before, if you keep working like you are now, they’ll ask you to join the Valkyries in a year or two.”

I nodded, not particularly impressed, not even sure if I’d be doing this in a year or two. I was more worried about getting to Key Westtomorrow. We came to a fork in the path, and Brynna stopped.

“If you stay on this path”—she pointed to the one on the right—“you’ll go straight back to the dorm. A few other paths branch off it, but just stay straight, and you won’t get lost. I’m going over to the instructors’ housing. That’s where my parents are staying. I’m supposed to eat with them tonight. You can come if you want.”

I wiped my gritty palms on my shorts again. “I think I’ll go on and get a bath. I’ve got sand all over me still.”

“Yeah, me, too. But I’ve got clothes at their house, so I can bathe there before I eat.”

“All right, I’ll see you in the morning.”

Brynna gave a quick wave then disappeared around a curve in the other trail. I started along the trail she had pointed out. It was getting dark out, and some night bird chirped, along with other nighttime creatures I couldn’t identify. After several minutes of walking, I could make out the glowing lights from the television room through the trees ahead. At the next fork, I turned away from the dorm and kept walking. If I could find a quiet place, which shouldn’t be hard, I could phone Eric. He wasn’t expecting me to call. We’d already made plans to see each other tomorrow. But it wouldn’t hurt to surprise him. Focusing on that and lost in thought, I didn’t immediately notice the body that appeared in front of me, and I slammed into it full force. It was like a mountain and didn’t budge. Shadows fell across Myles’ face as he frowned down at me.

“What are you doing out here?”

My breath caught, and I hoped I could come up with a plausible story because in the past I hadn’t been very good at lying to Myles.

“I was with Brynna, and she showed me the Valkyrie house, then she went to her parent’s cottage.”

“And where were you going? The dorm is the other way.”

I chewed my lip briefly. “I…uh…had a bracelet on this morning, but I think it came off in the sword-fighting class, and I went back to see if I could find it. My mom gave it to me for Christmas last year, and I don’t want to lose it.”

“And you thought you’d find it at night with no flashlight?”

“Well, I might. The moon is pretty bright. What do you care what I’m doing? What are you doing walking around in the dark, Mr. Inquisitor?”

“I was walking with Lana. I let her go inside first.”

I didn’t have a good response to that. So he and Lana had slipped out to take a walk.  It was pretty difficult to find a moment alone here. Wasn’t I trying to sneak off to call Eric?  Not that I’d be telling Myles that.

I turned in the direction of the dorm.

“Giving up on hunting for that bracelet?”

“I’ll do it tomorrow before we go to Key West.”

He walked beside me, the leaves on the side of the path raking against him as we went.

“Brynna says you may get invited to join some elite fighting werewolf group of guys.”

He didn’t answer, and I glanced over at him. He was staring ahead, oblivious to what I’d said.

“Myles, did you hear me?” I bumped him with my elbow.

“What…? Oh yeah, the Einherjar.  I’ve been hoping I’ll get invited, but it’s difficult to belong. You have to have talent.”

“Like you don’t.”

“Sometimes they want to be sure you’re loyal to the pack, dedicated to the Lycernians.”

“Well, you’re definitely all that. I can’t imagine why they haven’t asked you already….” He was staring straight ahead as my voice trailed off. I remembered now, the one thing that might make them hesitate, might make them question his ability to be loyal. When he was only a baby, his mother had left him and his dad to join the Fenryrians. He and his dad seldom spoke of it. But Myles had told me that his dad had been removed from the Lycernian council and would never be allowed on it again because of her betrayal. Maybe the Einherjar weren’t certain Myles could be trusted, which was pretty crazy since Myles had never even seen his mother after she’d left them. He had told me that this past summer.

“What time are we leaving tomorrow?” I changed the subject as we neared the door.

“Ten in the morning. We have a boat at our dock in the bay. It’s the fourth pier to the right of the main path.”

I nodded as we went inside, and Myles headed for the elevator while I plopped into a chair next to Lana.

She glanced back toward the elevator. “You and Myles have an argument outside?”

I frowned at her. “No, no argument. I ran into him when we were both coming inside.”