Duck, Duck, Noose Page 13

  She nodded quickly, then climbed into bed beside me.

  With a sigh, Faas strode across the burgundy carpet and latched the additional security hinge on the room’s main door and shut off the light, then returned to the window and made himself comfortable on the room’s small couch. He was around my height, 5’9”, so he fit better on the couch than Marcos would, but his legs still dangled off the end at an uncomfortable looking angle. A narrow sliver of light, not blocked by the heavy curtains, cut a vibrant line right across his face. With a groan, he put a pillow over his face and shifted until he was comfortable.

  I sighed, then nestled my head against my pillow and closed my eyes. Frode had first watch, and would wake Faas when he was ready to take his turn to sleep.

  The room was silent for several minutes, until Tallie whispered, “Madeline?”

  I opened my eyes to see she’d turned her head toward me, barely illuminated by the sparse amount of sunlight creeping into the room.

  “Yeah?” I whispered back.

  “What’s going to happen after we leave this hotel room?” she asked softly.

  The question made her seem so childlike I was almost taken aback. While I’d sensed Tallie’s fear many times, outwardly she preferred to project strength and capability.

  “We’re going to visit Estus’ Salr and do our best to get Alaric and Sophie back,” I explained quietly, though she already knew that portion of the plan. “This is just a rescue mission for now, unless we see an opportunity to do more.”

  She nodded. “Then what after that?” she whispered.

  “Then we figure out a more organized plan of attack. We’re going to do our best to flesh out our ranks. Then we’re going to take Estus down.”

  She blinked at my explanation, then nodded again. “And after that? If we manage to survive, what will happen then?”

  I sighed, wishing desperately for sleep. I had no idea how much information Tallie had gleaned during her time with us, but I saw no harm in telling her the truth, even if it was new information to her. She deserved to be prepared, and if she was going to have a problem with our plan, I wanted to know now.

  “We’re going to regrow Yggdrasil,” I explained. “It’s going to cause some chaos, but we’re going to do our best to keep everyone safe.”

  She nodded again. I didn’t sense any more fear from her than usual. “I’d heard that might be happening. I’d always thought Yggdrasil was just a myth.” She smiled. “Of course, I always thought Norns and banshees were myths too.”

  I grinned. “Me too. If you would have told me a few months ago about any of this, I would have called you crazy.”

  “Get some rest,” Faas called from the nearby couch, interrupting our small bonding moment.

  “Yes father,” I said sarcastically.

  “If Madeline doesn’t have to sleep, neither do I!” Alejandro called from the other room.

  “Smart asses,” Faas mumbled before rolling over and putting his back to the room.

  There were a few soft snickers from the other room, then silence as everyone drifted off to sleep. I appreciated the small moment of tension relief. I imagined that as soon as we woke, and the day unfolded before us, there would be little cause for further laughter, especially considering we might not even survive.

  14

  Alaric didn’t need Mara to lead him for long before he caught the scent of water. The lake had to be nearby. He wasn’t looking forward to going for a swim, but it was the only plan he could conjure. They could swim to the center of the lake to lure the creature in, where it would hopefully drown. If, on the other hand, the creature refused to enter the water, they could perhaps swim to a region that would be difficult to access by staying on dry land. Of course, there was a third option. The creature could be a swift swimmer, and they would end up in a watery grave.

  The lake came into view. There was no time to think things over. He quickly scanned the lay of the land as they approached.

  The lake was massive. A gaping, sunny hole in the middle of the dense forest, with the trees pushed back away from the shore on all sides. At one end was a tall, rocky cliff face, jutting up against the water. Perhaps a suitable area to make an escape if they were able to find proper footholds.

  His planning ended as they reached the bank. No one hesitated as their feet went splashing into the water. Moments later, once they were deep enough, they all dove in. Alaric briefly worried that Mara’s velvet dress would impede her, but she quickly outpaced both he and Sophie as they swam. There was a splash behind them as the creature entered the water. Alaric spared a second to glance over his shoulder as he swam to see the creature swimming after them with large, exaggerated strokes, creating mini tidal waves as each of its arms cut down into the water. Fuck.

  He turned forward and swam as fast as he could, knowing it would do little good. It wouldn’t take the creature long to reach them. They were approaching the middle of the lake. Nice and deep for the creature to hold them under until they drowned, if it didn’t break them in half first.

  “Be still!” Mara shouted suddenly.

  Alaric glanced forward at her in surprise. She stopped swimming, and bobbed ahead of them in the water, moving just enough to stay afloat. What the hell was she thinking?

  “Trust me!” she shouted.

  It went against every instinct he had, but he stopped swimming and did his best to float in place. Sophie stopped a mili-second later. The creature’s violent splashing continued as it neared them. Though it was able to keep itself afloat, it wasn’t a swift swimmer. Still, it would reach them in no time now that they’d stopped swimming.

  He watched in horror as it approached, fighting every instinct to flee.

  Suddenly, the creature’s splashing increased. He thought at first it had lost its rhythm, and was flailing about trying to stay afloat, then a giant tentacle shot up out of the water near the creature’s panicked face. Seconds later, another tentacle revealed itself, then two more. The deep purple skin of the tentacles pulsed with hidden muscles as they wrapped around the forest beast. The beast let out an ear-shattering scream like its lower body had been injured, then began to sink. It thrashed about, fighting for its life, but it was no use. Whatever monster dwelled beneath the lake’s surface had to be enormous to take down such a large opponent. With a final, shrill scream, the creature disappeared beneath the water as the tentacles gave a final jerk. Everything was suddenly deafeningly silent, then massive bubbles sputtered on the surface of the lake above where the creature had disappeared.

  “Float on your backs,” Mara whispered. “Make as little movement as possible as we paddle to the other side of the lake.”

  Alaric and Sophie instantly obeyed. Alaric’s heart thrummed in his head. He’d seen many terrible things in his long life. Epic battles, heinous crimes, unending violence, but nothing quite compared to the Morrigan’s summoned creatures.

  He kept his breathing steady and light while he floated on his back, making minute movements to slowly propel himself onward. His hair streamed beneath him. Hopefully the movement of the tendrils would not lure the creature, but if the theory he’d deduced was correct, it was drawn to larger movements in the water, like the thrashing paddles of the forest beast.

  They seemed to float on for hours, surrounded only by the gentle sounds of their bodies treading water. They were headed in the direction of the rocky cliffside. He wanted to ask Mara a million questions, but didn’t dare speak. Instead, he wondered what Madeline was doing in that very moment. Was she looking for him? Was Mikael keeping her safe? He smiled softly. Madeline was quite capable of keeping herself safe, but he was still glad she had the extra protection.

  In the time they’d spent with the small Viking clan, he’d even come to trust Aila, Faas, and Tabitha to protect Madeline. Hell, he even sort of trusted Tallie and Alejandro, even though they’d been their enemies not long ago. It was an odd feeling, having more people to trust than just Sophie and himself.

 
; He looked up at the sky as the clouds parted once more to reveal the sun. He would see them all again. He would get back to the future, and he would survive to meet his daughter. There was no other choice.

  I rolled over and checked the bedside clock as I awoke. 12 pm. That meant I’d gotten less than four hours of sleep, but I couldn’t afford any more rest.

  I peered past Marcos’ bed to see a vacant couch. Frode must have woken Faas at some point to take over watch duty, just as planned. I hoped they’d each at least gotten close to two hours of sleep, but knowing Faas and his tendency to worry, I doubted it.

  I forced myself to sit up, then placed my feet on the floor. Tallie made soft grunts of protest, struggling into wakefulness. I stood, glancing once again at Marcos, who had opened his eyes to look at me. He didn’t appear the slightest bit groggy, and instead watched me curiously. I turned away and headed for the small bathroom.

  I sealed myself inside and let out a long breath, reveling in the small moment of solitude. It would have been nice to take a shower, but I didn’t want to waste the time. Instead, I took a fresh white washcloth and wet it in the sink, then began scrubbing at the dirt on my face.

  I straightened my crimson sweater and brushed it off until it was as clean as it was going to get, then used the cheap, plastic encased toothbrush provided by the hotel. There was only one visible on the countertop, so it was probably selfish of me to take it, but whatever. I didn’t want to face my nemesis with stinky breath.

  I used a flimsy plastic comb on my hair, pulling it into a braid to trail over my shoulder, then looked myself over in the mirror.

  I looked pale and tired. My normally deep olive skin seemed sickly, and the giant bags under my eyes only added to the effect. Unfortunately, there was nothing to be done, and my appearance wasn’t really a high priority at that moment. I finished preparing myself and left the bathroom to find Tallie waiting for her turn. Marcos had disappeared, but Faas was waiting calmly in his place, so I assumed the necromancer was simply primping in the other bathroom.

  Faas remained seated on the edge of the nearest bed, pushing his long, blond topknot of hair out of his face. “I made a few calls,” he explained, “but there are no rental cars in the area. We could have one delivered, but it would take several hours to arrive here from Spokane.”

  I frowned. Here I was, all ready to face off against Estus, and now we were delayed by something as mundane as not having a ride.

  “I can use the banshees to travel, but I wouldn’t be able to take everyone else,” I explained tiredly. “Are there any bus or train stations nearby?” I added hopefully.

  He shook his head. “We could attempt to hire someone . . . ” he trailed off.

  I sighed. “It’s worth a shot. Either way, we need to get out of this town today. I can’t risk Estus thinking that I’m no longer coming. He’d lose his reason to keep Alaric and Sophie alive.”

  Faas looked like he wanted to say something, but clenched his jaw to keep the words from coming out.

  I took a seat beside him. “What is it?” I demanded.

  He frowned, opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again, as if unable to decide upon the correct words.

  I waited not so patiently.

  Finally, he took a deep breath and let it out. “I just want to make sure you’re prepared for all contingencies. If something ill befalls Alaric, you’ll still have people depending on you. You’ll still have the entire world depending on you.”

  I lifted a hand to rub at my tired eyes. “So you’re worried that I’ll break down and leave you all high and dry?”

  He shook his head at my blunt statement. “Don’t get me wrong, you’ve done incredibly well given the circumstances, with first being separated from Alaric, then from Mikael. You are doing just what a leader should do. You’ve continued on in spite of everything. I am simply concerned that certain outcomes may sway you from your course.”

  My palms began to sweat with nervousness, and I wasn’t sure why. I was pretty sure the worry over Alaric was slowly killing me, but he wasn’t dead. I knew it. Yet, the assurance of my intuition probably wasn’t going to be enough for Faas.

  “Alaric may be the person I care most about,” I explained evenly, “but he’s not the only person I care about, nor is Mikael. I will do my best to protect everyone here, even those I would have once considered my enemies. That’s what a Doyen is supposed to do, right?”

  Faas nodded with a now-confident smile.

  Alejandro appeared in the doorway between the adjoining rooms, leaning his shoulder casually against the trim. “Well if I wasn’t convinced about you being our leader before, I sure am now. And I don’t think transportation is going to be a problem.”

  Faas and I both turned to him in surprise.

  He grinned smugly. “The cute desk girl from last night has a van. I had mentioned that we might need a ride to Spokane, and she was more than happy to offer her services, as long as we paid for the gas.”

  My jaw fell open in shock. “And you only decided to mention this now?” I questioned in disbelief.

  He lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. “We were about to head to the cemetery to restore your phantom army. Forgive me for being a little distracted.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “Did you at least get her phone number?”

  Alejandro waggled his eyebrows at me. “I always get the phone number.”

  “And for once, it’s actually useful to us,” Tallie muttered as she emerged from the bathroom.

  She looked even more bedraggled than I felt. Deep purple marks rimmed the bottoms of her dark brown eyes, and her arms were covered with bruises, likely from her struggle to escape the initial ambush. The bruises had been hidden beneath her leather jacket the previous night, but now showed in stark contrast to her sleeveless, lilac silk blouse, now stained with dirt.

  Alejandro held out his hand. “Cell phone please.”

  I stood and retrieved my phone from my purse, which rested on the bedside table. Before handing it to him, I turned it on and called Mikael’s number. Straight to voicemail.

  Alejandro had crossed his arms while he waited for the phone. “Trying Mikael again?”

  I nodded as I approached and handed the phone to him. “You don’t happen to know Aila’s number, do you?”

  He snorted, then pulled a piece of paper from his jean’s pocket. “I didn’t even know that Aila had a phone. There’s no reason to have one for most of us. We can’t get reception inside the Salr.”

  I sighed, and laid back on the bed as he dialed the number from the piece of paper and held the phone up to his ear. “Once this is all over, we are all getting phones and exchanging numbers,” I grumbled.

  Tallie laughed. “Good luck with enforcing that.”

  I chuckled. “You Vaettir and your disdain for technology.”

  Mikael, who liked to spend much of his time above ground, was a special case. Most Vaettir only participated in human society as much as necessary. For the most part, they remained hidden within the Salr. It was law to remain separated from the humans. Didn’t want to get burned at the stake.

  Alejandro started speaking, managing to be flirtatious even over the phone. I could just imagine the girl on the other end of the line grinning. She’d probably lose that grin when she saw just who she was giving a ride to, besides Alejandro. It could be unwise to pick up hitchhikers at the best of times. Picking up passengers that looked like Marcos was just plain stupid.

  Alejandro hung up, then handed my phone back to me. I resisted the urge to dial Mikael’s number again. I wasn’t sure I could take the disappointment of hearing his generic voicemail message once again. Him not answering his phone worried me. Logically I knew he could have just dropped his phone in the struggle, and was even now wandering the woods looking for me, but I couldn’t help jumping to the worst conclusions. If Mikael was dead, our plan became twenty times more complicated, but I could admit, if only to myself, that the fluidity of our plan wa
sn’t my main concern. Mikael was my friend. Probably my best friend besides Alaric. If he died because of me, I’d never be able to forgive myself. If Mikael was dead, I’d make Estus’ death a painful one. I’d make him regret the day he had me stolen away into his Salr in an attempt to use me for his evil machinations.

  I’m not really the vengeful type, and I may not be much of a killer, but I’d make exceptions to both rules, just for Estus.

  Twenty minutes later, we all waited at the curb of the motel for our driver to show up. Alejandro had assured us that she knew just how many people she was chauffeuring, and that she was okay with it. My first thought was that this woman was completely nuts to taxi around seven strangers, but I’d just spent the evening summoning banshees with said strangers, so who was I to judge?

  Tallie tapped her foot impatiently as a large, beige van came rumbling down the road to stop in front of us.

  Alejandro waved to the woman in the driver’s seat. She seemed around thirty, with mousy brown hair styled into a shaggy bob. She lifted a dainty hand in greeting, her billowy, navy blouse draping around her upraised arm.

  Alejandro stepped forward and slid open the side door of the van, then opened the passenger door and hopped in the front, chatting happily with our driver.

  I glanced at Faas, who seemed to be questioning the road-worthiness of the van.

  His eyes moved to me. “We don’t really have a choice, do we?” he asked quietly.

  “Nope,” I replied, then turned away from him to hop into the van, feeling a bit like a teenager about to pile into a rickety vehicle with all of my friends. If only I’d been the type of teenager to pile into a rickety vehicle with all of my friends . . . if only I’d been the type of teenager to have friends at all.

  I took a seat in the middle row, feeling a bit nostalgic, but not in a bad way. It was nice when you could compare the past to the future, and have the future win on so many levels . . . even though that future entailed the father of my child being in mortal peril.