Forged in Fire (35 page)

“Be careful,” Katie said. “You’ve been a strong ally.”

“Thank you. I will do what I can. One final thing,” he said. “He seeks an artifact of great power. No one knows what, but he has a thirst for the darkest arts and will stop at nothing.”

“Oh, great. That’s helpful.”

“Tell her,” he said, urgently. “She must keep Gram from him no matter the cost.”

He hung up, and Katie sat the phone on the counter. Did he tell her anything they hadn’t already figured out? Maybe, or more likely he helped get a glimpse at the top of the puzzle box so they could begin to put some of the pieces together.

She turned off the light and went around the house to check all the doors and windows. Once she was comfortable that the house was secure, she crawled onto the couch. The kids were sleeping in a great scrum on the floor. The twins really did love Bub. Jai Li was a little to the side, but they’d made sure she had a pillow and a good portion of the blankets.

Family is family,
she thought as she closed her eyes.
We make of it what we can.

Fifty-nine

T
he morning broke bitterly cold.
T
he mountains were being pounded with snow. We were low enough to only get a couple inches. The tents held up, and my sleeping bag was toasty, but my boots were damn cold when I stamped my feet into them.

Jimmy got a fire going pretty quickly, and we huddled over it while the water boiled for coffee. Instant was fine for camping, but I really wanted to head to Monkey Shines and grab a triple-shot mocha and about two dozen crullers.

Then I thought of the young barista there who’d been murdered because of me, and the coffee turned bitter in my mouth.

“Home, soon,” Jimmy said, slinging a half a cup of coffee into the scrub. “I want to go up to that cave first.”

I froze. The cave where I’d killed the troll, where we’d found Frick and Frack. The cave where I’d killed that troll mother who was doing nothing really beyond caring for her babies.

“Why?”

“I don’t like when some beastie sets up home that close to the farm. Call it professional curiosity.”

We were pretty close this far out. Probably only a couple hours’ walk there. I shrugged. “Yeah, sure. Why not?”

We packed the camp but made sure to eat an extra large helping of my favorite oatmeal. I loaded it down with our remaining dried fruit and plenty of sugar. It would provide enough calories to see us through the cold morning.

The woods were thick, and the air absorbed sound. I didn’t remember it being this quiet the last time through here, but I’d been focused on catching the troll on the way up and trying not to fall over on the way down.

I knew there was something wrong before we got to the clearing. Jimmy stopped when I held up my hand. There was a taint in the air. Not quite a smell. More like a feeling.

I squatted down on the trail and looked through the trees. I could see the cairn across the snow-covered clearing. There were no real signs of disturbance, but the runes in my hairline began to itch.

Jimmy squatted down next to me. “I don’t see anything.”

I cocked my head to the side and picked up a stone. He watched me with an amused expression on his face as I tossed it toward the cairn. Nothing happened. Maybe I was just feeling guilty.

We stood, drew weapons, and entered the clearing. My senses were alert, pinging. “There’s something here,” I said, turning slowly. “Or there was.”

He had a long sword in one hand, the one from the battle way back, when the troll under that cairn and her friends had invaded the farm.

“If anyone’s been here,” he said, glancing around, “the snow’s buried any trace.”

I grunted and approached the cave cautiously. Inside, the invasion was apparent. We’d left the place in good shape. Things as packed away as they could be, bed put together, even the wood stacked neatly for future fires.

Now it was a disaster. The bed had been scattered, the furniture smashed, and the fire pit scattered about.

“Someone searched the place,” Jimmy said. “Kids, maybe?”

He didn’t look like he believed it any more than I did.

“Maybe.” I walked to the back and saw something. A handprint burned onto the wall of the cave. “Someone with power, it seems,” I said, passing Gram in the air before the mark. A spark like static electricity jumped from the handprint to the blade, sizzling and popping for a split second, before dissipating. The print faded as I watched.

“Residual magic,” Jimmy said, watching from several feet away. “Someone was loaded for bear, and must’ve stumbled or something, braced themselves against the wall there.”

“Gee, and how’d you figure that?”

He looked hurt. “Hey, I know stuff. I don’t just sit on my ass all the time. Since my parents left, I’ve read a bunch of stuff, you know…” He blushed. “Spell books.”

“Something else you never told Katie?”

His face got stony. “I can’t use magic,” he said. “I also can’t build airplanes, but I know how they work.”

I laughed. “Don’t get your knickers in a twist. I was just commenting.”

The rest of the place was without magical residue, at least as far as we could tell. I didn’t like the fact that someone had been up here, because I thought I had a pretty good idea who.

“You don’t think Justin and his evil minions could get onto the farm, do you?”

“Nope,” he said, confident. “That’s what the barrier is for. No one gets in and out without me knowing it. Perimeter sets off an alarm. Loud thing, sounds like an air-raid siren.”

We scouted the place for another hour but, in the end, had to give it up. Jimmy was satisfied and promised to send a squad back up here to secure the place—whatever that entailed. And then we trudged back down the mountain.

So Jimmy was studying magic. But he couldn’t do any himself. That was good to know.

We got back to the fence and wrapped the last seven posts just after dark. I was relieved to hike the final quarter mile back to the farmstead. When we crossed that last rise and saw the house I had to take a minute to enjoy the view. From up here, near the road east of the place, I could see the big house with smoke pouring out of both chimneys. The barn and barracks also hung heavy with wood smoke. The fields on all sides glowed white with the snow. It was beautiful. Not because we’d just donated a lot of blood—and sore digits—to secure the perimeter, but because that’s where our families were. Those we loved.

A wave of grief rose in me, and I coughed to cover the sob that had burst out of me. God I missed my family. My eyes burned, and the scene before me blurred as tears betrayed me to the cold day.

Jimmy made himself busy retying his boots, but I wasn’t convinced. I let out a deep sigh and scrubbed my face.

“You still miss your parents?” I asked when I could breathe without crying.

“Every day,” he said, standing. He kept his hands in his jacket pockets and watched the homestead. “I wake up some nights sure they’ve come home. But they never do.”

“So you think they’re alive?”

He shrugged. “No one knows. I believe it, though. Katie seems to have accepted that they’re gone. I can still feel my father’s hands on my shoulders when things get tough.” He sniffed loudly and cleared his throat. “When Deidre was in the hospital and I was alone in the house for the first time since they’d gone, I woke up thinking I smelled mom’s perfume. I know it’s crazy, but I was so damn sure of it.” He scuffed the snow with his boots. “What about you?”

I pulled off my wool hat (that I knitted) and ran my hand through my hair. “All the crap that’s been going down lately has got me thinking I need to reconnect, learn to forgive some, ya know?”

He looked up at me, his face set. “I’d cross heaven and hell to find them,” he said. “If they were just in another town, no matter how boneheaded I thought they were being, I’d be there with them. And don’t you have a little sister?”

I nodded, feeling the heat rise in me. He’d sacrificed everything for Katie. I knew his answers there. “Megan,” I said. “She’s fifteen. I miss her the most, I think.”

“Well, best you’re not close to them now, not with that crazy bastard out there. They’re probably safer for it.”

He was right. They were better off with me not in their life, and that hurt. I put my hat back on, adjusted my pack, and cleared my throat.

“Let’s go back now, huh?”

“Oh, yeah,” he said, pulling his pack tight and heading down the hill. “Duty is critical, but I want to see my woman.”

“Me, too.” Both of my girls were waiting for me. I knew Jai Li was going to break my heart someday. But for now, I could share my life with her.

Sixty

E
veryone was thrilled when we got home.
B
ub even hugged me. Frick and Frack just loved all the excitement. Jai Li had gone suddenly shy. Katie gave me a shrug when Jai Li stood off, arms crossed over her chest.

I went to her and knelt down. “Hey, kiddo. You miss me?”

She shrugged and turned her head, but Bub nudged her from behind.

“Did you have a good time while I was gone?” I asked.

“Give it to her,” Bub said.

I looked up, and Katie shook her head and shrugged, again.

Jai Li ran into the living room and pulled a piece of paper out from under a stack of blankets and pillows; then she ran back and handed it to me.

I unfolded a picture of Jai Li standing and holding both my hand and Katie’s. Around us was a big flowery heart.

“It means she loves you,” Bub said, smug as can be. “She let me help.”

There was a distinct difference in the work Bub had done and the work Jai Li had done. Together it looked like something a six-year-old Picasso would’ve done.

I reached out and hugged her. “Thanks, kiddo.” Before he could get away, I pulled Bub in as well, hugging them both. “You’re both pretty amazing.”

Frick and Frack toddled over and fell against us, and we all tumbled to the ground, laughing. Jai Li had a sweet laugh, which seemed to surprise her. I bet she didn’t laugh a lot at Nidhogg’s place. Not tolerated.

Funny how quickly she’d found her way into my heart. If we didn’t end up keeping her, I wasn’t sure what I’d do. Move on, I guess. But I didn’t want to find out.

Jimmy hit the showers first and then unpacked his gear while I showered. Katie didn’t join me, which was a relief and a disappointment. I’m not sure if I could’ve handled it with the kids in the house.

By the time I was dressed in clean clothes, Katie had whipped up soup and sandwiches. I sat down with Jai Li on one side and Bub on the other. Deidre and Katie had Frick and Frack in high chairs pushed up against the table, and Jimmy carried a big pot of cheese and beer soup to the table. That and several loaves of homemade bread and a gallon of fresh coffee had me feeling warm again for the first time in days.

“Good food,” Jimmy said, pushing back from the table. “Makes me want to take a nap.”

“Go ahead,” Katie said. “We’ll take the kids out to play in the snow, let you get some shut-eye.”

Deidre winked at Katie and faked a pretty big yawn.

By the time we had the kids bundled up to go out, Deidre was practically shoving us out the door.

“Keep your pants on,” I said as she nudged me with her wheelchair.

“Not likely,” she said under her breath.

Katie laughed, and we headed out into the snow.

The troll babies had pretty thick skin and didn’t seem to mind the cold. Jai Li was hesitant at first, having likely never seen snow in real life. I wanted a full rundown from Qindra someday. I was willing to bet everything I had that Jai Li had never set foot out of that house before she ran away to find me and rescue Qindra.

We managed to build a snowman and a snow fort before the kids began to flag. Bub entertained the kids by melting the snow in his hands, on his head, even with his feet. He didn’t actually burst into flame as I’d seen before, but he definitely was burning hotter than the rest of us.

While the kids frolicked, Katie told me about Rolph’s call. No surprise that Jean-Paul had his talons in this necromancer bullshit. He had been a foul little dragon. Just made me want to kill Justin all the more. And I’d be damned if I was hiding from the bastard. He could have Gram when he could pry her from my cold, dead hands. Gram wasn’t made to be hidden. She was all action.

After an hour and a half, Katie called a moratorium on snow and directed us all back into the house. “They’ve had enough time for a nap,” she said, stomping the snow off her boots. “My ass is cold.”

I know we had to sound like a herd of buffalo heading back into the house, but neither Jimmy nor Deidre stirred. We got the kids changed into dry clothes and plopped them down at the table with hot chocolate and cookies.

“I’m kinda beat myself,” I said, yawning. “I could use a nap.”

Katie looked at me, serious and sultry. “You’ll get your nap later.”

“Okay.” I think I had a pretty good idea that Jimmy just wanted to sleep, but Katie and Deidre had changed the meaning of the word “nap” while I was gone. I’m sure it would be good for me, but I went and lay down on the couch anyway.