CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER NINETEENAfter two hours of solid sleep, Erin woke up and made her way to the kitchen. The actresses with an early set call were already gone. As were the lawyers, doctors, and bankers. The rest of the Crows were either practicing yoga in the backyard, going off to spin class at the gym in town, or heading off to auditions. There were a few of her sisters who liked to play with trouble and would go down to the ocean to swim or get in a little surfing. That was playing with trouble because the Claws of Ran controlled the ocean and the Claws hated the Crows.But whatever entertained them was up to her sisters. All Erin wanted to do was enjoy her orange juice and relax.That’s exactly what she was doing when Chloe stumbled into the kitchen, dropping into a chair across from Erin and placing her head on the table.“Are you okay?” Erin asked. “You look like shit.”“Thank you. That’s very kind.”“Up again yelling at your ex over the phone?”“No.” Chloe pushed her hands through her hair. “Bad night. Too many dreams, which has been going on for weeks now.” She reached over and took Erin’s glass of orange juice out of her hand.“Hey.”Chloe finished the juice in one gulp and held the glass out, jerking it a bit to indicate she wanted more.“I need my own apartment,” Erin complained.“No one’s stopping you.” Chloe finished off another glass of juice, and said, “Heard the new girl let those witches go last night.”“She did.”“And you guys allowed it?”“We did.”“You know—”“Before you go any further . . . she had good reason. Very sound logic on why we didn’t have to kill anyone.”“And what if she’s wrong?”“We’ll find out.”“Why didn’t you go back and take care of it yourself?”“Why are you so worried?”“Leigh says—”“If you start listening to Leigh, especially about Kera, we’re done with this conversation.”“What if she’s right? What if the new girl can’t kill?”“Do you know who Leigh heard that little tidbit from? Stieg Engstrom. The most useless of all the Ravens.”“And then she left, right? The new girl didn’t hang with you guys after?”“Yeah. So?”“Where did she go?”“She probably went to Rundstöm’s.”Chloe frowned. “Why?”“She likes him.”“Why?”“I can’t have this conversation with you.”“I guess there’s no accounting for taste.”Should Erin mention her leader’s incredibly unhealthy relationship with her ex? No. Probably not.“What are you worried about, Chloe? Because I’m assuming there’s a reason you’re actually talking to me.”“I’m just . . .” Chloe rubbed her forehead. “Do you dream, Erin?”“No.”Chloe slowly looked at her, dropping her hands to the table. “You never dream?”“No.”“Everybody dreams.”“I don’t.”“Has this been since your second life?”“No. It’s been that way since I was a child.”“That’s weird. And off-putting.”“I’ve been told that. Usually by my grade school’s child psychologist, Mr. Jeffries, who I tormented because I was bored and he was stupid.”“Well, I’ve been having these intense dreams. I’m not getting any sleep.”“That’s sad, but I’m not sure what that has to do with the new girl.”“I think it’s her fault.”“How can it be her fault?” Erin asked. “You said you’ve been having these dreams for weeks now.”“I said that?”“Two seconds ago.”“Oh.” Chloe glanced outside through the big picture window beside the table. “I still think it’s her fault.”Erin didn’t bother to argue, she just watched three more of her sister-Crows stumble into the kitchen and drop down at the table. They looked as exhausted as Chloe.“You know, if it’s the new girl’s fault,” Chloe went on, “I can send her to another Crow Clan. Maybe in Japan or something. And she can give them nightmares.”Erin shook her head. “Chloe, that’s stupid.”Their leader nodded. “The thing is, Erin . . . I know that. And yet I’m too tired to care.” 

“I need to teach you how to combat roll out of a landing,” Vig told Kera as he picked up his empty plate and carried it to the sink. “If you do it right . . . you can roll right into a battle stance, weapons in hand, ready to fight. Scares the piss out of people sometimes.”“I’ll worry about combat rolls when I can land on something other than my face.”Vig took Kera’s plate and also placed that in the sink. “Don’t let it get to you, Kera. I can’t tell you how many times I flew into buildings, trees, cars, before I figured out how to land properly. And let me tell you, Elder Ravens really hate when you crash-land into their Maseratis. That they just purchased the day before.”“How did the Ravens teach you to fly?” she asked. She was sitting at his kitchen island . . . naked. Sipping a glass of milk and watching him. And hopefully she was watching him because he was naked, too.“They threw me off an eight-story building. I have to say, the landing was unpleasant.”Kera’s mouth dropped open. “My God, how old were you?”He shrugged. “Thirteen . . . fourteen . . . nope. Thirteen. I was definitely thirteen.”“How is that not child abuse?”“Because we’re Ravens.”“I don’t think that’s a good enough excuse.”“That’s just how it is. They taught my father by throwing him off the Royal Opera in Stockholm.”“You know, these stories of yours do nothing but freak me out. And I have to tell you, Vig . . . I don’t freak out easily. I was stationed with a Marine who worked at a morgue in Detroit for a summer. He always had a story to tell. Yet yours still freak me out more.”“I never said being a Raven was easy.” He leaned on the other side of the island, rested his chin on his raised fist. “It’s just worthwhile. At least for me.”“How did they teach you to fight?”“Rigorous training from the day I got here. Yes, it was brutal and yes, it was worth it. But it’s been that way in my family since the first Raven was born. My ancestors still talk about surviving their training as children.”Kera’s head jerked. “You talk to your ancestors?”Ooops. He was getting too chatty. He had to be careful. There were some things that were for Vig and Vig alone to know. Okay, and sometimes his sister, but it was hard to hide anything from a Valkyrie.“Sometimes.” He finished off his glass of milk and asked a question he’d always wanted to ask. “Why did you join the Marines?”“To get away from my mother.” She said it quickly, with no pause. She didn’t have to think about it. “It was either that or get married to my high school boyfriend, but he didn’t want to move away. As a Marine, they sent me all over the place. I was stationed in bases in Japan, New York, Virginia, then my two tours in Afghanistan. I didn’t see her again until just before she died.”“What about your father?”“Former Marine. A really nice guy. Too nice. He didn’t know what to do with my mother, so he didn’t do anything. She became my problem.”“What was wrong with her?”“Lots of things. She was diagnosed bipolar with a paranoid personality disorder for added flavor. The sad thing was she really loved me, but that only made her crazier. And she didn’t like her meds because they made her feel out of sorts.”“I’m sorry.”Kera shrugged. “It’s not your fault. It’s no one’s fault really. Not even hers.” She studied her empty milk glass before announcing, “I need a job.”“Right now?”She snorted. “Soon. But I don’t know what I want to do.”“Anything you want.”“Bank robber?”“The Crows actually had a bank robber once. But she came to them after she died in a shoot-out.”“What happened to her?”“You’re on her Strike Team,” Vig said with a smile. “It was Leigh.”Kera’s mouth dropped open. “Her?”“She didn’t tell you yet? It’s usually the first thing she tells people.”“I’m just the new girl at this point.”“Don’t worry. You’ll earn your way out of that.”Kera didn’t know how true that was, but she didn’t want to bitch about it right now. Not when Vig was staring at her, a small grin on his handsome face.“You still hungry?” he asked.“Nope.”“Then get your luscious ass in the bedroom.”“Okay!” Kera spun around on the bar stool and walked toward the bedroom. She’d just reached the beginning of the hallway when she sneezed, and her wings shot out of her back, the power making her stumble. She crashed into Vig, who was standing behind her.“Not a word,” she warned him.“I didn’t say anything.”“But you were going to.”“Probably.”Kera started walking again, but Vig’s stupid house had a stupid narrow hallway that her stupid wings couldn’t get through.“Need some help?” Vig asked.“No.”“You’re going to have to learn to control your wings when you sneeze.”“Yes. I know.”“You can’t sneeze in the middle of Macy’s and let your freak flag fly.”“I said I know!” she snapped, ignoring Vig’s laughter.Kera threw back her shoulders, her wings returning to their hiding place and walked down the hall unencumbered.When Kera reached the bedroom, she turned but took several quick steps back when she saw Vig right behind her.“You don’t really have a concept of space, do you?”He grabbed Kera around the waist and tossed her onto the bed. “Not anymore. No.”