Chapter Seventeen Edith
“Irina should be in the library,” Nils says. Rain droplets roll down his umbrella, forming a curtain around us. “She doesn’t just work there—she practically lives there.”
He continues talking, but I’m barely paying attention. I keep thinking about Bea.
Nils stops. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, just… I’m worried about my sister.” I sigh. “She’s already made friends here.” Unlike me, I don’t add. “I’m happy for her, but I’m worried one day she won’t need me anymore.”
“She’ll always need you,” Nils says with conviction.
My throat feels thick, and I struggle to swallow. “What if that changes?”
“It won’t.”
He isn’t just talking about me and Bea, is he?
I worry my lip between my teeth. “But you and your brother…”
“Amund didn’t choose me,” Nils says. “You’ll always choose your sister, won’t you?”
“Of course.”
Something in Nils’s expression shifts. He looks… almost sad, but then it quickly disappears. “Then you have nothing to worry about.”
My eyes ache. “Thank you, Nils.”
“Of course. What are friends for?”
Friends. I smile at that. Maybe making friends isn’t so impossible for me either.
As we continue toward the witch campus, more and more girls are staring at me.
Is it because they can tell I don’t belong here, or because I’m with Nils?
He’s cute, even if he’s not my type. Since he’s one of the only guys enrolled in this track, I figured he’d be one of the most popular students among the witches by default.
I catch a few girls eying him with interest.
“Hey, Irina.” Nils approaches a girl with a brown bun and large, rounded glasses that slip down her nose as she struggles to balance her umbrella and a ton of books. “Need some help?”
Irina gives a defeated smile. “Is it that obvious? I was just on my way to the library.”
“Not surprised.” Nils takes the books from her with his free hand, only to falter himself. “Jeez, Irina. Are these made of iron?”
“I know, right? They’re a lot heavier than they look.”
Now Nils is the one struggling to hold them all.
“Let me help,” I offer, taking half the stack. Except… the books are surprisingly light. “What? These hardly weigh anything.”
Nils and Irina exchange a look. “Berserkir.”
I blink, still not used to my own strength since I started to awaken.
Irina sighs. “Why doesn’t she carry them all?”
Nils’s arms strain as he struggles to hold the books along with his umbrella. “No, I got this.”
He very clearly does not.
“I don’t mind. You needed to talk to Irina, right?” I gently remind him.
“Right,” Nils says, but he doesn’t hand over the books. He turns to face Irina. “Was Emilía acting odd recently?”
Irina’s eyes widen. “Have you heard from her?”
My mouth twists. I can’t help it.
Even Nils’s expression shutters. “No, I haven’t.”
Irina senses the shift immediately. “She was mauled, wasn’t she? By a berserkr, right?”
“What?” I stop in my tracks. “Why would you think that?”
“I… I had a dream a few nights ago.”
Irina suddenly clamps her mouth shut. It makes me wonder if it was anything like the nightmare I had about Emilía’s murder. But why would Irina dream about that? I was the one who found her body. Helga made it clear not to tell anyone, so how would Irina even know there was an attack?
Nils narrows his eyes. He’s suspicious of her too.
“What? I’ve been practicing for my Dreams and Divinations class.” Irina rubs her arm like the uncomfortable silence is getting to her. “At first I feared it was a premonition, but when I didn’t hear anything about it, I chalked it up to a nightmare. Figured she was staying with a friend, but…”
I pause. “Actually, Irina—”
“Emilía is missing,” Nils interrupts quickly.
I stare at Nils, trying to hide my surprise.
Why is he lying about this? He knows damn well Emilía is dead.
“Oh…” Irina covers her mouth. “Uh, then ignore everything I just said. I probably sounded unhinged.” She gives a half laugh, but the frown stays on her face.
I wince. Maybe I should tell her the truth, but… Nils clearly doesn’t think it’s a good idea. He must be trying to protect me. Or Irina. Who knows what it would do to her? Especially if she really did witness what happened to Emilía in her dream.
I know firsthand how traumatic that can be.
I also know how awful it feels to be lied to. To be told what you saw didn’t really happen. I was so angry when I found out my social worker Helly was lying to me for most of my life.
But if I want to find out who killed Emilía, I can only do that at Skallagrim.
If I’m sent home, I’ll be separated from Bea.
I’ll go to jail.
“Yeah, so we’re trying to help find her,” I say weakly, thinking of Emilía lying in the grass, unmoving.
I hate myself for having to lie to her roommate, but now that Nils did, I can’t contradict him.
He’s the only person who believes I’m innocent, and I need his help if I want to find out the truth.
Irina frowns. “Did you know Emilía?”
“She gave me a tour a few days ago.”
“Oh,” Irina says, nodding. “I don’t think I’ve seen you before, actually. Are you new?”
Nils laughs. “Surprised you’d notice, Irina. You always have your face buried in a book.”
She turns to him, pouting. “So what? I love to read.”
“I can tell,” I mumble, lifting the stack of books in my arms. I don’t know how far we are from the library, but we need to find out a lot more about Emilía. As we walk through the quad, the back of my neck prickles. It feels like someone is following me—just like the night of the attack.
I glance over my shoulder, but the walkway has cleared out.
How strange.
“How were things with Emilía?” Nils asks Irina.
“Fine, you know. We aren’t really that close or anything. And actually, I started seeing even less of her lately. Sometimes she wouldn’t show up for class, which wasn’t like her.”
Nils adjusts his grip on the books. “Did Emilía seem stressed out or different from usual?”
“I guess so.” Irina shrugs. “She’s been really busy helping prepare for the Unity Celebration. When she’s not doing that, she’s been spending time on the student council or studying, so I haven’t seen much of her the last few days.” Her voice is dripping with resentment.
Right. The Unity Celebration. Jim and Patricia will be visiting Skallagrim for it. Not only have I not made a dent in getting my powers under control, but now I’m suspected of murder. I gulp. I have to prove I didn’t do this, and soon.
By the time we reach the library, we still haven’t learned anything helpful. And what started as a drizzle is turning into a downpour.
Irina flings the door open, and we hurry inside.
As Nils and Irina shake out their umbrellas, I look around in awe.
The library is like nothing I’ve ever seen before.
It’s beautiful. Bookcases so tall they reach the high ceiling.
The stacks are towering, as lofty as buildings.
I can’t imagine how many tomes must be held here, or how anyone can access them all.
The smell of mildewed pages and old leather fills my nose.
“Wow.”
Irina grins, looking a little sheepish. “This is my favorite place on campus.”
“We know.” Nils huffs a laugh, hefting the books onto the first table he can. He sounds winded, slightly out of breath. “Whew.”
“Thanks again for your help,” Irina says as I set down the ones I’m holding too. “I had to drop these off before my shift starts.”
“I guess she doesn’t know anything useful,” Nils says quietly to me as Irina starts to check her books back in. “Maybe we can catch one of Emilía’s friends in the study hall.”
“Sounds good.”
We head for the door.
“Wait,” Irina calls out. “There is something maybe you should know.” When we turn around, she’s chewing her lip. “I think Emilía might’ve been seeing someone new—”
“Who?” Nils and I ask at the same time.
Irina shakes her head. “She refused to tell me. Kind of like you’re not telling me the truth, either, are you?
” She gulps. “What I saw… Emilía… that really happened, didn’t it?
It can’t be a coincidence that she disappeared shortly after I had that dream, and now a few days later, you two show up asking odd questions. ”
I hesitate, but as Nils opens his mouth to speak, I cut him off with “I’m sorry, Irina.”
Nils casts me a look, but I shake my head. She deserves the truth.
Irina stares down at the table. “I knew it. Somehow I knew that dream was real.”
“That wasn’t a dream; it was a premonition.” Nils puts his hand on Irina’s shoulder. “Did you see who attacked her?”
“No,” Irina says, hugging her arms tightly.
“I saw it through her eyes, as if I was her. There was a sense of urgency, though, I remember that. She was late to see someone. She was hurrying, and then a berserkr attacked her.” She covers her mouth with her hands.
“Her stomach was ripped open—her intestines… I’m going to be sick. ”
Irina pushes up from her seat and races off, disappearing between the stacks.
Nils looks pretty sick himself. “Is what she said consistent with what you saw?”
My stomach turns as I recall the gruesome sight. “Yeah. The injuries Irina described…” I can’t bring myself to finish. Emilía wasn’t just killed. She was ripped open. Even though Irina somehow knows all the details, she can’t be responsible. Only a berserkr could have committed this crime.
Nils pats my shoulder. “If Emilía was on her way to meet someone secretly… looks like we have our first suspect.”
I chew on one of my cuticles. “But how do we find out who it was?”
Nils sighs. “Her friends might know.”
“Emilía definitely would,” Irina says, reappearing behind us. “We can ask her ourselves.”
“I’m sorry, what?” I exchange an uncertain look with Nils. “How are we supposed to do that?”
“I’d like to know too,” Nils adds.
Irina’s gaze is hard and resolute. “We’re going to perform a séance.”
Irina takes us to her dorm room in Freyja Hall. As soon as we’re inside, she heads for her desk, grabbing one of her many books, and starts searching through it.