Chapter Forty Amund
I don’t let go of Edith’s hand until we’re outside a moment later.
Edith stops. She looks up at me through long lashes. My heart aches at the sight of her tearstained cheeks. Without thinking, I pull her against me, crushing her to my chest. She clings to me like she’s desperate for something to hold on to.
I’ll gladly be that for her.
She just had to confront her most painful wound.
This time, I didn’t experience anything even though I kept my eyes open.
I don’t know what she saw, but I can imagine.
I know firsthand how difficult it was to walk through that door.
So I tell her what I would’ve wanted to hear. “It’s okay. You’re okay.”
Edith chokes on a sob. “A-Amund.”
She can barely speak as a lifetime of pent-up pain pours out.
Her grief is a storm, her tears torrential.
I hold her through it all.
We weather it together.
Once she’s ready, I escort Edith back to her dorm.
She opens the door. Pauses. “You know, you can come in if you want.”
I hesitate in the hall, remembering when I first brought her here the night of Emilía’s murder. “Sure.”
I step inside, following her through the suite.
Tala is sitting on the sofa watching television with a bowl of popcorn. She jumps up as soon as she sees us, clutching a pillow to her chest and sending popcorn scattering over the floor. “Holy shit, you scared me,” she says. “Guess this is what I get for watching horror movies alone.”
Edith plasters on a smile. “Sorry.”
Tala glances between me and Edith. “Everything okay?”
Edith nods. “Yeah. Come on, Amund.”
Tala starts scooping up popcorn, but she’s eying us as Edith leads me through the common room.
Seeing Edith’s bedroom feels strangely intimate. It looks like she hasn’t fully made herself at home, like she could leave at any moment. But there are still traces of Edith everywhere. Various pictures of her and Bea taped to her wall. Books strewn across her desk. Pink satin sheets on her bed.
“Sorry it’s a mess,” Edith says.
“It’s not,” I say quickly, still looking around.
She frowns, unconvinced, and takes a seat on the bed.
“So I take it you two are going to the Unity Dance together?” Tala calls out from the living room, sounding like she’s still picking up her popcorn.
Edith’s eyes widen. “Oh. No, we aren’t.” Then more quietly she adds, “I… I already said yes to someone else.”
She must mean my brother.
I feel a stab of guilt mixed with longing. Even if I care for Edith, how could she ever love a hunter? After what happened between her parents, it would be impossible. I’m the last person she could love.
She fidgets, hesitant to meet my eyes.
I’m not mad at her. She should be with someone like Nils. He is gentle and kind. Everything I’m not, and can never be, because my father beat it out of me long ago.
Maybe I never stood a chance.
“I thought we could go as friends,” she says quietly.
Friends. Somehow, I don’t know that my brother thinks of Edith as only a friend. How could anyone? My chest aches at the thought, but I force myself to say, “Right. Of course.”
Edith worries her lower lip between her teeth. “Sorry, I—”
“I should probably go,” I tell her. “It’s late.”
“Amund…”
I shake my head. “We can regroup in Reading the Runes tomorrow. You should rest. You’ve been through a lot today.”
Edith hesitates, like she wants to say something more, but nods instead. “Yeah.”
When I leave, she doesn’t stop me.
In Reading the Runes, Edith acts normal. She takes the seat beside me, making no mention of last night. I’m grateful for that. Even if I’m still hyperaware of every movement she makes.
“Today, you’ll be analyzing runic inscriptions directly,” Mother calls out when class begins. “Each table will receive a different object. Work with your partner to identify which futhark it belongs to and translate it together.”
Edith winces when Mother places a sleek white object on our table. “Is that…”
“Bone? Yeah.”
As soon as Mother walks past, Edith turns to me. “Regroup, right? Let’s go over what we do know.”
I lean toward her, whispering against the shell of her ear so we can’t be overheard. “A seer stole Egill’s pelt nearly a month ago and has been using that pelt to go berserk. So far, they’ve killed Emilía and Idris. But we have no idea why.”
“There must be some purpose, though,” Edith murmurs, “or the killer wouldn’t be drawing the symbol.” She fiddles with the bone, turning it over in her hands. “I keep coming back to that. We know it’s a seer symbol. What does it have to do with the killings? Is it part of a ritual?”
Normally, I’d ask Father, but I’m hesitant to. He still hasn’t admitted he is a seer.
“If only we had access to real information on seers.”
“Well.” Edith looks up at me, her gray eyes gleaming. “There aren’t any in the library, but Irina has her aunt’s notebook. We could always… borrow it.”
“How would we do that?” I ask, folding my arms across my chest.
“We could break into her dorm the next time she’s working at the library. The librarian said she’d see her Thursday, right?”
“She’d realize it was us.” I pause, thinking of how I snuck into Helga’s office. “I might have another way.”
Edith leans closer. “Oh?”
“There’s an unlocking spell I can use. We can slip in, look through the book, figure out what the symbol means, and then leave with her none the wiser.”
“What if someone sees us?” Edith asks.
“They won’t. We’ll use a helm of concealment.”
Edith frowns. “Like a helmet?”
A small laugh escapes me. “No, it’s a stave,” I say slowly.
“One that conceals your presence completely, making it so you can’t be seen, heard, or even scented.
It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve used it,” I admit, shame spreading through me.
“When I thought you were the killer, I used it to follow you undetected.”
Edith blinks. “Really?”
“Not for long,” I say, averting my gaze. “I didn’t abuse it, if that’s what you’re worried about.” My cheeks burn.
“So was last night really your first time being in my room?” Edith asks, sounding playful.
I nod. “Any girl’s room.”
“Is that so?” Edith runs a hand over the runes carved on the bone.
“Well, not for long, anyway.” She gives me a teasing smile.
“Thursday that will change. After class, though. I don’t want to miss Transformation.
I really need to learn how to control my ability, especially now that my foster parents will be arriving Thursday. ”
“Of course.” I look her over slowly. The dance is happening this Saturday.
Hard to believe I’ve known Edith for nearly a month already.
It’s strange. Time has lost all meaning since I met her, like it’s been both longer than that but also less time.
It feels like I’ve always known her. “I’ll ask Val to be our lookout—”
Mother clears her throat. “What are you two whispering so intently about, hmm?” She looks between us with a shrewd smile. “Runes, I hope?”
“Of course.” Edith fiddles with the bone, turning it over. She frowns, bringing it closer to her face. “The lines are so faint, how are we supposed to read these?”
Laughing, I lean closer. “Here.”
I point to the first one: ?. “See that? It’s an r-rune. It even looks like an uppercase R in English.”
“Okay, what about this?” Edith asks, placing her finger on the next one.
“Hmm, so this is the Elder Futhark.” My shoulder bumps Edith’s as I lean closer, looking over the faint rune. “That one is the a-rune. Ansuz.”
Edith doesn’t move away. Our shoulders touch as we slowly translate rune by rune. It takes me longer than normal, since it’s hard to concentrate with Edith being so close. When we finally finish, we have the following written in runes:
??????
I frown. “I’m not sure what this means. Some kind of deer, I think?”
“That’s correct,” Mother says, standing beside our table with a pleased smile. “Roe deer, to be specific. A type of small deer in Scandinavia that’s adapted to the cold. You’re holding the deer’s talus bone, also known as the ankle.”
Edith gives a nervous laugh. “At least it isn’t human.”