Chapter Forty-Two Amund
Irina slams the door shut behind her.
Finally, I let out the breath I was holding.
Edith stirs beside me, eager to get out, but I make no move. Not until we can be certain Irina isn’t coming back. To be honest, lying beside Edith like this is… strange, even if we’re beneath a bed and not on top of one. I push that thought away quickly.
“Move,” Edith whispers.
I shush her, trying to listen as Irina’s footsteps recede down the hall.
“Come on, Amund.”
Sighing, I try to slide out from beneath the bed—but there’s one problem.
My chest is lodged against the mattress. I can’t move.
How embarrassing. I clear my throat. “Um, I think I might be stuck.”
Edith laughs. “You are joking, right? Please tell me you’re joking.”
“Unfortunately, I’m not.”
“Oh, come on.” Edith nudges me with her elbow. At first she’s gentle.
Then a lot less so. I wince as she shoves me using her berserkr strength.
It works.
“Thanks.” I climb to my feet and help Edith up.
She nods. “We should hurry and bring the book to Helga. She needs to see this as soon as possible.”
“I’ll take it to her,” I say, holding out a hand. “She tasked me with figuring out the killer. Not you.”
Edith hesitates. Hands me the book. “If she knew I was investigating this, she’d probably expel me.”
I grip the book more tightly. It’s hard for me to believe that was once my goal: to get rid of Edith. Now I hate the very thought of her leaving.
“I won’t mention you were involved. Don’t worry.”
I head straight for Helga’s office, not wasting any time. I have to do what I should have done weeks ago. She needs to know about Irina. I find myself standing in front of her door once again, but this time not to break in. I give a sharp knock instead.
“Enter,” Helga calls.
The door swings open on its own.
Helga is sitting at the desk in her chaotic office, reading by candlelight, her raven perched beside her. “Amund.” She leans forward when she sees me, her chair creaking. “Have you caught the killer?”
“Irina,” I tell her, closing the door behind me. Her raven ruffles its feathers as I near her desk. “One of the witches. She’s also a seer. Her aunt died in the Tragedy.”
“Is that so?”
“She was also Emilía’s roommate. She must have killed her because Emilía found—”
“And what is this book?” Helga asks, interrupting me.
“Her aunt’s research,” I say, handing it over to her. “The ritual she’s attempting is inside. She’s trying to summon a spirit—probably her aunt—but we aren’t clear on exactly how yet, other than it’s connected to the killings.”
Bright flames dance in Helga’s dark eyes as she reads the page.
Heavy silence settles over her office while I wait for her to say something. As uneasy as I feel, I don’t let myself look away. Helga slams the notebook shut. The flame flickers, leaping higher in the air.
“I see,” she says at last, setting the notebook aside. “Well, I believe I can offer you more insight.”
She slides the tome she was reading earlier across the desk.
My heart pounds when I see the symbol on the page. Three interlocking triangles tightly fastened together. Valknut, the caption reads. Also known as the knot of the slain, it represents life, death, and the afterlife.
“What is this?” I ask her.
“After Edith told me about the symbol she saw—and I confirmed it was on both our victims—I began to investigate myself. This is an ancient seer text, the only one of its kind still in Skallagrim. It’s part of my family’s private collection.”
“We saw the same symbol at the seer school,” I tell Helga. “At the site of the Tragedy.”
Helga doesn’t seem surprised. “Do you know its purpose, though?”
I shake my head.
“After Egill lost both his sons, he began experimenting with the darker side of his spirit power, determined to bring them back. Of course, he had one problem: He could commune with their spirits, but their bodies had already been destroyed. Boevarr drowned during a storm—his body lost to the sea—while Gunnar died of fever and was burned. So Egill devised a ritual to transfer their souls into new bodies.”
Helga opens her desk drawer and removes a slip of paper. “I’ve been busy working on translating his musings into something coherent. This is what I’ve come up with so far.”
Soul Transference
Three people must be slain: a practitioner of each branch of seier.
Every victim must be marked with the valknut.
Their entrails must then be harvested and used to fashion the valknut in order to complete the rite.
Each victim’s entrails forms its own triangle, or knot; together, they represent life, death, and afterlife.
“Wait… each branch of seier. So far only a hunter and a witch have been killed. Does that mean two more people are going to die? A berserkr and a seer?”
Helga shakes her head. “At the time this was written, there were only three branches. Hunters are more recent, a product of witch hunts that took place long after Egill died.”
“Idris is a hunter, though.”
Was, I silently correct myself.
She shrugs. “Hunter or seer, I suspect it matters not. Either would do. Seers are few and far between here, but there are plenty of hunters to pick from.”
Cold spreads through me. “If you’re right, then that would mean… a berserkr is next.”
“It would seem so.”
I think of Edith, crying and covered in blood. She’s already been targeted once. I cannot let anything else happen to her. “Then we really have to stop Irina.”
“I will handle her,” Helga says flatly. “You worry about securing the celebrations.”
I stare at her, stunned. “What?”
“The Unity Celebration must go on as planned.” Helga laces her wrinkled hands together. “Alumni and families have already started arriving from all over the world. The celebration is in two days. Canceling it now would be disastrous.”
“You aren’t going to warn everyone?” I ask, hoping I misheard her. “Until we have Irina—and the pelt—secured, a berserkr could die.”
“Many more will die if Skallagrim must shut its gates forever.” Helga sighs.
“Which will happen if anyone gets wind of this, especially our board. After the Tragedy, the school was almost forced to close. If you’re right and this ritual really is being attempted, then it’s all the more reason why we must hold the Unity Celebration. ”
“What?” I ask in disbelief.
“I’m going to announce the reopening of the seer school. It isn’t as if seers went away when the school was closed. I’m certain there are others here who share the ancient ability, not just Irina and your father. But without proper guidance and education, those powers are—”
“My father is a seer, then?”
She blinks in surprise, but then nods.
So I was right. Part of me didn’t want to believe it, even though the truth was right in front of me. His portrait stared me in the face in the cursed hallway of seers because he’s one of them.
“I-I didn’t realize that Agnar never told you.
” She shakes her head. “Well, you had better speak to him yourself. And about security at the dance as well. You and your father are responsible for ensuring the Unity Celebration goes off without a hitch. I have to raise considerable funds to rebuild the school and rid it of the spirits plaguing it.”
“Isn’t that all the more reason to bring Irina in immediately?” I ask, hands fisting at my sides.
Helga arches a gray brow. “Until recently, you believed Isaac was the killer. What makes you so certain it’s Irina? I assume you haven’t found Egill’s pelt, or else you would’ve brought that with you.”
“Who else could it be?” I ask her.
“Besides Agnar, you mean?”
I freeze. “You don’t think my father could…”
Helga shakes her head. “No, I don’t. These killings have happened under his watch, and Agnar would never do something that makes him appear so incompetent.
Besides, Agnar hasn’t used his seer powers since the Tragedy.
As much as I dislike your father, I believe he would never harm Skallagrim.
After what he witnessed, he’s dedicated his life to protecting it. ”
I nod, relieved. “I don’t think so either.”
Father seems just as determined to catch the killer as I am.
“It’s just as possible that someone else, like Irina, inherited the seer ability but concealed it from us.
” Helga leans forward, her joints creaking as loudly as her chair.
“I’ll speak with Irina myself and get to the bottom of this.
Regardless, it is your father’s responsibility to ensure no one else is harmed.
If you’re concerned, then help him do his job.
As far as anyone else knows, Idris’s death was an unfortunate accident, not part of a ritual. Understood?”
I grind my teeth.
Helga levels me with her gaze. “Do you understand, Amund?”
“Yes, Headmistress.” I force the words out.
As long as the killer is out there, Edith is in grave danger.
Forget about speaking with Father. I have to warn her immediately.