“Consumed?” My throat tightened around the word.
Dad grabbed my hand. “I won’t have you upsetting Haley with this nonsense.”
Katrin glared at him. “Better for her to be upset and alive. What you need to know, Haley, is that you’re one of Hallgerd’s daughters, too. And while the spell should have ended with your mother, it hasn’t. I don’t understand why, but the power Hallgerd called upon is with us still. You felt the earthquake yesterday. I think the problem may be—there’s a coin that Hallgerd used to cast her spell. And that coin hasn’t been found.”
My hand fell limp in Dad’s hold. My stomach did a little flip.
“It’s possible,” Katrin said, “that the coin was consumed as well, but—”
“No. It wasn’t.” I drew my hand free and reached into my pocket. I was only a little surprised to feel warm metal there. Sweat trickled down my neck. I’d thrown the coin away—in my room, and by the water, too. Somehow it always found me again.
I pulled it out and set it on the table. The symbol on it looked a little like the symbols in Katrin’s notebook.
Katrin’s shoulders stiffened. She grabbed my hands, not noticing the scars there. “You’re unharmed?”
I nodded, frightened by her intense gaze, feeling a headache starting up. I forced myself to focus on Katrin’s words.
“The coin must be returned to Hallgerd, at Hlidarendi in the east, where she used to live,” Katrin said. “Thorgerd—that’s Hallgerd’s daughter—left instructions for her descendants, and they were very clear on this point. Perhaps the spell will not be done until we follow those instructions. There’ve been too many small quakes this past year, and the pattern they form is unsettling. Yet if we return the coin, maybe the pattern will be ended.”
“Enough.” Dad’s chair scraped the floor as he shoved it back. “Amanda ran away.” Did I think his voice was quiet before? It had been loud compared to how softly he spoke now. “We fought, and she ran, and no one knows what happened next. I’ll regret that fight—and other things, too, Katrin—for the rest of my life, but there was no magic involved.”
I stared at the coin, afraid it would find its way back into my pocket if I dared look away. Katrin picked it up, then dropped it as if burned. The coin clattered to the table. “You’ll have to carry it,” she said, frowning. “We should go now. I don’t know how much time we have, but I’ll do what I can to save you from your mother’s fate.”
“Bullshit.” Ari threw his menu down. He looked furious. “You use magic as an excuse for everything. Tell Haley what really happened.” He glanced at Dad, then back to his mom. “Tell her the real reason neither of you followed Amanda when she ran.”
I looked at Katrin. “Wait—you were there?”
“That’s enough, Ari,” Dad said.
“It is not enough!” Ari said. “I cannot believe you did not tell her.”
“Tell me what?” The stomach-clenching, I-don’t-want-to-know feeling returned, stronger than yesterday.
Katrin said something to Ari in Icelandic. It sounded like a warning.
Ari answered her in English. “Yes, well, if you and Gabe had kept your hands off of each other, maybe Amanda would not have run.”
“What?”
Dad let out a breath and sank down into his seat. Katrin said something sharp in Icelandic and pointed to the door.
Ari answered her in Icelandic this time, his scorn clear enough. “I am sorry, Haley,” he said to me in English. “But it is not sorcery I am sorry for.” He grabbed his leather jacket and notebook and stalked out.
I looked from Katrin to Dad. My chest felt tight. “Is it—” The words stuck in my throat. “Did you—”
Dad shut his eyes. He looked utterly, completely lost.
The room felt too hot, too close. I didn’t care how lost Dad felt, not if he—but he couldn’t have—he wouldn’t have. I stood, grabbing my own jacket and backpack as I did.
“Haley,” Katrin said. “Until the coin is returned, you remain in danger. Hallgerd’s spell could consume you yet.”
“You—” I couldn’t get enough air. I couldn’t stand to even look at her. Had she and Dad really—I whirled away and bolted down the hall, pulling on my jacket as I did.
“Haley!” Katrin shouted, right across the restaurant. “You must never run from magic!”
I burst out the door and across the hotel parking lot. Sun shone off the asphalt as I ran, pack bumping against my shoulders. Katrin ran after me, Dad close behind. I didn’t slow down. If I ran, I didn’t have to think—about Mom, about magic, about Dad and Katrin. My sneakers crunched as I turned onto a gray gravel path. The gravel gave way to dirt, and gray geese flew up from the river to my right. Ahead of me I saw the blocky walls of the rift valley outlined against a bright blue sky. Dad and Katrin both shouted after me, but they were too slow. Their voices quickly faded.
Gulls flew in circles high above. The path sloped uphill, through green grasses. I’m running now, Dad. Are you happy? Anger made my eyes sting. The coin flared hot in my pocket, though I’d left it on the table.
“Haley!” a woman’s voice called, somewhere inside me. Had that voice cast a spell that consumed my mother, like Katrin had said, or had Mom really just run away because she knew that Katrin and Dad—
I ran faster, breathing hard, up some stairs and past the tourists at the Law Rock. By the drowning pool, Ari was scowling into the water. Anger pulled me past him, up the trail and toward the waterfall. I heard more words in my head, but they weren’t in English, and I couldn’t understand them. The pulling grew stronger. My anger burned hotter.
Fear trickled down my spine. I tried to stop running; my feet didn’t listen. A pair of small birds flew out of my path. I heard the rush of the waterfall, but I couldn’t slow down.
“Haley! I’m angry at them too, yeah?” Ari sounded very far away. He panted, as if he was running after me.
I reached the rocks and felt the cold spray of the waterfall. The pulling urged me around behind the stones, toward a dark cave within them. A raven cried out. Hot wind began to blow, and the scent of sulfur tinged the air.
The fear grew like fire beneath my skin. The cave mouth drew closer. I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t even turn around. I grabbed on to the stones. I couldn’t turn back, so instead I tried climbing upward—anything to avoid going around the rocks and into that dark cave. The pulling fought me, but not as hard. I kept climbing, my sweaty hands sliding against the stone.
The voice inside me began yelling. My headache flared sharper. Down below, Ari called after me. I couldn’t hear his words above the water. I could only keep climbing the slick rocks. Water soaked through my jeans and jacket, but I wasn’t cold—I was stiflingly hot.
The world spun and went dark. I smelled smoke and the sour stench of old meat. I blinked my eyes open and found myself crouched in a dim cave. Long hair fell around me like a veil. I squeezed my eyes shut. The girl climbing the rocks seemed a distant vision. The ground trembled beneath me, a low murmur that began to build.
I didn’t dare open my eyes. I knew when I did the vision would be gone, and I would be the long-haired woman in the cave.
Hot wind stroked my cheek. I jerked away from that burning touch. As I did, my sweaty fingers lost their grip on the stones, and I returned to my own body with a jolt. I was falling, falling—I reached for the rocks and missed. I screamed, even as fog filled the air. A hand grabbed at my pack and fell away. Cold wind whistled past my ears; wings beat the air. I braced for the pain that would take all other thoughts away.