"I would be happy to come with you—" Magda said a few minutes later.
I held up a hand to stop her. She sighed and gave me the keys to the compact rental car.
"It's safer this way. Safer for everyone," I said as I got into the car, accepting the map she shoved through the open window.
"Sometimes being safe sucks."
"Yeah, I know. Everyone in?"
Magda looked around in surprise. We were at a tiny garage connected to the house, apparently alone. "Your ghosts?"
"Yes." I glanced in the rearview mirror. There was nothing to be seen, but I could feel the presence of my ghostly friends. They must have been packed in as one solid mass.
"You're standing on my foot!" Dagrun complained. "Mother, Old Agda is on my foot!"
"Hush, child," Ingveldur scolded her daughter.
Agda cackled.
"You can stay behind if you like," I told the unseen teen.
"And miss seeing the vampires kill you? I don't think so."
"No one is going to kill anyone," I said grimly, starting the car.
"So you hope," Magda said, calling after me as I pulled out, "I'll be waiting to hear what happens!"
I waved a hand at her, and drove out of town.
The map that Magda had given me was not very helpful, and I took wrong turns three times before I stopped asking my ghostly friends for directions since it was sadly apparent that they didn't get out of the village much. It seemed like hours had passed before I finally pulled off to the side of the road and considered a sign that bore a ruins symbol, and an arrow pointing to the left.
"I think that's it. Ulfur certainly should have had time to get here. Everyone still all right?"
"No," Dagrun answered.
"We're fine, child," Ingveldur said at the same time. "The ride has been very interesting."
I glanced at my watch. "And a lot longer than I thought. All right, let's hope we made it here in time."
We pulled off the road and bumped our way down a graveled track that had some serious potholes. Ahead of us loomed an inky black expanse of forest, one of the few ancient woods left standing in Iceland. I remembered reading a note in the guidebook that said this spot had long been avoided by locals as being enchanted, thus the trees were preserved when pretty much all the other forests had been decimated.
No sign of the ruins was visible through the trees, but that didn't surprise me. The sun was sinking fast on the horizon now, the sky taking on that strange twilight appearance that was vaguely unsettling.
We arrived at last at a small shaded clearing. "I hope those belong to Frederic and his Brotherhood buddies rather than the vamps," I said, noting the three other cars in the tiny dirt parking area. Two bore Icelandic plates, another had a small rental tag on the bumper.
"Can we get out now?" a distressed voice asked.
"Sure, Hallur. Everyone out, but stay in low-watt mode until we see if the vamps are here."
I shivered as we followed a path that led into the woods. Immediately, we were enveloped in a heavy gloom that seemed more than just visual—it was as if the trees themselves were warning us to turn back, despair dripping heavily from their branches.
"OK, this is creepy," I said, rubbing my arms. "Is anyone else feeling this?"
"Yes," Ingveldur answered. Her voice was subdued. "This is a haunted place, Pia."
"Haunted with other ghosts, you mean?" I looked around as we picked our way down the path. The trees were pretty solid here, not allowing much light to penetrate their stiff branches. The scent of pine mingled with the slightly acidic odor of damp earth. "I don't see anyone else."
"She means haunted by the spirit of place," Agda said in her dry, somewhat wheezy voice. "There are spirits here, ancient spirits, going back many generations."
I could believe it. I'm not normally someone who gets creeped out easily, but this wood, with its tall, black trees and somber atmosphere, was having an effect on my nerves. Silence hung heavily, like a dark cloud overhead, muffling the noise I made walking on dead pine needles. No other noise reached me, no rustling in the undergrowth of small animals, no night-bird sounds, not even so much as the whine of a gnat. "Maybe we should go back and look for another way to the ruins…"
"There," Ingveldur said. I stopped and looked around, finally seeing what she must have seen. A patch of the path ahead of us was lit with an amber glow that was the filtered midnight sun. I hurried forward, relieved to be out of the dark woods. The path turned and wound around a small mound, the top of which was crowned with a few crumbling bits of stone.
"The ruins at last. All right, everyone stay on your toes and watch for vampires. And for heaven's sake, if you see anything that looks like an opening to Ostri, let me know."
I left the path and was just moving to a tree with the intention of using it to shield me until I saw if there were any guards posted, when a hand clamped down on my face, causing me to simultaneously shriek into the hand and jump, twisting as I tried to free myself.
"Hush, love, it's just me," a man's voice spoke in my ear as another arm wrapped around me like steel.
"Alec?" I whispered when the hand had been removed from my mouth.
"It's a Dark One!" one of the ghosts said. "Should we stop him, Pia?"
"No, it's fine," I said quickly, turning in his arms.
Alec frowned down at me in question.
"Sorry. My ghosts are acting as bodyguards tonight. What are you doing here?"
"Finding you," he answered. "Why did you leave me? And what are you doing here?"
Suspicion tinted his words.
"I'm not here to destroy you or any of your friends, if that's what you think," I said quickly, speaking softly so as to avoid further detection. "Are all of you here?"
"No. Kristoff discovered you were gone. He thinks you've gone to join the reapers, and went off to stop you."
"Alec…" I hesitated, unsure of what I could say to convince him of my motives. "I have gone to join them, at least in the sense that I want them to complete the ceremony. No, listen to me for a minute—I know you guys don't want me to have power. But I just don't believe that if the ceremony is completed, I'll become some uncontrollable vampire-killing machine. There has to be a certain amount of me involved in the whole thing, if you know what I mean. And I don't accept the Brotherhood's story that all vampires are evil and should be destroyed. I am confident that no matter what, I will be able to control myself and not be some brainless tool."
He was silent for a moment, his arms like steel bands around me.
"You've seen other Zoryas," I pointed out, pleading with him to understand. "Were they uncontrollable? Or did they consciously use the power granted them?"
His arms relaxed somewhat. "They seemed very much in control."
"Exactly. Mattias was just trying to convince everyone that they were doomed. I think he's pissed at me because I wouldn't take him seriously as a husband, and he probably wants a wife who doesn't see both sides of the picture."
"The council will not understand, even if I do," he warned, loosening his hold more. I stepped out of it. "They will not hesitate to destroy you should they see that you bear the true power of a Zorya."
"Then we just won't let them see," I said softly. "Where are they?"
"No idea. They were following the Zenith last I heard, then Kristoff and I discovered your note, and he ran off to find you. I had to stay at the house in case the Zenith showed up, but when it was clear he wasn't headed there, I left to find you."