“It’s witches, Lottie. Do it, now. Do you have the kids with you? Tell Nils to lock the place down.”
A cold wave of fear crashed through Lottie. “Aksel and Elise are with Mrs. Enstad. She was supposed to bring them here, but…” She swallowed, bile rising in her throat. “They’re late, Eiric.”
“Fuck!” The horn blared again. “Stay where you are. I’m calling Magnus and my mother, and we’ll get there as soon as possible. Don’t go anywhere alone, Lottie.”
She hurried into the kitchen and hustled past a startled cook. Grabbing a fistful of salt from the container on the counter, she made a white circle in one corner of the room and dumped the pouch and its contents in it.
“I’m sorry,” she mouthed to the man who was staring at her like she’d lost her mind. “Eiric told me to do this.”
Hoping that would be enough for him to leave the pouch alone, she raced back out again.
“Hey, are you still there?” Eiric’s voice came through the phone.
“Yes,” she panted. She was out the door of the Sverdfisk and across the parking lot already. Five more minutes, and she’d be at home if she kept this pace.
“Where are you?” he asked.
She didn’t answer. She’d hate to lie to him, and he’d specifically told her not to go searching for her kids. But how could she not?
“You’re headed home, aren’t you?” He cursed, some vile Norwegian word she couldn’t decipher exactly. “I’m begging you, stay safe and let us handle this.”
“I can’t,” she gasped. “I’m sorry, Eiric.”
He started to say something else, but Lottie ended the call. She needed her breath to run, not talk. Every second that passed meant another moment that something terrible could happen to Aksel and Elise. So she put on another burst of speed and headed down the road to Mrs. Enstad’s house. Terrifying, anguished fear grew with every step. If anyone touched her babies, there would be hell to pay.
Fourteen
Eiric
“Fuck!”
Eiric slammed his hand on the steering wheel, then gripped it tight, swerving around yet another slow-moving car on the coastal road from Ålesund to Brundal. Of all the days, this had to happen today, when he wasn’t present to protect Lottie and the kids.
He’d finally arranged a meeting with the security company to view the footage from the gas station down the road from the Sverdfisk, and what he’d found was disturbing. Mikkel’s death had definitelynotbeen an accident, and a powerful witch was responsible for it.
But worry over Lottie now possessed his every thought. Was it the same witch, targeting her? Or the kids?
And of course she wouldn’t listen to him and stay safe at the restaurant. His gut roiled with fury at the witch who had dared to mess with his family. Not just Mikkel, but Lottie, too. She was a part of him, regardless of where she chose to raise her children.
He punched his mother’s phone number into the brand-new device—he hadn’t taken the time to program anything into it apart from Lottie’s number.
His mother didn’t answer. Sea dragons in general weren’t known for being slaves to technology, since technology had a tendency to break when introduced to the sea. His mother might have gone for an evening swim or maybe she was just visiting someone in the village and had left her phone at home—the result was the same: Eiric had no way of reaching her.
Panic clawed at him. If anything happened to the little ones…
Taking a deep breath, he recalled Magnus’ number and said a prayer to all the gods that his brother would answer after that awful fight. They hadn’t talked yet, though Eiric knew they both needed to apologize.
“Yes?” Magnus’ deep voice filled the car.
“A witch is threatening Charlotte and the kids,” Eiric said without a greeting. “She found a cursed sachet and might have been put under a spell. And a witch killed Mikkel, I’m sure of it.”
A moment of silence followed his words. Then Magnus growled, “Where are they?”
“Lottie was at my restaurant, and the kids were with her neighbor. I’m driving there now, but I’m at least fifteen minutes out. Can you meet me there?”
“I can be there in a minute,” his brother answered.
Eiric accelerated to avoid a head-on collision with a truck. “You’re on the mainland?”
