Unstable by Lacey Carter Andersen
25
Walpurgisnacht one Year Later...
Kiera
If I thought living with my brothers was rough, living with Cole, Drake, Emory, and Adam was even rougher. Our people had worked together to help us build a home close to my parents, in the Winter Woods. Just tucked away enough from our main town to give Emory, Cole, and Drake the silence they preferred, and close enough so that Adam could go racing through the town any time he liked.
It was perfect for us. But definitely not easy.
Since Cole and Emory had accepted being brothers, they’d gone from a stiff formality to literally fighting like brothers. The idiots wrestled more than my own brothers, and that was saying something. They constantly seemed to have a friendly competition between them that resulted in things getting done around the house in the craziest way possible. If I need someone to vacuum? They’re bumping each other out of the way, shoving each other, and grappling for the vacuum. Dishes? Yeah, you can imagine how many they’d broken.
But at least it never got boring.
And Adam? He loved living in a place where he wasn’t looked down on as a mutant. In fact, all my men were seen as my husbands now, and Adam often got called King Adam, which always made him laugh. He played in the town with all the children, much to the delight of their parents, and made every day just a little better.
Oh, but Drake might have been the happiest of them all. As the last known dragon shifter, my people just about worshipped the ground he walked on. The big shifter would not only never be taken for his parts again, or thrown into a place like the Wicked Reform School, just for being who he was. He had an army of berserkers ready and willing to fight for him.
Which meant he was back to his cocky old self.
Okay, maybe I lied a little.
I stop as I’m walking through the woods, and I smile when I hear the snap of a twig far behind me. They’re all happy, but nothing compares to how I feel. After the losses and the sacrifices of my time at the reform school, with Maxen, and everything that followed after, I was worried I’d never feel like myself again. And I hadn’t. But I felt better than myself. I felt complete.
Except for one thing wouldn’t stop bothering me.
On Walpurgisnacht, no one explored the woods. The line between this world and the spirit world was paper-thin. Even my berserker mark, burned into my shoulder, was tingling and aching as if to warn me that I shouldn’t be out on such a dangerous night.
But the thing that was bothering me… I couldn’t shake it. And I thought tonight was the only time I might know the truth.
I reach our graveyard with the sky painted grey and the wind whispering softly through the trees. The iron gate creaks, and I stride carefully around the graves to find the one I was looking for. Kneeling down, I lay flowers at Lucy’s grave. It wasn’t until I’d returned to Winter Woods that I learned no one had ever found Lucy’s body. They’d made this grave for her, but it sat empty.
So much about that night kept rolling through my nightmares. Of how Lucy was killed by the alpha vampire, and how I’d gone berserk for the first time. Something about it bothered me. Not just the pointlessness of her death, but why it had all happened.
My mother said this feeling was normal. My brothers said some things in life had no answers.
But I needed an answer, even if it was dangerous.
Digging into my pocket, I pull the scrap of paper out of my pocket. It has words scribbled on it. Words Asha, the Blood Mage, had given to me to help in my search for the truth. I’d never told my guys about my conversation with her, because I knew they’d discourage me from learning the truth.
But they were too damned protective for their own good.
My voice shakes as I say, “I, Kiera Frost of the Winter Berserkers, need answers that only the dead can provide. I am here, on Walpurgisnacht, to request these answers.”
I hold my breath, waiting to see Lucy. To come face-to-face with the ghost of my best friend.
Instead, an unfamiliar spirit takes shape in front of me. And as I stare, spirits gather around the graveyard. My heart races faster, not knowing what will happen next. The spirits on Maxen’s lands had protected us then, for reasons we still didn’t know, but I had no idea what these ones would want from me.
The spirit in front of me turns into that of an old woman. Her hands and face are wrinkled, and her eyes are the purest blue. “Ask, child.”
My heart races, but I force the words out. “Why did Lucy die? Why was I the one woman to be able to go berserk? And why did the spirits protect us?”
The older spirit kneels down before me. “You ask only one question. One question that matters. Why did the spirits protect you? Because of the oracle. Because the world has been slipping onto a path of darkness, and Fate Spinners were needed… people capable of shaping and changing the destiny of the world. You, Kiera, were among them. And this Oracle, in death, could influence the spirits to help you achieve the destiny you were meant for. Now, your role in the great plan is done. Asha’s has just begun.”
“Fate Spinners?” I whisper the words.
She smiles, a gentle smile. “Yes, the Dark Fae has completed her role by saving her people. The wraith ended my life, saving the future. Now, the berserker.” Her smile fades away. “But we aren’t done yet. The new oracle has received her powers, but doesn’t yet know how to use them. Until she’s ready, the Fate Spinners must continue their important roles.”
“What can I do to help her? What can I do to help the world?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “This next path she must walk alone.”
The spirit rises. “Your path home will be protected, even from the darkest of spirits, for now. But do not behave so rashly again. Our involvement in your life is over now, Kiera. You are free.”
I stand, knees shaking, and the wind blows the flowers on Lucy’s grave. The spirit has turned its back on me and is starting to fade away, so I let my question spring free, “But Lucy had to die for all of this? To put the world on the right path?”
The old woman looks back at me, her eyes twinkling. “Sometimes death is not the end, Kiera. And it wasn’t the end for Lucy.” She fades away, and then I see the spirits move to form a clear path for me through the trees.
I feel numb as I walk. All of this was some great plan? A plan that Asha was now a part of? And Lucy’s death wasn’t the end for her? I didn’t understand a word of it.
Spirits like to talk in riddles.
I look at Princess and see him smiling at me from the branches. Lifting my arms, I pull him down and carry him home. The old cat usually preferred to stay in his spot of sunlight in the house. Or to be wheeled to town in Adam’s cart, to watch his mutant play with the town children. But sometimes, he surprised me by still acting like a kitten… usually by stalking me in the woods.
Except I’d pretend not to hear him. He deserved to think he was still tiny and graceful, even though eating well had put a little belly on the old man.
“It’s okay. At least I feel like all of this was for a reason. Like maybe I can finally move on.”
Princess says nothing for a long time, and I try not to look too closely at the dark shapes that line our path back to town. As much as the spirits are a part of our world, they still freaked me out a bit, especially in times like these.
Do you think Asha and the Enforcers will fare as well as we did?
I smile, thinking of the kickass Blood Mage. “I think they’ll be just fine. Now, let’s get you back home. Adam said your dragon costume came in.”
Our family is the worst. He grumbles, but there’s good humor in his voice.
Yeah, he was right. Our family was the best.
The End
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