Page 145 of Valkyrie Unknown

What the actual, living, breathing Hell?

Forty

Azzie

Finnand I walked through the door, and into a large sitting room. It took my mind a heartbeat to catch up with the fact we were no longer in the Salt Lake apartment. A patterned rug was under our feet, reaching almost to the walls. This single space was larger than the entire apartment I'd shared with Davyn.

There was a fireplace at the far end of the room. A pair of matching couches, and four chairs with the same dark, flowered upholstery that looked anything but inviting. A coffee table sat in the middle of it all, while bookshelves and paintings covered the walls.

You're doing brilliantly, daughter.

A shiver raced down my spine. That wasn't my mother's voice.

"What's wrong with you?" Finn's irritation shattered the bubble of weird swelling in my head.

"The voice. Who was that?"

He furrowed his brow and stared at me. “What voice?"

"Just now. The—“ I snapped my jaw shut.

"Are you hearing things?" Finn asked.

No. I most certainly was not. I didn't hear voices or see visions or imagine things that weren't there. I was sane.

What are you afraid of, child?

"Snakes, heights, and the number thirteen..." I trailed off when the look Finn was giving me slid further toward confusion.

He tilted his head, studying me. "Who are you talking to?"

"Myself." The laugh I meant to make sound casual came out strangled instead.

The voice I wasn't hearing... That wasn't my other paren?—

No.

I wasn't hearing voices. Not imagined ones or that of a parent sealed away from the world.

"What else do you know about my powers that you're keeping from me?" There wasn't time for me to freak out; we had to find Davyn and Zeke and get out of here.

Finn shook his head and turned toward the doorway at the far end of the room. "I'm notkeepingthings from you. How am I supposed to know what the dozens of teachers you've had, and Davyn, have seen but not shared about what you can do?"

"Davyn doesn't keep things from me."

Finn glanced over his shoulder at me. "No. Of course he doesn't. Do you understand the wordsequal but opposite?"

The prophecy about Zeke and me. "Of course I do."

"Do you?" Finn walked toward the doorway. Despite it being open, there was no field of vision beyond the border of the room. He pressed a palm to blackness and an invisible force seemed to stop him.

He was so infuriating. What did he know that he hadn't told me? "Do you really think this is the time and place to be smug about how much you know?" I didn't try to hide my frustration. "Unless you like it in here." Unless he wanted us to be in here.

Where did that thought come from?

Finn let out a heavy sigh and turned to me again. "Zeke can already do things that aren't human. He can create art. Protection. He draws inspiration from nowhere."

That wasn't helpful. The hint of mocking in Finn's voice made me think it wasn't meant to be.

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