Page 163 of Valkyrie Unknown

“You ready?” She furrowed her brow as she studied me, uncertainty lacing her question.

“For what?”

She huffed a laugh-sigh. “What are you doing?”

“Not a clue.” No, really. I had no idea what was going on.

“I get it—it’s fun to see Kirby bristle, and pissing off a Berserker is always a laugh, but… Did Gwydion put you up to this?”

The guy who hated Finn? “You obviously have a different understanding of this situation than I do. I have no idea who you are or what the fuck is going on.” At least as far as what she expected from me. Fires raged around the city, and the scream of alarms overlapped with explosions and crumbling buildings. I needed to get back to Azzie.

She stared at me with wide eyes, confusion etched across her face. “Uh-huh.” Her amusement vanished. “Let’s go.” Wings sprouted from her back, leathery and black, with a sheen that reflected the firelight and glowed purple in the shadows.

What the fuck? “Go where? Not to fight. I’m not a fighter.” Especially without a firearm.

“None of us were born fighters. We are now. Stop fucking around.”

Try telling me what’s going on instead. Fuck that. I turned and headed toward what looked like a doorway that led off this roof. “I’ll be in your way if I stay here. I refuse to be responsible for you getting hurt.”

In a blink she was in front of me, walking backwards as I stalked forward. She never stumbled despite not looking behind her. “Tell me what you don’t remember, I’ll fill in the blanks.”

“How does that make sense?” I couldn’t reach around her, because she was blocking the door. I’d pick her up and move her, but she’d also grown claws that looked as if they could slice me without hesitation. “If I don’t remember it, I can’t tell you.”

“You’re the reason we’re here. You’ve seen?—”

Her voice faded, lips moving though no words came out, and images flashed in my mind. They matched the scenery around us, but the details were different.

That alley—was that in one of the drawings I created during a blackout?

“Zeke?” Her voice was audible again, and she reached for me.

I couldn’t do what Azzie did, but I’d watched her with Davyn enough times to have an idea of how to evade. I stepped to the other side, around the brunette, and yanked the door. It flew open hard enough to bounce on the brick holding it up, and the clang startled me.

I brushed past the brunette and headed down the first flight of concrete steps. The smoke was heavy in here, lingering with no place to go, and the noises from outside were amplified.

“This isn’t right.” She was behind me, still following. “We’re supposed to—while Davyn and Starkad flank from—Tatiana?—“

Every few words there was a long pause, as her voice cut out.

I reached the next floor and kept going. Based on what I’d seen outside, we were four or five stories up.

“Mal—fire—distraction—Astr—too public—ink—“ She was still talking, but now her words overlapped themselves. Did she say Astrid?

The world swam in front of my eyes. I was on the stairs, but I was in a cave, but I was in the middle of a village, but I was flying over this town.

I was flying?

The vertigo made me stumble, despite my feet being planted on the ground, and I tripped the last couple of steps to the next landing. Concrete bit into my palms and through my jeans into my knees.Fuckthat hurt.

“Are you all right?” The brunette was in front of me again, offering me a hand up.

I winced as I accepted the offer, expecting pain, but there was none. A glance confirmed I hadn’t broken any skin, and my palms and legs felt fine.

The stairs weren’t bare concrete, they were covered with heavy carpet, and there were exit signs on the walls.

The brunette looked around us. “Where are we?”

“Why are you asking me?” My head ached, and blackness licked the edges of my vision. She wasn’t asking me. She was voicing the question to the air.

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