Free Forecast by Rinda Elliott Page B

man-thing.
    So, she did what she did best.
    The man’s face grew pointier and darker, smearing to the side as the world around me slid into a spin. The gray tables, beige booth seats and a massive picture of corn folded around me, creating a swirl of color that forced me to close my eyes and grab onto a half wall behind a booth.
    When the world jerked to a stop, my eyes flew open and met the frozen stare of the man...no, creature, in front of me. He must have been using some sort of glamour that didn’t work during my
rune tempus
because though he was human in shape, he was something completely different in color. Skin like polished onyx reflected light, and his hair—the color of snow—had been shaved nearly to the skull. His stare, black as one of those ravens outside, was aimed directly at me, and held something odd. Something like curiosity. No it was more like...fascination. Maybe even wonder.
    I shuddered, stepped back and onto someone.
    Someone who grunted.
    “Oh my gods, I’m so sorry.” I knelt next to Magnus. He lay flat on his back, eyes scrunched closed, his hand on his stomach. “I didn’t mean to step—” I broke off, shock making me blink at him. “You’re moving around. You’re aware!”
    He put a hand on his stomach. “Yeah, but I’m not feeling too happy about it.”
    Someone else crouched down beside us and my mouth fell open as I met Mist’s beautiful amber eyes. She smiled, patted Magnus’s chest.
    “This happens a lot to you, doesn’t it, Coral?” Taran said on a groan from somewhere behind me. I glanced around to find him on the floor next to the table where Josh and Grim were also frozen in time. I hadn’t noticed them sitting down. Grim was mid-steal, a shrimp dangling from his fingers over his brother’s plate.
    Magnus sat up, glanced around and frowned. “It happened again?” He looked at me, his wide eyes bright against his skin. “I get the awake and aware part now. How are you moving?” He pointed to Taran. “He’s moving, too.”
    I plopped down onto my butt on the hard floor. “Are you saying time has stopped for you like this before?”
    He nodded. “For me and Mist. It started a couple of days ago. The world just randomly started spinning, then everybody else froze.”
    “A couple of days ago,” I repeated, thinking hard. Nobody had ever gone into this with me, not even my sisters. “It’s been happening to me for nine years.”
    “Damn. Really? I’m sorry.” He rubbed the back of his head. “Do you get used to it? I keep falling. I’m afraid one of these times, I’ll crack my head open.”
    I kept running his words through my mind. A couple of days ago. “Did it first happen at night? Around ten o’clock?”
    He nodded and groaned as he stood, still rubbing his head. “That’s right. Do you know what this is?”
    “It’s my magic, and nobody has ever gone into it with me before until ten o’clock at night two nights ago, when he was with me.” I pointed to Taran. “The two of us together must have triggered something. But what? And why?” I thought of the vision of the kids near the bridge. The one who had been knocked off the pier—he’d been moving, too. I studied Magnus. He was built like a linebacker with broad shoulders and big hands. He was traveling with a Valkyrie.
    Could their being aware have something to do with carrying gods’ souls?
    “Do you know what’s going on?” I looked at Mist.
    Long, blond hair swung against her chest as she shook her head. “I don’t understand your magic. It’s new.” She studied me as she stood. Hard. “You’re more than the others.”
    “What do you mean?”
    She frowned. “You aren’t a mere carrier. You are of magic, as well.”
    “Oh,” I breathed, nodding. “My mother is a witch.”
    Her smile was sad. “That’s not what I meant.” She looked behind me.
    Before I could ask her what she was talking about Taran gasped. I looked to find him staring past us.
    How could I have