Fall (The Ragnarok Prophesies) Read Online Free Page A

thought I was safe here, that they couldn’t get to me in the hospital, but that wasn’t true. Not really.
    “Can we have a minute?” Dace asked, shooting Esther a dark look. One that screamed she needed to do exactly what he wanted or else. He’d gotten real good at terrorizing the staff with those alpha-male “I’m in charge” looks of his.
    I couldn’t find the voice to tell him to knock it off this time.
    “Uh, sure.” Esther sounded breathless. “I’ll go get her breakfast tray….” Her voice faded away as she all but ran from the room, her white shoes squeaking on the waxy floor.
    “You didn’t have to scare her,” I muttered around the lump of terror in my throat when the door closed behind her.
    “I didn’t lie to you.” Dace raked a hand through his hair, rumpling it further. “Your dad didn’t want you to know about the flowers, so we threw them out when they came.”
    “How many times?”
    “Three.” His shoulders slumped. “The first arrangement arrived while you were in surgery.”
    Right after I’d been attacked then, over a month ago. They’d known exactly where to find me from the beginning. Bile burned in the back of my throat.
    “How do you know Sköll and Hati sent them?” I asked instead.
    “I know.” Steel laced the words, leaving no room for argument.
    My hopes shattered. “Was there a card?” I asked anyway.
    “Yes.”
    “Wh-what did it say?”
    Dace clenched his jaw so tight it did that creaking thing, protesting the strain.
    “Tell me.”
    “
Gylfaginning
.”
    I blinked, caught between the dizzying sensation of fright and confusion. “
Gylfaginning
?”
    He jerked his chin in the direction of the arrangement. His voice deepened, seething with anger, as he explained, “
Gylfaginning
recounts the story of how Loki tricked Hodh into killing Baldr with an arrow treated with the poison from mistletoe, the one thing on earth that had not sworn an oath to do him no harm.”
    “Oh.” I tried to process that and couldn’t. “What else?”
    Dace hesitated.
    “Tell me.”
    “In mythology, black roses signify death or rebirth.”
    A chill shot through me. “And white?”
    “Silence and secrecy,” he said, his upper lip curling in a menacing snarl. “They thought―” he broke off with a curse. “They’re toying with us, letting us know they’re still out there.”
    “That’s why you haven’t left the hospital,” I guessed.
    “I’m not leaving you alone.”
    Cold swept through me, freezing me with the thought of the twin wolves knowing where to find me, and how to get to me. It wasn’t enough they wanted to kill us. They had to torment us first, twist the knife a little deeper and make sure it hurt. I probably should have expected that, but I didn’t.
    Three months ago, I hadn’t even known this world existed. Figuring out what to expect from demigod monsters was hard when you were still coming to terms with the fact that said demigod monsters actually existed.
    I sighed, exhaling every little bit of breath left in my lungs, and then I shook my head. “They’re never going to stop coming for us, are they?”
    The fierce lights in Dace’s eyes dimmed, replaced with something curiously like defeat. He rubbed his thumb along my cheek, not answering.
    Freki fluttered inside me, little threads of anger leaking around the edges of her prison.
    I flicked my gaze toward the flowers. My stomach churned as the truth wormed its way through me, twisting through the very fiber of my being and leaving me cold.
    Nowhere was safe for us anymore. Nowhere.
    “Throw the flowers away,” I whispered, trying not to throw up.

ou look good, Ari,” Beth Michaelson commented late that afternoon, leaning down to give me a hug. She spoke softly, her voice little more than a whisper.
    “So do you,” I said, giving her a quick squeeze.
    We were both stretching the truth.
    I wore sweats and a hoodie with my hair tossed into a messy ponytail. Untamed auburn strands curled