“Kilda?” she says again, scanning the room, staring right through me. She looks insecure. Afraid.
“Yes?” I reply.
She shrieks, falling backward on my bed, knife raised. Has she lost it?
“Eidunn, what’s?—”
“Where are you?” she screams as she retreats to the corner, still with her knife held up. She stays there, curled into a ball, eyes darting around the room. Her eyes never focus on me. Is she blind or something?
Then I notice it. My body is gone. My arms, nonexistent. I raise my hand to my face, feeling its movement, but there is nothing to see.
“Oh, shit!” I shout.
My chair tilts backward. I crash on the ground and slam my elbow. My hand releases the rabbit bone. Instantly my form becomes visible again. My legs reappear before me.
“What the fuck!” shouts Eidunn.
I sit up, massaging my elbow.
“That was unexpe?—”
“That’s fucking witchcraft!”
“Well, darling, I am a witch.”
“I believe you now.”
I point at the rabbit bone.
“Touch it, see if it works.”
“Fuck that!”
“Oh, come on.”
As I stand, my body vibrates from head to toe. Flashes of light invade my vision. The buzz culminates in my head. I give Eidunn a drowsy smile. My eyelids grow heavy.
“Smells amazing, Eidunn,” I say like Father after too much ale.
Taking a step forward sends my world spinning. My knees buckle. Slushy knees.
Eidunn surges forward as I collapse.
CHAPTER 40
Eidunn forms a tress from my hair, tugging roughly as she braids. The woman is brutal, no pity for her victim.
“Ow! Take it easy!”
Eidunn snorts behind me.
“The price of beauty,” she says.
“Ripping out my hair, making me bald—not beautiful.”
“Stop whining. Your hair is very healthy. You must have eaten well at the Volva’s.”
I try to nod in agreement, but Eidunn uses my hair to yank my head back.
