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My aunt could try to tell me I needed to come back home to be with the family, but I couldn’t abandon this family to do so.
My eyes flicked to Astrid, where she munched away on her treat and sifted through her bags. I especially wouldn’t give her up for anything. Gandalf himself could show up and call her the chosen one, and I’d go to the depths of Mordor as her personal Samwise.
I grabbed the waiting plate of empanadas and set it in front of Aya. She grumbled out an “about time” and snatched one to eat. Astrid greedily tried to steal the whole plate, but we fended her off.
“What did you manage to buy, Cielo?” I asked to distract her.
She shrugged. “While Aya was battling it out with Nancy, I swiftly snagged up various other items on her list, and got some more picture frames.”
My brow lifted. “I thought we had some in storage.”
“Just big ones. I needed small ones.” She pulled out a thick envelope stuffed with photographs. “Dad sent me a batch of photos he wanted printed. He didn’t specify which, so I did them all. I thought I’d hang a few of the best ones up, and leave the rest for him to choose for his albums.”
I helped her clear up the counter of all the shopping bags so she could spread the photos around. The subjects ranged from a small town to people to the woods. Some even should have been vetted out with how blurry they were or had a finger in the way of the camera lens. But Astrid and her dad were weird when it came to those. They liked to keep the bad photos and put them in an album or scrapbook. Darius always said the imperfect photos told their own story, and made the perfect ones even more special.
Tyr reached across the island to look at one of the photos. “Where were these taken?”
“A small town called Bifrost in Manitoba. My dad’s friends, Hurrit and Arran, run a hunting and fishing charter camp up there. Dad likes to get up there every few years if he can.”
Astrid sifted through the stack and pulled out a photo with two men. The taller of the two had a lean, muscular build, medium brown skin, and long, braided black hair. The other man was of a larger build, with lighter tan skin, and short, dark brown hair. “Here we are. Hurrit and Arran. I’ve met them a few times. They’re both awesome.”
She smiled. “Hurrit actually contributed to me choosing to overcome my fear of dogs.”
“How so?” Tyr asked.
“He told me once that it wasn’t the wolves you could see that you should fear, but the ones you couldn’t.” Astrid gazed at the photo in her hand. “I know he was probably referring to people, but that got me thinking about my fear.”
She was quiet for a moment, and we all watched her. Something in my neck prickled, like a warning.
Then Astrid said the strangest thing.
But be wary of the snarling wolf
Cloaked in shadow he’ll prowl close
Snapping teeth and drawing blood, he’ll follow the fallen Valkyrie to her other life
She didn’t blink—she hardly moved. Astrid just stared at the photograph. It was almost as if she didn’t even realize she’d just said something odd. Then she sifted through the pile of photos as if nothing strange happened.
My lips pressed together, and my brow furrowed. A quick glance at the others told me they, too, were confused or concerned about her sudden weird behavior.
I wanted to say something, but I wasn’t sure what, or how. It was just so strange.
I spotted a photo of Darius, a tall, broad-shouldered man with heavily tattooed tan skin, green eyes, slicked back salt-and-pepper hair, and well-groomed beard, and my dad, a slightly shorter late-forties version of me, distracting me. It was a closely cropped selfie-style image of them by a river, with my dad holding up a decently sized fish he’d caught.
Aya let out a dreamy sigh. “They really know how to create the perfect romantic getaway for two outdoorsy men.”
I rolled my eyes, and Astrid groaned. “When are you going to give that up?”
She shook her head. “I don’t have to. I’m right most of the time.”
“Most, not all,” I said.
“Yeah, it’s more of a bromance than anything,” Astrid added. “And that’s all it’ll be.”
Aya shook her head again. “Well, you two had a fit when I flirted with them, so this is the next best thing.”
I winced, and Astrid made a gagging sound. She’d tried twice with Darius and once with my dad since we’d met her. It’d been uncomfortable each time.
