Nine Hours

Chapter 35

It takes a long time, but I manage to get myself laced into the leathers. My braids aren't as neat as the ones Gunnar had done, but they work. Glancing in the mirror, I check my appearance. Not bad. With a deep breath, I tie the necklace around my neck that Gunnar had given me in the glen, my hands trembling.

"Well, this is as good as it gets." Staring at myself for a few seconds, doubt washes over me. "What the hell am I doing? I know nothing about this stuff. Karla's crazy." Huffing out a breath I return to the living room where Karla waits. After a quick inspection, she nods approval.

"Karla, I'm not comfortable doing this. Certainly not by myself. The only thing I've ever done is bring us back from the glen, and Gunnar helped me. I appreciate your confidence in me, but..."

Karla waves a hand. "Nonsense. I wouldn't be sending you on this mission if I thought you couldn't handle it. I'll be in your thoughts, guiding you when you as necessary."

"Oh, God, really? You'll know everything I'm thinking?"

"No. Only those things pertaining to the task." Karla grins. "Don't worry, I won't be privy to your sexy times with Gunnar."

"Karla!" For sure my face has turned red.

"All right. Here's what you will do first."

The explanation is long, and I'm sure I'll forget some of it. Probably most of it. I mentally slap myself for asking what I could do to help.

"Ready?"

"No."

"Good. Into the chair you go."

Slowly I follow Karla into Gunnar's bedroom. The massive log chair that once was so intriguing now resembles a torture device. Tears well up, and it takes all my self-control not to run out of the house and down the street.

"I can't do this," I choke out, trembling. "Really. I can't."

Karla grips my arms. "You can. You will. If you want Gunnar to come back, you will do this. And succeed. He needs you. You won't fail him."

"Oh, dear God." I inch my way to the chair and sit, fully expecting it to swallow me up forever. But as soon as I sit, a vision of Gunnar infiltrates my thoughts. It's like he's talking to me in a calming way. Oddly, I relax. The soothing cadence of Gunnar's voice rolls over me, although I can't tell what he's saying. However, it's giving me courage and confidence. All of which I desperately need in order to complete this mission Karla is determined to send me on.

I'm about to ask Karla a question or six, when the swirling lights begin. I'm on my way whether I like it or not.

****

It's been seven months since I waited on this cliff for Gunnar to return from an assignment for the very first time. The frigid late-winter Scandinavian wind whips through my hair, but I'm not cold. I recall how I stood here that day, snow dancing around me, silently landing, as I was hypnotized by the waves sloshing against the rocks below Halvorsen Point.

I'd given Gunnar and Erik a bit of assistance with the task which had intruded on our first week of marriage. When Karla insisted I explore my new powers and relocate myself to the valley the men had gone to, I doubted everything. How and if I'd end up in the right spot. Whether I could be of any help at all. What had frightened me the most was the idea I could be lost and never make my way back to Gunnar. Then, the task seemed monumental. I was stuck up in that tower with no way out, doubt and fear lurking around me.

The memory plays like a movie: I'm standing on the top of a small, dirty granite stone tower surrounded by open-air arches. Turning in place I see, in all directions, several valleys surrounded by green mountains. I approach one of the five arched openings and lean over. The ancient tower sits by itself on a high hill top. A stone stairway wraps around the exterior of the watch tower, but the stairs stop a good twenty or thirty feet below where I am, having crumbled away long ago. The empty space I stand in is no larger than a small bathroom. There are no stairs, no lights, no furniture. Just me and the tower.