Jewels and Feathers (Race Games 3)

CHAPTERONE

Present Day

“You said you have memories of other eras,” the hypnotist murmured, her voice comforting in the silent room. Muni had searched for specifically this therapist, not because she didn’t know who she was, but because she couldn’t remember the last moment before her death. She was searching for answers to three questions.

One: where was Hugin if she was here in the flesh, reincarnated and brought from Hel?

Two: what had happened to her brother to send him not to Hel, but somewhere else?

Three: who was responsible for their death?

Struggle as she did, she couldn’t remember any of those answers. In desperation, she’d turned to the hypnotist, Dr. Lowe.

“Yes. I’ve lived many lives,” Muni answered as she laid back on the sofa. “I’m searching for a particular memory, the moment of my last death.”

The hypnotist hummed in response. “It’s not unusual for patients to come in knowing without a doubt of their past memories, though I’m curious how you came to realize your memories weren’t normal.”

Knowing she needed to answer some questions in order for the woman to help her, Muni cracked her eyes to peer at the hypnotist. “Shouldn’t you have some sort of talisman you swing back and forth in front of my eyes?”

Doctor Lowe smiled and folded her hands over her notepad, leaning forward. “Contrary to popular belief, I don’t have to use such tactics to find memories. We’ll be delving into a form of mediation to find what you seek, no theatrics necessary.”

Muni returned the smile, mostly because she genuinely liked the woman. She smelled of secrets though not because she was a bad person. She believed in doctor-patient confidentiality so much, her mind was an iron trap. For that reason alone, Muni nodded her head and closed her eyes again. The sound machine in the background sounded like ocean waves, and despite it being a generic sound, for Muni, the waves crashed against what felt like the coast of Norway. Home, so far from home, so far from her brother. Hopefully she could find the answers she needed to find him.

“I was born with my memories of my past life already in my mind, though it took many years to realize they weren’t normal. My mother in this life would give me strange looks when I’d point out ravens excitedly or make comments about old gods and their habits.”

“And how does your mother feel about those memories now that you’re in your late twenties?”

Muni shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. She died when I sixteen from lung cancer. She was a good woman, but she had a terrible smoking habit.” She paused to take a deep breath as the ocean waves crashed again. “When I was eight years old, I stopped mentioning the memories when I saw how it made her feel. I stopped drawing pictures in school of it, and everyone praised how normal I was. I imagine she wouldn’t be happy to realize I’d simply stopped talking about all the things I know rather than was cured of some strangeness.”

The sounds of a pen scratching on paper reached Muni’s ears. “And how did it make you feel to have to hide those things? They’re an important part of who you are.”

“At first, I understood. Her mind wasn’t capable of handling such realizations. My mother was achingly human in all her mannerisms. The first time I sprouted wings, I had to convince her she’d imagined it.”

The pen scratching stopped. “Wings?”

Muni cracked her eyes open again to study the hypnotist. “Don’t pretend as if you don’t know there are other creatures on the earth, doctor. I looked into your history thoroughly before coming here.”

For a moment, the woman didn’t move, her eyes trained on Muni, but a few seconds more and she relaxed into her seat again and crossed her arms. “I see this is a different session than I expected.”

“I only need your help to search my memories and find what happened to my brother.” Reaching into her pocket and dropping a small leather coin purse better suited to olden times on the table between them, Muni met her eyes. “I appreciate any help you can offer.”

Doctor Lowe’s eyes dropped the pouch. Inside, there were old coins worth more than she made in a year, and that was saying something for the immensely popular hypnotist. “Of course, Munin. But it’ll cost double that.”

Raising a brow at her, Muni drew out another pouch and tossed it on the table. “I see you’ve realized who I am.”

With a nod, Doctor Lowe set her notepad aside and leaned forward in her seat. “I do, and I know you understand the risk I take in helping you find your memories. Likely, you were reincarnated without Hugin for a very specific reason.”

“I shouldn’t have been reincarnated at all, not without Hug. I understand the risk you take, and I appreciate your help. Once I find my memories, I’ll leave with none the wiser. I won’t speak of this, and I expect you to destroy any records of me being here.”

“Very well,” Doctor Lowe replied. She was curious enough to risk such odds. Hug and Muni were killed for a reason, and it would be foolish to think whoever meant them harm was not still out in the world, watching. “Close your eyes and draw yourself to the last memory you have before your death.”

Muni searched her mind until she landed on the memory of cheering Hug on in the Race Games, but after the flag waved, everything grew static in her memory. “Got it,” she whispered.

“Now imagine the static parting like the waves you hear. Take a few minutes to really sink into the fuzzy memory and wade forward into it. It’ll likely feel like you’re pushing through honey, and that’s okay. That’s just the block.”

Doing as the doctor said, Muni slowly pushed forward, encouraging the static to move away from her. The image grew colorful, not clear, but progress.

“Good,” Doctor Lowe hummed. “Now imagine strings on the memories. Ropes. Wrap your hands around those and pull. It might be painful.”

As if her saying the words made it so, a sharp pain shot through Muni’s head that made her cringe. Still, she did as she was instructed and imagined ropes around the memory before pulling at those tethers. More of the static dropped away.

“Deep breaths. Keep pulling.”

The static settled, revealing the large screens in front of Muni televising the race. Everything looked outdated, but Muni had expected that, had known she’d last been alive in the 1950s. Still, she wasn’t prepared for the close up shot of her brother to flash on the screen. Her heart ached at the memory of what he’d once looked like. Though she was mostly the same in her reincarnation, there was one distinct difference. Before they’d died, Muni and Hug had matching star birthmarks on their cheekbones. Muni hadn’t been reincarnated with it, and she suspected it was because Hug hadn’t been born with her.

“I see it,” Muni murmured.

“Good.” The Doctor shifted on her side of the room. “Don’t let go of the tethers.”

Muni hadn’t even realized she’d still been holding them, that her hands had been loosening. At the doctor’s words, she tightened her hold and pushed harder.

Suddenly, her perspective shot into the air, a better view over the race as Hug pushed toward the finish line in the lead. Almost as if the memory being there brought with it the pain, Muni’s chest began to hurt the moment the perspective changed. Her instincts knew what was about to happen, knew it wasn’t good, but she couldn’t look away. She had to know.

Brilliant yellow, green, and blue flames rocked outward, knocking her back in her position so high in the sky, and the cord snapped in her chest. She felt it as if she were there and she gasped even as she still forced herself to watch. Her body began to fall, and the moment she slammed into the ground, Muni shot upright on the couch with a bolt of pain through her body, the memory of her death. Her eyes were wild as she looked around the room until she found the doctor where she stood pouring a glass of bourbon from a crystal decanter.

“I suspect you’ll need this,” she said, moving across the room to offer it to Muni.

Without a reply, Muni took the crystal glass and tossed the rich bourbon back, hoping it would help ease the memory of death. It didn’t.

“Many thanks,” Muni rasped and handed the glass back.

“You found your answer?” she asked, setting the crystal back in its spot.

Muni nodded. “I did. For your safety, I won’t tell you.”

Doctor Lowe waved away her words. “I already suspect it’s not pretty, but the moment you’re out of my doors, I’ll burn all evidence you were here. Just promise me one thing?”

Muni glanced up at her. “Yes?”

“Give them Hel.”

Grinning, Muni pressed her fist to her chest and the doctor repeated the action. With those words, she left the hypnotist’s office, not having needed much of a hypnotist at all. Still, the price had been well worth it, because Muni now knew an answer to at least one of her questions. Her brother wasn’t in Hel because he’d died in battle. He was in Valhalla. And though she didn’t know the answer to the last question, she knew with certainty that there was someone responsible.

Now, she just had to find out who had dared to kill Odin’s Ravens.