Summoning Annika_The Viking Witch Trilogies Read online

  “Epic! Parker,” Michael couldn’t help but gloat a little, “Don’t be such a slob, the ladies pick up on that sort of thing.”

  When they got home, Michael went into his room and came out with a ruler and a piece of poster board. Parker stood staring at the new puzzle pieces. He looked at Michael, “Please tell me you didn’t sneak home while we were eating and monkey some more with this?”

  “Nope, why?”

  Parker pointed at the pieces that Michael had arranged on the piece of cardboard before they left for dinner, “I think you have me buying into your crazy ideas now, anything look different to you?”

  Michael looked at the pieces and then looked at his roommate as Parker ran his finger along the longer piece of metal. “It’s cleaner than before, so is the little piece. Not greasy at all, it almost looks…” Michael leaned over the table to get a closer look and they said it together, “...bigger.”

  “What is this?” wondered Parker but Michael was already clearing off a larger spot on the table to give them more room to work.

  “Let’s just say, for the sake of argument, that we have both had a mental breakdown and play along with this. I thought about it this afternoon. All I did was to set the pieces in what seemed a logical order based on the curve in the metal, right?”

  Parker laughed, “Logic, go figure, we’re engineers.” And he pulled his chair up next to the table. “Do we have beer?” he picked up the ruler and measured the long section of the metal piece. “It’s a circle, right? And although it appears slightly larger in diameter than before, it has an axis.”

  He drew a line across the center of the poster board and then carefully marked off sections on the line. “Do you still have a protractor?”

  Michael set a Budweiser next to him. “I had the same thought, but I think it’s too small of a radius, I can use string. You’re thinking the same thing I am. Draw up what we think this looks like, Right? The worst that will happen is that I get a good idea for a costume piece.

  “Sure, we only have a few days before the Geek party. I have to get some of this stuff put together anyway.

  The boys worked late into the night, but with classes the next day, they called it a day around 2am. They had completed the circumference of the circle and plotted out potential parts based on the remaining single piece. As Parker drew up the circle, Michael toyed with the drill base and had a pretty good ray gun for the party.

  “I think there are sixteen sections in the whole circle. Well, maybe,” Michael looked at the rendering. Parker had added little lines where he thought each piece would connect. It looked sort of artsy. “Cool,” he picked up the smaller section and looked closely at it. He turned it over and then back, thinking he would gain some amazing insight. “I got nothin’.” But then he took the straightedge and connected the imagined border of each piece through the center point.

  “There, we have reinvented the wheel. We are geniuses!” Parker laughed, “Set the piece back exactly where it was when we came home.” Michael set the little one back on the opposite side of the larger one, just as before. “It’s a broken wheel. We’re not going to get far.” He laughed out loud, “Last week, Grok make fire. this week Grok make wheel. Progress!”

  “I am reminded that someone mentioned a mental breakdown earlier in the evening? I think it’s time to call it a night.”

  Michael turned off his bedside lamp and laid there quietly as he assessed the days’ events. It was a beautiful night outside, the bright full moon shown through his window. It had been a good day. Tomorrow was a full day with a quiz in statistics. He was excited about this weird new science project and the upcoming party. He made a promise to himself that he would try to push himself to be more social. His last thought, was that of Samantha, walking through the doorway of class that morning. What he wouldn’t give to replay that entrance but this time, with her holding his hand. He closed his eyes and drifted off.

  Chapter 12

  Michael slept well but he woke up before his alarm. His window was open so he could hear the birds singing out in the courtyard as the sun rose. It would be a good day. He smiled to himself, but his moment of serenity was brief.

  “Mike, get out here.”

  It was Parker. He was already up, unusual for him as well. He was loud, but again, “Mike, now,” it sounded urgent and then Michael thought of their project. He scrambled down the hallway, Parker was standing at the table with an annoyed look on his face.

  “You’re fuckin’ with me, aren’t you?” and he pointed at the table. “You are, right?” But the look on Michael’s face as he looked at the table top, told him otherwise. “Shit, what the hell is going on?”

  As Michael looked at the arrangement of metal pieces on the poster board. He literally rubbed his eyes not believing what he was seeing. Each time he looked he noted yet another change on the board.

  His initial shock quickly gave way to curiosity, surprising a stunned Parker, “Quick, take a picture, a bunch of pictures, while I list what’s changed.” Michael grabbed his notebook and started scribbling notes. Parker just stood there. “Do it!” he barked jolting Parker out of his stupor.

  For each of Michaels’ notes Parker had an equal observation. “It’s bigger, again.” The pieces had once again increased in size. “But the pieces are still aligned on the same center point.” Parker added, “They grew proportionally.”

  “They are shinier but rougher looking, like it’s old” was the rejoinder, “There are three new marks on the larger piece.” And Parker took a close-up of the new change. “Three straight lines, equally spaced.”

  Oddly, they listed the most obvious change last. The entire drawing seemed to have rotated around to where the single small piece was now at the top of the rendering.

  They looked at each other. “What’s that mean?”

  “You’re kidding me, right?”

  “Sorry, just thinking out loud.” Michael stood there looking at the board. He looked out across the courtyard as the sun came through the window. It was going to be another beautiful day. He noticed his drill gun cast a low shadow on the board so he moved it off to the side. The sunshine sparkled across the project board. Parker took one look and said “East. Our window faces East and so that makes this small single piece...”

  Michael smiled, “North, it’s pointed North. The other piece doesn’t point anywhere obvious though, coincidence?”

  “I don’t know anything at this point, this is all so weird. This all started at the junk shop. Maybe we should pay them a visit?”

  “And say what? That his junk is breaking the space time continuum? He’d think we were nuts.”

  “Yeah, good point Professor.” Parker quipped, “I have an hour before we have to leave for school to surf the net and see if this kind of thing is mentioned anywhere.”

  “Ok, I want to do some last-minute cramming for the Stats quiz, but I’m sitting right here. If it weren’t for that test, I’d stay here all day.” Almost as an afterthought, he picked up his pen and made a small mark on the board that corresponded with South, West and East. “Just in case,” he said.

  Parker opened his laptop, “I don’t even know what to type in. We don’t really have a reference point yet.”

  “Yeah, well let’s see what today brings.” Michael forced himself to adjust his focus to stats notes but thoughts of Samantha wandered in.

  Chapter 13

  Not wanting to repeat his bad seating choice again for class, Michael waited until most of the students had taken their seats. He had not yet seen Samantha or Katie so surmised that they arrived early and were already inside. He wondered to himself if this ambush qualified as borderline stalking.

  He approached the doorway carefully, fully aware of the little voice in his head constantly warning him about doing anything to push his comfort level. “Shut up already” he said out loud as he peered into the room.

  He saw Katie first and then saw Sam as she turned to speak to Katie and a couple of the
other guys in the class. Great! Competition, just what I need… but he pushed himself down the aisle, fully aware that he hadn’t planned what to do or say.

  There were a couple of seats open behind the girls so he chose one instead of sitting right next to Sam. Baby steps, just keep going. He had to stop to let another student pass and the brief exchange of excuse me caused Katie to turn and look at him.

  She raised an eyebrow at him and smiled, “Hi Michael, how are you?”emphasizing his name to get Sam’s attention. Michael cleared his throat, “I’m good, thanks,” as he sat down and flipped the tablet arm across his lap. Sam turned to him and with a bright smile on her face, “Hi,” she said. The teacher began the day’s lecture. All Michael could do was smile back. “Hi,” he whispered, but she had already turned away.

  Good enough, he thought and settled in to listen to the instructor. He didn’t see Katie reach over and squeeze Sam’s hand as the class get underway.

  As class ended, he began to get his notes organized. His thoughts were torn between the statistics quiz and what he would say to the girls as they left the classroom. He really had no idea. Katie solved that issue immediately.

  “Did you get all your props ready for the Geek party?” She asked as they all stood up to leave.

  Michael handled it pretty well, “We got a lot of interesting junk the other day. You two are going right?” Although the question was if both were attending, he looked right at Sam when he asked. Sam answered quickly, “Of course, we are. It’s going to be a really big deal.”

  His caution voice was hollering in his head, but he pressed on in spite of it. “If you need any props for your costumes, let me know. I can maybe make something for you.” This was officially the longest conversation he had had with Sam in years.

  Katie recognized the attempt, “That’s nice of you, Michael. We have kind of a spooky theme going with a friend of ours, we’ll let you know,” and she took Samantha’s elbow as if to steer her away from the conversation.

  As they turned to leave, Michael took a deep breath, “Sam” he croaked, as they walked up the aisle, she turned to look at him, “Your hair looks cool.”

  She smiled at him, “Thanks,” she said softly looking directly into his eyes.

  He just stood by his seat for a moment, inside his head, it was quiet. For once, he had silenced that damned inner critic. It felt great.

  His statistics quiz would be a breeze.

  He sent Parker a text, I have news, have you been home?

  No its only been two hours… news?

  I talked to Sam

  Great, good for you. Lunch later

  Yep, Stats now

  Michael skipped his last class of the day in anticipation of any changes on the table. He was ahead in the reading and snagged another guy in the class to update him on notes if anything was assigned.

  He got home fast and almost ran down the hallway to their door, dying to see what had occurred during their absence. Disappointment washed through him as nothing had changed. He looked from every angle and ran down the checklist he had made with Parker that morning. Everything was as they left it.

  He sent another text. Home now…nothing different

  Parker responded immediately, Bummer, maybe that’s OK? I’m having dinner with my dad, see ya later

  Sure, was Michaels response, I’ll keep you posted.

  Chapter 14

  The sky was clear, only a few feathery clouds sat on the Western horizon, just enough to catch the rays of the setting sun. It had been a beautiful day and now, as dusk approached, even the breezes of the day had come to a virtual standstill.

  The first lightning strike came out of nowhere, ripping out of the clear evening sky, straight down onto 45th Street like a javelin. Striking the concrete, the bolt had ricocheted off the street and struck a transformer on a light pole sending a blinding shower of searing hot sparks raining down to the street below.

  For those in close proximity, the peal of thunder that accompanied it was instantaneous and deafening. The shock wave rattled windows on the nearby storefronts.

  Luckily, a police cruiser was close by and pulled slowly up to the corner with his lights flashing to keep people away from the burning power pole.

  Seconds later the second bolt struck about a hundred feet from Main Avenue just off Broadway. This one was more jagged and ricocheted off one of the Burlington Northern rail tracks sending a brilliant shower of orbs in all directions. The crack of thunder echoed off the surrounding buildings, amplifying its’ volume. Traffic on the busy street came to an immediate stop and people came out of the stores and offices to see what had happened.

  As luck would have it, the second strike was less than a half a block from the Antique shop. Marci was finishing up with a customer and saw the flash reflect off the vintage mirrors that were hung on the wall across from her cash register. She turned around and watched as Mr. Goodmund walked quickly to the front door and opened it.

  She came up beside him, “Did you see it? It made me jump, that was really close.”

  He leaned on the exit door to keep it open and took a cloth out of his pocket to clean his glasses. He held them up to the remaining light of the day to see if they were clean. “Nope, I didn’t see it. Sure heard it though.”

  Marci opened her mouth to say something, Mr. Goodmund held up his hand to silence her, “Wait…wait,” then, off in the distance a third crack of thunder announced itself. Too far away to see the actual lightning, Marci looked at the old man, “Sounded like somewhere in Moorhead. Is this the start?”

  “Yes, I believe so,” he said with a knowing smile, “it’s the beginning of the first phase. I told you those boys were smart.”

  Michael sat in the apartment and quietly finished his dinner. He should have been in a better mood. Reflecting on his brief interaction with Sam, he was pleased with himself for taking the initiative to get closer to her. The offer of helping with any costume needs sounded cheesy, but he was sincere. The thought of the two of them having a direct conversation about how he actually felt about her didn’t seem impossible as it once did.

  The quiz was a joke, he aced it with minimal effort. The upcoming party, and now, this odd little project thing, whatever it was, should have easily been enough to buoy his feelings tonight.

  It was such a little thing, Parker, having dinner with his dad. They often did. But tonight, it only served to dredge up memories of Michael and his family before his father’s accident. Michael knew that their lives up to that point weren’t perfect, there were arguments, good days and bad like any other family, but the sudden shearing away of his interactions with his dad left a big hole. Parker having dinner with his dad was a subtle reminder of something he could no longer do. It was that simple, he missed him. He didn’t get a chance to say goodbye.

  Michael took a deep breath and leaned against the kitchen counter. There was work to do, projects to work on. He knew this feeling would pass. The apartment was silent except for a few birds chirping in the courtyard.

  He turned the water on in the sink to rinse off his plate and then set it neatly into the drying rack. He watched the water continue to swirl around the basin for a few odd seconds then spiral down the drain. Seems appropriate, he thought as he slapped the faucet handle to stop the water.

  He shook his head when he heard the distant thunderclap. It had been a perfect day without a cloud in the sky. Seemed odd for thunder and he wondered if he’d missed a forecast or something. A small gust of wind blew on the back of his neck and now the apartment was completely silent. The birds had stopped chirping.

  Eerily quiet.

  There was a clattering sound from the dining room.

  Michael walked quietly to the kitchen doorway, the hairs on the back of his neck electrified, and looked around the corner.

  Parker’s phone rang as he drove back to the apartment. The ringtone was barely audible over the stereo, but Parker caught the sounds of Metallica announcing his roommates call.
>
  “Sup? Bro!” was his usual response to everyone that called.

  “Parker, shit, Parker finally, where are you?” Michael sounded a little panicked.

  “Headed home, why?”

  “Jesus, Park, hurry up, get here, get here now,” there was a short pause, “Holy shi…” and the line went dead.

  That was unlike any exchange he and Michael had ever had, something was seriously wrong.

  Parker hit the accelerator and his turbo charger responded accordingly. The tricked out BRZ covered the six blocks to the apartment in under a minute. He blew through the red light in front of the concert hall nearly clipping another car. He’d make a point of apologizing to the terrified Prius driver later.

  Not bothering to park in his spot, Parker pulled up into the drop zone in front of the building. Choosing not to wait for the perpetually slow elevator, he opted for the stairs and made the climb crashing into doors as he passed through them.

  His adrenaline pumping, he swung the final door to their floor open, “Michael” he bellowed, and ran down the hallway nearly running into Katie as she poked her head out her door to see what the commotion was.

  “Parker, what the hell?” but Parker didn’t acknowledge her and grabbed the door handle to boy’s apartment.

  Locked.

  “Shit… Mike!” There was panic in his voice as he scrambled with his keys, cranked the lock and shoved the door open.

  Michael was standing in the dining room scribbling into his notebook. He had a big grin on his face. He looked at Parker, “Could you not be quite so loud, please?” and continued writing.