As in Uncle Trygve?
A ghastly figure emerges from the dark recesses of the room. Uncle Trygve looks nothing like his portrait, drenched in dark blood. Flaps of flesh hang from his face. His nose and lips have been ripped off, exposing a skeletal smile. I knew he was mauled by multiple berserkir, but I never fully grasped how horrific that could be.
Until now.
“He had his chance,”Trygve says, laying a ghostly hand on Nils’s shoulder.“When he cast you out, I took you in. Who taught you how to use your seer power? Who helped you embrace what you are?”
“Trygve cannot be trusted,” Father says, an edge in his voice. “Nospirit can be. He’s manipulating you just like he was manipulated thirty years ago.”
Nils looks up at Trygve. “What is he talking about?”
“The spirit who told me of this ritual claimed that we would be granted limitless power if we performed it. Of course, I believed it was merely a ritual to invite spirits into our realm, not to find them new bodies. I was… misled.
“But this time? I have been nothing but honest with you. You know exactly what this ritual is for. I will finally be your father in the flesh, not only in spirit. My secret society will be restored. You will be not only accepted but admired. We will be your family.”
I take a slow step toward Nils. “You already have a family.”
“They don’t understand you, not like we do,”Trygve says.“Which is why you must complete the ritual.”
“Youwouldn’t understand, Amund. How could you?” Nils asks, squeezing the intestines tighter. “You aren’t a seer. You haven’t seen the things I have.”
Against my will, my gaze shifts to my uncle’s gruesome face.
“I was just a child when I started seeing him,” Nils says quietly. “I would be in bed, only to see Uncle lying on the ceiling, staring back at me with empty eyes, his blood dripping onto my face as I lay there screaming.”
“Your night terrors.” I feel sick to my stomach.
Nils nods. “I wish I only saw them at night.”
“What do you mean?”
“At first, Trygve followed Dad wherever he went. Sometimes he’d reach out of the walls, grabbing at him. He’d crouch on top of the television, watching him the same way we’d watch a show. He and the other seers who died in the Tragedy would surround our table while we ate, crowding into the kitchen. I thought I was losing my mind.”
A pit forms in my stomach. I always held on to memories of thosetimes when we were a happy family. A whole one. Now I realize how different everything must have seemed to Nils. We grew up surrounded by ghosts, and I never knew.
“One day, I asked Dad why he was being followed,” Nils continues. “He slapped me. It was the first time he ever hit me. He couldn’t stand that I was a seer like him, because it meant I could see all his ghosts too.”
“I’m sorry,” I say heavily.
“I should have stopped Trygve sooner,” Father says. “I’ve been haunted by my own inaction since the Tragedy. You’veseenhow many died because of that damned ritual. After that, I swore I’d never use seer powers again.”
Nils grips the intestines tighter as he faces our father. “I was so scared and confused. You were the only one who could help me, or even understand what I was going through. But you wouldn’t. You wanted to forget it all. Then Uncle Trygve found me. He taught me what I was and how to use my ability. I didn’t have to be afraid anymore.
“Until you found out Uncle was teaching me. You lost it. I ran into my room and climbed the bookcase trying to get away from you. But I couldn’t. Remember? You beat me so bad you broke your own fingers.”
“He should have helped you, but instead he hurt you,”Trygve adds.“You deserve a father who loves you as I do.”
Disgusted, I look at Father. Nils was just a boy. It should have been me, I think. Not Nils. That was no fair fight—no fight at all. Someone who is truly strong would never need to take their anger out on someone smaller and weaker, especially not achild.
“That’s when Mother took you and left, isn’t it?”
Nils nods. His eyes lock with mine. “And you chose him.”
“That’s right,”Trygve goads Nils.“Both of our brothers betrayed us.”
“I didn’t know,” I offer, as if that’s any excuse. “I thought you chose witchcraft over our family. I thought it was because you were a witch,not a seer. I… I should’ve left. I wanted to go with you and Mother—you have no idea how much—but I couldn’t abandon Father either. He told me he hurt his hand training. He said I was all he had left.”
Nils scoffs.
