“We’re sorry. The call cannot be completed as dialed.”

“What?” I huffed and dialed again, making sure to hit the right area code.

“We’re sorry. The call cannot be completed as dialed.”

“Dammit,” I whispered and hung up. I dialed Aunt Kimmy.

“We’re sorry. The call cannot be completed as dialed.”

I dialed Uncle Kyle.

“We’re sorry. The call cannot be completed as dialed.”

“What is happening right now?” I hung up and dove for the computer, but nothing would open. “This is not normal.”

Sharp pain shot through my arm.

I grimaced. Son of a bitch. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. My quest isn’t over, is it, Valathame? With a knot in my throat and dread in my stomach, I slipped back out of the reception area, then pulled my sleeve up. The string of curse words that left my lips was Tenn-worthy. Because sure enough, there was a message from Valathame for me. This one was ten lines long.

Dearest daughter of Storm & Sea,

The time is now, return to me.

A tide to wash away his greedy bones,

On your wings, follow your stones.

Thy arrow first will lead you home,

A trusted face for a page in the tome.

Then let him leave on wings of fire,

For your quest is now for the choir.

In Leyka’s old house by the river,

Seek the door that will deliver.

I blinked, then re-read it. Five times. Gibberish. It was gibberish. “What the fuck did I just read?”

The only information I got out of that was that I needed to follow my rune stones, they’d bring me to someone I trusted, and I would give the page to them. My head hurt. My thoughts were spinning. I was exhausted. I was done with riddles and being confused. I wanted my memories from my first life. I wanted to remember Everest and my own daughter. It was wrong to know I’d given birth to another living being and not remember any of it. My heart hurt over it. No, my soul. It hurt my soul. Now I understood why I always had this anger, this frustration with life. My soul was mad for what it lost, for what it gave up, and for not being whole yet.

“Fucking hell, Franks. Focus.” I was talking to myself out loud now.

With a shake of my head, I pulled my rune stone bracelet out of my bag and hooked it on. The rest of this message confused me, but at least I knew that one part, so I was just going to go with it, so I hurried back out the front door and down away from windows so people wouldn’t see. Then I wrapped my fingers around the bracelet and exhaled a deep breath. Okay, Lassie, please show me wherever Valathame wants me to go.