Cassandra awoke to a vision, a young man with long blonde hair, sobbing as visions of blood and battle race through his mind. She watched as he wrapped an older woman's body to burn on a makeshift funeral pyre that he pushed out to sea on a handmade canoe. As the fire burned so did the horrible vision- vision that Cassandra could see, as if they were being projected on to the fire itself. "Mother," he cried. "How do I save him? How can I save my father?" Cassandra went closer. The man was wearing a leather apron; he was clearly a craftsman of some sort. But then she touched his hair, sweeping it over his shoulder. His back was covered in deep lacerations. Was he a slave?

The beautiful red haired girl awoke sobbing. Jacob had been in her bed holding her. Although she was not in a committed relationship, with the sexy Oklahoma cowboy he loved to sleep in her bed, as her guardian, her protector.

"Cas, what did you see?" he asked as she ran from the room.

The librarians were a team of paranormal investigators. Usually their assignments appeared in a magic book. Jacob checked the book, there was nothing new. That was not good since their primary means of transportation was a door that could be set to any time or place- key word being 'set.'

She had no idea how or when to set the clock, luckily their leader Jenkins emerged, being an immortal knight his body did not require sleep.

"Cassandra what brings you to the door?" the tall man asked.

"I had a vision," she said as she brought up her mental matrix. It was her gift, to see a scene from all angles. She visualized the man's cloths; he appeared to be a blacksmith. His blonde hair was wavy and long but caked with soot. His ruggedly handsome face with high cheekbones and blonde facial hair- was so innocent and sad.

"A Viking?" she said to herself. That didn't really narrow down a time period since Vikings existed from 789 AD all the way up to 1066. She tried to remember more; the water, the beach, the angle of the sun, the trees, the boats in the water- "Southern Coastal Norway- 921 AD." Her hands moved to set the door; it flew open revealing the mystery man's humble shack. He looked at her with his light blue eyes, glowing in the light of the moon. Cassandra walked towards him as if in a trance, crossing through the door.

"Cas!" Jacob shouted, running after her. The door slammed shut behind them, waking the other two members of the team: Ezekiel a young Asian-Australian man who's was the tech and master thief of the group and Eve, their field leader. She was beautiful but at six feet tall with a military background she was not to be messed with.

"Jenkins what the hell happened?" Eve asked.

"I honestly have no clue," he replied. The book suddenly opened.

"We have a new case?" Ezekiel asked.

"It appears so- at some place called 'Charm City'," Jenkins pointed out.

Cassandra held the man in her arms she could tell he was tired since it was night but he was also in a great deal of physical pain. "What's your name?" she asked in English.

He answered in a voice that sounded Scottish or perhaps Welsh. "I am Erik, son of Buliwyf. Are you a seer?"

"Uh yeah, sure," she answered 'Seer' was strange word for a Viking to use. Of course it was also strange that the man spoke near perfect English. "I'm Cassandra."

"Do you have visions? Do you see the world in a graph of stars? My mother told me it was a gift," he said through tears. "It's why I was able to learn how to forge; how to create molds and cast swords all by feel. She was always so proud of me."

"Was?" Cassandra asked.

"She died of fever not long ago," he said, while lying down on the dirt floor. "Ever since her death I've been plagued with visions of a different kind." He held his head in pain.

"Where did you learn how to forge?" Jacob asked, from the description of his visions it was possible he was self taught.

"From my mother herself," he explained. "She was brought to this land as a slave; she built this place with her own two hands."

"That's why you live near the beach; to forage for food and water?" Jacob asked. He took a pot and a large blade and went to gather some supplies to create a means of boiling sea water. Jacob was the historian of the group. He knew it was common for the poor to contract typhoid due to lack of drinkable water.

Cassandra held Erik. "Where is your father?"

"Headed north from the Baltic Sea," he explained. "My father is Varangian- destined to rule his people.- Don't ask me how I know that. If I say those words out loud…" he flinched, touching his shoulder. He needed to sit up: the wounds on his back were too infected.

"People think you're a witch?" Cassandra assumed. "But if he's Russian why do you live in Norway?"

"I already told you; my mother was a slave; although she loved him he could never take her as his wife." He sat with his legs pulled to his chest. "Where do you come from? And who is the man you travel with?"

It was then Jacob returned and used Erik's forge to boil the sea water, he made a tent out of leaves, instead of plastic to distill out the salt.

"I come from a place that is unknown to you and the man I travel with- he is my guardian," she explained.

"You come from the place beyond the sea." Erik lay on his stomach already aware of what was to come.

"Cas I need to cauterize his wounds," Jacob instructed.

She held the man's hand. "This will only hurt for a short time."

"I know," he was already in pain; this was nothing he couldn't handle, "fy mhlentyn."

"Was that Welsh?" Cassandra asked. Those words meant 'my child.'

As Jacob poured the water, Erik started to bleed badly. "Please hold me," Erik said to Cassandra as he held her hand, squeezing hard.

"I know I can trust you- we need to head north to these coordinates." Instead of saying them out loud he touched Cassandra's cheek shooting images in to her head.

"Do you have a horse?" she asked.

"I have a boat," he replied.

"And you think we can make it to that location before your father's party and defeat the demon destined to kill him?" she asked.

"Come closer," Erik said, motioning for her to lay beside him.

Cassandra laid down in the dirt, she touched his face. He was burning with fever.

He kissed her lips, breathing in her energy. "You're telepathic."

Cas pulled away, "But I can't change the future."

Erik smiled. "How do you know?" he released her hand, his fever was so severe, he could barely keep his eyes open.