by Kate O'Hearn
Archie frowned and leaned forward. “All I see is the green glow. I don’t know if I’ll ever see normally again!”
“Stop complaining,” Loki snapped. He looked past Archie to Freya. “Put your helmet on and keep walking. I’m going ahead to see where we’re going to come out of the tunnel.”
Before she could say anything, Loki shimmered and turned into a colorful hummingbird. His tiny wings were flapping so fast, she could no longer see them. A moment later Loki darted away.
“I really don’t like him,” Archie said.
“I don’t think he cares much for you either,” Freya said. “Or me, for that matter. But he needs us and—I hate to say it—we need him if we hope to stop this war.”
“And that’s what really bugs me,” Archie agreed.
Freya and Archie kept walking toward the pinprick of light. Finally, she felt movement against her chest.
“Orus!” Freya reached inside her breastplate and freed the large raven.
“Did you get the name of the giant that hit me?” Orus moaned. “My head is pounding!”
Freya hugged the bird tightly. “You really scared me,” she said. “I thought you’d drowned.”
“Me, drown? Never,” Orus said. “I was just taking a long nap.”
“Well, the dive almost killed Gee,” Archie said. “But Loki gave her mouth-to-mouth and she came back much faster.”
The raven’s eyes went wide. “Loki kissed you?”
“Oh, gross!” Freya cried. “No, he didn’t. He gave me mouth-to-mouth resuscitation so I could come back faster. But that’s not kissing.”
“It’s miles away from kissing,” Archie agreed. “It was first aid.”
As Orus recovered, he rolled over onto his legs, but he remained cradled in Freya’s hands. “Maybe, but he didn’t offer to give me first aid, did he?”
“No, I did that,” Freya said. “Would you have preferred Loki?”
“Are you kidding? No, thank you.” The raven looked around. “So, where are we?”
“We’re nearing the entrance to Vanaheim. Loki’s gone ahead to see where we are. That little light, way ahead, is the exit.”
“Way up there?” Orus cawed. “Good. I’m tired and I’m going to take another nap. Wake me when we get there.”
Freya leaned forward and kissed the back of his feathered head. “I will. Just rest and recover.”
She tucked Orus safely behind her breastplate and carefully picked her way through the tight passage. Eventually it opened and the light shining from the entrance grew brighter. They paused long enough for Freya to put on her helmet.
Around them the walls of the Yggdrasil root grew wider and more cavernous. The air started to smell different too. Gone was the stale “green” aroma of the lichen and a tunnel that had never known wind or fresh air, replaced by the beautiful, sweet fragrance of flowers, rich earth, and growth.
Archie paused and inhaled deeply. “That’s much better,” he said. “I thought I was going to puke from the smell in there.”
“You’re lucky,” Freya said. “You haven’t been solid for most of the journey. I’ve had to endure it the whole way. I’m sure we’re going to stink of it for a while.”
Thick layers of vines grew down from above and obscured the exit. Freya realized that unless you knew what the tunnel actually was, you’d never know it was the hidden route to another realm.
“I wonder where Loki is,” Freya mused.
Archie shrugged. “I don’t think he’ll go far. He seems a bit freaked by everything that’s happening.”
Freya nodded. “He’s not the only one.”
Pushing back the vines, Freya and Archie stepped into the blazing daylight and discovered they were high on a lush, green mountain. The ground dropped away just ahead of them into a sharp cliff. Across a great divide, they saw a stunning waterfall that started from the top of the neighboring mountain. As they walked up to the edge of the cliff, their eyes followed the waterfall down into a large, crystal-clear lake, hundreds of yards below.
Behind them, and all around, they were surrounded by thick, dense jungle. Trees taller than they’d ever seen before rose high in the air, with leaves almost as big as Archie. The air was humid, sweet, and filled with birdsong. The sunlight beating down on them was warm and came from a sun much larger than that of Asgard or Earth.
“Wow,” Archie breathed, turning a full circle. “Vanaheim is awesome!”
“It sure is,” Freya agreed. She could feel the area around them teeming with life—too much for her to comprehend. It was like nothing she’d felt before, and she was overwhelmed.
“There’s too much life here,” she said. “I can’t take it all in; it’s making me dizzy.”
“Don’t try,” Archie said. “Turn off your senses.”
“Really? That’s your solution—to turn off my senses? Can you stop your nose from smelling all these flowers, or turn off your hearing from the birdsong?”
“Well, no, that’s silly,” Archie said. “I can’t turn them off. They’re part of me.”
“And my senses aren’t part of me?”
“I just meant that maybe you can turn them off.”
“Unfortunately, I can’t. I can focus them if I need to, but they’re always with me and always picking up things.”
Suddenly the jungle behind them exploded with sound and movement. Voices shouted in an unfamiliar language, and Freya and Archie were scooped up into the air.
Freya tried to open her wings but couldn’t. Her feathers caught painfully on something invisible that wouldn’t give. She reached back to free her wings and touched the braided edges of what felt like a net.
“Hey!” Freya cried. “Let us go!”
Freya wriggled and fought in the confines of the net. As Archie struggled alongside her, his elbow smacked her in the helmet.
“Archie, move,” Freya cried. “Your elbow’s killing me!”
“Me?” Archie cried. “What about you? Your knee is digging into the middle of my back! And I won’t tell you where the hilt of your sword is pressing!”
They squirmed and struggled in the tight net, but couldn’t break free. Still unable to see their attackers or the net imprisoning them, they were carried higher in the air. Soon they were gliding over the treetops.
Archie grunted as he tried to move. “What was that you were saying about not being able to shut off your senses, and how you’re feeling everything?”
“Not funny, Archie!”
With Archie’s arm pressing her helmet up against the ropes of the invisible net, Freya peered around, searching for signs of their captors. But like some of the Asgardians, she couldn’t feel anyone around her. It was as though they were simply floating in the sky.
“Hey, what’s happening?” Orus awoke. “Let me outta here!”
Freya tried her best to pull the cloak away from the raven as he crawled out of her breastplate. She whispered to him, “Orus, quiet. We’ve been captured.”
“By whom?”
“I’m not sure.”
Orus crawled up to her shoulder. Finding the edge of the invisible net, he pecked at it a few times and then poked his head out. “Hey, let us out of here!”
“We’ve already tried that,” Freya said. “They won’t answer.”
Freya thought she heard fluttering wings very close to her. But when she turned her head to follow the sound, she couldn’t see anything. They floated over the waterfall and followed along the path of a winding river that fed it. In the distance, she spied a small clearing. Smoke rings curled in the air from small cooking fires.
As they drifted closer, Freya had her first glimpse of the people gathered in the clearing. From afar they looked just as normal as Asgardians. But when they got closer, she realized they looked like nothing she’d ever seen before.
“Cool!” Archie cried. “Hey, Gee, can you see them? They’re butterfly people!”
“They’re the Vanir,” Freya said. “And I think they know we’r
e coming.”
The net carried them down toward the group of tall figures with colorful butterfly wings on their backs. They carried no weapons, but they didn’t need to. The Vanir were a race that used magic, not steel.
“Look at that girl,” Archie breathed. He squirmed in the net to get a better look. “She’s gorgeous. Her wings look like a swallowtail!”
A girl of about Freya’s age stood with the other butterfly people. Her hair was long and as black as Freya’s feathers. Her large wings were open—also solid black, but down at the bottom, near where the extra bits of wing swooped out gracefully, there was a large dot of the deepest sapphire blue.
The girl moved into position with the other Vanir people, making up a large receiving circle. Freya was reminded of the ring of angels circling Dirian in Chicago. Only this time they were the prisoners, and not the Dark Searcher.
Just before they touched down, they stopped. As they hovered no more than a few feet aboveground, the invisible net came away and they landed unceremoniously on the leaf-covered earth.
Freya rolled away from Archie and climbed to her feet. Suddenly, her invisible captors and the large net they carried became visible. They were a mix of butterfly people and those with four see-though insectile wings that reminded Freya of the dragonflies that lived in Asgard. She reached for her sword, but the moment her hand touched the hilt, she found she couldn’t remove it from its sheath.
“That’s enough, Searcher,” a deep voice called. “You will not draw your weapon here.”
A middle-aged butterfly man moved forward. He had black, white, and orange hair and wings.
“He looks like a monarch butterfly,” Archie commented softly.
“But tell me, what is this?” he said, stepping closer. “A Dark Searcher that isn’t a Searcher at all, but a Valkyrie.” He waved his hand, and Freya’s helmet slipped off her head.
There was a short intake of breath from the circle around them as Freya was exposed.
“I am Freya, daughter of Eir, the head Valkyrie of Asgard. We come in the service of Odin. It is urgent that I speak with the Elders of Vanaheim.”
“I am Kreel, leader of this community. If you are in the service of Odin, why have you come here in disguise as one of his Searchers?”
“Because we didn’t know what to expect.”
“So you thought to come as a dreaded Dark Searcher, bearing a weapon?”
“We intended no harm,” Freya said. “But it has been an age since an Asgardian has come here.”
“True,” Kreel said. “And why has Odin not come himself?”
“Bifröst is closed and he’s unable to leave Asgard.”
“This we already know,” Kreel said. “Tell me, with Bifröst closed, how is it that a Valkyrie and her servant have arrived in our realm?”
“Hey, I’m not her servant,” Archie said.
“You are a dead human traveling with a Valkyrie. You bear her mark on your hand. That makes you her servant.”
“Yes, Gee gave me her mark, but we’re friends. I’m not her servant or slave.”
“Archie, that’s enough,” Freya warned. “It’s true. Archie is my friend and not a servant. Orus here is my raven advisor. It is imperative that we speak with the Elders.”
“Why?” Kreel demanded. “Could it be that foolish squabble the giants have started?”
Freya gasped. “You know about the war?”
“It’s not a war, just the giants moving on Asgard again. What happens there won’t affect us here.”
“You’re wrong. All the giants are working together. They’ll take Asgard and then come here. If we don’t stop it now, it will draw in all the realms, and Yggdrasil could be destroyed.”
Kreel shook his colorful head. “Ragnarök? I hardly think so. No, I think you are here to start your own trouble with the Vanir, Freya of Asgard. You, the boy, and Loki have come to Vanaheim without permission.”
Freya was shocked to hear Kreel mention Loki. Once again her doubts about Loki rose to the surface. Had he set them up?
“Yes, Valkyrie, we know about Loki as well. His presence and yours is a pollution of our world that we won’t tolerate. You have broken our laws and will be punished.” Kreel looked at his guards.
“Take them away and lock them in a cage, where they belong!”
7
“PLEASE LET FREYA BE OKAY,” Maya whispered to herself over and over again. Since arriving in the military installation deep beneath a Utah mountain, she had heard nothing of her missing sister. Had Freya been captured and taken somewhere else? Was she all right?
So far the Asgardians had been treated well, although they’d been subjected to countless medical tests and examinations. Blood and other tissue samples had been taken, and they were constantly being questioned.
The doctors had taken special care with Maya. She was put through a machine called a CT scanner, which gave them a full look inside her body and at the injuries she’d sustained during the attack from the hunters at the farm. After that her shattered wings were treated more effectively than the farm’s veterinarian had been able to do. The moment they were properly set, Maya felt the healing process begin.
Maya’s raven, Grul, was also in the final stages of healing. At first the soldiers had tried to take him away from her, but Maya had turned on her charm and talked them into letting her keep him close. As the minutes passed, Grul was getting better.
After her final treatment, Maya was returned to the holding cell she shared with her Valkyrie family. Peering through the thick iron bars, she looked into the opposite cell. The Dark Searchers stood at the bars, looking ready to do battle with anyone who challenged them.
Her brother, Kai, stood among them—a bit smaller, but just as imposing. He was still a mystery to her. But it was clear that Freya was already devoted to him. If there was one thing Maya knew, it was to trust her youngest sister’s instincts. She just needed time to get to know her “new” brother for herself.
The Dark Searchers remained in their full armor and helmets. It was only Vonni’s strong negotiating skills that convinced them to surrender their weapons peacefully. Looking at them—powerful and intimidating—she didn’t think they needed them. They were a ferocious sight—even when they were simply standing still.
Thor and Balder had been locked in the cell beside the Searchers. But earlier in the day they had been escorted out of the cell block. If the situation weren’t so serious, watching the soldiers trying to get Thor to surrender his hammer would have been funny. When they threatened him, Thor slammed the hammer down on the ground so hard, it caused the whole mountain to shake and cracked open the floor of the holding facility.
Thor was allowed to keep his hammer after that. The soldiers led Thor and Balder away, and the brothers hadn’t returned since.
“You don’t think they’ll hurt my little brother, do you?” Mims asked, wringing her hands beside Maya. “They wouldn’t let me see him or Mom. What if they’re dissecting him?”
Maya took her cousin’s hand. “Don’t think like that. They wouldn’t dare hurt him. They may study him, but these are not stupid people. They know what we’d do if they damaged even one feather on his tiny wings.”
“But—”
Maya shook her head. “No buts—little Michael is going to be fine. You know, despite his noise and bad temper, Thor loves children. If they dared to hurt the baby, nothing could stop him from using his hammer to tear down this mountain.”
Mims nodded and descended into silence, but Maya could still sense her cousin’s fear. They were all in a situation they’d never experienced before. Would the military side with them? Or were they facing a battle with the humans as well as the giants?
They’d been held in their mountain prison for two days, and the military wouldn’t believe them despite their warning of the impending giant invasion. Instead, they pursued their continuous questioning and examination.
As the hours of the day ticked away, they heard the heavy do
or at the end of the corridor open and Thor’s booming voice echo down the passageway. “Foolish humans, what will it take to convince you? This realm is in grave danger.”
“Thor, calm down,” Balder said.
Soldiers streamed into the prison block and lined the walls of the corridor as Thor and Balder were escorted to their cell.
“You’re more stupid than trolls,” Thor called out as they streamed past the Valkyries’ cell. Everyone knew the bars would not hold against the strength of the Dark Searchers if they tried to break out. There was little chance they would hold against the Valkyries either. The human soldiers knew it too, yet they continued with this charade.
The Searchers stood to attention as Odin’s sons passed by.
“Stand down,” Thor ordered. At his word, the Dark Searchers relaxed—but refused to sit.
“What news?” Brundi called to Thor.
“These fools refuse to believe us,” Thor answered. “I almost wish the giants would arrive. Remaining here is wasting precious time. There’s no telling what’s happening in Asgard!”
“Perhaps now is the time to leave,” Kris called with his broken voice. “Vonni’s plan has failed. If they will not believe us, we must go.”
“Give Vonni a little more time,” Brundi called to her oldest son. “He will convince them. I know he will. He may not have trained in the Keep of the Dark Searchers like you, but he has served in the human military many times. He knows how they work and how to speak their language.”
“One day more,” Thor said darkly. “We will give him one more day to convince these fools. After that we will make our own way back to Asgard and leave Midgard to the mercy of the giants!”
8
FREYA COULDN’T TAKE HER EYES off the Vanir as they marched her and Archie away from the small village and into the dense jungle. They were the most unique beings she’d ever encountered: a parade of color with delicate, insectoid wings. She was mesmerized by their enchanting appearance, but she knew there was more to them than met the eye. Freya could feel that they were capable of great power and ferociousness.
“You don’t understand. We must speak with your Elders. It is a war, and it will destroy Vanaheim as well as Asgard and the other realms!”