The Ever After

by Amanda Hocking

  At the far end of the tent, I spied Pan and Rikky fighting spiders that had broken through at their end. Finn and Wendy were having a heated discussion in the relative safety near the center of the room.

  I took my battle stance, looking for the right moment to strike the massive spider. The arachnid had turned its attention toward the wall of Minnie and Eliana, and I charged at it.

  And then, as I ran, the spider had its eyes fixed on Eliana. But then Eliana took Minnie by the shoulders, and she pushed her directly into the waiting fangs of the spider. I shouted no and Eliana screamed, but it was cut short by the sound of fangs tearing through bone and flesh.

  I leapt onto the back of the spider, driving my sword through the jagged green line down the back. The gelatinous innards spilled over the ground, and Minnie’s body was submerged beneath it.

  When I stood up, I wiped the spider gunk off my hands and stepped toward Eliana. “What the hell is wrong with you, Eliana?”

  “That’s not Eliana,” Sumi said from behind me. “That’s Illaria.”

  The girl I’d thought was Eliana suddenly laughed, and Sumi frowned.

  “I promised your mama that I would take care of you and your sister,” Sumi said. “The problem is, Illaria, I don’t think anyone can be safe with you around.”

  Sumi stalked past me, her chin down and her eyes on Illaria. She moved like a kuguar. I stepped to the side, leaving Sumi to deal with the evil twin, while I took care of the spiders that kept invading the tent.

  After Illaria had murdered Minnie to save herself from a spider, everyone that could move scattered away. Illaria stood alone, spider corpses surrounding her feet, and her hair kept shifting through different shades of red.

  “You and Mama cared for a world that tormented you, isolated you, rejected you both,” Illaria said. “But it cannot reject me. It’s cold and it is cruel. This world deserves to be destroyed.”

  As soon as she said that, Illaria snarled and lunged at Sumi. In an instant—a quick flick of her wrist—Sumi had drawn her blade. Illaria moved insanely fast, but Sumi seemed to anticipate all Illaria’s strikes in advance.

  And then Sumi’s blade found Illaria’s heart. Illaria gasped in surprise, and Sumi jammed the knife in deeper. Iridescent burgundy blood spilled from her mouth and she staggered back.

  The wyrm roared, sounding just above us, and the scent of sulfur wafted in the tent.

  Illaria collapsed back on the ground, and the tarp of the tent bowed in from the pressure of fire blowing at it. The Tralla leather was supposed to be flame retardant but the electric heat from the dragon breath was extreme, and it started to blacken and burn.

  The only “safe” spot I knew of in Áibmoráigi was on fire and surrounded by the wyrm and giant spiders.

  77

  Stable

  Wendy

  Finn stood in front of me, his dark eyes full of fear in a way that I had never seen before.

  We were in the tent, and even with all the chaos and spiders and screaming, time seemed to have slowed since he’d come running back to tell me we were trapped, like moths in a jar. He pulled me inside the tent, ostensibly to figure out what to do, but what could we do?

  “We can’t leave, we can’t stay,” I said. “So we fight.”

  “Wendy…” He shook his head helplessly. “I don’t know how to fight this. I can’t think of an option where we don’t all end up dead.”

  My first thought was of my son, Oliver. He was back at the palace with my brother Matt, his wife, Willa, and their children. Safe, secure, loved. But if we didn’t find a way to stop the wyrm from eating the world, how long could Oliver or anyone be safe? Even in Förening?

  I closed my eyes, picturing Oliver—his hair sandy like Loki’s, his eyes dark like mine, and a smile that lit up my world.

  For him, I would do anything. Even the impossible.

  “Underground.” I opened my eyes and everything seemed to be moving hyper fast. Bryn was fighting spiders at the far end of the tent. But I focused on Finn.

  “The Älvolk live underground,” I said. “How do we get there?”

  “Stables,” Pan said.

  He was leaning on a cot behind me, his breath ragged. His curls were damp with sweat and blood, but based on the lime green color of the blood, it wasn’t his.

  “What’d you say?” I leaned in closer to hear him better.

  “The stables,” he answered. “You go through the stables at the center of the city, and it’ll take you underground.” Then he pointed toward the screaming going on near Bryn, by the entrance. “Sumi knows where to go.”

  “Finn, go with Sumi,” I commanded. “Take the children and anyone you can with you.”

  “What’ll you do?” Finn asked.

  “I’m going to get everyone else going,” I said. “And you’re going to make a path for us.”

  The wyrm roared again. Within minutes, the entire roof of the tent was on fire, but by then Finn was already gone, taking everyone he could with him. As ash rained down from above and the air clouded with smoke, I struggled to help Rikky, Patrik, and Pan get a large unconscious ogre onto a makeshift stretcher.

  Pan and I got in front, carrying the cot backward, with Rikky and Patrik bringing up the rear. It was slow going with all the weight and stepping over the carnage. The heat from the flames was overwhelming and sweat dripped into my eyes.

  Then, with a loud whoosh, the half-burnt tarp above us collapsed down on us. It was heavy and hot, like a smoldering weighted blanket. I tried to tear through the tarp, but it wouldn’t give and the fire burned my fingers.

  I coughed as smoke filled my lungs, and a blade tore through the leather and a hand reached in. It took mine, strong and rough, and Loki pulled me free. He scooped me up in his arms, and I wrapped mine around his neck, and he ran through the burning remnants of the tent.

  “You saved my life,” I said hoarsely.

  “I figured it was time I returned the favor.” He set me down once we were far enough away, and brushed the silver lock of hair from my eyes. “Are you all right?”

  I nodded. “I’ll live.”

  A grunting sound from the tent caused us both to look over to see Pan dragging Rikky out of the fire. Loki rushed away to help them, and I collapsed to the ground on my knees, coughing and trying to breathe.

  Loki carried Rikky over—her left leg was bloody and burnt, and she seemed dazed. Pan staggered over and collapsed beside me, coughing hard.

  “What about Patrik?” I asked. “And the ogre.”

  Pan shook his head. “They didn’t make it.”

  Tears stung my burning eyes when I asked him, “Can you show us the way down?”

  78

  Ouroboros

  Ulla

  Dagny finally lowered her bow, but she didn’t put it back in her quiver. We were about to leave the armory when I heard yelling and running on the stairs.

  “Go as far down as you can!” a familiar voice commanded, and I ran out in the hall to see injured survivors coming down the steps.

  “Where should they go?” I asked, looking to Noomi. “Where can they be safe from the wyrm?”

  “Um…” She thought for a second. “The girjastu should be good.”

  Dagny stepped out and started directing the dazed survivors. “I’ll take you down to the girjastu.” Then she turned to Noomi. “Come with me and help me get them safe and comfortable.”

  Noomi knew her way around here, and Dagny wanted to keep an eye on her, I’m sure, so it made sense. Dagny didn’t ask me to join her, but she probably knew I wanted to be here, watching and waiting.

  Pan had gotten split up from us a while ago, but I hadn’t let myself think about what he might be doing or if …

  Finn I saw first, and he hugged me tightly—hard enough that it hurt. When he released me, I noticed his red-rimmed eyes under the amber torchlight.

  The only time I had ever seen him look this shattered was after his sister died, but this time he was all bloody
and banged up like he’d been in a car wreck.

  “Go, rest while you can,” I said.

  He didn’t say anything. He only nodded and then moved down the hall, shuffling like a weary zombie. As survivors continued down the stairs, most passed me by without saying anything—like Sumi with her head down and an injured Jennet. They just followed Dagny’s voice, directing them to the girjastu with promises of water and blankets.

  Tove went by very slowly, until he saw his sister, Sunniva. Then they both ran at each other and hugged. He had dried blood in his ears, and Sunniva cried when she got a good look at him.

  I was waiting in the doorway to the armory, and Bryn paused as she reached me. Her arms were covered in both scars and fresh wounds, and sweat left trails through the blood and dirt staining her arms.

  “Glad you’re safe,” she said, and that’s when I went in for a hug. She let me hug her, but her arms hung limply until she finally squeezed me back.

  “I knew you’d be okay,” I said. “You always are.”

  She coughed and pulled away from me. “Right now, I need to get something to drink.”

  “Yeah, go,” I said. “I’ll see you in the girjastu soon.”

  At least that’s what I hoped. The more time passed without seeing Pan, the more anxious I became. The survivors were trickling down slowly, but there really weren’t that many.

  The Trylle Queen and King descended the stairs, and right behind them, Pan was helping Rikky down the stairs. I ran over to them, and I wanted to embrace Pan and cover him in relieved kisses, but Rikky couldn’t stand on her own, so I swooped in and put my arm around her.

  “Thank you,” she said quietly.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked as we walked down the hall.

  “The Trylle Queen sent messages to all the kingdoms asking for volunteers,” Rikky explained. “It sounded too important to sit out just because I was mad at Pan.”

  “Well, it’s very brave of you to be here,” I said.

  “I’ve always helped those who need it.” Rikky put too much weight on her injured leg, and she winced.

  “Lean on me,” I told her. “I got you.”

  When we made it to the girjastu, Dagny and Sumi were organizing the space to be a makeshift camp. They had pushed the shelving toward the back to create private spaces for the more seriously injured to be treated, while the rest of the room had pillows and blankets for everyone to get comfortable and water buckets to start allowing them to drink and clean up.

  Eliana had a spot right near the front door, where she had set up a cozy sitting area with blankets and hay for herself and two younger girls. As soon as she saw me, she invited us to join her, and Pan and I helped Rikky get settled in with her.

  Once we’d finished, Pan and I offered to take water pails down to the well at the end of the hall. Everyone was coughing and dirty, not to mention many of them had serious wounds.

  Someone had lit the torches that lined that hall, so Pan and I walked in the warm glow down the cool stone floor. We didn’t say anything at first. The relative silence—the sounds of talking muffled and echoed from the girjastu—was comforting after all the noise and violence of the day.

  We were almost to the well when Pan stopped. I paused, looking back at him. His biceps had been wrapped in gauze, taut around the muscle as he stood with his hands on his hips.

  “Pan?” I asked.

  He stared down at the floor and rubbed his chin. “I…”

  I set the pails down and stepped closer to him. Then he looked up at me, his lips slightly parted and his eyes dark as night. Without saying anything, he moved in a flash. His mouth on mine, one hand on my face and the other on my waist. I wrapped my arms around him, and he pressed me back against the wall.

  He kissed me fiercely, hungrily, in a way I felt all the way through me. The way his hands felt, gripping me like he was afraid to lose me.

  He rested his forehead against mine, and he inhaled deeply.

  “I love you so much, Ulla,” he said, his voice husky. “I need you to know that. In case anything happens today.”

  “I do know,” I said, and he looked me in the eye. “I love you so much. But nothing’s going to happen. We’re going to make it out of this, and we’re going to make our own happily ever after.”

  He smiled wanly and kissed me again. “We should go. They need water.”

  On our way back from the well, we passed by a brightly lit underground greenhouse of sorts, filled with all kinds of lush plants and vegetables. I stopped to peek in the open door, and Finn was standing in a circle, talking with Bryn, Sumi, and the Trylle Queen and King.

  I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Pan and I had our hands full with water, so I kept on moving.

  After all the water had been dispensed, I went over to where Dagny and Elof had holed themselves up in a corner with a pile of books. I sat down on the floor beside them, taking a quick break.

  “How are you doing?” Dagny asked me.

  “Okay. I just need a minute.” I looked over at her and Elof scouring dusty pages. “How are you guys doing?”

  “If the situation wasn’t so dire, I’d be happier than an elk in spring,” Elof said dourly. “All these old books are a dream come true, but everything else is a nightmare.”

  “The biggest obstacle is that most of this is written in runic chicken scratch,” Dagny said with a heavy sigh. “They’re difficult to read at best and impossible at worst.”

  “I do have plenty of experience with that.” I leaned over to read over her shoulder.

  “I’ve been struggling with this passage.” She held the book out to me. “I know it says something about Jörmungandr, the world ender, but the ink in the passage is smeared, so it’s nearly illegible.”

  The page was written in an Old Norse derivative, and it had survived water damage at some point in its history. Beneath the smeared words was a relatively intact drawing of an ouroboros—a wyrm biting its own tail.

  A few words stood out to me—allhardr, morginn, groenn—and I suddenly remembered, “The suns set in the green sky when the good morning becomes the violent night.”

  “What?” Dagny asked.

  “I think I know what I need to do,” I said.

  79

  Resolve

  Bryn

  The room the Trylle Queen chose was an overwhelmingly green indoor garden. She had wanted to meet with advisors about what to do, away from the prying eyes and ears of everyone in the girjastu, and that meant she’d assembled her dream team of Finn, Loki, and a very dazed Tove.

  Sumi and I exchanged a look, and then we both followed Wendy and company down the hallway. When she did notice us, she motioned for us to join them, but we would’ve come on in without an invitation. I had pushed my way into meetings with royals, and I wasn’t about to let anybody hold me back now.

  That was contrary to what I’d told my boyfriend, Ridley, last night. It had been late, and I had been traveling, and I called him from a rest-stop bathroom.

  “Just be safe, Bryn,” Ridley had said, his voice thick and far away.

  “I will do my best,” I’d promised him.

  He sighed. “I should be there with you.”

  “No, you shouldn’t,” I said firmly. We’d already gone over this before I left. After the Kanin Civil War—and after Ridley had been tortured—he’d suffered very debilitating PTSD.

  We all did, really—everyone in Doldastam—to varying degrees. But Ridley had been through things that left him unfit for combat. He panicked and froze if he heard certain things or when he smelled blood.

  Coming here would have only made him a liability, plus I’d be way too busy worrying about him. So I asked him to stay in Doldastam to help coordinate and do what he could from there.

  “I still hate that I’m not there with you,” Ridley said finally.

  “I know.” Tears stung my eyes. “I love you, Ridley.”

  “I love you too,” he said. “Come home safe.”


  Now, in the underground greenhouse of the lost city of Áibmoráigi, I wondered if I could keep my promise to him.

  Wendy surveyed the small group of us standing in a semicircle around her, in a humid room that smelled like lilacs and dirt. Her expression was grim, her clothes bloody and torn, and I realized that I’d never seen a Queen look so worried and disheveled.

  “Does anybody have ideas about what to do?” she asked, and the silence that followed was deafening.

  “We have enough food to stay here awhile,” Tove said, and absently played with a leafy vine from a plant hanging above.

  “That’s not a permanent solution,” Wendy said.

  “It might end up one,” Sumi said, sounding resigned as she looked around the room.

  “No, it won’t,” Finn said with strong conviction. “I will get back to my children, or I will die trying.”

  “I know,” Sumi said. “I’m saying that you’ll probably die.”

  Finn bowed his head slightly and pinched the bridge of his nose. “We have to come up with something more than just sitting here.”

  “Isn’t that docent Elof looking into the old scrolls?” Wendy asked. Her hands were clasped in front of her, twisting together. “Looking for an incantation or some way to fight this?”

  Loki scoffed. “That’s how we got trapped in this snow globe from hell.”

  “They trapped us in this mess before the wyrm could do more damage,” Sumi argued.

  “That’s all well and good, but we should’ve evacuated everyone first,” Loki said, and cast a look over at his wife.

  “Yeah, we should’ve done a lot of things differently, but here we are,” Tove muttered.

  They went round and round like that, sniping at each other out of frustration. I don’t know how long they spent debating the merits of undoing the protection spell, but I had stopped contributing.

  I sat on a garden stool, hunched over with my hands buried in my hair, listening to Wendy and Finn argue their opposing points again.