by S. T. Bende
“Storm?” I questioned. I looked beyond the Huldra’s house, where a cluster of thick grey clouds gathered in the distance. Perfect.
“Can you see the gargoyle from here?” Elin asked.
“No,” Viggo said. “Aura?”
It was time to put my mandated meditating to use.
I closed my eyes and drew in a breath of salty air. With tremendous focus, I reached out until I sensed the field just outside the cottage. Feeling nothing, I pushed into the yard, where something fuzzy and stagnant pushed back. The gargoyle? With another deep breath I pushed even further, this time edging into the cottage itself. That same darkness jabbed back, and I hurriedly retracted. Yikes.
“The Huldra’s definitely in the house. The gargoyle’s in the front garden, closest to the sea.”
Elin raised one eyebrow. “Did you just solve a problem by meditating?”
Signy beamed at me, a thousand told you so’s packed into one proud look.
“Just get the crystal and let’s get out of here.” Goosebumps broke out across my back as the wind whipped hard off the bluff. “The storm is moving fast.”
“Be very careful,” Signy warned. “I’ll hide at the edge of the property so I can debilitate as many threats as possible before I’m spotted. We stand the greatest chance of getting through this alive if you all work quickly.”
“Then let’s get going.” Elin rubbed her hands together. “Aura, keep a read on the Huldra and make sure she stays put. Viggo and Signy, be prepared to do whatever’s necessary to keep us alive. I’ll introduce Aura to the gargoyle and negotiate the crystal swap.”
My friend held up her palm, and I passed over the stone. We hurriedly covered the remaining ground, careful to stay to the right, and away from the cottage window. When we reached the gargoyle, I kept alert while Viggo stood guard.
“Hurry,” he urged.
“On it,” Elin muttered. She took my hand and approached the small stone figure. With its pointy ears and bulbous nose, it didn’t look that different from a lawn ornament. Maybe I’d read this all wrong. Maybe it really was just a statue.
“Elin, I—”
But she cut me off, pushing me directly in front of the gargoyle and announcing in a solemn voice, “Aura Nilssen is here to see you, oh stone one.”
Seriously?
All doubt disappeared as the gargoyle shimmered, the dense stone expanding to welcome a wave of light. An endless beat passed before its stone exterior exploded in a shower of fine, powdery glitter.
“Arugh! My eye!” Viggo brought the heel of his hand to his face.
“Seriously?” I whispered. “You’re a winged warrior who grew up on a dark realm, and you’re upset about glitter in your eye?”
“It burns,” Viggo muttered. But he dropped his hand.
“Identify yourself.” The gravelly voice pulled my gaze to the ground. Good gods, was this for real? What had once been a garden gnome was now a feline with the same grey fur and whiskered cheeks as . . .
“Bob?” I whispered. The bobcat’s tail twitched.
“Aura?” He growled. “How did you find me?”
“How are you in Alfheim?” I held out my hand for Bob to nuzzle. “And how are you talking?”
“Your father tried to send me after you when you jumped realms.” Bob shifted so my hand rested atop his favorite scratching spot. His deep purr vibrated against my fingernails as I scratched behind his ear. “I could not make your transport, so your father arranged for an additional pickup. I was to slip across the Bifrost unnoticed, but when I was detected, the Norns turned me into a gargoyle—their punishment for unsanctioned inter-realm travel. The Huldra picked me up in my stone form, and I have been here ever since.”
“Well we’re here to un-curse you.” Elin raised the diamond aventurine. “We want to offer you a trade—your freedom, in exchange for the gem the Huldra stored in your heart.”
Bob wrenched his head from my hand to blink at Elin. His feline features formed a mask of pure awe. “This is for me?”
“It is.” I knelt down so I was on Bob’s level. “We need the Sterkvart to bring Elin’s mom home, to challenge the queen, to stop my uncle from killing me and taking over the realms. And you need this aventurine to break your curse. What do you say?”
Bob turned his head back to the cottage. “I will do anything to help you, Aura. But she intends to kill us all.”
“If we act fast, she doesn’t have to find out,” Viggo hissed. His hand flexed over the dagger he’d tucked into his belt.
“Your weapon will not stop her,” Bob warned.
“I’ll take my chances,” Viggo said through gritted teeth.
“Then hurry.” Bob looked at the cottage one more time before lying down and exposing his belly. “Hold the aventurine over my heart. Do not let go until it passes through my skin. Once inside, it will eject the Huldra’s prize, which I will then be free to give to you. Quickly. I sense her moving.”
Angry jabs pressed in on my space as thick droplets of water splattered my face. The storm was close. And the Huldra was closer.
“Do it,” I ordered.
“Okay.” Elin raised the magical stone over Bob’s chest. Her hands shook as the crystal jarred violently, as if it were polarized to reject entry. Bob let out an anguished yowl as Elin forced the crystal closer, his agony so intense I nearly begged Elin to find another way. But after an endless moment, the crystal broke through whatever barrier had caused its resistance. The gem slid into Bob’s fur with a thick slurp.
Air rushed from my lungs on one relieved exhale.
“It’s in!” Elin’s eyes shone with pride. But they narrowed into worried slits as Bob began to convulse. “This doesn’t look good.”
“I know.” I hovered over my shaking friend. When thick, yellow foam emerged from the corners of his mouth, I turned to Elin. “It isn’t working. We need another plan.”
“Stay.” Bob groaned as his furry face scrunched up in a louder, more intense yowl. His chest quivered, his legs contracting as he hissed. But a second later he was still, and with a pop a pale green gem emerged from his chest. He twitched his paw, batting the stone directly into Elin’s waiting hands, and my friend hurriedly shoved it deep into her pocket. Was that it? Was the Sterkvart crystal really in our possession? Did we actually have the stone with the power to bring Larkin home, and save the tree, and . . .
Warmth flooded my chest, radiating outward until my entire body surged with joy. We’d actually done it. Against every conceivable odd, we’d managed to get the crystal back.
Now we just had to get it to the tree.
Bob’s ears twitched a half second before he dropped into a crouch. “She is near. Go.”
“I’m not leaving you,” I said. “The academy’s a few-hour hike that way. Come with us.”
“That is not my path.” Bob nuzzled my hand before turning to face the house. “Now, go. We will see each other again.”
“Time to move, Glitre.” Viggo’s words were clipped. I glanced over my shoulder to find him tapping on his communicator. “Wynter says your uncle’s leaving Svartalfheim now. Which means the Huldra’s probably going to collect the crystal any—”
Before he could finish the sentence, a woman burst from the front door of the cottage. The quickening wind whipped her white-blond hair across her face, and blew her floor-length black dress so she appeared to float. A fresh gust blew her hair back, revealing high, angular cheekbones, deep red lips, and a delicate nose. The effect was offset by her eyes—their icy blue could once have been beautiful, but now vibrated as bottomless pools of unbridled anger.
“Run,” Bob urged. “Get the crystal to safety. Get yourselves to safety. I will hold her off.”
The Huldra paused at Bob’s fierce growl. Her gaze darted between Elin, Viggo, the bobcat, and me. Rage burned in those ice-blue pools, in the seconds before she lowered her head to charge at Elin. My friend leapt to her feet, but the Huldra was fast. In the moment it took me to registe
r what was happening, the Huldra rocketed through the air to tackle my friend.
“Elin!” Signy leapt from behind the boulder where she’d been hiding to send a blinding white beam at the Huldra. The creature tucked and rolled mid-air, avoiding the shot and continuing her trajectory. Any moment now she’d have Elin in her arms. And then . . .
“No!” The universe had taken enough from me. It wasn’t taking my best friend, too.
I lifted my shoulders and my wings stretched wide. With a series of flaps that strained muscles I’d never realized I had, I narrowed the distance between the Huldra and me. Powerful strokes from deceptively flimsy-looking appendages carried me through the sky. With a half-second to spare, I wrenched Elin from the ground, leaving the Huldra lying face down on wet grass. A boom of distant thunder clapped and raindrops descended in droves, soaking the Huldra’s thin dress and matting her silky hair against her head. She didn’t appear to care as she scrambled to her feet and spun to face me.
I adjusted the panicking Elin as I flapped backward, away from the cottage. My friend continued to flail in my grasp, and I shifted her weight so she could wrap her arms around my neck. Thirty feet below, the Huldra’s long fingers balled into tight fists. She whirled on Viggo, dug her bare feet into the earth, and charged. He bent his knees and leapt into the air, wings extending as he jumped. As he flew to safety, the Huldra shrieked in frustration.
“Get out of here!” Signy called. She fired another beam at the Huldra, this time grazing the woman’s shoulder. The Huldra’s grating cry made me cringe.
“Viggo, get Signy!” I screamed. Without a word, my partner dove for the ground, scooped my godmother into his arms, and zoomed back into the sky.
“Go! All of you! I’ll keep her here as long as I can.” Bob leapt at the Huldra, pinning her to the ground. Although she was thin, she wrestled him off her with a force incongruous to her bone structure. The Huldra was strong. And she was furious.
“Come on, Aura. We need to move.” Viggo flapped directly in front of me. He held out his hands. “Are you okay to carry Elin?”
“I’d better be.” I gritted my teeth and pushed forward. “Elin, do you still have the crystal?”
“It’s in my pocket. Just get us out of here!” Elin pleaded.
I lowered my head and held tight to Elin, willing myself to move quickly. Viggo matched my pace, Signy in his arms, and the four of us soared away from the ocean . . . and the homicidal Huldra.
“Are we there yet?” Elin’s yell was muffled against my shoulder. Apparently, she wasn’t going to look down.
“Are you afraid of heights?” Viggo asked.
“This is not okay. I’m just saying!”
“Know what else is not okay? Waking up one day and sprouting wings.” I flapped harder, barely keeping up with my insanely fast training partner. “Just once I’d like to have a day where something extremely weird does not happen.”
“Today’s not the day,” Signy called over. “Once the crystal’s restored, you’ll move to replace their queen with the heir who saved Alfheim; the one who has the leadership and forward thinking to rebuild our broken world.”
Right. No pressure at all today.
Beneath me, the pristine forest gave way to a bleak, grey landscape—complete with fallen trees, soot-covered clearings, and the remains of what must have been a fairly sizeable village. “What is that place?”
Signy and Viggo both looked down.
“Skit,” Viggo swore. “Is that Creyn?”
“It used to be,” Signy confirmed.
“What’s Creyn?” Elin still spoke into my shoulder.
“One of Alfheim’s capital cities,” Signy offered. “It sat atop our realm’s largest gem mine. Its stones provided energy not only to the city, but to most of the surrounding regions as well. When the Kongelig took control of the queen’s council they ordered the mines be stripped, and their resources re-appropriated to the barrier expansion.”
“What happened to the citizens?” I asked.
“Most of them were relocated to work camps—the stripping of their region went fast, and Minister Narrik was careful not to give them time to think about their next steps or, Frigga forbid, band together to resist his control. Some grew sick from the pollution brought about by the machines. Others suffered mental illnesses from watching their region die. Now Creyn is a shell of a once vibrant town . . . and a warning of what’s still to come, if Alfheim continues along its current course.” Signy looked down as we passed over the mausoleum of civilization. My chest ached, and in one heartbreaking moment, all residual fear was stripped from my soul.
Sixteen or no, I was taking the queen down. Today.
“We’re almost back at school.” My steely eyed stare pierced Viggo. “I’m assuming the Huldra’s going to follow us.”
“Fair assumption,” he replied.
Anger burned anew at the thought of my would-be-soul-sucker. “Considering she’s an über-dark Styra, she sure didn’t use her super manipulator powers to keep us from leaving. She didn’t even speak.”
“She can’t. It’s the Norns’ failsafe.” Viggo flew faster and I strained to keep up. “When a Styra chooses to use her influence to bring darkness to the worlds—when she crosses over and becomes a Huldra—she loses her power of speech. She can still manipulate, but she can’t use verbal language to do it.”
“Well, then why didn’t she control us silently so we’d stick around?” I asked. “We got away a lot easier than I expected.”
A line formed between Viggo’s brows. “She has a plan, and odds are good we played right into it. But we had to get out of there. We need to get this crystal delivered now.”
I looked to the ground. “The academy’s up ahead. Signy, can you signal Wynter through your communicator? Tell her to let Finna know we’ve got the Sterkvart, but an angry Huldra, and possibly my uncle, aren’t far behind. We’re going to need warrior backup—and the headmistress should probably put the school on lockdown.”
“Of course.” Signy spoke hurriedly into her communicator. A moment later, she nodded. “Wynter said she’ll have Finna meet us behind the courtyard for retrieval. A team of warriors is on their way to the cottage to detain the Huldra—assuming she’s still there—and to intercept your uncle. A second team is coming here, in case . . . well, in case.”
“Good.” I flapped my wings harder, my breath coming in shallow gasps. Flying was way more exhausting than I’d imagined.
“Land down there.” Viggo pointed to the clearing at the back wall of the courtyard.
I angled my left shoulder, soaring downward in a tight circle. The ground came at me faster than I meant it to, and in a horrifying flash I realized a crash was imminent.
“Aura!” Elin shrieked.
“Sorry!” I cried back. I braced myself for the impact, but at the last second my wings flapped. My feet touched down with a grace I didn’t anticipate.
“Nice,” Viggo praised as he landed beside me, depositing Signy neatly on the ground. Elin scrambled out of my arms and hugged the nearest tree before doubling over to throw up.
“She’s not wild about heights,” I whispered to Viggo.
“I see that,” he whispered back.
“What do we have here?” A familiar, cold voice sent icicles up my spine. Britney stood outside the courtyard wall, a smug smile stretched across blood red lips. “An unsanctioned trip off-campus? What will the headmistress say?”
“She’ll tell you to get back inside, young lady.” Signy crossed to my nemesis. “If the school isn’t already on lockdown, it will be soon.”
“You mean because of the Huldra?” Britney tossed her long hair over her shoulder. “She’s an academy alumna, you know. If you haven’t figured it out already, she’s the one who fed me information on Aura—around the time she reached out to the Styra, requested we be on the lookout for someone who might try to steal something of hers. I don’t suppose the four of you know anything about that?”
; Viggo stepped closer, positioning himself slightly in front of me. The protective thing was cute, but I’d been dealing with Britney for years. I shifted so we stood shoulder to shoulder, our wings fluttering slightly in the breeze.
“You don’t understand what you’re messing with,” I warned. “Warriors have been sent to kill the Huldra and the dark elf she’s working with, but we all know missions can fail. And if those monsters make it to the school, they’re not going to care that you did what they asked. They’ll end you without thinking twice. I know we don’t like each other, but for once I need you to trust me and go inside. Find your Protektor or your mom—they’ll shield you from what’s coming.”
“My mom’s not around.” Britney snorted. “She dropped me here and shot straight back to Midgard to shack up with that guy.”
Britney’s eyes darted to Signy, lingering for a beat in a look of . . . gods, was she jealous? Nope. Not possible. Jealousy requires a heart. The look disappeared in a flash of malice that shot at me like a white-hot laser. My breath hitched as I struggled to push Britney out of my space. The fury pinging around me was beyond unnerving. But more than that, Britney was . . . I tentatively opened myself up to the craziness that was Britney Blomgren. Envy and disappointment bore down on me with tsunami-level strength. Britney wasn’t angry, she was hurt. Her eyes flickered back to Signy, and this time I caught the longing in them. In that instant, I understood that Britney’s lifelong obsession with torturing me was borne of pain. All this time I’d envied Britney growing up with her birth mother and her Protektor. But the truth was, she was very much alone.
And even in my darkest moments, I’d always known Signy had my back.
My wings fluttered at that thought, the movement catching Britney’s attention. “So, the rumors are true. You do have wings.” Her gaze zeroed in on the grey sword at the tip, then shifted to the matching one on Viggo’s wing. “What are those marks?” she asked.
Crêpes. “Uh, freckles?”
“No, they’re not.” Britney stepped closer. “Holy Helheim, those are mate marks. You’re mated? The Norns chose you to be with him . . . forever?”