Thor: Daughter of Asgard

by Genevieve McCluer

  “If you’re sure, I believe you.”

  “Really? I don’t think I would.”

  Standing, April placed a hand on Hannah’s shoulder and stared into her eyes. “Either my best friend has lost her mind in a week, or you know what you’re talking about. I believe you. Plus, you could totally beat me up if I didn’t.”

  How did she ever deserve friends this trusting?

  “You’re not a god.” Megan’s voice was weak. It almost sounded like it was coming from the other room.

  “Call me what you want. I’m Thor.”

  She shook her head again harder, as if she was trying to wake herself up from this nightmare.

  “Megan—”

  “I don’t know what the fuck is going on or how the hell you did that, but you’re not a god.”

  April rolled her eyes, turning. “Megan, I put up with enough of this shit from you for the both of us. Hannah has clearly been going through some pretty unimaginable stuff, and you will treat her with respect.” She took a step forward, seeming to tower over Megan despite the height difference.

  “She’s not—”

  “You’ve said.” Her voice was curt and left no room for arguing.

  “Fuck it. Megan, you want proof?” Hannah was on the verge of tears. It was ridiculous. Of course Megan wouldn’t believe her. Why would she? But she was Megan. Her best friend. The first person she’d come out to. How could she not accept Hannah for who she was? “Pay for a cab. Please.” She caught herself, hardening her resolve. “I’ll show you. I just have to take you on the Rainbow Bridge, right? That’ll prove I’m not crazy?”

  Megan looked between them. It was clear that she couldn’t understand why April wasn’t on her side. “Yeah, okay.”

  ✥ ✥ ✥

  “This is ridiculous,” Megan muttered, slamming the car door behind her.

  “It’s right up here. Thank you,” Hannah said as the cab drove off. She wondered if she’d have handled it better than Megan was. She hoped she would’ve.

  April asked, “You didn’t want to have him wait?”

  “I’d rather he not see us disappear.”

  “You two are insane,” Megan muttered. “What am I even doing here? I just wanted to have some delicious garlic bread and catch up with my best friends, not go on some insane adventure to prove that the one person who means the most to me in the whole world has finally lost her mind.”

  “Finally? Did this seem likely?” Hannah didn’t think she’d ever come off as particularly unstable. She knew she wasn’t insane, but she couldn’t imagine why anyone would’ve expected her to become so.

  “You’re the only person in the entire world who actually wants to be an accountant.”

  Hannah rolled her eyes. “Oh, whatever. Are you coming or not? If I’m the most important person in your life, then you can at least humor me.”

  “This is ridiculous. You two have fun.”

  Hannah picked her up by her waist.

  “Stop it!”

  “Come on.” With a quick wave for April to follow, Hannah found the spot past Mimir’s statue, and walked straight at the fence, coming out in another land. “I am so glad that worked. That would’ve been so embarrassing.”

  “What?” Megan spluttered as Hannah dropped her on her ass on the solid structure of light.

  “Holy…” April gasped as she appeared through the shimmering gateway. “This is—”

  “Yep.”

  Megan rubbed her eyes, staring out at the new world before her. “What?” she repeated.

  “Convinced?”

  She seemed to be searching for words. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, but no sound came out.

  “If I wasn’t already, I am now,” April replied.

  Megan shook her head, staring unblinkingly at the rainbow they were standing on. “This isn’t possible.”

  Hannah shrugged.

  “I…I…How?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I want to go home.”

  It was a better response than before. At least she didn’t think Hannah was insane anymore, or if she did, she had to be mad herself for those mental gymnastics to work.

  They took a new taxi back, and the ride was tense the whole way. Hannah tried to think of anything she could say to Megan, but she was just so mad. Why would Megan act like this? Didn’t she trust her? The cab dropped Hannah and April off at Hannah’s apartment, with Megan staying in it to head back to her place. Hannah hoped that she hadn’t lost her best friend, but she comforted herself with the knowledge that she’d done everything she could.

  “Want to finish dinner and crack open a few beers?” April asked.

  “Yeah.” Hannah watched as the car traveled on until it turned a corner in the distance. She just had to give Megan time. Until then, at least she had one more person she could talk to. Plus, April was pretty great, and that helped.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Emily glared at the bar. The place had been packed all night. All she wanted was some time to be alone and miserable, but instead, work kept offering her distractions so she had to focus on other things and take her mind off her troubles and do everything but sulk in peace.

  She shook the cocktail and poured it into two glasses, forcing a smile that she was sure wouldn’t reach her eyes. She was probably glaring. If she wasn’t a beautiful goddess, that would be pretty off-putting.

  Instead, the girls giggled and gave her a massive tip. “I love your hair,” one of them said, her words already slurring. “Can I touch it?”

  Emily had the most amazing goddess powers. Holding back a groan, she nodded, her smile growing even more forced.

  The woman ran her fingers through Emily’s golden locks. It felt annoyingly nice. “Wow. It’s so sleek.”

  “Do you need me to call an Uber?” she asked. This girl was beyond drunk.

  “Nah, I can still drive.” She turned and spilled half her drink on her friend. Great. Apparently, even as much as work was distracting her from everything, she was still too distracted from work to do her job properly.

  She cleared her throat and wished again for any power more useful than pretty hair and good farming. “You clearly can’t. I need you to give me your keys.”

  “Don’t be silly,” the girl’s friend said. Her words were less slurred, but she’d had more than enough for anyone who wasn’t a Norse god.

  “Man, I thought you were cool.”

  Emily sighed. “I am cool. So cool that I’m going to keep you from killing someone and spending the rest of your life in prison.”

  She blinked.

  “Give me your keys.” Emily held her hand out, the other hand on her hip. She was taller than the drunk girl, though not any bigger. “You’re here all the time. You can pick them up tomorrow. I’ll even throw in a half-price drink for doing me this favor.”

  The combination of intimidation and bribery seemed to do the trick. The woman hesitated only a moment before fishing her keys from her purse and handing them over. “Can I have that half-priced drink now, though?”

  With another sigh, Emily nodded. What was the harm? She’d already spilled half of this one. “After you order your Uber. You can drink it while it’s on the way.”

  “Yes,” she shouted, throwing her hands in the air and spilling more of her drink.

  Emily helped her order the ride and mixed her another drink. Only when the girl was gone did her mind turn back to the knife her best friend of eight years had been sticking in her back every single time they’d seen each other.

  It had all been a lie. Every last word of it. Sure, Alys claimed to care. Hell, they were even willing to take a risk to help with this Hel thing…maybe. That could be another trap. She had no way of knowing. Everything Emily had thought she’d known about Alys was a lie. Their entire friendship. Years of being there for each other. Alys had just been using her. Why wouldn’t this time be a lie too?

  Hell, how could she even know Hannah was real? What if she was
… Emily swallowed the fear.

  They weren’t together because it was destiny, at least, not entirely. She knew and loved Hannah to her very core. She could trust her. She would always trust her.

  And Hannah seemed to still trust Alys.

  She gritted her teeth, starting to snarl under her breath, when she found a man staring at her from barely a foot away, leaning over the bar. “Hey,” he said, and it sounded like he’d been saying it for a bit. “Christ, are you drunk?”

  “No. Sorry.” She shook her head. Now work wasn’t distracting her enough. It was a fine balance. “Was totally in my own world.” She offered a more genuine smile, but she doubted it looked real. “What did you order?”

  “A beer.”

  “Right.” That was easy. She poured him his IPA and stared longingly at the nozzle. If she started drinking right then, she’d end up in need of a cab as badly as that girl. She’d wait. She could have all she wanted when she was home.

  Why did Hannah trust Alys? They had only been her friend because they were forced to be. Hell, everything they’d said about Hannah had probably been some sort of manipulation too. But to accomplish what? What did Hel want, and what had she done to convince Alys to do all of this?

  It didn’t seem like they actually wanted to manipulate Emily. Hannah had a point about them not having a choice.

  No, she wouldn’t forgive them so easily. She couldn’t. They’d still gone along with it all. They’d spent this entire time lying to her face every single day. Their entire friendship was based on a lie.

  And they got way cooler powers than her too. Hannah was so sweet that Emily could manage to not resent her for lucking out and having all the awesomest godly gifts, plus it was unbelievably hot, but Alys was a manipulative liar and a fraud, and yet somehow, they still got all the cool powers. Emily huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. They could probably even throw fireballs.

  It would explain why they were such a good cook.

  Emily couldn’t do anything cool. What was even the point of being a god?

  She poured the drink before the new person could ask a second time, only half paying attention to the action. Maybe she was the goddess of bartending? Wouldn’t that be the most useless power imaginable? Of course that was what she would get.

  She continued sulking for the rest of her shift. This seemed to do nothing to deter the customers from leaving her tips.

  She stayed behind and cleaned up and was the last to leave. As usual. When she was done, she threw herself into her car and slammed the door. Now she could quietly mope at home and try to avoid waking Hannah. That was so much better than doing the same thing at a bar.

  On the way home, she swung by a fast-food place to grab a burger. Maybe she could eat her feelings away. It would be faster than drinking them away. She’d try that too, though. Sipping her milkshake, she pulled up to the curb at home, making sure she wasn’t blocking the other tenant’s car.

  Emily hopped out, slurping, the grease-soaked bag swinging at her side as she sulked and walked. She wanted to scream, but that would wake everyone up. It would almost be worth it.

  She opened the back door, still angrily sucking on the straw. It would be so much better with some whiskey. She closed the door, more loudly than strictly necessary, but before she could open the actual door to her apartment, it flew open, and Hannah’s sleepy face beamed at her. Emily let out a surprised slurp as the straw fell from her lips.

  Hannah took the chance to take its place, throwing her arms around Emily and pulling her into a kiss. After several long minutes, Hannah finally pulled away. “I missed you.”

  “Right,” Emily muttered. She hated how bitter she sounded.

  “I set my alarm. I wanted to make sure I was here for you when you got home, but then you weren’t here.”

  “I stopped to get food. I wish you’d have messaged me. I’d have grabbed you something.”

  She offered a little grin. “I did.”

  “Oh.”

  “It’s fine.” Hannah finally released her and gestured inside. “I can make myself something.”

  “We can split my burger and fries.”

  She only hesitated for a second. “Well, if you insist.”

  Emily found herself grinning. “God, I love you.”

  “I think you mean Thor.”

  “Dork.”

  “Love you too, Sif.” She giggled. “I love you too, Emily. So fucking much.”

  The burger was cold by the time she finally got to it.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  A few days passed while Hannah and Emily continued to wait for any word from their sons. Megan had yet to contact Hannah again, and she was growing worried, and getting to go off and prove her godhood by arm wrestling a Jotunn or something was sounding increasingly amazing. Maybe if she found the king of the Jotunn and proved she was stronger than him, the Aesir would believe her.

  Work progressed as usual. Isabel kept making lunch, and they enjoyed the comfortable and beautiful amenities of their company. Hannah crunched numbers, then came home, and Emily went to work.

  At Hannah’s request, Emily took shifts on her normal days off, Wednesday and Thursday, swapping with a coworker in case they needed to leave that weekend. Hannah still couldn’t quite wrap her head around why it mattered so much, but she knew that she had to prove herself. She was Thor, the god of thunder, and none would deny her claim.

  Fortunately, her hunch was proven right when Modi and Magni caught her on her way to the car after a particularly long Thursday. “Is everything okay?” Isabel asked, looking concernedly at the two burly men in period attire.

  Hannah almost said, “Yeah, they’re my kids,” but she managed to catch herself. “How was she going to explain this? She’d been terrified when she’d met them, and Isabel had saved her ass. She couldn’t just tell the truth, could she? She really should, but she couldn’t risk a reaction like Megan’s, not when it could cost her job. “Yeah. It’s fine. It was just a misunderstanding before.”

  “It sure didn’t seem like it.” Her eyes narrowed as she looked them up and down.

  Hannah looked between her kids and Isabel, desperately hoping that they wouldn’t say something stupid. “They’ve apologized since then. They’re, um…” She tried to think of something that would make sense. She needed to get them some normal people clothes—if pants even existed that big. “They’re in my old school’s LARP club. I hadn’t recognized them at the time, but apparently, they joined up just before I graduated.” This was the worst lie. “They were here to invite me to a game, and I totally overreacted.”

  “Right…” Isabel said.

  “LARP?” Modi asked.

  “Yeah. Of course. I’m ready.” That made sense as a response, right? “So don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”

  “Okay.” Isabel said, looking particularly unconvinced. “Well, you have fun, I guess?” She kept watching Modi and Magni. Hannah needed to get them away fast before they said or did something that would ruin any chance of her being able to still work there.

  “We will,” she said quickly.

  Isabel’s brow creased. “You sure you don’t want me to come?” Was she attempting some secret code? Like, if Hannah was in danger, she was supposed to wiggle her nose or something?

  “Oh, it’s fine,” Hannah insisted, a little more intensely than necessary. “You don’t need to worry. I’ll see you tomorrow. Drive safe.”

  “Okay,” she repeated, sounding even less sure, but she climbed into her Mercedes and drove off, very slowly, watching Hannah the whole way.

  “You don’t have time to see her tomorrow,” Modi insisted.

  “Yeah, I do. I’m not getting fired.”

  “It’s not urgent, brother,” Magni said. He turned back to Hannah. “We believe we figured out a way to convince the other Aesir.”

  Modi stared at him. “Of course it’s urgent.” He swallowed, tearing up as he turned back to her. “She’s our father. She deserves to be hom
e.”

  Magni chewed on his lip. “You know how Mjolnir seems to like you, Hannah?”

  Narrowing her eyes, she stared. “You mean the thing you didn’t bother to tell me about when you were trying to prove everything?”

  Modi looked anywhere but at her. “Right. That.”

  “There a reason for that?”

  “I wanted to be sure before I trusted you with this.” He reached behind him, producing a surprisingly small hammer, which was to say, a large hammer with a surprisingly small handle. His hands dwarfed it, but it seemed perfectly sized for hers. “I know you’re you.” He let it go, and it flew right into her hand.

  Hannah stared. She already believed, she already knew, but it had never felt so real. She was Thor. “Does this mean I can control lightning now?”

  “No. Why do you keep asking that?” Modi asked.

  Hannah shrugged. “I thought maybe…”

  Magni shook his head. “The gauntlets, brother.”

  “Right. Yes. Of course.” Modi removed the gloves from his hands and set them atop the hammer.

  “These are way too big for me.”

  He nodded. “Yes. I’m not quite sure what to do about that, but if you can wear them for a moment, then with Mjolnir, Megingjord, and Jarngreipr, there’s no way they could doubt you.”

  Why was she even willing to go to all this trouble? “But I…there’s no way I can do any of this. I can’t even use a war hammer. Especially if the gloves don’t fit.” She wanted to be accepted, but this felt ridiculous. She wasn’t a warrior, and she didn’t want to be.

  “You don’t need to be able to use it. It will always hit its target and fell them in a single blow,” Modi said.

  “What? No! Then I definitely can’t. Don’t give this to me.” She tried to shove the items back into his hands only for him to step away. “I’m not killing anyone.” The image of that mugger flashed in her mind, and she wanted to hurl. If she’d had this, then he never would’ve survived.

  “You don’t have to. If you show up with all three, you’ll be the very image of Thor, the very image of yourself. And if that’s not enough, then you can save us all.”