by S. T. Bende
“If I have my way, it’ll be over within six days. My first reservation is a week from today.” Tore reached back to touch my arm. “Careful, I see an overhang that dips up ahead. We might have to crawl.”
“Great.” Because hunching through an uncomfortably hot, sulfur-scented volcano tunnel isn’t fun enough. Let’s add scraping our hands and knees on some rocks to the mix.
“You got this, Allie. I promise,” Tore assured.
I dropped onto my knees, shifting my sword so I could crawl on my elbows. The spectacular view I now had of Tore’s butt very nearly made up for the sharp pains I endured with each piercing rock that stabbed through my pants.
Almost.
“We should be getting close. Either the tunnel takes a sharp turn up ahead, or I’m seeing the dead-end Hjalmar told me about.” Tore crawled forward a few more feet, then paused. “Do you sense anything?”
I reached out with my energy, pushing it through both sides of the rock wall. On my right, I sensed nothing but heat—it must have been that stupid, re-activated lava stream that ran parallel to our path. But sure enough, on the left, a cloying black energy nudged against mine. “Yes,” I confirmed. “I sense three . . . no, four presences. But they’ve got pretty normal amounts of darkness in them—I don’t sense that awful energy of Nott’s, just her minions.”
Tore swung his legs around so he sat on his butt. He placed one hand to the left side of the wall and closed his eyes. When he opened them, the blue light of his sword reflected in his pupils. “I feel her. You’re right; she’s not in the open space on the other side of the wall. She’s in one of the tunnels, I think. Her signature is moving away from us.”
“Then we’d better go now, while we still have the chance. Can you sense Bodie?” I pushed my signature out again but couldn’t pick up any trace of the blue-green energy that was our friend.
Tore furrowed his brow. “I’m not sure. There’s a flicker on the far wall of the den that feels almost like him, but it’s laced with so much darkness . . . skit.”
“What?” It was never good when Tore swore.
“His energy’s been compromised. Remember how the darkness overtook you on Jotunheim? When your memories were wiped, and you didn’t know where you were?”
I shuddered. “How could I forget?”
“I think that’s what’s happening to Bodie. There’s a very slight trace of his energy, but it’s littered with so much darkness I can barely recognize his essence. That means it will have been all but lost to him. We need to get him out now and get him to Greta. Gods willing, the two of you can extract the darkness.” Tore pushed himself onto his knees. He grasped his sword and placed the tip against the wall. “I’m going to break through. Once there’s a big enough opening for us to squeeze through, I’ll drop in and take care of the night elves. Your sole job is to get to Bodie and blast him with whatever tools you have. Shoot him up with the Liv, or use your whip to kill off the darkness, whatever your gut says will work. He doesn’t have much time left.”
Crap. No wonder I hadn’t been able to sense him. “What if Nott comes back?”
“I’ll take care of her. I’ll take care of everyone,” Tore vowed. “You just take care of you and Bodie. Promise me.”
I met his too-intense gaze. “I promise.”
I took a deep breath and called the Liv into my chest. Since we had very little idea of what we were walking into, I wanted the Liv on call when we dropped in on that den. Please, don’t let me die before Bora Bora. “Okay. Go on three.”
Tore met my look, determination in his eyes. “Just focus on Bodie,” he reminded me. “I’ll have your back.”
“You always do,” I said. And I knew it was true. Whatever happened, I knew that Tore would always protect me. It wasn’t just his job anymore—it was his purpose.
And preserving the light in our realms—and in our friends—was mine.
“One.” I nodded.
“Two,” Tore continued. “Three.”
Oh, God. Here we go again.
CHAPTER TWELVE
WITH ONE FIERCE MOVEMENT, Tore drove his sword through the wall. He whipped it through the rock in a Z shape, then stuffed the blade back into his sheath. Raising his fists, he pounded through the rocky barrier with fierce jabs and launched himself through the rubble and into Nott’s hideout. I dove after him, dropping about three feet down before landing on the balls of my feet. I whipped my head from side to side as I scanned the area for our friend. Before I located Bodie, a dark shape launched itself into my peripheral vision. Tore cut my attacker down before he could lay a hand on me.
“Go, Allie!” he shouted.
I needed no further encouragement. In seconds, I was back on my feet and running. We’d landed in a cavernous room, off of which three hallways led into the larger network of tunnels. Sconces lit up the walls with containers of suspended lava—no doubt Nott had enchanted the glass so it wouldn’t melt under the intense heat. Slowing to a walk, I closed my eyes and opened my second sight until a dying pulse of blue-green energy registered on my left. Oh, Bodie. What has she done to you?
I moved through the cavern with my sword raised in front of me and entered the hallway on the left. Opening my palm, I called forth the Liv and quickly molded it into shape. My whip crackled to life in my hand, and I held it high as I continued forward. My footsteps slowed as I neared a bend in the tunnel, and I knew I was close to my friend. An ever-dimming blue-green light was being choked out by the blackest energy I had ever sensed. Oh, God. What if I wasn’t strong enough to fix this? You’re the daughter of Eir, I reminded myself. Tore believes in you. Now you have to believe in yourself. Without another moment of hesitation, I burst around the corner.
And I realized the dimming blue-green light was a trap.
“Allie, run!” Bodie shouted. He was tied to a chair that was chained to the wall. He was cut up, bloody, and covered in black soot—he looked like he’d been to hell and back. But he was very much alive and not at all possessed by the darkness. Thank God.
“Bodie, you’re okay!” I raced to his side, but he swung out a leg and swept my feet out from under me. My light whip flickered and died. “Ouch! Why would you—”
“Stay down!” he yelled. I flattened my stomach to the gravel just as a black streak of dark energy whipped past my head.
Oh. That’s why.
“Thanks,” I called as I rolled onto my side. The tunnel looked clear, so I popped up and positioned myself directly in front of Bodie’s chair. I regenerated the Liv just as Nott strolled around the corner, a freaky, black energy whip in her hand. It sizzled with a darkness so heavy, it smothered everything in the room. Nott’s weapon would have been designed to destroy light, to choke the goodness out of whatever it touched. It would destroy Bodie and me, if I let it. But I wasn’t going to do that—not when I had its energetic opposite.
With a flick of my wrist, I brought my light whip to life and stared into the hollow eyes of the Goddess of Night.
Bring it on, Nott.
“Allie, Allie, Allie.” Nott’s voice had the grating tones of gravel scraping a chalkboard. “What am I going to do with you?”
I was not having a conversation with this psycho. I cracked my whip at her, but she quickly cast her weapon in my direction to counter my move. The two whips collided midair, tangling into a thick, glowing knot. Crap.
The dark goddess grinned. “The Liv is such a fascinating thing. As you surely know, darkness is the absence of light. And the more light I destroy, the more powerful my darkness becomes. Your mother learned that lesson the hard way.”
Rage boiled within me at the mention of my mom. I yanked my whip hard, forcing Nott to stumble forward. As she adjusted her grip on her weapon, I wondered how I was going to get Bodie out of here without getting us both killed. I ran through possible attack plans in my mind while I scanned Nott’s energy for any kind of weakness. The swirling darkness consumed every inch of her being like a head-to-toe onesie made up of ag
itated bees. She was lost to the darkness, and it was far too powerful to allow any weakness in.
Attacking Nott was out. Bodie and I would just have to make a run for it.
I wrenched my whip again, and a pulse of blue Liv shot through the knot that connected my weapon to Nott’s. The darkness surged, creeping toward the Liv, and constricting so its brilliant blue light faded to a powdery shade.
Think. Think. Think. What would Greta do?
It came to me in a flash, and I used my free hand to reach behind my back. “You know I’m kind of disappointed. I thought you’d be way more powerful.”
Nott’s nostrils flared, and her eyes blackened so they matched the soot-covered ground. While she seethed, I wrapped my fingers around the two crystal wands that were stashed inside my waistband. And I waited.
“You’re a fool!” The walls shook with Nott’s cry. “You have no idea what I’m capable of.”
I wasn’t sticking around to find out. I charged the crystals with the Liv and flung them from behind my back in one quick move. One of the crystals went wide, but the other cracked Nott right in the forehead. Her whip fizzled and died, freeing mine from its deadly grasp. With new-found freedom, I pulled my arm back and cracked my whip at Nott’s arm. Her shrill scream filled the small space, sending a chill down my spine. I didn’t let up; if I did, Bodie and I would both be dead. Gud Morder was the only weapon that could destroy Nott. But beating her down with the Liv would buy us enough time to escape with our lives.
Or so I hoped.
Each lash of my whip left huge, red welts across Nott’s body. The blackness of her energy lightened with each strike, and pieces of the darkness leapt off her body as if recoiling from the Liv. I had no idea how I was going to maintain my assault and manage to untie Bodie, but I couldn’t let up on Nott. Footsteps sounded behind me, and my freak-out morphed into a full-fledged panic. If a night elf burst in here now, we were so royally screwed. Why had I gone and poked the Goddess of Crazy?
When the large, bearded figure burst into the tunnel, I nearly cried. Mack looked back and forth from me to Bodie. What he saw couldn’t have given him much hope—me cutting into Nott like she was a Thanksgiving turkey and Bodie bloody and broken, tied to a chair that was strapped to a wall. He must have surmised my protector needed his help more than I did, because he crossed to the chair and untied Bodie.
My concentration faltered as Bodie crumbled to the ground, and Nott took the opportunity to force her power on me. Though she was twenty feet away, and though I’d thought I’d done a decent job of shielding myself, Nott raised one hand and yanked my body into the air. My whip disappeared as Nott jerked me from side to side, then slammed me into a wall. Good God, that hurts! She rose from her spot on the ground, gliding toward me with a snarl as I lay slumped against the crumbling ash wall. Holy nightmare of all nightmares. Pain shot up my back, but I forced myself to stand, reinforcing my energetic shield as I moved. Nott was just a few feet from me now, and Mack was struggling to help Bodie up. I cracked my whip to life again, but I was too slow to prevent Nott from launching a dark blob at me. I ducked out of the way, but it grazed the top of my shield. Oh, God, what did that mean?
“Fear,” Nott whispered to the darkness. The tentacles of the black blob hooked into my shield as anxiety crept over me, choking out my confidence. Sticky sweat covered my palms, and unfamiliar thoughts barged across my brain. Tore would cheat on me with his sexy ex, Synna. The boys were only my friends because they took an oath to protect me. Everyone would leave me, and I would live my life alone. No parents. No children. No family. Alone.
The fear consumed me, and the Liv ebbed from my chest. Nott flared her dark whip to life and advanced toward me, but I did nothing to stop her. I couldn’t—I was paralyzed, held in place by a mind-numbing terror.
Everyone I loved would be taken from me. Just like they had always been.
As I blinked against the tears, a blond blur with a massive sword jumped in front of me.
“Nott!” Tore shouted, bringing his sword down hard on the black whip. It flickered, then disappeared, retreating from the blazing blue light of Tore’s blade. “Hold on, Allie,” he called to me. “We’re going to get you out of here.”
His words gave me the strength to push back against the blackness. I called the Liv back into my chest and sent it through my palm to push against the black tentacles. They hissed against my shield before detaching and dropping onto the floor. The moment they left, the fear released its hold, and I was once again filled with light, and purpose, and love.
We were getting Bodie the hell out of here. Also, Nott had to die.
Suddenly, a hand on my arm pulled me backward. I wrenched myself free to whirl on my attacker.
“It’s just me, Allie. We have to go,” Mack urged. He supported Bodie in one arm and held the other out to me.
“No way. I’m not leaving Tore.” I stepped backward. “Get Bodie out of here. We’ll follow as soon as we can.”
With a nod, Mack slung Bodie’s arm around his shoulders. Then he raced down the tunnel, dragging our limping friend to safety. When they were out of sight, I cracked my whip to life and crossed to Tore’s side. He had backed Nott against the wall, and his blue sword was poised to strike. I knew the weapon wouldn’t kill her, but I seriously hoped it could disable her long enough for Tore and me to book it out of that tunnel without being followed. I’d just raised my arm, intending to lash Nott until the will to chase us left her, when a fierce voice rang out from behind me.
“Nott, fallen goddess of Asgard! In the name of Odin the Alfödr, you are under arrest!”
My head turned in the direction Mack and Bodie had gone, and I gasped at the sight of a half dozen warriors. Four men and two women pulled glowing blue blades from sheaths at their backs. They glowered at the night goddess with war-painted faces that all but screamed I will cut you. Since their swords matched Tore’s and they seemed to be on our side, I could only assume Revenge’s backup had arrived. And they were all kinds of scary.
“Stand down, Nott,” the tall female commanded. She stepped forward, her sword pointed at Nott’s chest. Her unit advanced with her, and a flicker of fear flashed in Nott’s eyes before it gave way to malice.
The monster cackled as she tilted her head back. The sound grated on my last nerve. Her thin, red-slashed body shrunk, and black feathers popped up on her arms. What? It took only seconds for Nott to transform herself into a flock of demonic-looking birds, each with a pair of beady red eyes. They scattered, sending all of us diving for the ground. I didn’t want to touch them—who knew what kind of evil energy they carried? Icy terror sloshed in my gut as the birds flew quickly through the tunnel and disappeared.
“Birds? What the hell?” I exclaimed.
Tore rushed to my side. He was covered in blood and soot but otherwise looked to be okay. “Are you all right?”
“Yup,” I lied. I was so not okay. I’d just looked into the face of evil, lived through my worst fears, and seen things I could never unsee. Plus, birds.
‘Scared. Master Allie okay?’ Scarlet’s voice invaded my head.
I whirled around to address the Asgardian warriors. “My pet dragon’s freaking out. Let’s get outside.”
The crew looked at me like I was crazy, but in all honesty, I was freaking out, too. I needed to get out of there, make sure Bodie was okay, and decompress from fighting Nott. I hurriedly grabbed my crystal wands from the ground and slid them into the waist of my pants. Tore slipped his hand into mine and led me through a maze of tunnels. Every so often, we passed the crumpled carcass of a dead night elf. Ew.
“How did a half-dozen people take down Nott’s stronghold?” I whispered to Tore as the warriors followed behind us. I must have counted twenty dead elves already.
Tore shook his head. “This was just a trap. Like I told you before, Nott’s stronghold is on Svartalfhiem. We would never be able to infiltrate that this easily.”
Right. We still had that little pl
easure cruise to look forward to.
Light shone up ahead as we snaked our way toward the exit. The moment I crossed the threshold of the tunnel, I sucked in deep lungfuls of sulfur-laden air and let the warm breeze wash over me. I’m okay. It’s over . . . for now.
My gaze fell on my rescued protector, and I leapt forward, tackling him in a tight hug. “Bodie!”
“Ow!” His laugh-cry was muffled by my shoulder.
“Oops, sorry.” I pulled back just enough to scan his energy. It looked okay, no dark blobs. But his wrists were bloody and bruised, and his normally jovial demeanor had given way to a haunted look.
“Oh, Bodie.” I gently squeezed his arm. “What did she do to you?”
Tore nudged me aside to give Bodie a careful hug. “Hei, man. Glad you’re back.”
“You and me both.” Bodie shuddered. “I’m okay, Allie. Greta fixed me up.”
I looked past him to find the red-haired healer petting Scarlet. She looked like she was wrestling with something. I had to imagine it was hard for her to see Bodie like this. It was hard for any of us.
‘Like her.’ Scarlet told me.
‘I like her, too,’ I agreed.
I slipped my hand into Bodie’s and squeezed lightly. His lost expression faded the tiniest bit. I flared the Liv to life and let it pulse from my hand into his. He looked down at his feet, his cheeks reddening in . . . was that embarrassment?
“It’s okay,” I told him. “None of this was your fault.”
Bodie nodded, breathing deeply as the blue light traveled up his arm and settled into his heart.
“The physical torture was manageable. But she messed with my head, too,” he admitted. His voice cracked over the words.
Johann and Mack flanked Bodie. They each placed a hand on one of his shoulders.
“You’re safe now,” Tore told him.
Bodie nodded, but I knew it would be a while before he believed it was true. Some injuries were invisible; I understood that better than most. I’d grown up without parents, and when Gran died, I’d fought hard to keep from drowning in loneliness. Nott had tapped into and preyed upon that pain. Whatever fears Nott had triggered in Bodie had been active before she’d gotten to him. If he was like most of us, he’d live with them for a long time—but I had faith he’d be able to manage them again, now that he was outside Nott’s influence. As I sent pulses of the Liv through his heart, he looked much more like his normal self. Good.