by S. T. Bende
Tore frowned. “I haven’t had a chance to talk to them. But I asked Mack to open up an investigation of our own. He looked into some leads while you were in the healing unit.”
“Anything I should know about?” I asked.
Tore gave my armor one final tug and stepped back. He placed his hands behind him on the island, so his triceps popped as he leaned backward. Mmm, Tore’s arms. Their perfection made the anxiety tide ebb.
“Stay away from my father,” Tore cautioned.
“You think your dad’s the traitor?” My mouth fell open. “No way. He’s sworn to protect Asgard, right?”
“No, I don’t think my dad’s the traitor,” Tore said. “But I think someone in his circle could be. He and the Alfödr are the only gods who would have been privy to our locations on the occasions we were ambushed.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I didn’t know this before, but Heimdall is obligated to report our Bifrost excursions to the Alfödr and Revenge, since they oversee our mission. Whenever we left Midgard, those two parties would have received a direct communication from Heimdall confirming the occupants and landing coordinates of the Bifrost. Which means that anyone with access to those reports could have known where we landed, tipped off Nott, and contributed to an ambush. We’ve been attacked so many times, there’s no way Nott doesn’t have somebody helping her track us. I mean, nobody’s that unlucky.”
“True.” I paused. “Wait. Your dad is overseeing our mission?”
Tore groaned. “Technically yes. I have to type up a report once a week for him to deliver to the Alfödr. Because Nott harmed your mother and stole Gud Morder, this falls within his jurisdiction. He wants to see that revenge is served.”
Oh, I was going to serve revenge, all right. With Nott’s head on a Gud Morder stick.
“And you don’t suspect anybody in the Alfödr’s team because . . .”
“His security is too tight.” Tore crossed his arms. Now his biceps popped against his t-shirt. “Nobody makes it into his camp without undergoing a vetting procedure you don’t even want to imagine. And they’re subjected to regular probes that would . . .” Tore shuddered. “It’s highly unlikely the traitor comes from the Alfödr’s team.”
“Fair enough. Does Mack have a suspect?” I asked.
“Not yet. But he will.”
“Good.” I shivered. “We still have three pieces to find. It’d be great if we could just pick them up without being attacked by killer dragons, or psychopathic night elves, or whatever crazy Nott has access to that day.”
“It would be nice,” Tore agreed. “But even if we do identify the traitor, I wouldn’t hold my breath for an easy extraction. If Nott knows where those final three pieces are hidden, she’s going to have security on them like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Well then.” I stepped closer to Tore and slid my arms around his waist. Just touching him simultaneously calmed my energy and spiked my heartrate. “Let’s just hope she doesn’t know where they are.”
“Easy as that, huh?” He placed his hands possessively atop my butt. Oh, mother of all yums.
I lifted my chin and stood on my tiptoes. “You know what they say. Intention is nine-tenths of the law.”
“I believe that’s possession is nine-tenths of the law.” Tore bent down low, so his lips brushed against mine when he spoke. “But yeah, let’s intend the Hel out of this thing. What do we have to lose?”
Since the answer to that question was our lives, the lives of all mankind, and the existence of the planet as we knew it, I didn’t bother to respond. Instead, I reached one hand up to cradle the back of Tore’s head, wrapped my fingers through his hair and pulled him closer. I claimed his mouth in an intense kiss that had his hands snaking up the back of my shirt to rake his fingers down my back. Heat pooled in my belly as Tore palmed my butt. Holy mother. If we didn’t get ourselves to Bora Bora very soon, I might actually die.
“Come on, guys. We have a weapon to fuse,” Bodie chided from over Tore’s shoulder. I looked up to find him standing in the kitchen doorway, clutching a thick, velvet bag. Inside, I presumed, were the two assembled—and three non-assembled—pieces of Gud Morder. I still wasn’t clear on the rules of my weapon—Nott had said I was the only one who could touch the pieces while they were hidden, but it looked like once I’d freed them, all bets were off. Either that, or Greta had enchanted the velvet so the pieces could be transported.
“What’s the deal with the pieces?” I asked. “Nott said I was the only one who could touch them, but obviously, that’s not true.”
“It’s partly true,” Tore explained. “The failsafe the gods placed on the weapon meant that once the pieces were separated, only the rightful wielder of Gud Morder—that’s you—would be able to retrieve them. But once retrieved, anyone sworn to protect the light realms has the power to access them. We sent the Muspelheim piece back with Mack, while you were in the healing unit.”
“Huh.” I mulled that over.
“Gud Morder’s creators knew there was a chance you might run into trouble someday, so they needed a failsafe that would allow those loyal to you to assist you in your mission. But be assured, you are Gud Morder’s commander. The weapon is bonded only to you. While the rest of us may carry it, you’re the only one who can control it. And if by some horrible mistake it falls into Nott’s hands, you’ll be able to call it back to you using the crystals in your armor. Remember?”
“Right,” I said slowly. I was going to need all of this explained to me again later. Possibly multiple times.
“If you guys are done making out already, we’ve got a weapon to heal.” Bodie pointed toward the back door.
“Right.” With a groan, Tore released me from his embrace. He twined his fingers through mine and led me to the back door. Once he’d ushered Bodie and the weapon pieces through, he turned and leaned down low to whisper in my ear. “You. Me. Bora Bora. Soon.”
“Clothing optional,” I whispered back.
And with grins that were totally inappropriate given the direness of our situation, we followed Bodie through the snow and into the complex.
* * * *
Inside the complex, Greta had laid out a special blanket and lit a candle. The flame glistened across the cold metal of Gud Morder. I was thankful to be here, alive, surrounded by friends and healing my weapon. Fusing the pieces meant we were another step closer to waking my mom and healing Midgard. And to Bora Bora.
Greta looked up at me, her moss-colored eyes narrowed in a serious gaze.
“As you know, Gud Morder continues to strengthen as we fuse more pieces. I’m afraid that this time I can’t help you—the weapon’s power might overtake me.”
“Okay,” I squeaked, trying to sound like Greta’s words didn’t worry me one bit.
Yeah, right.
Greta instructed me to hold one of the broken pieces in one hand and the fused piece in the other. My armor vibrated the second I did what she said. The pulse rocking my shoulder was so strong, my entire arm trembled.
Greta nodded in approval. “Good, you won’t need the crystal wands this time. There are enough bound pieces that I think you’ll be able to manually merge the new ones. Give it a try.”
With deep breath, I shoved the broken piece into the fused piece. A shock wave blew outward, cutting Greta off mid-sentence and sending her falling on her butt. Gud Morder glowed but not with the light blue glow I’d seen before. This glow flared so brightly with the deep blue of the Liv that I had to look away.
“Don’t let go!” Greta exhaled from her place on the floor.
Don’t worry, not an option right now. A fierce groan escaped my lips, and Killer looked up from his chewed-tree-branch-strewn corner to let out a series of barks.
“Allie?” Tore asked.
I just shook my head. My hands trembled as the weapon grew hot. My fingers flexed, wanting to escape the sweltering heat of the metal on my skin. But I locked them in place. My demigod healing wo
uld be tackling blisters, and possibly first degree burns, by the time this was over.
“How you doing, Allie?” Tore leaned forward, as if he was ready to jump in at any moment.
Every cell in my body seemed to be moving, rearranging, bubbling. Even if I’d been able to talk, I couldn’t have articulated the weirdness of these feelings. The vibrations mingled with the heat and the light, until finally, a loud pop filled the complex. The sensations died down after that, diminishing to little more than a mild buzz.
“Allie?” Tore’s voice was more urgent.
“I’m fine,” I said. Tore stumbled backward when I looked at him. “What?”
Mack clasped his hands in prayer. “Your eyes. They’re glowing with the Liv.”
My poor eyes. First the dragon streak, and now this?
Greta rose to stand. “Allie’s coming into her full power.”
I looked at her nervously. “Full power? Like more powerful than a blue, glowy whip and a telepathic dragon?”
“You’re going to need a lot of power to defeat Nott,” Greta reminded me.
With a sigh, I looked down at the remaining two pieces of the weapon. “So, I need to do that two more times?”
Greta nodded.
“But you can take a break. Maybe wait for the freaky, glowing eyes to fade?” Bodie chimed in.
I cut him a glare, and he blanched. “Freaky, glowing eyes? Thanks.”
He shrugged. “Sorry.”
Johann made a cross with his fingers, “Seriously, Allie, I feel like I’m watching a horror movie.”
I glowered. “Ha. Ha. Better be nice, or I’m going to stand all glowy eyes over your bed at night while you’re sleeping.”
Johann swallowed hard. “Seriously. Don’t do that.”
Bodie and Mack busted up laughing, covering their faces in a poor attempt to conceal their amusement.
Greta put her hand on my shoulder. “Ignore them. Let’s finish this, and then I think you should lie down.”
That was probably a good idea.
With slightly more hesitation, I picked up the next piece. It went a bit easier than the previous one, maybe because my body was already attuned to the intensity of the heat and the vibration and the cellular restructuring. By the time I fused the tip, an especially strange process because ‘attaching’ it left a foot-long, invisible energy string in the sword, poor Johann looked like he was about to wet his pants. I could hardly blame him—when I finished bonding the weapon, the entire complex glowed with brilliant blue light. And I was more than happy to lay Gud Morder on the cloth and blow out the candle.
“Now we relax. Right?” I asked the group.
“Right. I’m so proud of you, Allie.” Tore stepped closer and was about to sweep me into his arms when the ground shook. It took me a second to realize what was going on—at first I thought it was a leftover vibration from the Liv. But when Johann shouted, “Earthquake!” everything fell into place.
Literally.
“Take cover,” Tore yelled.
Tore threw me to the ground with the force of a speeding train, while Bodie grabbed Greta and hauled her over to the foam practice mats. He lifted one over their heads as he pulled Greta close to his side. I crawled over to wrap my fingers around Gud Morder, nearly falling on the freshly-fused blades as I wobbled back toward Tore. The earth shook harder and glass shattered from the windows above, sending shards of tumbling glass onto the ground. Killer’s whines grew louder as he scooted over to Tore. The complex was open by design—we didn’t have any tables to hide beneath, so we all stayed low to the ground as we waited for the quake to pass.
“Should we go outside?” I shouted to Tore. I could barely hear myself over the creaking of wood and the groaning of trees.
“No. Get beneath the mats. They’ll protect us from the glass.” Tore pointed to the stack of mats where Bodie and Greta were huddled together. I crawled on freshly-cut arms to take shelter beneath the thin layer of foam. Tore followed unsteadily, and we were quickly joined by Mack, Killer, and Johann. We held the mats over our heads, the foam providing enough protection to keep our backs from being cut by the bits of glass and debris that rained down. I prayed that the roof wouldn’t give way and crush us.
“How long will it last?” I shouted. The earthquake must have been going on for a full minute already.
Tore’s eyes widened as a large crack sounded from above. “I have no idea,” he shouted back.
Beside us, Mack sat in calm meditation beneath his mat. “Don’t worry, the complex is built to withstand this.”
I really hoped he was right.
The shaking stopped as suddenly as it had begun. Just like that, the world went eerily quiet.
“What was that?” I was in shock. I’d never experienced an earthquake before, but something told me this hadn’t been the run-of-the-mill plate shift. This had to be something more.
“That,” Tore gritted through clenched teeth, “was Nott.”
Oh. No. She. Didn’t.
“How do you know?” I sat beneath my mat, dumbfounded.
“It just adds up.” Tore clenched his fists. “The bird, the traitor, all of it.”
I struggled to keep up. “What bird?”
He seemed too angry to speak, so Greta did it for him. She emerged from beneath her mat with bits of glass in her hair.
“Do you remember when the Alfödr’s raven was shot down inside our shield? It was the night I taught you to use the light whip,” she reminded me.
“Of course. But what about him?” I asked.
“We thought a Midgardian tranquilizer took Huginn down. But I ran some tests back at the healing unit. It turns out the dart didn’t contain a Midgardian tranquilizer at all. It held a similar serum, one made from a rare flower that only grows on Svartalfheim—the realm Nott adopted when she was banished from Asgard.”
My jaw dropped. “She knew we were here?”
Tore seemed to have found his voice. “More likely, one of her scouts was trailing Huginn through the realms, hoping to find us. But I guess now she finally knows where we are. Come on, we need to get outside; this structure won’t be stable for long.”
I let Tore help me stand, and the six of us, plus Killer, made our way across the debris. The barn door hung on its hinges, but we pushed it aside and stepped out into the snow. When I glanced over my shoulder at the safe house, my knees gave out, and I stumbled forward. Our home was completely ruined. The roof had caved in, and the house appeared to have slid several feet off its foundation. The huge wrap-around porch lay in pieces on the ground. Everything was . . . destroyed.
“The safe house was built in the sixties, but the complex was just put in.” Mack shook his head. “We were lucky to be where we were.”
Greta was the first to snap out of her shock. “Come on, we should go and see if the neighboring properties need help. Mack, turn off the water and the gas. Bodie, can you see if the garage survived? If you guys still have the quad in there, it sure would come in handy.”
Greta was so calm—she must have been used to dealing with crises in her work at the healing unit. I, however, wanted to rock in a dark corner and cry.
“It should be fine. We added the garage a few years ago, and it’s reinforced with roughly the same specs as the complex.” Bodie took off toward the house, leaving the rest of us to stare at the destruction. My God, the trees. Dozens of amazing, majestic, beautiful redwoods had been uprooted. They lay fallen on the ground, framed by a sea of dead birds. Our forest looked like a war zone. It was yet another casualty in Nott’s Night War.
My grip tightened around Gud Morder. How dare she? How could she wreak this level of destruction on such a pristine, innocent place? How could—
“Allie!” Greta’s frustrated tone brought me back to the present. She must have been saying my name for a while.
“Sorry. What did you say?”
Greta met my eyes. “There will be injured humans. Can you help me heal them? Bodie can erase their me
mory of the healing.”
Bodie could what? I shook myself. “Yes,” I said. Because I needed something to do, or I would fall apart in a puddle of tears. Or possibly fury.
Tore looked at Johann. “We need to find another safe house. Stat.”
An engine gunned, and I raised Gud Morder, ready to attack with my partially-constructed weapon. But the sound was just Bodie riding the four-wheeler away from the remains of the house. He came to a stop in front of us and turned his attention to his phone. After a moment, he shook his head.
“What is it?” I asked.
He looked like he couldn’t find the words. “There was an eight-point-zero in one country on every continent. This wasn’t targeted solely at us—Nott affected the entire world.”
“We have to destroy her,” I urged. Killer barked his agreement.
One way or another, the night goddess was going down. The question was, how many lives would she ruin before we finally managed to kill her?
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
OVER THE NEXT FEW hours, we worked tirelessly to aid the residents of the two nearby properties. We’d never met the McNealys or the Petersons, having magically shielded our top-secret Asgardian safe house and all. But they accepted our story of being local college kids who just wanted to help. The Petersons lived in a newer build, and while they were heartbroken over losing generations of family heirlooms, not to mention the playhouse they’d hand-built for their now-grown children, they were grateful to have escaped the earthquake without any injuries of their own. The McNealys hadn’t fared as well—luckily, Mrs. McNealy had been outside playing with her kids when the quake hit. But her husband had been trapped under debris and was extremely thankful when Tore and Bodie freed him.
I worked on autopilot to heal the fracture in Mr. McNealy’s leg. When I was done, Bodie and Greta worked on his memory, and I went outside to soak in the sight of the McNealy children playing together. Their laughter was the lone spark of happiness in my day.
When I’d committed the image of the joyful children to memory, I walked toward the end of the long driveway. Tore and Johann were huddled near the quad, deep in conversation.