by Eva Chase
The corner of her lips quirked up. “I’ve nearly gotten myself killed twice,” she said wryly. “I did get myself killed a couple days before that. I’m sneaky and selfish when I need to be, and if you’d met me before I became a valkyrie, you wouldn’t have been complimenting me at all.”
“I don’t know about that,” I said. “But you are a valkyrie now, even if you’ve been sneaky, even if you’ve been selfish. Because of that, really, since Loki was doing the picking. It’s part of your strength.”
“Right. One off-key mortal note in a symphony of godliness.”
The metaphor brought a smile to my face. None of my godly companions would have made that comparison. She fit here more than she realized—more than maybe I’d realized until just now. She was a part of our harmony, twining through all our disparate melodies. I wouldn’t have wanted to let that go, no matter how many other emotions she stirred up in me that I might have wished to keep buried deeper.
I opened my mouth to tell her at least part of that, and her gaze twitched away from me. Her brow furrowed.
“Aria?” I said.
“There’s something—” She cut herself off, her eyes going even more distant. Her attention had shifted to something beyond this room, something I couldn’t detect. In some ways, her valkyrie senses were sharper than mine.
She glanced at me briefly. “Thank you,” she said. “For trying. There’s something I just need to—to check.” Without another word, she slipped out of the room.
21
Aria
For the first minute after I left the music room and crept down through the house, I started to think I’d imagined hearing… whatever I’d even heard. The noise had been so faint, right at the edges of what my newly honed ears could pick up—but something about it had pricked at the hairs on the back of my neck. That seemed worth investigating even if I couldn’t explain why.
There it was again. I froze on the bottom step, straining my ears. The sound was barely a whisper. A shiver passed through me anyway. I needed to find it—to find out what it meant.
Loki, Thor, and Freya were still chatting in the dining room around the computer. I assumed Hod was off in his study again, his favorite spot to hole up. No one came after me when I eased open the front door. Either they were too occupied to notice me leaving, or at this point they all trusted me to at least come back.
I palmed my switchblade and flicked it open, scanning the lawn. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. If the sound had really been all that threatening, Loki at least should have noticed, right? His senses had to be even more finely tuned than mine. He was the one who’d given me that power.
I wavered, debating whether I should go ahead on my own or get back-up first, and the breeze carried the sound to me a little more clearly. It was laughter. Childish laughter from somewhere distant.
It sounded almost like Petey.
My shoulders tensed. That didn’t make any sense. No one except the gods even knew I was here, and none of them except Hod knew Petey existed. As gentle as he’d been with me in the end last night, I didn’t for a second believe the god of darkness would have brought my brother out here for a surprise visit.
I stalked across the trimmed grass through the warming mid-morning sunlight. How far away could this kid be? I skirted a couple of the trees at the edges of the main property and veered off the path when the laughter reached me again, still faint, but getting louder. I was closer.
I’d walked another few minutes when something stirred in the shadow of an old elm tree on the other side of the overgrown field I’d just reached. The laughter spilled out from there. It sounded even more familiar now. Nerves twitching, I pushed on, the long grass hissing against my pants. The plastic handle of my switchblade was dampening with sweat against my palm. But if it was a kid, I didn’t want to hurt him.
“Who’s there?” I called out. “Over by the tree. Can you move where I can see you?”
I was about ten steps away when the figure sidled to the edge of the shadow. Not right into the light, but close enough that I could see her features. Lank black hair, sallow skin, eerily pale eyes. A dark elf.
My legs locked. My head whipped around, but I didn’t see any others of her kind nearby.
“What do you want?” I said. Was there any chance this one actually wanted to help us?
The crooked grin she gave me turned that possibility into dust. She opened her mouth and let out another peal of that laughter. Bright and high like a little boy’s. The hairs on my neck stood straight up.
It was Petey’s laugh. She was imitating it somehow, note for note.
“Ari,” she said, in Petey’s voice. “You wouldn’t let anything bad happen to me, would you?”
My knife hand shot up, but I held myself still, as much as I wanted to charge at her.
“What did you do to him? What the fuck is this about?”
The dark elf ducked her head almost bashfully. When she spoke again, it was in a dull rasp of a voice that sounded nothing like my little brother at all.
“We haven’t done anything to him… yet. If you want him to stay safe, you’ll leave us alone.”
I stared at her. My mind was still struggling to catch up through my initial burst of panicked anger.
How had they even figured out about Petey? Had they gotten lucky, just happened to see me head out there last night? It wasn’t as if any of them could have followed me, keeping up with my wings on those stumpy little legs.
But it didn’t really matter, did it? They did know, and they’d gotten close enough to him to learn the sound of his voice. They’d been willing to attack gods, to target the homeless and school children… I didn’t for a second believe they’d hesitate to hurt Petey if they thought it would get them what they wanted.
“Okay,” I said. “Fine. You do whatever the hell you want, and I won’t say boo. Just stay away from my brother.”
She held my gaze with her unearthly eyes. “You’re the one who needs to stay away. Stay away from the gods you’ve been helping. Don’t say a word of this or anything else about us to them. Go, now, and don’t come back.”
“What?” I sputtered.
She folded her arms over her chest. “We’re watching. We’ll know. If you set foot near that house or the gods in it again…” She bared her teeth. Jagged teeth like splintered rock.
My heart thumped. Leave the gods. It was because of them I was still around at all, not to mention I had them to thank for my powers… but I’d always intended to leave, however I could, when they’d found Odin. I was staying here on Midgard, end of story.
Bowing to her threat felt different, though. Like running away with my tail between my legs. I didn’t fight battles I didn’t think I could win, but I wasn’t a coward either.
I didn’t have much choice, did I? I’d thought it myself just yesterday: Petey came before everyone else. The dark elves could be tearing down the whole rest of the world, and it was Petey I had to protect first. I’d promised him. Just yesterday, with that trusting little face gazing up at me…
That jab of guilt in my gut—I had to bury it, for him. Bury it way deep down like Baldur had said. Bury myself way deep down where the gods couldn’t or at least wouldn’t be bothered to track me down.
They didn’t really need me now anyway, did they? I’d pointed them at Odin’s kidnappers. That was all they’d really expected of their shady valkyrie. They’d kept trying to get me to stay back at the house. Even they couldn’t claim I was letting them down somehow.
The memory of yesterday’s battle flashed behind my eyes. The darkness churning inside me, the lives it had sucked away. The exhilaration in those moments…
My chest clenched tight. One more thing to bury. For Petey. Everything, always for Petey.
“All right,” I said. “I’m going. Don’t you dare even touch him, or you’d better believe you’ll regret it.” I flipped the switchblade back into its handle with a little more force than was necessary.
The dark elf didn’t look intimidated. She just watched me with those peeled grape eyes as I unfurled the wings from my back. I shoved off the ground, away from her, away from the gods’ house.
I had to be fast, this first stretch. I didn’t know how far their senses could follow me with that faint connection between us. Once I had enough distance, I could go to Petey…
My wings kept beating at the air in a swift steady rhythm, but the bottom of my stomach dropped out.
I couldn’t go to Petey. That was the first place Hod would look for me, whether he could sense me or not. The dark elves weren’t going to care whether I wanted the gods coming to me or not. They’d just see that I was talking with them again.
I propelled myself through the air even faster, the landscape below me blurring, the wind stinging my eyes. Just go. Far, far away, where they’d never think to look. Bury myself for real. Until it didn’t matter anymore, until they’d won their way back to Asgard and everything in my life could go back to being—well, as normal as it could be.
The last of the fading sunlight burned the sky orange-brown along the horizon. The ache spreading through my wings dug a little deeper. Each flap felt more ragged.
I’d been flying for hours. I had no idea where I even was anymore, other than I’d left New York and Philly far behind. No gods had caught up with me, so I guessed I’d done all right. But my wings were about ready to collapse. It was time to come to earth.
A hum of human energy called to me from just up ahead, where city lights gleamed. The pulse of all those living bodies breathing, eating, dancing…
Yes. That’s what I wanted. That was the perfect way to bury the hollow that had been spreading through my abdomen since I’d set off on this flight. One night of just pretending to be the girl I’d been a couple weeks ago—or someone even more free than her.
I dipped lower and lower as I skimmed over the suburbs and into the city proper. My feet touched the sidewalk beneath a sign lit with neon lights, and my wings folded into my back with a sound like a sigh. I walked straight into the club.
Inside, the warm air washed over me with the tang of alcohol. Strobe lights rippled over the crowd of undulating bodies. I snatched a shot off the tray of a server weaving past me and threw it back in one gulp. The sour liquid seared down my throat.
The server looked around, trying to see who’d snatched the glass. It looked like I’d be drinking free this one night. A smile stretched across my face with the tingling buzz of the alcohol. I lifted another glass and leapt on into the crowd.
The bodies parted in my wake like they never had when I’d just been another solid form in the sea. I spun and bobbed in time with the pounding music. My hair whipped against my face; my arms swayed in the air.
One song bled into another and then another. My wings had been tired, but the rest of me was ready to let loose. I grabbed a third shot, which was strong enough that it made me wince on the way down, and threw myself harder into the music. By my fourth, my head was starting to fizz. That was good. A fizzing head couldn’t think about all the assorted people I’d left behind.
It wasn’t quite the same, dancing like this. I liked not having to worry about some random dude grinding up against me, but at the same time, I missed the actual feeling of contact. Knocking elbows accidentally. Brushing past my fellow human beings to make room. Knowing I was there, part of the crowd, one of them.
But I wasn’t one of them. Not anymore. I never would be again.
All right! Time for another shot. I snatched up a blue one this time and drained it. The glass slipped from my fingers and shattered on the floor. I stared at it for a moment, and then I stomped on the shards, letting their crinkling sound blend into the music.
I whirled one way and shimmied another, my fellow dancers shifting away whenever I came near them. The pulse in my head was almost as loud as the music. I swayed and spun—and faltered when my gaze caught on a tall lean figure slinking through the sea of bodies, straight toward me. As if he knew exactly where I was.
Because he did. The multicolored lights dappled Loki’s pale red hair and paler skin. He raised an eyebrow as he reached me, his lips forming their usual sly grin.
22
Ari
Loki didn’t say anything at first. He moved with the music, with a grace that shouldn’t have surprised me but did here in the midst of all those mortals, sidling closer to me and then easing a little farther away. That eyebrow stayed arched as if challenging me to keep up with him.
I started to dance again in defiance of the heavy thump in my chest. Stepping even faster, whirling even tighter, hitting every beat as if I knew them by heart. Loki matched me move for move, every motion so fluid it was hard to tear my gaze away. I wanted to reach up and run my hands up the lean muscles I could see beneath his tunic, the way I might have in a different club on a different day, if a regular guy I liked the look of that much had looked at me that way.
Loki’s eyes never left mine, flickering with their amber light even here. He eased closer, setting a cautious hand on my waist as we dipped together. A flush spread over my skin at the contact. He bent his head close beside mine—close enough that suddenly I couldn’t smell anything except the hot spicy-sweet smell of his body, ginger and cardamom and a dash of honey. Good enough to eat.
“If you wanted to dance, there wasn’t need to cross half the country, pixie,” he said by my ear. “I can even vouch for a few of the clubs right by us in Manhattan.”
“Maybe I wanted a bigger change of scenery,” I said.
“Hmm. I almost feel as if you were trying to escape us. But why could you possibly want to do that?”
A jolt of panic broke through the haze in my head. The dark elves. Would they see us even here? Would they punish me for being found?
My body went still. I pulled back far enough to meet his gaze. “Could anyone know you’re here? Not just these people.” I waved my hand toward the crowd. “Dark elves, or—or whatever.”
Loki had stopped when I had. He stayed close, his hand still resting on my side. His eyes narrowed. “No one, human or dirt-eater or otherwise, could have followed me. What happened, Ari? Why did you run?”
My throat tightened. But I had to tell him now, didn’t I? He’d found me. I didn’t have any excuse I could make up that I was sure would be good enough to get him to leave without me.
“A dark elf came by the house,” I said, as steadily as I could manage. “I have a little brother back in Philly. They figured that out somehow. She said they’d hurt him—kill him—if I helped you at all again. She said they’d be watching to make sure I didn’t even go anywhere near you.”
Loki’s jaw tightened. “Petey,” he said, and then at my expression, “Hod told us about your little trips when we realized you’d disappeared. He went out there to look for you. You don’t have to worry about that, pixie. When I don’t want to be seen, I’m not seen. Although at the time it was mostly you I didn’t want to tip off.”
A little of the pressure inside me eased off. My buzz crept back in, relaxing me just enough for curiosity to take hold. “How did you find me?” I asked.
He shrugged as if it’d been no big thing. “Instinct. We all called you to us when we summoned you, but I was the one who found you that first time. I know you down to the quiver of your spirit.” His lips curled up. “You could almost say we’re soulmates, if you believe in that sort of garbage.”
I couldn’t help rolling my eyes at him, despite the wash of deeper heat those words sent through me. “The one of a gazillion soulmates who happened to die at just the right time?”
His smile turned sharper. “There, you see. You understand me exactly. Although a ‘gazillion’ may be a slight exaggeration.”
He leaned in again, his breath grazing my cheek, and my heart skipped a beat. The throng was still dancing away all around us, but I didn’t care about anything outside this little pocket of space that held him and me and the question hanging over us.
<
br /> “Now that I’ve found you,” he murmured, “how do I convince you to come back?”
“Do you need to convince me?” I asked with more bravado than I felt. “I’m surprised you haven’t already thrown me over your shoulder and carted me off.”
He chuckled. “Come on now. You should be able to tell that’s not my style. Just be glad it wasn’t Thor who tracked you down.”
“I can’t go back,” I said. “Not while the dark elves are watching Petey.”
“I can make sure they never know you’re with us,” Loki said. “I’m not known as the master of disguise for nothing. You—and he—would be safe in my hands.”
I made a skeptical sound. He touched my cheek with his other hand, easing back. His eyes searched mine. “I know how much you must care about him. I can see it. I’ve been there. Odin isn’t even my brother by birth, but I gave up so much for his damned—” He cut himself off with a little shake of his head. “If there’s one thing you believe, believe that we’ll protect your brother. May I never return to Asgard if I’m lying.”
His last words carried a crackle of energy as if they’d magically bound him to that oath. I hesitated, wanting to believe him, and yet…
“It’s safer if I don’t go back at all. You don’t even need me. What does it matter where I am?”
“You’re our valkyrie,” Loki said. “You’re our responsibility. And we might not need you at this exact moment, but you can hardly deny you’ve helped.”
The memories I’d tried to bury stirred in the back of my head. Baldur was wrong. It wasn’t that simple to get away from them.
“By killing people,” I said.
“Well, I’d hardly call dark elves people, but…” Loki cocked his head. “Is that what’s bothering you? You were only trying to make sure they didn’t kill us.”