by Amy C. Blake
Surprise flashed across Hunter’s face, but he quickly recovered his usual smirk. “Oh, I’m looking forward to it. Nothing like a mountaintop weekend with my favorite runt.” The smirk stretched into a bare-toothed snarl. “Too bad Mr. Dominic won’t be there, huh?”
A brief shiver of fear coursed through Levi, but he kept his face straight. One thing was for certain, he couldn’t switch groups with Trevor now. Hunter would think he’d chickened out.
Jacqueline whacked Levi on the arm with her backpack. “Sounds like lots of fun, especially if he’s anywhere near as good at camping as he is at drawing.” She turned her small, piggy eyes from Hunter to Levi and let out a honking laugh. “I notice you’re not in art class this year, Levi. What’s wrong? Not feeling creative?”
He shot her a withering glare.
Hunter laughed and turned away. “This weekend, Prince. I can hardly wait.” He tossed a hard glance over his shoulder. “By the way, you’d better be careful on all those mountain rocks. Wouldn’t want you to trip on your pretty dress, now would we?”
His ears burned as he watched Hunter swagger from the room. Once his cackling gang slouched away after him, Sara and the others flocked to Levi’s side.
Lizzie got in his face, hands on her hips. “What in the world were you thinking, honey? It’s not bad enough that we have to spend the weekend with them? You have to make them mad first?”
Ignoring her, Levi grabbed Tommy and Steve by their sleeves. “Come on. The room.”
“Huh?”
“The room. We’ve got to help Trevor.” The three sprinted up the stairs, Levi’s friends sputtering questions as they went.
As they skidded to a halt on the fourth-floor landing, Levi gasped out a quick explanation.
Tommy’s eyes were huge. “Should we go to Hunter’s dorm first?”
Clutching his side, Levi glanced between the door to their corridor and the door that led past the chapel to Hunter’s. “I don’t know.”
“I vote we check our room first,” Steve said between wheezing gasps. “No point getting pummeled if he’s safe.”
“Good point.” Levi led the way, praying Trevor was in their room and in one piece. With proof of Hunter and company’s guilt, of course.
As he swept into their room, wondering vaguely what was different about the hallway, he called, “Trevor?” He stopped cold.
“Is he in there?” Tommy pushed past Levi and froze.
Steve squeezed in between them, still gasping for breath. “What—”
The suit of armor that usually stood guard outside their door lay in the middle of the floor. Its leg moved. Steve let out a little shriek and grabbed Levi’s elbow. When its other leg moved, this time with a loud creaking squeal, and somebody said, “Help,” Steve nearly wrenched his arm off.
Levi shook him loose and knelt beside the fallen knight. “Trevor? You in there?”
“Get me outta here.” The muffled voice definitely came from inside the armor.
Ignoring Steve’s frightened moans and Tommy’s stifled giggles, Levi lifted the visor. Trevor’s bulging eyes stared out at him.
His friend’s face shimmered with sweat. “I’m stuck.”
“Yeah, I can tell.” Biting back a grin, Levi yanked piece after piece of armor from Trevor’s body. Steve and Tommy helped with the more stubborn pieces.
By the time they got Trevor free, all four were drenched with sweat.
Levi flopped onto the floor, helmet in hand, and looked at Trevor. “What in the world were you doing?”
Blushing, Trevor sank onto the steps beside Steve’s bed. “I was going in disguise.”
Steve blinked repeatedly. “How’d you get the thing on by yourself?”
At the same time, Tommy said, “As a suit of armor?”
Trevor gave a sheepish nod.
“You’ve gotta be kidding. You thought you could sneak into Hunter’s room in that thing?” Levi dropped the helmet onto the pile with a dull thunk.
“It seemed like a good idea at the time. There’re knights all over the place. Who’s gonna notice another one?”
“Did you really think,” Tommy said slowly, “Hunter and his roommates wouldn’t notice you in their room dressed like that?”
Trevor’s sigh shook the hangings on Steve’s bed. “Okay, so it was a bad plan.”
Levi sighed as well. “So you didn’t make it to Hunter’s room?”
“Nope. I got the armor on, and that was hard work, let me tell you.” He blew out a breath. “Then I started for the door and . . .” His neck turned fiery red. “Well, maybe it’s just a little too big right now. Maybe in another year or so . . .”
Tommy rolled his eyes. “So much for getting evidence.”
Steve, who sat on the floor gathering the armor, looked anxiously up at them. “Guys, we can’t worry about that right now. We’ve got to get this thing put back together before Mr. Sylvester notices it’s missing.”
Fueled with panic at what the hall chaperone might do if he saw the mess, Levi shoved himself up from the floor and scooped up armor.
Tommy snagged an arm. “This isn’t going to be easy.”
“Yeah, I know.” Trevor crawled over and carefully hefted a leg. “But be gentle with my man, okay? He’s an antique.”
Levi shook his head. “Trevor, you are so weird.”
Tommy gave a sage nod as Steve giggled, but Trevor merely frowned. “What did I do?”
Levi laughed, letting the tension of the past few days drain away.
17
Thor and Loki
The tension returned full force the next morning. Levi knelt on the sand beside Steve, spiral notebook open and pen in hand, being especially careful to keep his roommate between himself and the lake. It had taken the boys more than an hour the previous afternoon to get the knight put back together and set in place. Then at archery lessons, they’d had to explain to the three irritated girls why they’d run off from the great hall without a word.
Now they were on a science field trip on the Castle Island beach, which, despite his fun swim on Sunday, wasn’t a particularly comfortable place for him.
Mrs. Austin held up a beaker for the class to see. “Lake Superior contains more water than all the other Great Lakes combined.”
A movement caught Levi’s peripheral vision, and he turned to watch Mrs. Sylvester, arms hugged to her waist, pause beside the steps they’d taken from the cabin area. Why was she standing way over there when Mrs. Austin had brought her along to help keep track of the class? She wasn’t even looking at the campers, just staring beyond them at the water through mournful eyes.
“Levi,” Steve whispered, digging an elbow into his ribs.
“What?”
“Mrs. Austin called you, like, three times already.”
His gaze shot to the teacher, who was glowering at him. “Yes, ma’am?”
“I said, come here.” Her eyebrows nearly disappeared into her gray-streaked brown hair. “Please.”
He walked to her, keeping his distance from the lake.
“Get one of those buckets and that shovel.” She pointed to a pile of supplies near the stairs. “Scoop up that dead fish so we can study it in the classroom.”
He looked at the rancid, half-rotten wad. A wave rolled to within inches of it, leaving frothy bubbles in its wake.
“Hurry now, before the water takes it.”
Levi scampered to the supply pile, passing near Mrs. Sylvester. He grabbed the bucket and shovel.
In his hurry, he almost smacked her with the shovel when he turned. He said, “Excuse me,” but she didn’t even blink, her eyes fixed on some distant point on the horizon.
He followed her line of sight. Nothing there. Just blue-green lake meeting bright blue sky. With a shrug, he hurried back to the dead fish, vaguely aware of the others receiving similar orders from Mrs. Austin.
With his back to the lake, he knelt by the fish. Ew, it was gross. It smelled disgusting. He averted his gaze, fighting his
gag reflex. Taking a deep breath through his mouth, he forced himself to look back. The fish’s eye was missing, and jagged teeth marks marred its belly. What had bitten it?
A shadow fell over him from behind. He froze, straining his eyeballs to see what cast the shadow. Was it the lake monster come to finish him off?
Something icy coated his knees and rear. Letting out a screech, he leapt to his feet. He whipped around to find a wave retreating with his dead fish, a cloud blocking the sun, and no lake monster in sight. He glared down at his soaked jeans while his classmates laughed at him.
Levi stood on a makeshift stage at one end of the great hall on Thursday afternoon. The Ping-Pong, pool, and foosball tables had been shoved into the far corner near the French doors, leaving plenty of space for play practice. Outside, rain dumped from the leaden sky. Grayish-brown puddles pockmarked the short grass in the courtyard. Water splattered so hard against the stone walkway that the door and windows appeared to be weeping.
Levi felt like crying himself—out of sheer frustration. Why hadn’t God given someone else—anyone else—red hair? No matter what his dad said about manning up, he did not want to play Thor. Arms jammed across his bony chest like puny body armor, he made himself listen as Mr. Austin explained the scene.
“Thor is so mighty, so muscular, so powerful—” He glowered at Hunter, Martin, and Suzanne, who were sniggering on the opposite end of the stage. Hunter immediately straightened his face and even sent disapproving looks at his cohorts. Hypocrite.
When the three finally shut up, Mr. Austin harrumphed. “As I was saying, Thor is the god of thunder. He’s so big and strong and masculine that when Heimdall tells him he has to wear a wedding gown and pretend to be Freyja, he absolutely refuses.”
Levi released a quiet snort. Couldn’t blame the thunder god there.
The dwarf’s beady eyes fixed on him. “You have the belligerent refusal part down pretty well, I’d say.”
Levi scuffed his shoe against the rough wood.
“Soon we’ll get to the part where you give in.” Both bushy brows lifted. “For the good of the group.”
Levi slouched, stuffing his hands deep into his pockets. What choice did he have?
Thankfully, Mr. Austin turned his attention to the smirking Hunter. “As Loki, you’ll stick close to Thor.”
Hunter’s brow lowered into a scowl.
“You’re the one who found out Thrymr the giant—” Here he gave Martin a pointed look. “—stole Mjolnir and hid it eight leagues beneath the earth.” The teacher then turned to Levi, looking suddenly and inexplicably upset. “We’ll have to give you a hammer, of course. Mjolnir is a mighty weapon.”
Okay, so he got a hammer to go with his gown. Bob the Builder in a prom dress. Yippee.
“Loki,” Mr. Austin said, sweeping a stubby hand toward Hunter. “You will accompany Thor to Jotunheim to help with the gown and the deception.”
Great. Him and Hunter, partners. This was going to work out well.
“Now remember.” Mr. Austin yanked Hunter to where Levi stood. “Though you’re working together on this, Thor doesn’t trust Loki.” He half-closed his eyes and gave Levi a significant nod. “And with good reason, too. Loki’s not to be trusted. He changes form to suit his purposes; he’s sneaky and devious.”
Levi breathed a mirthless laugh. Sounded like the perfect role for Hunter. He had sneaky and devious down pat, shifting effortlessly between model camper and big bully. A shape-shifter, just like Deceptor.
But as the teacher turned to instruct Luke on his part as Heimdall, Levi felt an uncomfortable twinge in his belly. He’d been so certain last summer Hunter was Deceptor impersonating a camper, but he’d been wrong. His error had cost Miss Nydia her life. He’d best remember that.
And that this was just a play—a nightmare of a play with Hunter as his sidekick and himself in a dress—but a play, nonetheless.
No more rash judgments or ridiculous assumptions for him.
18
Crossing the Mountains
Saturday morning, Levi tramped through the woods beside Sara. He didn’t need to ask why she was so quiet because he knew she probably felt the same eerie sense of déjà vu that plagued him. The sky was overcast, darkening the path beneath the thick trees. In fact, it was almost as dark as last summer when she’d been dragged down this same trail by her kidnapper, and Levi, Trevor, and Monica had gone after her.
Except for Lizzie, the other campers were oblivious to his and Sara’s feelings. Even Luke and Gabrielle knew nothing of what had happened. They may not have even noticed Miss Nydia’s absence from camp this summer. He doubted they knew about Terracaelum at all.
Suzanne and Hunter . . . he didn’t know about them. Hunter knew where they were. He’d known all along, but how much had he told Suzanne? And what about Braden, who, so far, had kept to himself? Maybe Mr. Dominic’s threat had him too scared to blow anything else up. Or maybe he didn’t know how to act without his brother at his side.
Levi tried to ignore the little shivers that kept coursing through him every time he thought he recognized a certain patch of forest. But when, after more than two hours, Sara let out a muffled gasp, he couldn’t deny the goose bumps on his skin.
They were there. Just beneath the mountains. In the place Deceptor had attacked them. He would’ve killed them, too, if not for the mysterious windstorm that had driven the demon-sorcerer away. The only thing missing was the cave where the shape shifter had disappeared, trailing silvery blood. Levi caught himself searching the grass for traces of silver. After a moment, he froze, his eyes riveted on a thick patch of darkened grass. He inched nearer. It couldn’t be, could it?
He squatted down, sensing Sara beside him, and peered into the dark area. “No, of course not. It’d be long gone by now.” The words came out quieter than breath, but he could tell she heard him because she gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze. She knew what he’d thought it was . . . the stain of Miss Nydia’s life blood pooled on the ground.
“All right then, campers,” Mr. Drake called over the rumble of excited voices. “Find a clear patch and settle down.”
Here? We’re camping here? A rushing sound filled Levi’s ears. They couldn’t. It was . . . wrong. He glanced at Mr. Sylvester, who was helping Morgan untangle her hair from the straps of her red backpack.
“I can’t.” Sara’s whispered plea and stricken face brought Levi out of his stupor. “Especially not with him here.” She nodded toward Mr. Sylvester.
Levi attempted to reassure her with a smile then approached Mr. Drake. “Sir?”
“Yes?” Mr. Drake glanced up from the bag of supplies he was rummaging.
“Sir, we can’t camp here,” Levi began, then stopped at the irritated look on the elf’s face. “I mean . . . is there any way we can camp somewhere else? This is where . . . last summer . . . Sara—” He gestured toward his friend, who stood stiffly at the edge of the clearing.
As Mr. Drake peered at Sara, his expression softened. “Ah, yes, I see.” He glanced at Mr. Sylvester. “Does he know?” The question was almost inaudible.
Levi waited in silence.
After a moment, Mr. Drake’s mouth tightened. “Don’t worry, we’re not sleeping here. We’ll just eat a quick lunch and keep moving.” He gave Levi’s shoulder a pat. “We have a mountain to climb.”
“But . . . are we sleeping up there?” He jutted his chin toward the gray boulders with low clouds enshrouding the peaks. Not a cheery prospect.
“No, no.” The elf’s lips curved into a small smile. “We’ll camp on the other side of Mount Midland.” He peered up at the slopes. “Fog’s rolling in. We’re losing light fast.” He turned away and gave a single sharp clap. “Lunch, folks. Eat quickly.”
Levi made his way back to Sara. “We’re not staying here.” His lips felt stiff.
She smiled for the first time all morning. “Good.” Then she frowned at his dazed expression. “What’s the matter?”
Levi pointed a trem
bling forefinger at the mountain. “We’ve still got to cross that.”
In the dense fog, Levi moved a grasping creeper so Sara wouldn’t trip on it. When she’d passed, he let it flop back in the path. “Watch the branch,” he called over his shoulder. Let Hunter help Suzanne . . . if he was gentleman enough.
When he caught up with Sara, he called ahead to Albert, “How much farther?”
The pixie paused his steps. “Can’t rightly say. With this low cloud, I can’t see two inches in front o’ my feet.”
“That’s reassuring.” But it was either keep climbing or go back and spend the night in that horrible clearing.
“What’s wrong?” Hunter’s voice came from a few feet behind Levi.
“Did that idiot take us the wrong way?” Suzanne’s not-so-quiet words echoed in the fog. “I should’ve gone with a different group.”
“You got that right,” Levi muttered under his breath.
Mr. Drake had divided them into groups so they could take separate trails over the mountain, giving each adult only a handful of kids to monitor. It also gave each group fewer people to bunch or straggle on the paths made treacherous by the fog. They’d soon find out whether it was a good plan.
At least he and Sara weren’t in Mr. Sylvester’s group. Or in Braden’s.
Albert jutted a stubby thumb upward. “Let’s keep movin’, people.”
The five of them trudged on, wheezing and panting as the path steepened. Levi tried to stay alert for dangers on the trail, but he was distracted. Blinded by the thickening mist and with cold moisture clinging to his skin, he had a creeping sense of terror. It was almost as if he were back in the underground tunnels, wandering lost in the damp darkness, heading straight for Deceptor.
He shook his head. That was dumb. He was above Terracaelum now, not below. And he wasn’t alone with Regin; he was with friends. He glanced back at Hunter. Well, some were friends; others, not so much.