Fall of Thor's Hammer (Levi Prince Book 2)

by Amy C. Blake

  “For you.” Mr. Austin thrust a massive hunk of metal at him after play practice the next afternoon.

  Levi flinched. “Huh?” He’d been trying to spot Morgan in the crowds leaving the great hall. She hadn’t shown up for practice.

  “Take the hammer.” The teacher’s face looked pained.

  He looked down at the long, thick shaft with a huge rectangular wedge with some faint scratches that could’ve been runes on one end and smudged curlicues on the other. It didn’t look like any hammer he’d ever seen. “Uh, okay.” He reached out, but Mr. Austin drew it back.

  “This hammer is precious beyond anything you can imagine. You will guard it with your life, is that clear?” A tic started in the dwarf’s puffy right eyelid.

  “Why?”

  “You’re Thor.” Mr. Austin shoved the hammer into Levi’s stomach, knocking the breath from him. “You must have Mjolnir!” He had a crazed expression on his florid face.

  Levi sucked in a mouthful of air and gripped the tool with both hands. The teacher let go. It dropped like an anvil. Levi steadied it just before it smashed onto his toes. “It weighs a ton.” Good thing everyone else had already left. He didn’t need an audience for this humiliation.

  “Doesn’t matter. Thor must carry Mjolnir.” Were those tears in the dwarf’s eyes?

  “Okay,” Levi said slowly. “But how am I supposed to use this thing in the play when I can barely lift it?”

  Mr. Austin retrieved a strip of leather from his desk. “You will wear it at all times.”

  Levi couldn’t help but recoil when the crazed-looking dwarf came at him with the leather strap. Then he understood it was a belt with a holster.

  Mr. Austin hooked the strap around Levi’s waist. “Put in Mjolnir.”

  Levi struggled to keep from dropping the hammer as he shoved it through the loop. Once he was sure it wasn’t going to fall and break a hole in the stone floor, he let go. And immediately stumbled to the left several paces. “Owww.” His back was going to snap. “It’s too heavy.” He grunted. “I’m not Thor.”

  Mr. Austin stopped Levi’s fall then tugged him close and eyeballed him. “You are Thor. Get used to it. And get used to this.” He tapped the hammer’s handle. “You’ll keep it on except for bedtime. And even then you must not let it out of your presence.” His breath was hot on Levi’s cheek. “You must sleep with it. Your hand must not move from it all night.”

  “But . . .” A droplet of sweat fell from his brow.

  “You’ll adjust to the weight in time.” The dwarf’s voice was firm, but doubt lurked in his eyes. “You’ll have to.”

  “Enough’s enough. Come on.” Levi stood as straight as he could with the heavy hammer at his waist. He glowered at his six friends seated in a corner of the great hall that evening. They stared mutinously back at him.

  He sighed, shifting his focus to Sara. “Please. Come to the tower roof. We need to talk.”

  After a long moment, her expression softened. She turned to the others. “He’s right. Come on, guys.”

  They obeyed her, and ten minutes later, the seven stood or sat in various stiff poses around the tower rooftop. No one spoke. It reminded him of last summer when he’d had to apologize right on this very spot. Would he never learn?

  He finally broke the awkward silence. “I’m sorry, everybody.” His eyes sought Trevor’s. “I was mad and I just . . .” He shrugged. “I’m sorry.”

  After a couple more seconds of silence, Trevor gave a single nod.

  Sara said, “We forgive you, of course.”

  “Yeah, we don’t hold grudges like some people.” Lizzie widened her made-up eyes at him.

  He bit back a smart-alecky response.

  “Now what?” Steve sat down in the shadow of the stone wall. “We still gotta figure out what to do about Morgan.” His gaze shifted to Trevor. “Brock, too. Somebody ought to be in trouble for the toilet thing. It’s been weeks.”

  Trevor huffed. “I’m sorry. I told you I’m not gonna tell what Brock said about his brother. Braden and Hunter would make his life miserable.”

  “Nobody said you should,” Levi said in a placating tone, Miss Althea’s words about broken friendships ringing in his mind. He’d brought these guys up here to smooth things over, not start back in on Trevor about Brock.

  Tommy blew out a loud breath. “What about Morgan, then?”

  “She’s terrified of going with her momma.” Levi reported the conversation he’d had with Morgan by the cellar door.

  Lizzie and Sara both had moist eyes by the time he finished. Tommy and Steve both scowled, and Trevor was grinding a pebble into powder against the stone floor. He couldn’t make out Monica’s expression. She sat on the ground staring down at her clenched hands.

  “Monica,” he said after a moment, “what do you think?”

  When she looked up, the grief in her expression caught him off guard. “I think I’m a horrible excuse for a Christian. Here my parents give up everything to be missionaries for the sake of the gospel, even time with their daughters, and I’m too self-centered to see how badly one of my own roommates needs help.”

  Levi’s breath caught as her words sank in. He gazed around at the others, certain his face mirrored the stricken looks on theirs.

  “What should we do?” Steve whispered.

  Monica shrugged. “What else can we do but try to treat her as we should have all along.”

  “I’ll apologize to her,” Levi said softly, “and I’ll invite her to be my canoeing partner for the Olympics.”

  The others agreed, volunteering ways they planned to show kindness to Morgan.

  A half-hour later, Levi started downstairs to look for the girl, his heart heavier than Thor’s hammer.

  34

  Fencing with Mjolnir

  The next week, Levi staggered into the courtyard, his body listing left. Things had been great between him and his friends since the tower meeting, even with Morgan. The only thing really bugging Levi now was that he couldn’t walk straight with the ridiculous hammer strapped to his middle.

  At first Hunter and his friends had cackled uncontrollably about him lurching throughout the castle like a drunken sailor, but when he’d hefted Mjolnir to try out his defeat-the-frost-giants pose, they’d scattered. And had left him alone ever since. When he went to the infirmary yesterday for a final check on his hand, Dr. Baldwin appeared shocked Levi had the hammer. He’d questioned Levi about it for a long time and finally mumbled some strange thing about hiding it in plain sight. Then, without any sort of explanation, he shooed Levi with a release to participate fully in activities.

  Today, Levi wished Dr. Baldwin hadn’t released him so soon. No way could he sword-fight with Mjolnir’s dead weight on his hip. He’d asked Mr. Austin that morning if he could take it off, just for fencing class, but that maniacal gleam entered the dwarf’s eyes again as he barked, “Absolutely not. This is the perfect time to learn balance and precision. It’ll be great for the play.”

  Great for the play maybe, but Levi knew he’d need another trip to the infirmary afterward.

  “Find a partner, everyone. Match up as evenly as you can, please.” Mr. Sylvester’s waist-length, white-blond hair trailed him as he strode between the campers. He stopped in front of Levi, paired up with Trevor, and shook his head. “No, no, Mr. Prince. You and Mr. Patterson are nowhere near the same height and weight.” He put a hand on Levi’s shoulder and steered him away. When he halted next to Hunter and said, “Yes, this is more like it,” Levi cast an anxious glance back at his friend.

  Trevor mouthed sorry.

  Levi turned to find Hunter glaring at him, probably not pleased the fencing instructor deemed them a match, but Mr. Sylvester simply flashed a smile and strode away to find a partner for Trevor.

  “Mr. Serge,” the teacher announced after a moment, “you and Mr. Patterson should work nicely.” Martin popped his knuckles as Trevor shot him a sour look.

  Everyone donned protective gear, p
icked up their buffered blades, and chose an area to spar. Mr. Sylvester told them to watch for opportunities to try the new disarming moves he’d been teaching them. “Remember, your goal is not to injure your opponent but to remove his sword from his grasp.”

  He paused at the throat-clearing from Jacqueline. “Oh, yes, pardon me, ladies. Your goal is to remove your opponent’s sword from his or her grasp.”

  Jacqueline gave a begrudging nod.

  “All right then, on my whistle.”

  “Any last wishes, Prince?” Hunter’s whisper reached Levi’s ears an instant before the shrill whistle pierced the air.

  Hunter came at him hard and fast, landing strike after strike against Levi’s blade. It was obvious he didn’t think simple disarming was enough. With Mjolnir weighing him down, Levi soon began puffing and wheezing as he fended off Hunter’s onslaught, but the other boy smiled the whole time he jabbed and stabbed without even a drop of sweat on his brow.

  Levi’s hands soon grew so slick within his gloves the moisture soaked through to his sword handle. He had to find an opening and go on the attack or he’d fall out and die from sheer exhaustion. Desperately, he watched for an opportunity, oblivious to the matches progressing on every side.

  Suddenly, Hunter whirled and hacked at Levi’s legs. Levi shoved his blade with all his remaining strength against Hunter’s hack. But instead of Hunter losing his sword, Levi’s went clattering off somewhere to his right. Hunter flashed an evil smirk then came after Levi as though he still had his weapon.

  “Hey, wait!” Levi lunged to the left, then groaned when he realized he’d moved away from his fallen sword. He shot a wild glance around, hoping Mr. Sylvester would come to his rescue, but the instructor was on the opposite side of the courtyard watching somebody else’s match. Why wouldn’t he turn around?

  Before he could call for help, Hunter swung at him again. Levi scampered out of range. What should he do? Another sweep of the blade, and Levi feinted right, but Mjolnir threw off his balance. Hunter’s sword smashed against Levi’s head. Despite the padding on the blade and the helmet on his head, the blow dazed him for a second.

  Levi growled. That stupid hammer kept messing him up.

  Wait. The hammer. He slipped Mjolnir from its holster at the precise moment Hunter began a two-handed downward slice from high above, clearly intending to knock him out with another blow to the head. Before Hunter could strike, Levi swung upward with the hammer and smashed Hunter’s fingers against the handle. With a howl of pain, the bully dropped the sword, which would’ve fallen into Levi’s upturned face had the weight of Mjolnir not pulled him forward, headfirst into Hunter’s gut. The two landed in a heap on the grass, the sword near their feet and the hammer driven into the soft dirt inches from Hunter’s face.

  Hunter’s shrieked curses soon drew Mr. Sylvester and the rest of the class. Levi disentangled himself from Hunter while the instructor sputtered, “No hammers in fencing,” and Hunter sucked on his rapidly swelling fingers.

  Levi shrugged and returned Mjolnir to its holster. “Sorry, sir, but Mr. Austin told me I couldn’t take it off for sparring.”

  Mr. Sylvester scowled. “I’ll just have a word with Mr. Austin about that hammer.”

  “Yes, sir.” Yet Levi gave the hammer a fond pat as he turned away. Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all. If it kept Hunter from clobbering him, it was worth a few trips to the chiropractor after camp.

  35

  Morgan’s Momma

  Levi stared at the math problem, trying to make his mind work it out, but he could only think about Lizzie’s hurried whisper as they entered class for their final exam: “Morgan’s momma’s coming. Today. She can’t even stick around for the Olympics or the play or anything.”

  What could they do? It was bad enough they again had an odd number for the canoeing event and that Morgan’s understudy was going to have to do her part in the play, but what about Morgan herself? Was her momma really as bad as she said? What kind of mother would yank her child from camp mere days before it ended? Would going home with her put Morgan in danger? Why didn’t Hunter’s parents do anything to stop it?

  Levi cast a glance at his enemy. Hunter chewed on the end of a pencil, his face chalky, his sunken eyes faintly red-rimmed. Was he worried about his cousin? It seemed she might be the only person he actually cared about. Maybe Levi needed to talk to him, find out if there was a way to get her out of the bad situation.

  A bitter taste coated his tongue at the mere thought of teaming up with Hunter, but should he? For Morgan’s sake?

  The bell rang, signaling the end of class, and Levi groaned. He’d barely completed a third of his test, and the problems he had finished probably weren’t right. Great. He scooped up his paper, slouched to the teacher’s desk, and set it face-down on the stack of exams.

  Sighing, he started from the room. Hunter was a few paces ahead, walking with slumped shoulders and bent head. Levi doubled his stride and caught up, noticing instantly that Martin and Suzanne weren’t around. Hunter must be feeling down if he didn’t have his usual gang within commanding distance.

  “Hunter,” he said quietly.

  The boy sent him a glare. “What do you want?”

  He chose to ignore the hatred blazing in Hunter’s eyes. “Is it true? Is Morgan’s mom taking her away? Today?”

  “Who says it’s any of your business?”

  “It sounds like Morgan doesn’t want to go with her, that’s all.” He shrugged. “And I just didn’t want her to have to go if it’s . . . bad.” His ears heated. This was Hunter’s aunt he was talking about.

  “As if you care. You and your friends treat her like a little pest anyway.” Hunter started walking again.

  “We do not.” Levi swallowed hard. “At least not anymore.” He followed after Hunter. “We just . . . don’t want anything to happen to her.”

  Hunter’s snort echoed throughout the now-empty hallway. “Well, don’t bother your pretty little curls over Morgan.” His eyes gleamed molten silver in the dusky corridor. “She’s my cousin, my responsibility. I’ll take care of her. Without your help.”

  “There she is,” Sara whispered to the others during lunch. She gave a slight jerk of her head toward the staff table.

  Beside Mrs. Dominic, whose face appeared pinched and anxious, sat a woman with black hair—thin and wispy like Morgan’s, but without Morgan’s shine and bounce. The woman’s eyes were the same pale blue, though lines etched deep around them. She was so emaciated the skin sagged around her mouth and neck like an old woman’s, even though Levi figured she probably wasn’t much older than thirty. When she raised her eyes and met his stare, he shuddered. Her eyes looked cold, lifeless. No wonder Morgan didn’t want to go with her.

  He broke eye contact and scanned the room. “Where is Morgan? I haven’t seen her all day.”

  Monica shook her head. “She was gone when we got up this morning. Her bed was tidy, and all of her luggage was gone.”

  “I figured we’d see her at breakfast to say goodbye,” Lizzie said sadly, “but she didn’t show, poor thing.”

  “Apparently they haven’t left yet,” Steve said around a monstrous mouthful of ham sandwich. “Her mom’s still here.”

  “Duh,” Trevor said.

  “I’m just saying.” Bits of cheese flew from Steve’s mouth and splattered Tommy’s tray.

  Tommy’s nose wrinkled. “That is so gross.”

  “Sorry,” Steve said, more food mixed with spittle spraying from his mouth.

  “Steve.” Lizzie stretched the word into two syllables. “It is not polite to talk with your mouth full, honey.”

  Trevor busted out laughing with a mouthful of orange juice that sprayed from his nose across the table onto Sara’s and Monica’s trays.

  “Ugh.”

  “You are so repulsive.”

  Levi snickered, but when his peripheral vision caught movement at the staff table, he sobered instantly. Morgan’s mom and Mrs. Dominic had risen from the
ir seats and were walking toward the hall.

  “Guys.” He gestured toward the two women. “We gotta do something to help Morgan.”

  “We don’t even know where she is,” Trevor pointed out. “How can we help her?”

  “We can start by following her mom.” Levi shoved back his chair and stood. “Who’s coming?”

  The girls jumped up, but Steve said, “What about lunch?” and Trevor nodded.

  “Who can eat after you defaced our food?” Monica snatched up her tray and stomped off to the kitchen pass-through, the girls following her.

  Tommy stood. “Okay, yeah. I’m coming.”

  Levi pushed by them all and stuffed his tray onto the counter. He jogged into the hall and looked left and right in the empty corridor.

  When his friends joined him, Monica asked, “Which direction did they go?”

  He shrugged.

  Lizzie put her hands on her hips. “Now what?”

  “Do you think they went to my parents’ study?” Sara asked. “To take care of discharge papers or something?”

  He shrugged again, not knowing what to do. “How about we split up and look for them? And for Morgan? We can meet back here in a little while.”

  Monica snagged Lizzie’s arm. “We’ll look in our room in case she’s up there.”

  Lizzie nodded without so much as a protest at Monica’s demanding tone. “We’ll check out the tower roof, too, y’all. And the classrooms.”

  Levi faced Tommy and Sara. “Where’re Trevor and Steve?”

  Tommy rolled his eyes. “Still stuffing their faces, I bet.” He jutted his chin toward the dining room. “I’ll drag them out of there, and we’ll check outside.”

  Levi nodded. “Okay, Sara, guess that leaves us to check everything else.”

  They climbed to the second floor and peeked into the library. Then they poked their heads into the infirmary. When they pressed their ears to the Dominics’ study door, they couldn’t hear Morgan’s voice. But the voice Levi knew must belong to Morgan’s mom made him shudder. It sounded as dead as her eyes looked. He knew Sara felt the same way when she teared up.