Shoots and Tatters

by Sara C. Roethle

  I turned as Alaric, Mikael, and Loki moved to stand closer to us. “So what do we do?” I asked the group in general. “I’d rather not wait for Hecate to come and squash out my energy.”

  Freyja nodded. “I agree it is not wise to wait. I think we should journey toward the apex of the magic. I have no doubt Hecate will try to use it.”

  “The apex?” I questioned. “You mean Yggdrasil?”

  She shook her head. “The magic seems to be flowing toward something. While I do not know the reason for this, I find it likely that Hecate will try to use it. So, we go to the apex, we find Hecate.”

  “But what else do we find?” Faas questioned. “There is other realm magic flowing into this land that even the gods are not familiar with. And the only person who could possibly give us a bit of insight is unconscious.” He gestured down to Marcos.

  Each of us gazed around our small circle, our moods somber. Faas was right, we had no idea what we’d be walking into.

  “Well,” I began, breaking the silence, “there’s only one way to find out. Let’s hunt down this apex.”

  Loki and Freyja both smiled, clearly ready for action. Mikael and Alaric, both battered and bruised, held similar worried expressions. While charging into danger had always been my preferred course of action, it often didn’t turn out too well.

  10

  Once again, we all piled back into the vehicles, though this time we took three. I ate a sandwich in the passenger seat of my truck while Aila drove. I had a second one sitting in my lap. If I didn’t have any fresh dead to gain extra energy from, food was the next best option.

  In the back seat were Freyja, Alaric, and Loki. The car behind us held Mikael, Sophie, Alejandro, Faas, Frode, and the third vehicle, a forest green SUV, held our other volunteers. That we had so many willing to face Hecate and whatever magics might await us both warmed and chilled my heart. Some would likely perish.

  We’d debated on bringing Marcos in his unresponsive state, but in the end had settled on lugging him into the SUV. If he woke up at some point, we wanted him where he could be useful to us.

  I finished my first sandwich and reached for the second one as we drove down the highway, heading toward Hillsboro. There were a few abandoned vehicles on the side of the road, and not much traffic besides.

  With one hand on my sandwich, I used the other to fiddle with the radio knobs, hoping for some news updates. After a few ticks of static, a woman’s voice came in loud and clear.

  “ . . . reports of blackouts in Hillsboro reached us right before all communication was lost. Coupled with the slew of recent traffic incidents, the city seems to have come to a virtual standstill. Authorities are currently investigating reports of what we can only believe are illusions: spectral forms, flashing lights, and unknown creatures. A public warning has been issued to not venture into Hillsboro until further investigation can be conducted.”

  I quickly hit the radio button to shut it off. “Well, that does not sound good.”

  “Is there a large population in Hillsboro?” Freyja questioned.

  “Around 105,000,” Alaric replied.

  I started eating my second sandwich as I turned to engage the backseat passengers.

  “Fairly large, then,” Freyja stated thoughtfully. “It could be that the magic is drawn to such a large congregation of people.”

  “But there are other cities,” I countered. “Why here?”

  Freyja shrugged. “To quote your earlier statement, there’s only one way to find out.”

  I glanced at Alaric in the middle of the backseat, meeting his worried gaze, then turned around, looking out the window ahead of me. We’d hit the outskirts of Hillsboro, and it seemed like a ghost town.

  Aila slowed the vehicle, forcing those following to slow in our wake. There were more abandoned vehicles here, some pulled off to the side, but some left obstructing the street. It was only a matter of time until one would block our way entirely.

  I nearly jumped when another moving vehicle appeared, a small white car, heading slowly our way. The passengers in the car glanced about warily, the female driver white-knuckling it on the steering wheel. She met my gaze as we stopped our vehicle to let her pass around a truck blocking half of the intersection, but she didn’t smile or wave.

  I turned my head, watching the white car pick up speed as Aila maneuvered around the truck in the intersection. The passengers of the passing vehicle were likely letting out a collective breath to have reached the outskirts of town. Many others had probably left before them. I hoped they’d be safe, but there was no guarantee. The best way to ensure the safety of others was to snuff out Hecate and stop the flow of magic.

  I flinched as a bright flash outside stung my eyes, then narrowed my gaze as a giant column of pulsing light shot up into the sky in the distance.

  “What the hell is that?” I hissed.

  Aila slowed the truck from a crawl to a stop, and we all climbed out. Those following us did the same, shattering the near silence with a cacophony of car doors shutting.

  I stared at the distant column, then watched as Freyja cast a worried look toward Loki. “It feels familiar, doesn’t it?”

  He nodded, his expression uncharacteristically somber.

  I stepped forward, raising my hand to shield my eyes as I peered at the glowing column, shimmering with a myriad of colors tinting the mostly white light. It was roughly five blocks away, and seemed wide enough to take up an entire two-way intersection. It spanned up into the sky, endless.

  Goosebumps erupted across my arms. I could feel what Faas had been talking about now. It was as if I could feel the magic flowing past me toward the column, like the gentle kiss of snowflakes touching my skin. Soft and magical, but full of potentially sharp, harmful energy.

  “How are we supposed to face that?” Sophie asked, moving to stand near Alaric.

  They both turned, then looked at me.

  I raised my hands defensively. “Hey, I don’t know anything about it. This isn’t my type of energy.”

  “No,” Freyja interrupted. “It’s mine, or really,” she glanced at Loki, “ours. The column is formed of magic coming from our realm.”

  “But how?” I gasped. “And why here? Shouldn’t this be happening around Yggdrasil?”

  She glanced at Loki again. “Do you think it could be…” she trailed off.

  “Well if it is,” he replied, “we’re all screwed.”

  “What is it!” Sophie snapped.

  “The Well of Urd,” Freyja explained. “We’d thought it had been lost with Yggdrasil, but it seems regrowing the tree dropped it into this realm. Or perhaps it’s been here all along, hidden all this time.”

  “The Well of Urd?” Mikael questioned, keeping his distance from Alaric. “Isn’t Yggdrasil supposed to grow out of the well?”

  Freyja nodded, gazing off at the light column. “Yes, it once did. Perhaps Hecate’s leftover followers hid it after she was sucked into another realm, or perhaps she hid it before destroying the tree.”

  “So what do we do about it?” I asked. I had never even heard of the Well of Urd, but judging by Freyja and Loki’s expressions, its appearance wasn’t a good thing.

  “The well created the fates,” Freyja replied, “the one time protectors of Yggdrasil.”

  “You mean the Norns?” I questioned.

  She flicked her eyes to me, then back to the light. “Yes, that is what they were in this realm.”

  I stared at the distant light column in awe. “Does that mean the Norns could come back?” I’d put the energy of the last of the Norns into regrowing Yggdrasil. As far as I’d known, that had been the end of their race.

  Loki raised an eyebrow at me. “Do you truly believe they still have a place in this realm?”

  I sighed, then shook my head. He was right, the Vaettir had abandoned the Norns, and now that the sanctuary of the Salr had all disappeared, they wouldn’t even have a safe place to hide.

  A scream sliced through the
air from the direction of the column, then another.

  I started forward instinctively, but Alaric grabbed my arm to stop me. “Let the others go first,” he urged.

  I looked around to all who had joined us.

  Mikael hefted his axe into his hands, a wry grin on his face. “I’ll lead the way. Who cares to join me?”

  I wasn’t surprised when Aila stepped forward first, followed by Frode and Alejandro. A few others stepped forward, including Freyja, while Alaric, Sophie, Loki, and Faas all opted to hang back with me.

  I met Mikael’s gaze as he prepared to march. I wasn’t quite sure what to say. Don’t die, seemed childish, but I love you a little bit was even worse.

  My moment was lost as he gave me a wink, then turned with Aila at his side to lead the way.

  Alaric took my hand and gave it a squeeze. With a smirk, Loki, on my other side, enveloped his hand in mine.

  I glared at Loki, but didn’t have time for a scathing remark as more screams began to cut through the air. What had we just sent Mikael and the others in into?

  “Let’s go,” I breathed. “I don’t want to be far behind if they need our help.”

  “Only if you promise not to rush in if they’re instantly killed,” Loki replied.

  “No promises,” I muttered, snatching my hand from his to lead our small group forward.

  I cast a wary eye around the deserted streets as we crept along cautiously. I could still feel all the excess magic prickling along my skin, and the column ahead was like a heavy weight on my mind.

  Occasionally, I caught glimpses of humans hiding in the surrounding buildings, or running through the streets away from the column of light. There were occasional wails of sirens in the distance, but nothing close, not yet.

  “I don’t like this,” Faas muttered from behind me. “This energy feels highly unstable, like it could explode or implode at any moment.”

  “It’s entirely possible,” Loki replied. “The Well of Urd is meant to be connected to Yggdrasil. Without it, all of its magical energy has no guidance. It’s pure, wild magic.”

  More screams and shouts became clear as we neared the block where the light column had sprouted.

  “Perhaps you should wait here with Loki,” Alaric advised, his hand still entwined with mine. “Hecate may be using the well as a trap. Perhaps she wants to use the well’s power to destroy you.”

  “Also possible,” Loki commented.

  Alaric stopped walking, pulling me to a halt beside him. The shouts and screams near the well grew louder, accompanied by the clang of metal. Mikael and the others were battling something or someone.

  Panic blossomed within me, creating a stabbing pain in my gut. I hunched over, cradling my belly.

  “What’s wrong?” Alaric gasped, placing his hands at my waist to keep me semi-upright.

  Searing pain shot through me, emanating from my abdomen. “Something is wrong,” I groaned.

  Alaric and Loki helped me lower myself to the asphalt. Faas barged in between them, placing a hand on my belly as I curled up on my side.

  “Something’s going on with the baby,” he explained. “I can feel its energy more keenly than I should.”

  Sophie hovered over his shoulder, peering down at me worriedly.

  “You should have stayed in my realm,” a voice said from above us. “The influx of magical energy is too much for your child.”

  I looked up, pain blurring my vision, to find Hecate standing a few feet away, still in her white dress with gold embellishments. Her auburn hair fluttered in the magic surrounding her.

  “Time to end this,” she purred.

  Loki and Alaric moved to stand in front of me, blocking my view of Hecate.

  Still grasping my belly, I craned my neck to see Hecate extend her hand, a shimmering ball of light in her palm.

  “The well’s wild magic,” Loki hissed. “How do you control it?”

  Hecate chuckled. “I am the magic of life and death. There is no energy greater than mine.” She flexed her hand around the glowing orb.

  I cried out as another stab of pain hit my gut, realizing with sudden horror that it wasn’t just the wild magic surrounding us hurting me, Hecate was intentionally affecting my baby.

  I gritted my teeth, but could not even raise my cheek from the asphalt.

  She squeezed the sphere again, and everything went black.

  Mikael swung his axe, a perfect blow meant to separate one of the handmaiden’s heads from her shoulders, but she easily darted out of the way, her entire body shimmering with the white glow of magic as she ducked behind a tree in the small park.

  The women he and Madeline had encountered in Hecate’s realm were no longer the same creatures. They’d been empowered with magic, and seemed invincible. The bodies of countless humans littered the grass and street around them, not far from the glowing column of light. The humans had been massacred, likely offerings to the death goddess Hecate.

  He swung at the handmaiden, and missed once again as she cackled with maniacal glee. There were more than the four women who’d returned with them from Hecate’s realm. She must have gone back to retrieve them in the interim.

  “Mikael!” Aila shouted, just as something barreled into his back.

  He leapt into a forward roll, coming up on his feet to face the handmaiden that had hit him with an impossible amount of force, then lost focus on his foes as Aila screamed.

  He whipped his eyes in her direction to see one of the handmaidens, her fist in Aila’s chest. The fist glowed with magic, illuminating the blood that began to leak forth. As he watched on helplessly, the handmaiden ripped her hand free of the wound, pulling out Aila’s heart. Her body crumpled to the ground, dead. A moment of pain consumed him, viewing the lifeless body of the comrade in arms he’d known for so long.

  In that moment, all rational thought left him. He screamed in rage and charged the woman still holding Aila’s bloody heart in her hand. He vaguely noted that many of his other friends had fallen around him.

  He swung his axe into the woman’s neck so quickly she had no time to dodge. Before her body could hit the asphalt, he whirled on another handmaiden, this one holding a glowing spear.

  She countered his axe with her weapon, expertly flinging it from his grasp. Rather than chasing his weapon, he charged her, landing a kick that sent her spear clanking across the nearby street. He knew this was a losing battle, but he no longer cared. If all of his people would soon be dead, he would die with them, taking as many of their enemies as he could along the way.

  That was his last thought as something stabbed through his lower back, lurching him upward. He peered down as a gleaming spear tip erupted through the middle of his chest.

  His last thought was for Madeline, a final prayer that she would send Hecate back to hell where she belonged.

  11

  I woke with a groan, quickly realizing that I was being carried. I squinted up into the sunlight overhead as Freyja’s face slowly came into view above me.

  “What happened?” I muttered. “Where’s Alaric?”

  Loki’s face appeared beside hers as he walked by her side.

  “Go back to sleep,” Loki ordered. “We’ll keep you safe.”

  I began to struggle against Freyja’s strong arms, though I didn’t actually feel capable of standing on my own. “Put me down!” I demanded. “Where is Alaric? Where are the others?”

  “Don’t tell her,” Freyja growled. “We need to transport her to the tree and back to our realm.”

  Memories came flooding back to me. Hecate holding that glowing sphere, squeezing it to cause me crippling pain. Alaric and Loki had faced her. We’d needed to get past her to help Mikael.

  “They’re dead,” Loki explained, despite Freyja’s advice. “We were barely able to get you out of there alive. Now we need to get you to our realm before Hecate finds us. She has connected herself and her handmaidens to the well. They’re too powerful.”

  “You’re lying,” I a
ccused, renewing my struggles to escape Freyja’s iron grip. “We have to go back.”

  My heart thundered in my chest, making me weak with lack of breath. They couldn’t be dead. The Vaettir were strong. Alaric and Mikael and Sophie were strong. There was no way they would fall so easily.

  “We have to go back!” I rasped again, struggling against Freyja.

  “Put her to sleep,” she ordered Loki through gritted teeth as she struggled to hold me aloft.

  “You’re going to make the death ball angry at me,” Loki groaned.

  They stopped walking and Loki hovered his hand over me. I screamed. I had to stop whatever he was doing before it was too late.

  My scream caught in my throat as a warm sensation washed over me. Suddenly I felt like I was encased in a safe cocoon. The world outside faded. My consciousness slowly floated away.

  The next time I awoke I was in a soft bed, piled high with fluffy white pillows. Gentle sunlight streamed in through gauzy curtains lining a large room. I vaguely noted a fire crackling in a nearby fireplace.

  I slowly sat up, cradling my belly in my loose, dirty flannel, blearily remembering what Hecate had done to me. Everything ached, but I sensed my child was alright. I lifted my hand to wipe hot tears from my face as I peered around the room, feeling like I was in a dream. Or maybe a nightmare.

  My gut clenched at the memory of Loki’s words. He had to be wrong. It was some sort of trick. Perhaps he and Freyja had planned this from the start, to make me think everyone was dead so they could smuggle me away to their realm. Although Loki helped Mikael and I once, he seemed the traitor now.

  I lowered first one foot to the floor, then the other, flinching as my bare skin touched down on cold tiles. Fighting through waves of dizziness and nausea, I stood.

  “You should be resting,” said a voice I didn’t recognize.

  I spun around too quickly and almost fell, but managed to stabilize myself against the bed. A woman with hair that seemed spun of pure gold sat in a small wooden chair in the far corner of the room. She was plump with a rosy complexion and laugh lines at the corners of her blue eyes, making her seem warm and friendly. She wore a simple, pale blue dress, comfortably hugging her ample figure.