The Immortal Queen

by Jennifer L. Hart

  “Who are you?” I’m still not seeing straight and watching the bird creature emerge from beneath the human flesh doesn’t help.

  “Nicneven,” the voice transforms along with the appearance. It’s higher in pitch, with the inflection sharper, more menacing. “Somehow, I was expecting more from the Ice Bitch.”

  “You knew me?” My heart pounds in the face of this new threat. “In my last life?”

  “Only by reputation.” Wings spread wide, blocking the door, the only exit. “Rumors in the courts say you were reborn mortal. That you do not recover from injuries like the fair folk. I didn’t believe them. After all, how could you kill Brigit if you are of mortal flesh?”

  I back away from him—her—it—until my back hits the cinderblock wall. “What do you want?”

  The creature makes a sound I can only assume is a laugh. “Why? Are you willing to bargain for your miserable life? You, who decimated an entire nest of my kind?”

  I opened my mouth, then shut it again. What can I say? That I have no memory of decimating anybody for any reason? It’s not like I can claim innocence, being a serial killer and all. Judging by the predatory gaze in those midnight eyes, no excuse will get me out of this unscathed.

  It lunges for me, but I duck beneath the nearest desk, my training kicking in. The desk is ripped away, flung across the room like a ball of paper. I scramble under the next, but don’t pause, hunting for a weapon or at least better cover. Neither is to be found.

  I stay a hair ahead of it, moving just before it is about to strike. I’d won against Freda and Nahini, but that hadn’t been life or death. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew it wasn’t real. This creature means business. What good will besting them do me if I don’t even make it to the gauntlet?

  Crawl. Toss. Crawl. Toss. This goes on until my back presses against the far wall. I pause a moment, frantically trying to come up with a plan. As far as I can tell, the creature has no exposed skin. Nowhere for me to place my deadly kiss.

  The desk above me is violently ripped away.

  Great wings flap, stirring the air in the small room and lifting the creature off the ground until those sinister talons are at eye level. Will it rip me apart as I huddle here? Or perhaps sever my head from my body and take it as a trophy.

  “Any last words, Queen of the Shadow Throne?”

  I raise my arms. It’s an instinctive gesture, to protect my face from oncoming harm, but as I do, the wall behind me explodes inwards.

  I am tossed through the air and slam against the opposite wall even as the funnel of a tornado swoops inside. The bird creature shrieks but the winds of the funnel are too powerful. With no purchase, it is sucked into the swirling vortex in a flurry of feathers.

  I struggle to hold on to anything nailed down so as not to suffer the same fate. The wind whips papers through the air, pulls desks and chairs out through the hole. I grasp the doorknob even as the gale pulls me horizontal from the floor. Over the roar of furniture being relocated I can hear someone pounding on the door.

  “Nic!” Aiden bellows.

  “I can’t hold on!” The words are ripped out of me, sucked into the ravenous funnel.

  “You can control it,” he shouts. “Focus on the air. Get the feel of it and it will become yours.”

  “How?” I shout. My hands slip on the door handle.

  “Describe it to me. What does it smell like?”

  “Death,” I bitch, but then pick up other scents. “Ozone. Churned earth.”

  “What does it feel like?”

  “Energy, power.” As I say the words I experience them in my veins. One hand slips but I don’t panic, sensing the same power inside me as the tornado swirls above.

  The wind dies down, my feet touch the floor. And then all is quiet.

  “Nic?” Aiden asks.

  “Yeah,” I pant, unable to believe the destruction in the room. Or that where moments ago I was sure I was about to die, now I am alive and relatively unharmed. I sink to the floor, panting.

  “Can you unlock the door or should I bash it in?”

  Reaching up, I turn the handle until the lock pops, and then roll away so Aiden can push through.

  He takes one look at the room, at me on the floor, then crosses the hall and pulls the emergency fire alarm.

  “You can’t do that,” I gasp even as the sound rings out.

  “I just did.” He’s back at my side in an instant even as the hallway fills with students. “Can you stand?”

  I nod and he helps me to my feet. Between one heartbeat and the next we fall in with the crush of exiting students.

  “Where’s the nurse?” I ask, realizing that he’s alone.

  Aiden half carries, half drags me down the concrete steps and we maneuver our way toward our homeroom teacher, Mrs. Bates, who’s frowning at her clipboard.

  “There you two are.” She gives us a cursory once over and then frowns. “Where were you?”

  “Looking for the nurse. Nic wasn’t feeling well, but I couldn’t find her.” Aiden answers both my question and the teacher’s at once.

  “She doesn’t come in for another half an hour.” Mrs. Bates is shaking her head. “And why did no one tell me a drill had been planned for today?”

  Aiden slides me a sideways look. I am just as incredulous. Did no one else notice a tornado ripping a hole in the side of the school?

  “May I take Nic over to the bleachers so she can sit down?”

  Mrs. Bates squints at me through thick bifocals. “Just stay in sight.”

  “Of course.” Aiden flashes her an easy smile even as he helps me hobble away.

  “Well done.” He’s much better at managing people than me.

  But Aiden doesn’t appear to have heard the compliment, already too busy with the self-flagellation. “I shouldn’t have left you. Steinburg attacked you?”

  “Whatever it was, it attacked me.” I do my best to describe the birdlike creature and its massive grudge.

  “A Valkyrie,” Aiden growls loud enough that several other students look our way as we pass through the knot of people. The fingers on his free hand flex.

  “Say what now?” I pull him further away for more privacy. Fire trucks come roaring into the lot, distracting the onlookers. “Valkyries are real?”

  He gives me a well, duh kind of look.

  “Aren’t Valkyries supposed to be all beautiful shield maidens who serve Odin by selecting which warriors to spirit off to Valhalla? The thing I saw was heinous and smelled like an open sewer.”

  “They don’t serve Odin. They serve Freya, who is a jealous sort. Can’t keep any sort of competition around. She likes her handmaidens to be plain or homely to enhance her own beauty. Though she will bestow them with a glamour to help recruit the souls of the slain. The part about Valhalla is true, but what many people forget is that the Valkyries don’t just select who will serve from the slain, they select who will survive the battle.”

  I suck in a sharp breath. “Like my aunts?”

  “Similar, though their powers are limited to the battlefield. They’ve grown restless in recent decades. Too few wars, too many idle claws looking to serve up trouble.”

  “So why was it after me? Do you think Freya set them on me?” Slowly, I ease down onto the bleachers. Facing Brigit had been terrifying enough, I didn’t want to tangle with a goddess.

  But Aiden shakes his head. “Freya’s asleep, all the Aesir and Vanir are, except for Heimdal, the watchman. No, whatever the Valkyries are up to, it isn’t on behalf of the gods.”

  That is only somewhat reassuring.

  “My main concern is that Valkyries usually hunt in pairs.” Aiden glances around at the throng of milling students. “And if they’re able to don a glamour, they can hide in plain sight.”

  “Do you see Jasmine?” Worry spikes through me as I scan the crowd for the nymph girl who is my responsibility.

  He nods. “She’s with her class. Was Steinburg new to the school?”

 
; I shake my head. “No. He’s been here for years. At least since I’ve been here. Why?”

  “A glamour that comes from another being’s magic won’t last more than a few days. Chances are the Valkyrie took his place recently.”

  “Would it have killed the real Vice Principal Steinburg?”

  “I have no idea. Outside of a battlefield, it’s rare to find Valkyrie on this side of the Veil. Without magic to cloak them, they are extremely conspicuous. The other one will be nearby, hoping to catch you alone, though after this demonstration of your power, it’ll be more careful.”

  “My power?” I blink up at him. “Why do you think it was me?”

  Aiden blinks down at me. “You mean, you didn’t summon the tornado?”

  “I don’t know. I mean, I didn’t do anything intentional.”

  “What were you thinking about, when it attacked you?”

  “The Wizard of Oz,” I say. “It was a stray thought, the way the glamour came off, it melted, the same way the wicked witch did in the story.”

  “I’m familiar with it.” Aiden frowns. “Didn’t the girl in that story get swept up in a tornado?”

  My lips part. “You mean I summoned it, just by thinking of that story?”

  He nods once. “Your powers are getting stronger the closer we come to Samhain. Another reason the second Valkyrie will act quickly.”

  I’d summoned a tornado out of the clear blue sky to battle a Valkyrie with a grudge. By accident. “I could have killed someone.”

  He looks at me, brows raised. “You did kill that Valkyrie.”

  “Unintentionally, I mean. Setting a tornado loose on a school? I had no idea I could do that.”

  Aiden’s expression turns grim. “We’ll speak with Nahini about accelerating your mystical training, though the power over air is unique to you.”

  “Did I ever tell you how I learned to control it before?”

  He shakes his head. “No. You never spoke much about your early life. Your focus was on the future, not the past.”

  From our vantage point, I can see the wake of destruction left by the tornado. What if the second Valkyrie comes after me in the gym? Or the cafeteria? I might kill hundreds of innocent students, trying to protect myself from the next attack.

  Thinking of students in the cafeteria made me recall the boy with the brown eyes who’d been staring at me yesterday. “The other boy, the stranger you followed to the fairy hill. Do you think he could be the other Valkyrie?”

  He considers for a moment. “It’s possible.”

  I scan the crowd. “Have you seen him today?”

  “No.”

  I huff out a breath. “What now?”

  Aiden puts an arm around my shoulder. “We keep vigilant and wait.”

  “THE KIDS ARE STOKED.” Jasmine says when we finally get the all clear to leave school grounds. She hops up into the cab of the truck and then leans down to give me a hand up. “Second day and we’re out before lunch. And none of them seem to care why.”

  I take her hand and grunt as Aiden boosts me up. It’s not exactly a dignified position and I’m fairly certain my wolfish companion is enjoying it just a little too much.

  Once I’m situated, Aiden shuts the door and then circles to the driver’s side. “The modern teenager is a remarkably resilient creature. School bombs, threats, riots in the streets. They accept it with nothing more than a shrug. Adults are the ones who are rigid and inflexible, who are shocked by everything. Children accept as the way the world works.”

  “What really happened?” Jasmine asks.

  “A tornado.” I lean against the window and watch the flashing lights. “Apparently I summoned it.”

  “Why?” Jasmine flicks on the radio and thankfully, switches away from the top one hundred looking for news.

  “A Valkyrie came after her.” Aiden says tersely.

  I’d called Freda and Addy to let them know what had happened. Freda had told me to give Jasmine enough information to satisfy her without bogging her down with the details.

  “A Valkyrie? Really?” Jasmine looks at me with wide eyes. “I’ve never seen one.”

  “You’re not missing much,” I say just as the newscaster’s passionless voice switches to a practiced somber tone.

  A freak weather event has shut down the local junior-senior high school this morning and stumped local meteorologists. A tornado touched down, decimating a classroom shortly after seven AM, while school was in session. Luckily the room was empty at the time and no injuries have been reported. Tornados are not frequent in the high country and no tornado watch or tornado warning was in effect at the time of the occurrence. The last reported tornado watch was Wednesday, May 24th, 2017. Before that—”

  Aiden clicks off the radio. “Good old mortals. They’re going with the old freak weather event.”

  “How long do you think school will be closed?” Jasmine’s tone is anxious.

  “Possibly through the end of the week.” I tell her.

  “So long?” Her face falls.

  “Don’t worry, you can use the extra time to practice your reading. We’ll try some new audiobooks.” I’d been purchasing books as well as the accompanying audiobooks to assist her with reading and pronunciation.

  She nods but remains quiet for the rest of the trip to the farm.

  Aiden parks in my usual spot and insists on helping me down, in case I feel dizzy again. I haven’t told him about the voice or the odd feelings that had accompanied her words. It’s not in your nature. Did that have something to do with the Valkyrie? I scoot to the edge of the seat but pause before I can take his hand.

  “What is it?” He studies me from head to toe. “Nic?”

  “I keep thinking about Steinburg.” I meet his green gaze. “How did it know to take the place of a teacher? You said the glamour only lasts a few days.”

  He moves closer until he’s standing between my spread knees. “Do you suspect Brigit’s spy has something to do with it?”

  “School started yesterday and the Valkyrie makes its move today. The Hunt is here at the farm, and the place is mystically hidden besides. At school I don’t have those same protections. Someone is noting my movements.” To anyone looking on, it would appear we were sharing a tender moment, not discussing espionage and assassination attempts. “We should go to the veep’s house, look for clues.”

  Aiden doesn’t appear thrilled by the prospect of looking for the wayward vice principal. “Do you know where he lives?”

  “No, but he has a Siamese cat. Addy will have his address on file in the clinic.”

  “The other Valkyrie might be lying in wait for us there,” he cautions. “I should go alone.”

  “It’s after me,” I remind him. “It might not reveal itself to you. At least this way I don’t have to worry about it coming after me at school. Plus, if it is there, we could trap it and maybe unearth the spy’s identity. Two bird creatures, one stone—so to speak.”

  Aiden reaches up a thumb to trace my lower lip. “And the dizzy spell?”

  “Probably just the after effects from the pixie dust.”

  “Will you let Addy check you over, just to make sure?”

  “She’s a vet, not a doctor,” I groan.

  “She’s the closest thing we have to a physician.” He appears worried.

  “If it will make you feel better, fine.”

  Though it’s a short walk from the house to the clinic, Aiden insists on taking the truck. I don’t argue, since I’m hoping to get the all clear from Addy and head out right afterwards.

  Addy’s busy in the office, but Chloe is seated behind the reception desk, a stack of files by her elbow, a game of spider solitaire up on her computer screen. She smells like cherries today, a scent that typically means she’s exhausted. She looks me over with a quick glance. “A Valkyrie, really?”

  “It’s not like I woke up and said, gee, today seems like a stellar day to get attacked by a giant bird woman.”

  “Smartass
,” she gripes. “Everyone is okay though?”

  “I felt a little dizzy earlier, but that was before the attack. Probably just over tired.”

  “I thought you said it was a result of the pixie dust.” Aiden narrows his gaze on me.

  “Or that.” Changing the subject I turn back to Chloe. “Do you know anything about Valkyries?”

  She drums her bright pink fingernails on the desk. “Yes. They’re foul, grasping creatures. Sort of a combination of kleptomaniacs and hoarders with personal hygiene issues.”

  Which explains the smell. “The one that attacked me said I destroyed a nest of them in my last life. Why would I do that?”

  “They probably took something you valued and you retaliated.”

  “Seelenverkäufer.” I look to Aiden who nods in confirmation.

  “It was before my time at your court, but I heard stories. You rode the Hunt on midwinter’s day into the high hills where the nest was and scourged the lot of them from the oldest crone to the newest hatchling.”

  Sounds like me, rather the old Nicneven. “Great, just what I need, more shitty judgment calls from my last life cropping up to bite me on the ass.”

  Chloe stands and circles the desk. “So, what’s the plan?”

  “We’re going to check out the vice principal’s place.” I don’t elaborate further. “I need Steinburg’s address of record.”

  “After Addy gives you the all clear,” Aiden insists. “At least let her take your vitals.”

  “I’ll get her.” Chloe rises, then pushes the tin of chocolate chip cookies across the desk to us. “You didn’t get any of these, yesterday.”

  “It’s eleven in the morning,” I tell her.

  She blinks. “What’s your point?”

  “You need help.” I hand the tin to Aiden, who can always benefit from a few extra calories.

  Chloe disappears into the back, and a moment later returns with Addy in tow.

  “A Valkyrie? We better make sure your shots are up to date,” Addy grumbles.

  “I’m starting to get the impression that no one likes these creatures.” I follow her into one of the examination rooms. Thankfully Aiden doesn’t follow.