by Brenda Drake
Her eyes brimmed with tears and a short laugh escaped her. “Sort of.”
He slipped a hand around her back and drew her to him. His head lowered and he brushed his lips lightly against hers. She was sinking. Her trembling hands clung to him, their kiss deepening. All thoughts of other worlds and gods left her for that brief moment of wonder. His arm strong around her, the warmth of his mouth on hers, she didn’t want it to end.
With a frustrated groan, he pulled away from her. “We have to go. Get your things and meet us in the lobby.”
“Okay,” she said.
He watched her until she was back inside her room. The ding of the elevator sounded as she closed the door.
Stevie quickly packed her toiletries, lifted her bag, and stepped out into the hallway, the door swung shut behind her.
“Fancy running into you here,” a voice she recognized said.
She turned to find Blake’s uncle standing in the middle of the hallway. The thought that this man had to be from Asgard, too, hadn’t escaped her. She backed up. “Wh-why are you here? Blake’s in his room. Are you looking for him?”
“No. I was looking for you, Comic Cam. Will you sign something for me?” He held up one of her posters. The corners were torn so he had to have stolen it from one of the partition walls at the con. Why would he even do that?
“Who are you? What do you want from me?”
He took deliberate strides in her direction, his glare fixed on her. The evil in his eyes stunned her.
She kept backing up.
“I think you can guess who I am, Cam.” His lips twisted into a haunting smile.
She had a guess, but she was hoping it wasn’t correct. “Loki?”
He tossed the poster to the floor and slowly clapped. “You do know your characters, well. But I’m nothing like the Loki depicted in your comic books. I’m wiser. Stronger. Evil runs through my veins—thick and black with the desperate souls I’ve killed. I won’t bother with a ritual to save you. We’re going to Asgard. I promise to keep you alive for as long as I can. It might be fun. Perhaps painful.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.” She was almost to the end of the hall.
Think. I need a weapon or something. She squeezed the handle of her bag, searching the hall around her and glancing over her shoulder.
“You know how cats corner their prey,” he said. “Once they catch them, they play with them until they’re dead. I’m sort of like that. I think that’s what thrills me most about the kill.”
Stevie swallowed hard. “Blake! I’m so glad to see you!”
Loki turned, and she darted into the stairwell. She pounded down the steps, ignoring the pain in her chest and the painful breaths rushing into her lungs. He wasn’t running for her. His footsteps sounding behind her were measured and teasing.
She went down to the next level and opened the door, then rushed to Blake and Kyle’s room. Her fist hurt as she pounded hard against the wood.
“Blake,” she yelled. “It’s me. Help. He’s after me.”
No one answered.
They must’ve gone down to the lobby already.
Loki came into the hall.
She sprinted the other way to the elevators. An older couple was getting into one. “Hold the door,” she called.
After stepping inside with them, she stabbed the close button several times until the door closed. Loki was almost there. The door banged shut and the elevator went down. It opened again when they reached the lobby.
Stevie could see May’s Suburban through the window.
I can’t lead Loki to her. He’ll kill us both.
She ran down the hallway in the direction of the pool.
Shit. There’s nowhere else to go.
Pulling the door open to the pool room, she searched the hall before going inside.
There was no sign of Loki as she shut the door and stepped back against the wall so he couldn’t spot her through the window. The strong scent of chlorine filled her nose with each heavy breath. She dropped her bag and retrieved her phone. There was a missed call from May. Her fingers shook as she searched for May’s contact and pressed the call button. It rang.
“Stevie? Where are you? We’re waiting outside.”
“He’s here,” she said as loud as she dared, which was below a whisper. She was cold. The hotel staff must’ve turned off the heat.
“What, honey? I can’t understand you.”
“Loki,” she said a little louder, her breath fogging in front of her face. “He’s here. I’m in the pool room.”
“No.” May had heard Stevie that time. “Stay put. Hide. We’ll be there to help you.”
Her body was shaking so much, her teeth clattered together. A crackling sounded through the room. She glanced up and dropped her phone.
The pool was freezing over and ice spread across the ceiling. A small glacier slithered toward her carrying something sinister. Creatures. Almost manlike, with horns distorting their foreheads and white fur covering their large bodies. Their bottom lips protrude and sharp saber-like teeth stuck out of their mouths.
The scream jammed in Stevie’s throat, and she slipped over the ice forming on the floor around her and landed hard on her back. She sat up. The creatures were approaching fast. She crab-crawled backward, trying to get away, and lost her footing. She thudded to the ice, slid across the floor, and collided into one of the glass walls.
Overhead a wail echoed through the pool room. The glass pane against her back vibrated. She was too afraid to see what it was. But when the noise came again, her gaze went up.
A tall, lanky body covered in a sheet of algae clung to the ceiling. Seaweed whips lashed out of its body at the frozen giants.
Wake up, Stevie. Wake up!
She was frozen to her spot, whether out of fear or because she was actually frozen, but she couldn’t tell. The pain in her chest held her captive to the floor. She closed her eyes, covered her ears, and waited.
Waited to die.
This is the end. I’m going to die.
Mom. Dad.
Blake.
May.
Amira.
Kyle.
Kyle?
She sent each thought out as her last good-bye, hoping each one would feel the love behind it.
When the last of her hope was about to fade, the pane beside her shattered and a large wolf charged in. Loki crunched over the glass on the floor. “Stay put,” he ordered her. “Don’t make me chase you again. No creature in here will kill you. They need you to carry the horn to Yggdrasil. It can only be used there.”
“You want to kill me.” Her fingers brushed across something cold.
“Well, not yet,” he said with an evil smile stretching his face.
A pole.
It had a net at the end. She grasped it, the icy handle freeze-burning her skin, but she refused to let go of the only weapon around.
“Go,” Loki yelled at the creatures. “This girl is not yours. The horn is mine. I will kill you all!”
While he was distracted, Stevie unscrewed the net and removed it from the pole.
Lightning shot through the window and hit Loki in the back. He flew forward crashing into the frozen water. The thing on the roof plunked into the hole where Loki had fallen in. The wolf jumped in after it. The seaweed creature had a friend and it dropped down in front of Stevie.
At the same time as the algae-covered swamp thing lunged for her, she extended the pole and plunged it through its chest. It let out a siren scream and collapsed in a pile of muddy gunk and tendrils of seaweed.
The frozen creatures growled, their sharp teeth gnashing at the air.
Blake jumped through the broken window, holding his hammer high above his head. As he landed, he slammed it against the frozen floor. The sheet of ice buckled and splintered knocking most of the creatures on their backs. The largest one righted his balance before he stampeded toward them like a provoked bull.
Kyle flew in with a spear-like weapo
n in his hand. At the end was a three-pronged fork with arrowhead tips. He took four long strides and threw the spear. It collected electricity from plugins and sockets, busting the overhead lights. The spear buried into the creature’s chest with a sickening cracking of bones and ice.
Blake dashed to Stevie, wrapping his arms around her. “Can you stand?”
She nodded, unable to speak through her heavy breathing. He helped her to stand.
The surface of the pool rolled and heaved, breaking up the sheet of ice covering it. Slushy water spilled over the edge of the pool. Loki and his wolf fought the Frost Giants in the deep end.
Kyle rushed to them. “Come on. What are you just standing there for? Go, go, go!”
Blake held Stevie’s hand as they sprinted down the hall. She was weak, but she pushed on. Whatever was behind them gave her a sudden boost of energy.
“What about the hotel?” Stevie held her side. The pain was intense. “The people…they won’t be safe. And Amira and Grace. What about them?”
Kyle yanked open the door and held it as Blake and Stevie dashed outside. “Don’t worry. They’ll be chasing us not anyone else.”
Don’t worry? Stevie was more than worried. She was terrified.
sjautján
Kyle hopped into the passenger seat of May’s Suburban as Blake and Stevie scrambled into the backseat.
“Go,” Kyle said. “Loki is after us. Drive around a bit before heading to Golden Gardens Park. We have to make sure they aren’t following.”
“Loki. That ruthless—” May bit her bottom lip, dropped the gear into drive, and sped off.
Blake pulled Stevie into his arms and brushed her hair from her face. Her eyes were closed, the lashes thick and dark against her pale skin. The flush had returned to her cheeks, the results of her exerted run to the Suburban. The sun blinked light into the vehicle as it passed in and out of the shade from the trees.
“Stevie?”
She glanced up at him, eyes half shut, “Hmm?”
“How do you feel?” He combed her hair with his fingers, hoping to soothe her.
“Just weak. And completely freaked out.” She licked her lips. “Thirsty.”
He gripped the door handle as the Suburban bounced over a bumpy part in the road. “Do you have any water?”
May glanced at the rearview mirror. “I think we should stop. She needs to rest before we go to the park. She’ll need her strength. We have several hours before dawn.”
“Yeah,” Blake said. “I think you’re right.”
Kyle turned in his seat and there was a look on his face Blake had never seen on his brother before. Concern.
He cares about Stevie. Is that possible? Kyle only cared about himself. What he could gain regardless of the price of others. Blake smiled. He had wanted his brother to change for eons. Had a mortal girl sent a touch of light into Kyle’s black hole of a heart?
Stevie rested her hand on Blake’s chest. Her body rose and fell with her breaths. Her breathing seemed less labored.
“Blake, please, never leave me,” she said so softly it played on his emotions and his eyes burned.
“Never.” He kissed the top of her head. But it was a lie. One day he would have to return to Asgard. If he didn’t die that night.
Kyle’s and Blake’s eyes met briefly before Kyle turned around to face the windshield. There was an understanding between them. It didn’t matter that they had an oath. If it hadn’t existed, the brothers would still fight to the death for each other. And they both would do whatever it took to keep Stevie safe.
Saga nudged her nose against Blake’s neck. Their connection was more than an owner to a pet. They were tethered together by his blood. Blake knew every thought Saga had. “It’s okay, girl.” She rested her chin on his shoulder.
With Stevie in his arms and Saga nestled against him, Blake had never felt so much love before. Not even when he was with Maggie. And this time, he had a lot more to lose.
Kyle and his mother’s home was secluded and nearby the Golden Gardens Park. A perfect location to hide until the moon was out, Blake hoped. Járnsaxa hurried around offering drinks and food. May and Saga had just returned from the Moons’ house with Stevie’s prescription. Her pillbox was left behind in her bag during the attack in the pool room.
Blake sat in a high back chair in the corner of the guest room beside the window, listening to the rhythm of Stevie’s breathing. With the bedroom door open, he had a view of the front door.
Stevie flinched and mumbled something Blake couldn’t decipher. He worried she was having nightmares of the creatures she’d seen. He wished she had never learned of their existence.
His thoughts went to Maggie. She had nearly gone insane when she first arrived in Asgard. It was decades ago in mortal time, but it seemed only a few years to him. If it weren’t for his mother and an elixir she gave Maggie to drink, he would have lost her early on.
The elixir.
He leaned forward and peered through the open door at Járnsaxa. Would she know what Sif had used? He sprung up from the chair and walked over to her.
“Can I have a word?” he asked.
Járnsaxa seemed nervous, glancing out the window every few seconds. “What is it, Einar? I have to attend to the unwanted guests my son brought home.”
“There was an elixir Sif prepared for a mortal once,” he said, following her gaze to the window again. “It cured nightmares of our world. Made the partaker accept what their mind could not.”
She gave him a curious look. “I know of it. You want to give it to the girl?”
“Yes, I do,” he said.
“I’m not sure if I have it here,” she said, opening a door off the kitchen. She flicked on a light and clomped down the stairs.
Blake followed her to the basement. Crystal bottles crowded the shelves that lined one of the concrete walls. Járnsaxa searched the bottles.
“How did you get all these to Midgard without breaking any?”
Járnsaxa pursed her lips as she inspected them. “Carefully.”
He picked one up. Guppies, the size of his pinky nail, floated in a glowing blue liquid within the jar. “What does this do?”
She ran her finger across the labels as she went through the bottles. “It’s a hair wash. Slimy but creates soft, supple tresses.”
Blake put it back on the shelf.
“Ah, I do have it.” She held up a jar with a black tar-like substance in it. “Just a spoonful of this with a little soda water should do the trick.”
She took the bottle up to the kitchen, mixed the concoction together in a crystal tumbler, and handed it to him.
“You have an affinity for this material,” Blake said, examining the glass.
“It’s beautiful and fragile. Just like many mortals I know.” She looked over his shoulder at the window.
He turned. “Are you waiting for someone?”
“Oh no,” she said quickly. “I’m just nervous we’ll be found.”
“Not to worry. I believe we lost them.” Blake headed for the guest room. He sat on the bed beside Stevie and laid his palm on her cheek.
Her eyes opened at his touch. “Hey,” she said.
“You must drink this.” He shook the glass a little.
She shook her head. “Uh-uh. That looks like crap.”
“I’ve heard it tastes like licorice.”
She sighed. “Okay, but what’s it for?”
“You will no longer have nightmares,” he said. “The things you’ve learned about my world and the creatures of Yggdrasil will seem as normal as cats and dogs to you.”
“It removes fear?” she asked.
He studied the glass in his hand. The black liquid bubbled, leaving craters in the tar substance. “Yes. There will be no more fear.”
She pushed herself up against the pillows and took the glass. “This stinks.”
Blake chuckled. It was adorable the way her nose wrinkled at the smell. He could watch the expressions on her face fo
r hours. The one she wore right before they kissed was his favorite—her lips pressed together and her eyes full of warmth.
“I assure you it doesn’t taste bad,” Blake finally answered her. “How do you feel? You look better.”
“I’m much better.”
He combed his fingers through his hair. “I was so worried. Because of me, you were in danger.”
She placed her hand on his. “It’s not because of you. My aunt did this. I know she didn’t mean to die, but because she did, here I am. But you came to save me.” The horn charm around her neck reminded him of her aunt’s grave mistake.
“I think it is you who saved me.” He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed it. “I was afraid I’d lose you.”
“We never know how much time we have. So we have to live for today.” She leaned forward, closing her eyes.
He met her halfway, his lips pressing against hers sent the energy of a galaxy across his body. He slipped his hand to the back of her neck, burying his fingers into her soft hair and bringing her head closer. Her mouth parted against his slightly and her hand rested on his cheek.
“We’ll save each other,” she said against his mouth.
“I take it the patient is doing better.” Kyle startled them, then walked into the room. A curious expression crossed his face. “Where’s that smell coming from?”
“Isn’t it horrible?” Stevie held up the glass. “It’s an elixir your mother fixed for me. It’s supposed to take away my fear.”
“Don’t drink that.” He charged across the room and snatched the glass out of Stevie’s hand. “It’s Broadroot. Poison.”
“She must’ve mixed up the bottles,” Blake said, but his stomach sank. He knew that wasn’t the case. He had almost let Stevie die, again.
Kyle slammed the glass against the wall. The black gunk splattered the wall. “Mother never makes a mistake when it comes to potions and herbs.”
Blake stood. “Then she tried to kill—” A crash sounded somewhere in the house, cutting off his words.
Stevie’s eyes went wide. “What was that?”
Kyle darted out of the room.
He stood. “Stay here. I’ll check it out.”
“Like hell I’m staying here.” Stevie swung her legs over the bed and followed him to the door.