A Twist of Wyrd

by PJ Friel

  “Frank…” Eugenia’s eyes shimmered with tears and that’s when I felt real fear.

  Eugenia Ullman did not cry.

  Ever.

  “You know they’ll have all the exits covered, love,” Dad said. “We’d never make it if we tried to run.”

  “You’re not making sense. Four have a better chance than two.” I argued, becoming even more frustrated when my father didn’t even acknowledge my argument.

  “You take her, Frank. She needs you,” Eugenia said.

  He pulled her into his arms and shook his head. “You’re the better jumper. We always knew it could come to this.”

  My dad’s lips crashed down on hers in a single hard kiss, then he pulled back. “You are my light.”

  “You are the air I breathe,” she whispered back then turned away from him and grabbed my arm.

  “No! Eugenia, no! I’m not going!” I fought against her hold.

  “Brynja! Do not make this any harder for me,” Eugenia said, her voice cracking. “I won’t lose you both.”

  Lose us both? What was she talking about? She’d lost me long ago and hadn’t cared in the least.

  She threw a pleading look behind me and the next thing I knew, I was thrown over a shoulder.

  “Put me down, goddamn you! I’m not leaving!” I pounded on Trygg’s back.

  My mom raced across the hall and up the stairs to the second floor, Trygg following behind her at a jog that bounced the breath out of my lungs. How were we going to escape by going upstairs?

  When we reached the second floor, Mom ran into the master bedroom, out onto the balcony. Trygg followed and I watched from my perch on his shoulder as she opened a four-foot section of the siding, revealing a giant floodlight.

  Mom flipped several switches. Instantly, all the lights in the back yard died and a blazing beam shot out of the balcony light and across the trees, going on for what looked like miles. Trygg dropped me to my feet.

  “What is this?” I asked, my brain catching up with everything that had been said. “Are we going to jump off of the balcony?”

  “No.” Mom shot Trygg a sad look. “I’ll give you a moment. Say goodbye and...whatever you need to tell her.” She walked back into the hallway.

  Goodbye? I was reeling and I reached out for the person who always made me feel safe. He grabbed my hands, but didn’t pull me into his arms like he normally would. Instead, he stared into my eyes and it hit me.

  I was never going to see him again.

  I couldn’t catch my breath. The anger and betrayal I’d felt all night died instantly, replaced with pure panic. Maybe Trygg had started out pretending, but there had been moments between us, real moments where I knew he cared about me. We could come back from this, if we had the chance. I wanted that chance. Pulling my hands from his, I grabbed his shirt, clenching my fists as tightly as I could.

  “I’m not leaving you. Do you understand me? Nothing can make me leave you.”

  His face wavered in front of me and I blinked rapidly, desperate to see him. I needed to see his face when I told him what I’d been too afraid to say before.

  “You have to go. Stop fighting this.” He pried my fingers off his shirt.

  “No!” I shook my head. “I will never stop fighting for this.” I grabbed his face and made him look at me. “Listen to me!”

  “There’s no time. You have to—”

  “Goddamnit! Shut up!”

  He gasped and looked into my eyes.

  “I love you, Trygg. I’m in love with you and I know you feel it, too. I would rather die than leave you. Do you understand? I would rather die.”

  I slammed my mouth against his, kissing him with all the love I felt. He resisted for the count of five seconds, then groaned and returned my kiss. My heart soared. I finally felt completely whole for the first time in my life. If we died in the next twenty minutes, so be it. It was worth it to finally feel love and have it returned.

  But then suddenly, he yanked my hands from his face and turned his head.

  “Let’s go back downstairs,” I said. “They’ll be coming soon, but we can beat them. Together, we can beat anything.”

  His whole body stiffened and his grip on my hands tightened. “Eugenia, we’re ready.”

  I frowned. The harsh growl sounded nothing like him. “What?”

  Eugenia walked back onto the balcony and held out her hand to me. “Take my hand.”

  “No,” I said, ignoring her and staring into Trygg’s eyes. “You promised you wouldn’t leave me. You promised.”

  “You don’t understand, baby. It has to be like this. You have to live. I swear I’ll find you again. I will always find you.” He shoved me into Eugenia’s iron grip. “Get her out of here.”

  Trygg turned his back on me and charged out of the room.

  “Trygg, no!” I tore into Eugenia then, clawing at her grip on my wrist and kicking at her legs. “I need to be with him. Get your hand off me, goddamn you!”

  She countered my every move, one-handed, never releasing her grip. The entire time, she inched us backwards towards the beam of light.

  I backhanded Eugenia across the face and she staggered against the railing. Pressing my advantage, I gripped her thigh, prepared to toss her off the balcony if I had to.

  Instead of grabbing onto me, Eugenia traced some pattern on my forehead. Instantly, the fight drained out of me and I released her.

  “What did you do to me?”

  She stroked my cheek. “It’ll all be over soon.”

  Any hope that Eugenia would ever understand how I felt disappeared. Like always, my battle against her was vicious, yet completely futile.

  “They’re going to die because of you.”

  Eugenia jerked me against her and pushed my head against her shoulder. “I know.”

  My heart seized, cracked open inside my chest. The pieces lodged in my throat and slowly choked the life from my body.

  “One day I hope you understand, sweetheart,” Eugenia said, then she plunged us into the beam of light.

  The world dropped out from under us and we hurtled through space. Blinding light and shimmering particles of god-knew-what streamed past us. My body—if I even still had one—was completely numb. Did I even exist anymore? I prayed I was still tethered to Eugenia somehow or I’d never find my way out of this blinding nothingness.

  With a pop, I staggered into a rush of sensations. Eugenia’s breath panted in my ear and her warm body pressed against mine. The night sky stretched out in all directions from the top of the wooden tower we stood upon. Trees surrounded us on all sides, but none of them reached the platform. Where the hell were we?

  “Are you okay?” Eugenia whispered.

  I stared at her mutely. I would never be okay again.

  “Hold on to me.”

  Eugenia hit another switch and I saw another beam of light streak across the night sky. I held my breath as we shot across the darkness once more, landing on another tower. Again and again we jumped until I lost count, and nearly lost myself in the blinding light. It wasn’t until Eugenia pulled away from me that I discovered we were at our destination—the hayloft of a barn.

  “Where are we?” I croaked and dropped to my knees. My stomach churned and waves of nausea washed over me. From the jumping or because I had a hole in my chest where my heart used to be? Probably both.

  “Someplace safe, about fifteen miles away from our house. Just breathe for a minute. You’ll be fine.” Eugenia pushed back my sweaty hair and rubbed my back.

  I jerked away from her touch. “What was that...what we just did?”

  “We call it riding the light. Svartalf walk in the shadows and Ljósalf ride the light. We’re two sides of a coin.”

  “I can shadow walk.”

  “We wondered if that ability would manifest. You have to be careful. You could die in the shadows.”

  “Almost did.” I released a harsh laugh. “Wish I had.”

  “Don’t say that.”


  I scoffed and pretended to examine my surroundings. In truth, all I could see was the look on Trygg’s face before he’d walked away. “Are there other things that I don’t know about myself? Abilities that haven’t manifested yet?”

  “I can’t answer that.”

  “Can’t or won’t?”

  “Can’t because I don’t know, Bryn. You are Aesir and Svartalf Royalty. That’s never happened in the history of the Nine Worlds. No one knows what you might be capable of. That’s why your birth father wants you.”

  I shuddered at the thought. “What now?”

  She stood and walked to the edge of the loft. Pointing down at the lower level, she said, “Below, there is a car with a GPS. On the front seat, there’s a box that will open only for you. The keys to the car, instructions telling you where to go, and other things you’ll need are inside it. You’ll find clothes and weapons in the trunk as well.”

  “Okay.” I shrugged.

  “You need to leave now and keep driving for as long as you can, put as much distance between you and here as possible. Trust no one until you reach your destination.”

  “Aren’t you coming with me?”

  Eugenia shook her head, a sad smile on her face.

  “You’re going back?” Hope and the will to fight sparked inside me again.

  She cupped my face and ran her thumb across my cheek. It was still wet with tears. “I have to go back for your father.”

  “Take me with you,” I pleaded. My heart raced. I could go back for Trygg.

  “You don’t understand.” She pressed her forehead against mine. Her tears dropped on my cheeks, joining mine.

  “No, I don’t.” I tried to pull away from her.

  She gripped me harder. “Ask me what you really want to know.”

  “What?”

  “Ask me what you asked the night of your graduation as you left us.”

  I swallowed hard and shook my head.

  “Ask me!”

  I jumped, shocked by the desperation I read in her face and heard in her voice. Grabbing both her wrists, I whispered, “Why couldn’t you just love me?” I released a trickle of power and Eugenia sighed.

  “I promise you, Prue, I will protect her with my life,” Eugenia said to a tall blonde woman.

  “No, you will promise me more than that. You will teach my daughter to protect herself. No mercy, Eugenia, because they will show her none. No softness because her life will be anything but if they find her. Swear to me.”

  “No. She won’t have to worry about that. We’ll keep her safe. I will tell her about you and love her as if she was my—”

  “You will tell her nothing about me. You will wipe her memory and you will mold her into what she needs to be. You are my best friend, but if you don’t swear to do as I ask, I’ll find someone else who will. She doesn’t need a mother. She needs a guardian.”

  Tears fell down Eugenia’s cheeks, but she nodded. “I swear.”

  “Oh, god,” I choked, tears blurring my vision. “All this time, I blamed you and it was her.”

  “No, it was both of us. She was wrong, but so was I. She just wanted you to be strong, to fight—but not today. And I can’t be what she wanted. Not now.”

  I clung to her. “Take me back with you. We can beat them if we stay together.”

  “No. You have to go. If we make it, we’ll find you.” She backed away towards the still shining light. “We’re so much alike, you and I. I hope someday you can forgive me for that. I love you, my daughter,” she said.

  Oh, god. I was about to lose my mother. Regret washed over me, sucked me down into a bottomless ocean of pain. She blurred before my eyes, not gone yet but going.

  “Mom, I wish...” She stepped into the light and disappeared. My chest caved in from the void she left. “...we had more time.”

  I stared at the spot and willed her to reappear, but a moment later the light went out and I was utterly alone.

  Trust no one until you reach your destination.

  She’d said that like I’d ever done any differently. This was where that had led me—no family, no friends, no Trygg. Maybe if I’d been different, we wouldn’t be in this situation now.

  I swallowed down the guilt and grief that threatened to choke me and stood. My parents and the man I loved were giving their lives so I could escape. I would not squander that. Making my way out of the loft, I listened intently for any sign that I wasn’t alone. Nothing stirred.

  A white Charger sat waiting, nose pointed towards the barn doors, ready to take me to a new life. I slid into the driver’s seat. Sitting on the passenger’s was a box the size of a small chest. It was made of a blond wood and covered in runes. It was also completely seamless with no locks or hardware of any kind, but in the very center of the top, was a hand-shaped indentation.

  Couldn’t be more obvious than that.

  I pressed my palm onto it. The runes lit up and my hand warmed, then the top slid sideways and revealed the contents: keys, a map, a letter with my name on it, several stacks of money, a driver’s license with my most recent photo, but a different name, a cell phone and car charger, and a photo.

  My high school graduation day. Dezi and I had our arms wrapped around each other, while our parents stood behind us. Mom looked proud and Dad was laughing. Dezi’s parents smiled indulgently, never knowing that they’d find me on their doorstep a couple of hours later, parentless by choice.

  Looking at the Simmons’ faces, there was no way I could believe that they’d been putting on an act. They loved me and if they did, so did their daughter. Paranoid idiot that I was, I’d taken that love and tossed it aside like garbage at the first sign of trouble. And now I was just supposed to drive away from everyone I loved and…go where? Do what?

  I pocketed the cell phone and turned on the GPS. Fifteen miles from home. I could make that in about seven minutes if I really tried. They could hold out for seven minutes. I started the car and floored it.

  CHAPTER 45

  TRYGG

  Carnage. Blood and bodies everywhere. None of it compared to the wasteland inside my heart. I could still see the look on Bryn’s face when I’d forced her to leave. Even if I survived this night—unlikely—would she ever forgive me?

  Given a choice, I’d do it all again. I loved her that much.

  My knees trembled, but I was still standing, as were Bryn’s parents. We’d paid for that privilege in blood. When Frank had estimated that the next wave of attackers would be tripled, he hadn’t been wrong, but while the first group had been reconnaissance, the second group had been a distraction, not an execution force.

  No, those men had died so the runemaster, lurking in the corner, dressed in a black bodysuit and mask, could run her own blitz. It had come hard and fast. Within five minutes, the fight was all over. Neither my skills with weapons, nor Frank’s, did us a bit of good against a target we couldn’t reach. Eugenia had some magical abilities, but by the time she returned, the opportunity to use them was long past.

  Now, the runemaster’s magic pinned all three of us against the living room wall and there was nothing we could do about it. The physical battle was over. The mental one was just beginning. I clung to the comforting thought that Bryn had escaped capture. I’d kept my promise to her with the help of her mother and father.

  “Where is the girl?” the Svartalf in charge asked Frank.

  The man was slender in form and lightly muscled. He occupied the white-walled room like a black hole in space—black clothes, black hair, eyes so dark they might as well have been black. Even the light seemed to bend around him, but that had to be an illusion or maybe I had gotten one too many knocks in the head tonight.

  “What girl?” Frank affected boredom.

  The Svartalf smiled and before I could yell a warning, he unsheathed a dagger and drove it into Frank’s gut. It pulsed with a green light and the stench of foul magic filled the room. Frank screamed in agony and Eugenia snapped her jaws closed. Her face went blank and
I knew she was trying to hide her weakness—how much Frank meant to her. It wouldn’t matter.

  The simple fact that the three of us fought together spoke for itself. The enemy knew we could be used against each other and the man hurting Frank right now would do his best to get as much information out of us as possible. We still had blood and agony left to surrender. The only hope we had was Grimm, Harry, and Jace showing up, which should be any minute now. We just had to hang on.

  “I’ll ask you again. Where is the girl?”

  “What do you want with her?” I fought for time.

  A patronizing smile curled the man’s lips. “I merely want to reunite the Princess with her people.”

  “Sure you do, but newsflash...these are her people.”

  “Shut up, Trygg,” Eugenia said.

  The man motioned and the runemaster stepped up to Eugenia.

  Eugenia’s eyes went wide. The runemaster traced a rune on her face. Eugenia’s mouth moved, but no sounds came out. Well, shit. That was a real asshole move.

  “Who are you?” the Svartalf’s eyes bored into me.

  “The man who’s going to end you.”

  I glanced over at the runemaster to see if she was going to give me the same treatment. Something about her was familiar. I drew in a deep breath and a familiar scent washed over me.

  “Naoko?”

  The runemaster gasped.

  The Svartalf chuckled. “It would appear you’ve been found out, Ljósalf.”

  “Why?” Frank asked, his voice barely a whisper.

  “The great Frank and Eugenia, Guardians of the Light.” Naoko rolled her eyes.

  Frank’s cheeks flushed and his lip curled in disgust. “You collude… with the Darkness.”

  “You two know each other?” the Svartalf asked.

  Naoko scoffed. “Long ago we were friends.”

  “Traitor.” Frank’s breathing was labored, but he found the air to spit out that one word.

  I just wanted to know one thing. “Why? Why would a Ljósalf work with a Svartalf? You’ve been enemies for thousands of years.”