I nodded, licking my lips as I tried to consider any factor I might have overlooked. None came to mind.
“Would you do it if you were in my shoes?”
I’d been expecting the question. Still, hearing it sent butterflies through my stomach. I took a deep breath and nodded. “Yes. I would.”
Gunnar nodded thoughtfully. “Barring Ashley’s outright refusal, I will agree if you promise to meet with Agent Murphy and Agent Glass tomorrow night.”
Othello coughed suddenly, making me smile. She would somehow be conspicuously busy.
Gunnar shot her a warning glare before turning back to me. “The longer you delay, the worse it looks. They just want to talk. I’ve already gotten them to largely back down and they believe that you’re not a criminal. Meeting with you in person would seal the deal. Or this dark cloud is going to loom over your head—and ours—for a long time. The government will send everything they can at you, even if it’s only to smother you in legal cases. You have enough enemies to deal with already.” He glanced at the picture of green flames. “Obviously.”
I sighed, grumbling unhappily as I realized that he was right. “Fine. Where?”
“Here. Chateau Falco.”
“Okay, but that means I really need to get out of here and go deal with my other problem. Now.”
“I’ll talk to Ashley about your proposal, but I’m sure she will agree with your verdict,” Gunnar said, and I could tell he was actively preventing himself from grinning excitedly.
Othello chimed in. “It’s so weird how your flight from Stockholm lands tomorrow morning. Almost like I knew you were going to agree.”
I narrowed my eyes. “It’s a conspiracy, I tell you.”
She waved a hand. “The benefits of you owning a company jet.”
I frowned at a new thought. “How are the ravens doing?” I asked, knowing that it probably wasn’t wise to talk to them, but still wanting to make sure they were okay.
“Ravens?” he asked, blinking rapidly.
I arched an eyebrow, suddenly curious. “Yeah. The big scary ones. Not all those other ravens we have around here,” I said sarcastically.
“Oh, yes,” he said, looking embarrassed. “They’re still sleeping, actually, but Ruin said they are fine. No injuries. I was just going to go check on them.”
“Good.” I wasn’t sure why he was acting weird about it, but I wasn’t going to fault him for keeping secrets. “Once all this crap is resolved, we need to talk about Ratatoskr.”
He nodded. “They began training this morning, apparently.”
I nodded, seriously hating that fact. Grimm would have been a big help for my upcoming plans. “Well, keep me posted if you hear from our ponies. Death can be a real hardass.”
Othello growled protectively, but I ignored her as I turned to leave.
“Ruin wanted to talk to you about the tree,” Gunnar said as I was turning away. “It’s stopped bleeding, apparently, but he found what looks like tiny bone fragments in the latest batch of blood.”
I nodded. “I know. Tell him to stay vigilant, though. Just in case.”
“What do you mean, you know?” Gunnar sputtered, sounding angry. “You—”
I Shadow Walked to the warehouse before he could finish his sentence.
Because I’m petty.
And because I didn’t want Carl and Alucard to come looking for me because I was late.
Chapter 32
The moment I entered the warehouse, I discreetly checked the bond between me and the other Horsemen, making sure that they had their Masks and weren’t actually Loki in disguise. They had dragged some wooden crates together to form a circle, and were all sitting down, looking bored.
Thankfully, their Masks checked out.
Carl turned his head to catch me in his peripheral vision, and I saw his nostrils flare as he scented me. But he still didn’t make eye contact. With War and Alucard verified—and Alucard somehow brain-bonded with the Elder—Carl earned default verification status.
War glanced over at me and smiled, nodding his head to let me know he’d checked my Mask as well. He’d chosen to sit on the crate closest to a taller stack of crates so that he had a backrest. Pro-tip—when lounging around an abandoned warehouse, grab the best seat. “I already showed Alucard how to do it.”
Alucard looked up with a grin. “Checked you the moment you appeared,” he said smugly. “I even had a nasty surprise waiting, just in case.”
“Good. Is everything ready?”
They nodded. Well, Carl just watched us in silence, turning his head back and forth like he was watching tennis.
I walked up to them and sat on an empty crate, wondering how much I needed to tell War and Carl. They hadn’t asked a single question so far, which I found rather strange. “How much do you two know about all this?” I asked.
Alucard grunted. “Carl says he just needs to know when and who to kill. Probably ought to add who not to kill.”
Well, that made things easier.
War shrugged. “I’ve got theories, but all I really know is that we’re meeting Loki. Like Carl, it’s better if you don’t give me too many details. If I have too much information, I’ll start making decisions out of habit. It’s kind of nice to sit back and let the dice roll. To be a soldier again. I like surprises, and I’m watching how you handle things. That’s good enough for me. Just consider me the muscle of the team. You’re the brains.”
“That sounds like a very poor training system.”
War chuckled. “The analysis will come after. You handle some things very differently than I would, so it’s fun to watch. I may have even learned a few things from you. But a team needs a single leader. Anything else results in division. I’ll back your plays, and follow your lead—like a good soldier. I don’t need any special treatment. I want to watch how you think, to see firsthand why everyone is so afraid of you. Maybe I can learn some of that,” he chuckled, winking at me.
Alucard grunted. “I guess I’m the flashlight guy, but I can be a minion if necessary. I know it’s probably safest that way, since we’re dealing with Loki. Compartmentalize the information.”
I nodded. “What’s Carl?” I asked, amused by his flashlight comment.
“He’s the mysterious psycho with a shadowy past. And he doesn’t speak,” Alucard said in a dramatic tone.
Carl nodded agreeably, still refusing to meet my eyes
“Alright. He should be here just after sunset, so make yourselves comfortable until then.” I turned to Carl, trying not to take it personally when he suddenly dropped his gaze to the ground. “I’d like to save your presence as a surprise in case Loki starts being difficult. But we cannot kill him. We need him. Okay?”
Carl nodded.
“For what it’s worth,” Alucard said, “Carl offered to scrape Loki’s mind and get whatever answers we need.”
War’s eyebrows practically jumped off of his forehead.
I shook my head firmly. “No. We need him alive. My whole plan rests on him being alive. Otherwise we have failed. Okay? I really need everyone to understand that.”
They all nodded.
War took my advice to get comfortable, leaning back against the wall of crates and crossing his ankles.
We sat in silence, thinking private thoughts, waiting for the sun to set. Carl began sharpening one of his swords, and it wasn’t long until Alucard gagged noisily. “That’s disgusting, Carl. Do you really just casually think about things like that?” Carl looked up to stare at him, and the ridge of his mouth formed as much of a smile as the silver wire would allow.
And Carl never stopped sharpening his sword as he did it.
“It’s…just not right,” Alucard muttered, looking away. He didn’t even try to tell us whatever Carl had thought about either.
War lit up a cigar and began to hum an old, haunting campfire song that sounded hundreds of years old—all between puffs of his cigar that filled our circle with the strong scent of sweet and spicy tob
acco, reminding me of my father’s beloved Gurkha Black Dragons.
I realized that I was staring at him, transfixed by his tune, and that the hair on the back of my arms was sticking straight up. Without words, it sang of loss and pain and sorrow, of a people banding together against all odds, knowing they stood no chance.
I’d never felt emotional from a mere tune before. Not anything as dark and foreboding as this, anyway.
I had to force myself to walk away, unable to think clearly with it distracting me.
I exited the building and stared up at the darkening sky, thinking of what I had told Othello and Gunnar about Callie—how I’d caused irreparable harm by lying to her. The words had been off the top of my head, but they had sounded worse when said out loud.
More…final.
Was I being overly dramatic? I still knew that I had been right in my decision, but likely wrong in my delivery.
I wasn’t sure if I would have changed anything if given a second chance. Was that because I was thinking like a leader rather than a lovestruck fool? Freya had warned against the perils of working with someone you loved—especially if one had authority over the other.
And I definitely had authority. Like War said, when more than one leader tried to emerge—even accidentally—division ensued. I sighed, straightening my satchel—the one Callie had gotten for me from Darling and Dear. It was time to get my head in the game. Callie would have to wait until later, when we had the chance to talk in person. In private.
Judging by the creeping darkness, it wouldn’t be very long until Loki arrived, and I’d finally know what our next step was.
Regardless of the outcome, I knew I needed to meet up with Kára, first. For multiple reasons, but primarily because of codename applesauce. On a whim, I tried calling Niko, but it went straight to voicemail again. Maybe she’d ditched her phone after her fellow assassins turned on her.
I couldn’t do anything until I got an update from Loki. I wasn’t about to let him slip through my fingers on a technicality.
I walked back into the building, ready to remind Carl to hide—
He was already gone.
Alucard noticed the look on my face and nodded. “We’re good,” he said, seeming to emphasize the word we to indicate Carl.
We waited the next ten minutes in silence, and I was about ready to prepare my ritual circle from last night and drag his sorry ass here against his will—
Boom. Boom. Boom. A fist banged on the door.
War exhaled a thick ring of smoke. “Showtime.”
We turned as the door slowly opened with a chilling squeal.
Chapter 33
Rain poured in through the open door, instantly puddling on the concrete floor. Wind screamed and whistled, fighting to follow a large cloaked man as he walked into the building.
The wind made his cloak whip and snap, and he wore a folded, pointed hat on his head to balance the long, pointed beard down his chest. Lightning cracked from the sky, limning him in the doorway as a dark nightmare made flesh.
The Wanderer.
Odin.
“Shit,” Alucard muttered.
I stared back defiantly, holding my ground.
“Where. Is. Gungnir?” Odin growled, his lone eye seeming to crackle with its own inner lightning.
I waited five seconds.
And then I burst out laughing—the most condescending laugh I could manage on demand.
“Overkill, Loki,” I finally wheezed. “The lightning was way too much.”
The figure stared at us in silence. Then he threw his hat on the ground and stomped on it for good measure. A second later, an entirely different man stood before us—the Loki I had met here last night. The puddles and rain were simply gone, and there was no lightning outside.
“Really? I thought I nailed it,” he grumbled unhappily. “I had him fooled,” he said, pointing at Alucard.
“Oh, it was good,” I reassured him. “I just expected it. And I was outside a few minutes ago. Clear sky. The real Odin would have let the storm start before he even knocked. It’s all about the foreplay.”
He sighed. “Everyone’s a critic,” he muttered, walking towards us. “Let’s just get this over with.”
I held out an arm invitingly. “Pick a seat, as long as it’s that one,” I said, pointing at the shortest crate. The rest of us sat down, giving him no other option.
He grunted, shaking his head. “It’s better than the Bioloki. Even the worst of days up here can’t compare to the best of days in that cursed book,” he said, sitting down with a contented groan.
I nodded. “I bet.”
Loki studied War openly. “Hello, stranger. You smell like horse.”
War blew an impenetrable cloud of smoke in his face without cracking a smile.
Loki smirked, waving it away. “I like him. But I was really hoping for the wolf with the hammer.”
I leaned forward, placing my elbows on my knees. “If I was the kind of guy who cared what you hoped for, that would be worth discussing. But I’m not. Now, with every second you waste, your son’s chances grow slimmer. Tell me what you’ve learned, Loki.”
He nodded. “If you can’t say something nice, say something clever but devastating. Don’t half-ass two things, whole-ass one thing. And never camp out in an unlucky warehouse by the riverfront.”
I had been about to cut him off for his flippant answers, but he had stopped after the last sentence, grinning mischievously. I frowned.
“I knew that one would tickle your fancy,” he said. “When I felt that wave of unluckiness last night, I simply had to take a look for myself.”
I grimaced, hoping my friends didn’t start asking questions about it, because I didn’t want to tell them about Hermes. Also, he’d just confirmed my assumption that it had been Hermes.
“You were there?” I asked, frowning.
He nodded. “Why do you think that idiot kept hurling fire against the wall? I was throwing things at it.”
Alucard muttered darkly under his breath, obviously feeling guilty because he had been the first one inside the building.
“I watched as chance was distorted, turning your little brawl into a bloodbath. It truly was a thing of beauty. Was that your doing?” I just stared at him, keeping my face blank. He pursed his lips thoughtfully, reading entirely too much into my non-answer. “I used an illusion to make you think the wizard on the trash pile had died,” he explained, pointing an accusatory finger at Alucard. “He was banged up but alive. I think he caught the only luck in the building, other than you two, of course. He heard your whole conversation, though, so I just had to have him.”
I stared at him, not entirely sure where to start or where he was going with this. Since it was his son’s life on the line, I decided that he had to have a good reason for bringing it up. “Why?”
“A.B.L.”
I frowned. “What?”
“Always. Be. Leveraging.”
I frowned. “How would taking that worthless wizard help you? Or Fenrir, for that matter?”
Loki shrugged. “Ah. Well, you said you wanted to question one of them. He was the only one of them still breathing, so I took him.” He leaned towards Alucard as if to tell him a secret. “That’s what leverage means, by the way,” he said in a loud whisper.
Alucard looked like he was reconsidering my command to let Loki live. I didn’t blame him, but I held a palm out to tell him to calm down. He gave me a faint nod.
“You wasted your time. He didn’t know anything about me,” I told Loki. “Just that I needed to die.”
Loki nodded in understanding. “I needed to know more about you. Why these assassins wanted to kill you, and why they had…such an unlucky time trying,” he said, winking. “Found that answer outside your precious mausoleum, even if I couldn’t figure out how to get inside the cursed place.”
War and Alucard both glanced at me, but I pretended not to notice.
“Awkward…” Loki said, grinning. “Anyway
…I promised to let the lucky wizard go if he told me the full spiel. Turns out, he was hired by the Academy. Total assholes, right?” Loki asked, holding a palm out to Alucard. He ignored it entirely, watching me instead.
So that was how Niko had been targeted so quickly. Loki’s survivor from the warehouse had snitched on the snitch.
Then my brain registered what he’d said about the assassination contract on me, and I was seeing red in a matter of seconds.
The Academy.
Those sleazy, pathetic, good-for-nothing hypocrites had a very bad day coming their way, and I very seriously considered making it a priority over Loki’s son if he kept this up much longer. But I kept my face composed, showing nothing—pretending like this wasn’t anything newsworthy.
Because that was exactly what Loki wanted. I didn’t know why trying to get under my skin was a bigger priority than saving his own son, but he had to have a reason. Maybe it was nothing more than petty pride—knowing that I had him by the short hairs, and deciding to do everything in his power to make me pay for each second I held him hostage.
“You almost got a friend killed,” I said in a warning tone, thinking of Niko.
“Almost makes the heart beat longer,” he said brightly. Seeing none of us sharing his enthusiasm, he sighed. “I kept his electronic raven and let him go,” he said, pulling out a phone and tossing it to me.
I caught the phone—or electronic raven, as he’d called it—and pulled up the contacts. Sure enough, Niko was listed, and the number matched the one I had for her. It even showed that the phone’s last call was to Niko. I frowned, glancing up at Loki in confusion.
He nodded proudly. “I knew he would instantly hunt down this Niko person for betraying him and his pals. So I used his electronic raven to summon her and tell her I was coming for her in Colorado. Then I hung up!” he said, chuckling. “Since you said I almost got a friend killed, I’m assuming she took my advice to heart.”
I cringed at his twisted sense of delight. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
Ascension: Nate Temple Series Book 13 Page 20