The Web of Loki

by Carla Reighard

  “We don’t shake hands. Where did you come from that makes you so formal?” Hilde laughed.

  Stein hurriedly pulled his hand down and stammered, “I-I didn’t know how people greeted each other. Sorry.”

  “No worries – Hilde can be a little too blunt for her own good. We really aren’t judgy-type people.” His awkwardness made it easier for Ingrid to speak. As she said the words, she felt herself smile, but the action pulled on her scar.

  “That’s good to know.” To Ingrid’s surprise, Stein smiled back.

  Something warmed inside Ingrid at his pleasant response. Their eyes locked briefly and she noticed the unusual icy blue color that reminded her of the stray dog who roamed the village. She thought that was why they seemed so piercing from across the lake. His eyes couldn’t help but stick out like bright lights in the darkness. Ingrid’s fear of Stein’s rejection disappeared quickly as he learned to imitate the friendly teasing the others had with each other. Once he had stopped gazing at Ingrid, she no longer felt uncomfortable around the boy.

  There weren’t any other people on the lake, which made Ingrid’s heart leap for joy. She loved to flow across the ice with no inhibitions. This meant she didn’t have to worry about the placement of her hair over her cheek or fret that she would frighten some young child if she got too near them. Also, the exhilaration of the cold air was a balm for her scar, which always slightly stung.

  “Ingrid, watch this.” Hilde twirled around in place like a top, faster and faster. Her figure was a blur of color in the dim light until she eventually stopped.

  “Bravo!” Ingrid clapped.

  “Show off!” Bjørn yelled from the opposite side of the lake.

  “You’re just jealous you can’t do that.” Hilde teased.

  Bjørn skated quickly towards her and grabbed Hilde’s waist to spin her around with him in a similar spinning movement. It was magnificent to watch, even though Ingrid had seen them do it before. She was too timid to let Bjørn teach her the move, but watching them glide like dancers on the ice was enjoyable to see. They began to laugh, which caused them to fall and land on their backsides in a fit of hilarity.

  Stein and Ingrid watched with smiles on their faces. They weren’t as caught up in the humor of the situation as Bjørn and Hilde were, but their laughter was contagious.

  “Have you ever done that?” Stein’s question caught Ingrid off guard.

  “No, I’m a coward. I don’t like pain, and I would have to fall several times before I learned to do something that difficult. I’m just not very coordinated.”

  “I think you underestimate yourself. With practice, you could do that just as gracefully as Hilde.” Stein stared at her unflinchingly.

  “I don’t know, but- I- well I don’t think I want to try.” Ingrid cleared her throat nervously.

  “I could teach you, and I’d catch you so that you wouldn’t fall.” His face then flushed crimson, which Ingrid could barely see in the torchlight. He finally darted his gaze from Ingrid’s.

  She felt a warm blush cross her wind-chilled face, though she didn’t understand why. It could be because no one had ever offered to do anything for her besides Bjørn and Hilde. This stranger wanted to teach her something, and he didn’t even know Ingrid.

  “Why would you want to teach me?”

  “Why not?”

  She couldn’t think of a reply so she said nothing. Bjørn and Hilde had stopped joking around and, sensing their awkward silence, approached Ingrid and Stein. Ingrid was thankful for the interruption because Stein’s renewed gaze had made her feel uncomfortable again.

  The foursome spent another hour skating around the large lake and talking about miscellaneous things. Ingrid didn’t contribute much to the conversation because her mind couldn’t stop thinking about Stein. There was something she couldn’t put her finger on about him. He either disturbed or thrilled her, but she couldn’t decipher the precise emotion that he stirred up.

  “Freya’s gown! We need to get home or your parents will throw a fit that you’re out too late.” Hilde understood Ingrid’s home life well.

  “Yeah, we don’t want Mr. and Mrs. Hansen to go berserk with worry,” Ingrid said sarcastically.

  If she hadn’t been preoccupied with questions about Stein, she would have asked Hilde exactly what time it was. The drop in temperature indicated it was later, but only Hilde carried a watch – a rare item that belonged to her family – whenever they went out together.

  The group headed toward the log where they had left their shoes and changed out of their skates. The previous chit chat had stopped temporarily, and the silence seemed spooky. If Ingrid didn’t know any better, she would have thought she could hear the Web expand. She tried to ignore the barely audible noise that sounded like a creaking floorboard in the distance. She hoped no one noticed it. The Web couldn’t float in mid-air; if they weren’t near any buildings or trees that it could reach (which they weren’t), there wasn’t a danger of it nearing the group. Although it did seem to grow rapidly enough to connect between two structures that were somewhat far apart without reaching the ground. This fact always disturbed Ingrid; it made her wonder if staying away from trees or buildings was enough to keep her safe.

  Ingrid finished putting her shoes on first and stood up to free more space for the others; that way they didn’t have to knock elbows while they laced their boots. She avoided looking at any of them because she was afraid Stein would stare at her again. She nearly forgot her scarred cheek while skating, but whenever he looked at her, Ingrid became ultra-self-conscious of her deformity. Once everyone was finished changing their shoes, they all stood up, and Bjørn was the first to break the silence that had developed after skating.

  “I’ll see all of you at school on Monday. I’ll be stuck at home tomorrow because my dad wants me to help him muck the cow pens.” Bjørn explained.

  “None of us can go out on Sunday, so we wouldn’t be seeing each other anyway,” Hilde replied.

  “Yeah, but sometimes we sneak out when our parents think we’re doing chores.” Bjørn winked.

  Hilde’s comment was for Stein’s sake since she didn’t know if he was the type to tattle to the town elders about rule breakers. But Bjørn must have trusted him since he shared one of their secrets openly. Bjørn was mischievous and he instigated breaking the rules frequently. None of them followed the laws perfectly, but they had each other’s backs. Since the threesome had been friends forever, they liked to go as far as they could before getting caught.

  Sunday was the day when all families were supposed to stay home or go to church together. It was one of the laws that Tuntres’ elders had created to help the unconventional village stay united and peaceful. The peoples’ continued co-existence was because everyone followed certain codes; the last thing anyone needed was a family’s bickering to turn into some kind of civil war.

  The group began to separate as Hilde and Ingrid started to walk towards their homes, which were only a few streets apart.

  “It was nice to meet you both. I hope we can do more together in the future.” Stein caused the girls to turn around to acknowledge that he was speaking to them.

  “Yeah, I’m sure we will if you hang around Bjørn. Good night.” Hilde spoke for both of them as Ingrid remained silent.

  Nothing more was said as they put distance between them. Hilde looked back at the lake and Ingrid turned quickly to see how far the boys had gone. Bjørn had already put out the torches around the lake. Their own lamps didn’t illuminate too far ahead and the night sky was even darker than it was in the afternoon. Stars twinkled as the moon hung like a glowing ball in the sky, but these could only be seen in the empty, wide open spaces where the Web had nothing to connect to. Despite the beauty, the night was eerie.

  “I think we’re far enough from the boys so that they can’t hear,” Hilde whispered.

  “They should be going a different direction. Why does it matter?” Ingrid spoke louder.

  “I just
wanted to say how weird Stein is. Don’t get me wrong, he’s nice, but goodness, the way he stared at you was creepy.”

  “You noticed that? I thought that maybe I was being self-conscious.”

  “No, he was eyeing you. Even when we were too far to really see each other, his freaky blue eyes seemed like little torches in the low light. If I didn’t walk in front of you, he may have hypnotized you – or at that is what it seemed like he was trying to do.”

  “I felt uncomfortable, but I thought maybe it was only because normally people avoid looking at me. The longer he gazed at me, the more I wanted to stare back to see what his problem was. He offered to teach me to spin, like Bjørn did with you on the ice, and I didn’t know what to say. You both interrupted us, so thank goodness I didn’t have to give him an answer.”

  “I told you he acts like he knows something we don’t know. He looked at you as if he knew all your secrets, even the ones you don’t know you have.”

  “What does that even mean? My life is an open book. I have no hidden mysteries that Stein would be interested in or, for that matter, that anyone would care about. I think he was just trying to sum me up.”

  Other than Ingrid’s crush on Bjørn, she was a transparent person. Why Hilde thought that Stein knew something else about her didn’t make sense; Ingrid hadn’t gotten the same vibe from him.

  “Well, whatever he was doing, I’m not sure he can be trusted. Something about him makes me squeamish.” Hilde huffed.

  Hilde’s comment bothered Ingrid because nothing creeped her friend out. She didn’t even mind the hunt. Since she always volunteered to catch animals, that meant she was required to gut and skin them too. That’s why Ingrid had never learned to hunt; she felt queasy just thinking about taking the hair off of a rabbit. No one ever thought that it was strange that animals could easily enter Tuntre without being harmed by the Web; after all, they weren’t going to question a food source. Ingrid had always thought it didn’t make sense, but since space was limited for gardens, the wild animals were always welcomed by everyone else.

  “Freya’s gown, you’re acting strange today. I just asked you a question.” Hilde put her face in front of Ingrid.

  “I’m sorry, I was thinking about what you said about Stein. If you’re uncomfortable around him, then that means something. Nothing unnerves you.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure Bjørn will be able to figure it out before it’s too late. He will be spending more time with Stein than us. I trust Bjørn won’t let him hurt us. Anyway, I had already moved on to a new topic. I asked you if you want to meet here Monday morning. We can walk to school together.”

  “Isn’t that is what we normally do?”

  “I know, but I get the feeling your parents don’t like me hanging out with you too much.”

  “What? Are you becoming distrustful of everyone? First, you freak me out about Stein, and now my parents make you uneasy. They’ve let us be friends forever. Why would they suddenly not like you?”

  Hilde’s face transformed from her customary casual expression into a worried one. They stopped in front of the street where Hilde’s home was located since Ingrid’s house was further down the road. Hilde didn’t seem comfortable and hesitated before finally speaking.

  “When I came to get you for school the day you had gone without me, I knocked on the front door and your mom seemed mad.”

  “You mean last Wednesday? My mom told me she saw you already walk ahead to school without me that day.” Ingrid had thought how strange it was for Hilde to do that, and she wondered even more what was going on when Hilde showed up at school after her.

  “Yeah, and your mom said to me that she preferred I didn’t hang out with you all the time. She didn’t say why and I wasn’t about to ask her. I just left quickly.”

  “Ugh! I didn’t know she felt that way. I wonder why she cares about our friendship now? We’ve been friends forever.”

  “I don’t know, but I don’t want to get on your parents’ bad side. They kinda scare me.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense. My parents can be such joy killers.”

  Hilde was about to say more, but Ingrid’s mom screamed from the street, “Ingrid, is that you?” She held out a lantern but she was too far away to see the girls in detail.

  “Yes, Mom. I was just saying goodbye to Hilde.” She whispered, “She’s going to drive me permanently berserk some-day!”

  “You need to hurry, young lady. It’s getting too dark to see the Web grow.”

  Ingrid mumbled, “In the winter, it’s always too dark, Mom.” Then she said louder, “Bye, Hilde.” Before she left her friend, she quickly whispered, “We can discuss this more on Monday. Let’s meet farther past my home so they can’t see us together.”

  Hilde nodded in agreement.

  As Ingrid approached her house, the scowl on her mom’s face was worse than usual, but she didn’t say anything more to her daughter.

  Chapter 3

  Present - Sunday

  Ingrid’s family stayed home on Sundays. Her parents said they didn’t like church, but Ingrid thought that was because they didn’t like to mingle with other people. Her family wasn’t as bad as Stein’s parents who kept far away from the rest of the village, but they didn’t socialize with other people in any real capacity. Even when Tuntre held their annual World Tree festival, Ingrid’s parents stayed home. They allowed her to go with Hilde, but if what her friend had said was true, that wasn’t going to happen much in the future.

  Ingrid didn’t understand why they wouldn’t like Hilde. She hoped that maybe Hilde misunderstood what she had heard. Because until she was old enough to leave her parents, Ingrid had to honor their household rules – even if it meant not seeing Hilde again. It was customary for a single woman to live with her parents until she married since land was limited, and Ingrid assumed she was not getting married and she’d be stuck under her parents’ control forever. If she couldn’t move out on her own, she would just have to volunteer to leave Tuntre in search of a way to rescue the village. She wasn’t keen on dying, and even though she felt like no one extraordinary, she desired to be Tuntre’s liberator.

  Ingrid’s family usually spent their Sunday family time doing their own thing, which wasn’t the original purpose for the established day. Father worked in the garden during the summer and took care of the livestock all year long. Mother baked bread for the week, did the laundry, and mended the clothes. Ingrid helped her mom with her chores, and if they finished early, Ingrid’s mom allowed her to read. If only the stories were true about machines that could do all the work for them; Ingrid would have more time to delve into books then. Reading was her escape from the world, and within the pages, she could become anyone she wanted to be. Sometimes she was a beautiful princess, and sometimes she was a brave heroine. She journeyed to places where her scar disappeared and people admired her.

  Ingrid had been told it was easier to get novels before the Web, and over the years, their people had preserved the old tomes their ancestors had read. After an arduous process to create paper, some of the people took it upon themselves to copy all the words so that they wouldn’t lose the stories and information contained in the old accounts. The original books were no longer read by anyone; the paper was too brittle and they may have fallen apart. That’s why copies continued to be made even though it was a laborious process.

  Hilde’s family had been in charge of re-creating the volumes for years. Hilde had wanted to create new stories, but paper was a valuable commodity and no one just wrote on it for fun. Reading was Ingrid’s favorite activity and, since there were a limited amount of books, she looked at it as a luxury in a not-so-extravagant life. Since there weren’t a lot of books for Tuntre to share, everyone had to borrow them from the depository. The fact that the tomes were so precious made it necessary for people to leave something of value as collateral before they were allowed to borrow them.

  In addition to copying the books, Hilde’s family als
o ran the depository. Ingrid read a story once where people had called a place full of books a library. Tuntre had few histories of cultures other than their own, and Ingrid loved to read about the ones she could find. The tales of Vikings and ancient rituals they had performed made them sound savage compared to Ingrid’s people, who were supposedly descendants of the violent Norsemen. But in some ways, they emulated their ancestors.

  Since the word Tuntre was a Norwegian word for a sacred tree, their whole village had at least some basic knowledge of their Viking heritage. Most of Ingrid’s neighbors had such a tree, but the largest one that grew in the middle of Tuntre was also called the World Tree. It was a mystery that no one understood, because it was exactly in the center of the village but no one knew how it got there. With a girth of fifty feet, it was also the largest tree. No one could even measure its height, because it seemed to disappear into the sky. Sometimes when Ingrid passed the enormous trunk, she thought she heard voices from it, so she avoided getting near the thing. Ingrid was already a cast-off. She didn’t need to give people any more reason to be scared of her.

  Since she had finished helping her mom with the Sunday duties, she went to her room to read. She heard a tap at her window shutter and went to see if it was Bjørn, even though he said he wouldn’t be coming by. Hilde was staring back at her, so Ingrid opened the doors that closed off the window to the outside.

  “Can we talk for a short time?” Hilde whispered.

  “Do your parents know you’re gone?”

  “Freya’s gown, of course not. I’m not an idiot. Anyway, I have something urgent to tell you. My parents are napping so I snuck away.”

  “My parents aren’t sleeping, so you need to go,” Ingrid hissed.

  “I did what Bjørn normally does. I distracted them so I could come to your window without being noticed.”

  Ingrid didn’t know how he managed to make it work every time, but she doubted that Hilde had been as skilled as Bjørn at it. He had a way to throw his voice to create strange animal sounds away from the house. Ingrid’s parents investigated, which gave her plenty of time to steal away. Since her parents knew she spent hours in her room reading, they left her alone. She had always returned home unnoticed through her bedroom window before they had ever checked on her.