The Web of Loki

by Carla Reighard

  “This isn’t anything like I imagined it would be,” Bjørn exclaimed. He smiled calmly as he took in their surroundings, seemingly more interested than terrified. Ingrid observed that, despite the danger, he had kept his laid-back demeanor. He was perfect for keeping the group composed.

  “Of course not, Mr. Obvious. The Web has always hidden it from us.” Hilde had been more sarcastic than normal since they had started their journey into the Beyond. Though Hilde had a sharp sense of humor that Ingrid typically liked, it had grown darker rapidly; besides, they had just run for their lives, and she thought Hilde wasn’t being fair to Bjørn.

  “No reason to be so snarly,” Bjørn kept his voice even-toned despite Hilde’s scorn.

  “Sorry, Bjørn. I’m just exhausted and hungry. Is there any chance we can eat a little more today?” Hilde’s scowl changed into a look of fatigue as she loosened her long black braid and tied it up in a circle around her head.

  “No,” Stein responded quickly. “We must conserve our supplies. We don’t know if we will run into any edible animals, and we can’t eat any plants that we don’t recognize in this... forest – or whatever you want to call it.”

  Ingrid’s stomach growled at the mention of food. She had become less grossed out by the odors of the forest the longer they traveled. If it was possible, she stopped noticing the rotten stench. She knew Stein was right about not eating too much of the food they brought from home, but she felt weak and tired from both the running and the lack of nutrition.

  Ingrid tried to distract herself from her hunger by remembering what she had thought the Web had looked like before they had entered the Beyond. The black threads that wrapped around their village had mesmerized her in the past. She had marveled at how the thing continued to grow as Tuntre became more closed in by it each day. Ingrid had conflicting feelings about the Web; she knew the village was terrified by it but, at times, when her imagination was the most active, the Web had reminded her of black silk that had been crocheted into the shape of snowflakes. Now, after seeing them up close, her mind could no longer pretend or see anything beautiful about the Web.

  Since Ingrid’s mom told her how she had accidentally run into the Web at the age of three, she knew the poisonous Web wouldn’t kill someone if they made brief contact with it, but she also knew it would leave a permanent mark; the web-shaped scar on her face was a constant reminder of that. Her experience had provided her and her friends with important information for going into the Beyond. They knew the Web wouldn’t eat them, but they had to avoid contact with it.

  After they had found a way into the Beyond, Ingrid couldn’t shake the images it conjured up inside her head. Instead of being in the middle of a serene forest, she felt like they were trudging through the guts of a monster that was similar to the mythological kraken. It was as if the massive creature had swallowed the forest whole since the strings of the Web that covered trees, bushes, and other plants looked similar to a beast’s slimy, putrid entrails.

  Ingrid didn’t know what was worse, being the town’s leper because of the scar on her face, or experiencing the Beyond firsthand. She was thankful she wasn’t alone, but she continued to feel guilty because the Web and all its nastiness were her fault, according to the book. Then her friends got involved with helping her to fix the mess and now they were stuck in the hideous place with her. If Hilde hadn’t given her that mysterious diary, Ingrid probably would have stayed in her comfort zone and married the widower. Despite her desire to be courageous, she was just a cowardly little girl on the inside. Ingrid had wanted to be the heroine of Tuntre alone to prove she wasn’t a scourge to everyone, but she wasn’t sure she had the gumption to follow through without her friends. Sure, if she had rescued Tuntre all by herself, the village would have accepted her, scarred face and all. Instead, her three friends had risked their lives to help her because she didn’t have the skills to do it alone. She needed Bjørn, Stein, and Hilde more than they needed her and there was no way of avoiding that fact.

  Chapter 9

  The group of four had been walking for days or so that was what it had seemed; they had no way of keeping track of time in the forest of gloom while they walked the narrow paths, trying to avoid the Web. Hilde had left her time piece behind with her family, and as it was winter in Norway, the sun really couldn’t help either. Of course, the dark, web-infested forest would have blocked most of the solar light no matter what time of year it was.

  As they had traversed the maze of black and slime, Ingrid had wondered about her vision of the horrible spider before it had appeared. She pondered if it had anything to do with what the book had told her about being the cause of the Web. Even seeing the nasty thing in her mind before it invaded them hadn’t prepared her any better for meeting the monster that threatened their lives. In fact, her premonition had only managed to make her more afraid and weak. She didn’t want to believe that the horrors of the Beyond had anything to do with her, but Loki’s brother suggested otherwise.

  Stein and Ingrid were far enough away from Bjørn and Hilde that their conversation couldn’t be overheard; Hilde and Bjørn were busy trying to build a fire while Stein and Ingrid looked for edible plants. Ingrid felt like telling Stein about her thoughts on seeing the spider before it had appeared. She wanted him to make her feel better by contradicting that perhaps she was the cause of everything bad in Tuntre and the Beyond, but the more she saw of the place, the more it looked like her worst nightmares. Even though Stein may not be able to give her the assurance she needed, he seemed to be a person she could talk to despite their short time knowing each other.

  “You know that spider we encountered?”

  “I couldn’t forget it even if I wanted to. The size of it shocked me, but then maybe nothing should surprise me in this place.”

  “I have a confession to make. I saw that thing in my dreams, many times, before we even came into the Beyond. I also imagined it minutes before it attacked us. I’ve been wondering if what the book said was true, because it’s like the forest creates the things I think about.”

  “Then please stop thinking about the worst possibilities and try to have some happy thoughts,” Stein teased.

  “I was kinda hoping you would have told me that was impossible. I keep telling myself that my brain can’t create actual monsters. Besides, how in the world will thinking about rainbows and unicorns help us in these dire circumstances?”

  “Rainbows and unicorns? Really? That’s the first thing that pops into your mind when I say think of happy thoughts?” Stein laughed.

  “I read a lot of fantasy books, so yeah, I guess so. Do you have a problem with that?”

  “No, but I was hoping for sunshine and waterfalls. We could use the light and my throat is so dry.”

  His words reminded Ingrid of how long it had been since they had drank water, and her mouth immediately felt like she was sucking on wool. Her lips hurt from the cracks that had started to form.

  Stein continued, “Anyway, I don’t know how it will help, but I feel like I know more about what is happening to us than my mind is letting me remember. If your fears somehow created this nightmare, than maybe you can change things with more positive thoughts.”

  “Asking me to have happy thoughts is like asking the Web to disappear. I tried once to think of something pleasant, but I failed. Why would I try again?”

  Stein grimaced at Ingrid’s words, but he kept his thoughts to himself. Stein and Ingrid still didn’t really know a lot about each other; they didn’t have a history like she had with Bjørn and Hilde. Ingrid assumed Stein was being polite by keeping his opinion to himself. Hilde would have just blurted out her viewpoint to Ingrid.

  Hilde joined Ingrid and Stein, so no more was said about her negative thoughts impacting them or the Beyond. Ingrid was thankful for her friend’s timing, but soon it became apparent that if Hilde wouldn’t have interrupted their conversation, something worse was going to. A creature that sounded much like a wolf howled off in the
distance and, if it looked anything like what Ingrid conjured up in her mind, they were in for major trouble.

  “Aaroooo! Aaroooo!”

  “What was that?” Hilde screamed.

  “I don’t know, but let’s not stick around to find out!” Stein shouted.

  “Aaroooo! Aaroooo!”

  The creature continued with its awful howling; the sound seemed to be getting nearer. Ingrid thought that she could hear its breath. It caused chills to run down her spine, as if its warm breath was blowing on her neck. In a matter of seconds, the beast pounced out from the trees.

  Bjørn neared his friends’ location and yelled, “There’s no place to hide-” but before he could finish, he was attacked by the colossal, hairy, wolf-like animal.

  Hilde shrieked, and Stein looked for one of the axes that they had been using earlier to chop wood. The beast’s fangs were sharpened to spear tips, and each of the points had black spittle dripping off them. It was like the monster ate the web when it couldn’t have meat. Again, fear paralyzed Ingrid from taking action as Stein and Hilde tried to beat the creature off of Bjørn with their axes. The wolf-like creature seemed to be impervious to their attempts – the sharp blades weren’t even breaking its skin. It was as if its bristly hair were made out of metal.

  Bjørn somehow ended up on the ground underneath the creature. The thing attempted to bite Bjørn’s neck. It snarled and growled at Stein and Hilde as they distracted it by chopping at the wolf’s limbs. Just before the nasty animal sunk its teeth into Bjørn’s throat, he was able to move away from its fangs. Bjørn then rolled to the side of the creature, stood, and grabbed the nearest branch to spear the thing away from him. As with the spider, fear had immobilized Ingrid from helping. She just stood there, staring at her friends as they tried to fight off the hairy mammoth with axes and a stick. It continued to growl and snap at them, but it couldn’t get close enough to take them down, as it had when it snuck up behind Bjørn.

  Ingrid wanted the wolf to disappear. She imagined the sun piercing through the darkness like a knife so it could cut the monster up or burn it into ashes. She couldn’t live in a world that didn’t have Bjørn in it and her fear soon turned to anger as she willed the animal that threatened her friend’s life to go away. Many times Ingrid let her imagination block out terrorizing things, so she had to keep willing herself to imagine protection for Bjørn in her fantasy world.

  A sudden blinding ray of light that reminded Ingrid of a lightning bolt zapped through the blackness of the sky. It hit the wolf, and the animal turned to ash in an instant. The threat of death was gone as swiftly as it had arrived.

  “What just happened?” Hilde asked.

  Everyone looked at each other, stunned. Stein and Ingrid shared a look that said that Stein’s early conjecture may have just been tested.

  “Please tell me what just happened,” Hilde demanded.

  “I have no clue,” Ingrid replied.

  “Ingrid, what were you thinking about when we were fighting off that beast?” Stein asked.

  “I was wishing it would go away. I’m sorry I didn’t help fight it off. I was paralyzed by fear.”

  “How were you wishing it to go away?” Stein inquired.

  “I don’t know. I just imagined something like light, or anything, to make it evaporate.”

  “You mean something like a bolt of lightning to make it turn to ash?” Stein made Ingrid nervous with his specific questions.

  “Yeah, I guess something like that.”

  “Something like it, or was I exactly right?”

  “Freya’s gown, why are you harassing her? She didn’t do anything wrong,” Hilde defended her friend.

  “I’m not saying that she did anything wrong. I just have some theories I’m trying to prove. Just before that monster appeared, Ingrid did tell me she saw stuff before it showed up, so maybe she caused the wolf to vanish. Also, I’m starting to remember some things that may help us figure out the mysteries of this place. What are any of your oldest memories? Go back to when you were a child. Do you remember anything?”

  The group looked at Stein quizzically.

  “Why are you asking us about our childhood memories?” Ingrid questioned.

  “I’ve been trying to figure out how I know you.” Stein looked straight at Ingrid and continued. “Since we met at the lake to skate, I can’t shake the feeling that we’ve met before. I know I stared at you too long, but I kept getting flashes of events that didn’t make sense with you in them. You acted like you had never seen me before, so I thought I was imagining something, or perhaps I had dreamed about you prior to our first encounter.”

  “That explains why you were acting like such a weirdo. No offense, but you were creeping us out with your glares,” Hilde exclaimed.

  “I know, and I’m sorry, but it is so unnerving to look at Ingrid and feel like I’ve known her before we met at the lake. Then I see images of her and me together in my head and-” The lamp light was low, but Ingrid swore his face was turning red. “Let’s just say, in my visions, we are more than just acquaintances.”

  Ingrid thought her face was warming at his implication as well, so she tried to change the topic. “You probably just had a dream about me. I have them all the time about things and people before I meet them.” After the words came out, Ingrid realized that she just added to the embarrassment of Stein’s comments.

  “Really? Did you dream about Stein?” Hilde snickered.

  Ingrid didn’t like what Hilde was inferring so she confessed, “No, I never saw him before. Most of my visions are scary. Earlier, I told Stein that I saw that hideous spider-like thing in my sleep months ago. I even imagined it right before our battle with it. I also used to dream about the Web, and the next day, it would spread farther around the village. I sometimes see other things in my head, when I’m awake, before they appear.”

  “But that doesn’t explain how that dangerous beast turned into ash,” Bjørn added.

  “I think Ingrid had something to do with that. What if she had written a book or even told Loki about her scary dreams, and so he was able to somehow make them real or at least make us experience them?” Stein asked.

  “What you’re implying sounds like magic. I don’t believe in magic, but I guess I was beginning to accept what that book said was true,” Ingrid admitted.

  “None of us believe in magic because we don’t remember anything like it ever existing, but our memories have been altered,” Stein reminded them.

  “Freya’s hair, that is the stupidest thing I’ve heard today! I know Ingrid took that book seriously, but as soon as she read the part about all this being fake I thought it was a pile of poo. I realize we came into the Beyond to help Ingrid find a way out of Tuntre, but I didn’t honestly think it was because anyone besides her believed that book had any merit. I’m here to protect Ingrid, not find the fictional Loki.” Hilde seemed even grumpier than when she had complained about being hungry after the spider encounter.

  “You’re right. I thought that book about Loki was nonsense, but Stein has a good point. I honestly can’t recall much of my childhood, or anything past last year. If our memories were altered, things we don’t accept as real could be,” Bjørn interjected.

  “You know, I can’t either. I was told by my parents that I ran into the Web when I was three, but I never remembered doing it. I’ve replayed it in my head a million times, but only because of the story they told me, as well as how they treat me.”

  “I’m the same way, except about Ingrid,” Stein looked at her, “I knew you before, and now I want to know why. I also want to figure out if you really do have some control over our surroundings.”

  “What do you mean?” Ingrid asked.

  “The diary said you caused the Web. Maybe it is all in your head. Maybe you can make it disappear by willing it to go away. Like you made the wolf turn to ash.”

  “Odin’s teeth, that’s crazy sounding. Ingrid isn’t some mythological Norse god. She can’t will th
ings in or out of this place with her mind. Why would she create something so dangerous and scar her own skin?” Bjørn questioned.

  “I don’t know, but hopefully we will find an answer soon. I don’t know how much longer we can wander around in this soulless pit of despair. We’ve called it a forest for lack of a better word, but it seems to suck all my joy out as if it were a living demon,” Stein replied.

  The group nodded in agreement of Stein’s assessment. Originally, Ingrid assumed it was depressing because there wasn’t any sun. She never thought the actual forest was taking parts of their souls away from them, or at least taking the part of their essence that contained joy.

  Ingrid looked at Bjørn. “Why did you mention mythological Norse gods?”

  “I just keep thinking about Loki. The diary said you had to find Loki, and that was the name of one of the Viking gods. I read about our ancestors’ beliefs and the stories about Loki. He was mischievous, and sometimes dangerous. He played tricks on Thor and the other gods. I never believed in such things before, but there is no Loki living in Tuntre, so who else could he be?”

  “I don’t think Loki is a god, but I can’t explain the supernatural Web that surrounds Tuntre either,” Ingrid replied.

  Hilde made a sound of disgust to show her disapproval of the whole conversation. She obviously didn’t agree with their opinions, but she wasn’t sharing her opinion out loud as she usually did. Ingrid assumed this was because she was tired and because she didn’t want to get reprimanded for being so harsh. When it came to Hilde, Ingrid knew she always had an opinion, but this nasty forest made Hilde have a more negative viewpoint.

  None of the friends knew what to do next, but once the adrenaline wore off from fighting the wolf, they were all exhausted. Ingrid longed for a warm, comfortable place to sleep where they didn’t have to worry about what scary thing was going to jump out next. None of them had slept well, and they always took turns staying awake to be on watch for dangers lurking nearby.