Freya appeared. “I’m happy for your reunion, but there is still one problem. We need to get all of you back home. The story transporter is still active, and those people at the bottom of this hole remain connected to the virtual world even though they are sleeping. I also need to make the room below that door disappear because it causes problems with my ship’s navigation.”
“Wait, does that mean we have to go all the way down those stairs and get back into those chairs again?” Harlee asked.
“Yes, and then I will destroy the story transporter, and you will all wake up in that warehouse where Loki had hooked you up to the machine.”
“What about me?” Stein questioned.
“You still need to go back so that everything is as it was before Loki trapped you all. If you want to return to Asgard, here’s a special dimension hopper that will take you there instantly.”
Stein looked at the silver sphere in Freya’s palm. She handed it to him and he put it in his pocket. “I don’t know what I want to do.” He looked at Zoey as if she may have the answers to his decision to stay on Earth or return home. Then he asked, “And where will Loki be?”
“We have plans for him. Now that he is truly going to be a changed man, we think having him live out his sentence on Asgard will be fine. Sigyn will be punished for helping him escape, but her punishment will be less drastic.”
Zoey didn’t know what she thought about Stein returning to his own dimension – a world that existed somewhere between the minutes and seconds of Earth. Even though they had dated a while before the nightmare adventure, it wasn’t like she was considering marrying him. She was only eighteen and not ready for that kind of commitment. Yet, going through so much with him made her feel close to him. She didn’t know if it was love – but it was definitely at least extreme like.
“I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m not looking forward to walking down those stairs!” Harlee sighed heavily.
“You don’t have to; there will be an elevator. Loki actually created one for you to go down – don’t you remember?” Freya reminded.
“Oh yeah, that was before Stein turned into the wolf and then they beat each other up.”
“I took the story transporter and erased the nasty stuff you encountered going up the tower, so the elevator will be a monster-free ride. I will have my guards accompany you to ensure that you are safely hooked up to the virtual machines. Once they return, I’ll destroy this computer, and you will be home instantly. You may not remember anything that happened to you. At least, you may only think you were in Tuntre for a short time. I estimate that you were gone approximately a few minutes from Earth.”
The four friends, plus Freya’s guards, went down the ladder to the room Zoey had just returned from. In the middle of the circular tower, there was an elevator. The chair Zoey had been hooked up to was no longer there, and she assumed there would be one on the basement of the tower for her. They got on the lift, and there were only two buttons – one with an arrow pointing down and one with an arrow pointing up. The ride took them gently to the lowest part of the tree where the people from Tuntre still sat, asleep and hooked up to the story.
The guards helped everyone get back safely in their chairs, and then attached the wires. They set the virtual machines to sleep mode, and instantly Harlee, Brian, Stein, and Zoey were unconscious.
Chapter 26
Zoey thought, How should I end the story? Should Stein go back to his world? Will they all wake up, not remember anything, and go about their life as before?
As she pondered these thoughts, sitting in front of her tablet in the library, a boy approached her. Not just any boy – but THE boy she had a crush on since junior high school. He was Stein in her story, but his real name was Calvin. Now that she was in high school, she felt less afraid to smile at him when he passed her in the hallway. She was still Zoey, the awkward bookworm who only got a little part in the school play. Her novel was about her own life with fantasy and science fiction thrown in to make it more entertaining. Writing was therapeutic and helped her deal with all her insecurities, but someday she hoped to get a book published.
Calvin smiled at her first and sat down across from her. He spoke quietly so the librarian wouldn’t hush them. “You’re Zoey, right?”
“Yes,” she whispered back.
“I see you in here every day, and I couldn’t figure out what you were doing, so I decided to just ask.”
“I’m writing a story.”
“Really? That’s cool. You going to get it published someday?”
Miss Rathbone came around the corner and shushed them. Then she whispered quietly, “Will you two please either leave to have your conversation or stop talking?”
Calvin’s eyes twinkled, and he said loudly, “Let’s go, Zoey.”
She didn’t know what to think, but she grabbed her backpack, put her tablet away, and took the hand Calvin offered. Was she dreaming? Calvin, the boy she wrote about kissing, was really now holding her hand?
When they got outside of the library, he laughed out loud. “Wow! I didn’t think she was such a stickler for a quiet library. I wasn’t ready for our conversation to end. Maybe we could go somewhere and talk?”
Zoey tried to not sound too excited. “Sure, I have to meet Harlee and her boyfriend in a half hour, but I can talk until then.”
“Where are you meeting them?”
“That little cafe down the street. They let me tag along on their dates sometimes. I just love being the third wheel.”
“Oh man, that place serves the best ice cream sundaes. Why don’t I come along, and then you won’t be the third wheel.” He winked, and then continued, “Maybe someday I’ll be in your book and live forever in the hearts of your fans.”
Zoey blushed, “Yeah, maybe.”
She then knew exactly how she was going to end her story – and it was going to be a happy ending.
Author’s Note
Dear Book Warrior,
Thanks for traveling to unexpected places with The Web of Loki characters. I appreciate your support. If you liked this book, the best way to let me know is to leave a review and rate the book on the site where you bought it. Please tell others about The Web of Loki. Word of mouth is a powerful tool for authors. I hope that my book will get read across the world!
Until we meet again,
Carla Reighard
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THE WEB OF LOKI
Copyright © 2019 Carla Reighard
www.CarlasBooks.weebly.com
The right of Carla Reighard to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved. This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is fictionalized or coincidental.
Published by Orlando House Publishing
&n
bsp; www.orlandohousepublishing.com
No part of this book may be reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or otherwise, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Edited by Amanda Kaye Stein
www.manikmuse.com
Cover and Interior Design by Dan Green
The Web of Loki Page 20