Renegade Valkyrie (Valhalla's Curse Book 1)

by Stacy Claflin

  My only choice is to risk drinking her essence.

  I open my mouth just slightly. With any luck, it’s so small, she won’t notice. My body prepares to extract her essence. In a moment, my mouth will open wide, and there won’t be anything I can do about it.

  She’ll know exactly what I’m doing. Still, it’s a risk I have to take.

  As my mouth opens wider, I rub my head where it hit the toilet, trying to distract her from my mouth.

  Her eyes narrow, though I can’t tell what’s she’s paying attention to—my mouth or hand.

  Just as I feel the pull, Eveline’s mouth opens. Is she about to call out a spell on me, or is it in response to my pulling her essence?

  My insides shake, my stomach is twisting worse than before, and my knees are weakening.

  Her skin is glowing from all the magic. Strength and energy pulsate from her essence, which still hasn’t come from her mouth.

  Beads of sweat break out along my hairline. Trying to drink her essence is taking too much of my waning energy. But hopefully it will be worth it. If it doesn’t make me sicker.

  My wings press against my back, but I fight them. If they extend in the bathroom, they will get injured. The last thing I need right now is sore, bloody wings.

  What I need to do is get past her, run outside, and get through the ripple. Once we’re out of this little magical realm, she won’t have the advantage over me. Or at least not as much.

  I start to close my mouth so I can run past the witch when a slim purple mist appears.

  Her essence.

  My wings press harder, fighting me to break free. I focus as much energy on keeping them in as I also try to extract that bit of essence floating my way. Even just a small amount should give me what I need.

  It weaves its way toward me, slender and slow.

  Heart pounding and stomach twisting, I step closer as my wings continue pushing against my flesh. Pain ripples through my back as they start to break the skin. Bones crack.

  I clench my fists, doing all I can to drink even a little of her essence as she pulls in more and more magic. I take a step forward, then another. My feet have never felt heavier.

  Finally, I reach the doorway. The entire hall looks like death. The walls drip what looks like black tar and a noxious odor wafts over from them.

  My stomach lurches. Hard.

  Eveline’s essence snaps back into her mouth.

  I vomit, but this time, it’s essence rather than food. A purple swirl thrusts out of my mouth and hits the witch with enough force to knock her against the wall behind her. The dark goop drips all over her.

  She cries out in surprise. I take advantage of what’s probably the only moment I’ll have the upper hand and I run.

  The gunk on the walls has dripped onto the floor. It sticks to my shoes. My right pump won’t move. I pull my foot from it and kick off the other one, skidding toward the stairs.

  “Get back here!” Eveline cries.

  I ignore her and leap for the first step.

  Something strikes me in the back of my head. The sound echoes around in my brain. I slide and crash against a wall. My feet slip, and I start to fall down the stairs, but the stickiness of the wall keeps me up. The goo drips down on my skin and weaves over the gown gifted to me by Marguerite.

  Eveline is now right in front of me. She’s shouting curses at me in an ancient Egyptian dialect.

  My skin burns as though on fire.

  Three-thousand-year-old memories flood my mind. I’d been in a similarly dangerous situation after infuriating an Egyptian princess who had called upon one of her magicians. A priest had given me a phrase to call out that had saved me back then.

  Maybe it would work now.

  I focus on Eveline, trying to ignore the pain overtaking my body.

  “Hedjet, nefer-hedjet!”

  Eveline’s mouth closes and her eyes widen. She grasps her mouth and pulls. Then she claws at her hair around the crown of her head.

  My skin cools, and I can breathe again. I try to stand but only pull against the wall. The tar-like substance holds me in place.

  Not only that, but strength is returning to me. It’s starting from the goop and radiating out to the rest of my body.

  The morbid-smelling gunk is helping me! Though I’ve never seen or heard of it, it makes sense. I’m an angel of death. This stuff is like death itself.

  Eveline, in her selfishness, is actually helping me.

  She screams out and glares at me with wild eyes. “What was that?”

  I press myself against the wall, allowing as much of the tar to soak into my skin as possible. “You aren’t the only one who can call upon ancient Egyptian curses!”

  Her expression contorts, then she lunges for me. With my renewed energy, I leap toward her. We crash together and knock each other back. My head hits the wall behind me, and my hair sticks to the goop. More strength builds within me.

  Eveline falls to the ground, and her own gross hair flies into her face. She narrows her eyes, flares her nostrils, then huffs as she pulls her tar-covered hair from her cheeks.

  I pull away from the wall with slow movements, allowing her to think I’m still drained. If I can surprise her with a burst of energy, I might finally get the advantage—or at the very least, stand on equal ground.

  The witch marches toward me, her feet sliding on the gunk which now covers most of the ground in the hallway. The walls are still dripping.

  I glare at her as I plan my next move. If I can, I want to act like I’m reacting to her but in reality, I want to be the one leading this fight.

  Eveline flies at me, and I jump out of the way. Instead of her fists hitting me, they crash into the slimy wall.

  Stepping aside, I focus on the small amount of essence in me. It isn’t a lot, but if I can use it effectively, I can catch her off guard just enough to escape from this little world and get back to the real one.

  As I’m gearing up the essence, letting it build and meld together, Eveline pulls away from the gunk. She screams and aims both her hands at me, stretching out her fingers.

  I don’t have much time. The essence isn’t ready just yet. It’s growing in strength but isn’t going to be enough without a little more gathering.

  Eveline shouts in ancient Icelandic once more. A ball of bright energy forms between her hands. It glows green, then orange, and back to green again. Her eyes light up the same colors along with the ball’s changes.

  She whispers something I can’t understand. The little ball rises and hovers before shoving away from her hands and toward my head.

  I duck out of the way just before it makes contact. It crashes into the wall with a loud explosion. The entire wall is now a gaping hole.

  That could’ve been me.

  Fury tears through me. All at once, my wings burst out and I release all the essence. It flows out of my throat with enough force to leave it raw.

  Eveline jumps to the side, avoiding it. But the essence knows it’s after her. It changes its course and heads for her again.

  Her eyes widen. “What the—?” She throws herself to the ground just before it would have collided with her mouth.

  I press my palms on the nearest wall and allow more strength and energy to flow into me.

  The essence chasing Eveline twists its way down the hallway before turning and going after her again. She jumps to her feet and shouts in Gaelic, staring me down with wild eyes.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I watch as the essence makes its way back to her. She’s so focused on me, she doesn’t see it coming.

  I flap my wings, helping the essence by creating a small wind in the direction it’s moving.

  Eveline stops shouting mid-word and opens her mouth wide.

  The essence has gained control over her. She glares at me and flails, but doesn’t do anything else.

  I run past her and into the bedroom. Outside, it’s dim, like just before nightfall, but the faeries are still bustling around, taking care
of the flowers.

  Something crashes in the hallway. I assume it’s Eveline being overpowered by the essence, and I open the window. Time for some more essence. Though the death gunk is giving me strength, it isn’t enough.

  It isn’t essence.

  I focus on the little, highly-magical faeries. Even just a fraction of their essence should give me what I need, especially if I can keep using the goo from the walls.

  The little creatures slow their movements. Some stop tending to the flowers altogether. They can sense something is about to happen.

  I open my mouth. They each turn toward me, their little mouths opening, one by one.

  Something strikes me in the back of my head.

  Thirty-Two

  I manage to stay in position despite the assault. My wings flap back and forth, not allowing Eveline to get any closer.

  Rainbow-colored essence flows from the faeries, swirling up toward me.

  Something hard hits my right wing. Whatever it is falls to the ground, but not without causing injury. Warm blood drips down and pain sears with each movement.

  The essence is moving closer. It’s slow but strong and steady.

  It’ll give me what I need, if it gets to my mouth in time.

  Thwap!

  Another hit to my wing. More blood. An agonizing wound.

  Cringing, I flap them faster and focus on the incoming essence. It continues swirling in my direction, but it may as well be moving in slow motion.

  Now Eveline is hollering in Swahili, calling down curses on me.

  My entire body goes rigid. I can’t even move a fingertip.

  The rainbow essence slows even more. My mouth is frozen open but I’m unable to keep pulling the swirling magical energy.

  It’s going to snap back to the faeries, leaving me without any additional power while Eveline continues pulling magic from everything around us. Nothing in this room has turned into the tar. I don’t have anything to draw from, not that I could while stuck in place, anyway.

  My mind races. Survival is the only thing that matters at this point. Beating her isn’t the priority. It’s not even in the realm of possibility. I just need to escape with my life. Then I can call on the others to help bring down this evil witch.

  I catch a glimpse of her in the reflection of the mirror. She’s marching toward me with another colorful ball. This one is bigger than the one in the hall. My throbbing wing reminds me it could be worse. The ones that clobbered my wing felt twice as large as this one.

  Eveline steps into the bedroom. As she does, the doorframe turns black and melts, dripping down to the floor. With each step she takes, more of the room dies.

  She’s bringing the gunk that can help me.

  I glance back outside at the faeries and their colorful essence. It’s about halfway between them and me, not moving in either direction. It’s not coming toward me, but it isn’t snapping back to them either.

  The witch is still yelling, switching from one foreign language to another. Her reflection in the glass shows the glowing ball between her hands bigger than before.

  Still, I can’t move.

  Eveline holds up the ball as high as her hands will go. Now she’s screaming in Portuguese, and a wind is whipping around the room. My hair is covered in dried gunk, so it isn’t hitting me in the face for a change.

  The whole room glows red, a loud crack sounds, and before I know what just happened, I find myself on the ground. Still unable to move. Everything continues to glow red, except—

  Not everything. The walls are black as night. Melting and dripping.

  I just need it to flow my way so I can draw from its energy.

  The bright red light dims, leaving the room dark and dreary. I reach for the goo, but still can’t budge a muscle.

  Everything glows orange.

  She’s making another magical ball. If she keeps this up, I’m going to be destroyed before I have a chance to leave this realm.

  Black slime drip, drip, drips from the walls. It’s starting to pool, but it’s still so far from me. If I could move, then I’d be able to draw from its energy.

  The orange glow brightens, even bouncing off the blackness of the gunk.

  Eveline cries out in Icelandic. Sludge pulls from the house, flying out in all directions. Some drips down and lands on me.

  It isn’t much, but it gives me energy. I can finally move!

  I jump up and glare at Eveline. The orange ball between her fingers is twice as wide as she is and as tall as her arms will extend up and down.

  If that thing hits me, that’s going to be it. Everything will be over.

  I’m glad I spoke with Titan before everyone else made it out of here.

  More gunk drips down on me. The stuff is flying all over the room as the giant orange ball grows brighter.

  Energy flows through me.

  She screams in no particular language.

  I jump to the window sill and leap out. I can’t fly with my injured wing, but I manage to sail down through the air.

  My mouth opens on its own and pulls essence from the faeries again. The rainbow swirls fly out from them, faster this time and actually reaching me.

  The essence flows into my mouth and down my throat, filling me with more strength than the gunk in the house.

  My feet make contact with the ground just as an explosion rocks the house. It creates a wind that throws me to the ground. I crash into a rose bush and knock over a couple faeries.

  Their essence snaps back to them, but I have enough to feel my energy renewed. I jump up and watch as the house, now nothing more than midnight-colored gunk, melts to the ground.

  Eveline is nowhere to be seen.

  This is my chance to get away. It’s still going to be a struggle to get back home without being able to teleport or fly, but at least I’ll be away from this place.

  I glance in the direction of the rift where Fox and I came in. It isn’t there, or at least I can’t see it from my angle.

  What if there is no way out? This place was designed to be a prison for Calla.

  No! There has to be a way out. Fox visited her—and he managed to leave. I have to be able to get out too.

  Unless Eveline has imprisoned me. Calla’s gone.

  What if I’m her replacement?

  Boom!

  The house explodes, sending debris and tar out in all directions.

  Faeries cry out and flee, heading in the direction of the rift.

  Color drains from everything. Flowers, trees, and even the ground melt away into goop.

  I race after the faeries.

  Something crashes into me. I fall to the ground and as I hit, the air is knocked from my lungs. Gasping for air, I pull away from whatever is on top of me, crushing my wings.

  Somehow I manage to roll.

  Eveline flops over but jumps back on top of me. Her hands wrap around my neck, and she strangles me.

  I may not be able to get air, but I’m not helpless. I open my mouth and release the newly acquired essence. It blows her backward. She crashes against a pile of broken lumber.

  Little hands tug on me. The faeries are helping me up.

  Once on my feet, I follow them to the rift. Something strikes my left wing—the one good wing. It feels on fire.

  Smoke burns my nose.

  My wing is on fire!

  The faeries race around, and suddenly relief washes over my wing. It still hurts, but the intensity of the burn is gone.

  My legs feel like they’re going to give out, but I won’t let them. I run, following my little assistants. The rift appears exactly where Fox and I came in.

  The little faeries fly through, one by one.

  Eveline is running toward us, shouting in a mixture of languages. She’s either confused or is pulling from several different types of magic all at once.

  I turn back to the rift and jump to it as if I’m leaping through a hula hoop. I tumble to the ground, and roll.

  A familiar hill welcomes m
e.

  I’ve managed to leave the magical prison world!

  The faeries gather around my wings, buzzing with excitement. Pain eases from the wounds. They’re attempting to heal me.

  Eveline appears from the rift. She hits the ground and rolls away from me just as the rift disappears in a puff of smoke.

  A tiny yellow faerie appears in front of me. She waves frantically and speaks in a quiet, squeaky voice. “Drink our essence! Hurry!”

  “I’ve already taken so much.”

  “You need more to defeat her!”

  Behind the faerie, Eveline rises and dusts herself off. She glowers at me before shouting in Icelandic. A little ball appears in between her hands again.

  I open my mouth and focus on the faerie essence. Colorful swirls dance into my throat. The little beings start to turn pale, so I close my mouth.

  Energy radiates through me. I part my lips and send the essence directly at Eveline.

  She flies back, dropping the glowing ball. It fizzles as it hits the ground. The witch falls not far beyond it.

  My back aches, but I ignore it and run toward her. As soon as I’m just out of her reach, I drink her essence.

  It fills me. I don’t stop.

  Eveline grows pale and gurgles, reaching for me.

  Just as her eyes start to close and her hand falls to the grass, I close my mouth.

  She moans. Barely.

  The faeries surround me, all with confused expressions.

  I pick up the witch and fling her over my shoulder. “She’s of better use to me alive than dead.” I readjust her weight. “Now to get back to my friends.”

  The little faeries swarm around me, laying hands on me.

  I might just have enough strength to teleport one last time with their help.

  The sounds of their fluttering wings urge me on. I can do this.

  I close my eyes and picture my living room.

  Thirty-Three

  I raise my champagne flute and tap it against everyone else’s around the table before sipping the celebratory drink.

  Titan kisses my cheek. “I still can’t believe you let her live. I’d have killed her, given the chance.”

  Fox glances over at me. “Yeah, me too.”