The Ever After

by Amanda Hocking

  Underneath the mourning and sadness was a feeling of restlessness and reevaluation. Trolls for so long had thought of ourselves as higher beings, something inherently superior to humans because of the possibilities of our blood. But the Ögonen had used a vision to show the truth to me, and their absence showed the truth to everybody else.

  Once, trolls had descended from the álfar and humans, but we were now so far removed that we were basically humans ourselves. Only, we had been siphoning magic from the Ögonen, who truly were the powerful beings we only pretended to be.

  The issues that the tribes had been facing—the infertility, the weakening of powers, even the deleterious effects that the psychokinetic powers left on us (like Tove’s and Wendy’s premature aging)—were because we were not meant to have the powers we had. Our bodies were those of humans, but the abilities were stolen from the more powerful Ögonen.

  After I told my friends about the vision, Wendy launched an investigation to make sense of what was happening. A long time ago, Frey had helped the Älvolk—he’d had to siphon the Ögonen’s power to create such a powerful spell to keep the door to Alfheim closed. But they learned to twist the spell, to drain the power and push it into their children.

  The incantation that drained the power and magic from the Ögonen was built on the back of Frey’s bridge closure spells. It went on long after anyone even remembered it; even after all trolls moved across the earth, the children of the Älvolk carried the incantation with them. Their blood was tied to a promise that was never theirs.

  Now all of the kingdoms were uniting, holding meeting after meeting to discuss what to do, how to handle the impending changes that our world was undergoing. There were talks of destroying the monarchy, since it was based on a faulty premise that certain trolls had been given higher priority than others.

  As for me and Pan, we understood even less than ever where we fit into this world. We’d been treated as half-bloods only to learn there was no such thing as a pureblood.

  After the battle in Áibmoráigi, I went back to Merellä, to my apartment with Dagny. Although I did spend far more time at Pan’s place than I did at hers, and we talked about what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go from here. None of us really felt a calling for the Inhemsk Project, which seemed like a moot point in the face of everything we’d learned.

  Dagny decided to stay on at the Mimirin. Regardless of where trollkind goes in the future, she believes it’s important to understand our past and our present. She wants to continue working with the Mästares to add to and maintain the knowledge and the history.

  Mästare Amalie became the Korva of the Mimirin in the wake of Ragnall’s abrupt demise. From what we gathered, she’d been completely in the dark about Ragnall’s true allegiance and intentions, and she vowed to put the Mimirin back on course in its pursuit of knowledge.

  Elof, meanwhile, didn’t follow us back from Áibmoráigi. He was alive and well—thriving, really—helping the survivors, like Noomi, that wanted to stay on to rebuild the First City. He saw it as a chance to restart the city on a better, less cultish track, and he now had unfettered access to all the history he’d been dying to read about all these years.

  Finn went back to Förening to be with his family. During our phone calls, Hanna assures me that he’s working less now, but that he still advises Wendy and Loki on how to run the Trylle kingdom. Hanna is a huge gossip, and she always gives me an update on how everybody in the whole city is doing, but it’s good to hear that Tove and Sunniva seem to be happy and doing well, although rumor has it that Sunniva is thinking of traveling with her partner.

  Meanwhile, Pan and I spent weeks trying to figure out what we wanted to do with the rest of our lives. Merellä didn’t feel like home to me, and Förening was too small with too few options. Pan suggested Ottawa, but I’d never lived with humans before. He said it casually, but that night, when we went to bed, I lay awake thinking about what he said.

  “I’ve just never lived with humans before,” I said finally. He was lying on his side, facing me, and he was half asleep, but he blinked and looked at me.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Moving to Ottawa,” I explained. “I just don’t know how I’ll feel being around humans all the time.”

  “You realize that I’m human, right?” he asked. “And you’re basically human too?”

  “No, it’s not that.” I rolled over to face him. “I mean I’ve never lived in the human world. It seems more fast-paced and aggressive.”

  “Sometimes it is,” Pan allowed. “But most of the time, it’s neither of those things. Unless you live in New York or something.”

  “Then we should cross those places off our list,” I said.

  “Wait.” He sat up a bit, propping himself up on his elbow. “Are you saying you want to move to a human city?”

  “I’m saying that I’m up for it if you are.” I smiled at him as nervous butterflies filled my stomach.

  “Yes.” Pan kissed me. “Let’s go for it.”

  A few days later, I was at the apartment packing things up. Dagny was moving into staff housing at the Mimirin, and Pan and I were getting ready to go out on our own into the world, so we didn’t need it anymore.

  While I packed up all the misshapen clay mugs the kids had made me, Dagny and Pan were patching the nail holes in the wall and reminiscing about all the delicious food that Hanna had made at the beginning of the summer.

  “That feels like a lifetime ago,” I said.

  “That’s what happens when you live several lifetimes in a few months,” Dagny replied matter-of-factly.

  Someone knocked at the door, and Brueger—who had tagged along to watch us pack—let out a surprised bark.

  “It’s okay, buddy. I got it.” I scratched his head as I went to answer the door.

  And there was Ridley Dresden—Bryn’s longtime boyfriend—on my front steps. He was pale and a little scruffy, but otherwise he looked about as good as he had the last time I’d seen him. But still, there was a dimness in his eyes that hadn’t been there before.

  He gave me an uncertain smile, and I pulled him into a hug. I hadn’t seen him since … Bryn was still alive. As soon as I had my arms around him, he started to cry, and then I did too.

  Dagny made us tea, and Pan sat on a steamer trunk and pet Brueger. Ridley and I sat on the lumpy sofa and slowly composed ourselves. It didn’t last long, though. We managed some pleasantries about how Ridley’s trip down here had been, and then I blurted out, “I’m sorry that I didn’t bring her back alive.”

  He laughed then, even as tears slid down his cheeks. “If she couldn’t get herself back alive, then there’s nobody else on earth that could’ve done it. I know she…” He paused. “She did what she thought was the right thing to do, and nothing could move her from that course.

  “And I know that she’d be happy that she died the way she lived—protecting those she loved,” Ridley went on, and his dark eyes rested warmly on me. “She loved you, you know. She was so upset when she found out that Indu might be her father, but she was … she was so excited about gaining you as a sister.”

  “We weren’t really,” I said. “Indu wasn’t my father, so we weren’t sisters.”

  He reached over and put his hand on mine. “Yes, you were.”

  “Thank you for saying that,” I sniffled.

  “Actually, that’s why I’m here.” He let go of my hand and reached into the messenger bag he’d carried with him, and he pulled out papers. “Bryn really did consider you family, and you know she always wanted to take care of her family. One of the benefits of being a guard to the King is that the palace awards your family a large insurance payout if you die.”

  “What?” I glanced over at Dagny, but she only shrugged. “What are you saying?”

  He held a paper out to me. “Bryn named you and me as her primary beneficiaries. You can see for yourself.”

  “What?” I repeated even as I took the paper with tremb
ling hands. It was a short letter with the Kanin seal at the top and the King’s signature at the bottom. After a paragraph of condolences about Bryn’s bravery and all the honors she’d been awarded in her service to the kingdom—in service to others—the benefits were explained.

  “A million dollars?” I asked quietly, disbelieving. “This can’t be right.” I looked up at Ridley with fresh guilty tears springing into my eyes. “No, I can’t. I can’t take this. I don’t deserve it.”

  “Ulla, you haven’t done anything wrong,” Ridley assured me. “This is a gift for you, from Bryn. That’s your share, and that’s what she wanted you to have.”

  “But…” My heart was racing, and I felt too light for my body, like I might just float away in the sky. Somehow I stayed on the couch, gaping at Ridley. “What do I do with it?”

  “You do what Bryn would want you to do.” He smiled at me. “You live.”

  * * *

  New tenants would be moving into the apartment over the weekend, so we worked our butts off and managed to have the place ready by Thursday afternoon. “It’s so weird,” I said as I surveyed the empty apartment above the carriage house. “It looks so much bigger without the furniture.”

  “So does my place,” Pan reminded me.

  We’d mostly emptied his apartment—either giving away or selling most of the furniture, and we’d put some stuff in a storage space above his friend Hugo’s garage. All that we had left was an air mattress and the things we were taking on the road with us. There were a few more things we needed to get in order, but if all went well, we’d be leaving Monday morning and heading out across the world to see where we wanted to live. We’d start with North America, since it was easier traveling with an active dog like Brueger by car than by plane.

  But we didn’t know where we’d end up, and that filled me with such wonderful excitement. I had spent so much of my childhood reading Mr. Tulin’s nature magazines, imagining all the places I could visit and all the lives I could lead.

  And now Pan and I were about to actually go off and lead the lives we’d only hoped for.

  “Are you ready for all of this?” I asked him.

  “Yeah.” He came over and looped an arm around my shoulders. “Aren’t you?”

  “Yeah.” I surveyed the apartment one last time, the high open ceilings and the beams I had seen Eliana do acrobatics on, the loft where I had talked to Jem about my mother, the living room where Dagny had become my best friend, where I spent my last happy memories with Bryn.

  And then from the ceiling beam, I spotted a big fat spider hanging from a long thread.

  “There’s a giant spider up there.” I pointed to it.

  “Oh yeah,” Pan said. “Looks like the new tenants are moving in early. That probably means we should head out.”

  “You’re right,” I agreed. “It’s time to move on.”

  He kissed me. “On to our new chapter.”

  “On to our happily ever after.”

  GLOSSARY

  Adlrivellir—the name of a legendary land.

  Áibmoráigi—the oldest troll establishment on earth. It is located somewhere in Scandinavia, but its exact location has been lost since before 1000 CE. Frequently referred to as the “First City.”

  akutaq—a traditional Inuit food often referred to as “Eskimo ice cream.” It is not creamy ice cream as we know it, but a concoction made from reindeer fat or tallow, seal oil, freshly fallen snow or water, fresh berries, and sometimes ground fish. It is whipped together by hand so that it slowly cools into foam.

  álfar—name given to the trolls from the legendary kingdom of Alfheim.

  Alfheim—a mythological realm. To humans, the legend is that it is one of the Nine Worlds and home of the Light Elves in Norse mythology. To trolls, the legend is that it is a utopian kingdom hidden across the Lost Bridge of Dimma.

  Älvolk—a legendary group of monk-like trolls, who guard the Lost Bridge of Dimma, along with many troll secrets and artifacts.

  angakkuq—an Inuit word that roughly translates to “shaman” or “witch.”

  ärtsoppa—a Scandinavian soup made of yellow peas, carrots, and onions. Traditional versions have ham, but vegetarian trolls skip that.

  aster—a flower in the daisy family, usually purple or pink.

  attack on Oslinna—a surprise military attack by the Vittra on the small Trylle village of Oslinna, Wyoming, during the War for the Princess. It left the city destroyed since January 2010.

  attempted assassination of Chancellor Iver—the attempt on the life of the Kanin Chancellor Iver Aven by the Queen’s guard Konstantin Black in January 2010. It was an attack unrelated to the War for the Princess. It was eventually tied to Viktor Dålig and his coup against the Kanin monarchy that lasted over a decade and ended in the Invasion of Doldastam.

  aura—a field of subtle luminous radiation surrounding a person or object. Different colors of auras denote different emotional qualities as well as physical or psychokinetic ailments.

  Aurenian Ballroom—a grand ballroom in the Mimirin named after the old Vittra King Auren.

  bardiche—a pole weapon common in medieval Europe. It has a long, cleaver-like blade attached to a pole, making it something like a cross between an axe and a spear.

  Battle for the Bridge—a legendary battle over the Lost Bridge of Dimma that took place in Áibmoráigi over a thousand years ago. In old myths, it is known as the Vígríðabifröst.

  Bay of Bothnia—the northernmost part of the Gulf of Bothnia, which is in turn the northern part of the Baltic Sea. The bay today is fed by several large rivers and is relatively unaffected by tides, so it has low salinity. It freezes each year for up to six months.

  beetroot salad—a common Scandinavian dish. It is traditionally made with diced beetroots, apples, vinegar, herbs, olive oil, red onions, yogurt, and lemon zest.

  binrassi—a word in Irytakki meaning “small flower.”

  blodseider magick—a type of taboo occult practice in extremist troll sects. The practice of seiðr is believed to be a form of magic relating to both the telling and shaping of the future.

  Candida viridi—a fungal infection that afflicts trolls, similar to Candida auris in humans. The differences are that C. viridi is hearty enough to thrive in cold temperatures and that it leaves a greenish tint to the skin of the affected individuals. The fungus causes invasive candidiasis infections in the bloodstream, the central nervous system, and internal organs. With modern medicine it is easily curable, but without proper treatment it is often deadly. Troll historians believe that C. viridi is what caused the Green Death (Grændöden) in the thirteenth century, which wiped out most of the trolls that remained in Scandinavia.

  Catacombs of Fables—a mazelike vault in the basement of the Mimirin that houses many of the fictional stories of the past, so as not to confuse fact with fiction.

  changeling—a child secretly exchanged for another. For trolls, it’s an ancient practice, with elite royal families leaving their babies in place of wealthy human babies. The humans unknowingly raise the troll baby, ensuring that the troll will have the best chance of success, with fine education, top health care, and rights to tremendous wealth. When they are of age, they are retrieved by trolls known as trackers, and the changelings are brought back to live with their tribes in their kingdom. The Trylle and the Kanin are the only two tribes that still widely practice changelings.

  Churchill, Manitoba—a small human town in Canada. One must stop in Churchill if venturing to either Doldastam, Manitoba, or Iqaluit, Nunavut, and it may be the easiest way to get to Iskyla, Nunavut, as well.

  cloudberry—an herb native to alpine and arctic regions, producing amber-colored edible fruit similar to the raspberry or blackberry. It is commonly used in Scandinavian pies and jams.

  Dålig Revolt—the uprising that took place after the unmarried Kanin King Elliot Strinne died unexpectedly in 1999 without a clear heir. The Chancellor appointed Elliot’s cousin Evert Strinne to the throne, o
verlooking Elliot’s sister Sybilla and her three daughters. Sybilla and her husband, Viktor Dålig, contested Evert’s appointment, and they staged a revolt that left four men dead. The Dålig family was exiled.

  docent—a member of the teaching staff immediately below professorial rank. In the U.S., it is often a volunteer position, but it can be paid or done in exchange for room and board. At the Mimirin, docents are paid a minimal stipend in addition to room and board.

  dödstämpel—a form of martial arts practiced by trolls. The name means “death punch” in Swedish.

  Doldastam, Manitoba—the capital and largest city of the Kanin kingdom, located in Manitoba, Canada, near Hudson Bay. The Kanin royal family lives in the palace there, and the city is surrounded by a stone wall. The population is a little over twelve thousand as of 2019.

  dragon—a mythical monster like a giant reptile. It has a total of six limbs—two wings and four legs. It often breathes fire. “Dragon” is sometimes used as a general broad term for other mythical reptiles, including wyrms, wyverns, drakes, and amphipteres.

  Eftershom, Montana—a small Trylle village located in the mountains near Missoula. It is nestled in the convergence of several mountain ranges in western Montana. The terrain is notoriously rough and the winters are brutal. When it was originally settled by the Trylle, a Markis asked “Why do we stop here?” And the leader answered, “Eftersom vi har gått tillräckligt långt,” which roughly translates to “Because we have gone far enough.”

  ekkálfar—an old term used for “troll.”

  eldvatten—a very strong alcohol made by the Omte. The name literally translates to “firewater.” It is also known as Omte moonshine, and it is used in Omte sangria.

  ex nihilo nihil fit—a Latin phrase meaning “nothing comes from nothing.” It is the motto of the Mimirin.

  First City, the—See Áibmoráigi.

  fluorspar—a crystal that comes in many colors, including purple, blue, and green; more commonly known as “fluorite” outside of the troll communities. It is believed to help with memory when used in crystal healing.