April beamed at her. “Maybe you are Superman.”
“You’re sure doing the Boy Scout thing right,” Megan muttered. She paused, staring. “Is that weird? Having been a guy? You don’t—”
“You’ve literally seen me naked.”
“Just making sure.” Megan held up her hands in surrender. “You know, what happened to Holly doesn’t mean you can’t fight other people. Especially if they’re zombies. That are trying to eat you. Violence works perfectly fine as a solution.”
April stared at her.
“Says the pig,” Emily muttered under her breath.
“What was that?” Megan asked.
“Just joking. I love the cops. Blue lives matter.”
Megan glared. “You use violence too. Weren’t you just saying that you were fighting monsters with a sword?”
Emily leaned back, a mischievous grin on her face as she met Megan’s eyes. “It’s in the bedroom if you still want to see it. I didn’t need a badge for it. I have nothing against violence. Just don’t like getting arrested.”
Hannah found herself praying for Alys to arrive. To herself, she supposed. Or maybe to Alys. Being a god was weird.
“Anything in here I should be arresting you for?” Megan asked.
“Why? Do you have a warrant?”
“Weren’t you two getting along a second ago?” April asked.
“Who says we’re not?” Megan replied, still glaring at Emily.
Emily chuckled. “Are we, like, gonna make out, or what? Because you could cut this tension with a knife.”
Megan threw herself back against the arm rest, eyes wide. “What? But you’re Hannah’s…Stop it!”
“I’m gonna go grab another beer. Anyone want one?”
They managed to make it through the pad Thai without any more issues. Hannah was still unsure if Emily and Megan were actually getting along, but at least they weren’t at each other’s throats anymore. Though they’d be hot together. Hannah tried to focus on the show they were watching and on the delicious hummus-covered tortilla chips, rather than the idea of her girlfriend and her first crush. Fortunately, Alys picked then to finally arrive.
“Sorry I’m late,” Alys called. Apparently, no one needed to knock anymore. “Could I borrow you two for a moment?” They pointed at Emily and Hannah. “Hi, people I don’t know. Introductions later. I’m sure we’ll need them.” They opened the door to the bedroom and turned back to Emily and Hannah, who hadn’t moved. “Now.”
In the bedroom, Alys shoved the door shut. Raising their finger, they said, “Okay, first thing’s first. Why are you wearing a quinceañera dress?”
Emily stared. “So that’s what it is. I’ve been wondering the same thing.”
Hannah could feel her cheeks burning. “Because I’m Thor?”
“That adds up, actually. Okay, second thing.” They looked toward the sword leaning against the wall. “Emily, I need you to promise not to stab me.”
“Why?”
“Please?”
“Is there a reason I would stab you?”
They waved off the question. “I have mostly good news. I just need your word. We’ve made up. You’re my best friend. Please don’t stab me?”
“Fine, whatever. I won’t stab you.”
“Okay, great.” They breathed out a sigh of relief. “I have good news. I don’t have to kill Hannah.”
“You’d already said you wouldn’t.”
Hannah squinted. “What do you mean you don’t have to? Don’t all of Hel’s backup plans involve me dead? Did she finally tell you?”
“She did. Absolutely.” They grinned. “And the best part is, I don’t have to kill you.”
“Why?” Emily glanced at the sword.
“Because I’m supposed to kill you instead.”
“You what?” Emily stared at them, her jaw dropping.
Hannah watched them, certain she looked just as shocked. There was no way Alys would do it, but why on Earth would Hel suggest it? And did they really think Emily would be that quick to stab them?
“She wants me to take your place. She’s decided that Hannah’s an even bigger weak point than you. Not sure it’s actually true, but I played up that it was. That I’d do whatever it took to keep Hannah alive. Even if I had to kill you.”
Hannah’s mouth went dry. She wasn’t that weak. And why were they being so serious?
Emily shook her head, taking a step back. “You’re not going to—”
“Of course not. You’re my best friend. I’m not breaking that trust again.”
“I’d call murder a little more than that.”
They shrugged. “I’d have brought you back anyway. Assuming that’s possible. I don’t know anyone who’s died twice yet, but I would try.”
“Really not making the stabbing thing seem less appealing.”
Alys nodded. “Okay. Not okay to the stabbing. Still, please don’t. But she needs to think I’m taking your place. At least until we can do something about it. She suspects I’m going to kill Baldur, and she gave me more than enough information to get him out of the way. I don’t know what other plans she has in motion. There have to be other people in her employ who’ll make sure I don’t do anything too stupid, but I’m going to anyway. I’m telling you everything. That’s as stupid as it gets. And I’m not killing you. Just means I might need to live here…Since she’ll think I’m dating Hannah.”
“I assumed that would happen anyway,” Hannah said.
Alys appeared to malfunction, blinking for a few long seconds.
“They’re still telling us the important part, Hannah. Couldn’t you have waited to break them?”
“I’m fine,” they shouted, far too loudly. “I just…wasn’t expecting that. I, I mean…you, she…we.”
Emily chuckled. “Not sounding less broken.”
They were lucky they were adorable. Damn, being adorable while talking about murdering her girlfriend was quite a feat. “I’ll kiss you again after you finish telling us everything.”
“Right. Yeah. Sorry. Um, she needs to think I’ve killed and replaced Emily. She has to think she has the upper hand. That I’ll do what she wants.”
“What does this mean?” Emily asked.
“I didn’t plan it all out. It only happened an hour ago. But she told me who Baldur is. Walked me through part of the plan. Not anywhere near enough, but she was trying to convince me that my bargain is working. Naturally, I’m betraying her, but she doesn’t have to know that.”
“Then what? Am I going to have to go into hiding or something?”
“We’ll sort it out. I knew you’d never let me set this all up if I told you first, but I also knew that if I didn’t agree to something desperate, she’d enact some other backup plan, likely killing both of us, or she’d order me to kill Hannah. Believe me, I tried insisting that we needed Hannah to get the apples. It’s when she moved to this idea. So I have to kill you, just you know, not for real. I needed a way out, and it was the only one I could find. I swear, I won’t betray either of you.”
“All right.” Emily shrugged. “I guess there’ll have to be two of me.”
“Emily, you mean the world to me. You’re the first friend I’ve ever had, and I love you more than I even thought I was capable of. And I may have a slight crush on Hannah,” they added, muttering.
“Slight?” Hannah snorted. Maybe Alys really was a dork.
Even Emily laughed, some of the tension easing out of her body. “That’s a word for it.”
“You don’t need to keep trying to sell us on it,” Hannah said. “We trust you.”
“We have a guest room,” Emily said.
“Oh, great, you can sleep in there, then.” Alys flashed that grin. Sighing, they sat on the foot of the bed. “Thank you. Fuck. Right, so there is something kind of important that I should’ve led with, but I didn’t want to say any of this.”
“Baldur?” Hannah asked.
They nodded. “The Baldur in Idavoll
r is a spy, made to look like the real one by Hel’s magic. He was supposed to have grabbed an apple for her ages ago, but well, you know. He can’t get into Asgard.”
“We have to go tell them,” Hannah shouted, reaching for the door.
“Wait. There’s more. God, now I’m an infomercial.”
She turned, staring. “What else could there be?”
“There’re more gods here. Including the real Baldur, which might give your claims a little more merit.”
“Here on Earth?”
“Here in this apartment.” They stood, glancing at the door. “They were the backup plans. It’s why Hel wanted you dead. She knew how protective of you Megan was.”
“Megan’s Baldur?” Hannah almost screamed, probably loud enough for them to hear in the other room.
“No. She’s Tyr. One of your other brothers. I assume the other girl is April? Well, I guess they could be other random people, I’m sure you have more friends, but it would be weird if your best friends weren’t here for what’s apparently your quinceañera.”
Hannah rolled her eyes. Of course they couldn’t resist making that joke right now. But what were they talking about? How? What? There was no way Megan and April were gods. “How did Hel know they were my best friends? Wait, so April’s Baldur?” It sounded so absurd.
“Yes. And she made sure they’re your best friends. She had me set it up so that they’d end up at Portland State with you. Hel even performed spells on you to draw you together. I didn’t know the last part, and I didn’t know who your friends were, or I’d have told you that earlier. I’m sorry. Hell, I still don’t even have all the details. Megan was supposed to keep you safe since Hel had given you a life that would make you passive and weak so you wouldn’t get in her way—and you’re not, by the way, she fucked up—and I guess April was so the other gods wouldn’t find Baldur if they sent someone to make sure he wasn’t in Hel? She really didn’t tell me shit.”
Hannah stared, the words barely making sense. “Does that mean our entire friendship—”
“I don’t think so. Well, partly. You all have free will, you’re your own people, but she set up your lives. Just like she set up mine so that I’d have parents who would never accept me, and she could swoop in and be there for me. She didn’t tell me that part. I just realized it. Holy fuck.” They sat, their eyes wide. “I need a minute.”
“But—”
They shook their head, staring at the floor. “Okay, I’m gonna assume that we all have free will because if we didn’t, her plan would’ve worked. If everything had gone perfectly, then she wouldn’t have needed me so much, and I wouldn’t be betraying her.” They turned to Emily.
Emily sat next to Alys, wrapping an arm around them. “Alys, there’s no way anyone can control you. You’re pure chaos.”
“Thanks.”
“I mean it.”
“But…” They turned back to Hannah, blinking away tears. “She set everything up. Even had me make sure you all ended up at the same college.” They bit their lip, their eyes twitching. “She told me how she’d picked out your families, guiding things with the occasional spell. There’s no way that doesn’t include me. She really did do that.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m the one who should be sorry. That means the only reason you had your childhood, Emily, was so I could more easily befriend and manipulate you. I’m so sorry.”
Emily nodded, blinking away tears.
Hannah chewed her lip. This was insane. Hel had made her weak? But she was so strong. Oh. Had Hel made her afraid to fight? Had Hel made her want to be an accountant? She’d been so scared about how much her past life controlled her, and it hadn’t occurred to her that it could be someone else controlling what she did. Who even was she? “I’m gonna give you two a few minutes while I go tell April and Megan.” She could focus on that. It was doable. It wasn’t a full existential breakdown. “I don’t feel right keeping this from them for a second longer than I have to.”
“I’ll be okay,” Alys said. “I’ll explain everything I can.”
“Take your time.”
“Wait,” Alys said. “There’s one other thing I put together. I was really tempted not to say this one.”
Hannah turned back, narrowing her eyes. “What could be worse than all that?” How much more could there even be? Her entire life was a lie. Again!
They wet their lips, staring at the floor. “I think I kept you out of prison in high school. Hel had me pay off a few people in Seattle when you were that age. One of them was the DA. I didn’t know who it was for or why.”
“You…” Hannah gasped as understanding dawned on her. “Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” Emily asked. “You didn’t mean to hurt that girl, Hannah.”
“But I did it anyway. I’ve always wondered why nothing more happened. I wasn’t even suspended. I tried to move past it. But I knew that girl was suffering because of me. I couldn’t even bring myself to visit. Maybe I should’ve gone to prison.”
“No.” Alys’s voice was firm. “You didn’t know about your strength, and you didn’t deserve jail.”
“It was an accident,” Emily said. “And if Alys hadn’t acted, we’d never have met. This is the one good thing Hel did to you.”
“I paid off that girl’s hospital bills too,” they said, sounding defensive. It made sense. Of course Alys had hung on to what must’ve felt like one of the only good things they’d ever done.
“Still kinda the same thing,” Emily said. “Not giving you that one as a separate good deed.”
Hannah took a deep breath and nodded. “All right. Thank you for telling me. I’m gonna go tell everyone else.”
Emily got to her feet. “Let me.”
Hannah waved her off. “No. You two still need to commiserate and work past all this. I finally have an answer. Or more answers than I ever fucking wanted. Thanks for that. I might even be sincere. Now, let me give my best friends their answers.”
“Wait,” Alys said, their voice scarcely more than a croak.
Hannah turned back, leaning in. She’d already had her entire existence shaken. How could there possibly still be more?
“This one’s all me. Not even Hel. Um…” Alys turned to Emily. “Any chance I can have a minute alone with Hannah?”
Emily stared. “After that lead-in?”
“You did promise not to stab me.”
She gritted her teeth, meeting Alys’s gaze without a word.
Hannah said, “Emily, please. You two can talk after. This sounds important, and I don’t have the energy to fight, not after everything I just learned.”
Emily sighed, crossing her arms. “Fine. I’ll go grab another beer. You want one?”
“Yeah.”
She stared at Alys.
They blinked. “You’re offering me one?”
“If I’m not stabbing you and you’re not killing me, it means you’re still my best friend. So beer?”
They nodded, wiping their eyes.
Once the door closed, Hannah sat on the bed right next to Alys. She could take this. How bad could one more revelation be? “What is it?” she asked after a long silence.
Alys gulped, took a deep breath, opened their mouth, closed it, then tried again. “I mind-controlled you. One time. Just to make you go home.”
Hannah couldn’t even blink; she just kept staring. “You can do that?”
“Only if someone is very weak willed or compromised. You were freaking out, and I was trying to protect…no. I’m lying to myself now. I was trying to make sure my asset wasn’t compromised. I want to believe it was because I already cared about you, but I’m not willing to give myself that. You’d killed that mugger, and you were freaking out, so I gave you my keys and put a quick spell on you, telling you to drive home so I could deal with the police and keep you out of trouble. Apparently for the second time.”
“You what?” The words weren’t even r
egistering. The mugger had died? No, not had died. She’d killed him? “I what?”
“Hannah…” Alys reached out.
She scrambled away, putting her back to the wall as tears streamed down her face. “I ki…ki…” She couldn’t even say it.
“Fuck.” They screwed their eyes shut and nodded. “That was part of this confession too, but I didn’t mean to blurt it out like that. He had a gun on us, and you were standing up for me. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I ki…” She could say it. She had to. He deserved that much, didn’t he? “I killed him?” She blinked away tears, but they wouldn’t stop coming. “But this is why I don’t fight. This is why I can’t be trusted. I…” She’d lost control twice in her life. The first time, she’d nearly killed an innocent girl. The second time, she had killed a mugger who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe he’d have killed someone else. Maybe she’d saved someone’s life. But even that idea felt hollow. She was a murderer. What right did she have to judge anyone else?
“I’m so sorry. I swear, it was the only time I ever mind-controlled you. And I’ll never do it again. And I won’t keep anything from you ever again. It’s why I’m saying all of this. I don’t have any more secrets.”
Hannah wanted to punch them. She felt bile rise in her throat. There was that temper. The one that had cost someone their life. “Can she still walk?”
“Huh?” Alys blinked and shook their head. “Who?”
“The girl I did this to. You paid for her hospital bills. Is she okay?”
Alys bit their lip. That wasn’t a good sign. “Fuck. I’m not lying to you again. I just said that.” That was a much worse sign. “When I saw her, she was in a wheelchair, and she had brain damage. The doctors said she’d be able to live a normal life, but she wasn’t likely to make a full recovery.”
Hannah nodded. The god of strength had bashed a teenage girl’s head in. Of course she was brain damaged.
“I’m so sorry.”
“For what?” Hannah asked. “You’re not the monster here. I am.”
“No, you’re not.” Alys leapt to their feet and took a step but seemed to think better of it. “You didn’t know what you could do. Hel is the one who made you and didn’t tell you a thing. She’s the one who controlled all of this. I’m the one who did everything. Blame me. Blame her. None of it’s you.”
Thor: Daughter of Asgard Page 29
