“That was all Hel,” Hannah said quickly, pleadingly, desperate for Forseti to believe her. “She was controlling you, lying to you. It’s not your fault.”
They shrugged and offered her a weak smile before turning back to Forseti, their expression hardening. “And Hel must be the one who did all this tonight. It doesn’t matter that I didn’t help this time. I’ve done far too much for her. I’m sorry for everything I did in this life and my last. If you’re gonna kill me, please make it quick. No tying me up under a venomous snake or anything.”
“What?” Hannah said, tears blinding her. Of course they were going to make a reference to another myth she didn’t understand, even while talking about their execution. “Alys…” What could she say? She’d just met them. She couldn’t lose them now.
“The hell they will,” Emily said, her voice low as she reached for her sword. “I won’t let anyone lay a finger on you.”
Magni eyed Emily curiously. “That reminds me, since when did you start carrying a sword?”
“Is that really that important right now?”
“I can wait,” Alys said.
“I just thought that, maybe, it’d be fun if I trained you,” Magni said. “Modi and Thrudr would be happy to help, I’m sure. I never really had the opportunity to spend time with you doing something I was good at. Or much of anything after I trampled your garden.”
Was this really the time? Wait, no, it obviously wasn’t, unless he was up to something. Magni was trying to break the tension, to cool people’s tempers. Was he trying to save Alys?
“Sure. I’d like that,” she said, trying to force a smile. “But first, please talk Forseti into not killing my best friend.”
“Does he really mean that much to you?” he asked. That was what it was. He didn’t care about Alys, but he cared about his family and the people who mattered to them. It was the same reason Hannah had risked her job to prove herself and to help get the apples that would keep him alive.
“They do.”
Magni leaned to his right, whispering in Forseti’s ear.
“You can’t be serious.”
He whispered again.
“Very well. Thor,” he called, his voice ringing throughout the hall.
“Yes?” Hannah asked.
“Sif.”
Emily huffed, crossing her arms. “What?”
“The two of you plead for me to spare Loki, despite him having done more to harm you than any other, save for my father. If you will vouch for him, put your lives on the line alongside his, then, and only then, can he be forgiven and allowed back into Idavollr.”
“Don’t,” Alys shouted, jumping to their feet. “I’m not subjecting you to that. I won’t. This is my problem, and I deserve it.”
“I’ll do it,” Hannah said. She couldn’t lose Alys. Maybe she really had forgiven them.
“Any day,” Emily added. “They, not he, mean the world to me, and if one of us was going to end up hanging, I always assumed it would be together.”
“All right, then. Thrudr, Tyr, is this acceptable?”
“Me?” Megan asked.
“You better behave,” Thrudr snarled at Alys. “If you bring harm to my parents, you’ll wish you only had a venomous serpent to deal with.”
“Noted.”
“Can I hit them a few times first?” Megan asked.
Forseti nodded. “I have no objections.”
“Hey!” Alys stared at Megan for a moment before dropping their hands to their sides. “Yeah, fine, I deserve it.”
“At least look like you’ll put up a fight.”
“Fuck that. You can hit me or not, but I’m not making it a game for you.”
Glaring, Megan slugged them a single time in the jaw, hard enough to send them back a few paces, rubbing their rapidly forming bruise.
“Ow!”
“Want another?”
“No.”
Megan smirked and took a seat. “I feel better.”
Forseti grinned and gestured for the Valkyries who had stuck around to come inside. “Very well. If we’re to have more Aesir, we should have drinks.”
Hannah gulped. They’d been trying to kill her a few minutes ago, but they seemed normal now. And she’d been mind-controlled too. Who was she to judge?
Hildr looked so relieved, she hugged the Valkyries. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
Thrudr beamed at them. “That was terrifying.”
Forseti sighed. “Take my father…take this imposter to the dungeons.” He gestured to the fake Baldur.
They’d really managed to take care of it. They’d saved the day. And they could finally have that celebration.
✥ ✥ ✥
“Thank you for the drinks, and the goat, but we really do need to leave.” Hannah dragged Emily to her feet. It was already too late to make it back in time for her shift, but Hannah wanted to make sure that Emily would be ready for the next day’s. “And thanks for not killing Alys.”
“Other than that last part, it was our pleasure. Though I will admit, that traitor’s cooking was far better than any attempts in his last life. I suppose letting them live for now isn’t quite as painful as I’d expected,” Forseti said, grasping her wrist. “Is there no way I can convince you all to stay? Tyr, we need you more than ever now that we’ve been infiltrated. And we need to make it into Asgard.”
“We’ll be back,” Hannah said. “We have plenty of time to get to Asgard. And it sounds like it’s going to take a while.”
“Yeah. Lots of rubble to clear and all that,” Emily said. “I’ll be a big help.”
“I’ll swing by from time to time,” Megan said. “Maybe I can bring the criminal justice system up to contemporary standards.”
“So more abusive?” Emily asked.
“Even better standards, then.”
“Father?” Forseti asked. He looked to a decidedly tipsy April. “Must you leave? The false-you was my closest adviser. I don’t know what to do without you.”
She set a hand on his shoulder and almost fell as she tried to climb off the bench and stand next to him. “You’ll be fine. I believe in you.”
“Will you visit?”
She nodded. “Of course.” She looked around, managing to trip on nothing. “How could I not?”
“But we need to leave for now,” Hannah said.
“Surely we have more to offer you here,” Thrudr said. “This is your home.”
“So is Portland,” Emily said.
“But you’re welcome to visit,” Hannah added. “We’ll get you phones, and we can all drink and have Alys’s and April’s cooking, and we can introduce you to modern technology. I bet you’ll love television.”
Magni clapped a massive hand on Thrudr’s shoulder. “We’ll be there. How about tomorrow?”
“Emily has work, but what about Wednesday? We’ll find some board games.”
“Very well,” Modi said.
“I can’t wait,” Thrudr added.
Magni grinned. “I’ll bring our beer, and we can see which is really better.”
“But why?” Forseti asked. “What’s keeping you there?”
“Internet and people not wanting to kill me?” Alys offered.
“Not you!”
Hannah squeezed Emily’s hand. “I have a job I love and a life I’m not willing to leave behind. I promise, I’ll always come back, but my other life means just as much to me.” She tugged on Emily, guiding her closer, so she could reach Alys, and took their hand too. “There’s too much to leave behind.” She hoped that wasn’t part of Hel’s plans. Who knew what was or wasn’t? Maybe Hel wanted them to take over and stay in Idavollr, or maybe she wanted them as far away as possible. All Hannah could do was what she felt was right. It was her life.
“Father?” he asked.
April leaned against Megan. After a few drinks, she’d either be unable to stand or dancing like a madwoman. It was never consistent. “I have grad school. I’m gonna change the world. Just like yo
u’re trying to.” A look that could only be described as parental pride appeared on her face. Hannah had seen it enough times to know it. They were both politicians, or were at least trying to be. It made sense. And it was April’s life too. Though it would really suck if Hel had managed to manipulate her into politics, but if that was the case, Hel would no doubt want those politics to be in Idavollr, not Portland.
“I think you have this place well in hand,” Megan said. The evidence seemed to suggest otherwise, as the new people had caught the spy, but Hannah decided not to make that point. “I have two years of experience I have to earn before I can apply to the FBI, so I can’t go running off. I don’t think they’ll accept you as a reference. Pretty tough to run a background check in another world.”
“What about you, Mother?” Magni asked. “Maybe you could stay, at least for a while. You did want to train with us, right? We’ll make you into an even greater warrior than Father.”
Hannah felt the urge to object, but she had no desire to be a warrior. She just hated turning down a challenge. The rest of it dawned on her a few seconds later as she realized Emily seemed to be seriously considering the offer. “You wouldn’t. Right? You wouldn’t just leave.” She’d gone to all that effort a few minutes ago to keep Alys around, and she could lose Emily? Granted, Alys would’ve died. and Emily would be a couple hours away, but it was still really bad.
“Of course not.” Emily beamed at Magni. “I promise, I’ll come back. Often. If it’ll let me be strong enough to protect Hannah, then I’ll train every single day. But I think Hannah would kill me if I stayed.”
“I wouldn’t…” she whispered. She wouldn’t kill anyone. Not again. Never again. But she couldn’t hide her relief that Emily was staying with her.
Emily laced her fingers between Hannah’s. “I’m not running off anywhere. I’ll just commute a bunch.”
“We can train on Midgard as well,” Thrudr said. “It gives us all the more reason to visit.”
“And it’ll give you time to try my beer,” Emily said. “Did I ever make beer before?”
Modi shook his head. “You made wine.”
“Well, I’m gonna learn to make beer.”
Thrudr hugged her, the handle of her sword. “I can’t wait.”
She hugged her back. The whole affair devolved into a hug fest. It took a considerable amount of work to pry Forseti away from April, especially since he was the main thing keeping her upright, but they finally managed and bid a tearful farewell before they all climbed into the car and made their way back to Earth.
The car ride was silent for the better part of an hour. “Well,” Megan finally said. “That was fun.”
“You shot someone,” April said, shock still clear in her voice.
“You shot someone,” Alys repeated, sounding impressed.
Hannah turned in her seat to look back and saw Megan nod from her spot in the middle. “Yep. Didn’t think I’d actually get to do that. You know, most police officers never fire their gun.”
“Good,” Emily muttered.
“Did we just save the world?” April asked.
“It doesn’t really feel like it,” Hannah said.
“I shot someone.”
“We are well aware.” April’s tone showed even more scorn.
“He’s fine. At least until they interrogate and execute him. I mean, he will have to verify that he was working for Hel. The other gods wanted me to do it for them.” Megan reclined, lacing her fingers behind her head. “I almost did. Would’ve been interesting. Now, that’s some on-the-job experience you can’t get these days.”
April stared. “Do I need to have you checked into a psych ward? You should be less okay.”
“Again, I didn’t kill him. But he was some undead monster who was trying to trick our—I guess—family into reviving the evil goddess who manipulated our entire lives. Forgive me for not caring about his fate.”
Hannah opened her mouth and closed it again. When she put it like that, what the hell was there even left to say? Maybe they really had saved the day. They’d stopped a villainous plan in Idavollr. They’d prevented someone who was willing to kill them from being brought back to life. And they’d kept Alys from being murdered. They’d even managed to avoid hurting any of the mind-controlled Valkyries. Plus, now that she had the belt, they could start heading into Asgard and get back the apples to keep the gods alive. It had been one hell of a crazy month.
“You did good,” Alys said. “I honestly didn’t think this would work so well. Especially that bit where they were gonna kill me. That part really had me on edge.”
“Right?” Megan agreed.
April shook her head and let out an exasperated sigh.
“I wouldn’t have let them kill you,” Hannah said. She hated the edge her voice had. What would she have done to stop everyone? Could she have hurt her family? She seemed capable of almost anything.
“They’d have to get through me,” Emily added. She brought the car to a stop. “Mind carrying us the rest of the way, honey? I’d rather not smash into the curb.”
“Right! Sorry.” Normally, she was already hopping out of the car the second they got close. Picking up cars was just so fun.
The world shimmered and shifted as she carried the car through the portal, and they were back home in Portland, where everything was normal, and bridges weren’t made of light. It was always bittersweet leaving that place, but this was where her life was.
“So,” Emily asked as Hannah climbed back into the car. “Where does everyone want me to drop them off?”
✥ ✥ ✥
Emily pulled the Nissan into its usual spot in front of the run-down little house on Eighty-eighth. They’d dropped Megan and April off at their homes downtown, so Alys, Emily, and Hannah climbed out of the car. The house looked even smaller after they’d turned down yet another invitation to live in a giant castle.
As Hannah caught up to Emily and took her hand, she noticed something different about her. There was a long red cut running from the right side of her jaw up to her brow. How had she missed it? Had she been too busy staring at Alys all night? “Emily,” she said, way too loudly for the middle of the night outside their landlord’s window. “What happened to your face?”
“Huh? Why?”
Alys snickered. “’Cause it’s killing me.”
“That doesn’t even work with how I phrased it.” Hannah glared at them and gestured at Emily.
Emily pulled out her phone and stared at it. “Oh. Wow. I look badass.”
Hannah faltered. That was her response? She wasn’t even a little worried?
“Damn,” Alys mouthed.
“But you were hurt,” Hannah said.
“It’s fine. I was fighting Valkyries. They’re a lot better at this than me. It just shows how much I need training.”
Alys slapped her on the back. “Great way to view it. You’ll be a Valkyrie yet.”
Emily grinned, and Hannah rolled her eyes. She would never understand this macho crap.
“How’re we going to do this?” Alys asked.
“Go around back, head inside,” Emily said.
They rolled their eyes. “You know what I mean. This place. With the three of us. We could go to my place. I’m sure that wouldn’t be suspicious. I know it’s a small house, but I own it.”
Emily groaned. “All the times you could’ve offered, and you wait until I’m halfway through a year-long lease? Wasn’t even worth the deal for a free week, but I wanted to make sure the fucker wouldn’t raise the price on me one month.”
“Well, in my defense, I had to keep my rendezvous with a manipulative goddess secret.”
“Not much of an excuse.”
Hannah chuckled. “Possibly the worst excuse.”
With a heavy sigh, Alys turned to look at Hannah, running a hand through their rainbow-colored hair. “Well, I’m trying to be better now. I’m sure it would be believable having us live there. Maybe.”
“It�
��s fine. You don’t need to worry.”
“Do you still need to pretend to be Emily?” Hannah asked. It made an easy excuse to have Alys around, but she wanted it for more than just a cover. Damn, was she falling for them already? Maybe it hadn’t been Thor. She really did just fall in love fast. “Hel is kinda stuck in Hel now. What does it matter?”
Alys shook their head. “She may have mind-controlled Valkyries in Idavollr, and who knows what else she can do? She had a backup plan she’d never even mentioned to me. There might be dozens more. She had decades to prepare, and there are so many things I did for her that I’ve heard nothing more on since. No, I’m not letting her know I betrayed her. Not if it means she’ll kill you.”
“You don’t think she already knows?” Hannah asked.
Alys shrugged, looking defeated. “You can’t see what the people you mind-control are doing. But I’m still hoping it was Baldur casting that spell. I don’t know. This entire thing doesn’t make sense. I was never able to do it from a range, I’ve tried. I don’t know how either of them would. So either she’s holding out on me—which she absolutely is—or she has more people that I don’t know about. But no matter what the answer is, it’s not safe. She’ll try to kill us again if she suspects a thing, and we have no idea what she knows. I should stick with what she told me to do, and then we can see how she reacts.”
“What if Fake Baldur tells her?” Emily asks.
They gave the faintest smirk, which was more disconcerting than it should’ve been. Their mouth hadn’t been quite that large a minute earlier. “Your daughter will be taking care of that soon. As much as I pissed her off and with that look in her eyes, I’ve little doubt of it. He won’t have the chance to say anything, and Hildr will be watching him until then.”
“What did you do?” Emily asked.
“Me?” Hand over their heart, their smile far more innocent as their mouth shrank back down. “Whatever do you mean?”
Thor: Daughter of Asgard Page 32
