The Entirely True Story of the Unbelievable FIB

by Adam Shaughnessy

  “I came to save you. Not like you needed it, though. How in the world—in any world—did you get away?”

  “It was the squirrel,” ABE said, still sounding stunned.

  “Ratatosk? You saw him?” Pru looked around. “Where is he?”

  “He stayed behind to keep an eye on Loki and the giants. Loki!” ABE grabbed Pru’s sleeve. “Pru, Fay was Loki from the stories. The trickster. Remember? I figured it out from her name—his name. Anyway, he was in charge of the giants all along. He found out the Eye of Odin was at the top of Yggdrasil. He must have gotten the Middleton Stone somehow.”

  “Yeah,” Pru said, coughing into her hand. “Somehow. But that’s not important right now. You were telling me how you got away.”

  “Well, Ratatosk found me and he chewed through the ropes holding me. Then I just snuck off. It was the weirdest thing, actually. As soon as we got to Asgard, it was almost like Loki and the giants forgot all about me. They dragged me along, but half the time it was like they didn’t even remember I was there.”

  “That makes sense, actually,” Pru said. She explained how she and ABE were unnoticeable on Asgard.

  “That explains a lot. But what about you? How did you get here?”

  “Mister Fox brought me in the Henhouse.”

  “That’s great! Where is he? Can he take us home?”

  “He’s back that way.” Pru gestured. “We could go back, but . . .”

  “But what? What else would we do?”

  “ABE, I found Thor. I talked to him. He told me all about Loki. He said that if Loki gets the Eye of Odin, then it will show him that his destiny is to start a war that will destroy all three worlds. All of them, ABE, even ours! Thor thinks that if Loki sees that, if he knows it’s going to happen no matter what, then he’ll start the war now instead of maybe thousands of years in the future.”

  ABE slumped, his mouth open.

  “I know it’s scary,” Pru said. “And I’ll totally understand if you want to go back to the Henhouse. But I think someone has to stop Loki . . . and I think we’re the only ones who can.”

  “But, Mister Fox . . .”

  “Can’t. He would if he could, but he can’t. Long story. But I think that there’s a good chance I can sneak in and steal the Eye. We’re unnoticeable, remember?” Pru tried to smile, but the thought of what awaited her made it hard.

  “Yeah, unnoticeable.” ABE ran a hand through his hair. He sighed. “Well, if you’re going, I’m going with you. I guess. I can’t let you go alone.”

  “You’re sure?” Pru tried not to sound as relieved as she felt.

  “I’m sure,” ABE said, and his voice barely squeaked at all as he stood up straighter. “If it will stop a war, we have to keep Loki from the Eye.”

  “Mister Fox was right about you. You do see the truth of things. And I was wrong. ABE, about the stuff I said in the schoolyard the other day. I’m sorry. You’re as brave as anyone I know.”

  “You wouldn’t say that if you knew how scared I am right now. Now come on, before we both chicken out.”

  They moved as quickly as they could without making too much noise. Fortunately, the moss-­covered ground softened their steps. Before long, ABE put a hand on Pru’s arm and gestured to a break between two roots ahead.

  Peering through the crack, Pru saw roughly a dozen giants gathered in a small clearing, a spot where the lattice of roots overhead thinned enough to reveal the sky beyond. The giants all looked up at the great root of Yggdrasil. Pru’s eyes were drawn elsewhere. She focused on another person in the clearing, a person she’d spent time with almost every day for the past week but had never seen before in her life.

  Loki.

  He wore a rich green and brown tunic fit for a king, and his black hair curled around his face. Oddly, there was something of Fay in his appearance. If Pru hadn’t known better, she’d have guessed they were mother and son.

  Loki’s appearance surprised Pru. She had expected him to look like Thor and Odin in his true form. But they had been all muscles and hair. Loki, with his smooth face and slim build, appeared to be cut from a different cloth. Which, Pru remembered, he was. Loki was a giant and not a god.

  Except . . . he didn’t look like the giants gathered in the clearing, either. They bore a closer resemblance to Thor and Odin, only the giants were even rougher looking.

  And bigger?

  Pru wasn’t sure about that. Time and distance worked differently in Worlds of Myth. Pru wondered if maybe size did, too. Perhaps beings from Asgard could appear whatever size they wanted. If that was true, Pru wondered why Loki chose to appear the same size as the mortals and gods and not the giants.

  “Bah!” one of the giants shouted. “I’m growing tired of this waiting, godling.”

  ABE stiffened and Pru turned to him and raised a questioning eyebrow.

  “That’s Gristling,” ABE said, swallowing. “He’s the one Mister Fox banished from the fort that day. He’s kind of holding a grudge. When Fay, I mean Loki, first brought me to him, Gristling kept asking if he could eat me.”

  “Be patient,” Loki said to the giant. “Once I have the Eye of Odin, I’ll have the foreknowledge necessary to shape the future to my—our—liking.”

  “So you say. You say many things. Some of us think you talk too much, godling.”

  “Have a care, Gristling,” Loki hissed. “I told you never to call me that.”

  Before Gristling could respond, one of the other giants called out, “Look!” and pointed to the sky.

  Pru followed the giant’s outstretched arm. There, high above, another giant clung to Yggdrasil’s side the way a rock climber clings to a steep cliff face.

  “At last!” Loki cried.

  “Oh no,” ABE whispered. “The giant they sent to get the Eye is coming back.”

  Gristling stepped to the front of the gathering. “What is the fool doing?”

  Pru squinted. The giant on Yggdrasil appeared to be swatting at something about his head. He looked like someone trying to drive off an irritating fly.

  “Ratatosk!” Pru whispered, feeling a flutter of hope in her chest.

  “But what’s he doing?” ABE asked.

  Pru wondered the same thing. Ratatosk was no match for a giant, though Pru had to admit he seemed to be holding his own. The frost giant’s position was precarious. He could only spare one hand to defend himself as Ratatosk danced in and out, running along the giant’s back, neck, and shoulders and escaping before the giant could grab him.

  Pru understood Ratatosk’s intentions a moment later when a pouch that must have been tied around the frost giant’s neck broke free. The cord obviously had fallen victim to Ratatosk’s teeth.

  “No!” Loki’s cry cut through the air as the pouch spilled its contents and a small object, glowing with reflected sunlight, bounced down the twining network of roots. Ratatosk chased after it, hurtling at breakneck speed as he tried to catch what could only be the Eye of Odin.

  “It’s going too fast.” Pru struggled to keep her voice low as she clutched at ABE’s sleeve. “And it’s half his size. He won’t be able to stop it!”

  Apparently reaching the same conclusion, Ratatosk took a different approach. As the Eye neared the ground, Ratatosk burst into a sprint and, leaping, collided with the bouncing Eye, striking it with his head and changing its direction with all the skill of a World Cup soccer star. The Eye picked up even more speed. It hit the ground and bounded away from the clustered giants.

  “Stop him!” Gristling shouted, as Ratatosk leapt from the tree after the Eye.

  Weaving in and out and through the bumbling giants as they tried to follow his progress, Ratatosk used his head, legs, and even his tail to keep the Eye rolling away from the others. He’d soon broken free of the crowd of giants, who couldn’t keep track of his wild movements. It seemed the perfect plan, except . . .

  “It’s slowing,” ABE said.

  He was right. Ratatosk had bought some time, but now that the Eye wa
s on level ground it was slowing down. Pru felt Ratatosk’s panic as each new attempt to control the direction and momentum of the Eye met with less success. He’d managed to get the Eye clear of Loki and the giants momentarily, but they’d soon regroup and catch him.

  She had no choice. Pru burst from the tree line and shouted, “Ratatosk, this way!”

  So much for unnoticeable.

  A shout arose from the giants as they saw her and, for just a moment, her eyes locked with Loki’s. Even with everything happening around her, she couldn’t help enjoying his shocked expression at her unexpected appearance.

  “Shortwit!” Ratatosk said. His relief at seeing her was clear, despite his choice of greeting, as he leapt up onto Pru’s shoulder when she bent to scoop up the Eye. “You made it. It’s about time.”

  “You’re welcome,” Pru said as she turned back to where she’d left a very startled ABE. Pushing past ABE and plunging into the roots of Yggdrasil, she shouted, “Run!”

  CHAPTER

  23

  PRU WAS GRATEFUL FOR TWO THINGS AS SHE AND ABE ran. First, that Asgard’s magical environment allowed her to run just as fast as she could without getting winded. Second, for the first time in her life, she was glad to be a bit small for her age. She’d purposely set off toward a spot where Yggdrasil’s roots grew particularly close together. Her small size and ABE’s allowed them to dash through the jungle of growth—leaping, ducking, and dodging obstacles as they went. The giants lacked that agility and their brute force only got them so far. Pru heard shouts and curses behind her as the giants tried to tear their way through the dense tangle.

  “Follow me!” Pru called to ABE as branches and roots passed by and between them in a blur. “I can lead us back to the Henhouse.”

  “Okay. You know, we might actually get away with—”

  Before ABE could finish his thought, an enormous hand burst through the branches and grabbed him by the coat, lifting him from the ground.

  “ABE!” Pru stopped short, forcing a suddenly unbalanced Ratatosk to jump clear of her shoulder. She started to turn back toward ABE when another hand broke through the tangle of roots and made a blind grab for her. She had no choice but to veer away as the grasping hand drove her farther from ABE and Ratatosk.

  Looking back over her shoulder, Pru saw that ABE had managed to wriggle free from his jacket and drop to the ground. With relief, she returned her attention to the path ahead and saw a patch nearby where the roots grew so closely they formed a warren of limbs and branches for her to rabbit her way through. It would force her farther from ABE, but she had no choice.

  “ABE!” she shouted. “Try to get back to where we met! The Henhouse is in the opposite direction of the clearing. Just go straight. Ratatosk, go with him!”

  Pru had the looking glass. If she had to, she could always use it to backtrack the way she’d come (assuming she escaped the giants). Without Ratatosk, ABE would be lost. She didn’t know if ABE heard her, or if he would be able to find the spot where they had met. But it was all she could do as she slipped through a particularly tight space.

  Pru scrambled through the bramble of roots and limbs. When she realized that the sounds of pursuit had faded, she settled into a shaded burrow, surrounded by the musty scents of dirt and damp wood. She glanced at her watch, figuring she could stay there until the giants gave up or passed her. Then she would circle back and try to find ABE on her way to the Henhouse.

  In the dim light of her hiding place, Pru’s eyes were drawn to the strange artifact now in her possession. The Eye of Odin was a small milky-­white object about the size of a tennis ball. Pru turned it in her hands, looking for signs of damage from its fall from the heights of Yggdrasil. As she studied the Eye, she became dimly aware that the sounds of pursuit seemed to be growing louder. The Eye captivated her, though. The closer she looked, the more it appeared that there was movement beneath the Eye’s surface. No sooner had the thought occurred to her than a darker mass surfaced from the interior of the Eye, a black spot surrounded by an iris of blue flecked with gold.

  Only then did Pru remember that, according to the story, the Eye of Odin was Odin’s actual eye. A wave of revulsion swept through Pru, but she couldn’t release the Eye. It held her in its gaze. Pru stared into the Eye of Odin, and the Eye of Odin stared back at her.

  Pru had remained in one place too long. Distracted by what the Eye had shown her, she didn’t hear the sounds of the giants as they closed in on her, step by deadly step. By the time she was aware of them, it was too late.

  Gristling ripped apart the roots that were supposed to hide her and grabbed her with one massive hand. Pru kicked and screamed and tried to use her elbows, but it did no good as the giant carried her back to Loki.

  When they arrived at the clearing, Gristling tossed Pru to the ground. She landed next to ABE. Ratatosk was there, too.

  Pru dropped the Eye of Odin as she hit the ground. It rolled again, only this time it rolled right to Loki’s feet. He picked it up with a look of awe and triumph on his face. The frost giants flinched as Loki touched the Eye, clearly afraid of Odin’s magic.

  Loki, Gristling, and Pru exchanged some few, final words, but they did nothing to change Pru’s fate or the fate of her friends. They were surrounded. There was no escape. Gristling closed in for the kill.

  Pru screamed.

  Pru knelt in the darkness of her hiding place, safe and alone. Sweat poured down her neck.

  What had happened?

  She glanced at the glowing ball in her hands and then quickly looked away. She’d peered into the Eye of Odin, and the Eye had shown her a vision of the future.

  But it had all seemed so real!

  Events had unfolded as if she were living them. The only difference was that there had been no sound. She’d only seen the future; she hadn’t heard it. (Pru supposed that made sense. After all, it wasn’t the Ear of Odin.)

  Pru shook her head, trying to erase the memory. A glance at her watch told her the vision had only lasted moments, despite how long it had seemed.

  She was breathing heavily. She knew so from the rapid rise and fall of her chest. She couldn’t hear herself gasping, because her other senses were slow to awaken after the vision. She had to calm down. Now that she’d seen the future, she told herself, maybe she could change it. She would change it.

  An unwelcome voice surfaced in Pru’s memory.

  “All stories are written in stone.” Hilde had said so at Winterhaven House.

  As her hearing returned to normal, Pru began to be aware of the sound of creaking limbs and breaking wood. Still somewhat dazed, she struggled to understand the threat.

  Pru had remained in one place too long. Distracted by what the Eye had shown her, she didn’t hear the sounds of the giants as they closed in on her, step by deadly step. By the time she was aware of them, it was too late.

  Gristling ripped apart the roots that were supposed to hide her and grabbed her with one massive hand. Pru kicked and screamed and tried to use her elbows, but it did no good as the giant carried her back to Loki.

  When they arrived at the clearing, Gristling tossed Pru to the ground. She landed next to ABE. Ratatosk was there, too.

  Pru dropped the Eye of Odin as she hit the ground. It rolled again, only this time it rolled right to Loki’s feet. He picked it up with a look of awe and triumph on his face. The frost giants flinched as Loki touched the Eye, clearly afraid of Odin’s magic.

  “Finally,” Loki said. “Finally, I hold my own fate in my hands.” He tightened his fist around the Eye and turned to Pru. He managed to look sincere. “Prudence Potts. You, young lady, have an extraordinary talent for finding yourself in the middle of things that don’t involve you and are certain to land you in a great deal of trouble. On any other day, it’s a talent I would applaud. I’m truly sorry you and ABE stumbled into this. I bore you no bad will. I rather liked you both, in fact. You’re clever. I don’t often get to enjoy the company of clever people.”

&n
bsp; “Does that mean you’ll let us go?” ABE asked.

  “No,” Loki said, glancing at Gristling. “I’m afraid that’s not an option, ABE.”

  “Enough!” Gristling roared. “You have your prize, godling, now I’ll have mine. These two shamed me in battle. I’ll be rid of them, and then we’ll move on to what must happen next.”

  Gristling bore down on them, just as he had in Pru’s vision.

  “I will rend the flesh from your bones. I will clean my teeth with your remains!”

  Pru searched desperately for a means of escape, but it was no use. She knew just what would happen next. Loki and Gristling would speak, then she would, and then Gristling would move in for the kill and Pru would scream and that would be the end.

  Scream.

  She would scream.

  “You’d be surprised by how many of life’s little problems can be solved by taking either a closer look at the problem—or a closer look at yourself.” Those were Mister Fox’s words.

  She.

  Would.

  Scream.

  “Wait,” Loki ordered.

  “Why?” Gristling roared his frustration. “I will not be denied.”

  “No, of course you won’t,” Loki said. “You’re a fierce, grizzled warrior, and you mean a terrible fate for these two children. Is that right?”

  “Yes!”

  “I thought as much.” Loki sounded bored. But curiosity shone in his eyes as they moved from Gristling to Pru. “What I find interesting is that I’m sure these two children must realize your terrible intentions, too. So has it occurred to you, Gristling, to wonder why the girl is smiling?”

  Gristling crouched to peer into Pru’s face. She had to turn her head away from his cold and fetid breath. Her smile remained firmly in place.

  “Perhaps the brat is slow and does not understand her doom,” he growled.

  “Slow? This one? I don’t think so.” Stepping between Gristling and Pru, Loki said, in almost a whisper, “Tell me, Pru. I must know. Why are you smiling?”

  “Well,” Pru said, “I guess you could say I’m smiling for three reasons.” ABE and Ratatosk were looking at her with nearly as much curiosity as Loki. When Loki arched an eyebrow, Pru explained.