by Alan Early
Loki turned when he heard the scuffle of feet on stone.
‘So,’ he said, ‘the Prodigal Son returns. Come to join me finally, Fenrir?’
‘I’ve come to stop you!’ With one great stride, he was next to the pole and reaching a hand out to Hati’s Bite. But before he could touch it, Loki was beside him, standing on the steps. The god picked up the topless man by the neck and slammed him back down on the cold stone floor, shaking the very foundations of the tower.
‘You’re too late, Fenrir,’ Loki said, walking around the man who was struggling to his feet, clutching his side. ‘You should have destroyed the Bite centuries ago, when you had your little change of heart. But you didn’t because deep down you were afraid of what I’d do to you when I came back if you did. Pitiful!’
Fenrir suddenly pounced, wrestling Loki to the ground. He held his arms and pinned his legs.
‘You don’t control me any more, Loki,’ he said, with a notable shake in his voice.
‘Is that right, Fenrir? Then why are you so scared of me?’
With a burst of green light, Loki was gone, replaced by a golden wolf. The sudden transformation sent Fenrir rolling across the rooftop.
‘I’m scared because I have something to live for,’ Fenrir answered him, back on his feet, hunched over and ready for another onslaught.
‘What?’ spat the Loki-wolf. ‘The daughter who hates you?’
‘Drysi is one thing,’ said Fenrir. As he spoke, they started to circle each other in tight arcs around the pole, keeping their eyes fixed on each other. ‘She’s good, deep inside. I know she is. And I think I can reach her. But there’s more.’
‘What else is there? I’m curious.’
‘My humanity.’
‘Ha!’
Arthur was rapidly losing consciousness. He could no longer concentrate on the proceedings; he couldn’t even feel the pain. His sole thoughts were of the hunt, of meat, of flesh, of obeying Wolf-father Loki.
‘You gave me all this power to make you an army,’ Fenrir continued, ‘but you never thought of how powerful being human could be.’
‘A human is a flea compared to a wolf or a god,’ Loki said with bile. ‘Transform now and fight me.’
‘No, Loki. I won’t. I won’t transform any more.’
‘Pathetic! You always were a useless wolf!’
And, with that, the Loki-wolf attacked.
The spell was spreading. Drysi could feel it, she could sense the dark magic radiating out from the tower. It was over the water now and soon it would reach land, transforming every last wretched human. She was looking down at the contorted bodies of Ash, Ellie and Ex, gloating, when the hammer stirred in her lap. At first it gave the smallest of tremors, so slight that she wasn’t even certain she’d felt it. But as she took a tighter grip on the handle, she could feel it start to pull upwards. Eventually, it was struggling in her fingers as the entire hammer strained to get free, to fly upwards. But Drysi’s fingers were strong and weren’t letting go any time soon.
Ash, like Arthur, was forgetting who she was. Her mind was erasing memories and emotions at a frightening speed. The hunt, she thought. Obey Wolf-father Loki, she thought.
The hammer, another part of her shouted. The hammer!
Her eyes had been fully transformed into a wolf’s and the vision through them was beyond anything she had ever experienced – crystal clear, everything sharply defined, the darkness suddenly bright. And through those eyes, she could see the hammer clearly from where she was. The girl – Drysi? Wasn’t that her name? – was clutching the hammer. Holding it back from … from someone. But who? And why?
Move, a part of Ash screamed. Move, move, move.
She didn’t know why, but she did. She crawled along the rough ground, a twisted mutation halfway between being a girl and becoming a wolf. Fur grew in patches along her skin, her face was long, her hands were part paws. But she kept moving, stumbling forward on uncertain and new legs.
Drysi never saw her coming. She was too focused on holding onto the hammer.
Ash reached her and sank her sparkling new fangs into the girl’s right shin. Of course Drysi didn’t feel it, but as Ash jerked backwards, unbalancing the girl, the sudden surprise loosened her fingers. The hammer soared skywards before Drysi could catch it again.
The boy on the roof could no longer remember his name. He could no longer remember his age, his family, his friends or where he grew up. He could no longer remember that he was a boy. If he could think at all, he would think of himself as a wolf being born. And he was midway there – a terrible halfling, part boy and part wolf.
Suddenly something landed on the roof next to him. It looked heavy, with a long handle and an iron head. He knew what it was; he knew it was important. He just couldn’t remember why.
And then–
A hammer! It was the hammer. It was his hammer. His: Arthur Quinn’s. That’s who I am: I’m Arthur Quinn. He reached out an arm only to find that grey fur had budded from the back of what had once been his hand and what had once been fingers had transformed into claws. He scratched the sharp claws against the handle of the hammer, struggling to get any sort of grip. But without a thumb or any proper fingers, it was impossible. Yet even the touch of it against his skin helped him clear his head.
A snarl rumbled out of his throat as he looked up at the other occupants of the rooftop. The golden wolf Loki was on top of the man Fenrir. His jaws were snapping at the man’s jugular, but Fenrir had grasped handfuls of fur on either side of the Loki-wolf’s face and was just managing to hold him off. However, Arthur could tell from the strain on his face that the man wouldn’t last much longer. The green light was still spreading from Hati’s Bite, the ceremony well underway.
I can’t let this happen, Arthur told himself determinedly as more spasms ricocheted across his spine. I have to ignore the pain. I have to concentrate. If I can just get my right hand back …
He shut his eyes, trying to block out the agony. He stopped listening to Loki or the cries of pain from Fenrir and the people on the ground below. He looked into the darkness inside his eyelids, focusing on the blackness, willing his body to return to human form. Then he thought of his dad. He could picture Joe making a Saturday-morning fry-up for the two of them. He imagined Ash coming to join them for breakfast, with Max and Ellie and even Ex. In his mind’s eye, he saw them all sitting around the kitchen table, chomping down on sausages and runny eggs and buttery toast. And then someone else joined them. His mother. She sat across the table from him, simply smiling.
Arthur smiled back, then opened his eyes and looked at the ribbon around his right wrist. The attached paw had changed back into a hand and the fingers were already coiled around the handle of the hammer. The whole right side of his body – from the shoulder to the foot – had become human again. Now he really was half boy, half wolf.
He struggled up onto his one good leg; his left one was still canine and awkward to stand on, but it allowed him just enough balance to hobble across the roof towards the pole. Out of the corner of his eye, Fenrir saw the boy moving. With a renewed burst of strength, he reached up and grabbed the back of Loki-wolf’s head and pulled as hard as he could, snapping its neck back painfully. Loki screeched in agony and transformed back to his godly form. As he did, Arthur reached the pole and the steps that led up to it. This part would be more difficult.
Another wave of pain hit him as the magic fought to continue his transformation. He drew a deep breath trying to summon the strength he needed to climb the steps. As he did he became aware that he was standing on something cold and metallic. He moved his foot and looked down. Just below him lay his pendant, glowing fiercely. He bent awkwardly and picked it up, looping it around his neck. Instantly he felt stronger, the pain of the transformation reduced, and he faced the steps with a new resolve.
Loki still had Fenrir pinned underneath him.
‘Transform!’ he commanded. ‘Transform, damn you!’
Suddenly f
lames burst from each hand. He pushed them into either side of Fenrir’s face and the man screamed in agony. But despite the inferno encasing his face, he shook his head over and back, refusing to become a wolf.
Arthur slowly hopped up the first step on his human leg, keeping his shaky balance by placing his wolf arm on the steps ahead. There were five steps to the top and he stumbled on the second one, his paw slipping.
Loki turned when he heard the claws scratch against the iron. His eyes widened when he saw Arthur on his feet, the hammer in his firm grip, balancing himself on the pole with his left front paw.
‘No!’ screamed the god, starting to race forward. But before he had got more than a step, two arms wrapped around his legs and he toppled to the roof. Fenrir grunted, using the last of his strength to hold on to the struggling god while Arthur hopped up to the next step and the next, without even taking the time to keep his balance. But he was weak and Loki was now truly enraged. The god writhed in Fenrir’s grip and blasted him in the face with a burst of green fire that threw Fenrir backwards, finally beaten.
Loki turned back just in time to see Arthur, on the final step, raise the hammer above his head and bring it down hard, right on top of Hati’s Bite. The whole thing exploded instantly, sending Arthur, the god and the man flying from the tower.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Arthur’s right eye fluttered open to the sight of a gleaming white hospital bedroom. He was lying in a bed with a couple of too-soft pillows propping up his head and a blanket tucked tightly around him and under the hard mattress. He couldn’t see out of his left eye and when he touched the bandage that had been wrapped around his face there, he found that the left side was numb. There was no other bed in the room and Joe was the only other occupant, staring out the window at an overcast day. From the view outside, Arthur guessed that they were on a high storey.
‘Dad?’ Arthur croaked. His throat was sore and dry.
Joe whipped around quickly, then ran to his son’s bedside. He took his hand and brushed some stray hairs out of his face. His eyes were puffy and bloodshot; either he hadn’t gotten much sleep or he’d been crying.
‘You’re awake!’
‘What …?’ He couldn’t manage to finish the question and broke into a fit of raspy coughing.
‘Shh, son. Here, have some water.’ He offered a small flask with a straw to Arthur, who sipped gratefully.
‘What happened?’ he asked – his voice still gravelly – when he was done drinking.
‘You were in an accident last night,’ Joe said, sitting down on the hard-backed chair next to the bed. ‘Your right shoulder was dislocated, but it’s been set, and your right leg was sprained. And …’
Arthur’s fingers instinctively went to the bandaged side of his face again. Although it was still mostly numb, he could feel the faint echo of pain there.
‘There was some shrapnel,’ Joe went on. ‘It scratched your cornea. Your left eye is … uh …’
He turned away, struggling to finish.
‘Blind,’ Arthur completed the sentence for him.
‘Yes. Yes, Arthur. I’m so sorry.’
‘It’s OK,’ Arthur said. He didn’t know how to feel or what to think. Part of him was devastated, the part that wanted to scream and cry and mourn his loss. The other part of him was just relieved he hadn’t turned into a wolf – that part of him figured that an eye was a small price to pay.
‘Are my friends OK?’
‘They’re fine, they’re outside. I’ll just get them.’ Joe went to leave but stopped before going through the door. ‘I’m really happy you’re safe,’ he said, then went out.
‘Me too,’ muttered Arthur.
A moment later, Ash, Max, Ellie and Ex entered the room. They rushed to the side of his bed.
‘How are you feeling?’ Ash inquired.
‘I’ve lost the sight in my left eye.’
‘We heard.’
‘Apart from that, I’m not too bad. So what happened?’
‘There was an explosion,’ Ellie told him. ‘You destroyed Hati’s Bite.’
‘I remember that,’ he said. ‘What happened next?’
‘We saw you, Loki and Fenrir thrown from the tower by the force of the blast,’ said Ash. ‘Even unconscious you still somehow kept a grip on the hammer as you fell and it lowered you safely to the ground like it did when it saved us from the lake. By the time we had finished checking on you, all of Loki’s army and Fenrir’s supporters had disappeared. When the tower blew up, most of them must have escaped down the hidden tunnels under the island. After we had a quick look around, we got you in the boat. You were unconscious and your eye was scratched but not bleeding too heavily. Your arm was, well … anyway, we knew we had to get back to Dublin as quickly as possible.’
‘Luckily Ex is a great driver,’ interrupted Ellie.
‘Right,’ Ash continued. ‘We brought you straight here to the hospital.’
‘And my hammer?’
‘I’ve got it safely hidden in my room right now.’
‘But what did you tell everyone?’
‘We pretended that I came home to find Ice missing again,’ said Ash. ‘I was so frantic looking around for her that I accidentally knocked over the coffee table, which smashed, and left the door open when I ran out. Eventually I discovered some older kids had taken her to that abandoned house nearby.’
‘The one we interrogated you in,’ Ellie interrupted again.
‘I said that these kids had been hassling us lately,’ Ash went on. ‘Anyway, you guys followed me and we watched as the bullies set up all these fireworks and bottle-bombs to throw at Ice. But you went in and saved her, Arthur – just as one of the bottle-bombs went off, injuring you.’
‘But what about Ice? I mean if she’s Drysi …’ he trailed off.
‘Easy. We told everyone that the fireworks spooked Ice so much that she ran off when you got blown backwards and we haven’t been able to find her since.’
‘And they bought all that?’
‘They did when they saw the fireworks that Ex set off after we dropped you here!’ Ellie said proudly.
‘Mom and Dad could see why Stace and Max called the Gardaí. They were still pretty paranoid after the museum raid,’ Ash added.
‘What else happened?’ Arthur asked.
‘Well, we called in a private tip to Detective Morrissey to tell him where he’d find the stolen artefacts.’
‘In a magically hidden tower?’
‘It’s not hidden any more,’ Ellie told him. ‘The spell must have been destroyed when the wolves fled. Guess they’ll be wondering where it came from, but at least they can’t trace it back to us.’
‘So what happened to Loki? And Drysi? And Fenrir?’
‘They all went missing after the explosion,’ Ash explained. ‘We don’t know where Loki or Fenrir fell and we couldn’t find any trace of either of them afterwards, so we have to assume they both survived and got away. ’
‘And after I destroyed the Bite, we turned back into humans,’ Arthur said.
‘That’s right,’ said Ellie. ‘And luckily, the magic never actually reached past the lake.’
‘What about the other wolves? Did they turn back?’
‘No. We saw some of them running off through the forest. Destroying the Bite had no effect on them, probably because they’d been turned fully already.’
‘So they’re all still out there?’
‘But scattered and injured, with no one to lead them.’
‘We won, though?’ Arthur said.
‘We won.’
‘And Ash learned some interesting facts,’ Ellie said.
Ash told him all she’d heard from Fenrir: how he’d turned good over the years and how Loki’s third child was still hidden somewhere out there.
Ash finished, ‘If we find Fenrir, he could tell us where to find the girl.’
‘How will we ever manage that?’ Arthur sank down further into the mattress, feeling disillusioned.<
br />
‘We actually might have a lead on that,’ said Ellie. ‘Ash lost her webcam during the battle in the hall and I saw Fenrir put it in his pocket. I’m not sure if we can use it, but it might help.’
‘It’s GPS-enabled so if he still has it we should be able to track him down,’ added Ash.
‘What do we know about this third child?’
‘The legends don’t say much about her,’ said Ellie. ‘She’s known as Hell’s Keeper and it’s said that she has the power to unleash Hell on Earth.’
‘Great!’ Arthur said sarcastically. ‘Will we ever be done saving the world?’ The five of them laughed – grateful that they were still alive but also to mask the fear they all felt.
The doctors kept Arthur in the hospital for the next week. They ran various tests on him, changed his bandages every couple of hours and gave him strong painkillers to numb the throbbing ache in his left eye. He only got to see the damage for himself on the third day. A nurse was changing his bandages and he asked for a mirror. Reluctant at first, she eventually conceded and got him a small one. A deep red scar ran across his left eye, starting just over his eyebrow and ending on his cheekbone. It was held together with black thread and was starting to scab already. A black line traced straight across the eyeball itself, slicing through the cornea. The rest of the eye was red, flushed with blood.
‘All right,’ he said steadily to the nurse, ‘thank you.’ But as she rewrapped the bandages, he kept picturing the injured eye in his head.
Life became more normal over the next few days. The others went to school daily and visited him often. They spoke little of their recent adventure; it frightened them to think about what had almost happened to their friends and families. When they did talk about it – usually in hushed tones – they spoke of Ash’s attempts to track down Fenrir with the GPS-cam. The camera was a lost blip, constantly ‘out of range’. They tried to work out other ways to find Fenrir, but to no avail.
