Magic and Shadows: A Collection of YA Fantasy and Paranormal Romances

by T. M. Franklin

  “Because that will mean their army grows and they could set their sights on us next,” Loki informed her.

  “Let them come!” Tyr yelled eagerly. “They will meet their end by my blade!”

  Several others cheered with him, the bloodlust running high within the Aesir.

  “We won’t be able to defeat them if they kill those in Alfheim and absorb their powers,” Loki said over their raucous.

  “Nonsense!” Tyr yelled. “We’re the strongest in all of the nine worlds!”

  “Only until they gain more power,” Loki said, trying to get his point across.

  “Since when have you been a coward?! You’re usually itching for a fight?” Thor asked him.

  “You’re just worried for the mortal girl,” Sif snapped and part of me wished to yell that I had a name. “You’re worried she’ll get hurt so you don’t want to risk war and risk not being able to steal kisses from her.”

  “What?” Thor asked softly with a crackle of thunder.

  “You didn’t think you were the only one she was interested in, did you?” Sif asked with a mocking laugh, “Her lips have touched more than yours, Thor.”

  How did she know that? How did she know any of it?

  “Enough!” Odin boomed, which made the walls and floors shake. I barely held myself upright and was glad I hadn’t made a noise to draw attention to myself. I really didn’t want everyone to see me after that little discussion.

  “Please,” Loki begged Odin, “I wouldn’t give this advice if I wasn’t certain.”

  “I believe you,” Odin said. “As Thor said, you are usually the first one into the fray of a fight. I shall do some research and make a decision shortly. I’d really like to know where they obtained these new abilities. It’s disconcerting to say the least.”

  Oh no, they were going to come out of the room! I ran as quietly and as quickly as I could down the hall, around the corner, left down that hall, and into the kitchen.

  “What are you doing here?” Njord asked from where he was cooking himself some fish. He was the God of the Seas, fish, and wealth.

  “I…came to get a snack,” I said as I gasped for breath.

  He looked at me skeptically a moment, but then returned to his food. I grabbed a piece of fruit from the baskets on the tables and calmed myself enough to leave and eat as I walked down the hallways. I passed by the room where everyone had been gathered to find most of them in the hallways now. Several looked at me with odd expressions, Sif glared at me, and I realized that Thor and Loki weren’t there. I continued walking, needing to find Thor for lunch and headed outside.

  The skies had grown dark with storm clouds and thunder boomed loudly all around me. That could only mean one thing. I hurried towards the arena where the storm seemed to be originating from and found Loki and Thor fighting. Their arms were bloody and they were fighting each other viciously. I had seen them fight before, but this was different, this fight was intense and they looked like they were seriously trying to kill each other. I had to stop them.

  I had to make them stop fighting about me. I ran out into the arena and stood between them with my hands up, my palms facing each of them and yelled, “STOP!”

  Lightning struck the ground behind me and a giant flame flared up in front of me, but neither harmed me.

  “Are you trying to go to Hel?!” Thor demanded.

  No, I didn’t particularly want to visit the Goddess of the Dead yet. “Stop fighting,” I ordered them, looking from Thor to Loki. “This is ridiculous.”

  “Is it true?” Thor asked through gritted teeth.

  I knew what he was asking, but I didn’t want to answer him so I turned to him and asked, “Is what true?”

  “Did you kiss him?” he asked. Despite trying to look tough and angry, I could see the softness behind it and the hurt.

  “Yes,” I whispered.

  “Why?” he asked. “Why did you kiss him and me?”

  “Because I like you both,” I admitted.

  “She’s not in a relationship with either of you, so it doesn’t matter that she kissed someone else,” Sigyn said from the edge of the arena.

  “Sigyn,” I said in shock. When had she gotten here?

  “This is none of your business,” Loki told her.

  “I’ve been a terrible person,” Sigyn told me. “I didn’t act like your friend because I thought I had to be Sif’s friend only. I should have been nicer to you and done things with you, but I didn’t because I’m a fool. I’m sorry, Alys.”

  Where was this coming from?

  “But that doesn’t mean I can’t help you out from time to time and right now you need a friend. You boys are so focused on your hate of each other that you can’t even see what your fighting is doing to her.”

  The two gods turned and looked at me and I suppressed my yell of frustration. I didn’t want them to know. I didn’t want them to see. Why did she have to come in here and let them know?!

  “She’s trembling because you two almost killed her. You stupid, angry idiots barely redirected your attacks and almost killed the girl you’re fighting over,” she told them.

  “We would never harm her,” Loki told her. “Even if she was frightened by the attacks, she knows that we are in full control and that they missed because we wouldn’t harm her.”

  “Even so, your fight is stupid. She can kiss as many boys as she wants until she gets into a committed relationship.”

  “That’s enough,” I said softly.

  “Every girl deserves to be fought over, but not physically. You two should be doing your hardest to woo her and convince her that you’re the one she should pick. At this rate, you’re just convincing her that she should leave Asgard.”

  Damn her and her mouth. How did she know all of this anyways?

  I turned away from all three of them and left the arena. I didn’t need to stand here and deal with this. I walked a bit away and realized someone was following me. I turned around, expecting Loki or Thor, and instead found Sif. “You know I’m right,” she snapped.

  “I do,” I said with a soft sigh. “Look, Sif, I know you’re right and I’ve made a decision, okay? Just give me some time to plan it out thoroughly.”

  The look of shock on her face was priceless. “What decision did you make?” she asked.

  “I’m not telling you right now. It’s bad enough that you started more trouble between them today.”

  “They deserved to know,” she said and folded her arms across her chest.

  “And I deserved to be the one to tell them, in private, not in front of all of the others!” I snapped at her.

  She looked down at the ground and said, “Sorry, my temper gets the better of me at times.”

  I blinked three times before I realized that she had indeed apologized to me and for once meant it. “You’re not going to erase my memory after apologizing, are you?”

  She laughed and shook her head. “No.”

  “Good.”

  “Alys,” Thor called. “Come with me, please.”

  “I’m supposed to eat lunch with him,” I explained to Sif.

  “Better not keep him waiting. I don’t think he’ll forgive you many more times.”

  “Bye, Sif.”

  “Bye, mortal.”

  I walked away from her without another glance while Thor glared at her the entire time I walked towards him. “Are you ready to eat?” I asked him.

  “Yes.”

  “Great!” I said enthusiastically, despite not really wanting to deal with him alone at the moment.

  He led the way to his room in the castle and I sat down on the window seat that looked out over the rivers of Asgard. He was the only one aside from Odin and Jord who lived in the castle. He often expressed his desire to live out of the castle walls, but he never pressed Odin about it. We had spent a lot of time in this room when we were younger, but after discovering my attraction to him I had stopped coming here. Now I felt even more nervous.

  “You kno
w I wouldn’t harm you, right?” he asked me softly as he set the table, a strange habit for a warrior, but one that his mother insisted upon.

  “Yes, Thor,” I said as I dreamed of days when life had been simpler, when I hadn’t had to worry about relationships or that I might be dooming Asgard.

  “Loki told me that he thinks you’re planning to leave Asgard to try to correct some imbalance you think exists,” he said and then I heard a plate snap in half. I turned and saw the broken plate in his hands still.

  “I know it exists, Heimdall confirmed it,” I explained.

  “What do you think will happen if you leave?” he asked me, finally turning to meet my gaze with lightning sparking within his eyes. I loved when they did that and wished that I could stare into them for hours and watch the lightning show of his anger.

  “The balance will be restored and life will go on as it should.”

  “Are you unhappy here?”

  “No.”

  “Do you think you’re not worthy to be here?”

  “I know I’m not.”

  “Why do you think that?”

  “Because I am a mortal and this is the home of the Aesir.”

  “Don’t you think Odin chose you for a reason? Don’t you think that the All Father knows what he is doing? Surely you can’t believe that he brought you here with no forethought.”

  “I think he had good intentions, but perhaps I have overstayed my welcome.”

  “You believe this?”

  “I believe that Heimdall wouldn’t lie to me and that I need to keep you all safe.”

  “You think by you leaving Asgard that you’re going to save us somehow?” he asked me in shock.

  “Yes.”

  “That’s insanity,” he spat and tossed the broken plate into the fireplace.

  “The truth of the matter is that you shouldn’t be dating a mortal. You should be dating a goddess.”

  “You want me to date someone beside you?”

  I ground my teeth together angrily. “I don’t want any of this, but it’s the truth.”

  “And who should I date?” he asked me as he walked towards me.

  “I don’t know,” I whispered nervously.

  “Sif? Sigyn? Perhaps a Vanir?” he asked me as he walked closer and closer.

  “I wouldn’t presume to make a recommendation to you,” I whispered.

  He stopped right in front of me, lifted me up until I was eye level with him and he said, “You are the one I think about day and night. You are the one I want to kiss and can’t stop thinking about kissing. Not Sigyn. Not Sif. You.”

  I should have stopped him, but as soon as his lips touched mine, I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist to kiss him back. He deepened the kiss and pressed my back against the wall of his room.

  “Don’t leave me,” he whispered. “I am not strong enough to survive your disappearance.”

  “You are the strongest god alive,” I whispered between kisses.

  “Only because I have you here with me,” he whispered and kissed my throat. “Your very essence increases my strength.”

  “I will die very soon in your lifetime,” I said sadly.

  “And I will cherish every moment I have with you, mourn your death and your disappearance, and then spend every day wishing for one more second with you, for one more touch.”

  “Thor,” I whispered in shock, “you should have children with a goddess. You should continue your lineage with powerful and strong children.”

  “I won’t have children for another hundred years.”

  “You don’t know that I’m the right woman for you anyways. You could decide two months from now that you can’t stand the way I chew or can’t stand the way I smell.”

  “Your smell is intoxicating, if I could bottle it I would.”

  My cheeks grew hot with shock and embarrassment. Why were these men admitting such feelings to me? Was it just because I was going to leave?

  “And what if I left tomorrow?” I asked him softly without looking at him.

  He gripped my chin with his thumb and finger and turned my head to face him. “I would find you and bring you back home. You’re an Asgardian, Alys, even if you don’t have powers and won’t live as long as me. You are a Daughter of Asgard and I won’t let you disappear from my life.”

  Tears were dripping from my eyes and I took a shaky breath before saying, “I am not worthy of you or Loki, or of living here. My presence is dooming Asgard and now a threat looms that could destroy you all.”

  “I will vanquish it and we will celebrate together,” he whispered.

  I shook my head, but he kissed me deeply, stopping any more words from escaping my mouth.

  4

  If I was going to run away, I had to do it when they least expected it. I also needed to decide what I would do when I got down to Midgard. I spent the next month spying on Midgard and learning how the teenagers and adults spent their time. Heimdall never spoke to me and I was perfectly fine with that. I needed to observe, not hear his cryptic phrases or have him tell me that I wouldn’t survive or whatever else he might say. Thor and Loki took turns eating meals with me and spending time with me and even seemed to be getting along. Sif had been keeping her distance, and as much as I tried to keep mine from the two gods trying to date me, I couldn’t do it. They were my friends and as much as it would hurt when I left, I wanted to cherish every moment I had with them.

  I was fighting to stay awake one evening when Heimdall leapt up to his feet and growled, “Run home!”

  I jerked myself upright, suddenly very awake, and started to run from the room, but I wasn’t fast enough. A dark elf appeared in the room, having transported himself from Svartálfaheimr, and smiled at Heimdall. “I’m here to see the All Father.” I started to move again, but the elf snapped, “Stay put, mortal!”

  I stopped moving and Heimdall strolled towards me slowly until he was standing between me and the elf. I couldn’t control my body. Why not? Why couldn’t I move? “Leave the mortal out of this. Odin is on his way here,” Heimdall said with clenched fists.

  “Who are you, child? Why is a mortal on Asgard?” the dark elf asked.

  “That is none of your concern,” Odin said when he entered the room. He looked at me, “Leave us.”

  I didn’t need to be told twice. Odin released whatever spell had been on me and I walked out of the room slowly to show the dark elf that, with Odin there, I wasn’t frightened of him and then ran as fast as I could towards my house. I made it halfway there and fell to my hands and knees to catch my breath and calm myself down. I had never met such an imposing being before. That elf had pure black eyes that held no warmth in them. I didn’t doubt for a second that he would kill me if he decided to on a whim. I had been utterly powerless against him.

  “Alys, what’s wrong?” Loki asked me as he dropped to his knees, and placed a hand on my back. The fear was consuming me. I turned and latched onto Loki, gripping his shoulders tightly. “Shh,” he cooed, “You’re safe. I’m here. I’ll protect you from anyone.”

  I couldn’t speak. The eyes of the elf burned into my memory and that was all I could see, no matter if my eyes were opened or closed. He had been evil down to his core. I couldn’t let that happen to Loki. If that happened to him, I didn’t know what I would do.

  Loki stood up with me in his arms and started walking, all the while talking to me in soothing tones and telling me over and over again that he would protect me. Could he protect me from someone like that? I couldn’t bear it if he was killed protecting me. The elf had to be a dark elf because I had heard stories about other elves that were peaceful. That elf had been violence and evil incarnate.

  “Alys,” Loki whispered.

  Did a being like that have a conscience? Or did they simply enjoy killing and felt no repercussions from their acts?

  “Alys, what happened?” Loki asked me.

  I realized that we were in his house, sitting in front of his firep
lace with a roaring fire going and a blanket around the both of us. He must have assumed that my shivering was from cold instead of fear.

  “Someone entered Asgard,” I whispered. “Odin came, but he…” was petrifying. Was evil.

  “Did he hurt you?” he asked through gritted teeth.

  I shook my head and then turned around to bury my face against his chest. “He was terrifying,” I whispered after a moment.

  “You’re safe, Alys. I swear I won’t let anything happen to you,” he whispered.

  “I’m sorry,” I cried with tears streaming down my face. “I’m sorry.”

  “Shh, you don’t need to apologize for being frightened. Shh, it’s alright, Alys.”

  “Loki, he felt so evil. He talked to me and I couldn’t move. I couldn’t control my body until Odin came.”

  “He won’t lay a finger on you,” he said adamantly and started to stand up.

  I latched on to him and begged, “Please don’t go. Please don’t leave me.”

  He grabbed my wrists gently and I released my death grip on his shirt. “I’m not leaving you. I’m just getting you a mug of water.”

  “Oh.” I sat down and watched as he filled a mug with water. He was acting so calm that I started to calm down myself. He handed me the mug and I drained the contents and asked for a second one, which I drained as well. “Thank you.”

  He sat back down and wrapped us up in the blanket again. “You don’t need to thank me. I’m here for you anytime that you need me.”

  “Are you ever frightened of other beings?” I asked with my head on his shoulder. I took a deep breath of his scent and understood what Thor had said about wishing to bottle someone’s smell.

  “No, but it’s good for mortals to be afraid. It will keep you alive longer,” he said as he rubbed my back.

  My eyelids began drooping and a yawn escaped. “Sorry, I didn’t realize I was tired.”

  “You weren’t, but I gave you a sleeping aid,” he said with a laugh.

  “Why?” I asked him. I knew he wasn’t going to do anything bad to me. That wasn’t Loki’s style. He preferred you to beg him.