Thunderstruck

by Brenda Drake

  Stevie wanted him with Grace. It was clear. Why was he even playing these games? Once there was a full moon, he’d finish it. He’d do what Stevie asked to remain friends, but only so she’d trust him when the time came for the ritual. Then he could finally return home.

  Grace was pretty. He’d give her that. A little self-absorbed, but friendly enough. He could be stuck with worse.

  The thing was, he liked his borrowed life. Enjoyed being a teen without the burdening thought of ruling Asgard one day. And he definitely liked how Stevie caused every inch of him to awake in sensations he hadn’t felt in a long time.

  Blake stuck his cold hands into his jacket pockets. He had dreamed of a life where he would never have to fight the creatures of Yggdrasil. Where he would be a normal boy in love with a normal girl. But that was never to be. His responsibilities were greater than the matters of the heart. If he failed, the fury of Ragnarok would destroy the nine worlds and cause the end of all gods.

  Saga ran through the surf, her paws lifting up wet sand as she went. When he left Midgard, he wasn’t sure she could travel with him. Though his blood had broken Fenrir’s hold on her in this world, his connection to his daughter would be much stronger in Asgard. The second she crossed into his world, she would be overcome with bloodlust once more. Blake could not protect her. May had agreed to keep Saga, but leaving her would crush Blake.

  His cell phone buzzed, and he glanced at it. It was a notice of new videos loaded from the sites he followed.

  May had bestowed the phone upon him a week ago, and Grace had given him instructions on its use. He enjoyed watching music videos and Comic Cam’s vlog. She had to live in the area since he’d run into her during the attack at the warehouse by Fenrir’s pups. Now that he knew that Stevie possessed the horn, he could be sure that she had nothing to do with his mission there. Most likely, it was an “in the wrong place at the wrong time” situation, but he couldn’t shake the fact that she seemed familiar to him. Besides, he liked her videos about his dad. He had no idea Thor was such a celebrity among Midgardian youth.

  Saga brought back the stick, and he tossed it farther than the last time, then he tapped on his screen to play the video. Comic Cam said hello in that overexaggerated voice of hers. She was dressed in a black leather outfit. “In case you’re from another planet and can’t figure out who I’m dress like today, it’s Black Widow…” She wore the plastic mask that distorted her face. He understood everyone’s obsession with her. The way she looked and her personality was pleasing.

  The low-cut costume revealed her cleavage, and he noticed a slight scar there. Clearly, someone had tried to cover it up. He brought the phone closer to his face to see it better.

  Stevie?

  “I’ll be at the Northgate Mall this afternoon signing swag and selling Comic Cam tees,” she was saying. “Come by and say hello.”

  “Have you resorted to kissing Comic Cam on your phone now?” Kyle treaded the sand over to him. “Grace not satisfying you enough?”

  Blake turned off the video and slipped his phone in his pocket. “You took long enough to get here. You’re close to an hour late.”

  “What? Am I supposed to drop everything when you call?” Kyle’s eyes followed Saga as she approached them, the stick hanging out of her mouth. “Has she gotten even smaller?”

  “Yeah, I hope she doesn’t shrink so much she disappears.” Blake flung the stick and it went soaring through the sky. Saga darted for it. “She can do this for hours.”

  Kyle kicked at the sand. “So why did you want to see me?”

  “I need your help.”

  “You could have asked me on the phone.”

  Blake shielded his eyes from the sun, looking for Saga. “Have you figured out who has the horn, yet?”

  “I’m getting closer. Whoever has it hasn’t opened the box in a while.”

  “We should work together,” Blake said, lowering his hand. “It’s taking us too long. It won’t fare well for us if a dweller from one of the other worlds finds it. They all desire to end the gods. We’ll be dead.”

  “You forget. I’m part Jötunn. ”

  “You are part god, as well. Therefore, you will die with us.”

  “So if I say I will help, what is it you want me to do?”

  “It must be an oath.” Blake pulled a sliver of rock from his pocket. “It’s a piece of Odin’s Stone. We put it between our palms and make the oath. If either one breaks it, he will lose his eyes.”

  “What happens afterward,” Kyle said. “When we get the horn, who presents it to Thor?”

  “Is that what you’re worried about? Not that we could fail and lose everything. Our world? Our families? Ourselves? All of it. Gone.”

  Kyle patted his knee when Saga approached. She ignored him and dropped the stick at Blake’s feet. “It is. One must consider all outcomes when giving an oath.”

  “We’ll present it together.” Blake would do almost whatever Kyle wanted to gain his alliance, except give him the horn to take on his own. His brother was too aloof and had made bad choices before.

  The wind pushed across the beach and raced over the branches of the trees causing colorful leaves to drop to the ground. Kyle was silent as if he pondered the offer.

  “I know who has the horn,” Blake said, hoping to hurry Kyle along with his decision.

  “All right, I’ll do it.” Kyle glanced around the beach. “We should probably do the oath in private.”

  “Right. This way,” Blake said, heading for the forest lining the beach. Saga darted around his legs. “Hey, girl, settle down. You’re going to trip me.”

  The soil was soft under his feet from the recent rains, and an earthy aroma filled the air. Blake stopped in a clearing and faced Kyle, holding his hand out with the sliver of Odin’s Stone on his palm. Kyle grasped it. A bright light surrounded them, and Blake closed his eyes tight to avoid burning his retinas.

  With hands linked, Blake and Kyle spoke their oaths promising to find Heimdall’s Horn and to bring it back to their father together. “We further agree,” Blake said, “to protect Stevie Moon from harm.”

  Kyle’s eyes flew open. “She’s had it the entire time? What other secrets does she have, I wonder?”

  Blake wasn’t about to tell him that he suspected she was Comic Cam. He wondered why she hid behind that persona. Her acting impressed him, and she looked quite fetching in her costumes. He pushed the thoughts of her aside. There were more pressing things to tend to than obsessing over his desires for a girl.

  “I have something else to ask you,” Blake said. “Take Stevie to the homecoming dance.”

  Kyle raised an eyebrow. “Why? I thought you were interested in her.”

  “I am,” Blake said. “That hasn’t changed. But Grace asked me to accompany her and I couldn’t refuse. We must keep Stevie close to us. I’ve been sleeping in my vehicle outside her house each night and I’m not alone. Creatures from Asgard are sniffing for the horn. I must protect her, but I can’t do that while at the dance.”

  “She won’t go with me, dude.”

  He really had the American teenage slang down. Blake had been watching shows and was grasping new phrases, but nothing like Kyle. He fitted perfectly in this world. “I have a plan,” Blake said. “Leave it to me. And I need you to get Stevie to wear that horn. Jörd said her heart weakens without it. I have no idea how you’d do it, but you’re cunning enough to figure it out.”

  Kyle narrowed his focus on a clearing just past the trees. “Is that a ritual circle?”

  Blake entered the clearing. A circle had been scarred into the earth, the borders raised with jagged rocks. In the middle, barely recognizable, someone had carved three connecting triangles into the ground—the symbol of Asgard. The witches who’d created the circle had worshipped his world.

  “It is,” Blake said.

  Kyle crouched and studied the circle. “Looks ancient. Possibly hundred or so years old.” He straightened. “We’re not dealing with
witches, are we? The last time I got involved with a trio of them, it wasn’t pretty. I woke up naked, confused, and spread eagle on Bifröst. That bridge is cold and uncomfortable, by the way. Not to mention, Heimdall is cranky. Guess I can’t blame him, having to watch a bridge all his life.”

  Blake didn’t care to hear about Kyle’s wild times on Asgard. He looked pointedly at his brother. “Just because I’ve asked you to take Stevie to this dance doesn’t give you any liberties. You’ll keep your hands off her.”

  “She’s not your property, dude, I can touch her all she wants.” Kyle raised his eyebrows suggestively, taking pleasure in Blake’s discomfort. “How can you be so clueless, man? The girl is completely into you.” Kyle took a long, thin, plastic-wrapped thing out of his pocket. Saga pepped up and cautiously inched closer to Kyle, sniffing the air. He unwrapped it and gave it to her. “It’s a Slim Jim,” he answered Blake’s suspicious look.

  “May will kill you if that makes Saga sick.”

  Blake worried that Kyle wouldn’t keep the oath. The consequences would be grave if he didn’t, unless Blake died and unbound himself to Kyle. And Blake wouldn’t put it past Kyle to do whatever it took to get what he wanted.

  The line to meet Comic Cam filled the mall. There were two groups in front of him, and he’d been waiting for over an hour to see her. She was dressed as Batgirl. Blake only knew that because of the young girls in front of him excitedly talking about how she looked.

  It was the girls’ turn, and the four of them crowded around Comic Cam for a picture. Her eyes visible through the holes in the mask, she spotted him and her smile slipped. She shook it off and turned on a wide smile as one of the girls’ mother snapped photographs with her smart phone.

  When they were finished, Comic Cam took her seat at the table and picked up her marker. “What would you like? A postcard? The posters are twenty.”

  Blake removed some cash from his wallet and handed it to the helper, who was dressed in a blond wig with pink and blue tips. Amira.

  Amira handed Stevie a poster, and she readied her marker. “Who would you like it made out to?”

  “Blake, please,” he said. “And could you sign it, Stevie?”

  Her startled eyes flashed up at him. She signed the poster and handed it to him. Next to her signature, which was Comic Cam and not Stevie, she had written stick around.

  As Blake waited for her to finish with the line, he explored the mall. A mortal could purchase so many items on Midgard for all matter of things. He especially liked the massage chairs and the music store. He could stay and listen to music playing from the ceiling for hours, but a quick glance out the store window and he noticed the line for Comic Cam was finally ending.

  On his way back to the booth, he stopped for two hot lattes. May had taught him to like coffee, she brought him one every Saturday morning after her run.

  “Hey,” Stevie said as he approached the booth.

  He handed her one of the lattes.

  “Thank you.” She took it and studied the cup.

  “You don’t like coffee?” he asked.

  “I do,” she said. “I just can’t drink it with my mask on.”

  Amira looked up from packing Comic Cam merchandise into a suitcase with wheels. “I can.”

  Stevie stepped over and passed her the cup, then turned to Blake. “So how did you find out I was Comic Cam?” His eyes went to her chest and she glanced down. “Oh, my scar. You’re a regular Nancy Drew, aren’t you?”

  “You push me to Grace because you don’t want to hurt her feelings. You hide behind a mask in fear of people liking you.” He took a sip from his cup.

  She swallowed hard, showing he’d hit a sore spot. “You get personal way too quickly. Anyway, you know nothing about me,” she said.

  “I know plenty,” he said. “You don’t owe her for giving charity. It should be done without strings attached.”

  “Go away,” she said and turned her back on him.

  “I want you at homecoming. You’ve asked me to be there. I’ve done it for you. Because you asked.”

  She spun around, tears in her eyes. “I’m not going.”

  “If you don’t go, and with a date, I will expose Comic Cam’s true identity.” He hated saying that. It was a betrayal, he knew. The look on her face told him she thought it was, too.

  “You wouldn’t.”

  “Then you don’t know me.” This time he turned his back. Because he would do anything to save her, even betray her.

  tíu

  Kyle lying on Stevie’s bed unnerved her. He was too comfortable, surrounded by her colorful pillows. At least he’d stopped nosing around her things.

  Stevie made a mark across Kyle’s answer on his paper. “You have them all wrong. How are you even passing this class? Don’t tell me the coaches are fixing things for you so you can play in the homecoming game.”

  “I’m doing fine,” he said, picking up her stuffed monkey. “I’m just having trouble with calculus. Grace usually helps me, but she’s too into Blake these days to come out and play.”

  Hearing that was like a knife cutting into her heart. Though she was mad at Blake for threatening her, she still wanted to be near him. And she couldn’t stop wondering what he and Grace were doing twenty-four seven. Blake was right. She didn’t owe Grace anything.

  She continued reworking Kyle’s equations.

  “No wonder you have them all wrong,” she said. “You’re forgetting a step.”

  He swung his legs over the side of the bed, came to her side, and looked over her shoulder. His warm breath tickled her neck, and she leaned away from him. “Will you look at that?” he said. “You’re a genius.”

  She would’ve said that anyone could figure it out, but she hadn’t wanted to insult him.

  “Hey, what’s this?” He went to her aunt’s box and picked up one of the costumes. “You dressing up for something?”

  “No, it was a family member’s things. She passed away.”

  He picked up the jewelry box and examined it. “This is cool. Is it an antique?” He opened the box and lifted up the necklace, the horn charm swinging from the chain.

  Her chest tightened, and she popped up from her chair. “Put that back.”

  “Why?” He glanced at it again. “You should wear it. Reminds me of something from the Thor comics.”

  “You read comics?” She almost couldn’t speak with the pain in her chest. It scared her to think that maybe her heart would just stop. The doctors said she’d be fine until the surgery, but she doubted it. Lately, she wasn’t sure her meds were working.

  “Yeah, doesn’t everyone?” He walked over to her—that easy walk of his that screamed confidence, that he knew he was breathlessly gorgeous. But mostly cocky, which was both attractive and annoying at the same time. “Turn around,” he said.

  “No.”

  He grasped her shoulders and eased her around to face away from him. His hands grazed her collarbone as he slipped the necklace around her neck. She held her breath as he brushed her hair out of the way, his fingers lightly touching her neck and sending tiny sparks over her skin. When he had clasped the ends together, she stepped away from him in long, quick strides and pretended to search for something on her desk. Her breaths eased and the pain in her chest subsided.

  Maybe I should ask him to be my date. She’d asked a few of her guy friends, but they were either going or required a bribe to take her. And she had way too much pride for that.

  “So,” she said over her shoulder at him. “Are you going to homecoming?”

  He stuffed one hand in his pants pocket and grabbed the back of his neck with his other. “Nah, a few girls are waiting for me to ask them, but they’re annoying.”

  Is he posing for me? He flexed his biceps. He totally is. Stevie wondered how many hours a day he had to work out to get such impressive muscles.

  “Well, I don’t have anyone to go with,” she said, acting as nonchalant as she could with his shirt riding up and expos
ing a thin line of abs. “You want to go as friends?”

  A slow smile spread across his lips. “Friends, huh? Sure.”

  Everything about that smile and how he answered it concerned her. “I do mean friends. It’s not a code word. No extra benefits.”

  “I know,” he said, picking up his books. “But do you know it?”

  She gave him an incredulous look. “Yes. I do.” God. He’s so annoying. She wanted to take her invite back. “I can buy the tickets, but we have to go dutch on the dinner bill. Okay?”

  “Okay,” he said, heading for her door. “But I’ll buy the tickets and pay for the meal. No arguments or the deal’s off. I’ll pick you up on Saturday at six. You’re going to watch me in the game, right?”

  She heaved a sigh, instantly regretting her decision to go with him, but reminding herself what Blake had threatened. He’d out Comic Cam, and Stevie enjoyed the anonymity. It was her escape from the reality of her illness. She was able to be someone else for a small amount of time each week. Someone strong.

  “I’ll be cheering you in the stands.” She titled her head back and forced a smile.

  He chuckled. “You’re easy to read, Stevie Moon. At least try and act like you’re excited to go with me, okay?”

  “I am excited,” she said.

  “And you’re a good liar.” He winked and swaggered out the door.

  Stevie was still smiling even after he’d left. Kyle had kind of grown on her. But he was more like an annoying brother type than boyfriend material. What she really wanted was to have Blake to herself. She just had to figure out how to get Grace out of the picture without hurting her.

  Kyle. He said he would distract her. Grace shot him down, though. If Grace saw Stevie with Kyle, maybe she’d want him instead of Blake. It could be the whole want what others have thing.

  She lay across her bed on her stomach, dreading the dance and wishing she were going with Blake.

  Stevie stared at herself in the mirror. With the heavier makeup on her face, large chestnut waves in her hair, and a shimmery galaxy-print dress with a flared skirt, she looked more like Comic Cam than she did Stevie Moon, and she didn’t care. She wasn’t going to hide tonight.