by Brenda Drake
Kyle rubbed the back of neck as he thought. “The beach. All the creatures are avoiding it. The leeches were gobbling up elves and Frost Giants by the batches. Which is a problem since we risk becoming a meal. All we’d need is for the Midgard serpent to join his pets.”
“Jörmungandr is bonded to Thor,” Blake said. “When Thor was banned from entering Midgard, so was Jörmungandr. That is why he sent his leeches instead of coming himself.”
“You really are into your studies, aren’t you?” Kyle picked up his stave.
“A ruler must know all about what he rules.” Blake put on a brave mask. Stevie couldn’t see his fear. He could at least protect her of that.
Stevie walked between them. “There is no way I’m going anywhere near those leeches. Do you have another plan?”
“That way.” Kyle pointed in each direction as he spoke. “Are the Frost Giants. Both nations of elves there. And we have Draugen, trolls, other giants, and some sort of woman with a tail. Doesn’t sound dangerous, but she is scary. I don’t know the others. Guess I should’ve done my studies.”
“So it’s the beach?” Stevie looked from Kyle to Blake.
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The beach was eerily quiet. Stevie’s Converse were like weights in the sand. The moon hung low in the sky and in its light, the water looked blue and calm. The sounds of a battle rang out into the night. Blake and Kyle were on either side of Stevie ready for an attack. The sounds of the fights in the woods could wake the dead.
Where are the police?
Just as Stevie had wondered that, she spotted the parking lot near the bathhouse filled with police vehicles, red and blue lights flashing from their roofs. Blake and Kyle retracted their weapons.
An officer ran up to them, his gun out, shooting nervous glances at the bay. “What are you kids doing out here? Hurry. There’s some sort of monster in that bay.”
As if he had called for the monster, one of the leeches broke through the surface and wailed. It was a ways off. The officer took off running and Stevie and the guys darted after him. The wailing neared and the body slapped down on the waves. Spray from the bay drenched them. Stevie wiped the water from her face and froze.
The leech towered over them. Its body half in the bay and half on the beach.
The police officer shot at the creature.
“Keep running!” Blake yelled at her as he ignited his hammer.
The leech’s mouth went for Stevie as Kyle jumped in front of her, spearing the slimy thing. Blake followed with a bolt of lightning from his hammer. The leech threw its body back and splashed down into the bay. Stevie covered her ears against its earsplitting wail.
Blake grasped her arm and dragged her along with him, yelling something at her.
Everything slowed down and it was like being underwater.
“My ears,” she said.
They made it to the parking lot and the police officer turned. “What the hell was that? Who do you think you are, kid, Thor? I’m going to get leave for this. I’ve lost my mind.” He walked off toward the other officers.
Stevie’s ears were finally working again. “Did he just ask if you were Thor?”
Blake was too focused on the police officer to respond. The man’s arms flailed around him as he started to tell his story to the other officers.
“Yep, he did,” Kyle said, “Blake’s the chip off the ol’ father’s block.”
A horn blared in the parking lot and Stevie’s eyes went to where it originated.
“May’s Suburban.” She pointed across the lot.
“Ah, the cavalry has arrived,” Kyle said and headed in the Suburban’s direction.
Stevie hurried across parking spaces. Blake’s boots clomped against the asphalt behind her. She wanted to go home, but not just for the box, for good. Bury herself under covers and wake up to this all being a nightmare. But it wasn’t. It all was really happening and she was scared out of her mind.
Blake stopped and turned back. “Saga. Where is she?”
“I lost track of her when the Norns showed up,” Kyle said.
There wasn’t a soul on the beach. Stevie searched the shore. In the bay, two gray humps rose and fell in the water.
Kyle glanced at the Suburban and then back at the beach. “You don’t need me right now. Get the box. I’m going to help our brothers and find Saga.” He took off across the parking lot.
“Be careful,” Stevie called.
“Careful isn’t in my vocabulary,” he said over his shoulder. “And don’t think it’s because I have a heart. We need the beast. She’s a great attack wolf.”
Stevie doubted Kyle didn’t have a heart. He liked to put on a good show, but she knew he cared. She had seen him with Saga. Sneaking snacks to her and rubbing behind her ears when he thought no one was watching. And she was pretty sure he loved his brother. The worry on Blake’s face as he watched Kyle head for the beach said it was mutual.
Blake opened the door to the Suburban. He gestured for Stevie to get in, then took the front passenger seat.
Stevie squeezed between the front seats and gave May a side hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“Likewise,” May said. “Where’s the hotheaded one going?”
“Saga is missing.” Stevie settled in her seat and pulled the belt around her. “He’ll meet us at my house.”
“Is there another way out of here than the way we had entered?” Blake kept turning in his seat, trying to get an assessment on things outside the SUV.
“There’s a back way, but it ends up in a residential area,” May said. “We should stay on the main roads. It would be safer, don’t you think?”
Blake looked handsome when he was in warrior mode. Stevie wished their lives were normal, but the nightmarish things she’d seen could never be unseen. She could never not know who he was or that he was from Asgard. That he was Thor’s son.
She had many worries and fears that it was hard to choose one to obsess over. How could her hometown ever be the same? Had innocent people been killed? Will things ever be normal again? And how would she ever get over Blake when he left?
“Go the back way,” Blake said.
May turned the Suburban around and guided it past the police vehicles. The officers were busy with a few elves that had exited the woods. Stevie wondered how the news channels would spin that story. When they drove under the railroad bridge, gunshots went off somewhere behind them.
As they entered the tree-covered road, an uneasy feeling settled in Stevie’s gut. The lights of the Suburban bloomed out, illuminating the thick foliage on each side of the road. They drove for over five minutes without encountering any otherworldly creatures.
Stevie scooted forward in her seat. She yawned and forced her eyes to stay open. They all had to stay alert and she didn’t want to fail anyone. Blake reached back and grasped her hand. The grave look on his face clenched her stomach.
“How are you faring?” he asked.
“I’m not sure,” she answered. And she wasn’t. It was as though she was having an out-of-body type thing.
“It’ll be okay.” May glanced back at the same time a huge mass of skin and hair landed on the hood of the Suburban, blocking her view out the windshield.
Stevie and May screamed at once.
“What is that?” Stevie yelled. Its beady, dark eyes stared through the windshield at them. Drool slipped from his sharp teeth and slapped the glass.
“A troll,” Blake said. “Don’t stop. Keep going.” He flung open the door, Jölnir in hand, and swung it. The hammer cracked the troll’s head and sent him flying from the Suburban. It crashed into the trees, breaking them as easy as snapping toothpicks.
Stevie’s hand flew to her neck.
Where is it?
Panic fluttered in her chest. “The horn necklace is missing. It’s not on my neck.”
“Shit.” Blake slammed his open palm on the dash. “Kyle had it. He took it after the ritual. He left in such a hurry, I didn’t think to g
et it back. This is not good.”
Stevie tugged her phone out of her back pocket. It looked like it had been in a fire. “Do you have your phone? Mine’s ruined. It must’ve been fried during the ritual.”
“Mine’s in the middle console,” May said.
Stevie leaned over and retrieved the phone. “What’s Kyle’s number?”
“I don’t know it,” Blake said.
“How can you not know your brother’s number?” She huffed.
Blake rubbed at his face. “How about Grace? She might know it.”
“I never memorized her number.” This was just great. What were they going to do? Stevie wanted to scream, again.
“Possibly, you could ask Amira for her number?” Blake offered.
Stevie slumped against the seat and sighed. “I don’t have hers memorized, either.”
Blake raised a brow at her and she knew what he meant by the gesture. Why didn’t she have her best friend’s number? Well, because it was saved in her phone. She never needed to recall it from memory.
“You two, stop it,” May said. “Amira lives across the street. When we get there, have her call Grace, and see if she knows it. If not, we wait for Kyle. He said he’d meet us at Stevie’s house. Now, tell me how I’m going to lose the Bigfoot on my tail.”
Stevie glanced out the back window. The troll was trotting after them. When she turned back around, Blake was watching her.
“We’re going to make it through this,” he said. “I need you to stay strong. Wait for Kyle. Put the horn in the box and give it to him. He’ll know what to do. When Heimdall’s Horn leaves this world, all the creatures will as well. And you will be safe.”
“What? You sound like you’re leav—”
He pushed the door open and jumped out.
“Blake!” Stevie scrambled over the front seat and sat in the passenger seat. “Why did he do that?”
“Because he’s a hero,” May said. “Shut the door.”
Stevie yanked the door shut, and then turned in her seat. It was too dark to see anything. Tears burned her eyes and fear twisted her stomach.
Blake.
The fear of never seeing him again strangled her throat. She couldn’t speak, only watch out the window, waiting for the next creature to attack. Her thoughts kept flashing in and out. Memories she hadn’t even know she had.
On Blake’s first day at school. He didn’t have any supplies, so Stevie had given him a pen and some paper. He was gorgeous, and she was too freaked out to talk to him. She’d caught him watching her many times and it had unsettled her until it started to excite her. Now, he held her heart in his hands and it never felt more fragile.
She used to just go with the flow, never ruffling anyone’s feathers, and happy to be in the background. The only time she was confident was when she was Comic Cam. But it was all behind a mask. Not anymore. Stevie Moon was more than what others thought of her. She was strong. And she was tired of being the sick girl. Of hiding. Of running.
“Do you have a gun?” Stevie asked, which made May flinch.
“No,” May said, pushing some loose dark strands of hair away from her face. “Of course not. But I do have a tranquilizer gun.”
“Where is it?”
May hesitated as if she wasn’t sure she should tell Stevie where it was. “It’s in the back. In the yellow and black case.”
Stevie climbed over the front seat again and the backseat to the cargo area. She found the square case and went back to the front. She unzipped the bag and took out the handgun. “How do I work this thing?”
“You’re not going to use that,” May said, then changed her mind when she must’ve noticed the determined look on Stevie’s face. “All right. Make sure the safety is on. Good. Now, pull down on the bottom barrel and pump it. It adds the air. Okay, good. Now pull that bolt mechanism on top toward you, then slide it and push it sideward. You got it. Grab one of the yellow-capped darts, it’s more powerful, and insert it. Needle first. Close the barrel. Take off the safety. You’re all set. You just have to aim and shoot.”
Stevie frowned down at the tranquilizer gun on her lap before glancing at May. “So, I have one shot. If there’s more than one creature, then what?”
May gripped the wheel tighter. “We’d have one less beast to deal with.”
“That’s if they’re not immune to it,” Stevie added.
They entered the residential area and not a single light was on. Stevie turned on the radio and spun the dial until she found a news channel. The newscaster was excited. The power plant was out. Wild dogs were on the loose. And three whales were stuck in the bay.
“There was a power outage.” Stevie twisted in her seat to search all directions.
It sounded like a big, wet sock landed on the roof. The Suburban shook under the force.
“Hold on!” May yelled.
Stevie grabbed the oh-shit handle on the roof. May sped up and swerved the SUV, trying to throw whatever was up there off. Muddy water and seaweed dripped down all the windows.
“I know what that is,” Stevie said. “And no tranquilizer gun will work on it. I thought it had to be in water. We have to knock it off.”
May slid her eyes back and forth searching the street. “I need something low hanging.”
Low hanging?
The creature pounded on the roof, shaking the Suburban again.
“Well, that thing isn’t smart,” Stevie said. “Why not just bust a window?”
May kept swerving the wheel as she sped toward Stevie’s house. The mud and algae was caking the windows and May turned on the windshield wipers.
“There.” Stevie pointed to a two-story house. Several branches hung low on the trees off to the side of the house. “Drive under those branches.”
“But I’ll hit the trunks,” May said.
“No you won’t.” Stevie glanced back. The street was vacant. “You have to make a sharp left turn right before them. Slow down a little.”
She let up on the gas pedal.
“That’s too much,” Stevie said. “Give it a little more gas.”
May raced the Suburban under the trees. Branches scraped against the metal roof and glass windows. It was as if a big squeegee ran across the roof. Stevie glanced back to witness the creature from the pool hit the ground and roll across the driveway of the house.
The SUV bounced over the curb as May brought it back onto the street. She gunned it going almost sixty in a residential. Stevie’s heart was pumping so hard, she thought it would tear out of her chest.
May and Stevie sat in silence, the headlights spilling onto the dark streets. It was like a dystopian movie and they were the only survivors. No one was around.
A crash came from behind them.
“What is that?” May screeched, glancing into the rearview mirror, the vehicle swerving.
“Keep your eyes on the road!”
May righted the wheel.
A demon-looking bat on steroids had broken through the back window. Dazed, it flapped around the cargo space trying to get to them, but its wings were too big.
Stevie aimed the stun gun, her hands shaking. She pulled the trigger and the dart buried into the creature’s neck. It screeched, batted its wings, and stumbled around the cargo area before collapsing.
“Stop the car,” Stevie said. Traveling with a scary bat mutation was not something she wanted to do.
May pulled over. Stevie hopped out, opened the hatch, and pulled the creature out by the leg, its body thudding against the pavement. She scrambled back into her seat and May took off.
Approaching her street, Stevie was worried what she would find. The street was like all the others they had passed. Quiet and dark. May pulled the SUV into the Moons’ driveway. On the front yard, a wide-shouldered shadow waited under the tree.
Blake!
She flung the door open and ran for him. Saga darted out from the bushes and met her.
“Kyle?”
He walked out into what litt
le light came from the car door she’d left ajar. “Where’s Blake?” Kyle asked.
“He jumped out to fight off a troll.” Stevie’s voice was filled with so much emotion, she wasn’t sure he could hear her. Tears fell from her eyelids and a sob tore from her throat. She didn’t care if she seemed weak to Kyle. Blake was out there somewhere with that troll. With all those terrifying creatures.
His last words to her made it sound like he didn’t think he would make it back. But he had given her instructions. She couldn’t let him down. He knew, as she knew now, Asgard and Earth depended on her. Because who ever had Heimdall’s Horn, could rule all nine worlds. And she’d just met some scary creatures that she would never want to have that power.
The sound of boots against concrete came from behind her. Blake! She whirled around.
“Now here you are,” Loki’s voice sent a biting cold down her spine.
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Blake hadn’t counted on the troll having a few friends. He slammed his hammer against the taller one’s kneecap. The trolls looked like old men with large noses and pointy ears. They had tons of body hair and long arms. Standing as tall as a house, they smelled like rotting meat.
The troll hobbled after him, the two smaller ones followed careful not to pass the elder troll. There was a ranking among trolls. The larger the troll, the more rank they had. Blake could feel the electricity in the air. It was attracted to him, sending energy through his veins. There had to be a source nearby.
A power plant. Perfect.
He needed more power than Jölnir could muster to bring down three trolls. He slammed his hammer against the fence and it crashed to the ground.
Blake slowed down to make sure the trolls followed him in.
In the distance, he could see the large troll, a heap of flesh on the ground. One of the smaller ones beat him, blow after blow. Blake had maimed the larger troll enough for the others to consider him weak. A sure death sentence.
It was too late to do anything when Blake heard movement to his right.
The other smaller troll, still about the size of a house, slammed into Blake, sending him flying and landing hard on his side. His hammer flew from his hand. The troll twisted his head back and forth studying the hammer on the ground. It grabbed the handle and lifted, but it wouldn’t budge.
