“The sea is not my thing, but for Midgard, we must all overcome our fears,” Thor announced.
“Ha! Says the god always fishing with goat heads.”
“That is not for the fish, but to catch the serpent.”
He sounded heroic, and I knew then that I couldn’t continue to browbeat him for what had happened. We had to get through this, all of this. If we could get through this, I might be able to figure out and find my place, but on my own terms.
We’d barely reached the boat, and after pulling ourselves on deck, as if on command, the wind began to pick up. The water I’d commanded to recede began to rise again rapidly.
“What’s happening?” Gi screamed.
In the water, I saw shadows moving just below the surface.
“Oh, crap!” I turned to look at Kara, Gi, and Thor. “It’s a trap!”
Chapter 24
Thor
Thor watched Sif’s eyes become as large as saucers, as she faced the boat’s bow. He turned to see a large pink-and- purplish-looking tentacled sea monster. Water dripped from it as it rose and towered over them. In the monster’s shadow, Thor readied for a fight. The smile had barely crossed his lips when Sif yelled. He turned back towards her and saw a large tentacle wrapped around Sif’s waist and torso. It yanked her out of the boat.
She screamed and struggled against the appendage that held her high above the water, and kicked out her legs, but Thor noticed the tentacle only tightened the more she wiggled.
Gi removed her gun and began to rapidly fire—tat-tat-tat.
“Whoa!” The boat rocked back and forth as the sea monster then wrapped its tentacles around it, pressing against the boat’s fiberglass and wood siding until the structure began to snap and pop. Thor attempted to balance; instead, he slipped, slid, and wobbled, unable to find his sea legs.
“Sif,” he roared. The pink-and- purplish-colored tentacled sea monster was foreign in such a place, as octopuses weren’t native to the James River—this was no normal octopus—but a baby Hafgufa or Kraken. Usually, they could grow as large as an island, but for this one to be here, it must have been called in.
A gust of wind picked up, and the monster then released a siren’s song—a pulsating bowhead whales moan, mixed with an alligator’s growl. He watched the fight begin to leave Sif; she stopped kicking, struggling, and her eyes closed; her body went limp.
He removed Mjolnir, his hammer, and leapt into the air as if to strike the monster, all the while, Kara unsheathed her sword and began to slice and stab at the Hafgufa’s limbs. Before he could strike the monster, it dove under the dark water, pulling Sif’s limp body beneath its murky depths with it.
Without a thought, he dove in after her. The cold water sucked him downward in a deadly current, which he struggled against, but paid no mind—he was determined to find Sif. There was no sight of the monster, nor of her.
He stayed under water until his lungs burned for air, still searching the brackish waters. Time slowed, and it felt like hours had passed before he returned to the surface.
“Sif,” he heard Kara and Gi call above him from the boat’s edge.
Breaking to the surface, he gasped for air, pulled himself back over the boat’s edge and slid to the floor. The boat’s rocking slowed. He wiped the water from his face and caught his head in his hands.
The water went still again leaving them soaked through.
“Don’t you two worry. Those things have been showing up here recently. We’ll find your friends,” Gi attempted to comfort them.
“Who would have this sort of power?” Thor wondered aloud.
Kara leaned over the boat’s edge. She dipped her finger in the darkened water and drank it. “Saltwater?”
Thor stared and watched as Kara turned over her gauntlet and punched a few of the custom buttons, a new technology that the gods had begun to implement.
“Saltwater isn’t native to this area,” Kara said.
“No, this is a freshwater river, thankfully. If it had been salt water we would have died from dehydration and not just dysentery,” Gi quipped.
“Never, salt water?” Thor asked.
“Yes,” Gi answered, “but that is in what they call the Chesapeake Bay.”
Kara nodded her head agreeing. “This should be fresh. I hate to say it, but this seems like something Njord would do, and he is missing.”
Thor shook his head. In all of his time with his step-grandfather, Njord had never behaved in such a way. But he couldn’t discount it. Njord was the god of the sea, and wind, both of which they’d had to battle to get to this point.
Thor put the boat in gear and headed towards the blowing cloak as they’d planned. Locating it, dangling from a tree branch, the cloak bore a large gaping hole, as if it had been pierced by a harpoon.
“Someone wants us to believe that Njord is behind all of this, but there is only one problem.”
“What’s that?” Gi asked.
“He holds no malice against the gods and would therefore not do such.”
“But he was a hostage from the Vanir-Aesir war,” Kara countered.
“That is a war which we need not discuss. A war that had happened long ago and ended in a stalemate as all sides joined together for the peace of the realm.”
“But, what if he hasn’t forgotten or forgiven the gods for their role?” Kara pressed.
“He wouldn’t go against his daughter.”
“But he’d go against the All-Father.”
Thor shook his head. “This is rubbish to begin with.” Just because Odin was called, Father, many assumed he acted like a genteel elderly man and seemed to forget that he caused rivers to run red with the blood of beasts, man, giants, and gods alike. He was the original kick-ass warrior who didn’t demand respect but took it. Ask Vili and Ve, the two brothers who remained silent. “You have to consider that he might be behind the water not obeying Freyja’s commands.” Kara’s argument made logical sense, but that would be a death sentence for Njord to cross Odin.
“You believe that he would be stupid enough to cross the All-Father? And for what purpose?” Thor asked.
“To again take the throne, to return to Vanaheim and revolt with the elves.”
Thor threw back his head and laughed causing his shoulders to shake. “Only a madman would assume such was possible.”
Kara frowned.
“These questions have no regard for Sif. Instead, you whiffle-waffle about nonsense disregarding that we’ve lost the key who will keep the nine realms safe,” Thor argued.
“Maybe they can help,” Kara said and raised her hands over her head. Thor turned and stared at the approaching party of weapon-wielding elves and humans, all dressed like extras from Mad Max.
“Crap,” Gi cursed. “Just follow my lead, and everything will be fine.”
“They’re not with you? We can take them,” Thor said, and stuck out his chest.
“Of course, you can,” their leader said, and moved forward with short punk, pink curly hair, cut in a Mohawk; her cheeks were pierced with studs and her eyebrows with silver hoops that accented her inhuman black eyes that had an eerie grayish glow.
“We’ve come to make peace,” Thor announced.
“No, dear god, you’ve come to be a sacrificial offering. All hail the gods.” A rousing cheer went up through the armed crowd, and Thor smirked.
The leader turned back to him, grinned broadly, and licked her lips. “Death to the gods!”
Chapter 25
Sif
I gasped for air, and sputtered awake, coughing out the liquid I’d swallowed. I could feel the cool earth under my heavy wet clothes and hear the water only a few feet away. The clearest of blue eyes stared at me from above. Eyes I knew: Loki. “What happened? All I remember is—” Everything came back to me. “Where’s Thor, Kara, and Gi?”
Loki blanched. “Those were not the first words I thought to hear upon saving you.”
I pulled myself up off of the river’s bank, w
here the water lapped at rocks and stones, but in this patch, it didn’t’ seem to be so bad. In fact, here the sun shone, there were no remains or blackened building shells. Instead, a bright blue sky rested overhead, lush green trees and undergrowth decorated the landscape, even birds chirped.
I toed the ground and began to brush myself off. Hmm. This was a turn of events that I didn’t expect.
“Sorry about that, Hjarta, but I saw the people coming to attack and needed to protect you,” he said. Next to him stood a wolf, which limped, his rear tarred to be exact.
Loki must have noticed my staring at his companion. “This is my son, Vali.”
I nodded hello.
“Did they hurt you?” Vali asked. From his size, he might have once been fierce. He wasn’t an Alpha wolf, but more of an Omega, from his hunched over shoulders, inability to keep his head high and his tail stuck between his legs. He moved over, and sniffed my leg, then quickly stepped away. “You smell pretty. Not the water on you now, but how you really smell. Pretty.” Slowly Vali began to shift back to humanoid form. He reminded me of a young teenage boy who hadn’t yet found his voice or legs. His grayish skin appeared cracked like drying mud that could blow away with one large wind gust. “You look injured.”
Loki waved my concern away. “We heal fast, and with all that is going on here, that is an asset for sure.”
“Where am I?” I squinted, not believing what I was seeing. All of the destruction that had been around me was gone. If I hadn’t known better, I would have believed that this was just a simple day of frolicking on the river’s bank. Rapids ripped over the large limestone boulders, and a nice southernly warm breeze caught the scent of sweet honeysuckles.
“We have to get back and help them,” I said, then raised my hand to look in the distance. But there were no clouds, nothing that reminded me of what was. I began to move back down river, back towards the heart of the city.
“You can’t just cross this area and move back there,” Loki said.
Maybe he expected me to be powerless to leave his side, just like he left me. But my friends were in trouble—yes, even Thor. “You don’t expect me to be happy to be here, do you?” I snarked.
“I was hoping you’d be exceedingly grateful.”
He cast me that sexy smile, and I pushed that spark deep down inside. I’d spent so much time trying to forget how he made me feel, only to be lured in again by his handsome smile, charisma and charm that seemed to want me still. My heart amped up in my chest, thudding, and tears tightened my throat. I pushed it away and cleared my throat.
“Loki, you know better than that. No matter how things were between us, that’s over, and I don’t turn tail and run, leaving my friends in trouble. Something is happening, and all of those people need our help. Instead of chasing ego, why don’t you help me save them?”
I turned away and continued to march down the river, ignoring everything around me. It didn’t matter how perfect this situation now appeared. This was my choice: I was going to go back out there and I was going to make a difference.
“You’re hellbound if you do that,” Loki barked. “You’d choose Thor over me, over us?”
I turned towards him. I could be a walking contradiction with him. A part of me wanted to give in, and recall what we’d had, but if I walked away without helping them, what sort of person would I be? I cupped Loki’s cheek and allowed him to lean into my hand.
“The river is not one to trespass during the day,” Vali interrupted. “I can show you the way.”
“No, son, we will show her the way, for surely Thor and the others have been sent to Cascadia to face trial, but first, looks like we’ll have to wake her up first.”
Loki reached out and touched my arms. His warm, soothing touch began to chill, feeling colder than ice, and in a vice-like grip.
I watched as a thick aerosol began to close in around me, and the image of Loki and Vali vanished to be replaced by that of Lady Hel. Her long raven-colored hair covered with and the large white-gold crown-headdress combination was an elaborate array of black feathers and a white-gold-painted bird skull situated in the feathers.
“Why am I here? What have you done to me?” I demanded. Strapped down to a hospital bed, with IVs pushing a bluish fluid into my veins, I struggled. My breathing hitched; my heart leapt into my throat, and in this sterile hospital room, of white walls, sheets, and metal, only Lady Hel stood. Her dress of onyx shimmered against the white light, “Sorry to end your journey, Sif, but I need your help, and you seem to owe me,” Lady Hel said. Her voice was filled with authority. This wasn’t a request but a decree.
“What the—”
“I told my brother you would come voluntarily, but he wanted to try out his shapeshifting and mind control skills.”
I turned my head, and there was Vali again; his eyes still filled with kindness and not the betrayal I now felt. “It was simple enough to enter your mind,” Vali whispered. His adolescent voice still squeaked. “I just had to find your fears, you know. Sort of like a jigsaw puzzle. I had to find the connectors.”
“I’m guessing this is about Harley,” I said, ignoring Vali’s comments. I couldn’t deal with his changing of my reality for this mess right now.
“Bingo, and I finally know how to bring him back.”
If I could help undo this great wrong, I was all for it. “I’m listening,” I said.
“Good, but I’m going to need more than your undivided attention. I need you to travel with me to Alfheim.”
My eyes darted around the room. None of that explained why I was hooked up to a machine.
“What about Thor, Kara, and Gi?” I asked.
“Oh, they will be fine. Once you correct this, things will once again be right in the world. After all, you are the one who caused it all.”
Guilt punched me in the gut; it mixed like water and gasoline and tasted like crow. I wasn’t friendly enough with Lady Hel to make demands.
“What about this stuff?” I pointed toward the nasty-looking liquid.
“There are always consequences. Last time you double-crossed me, and this is to ensure that you can’t do so again. This blue fluid is the last step and will keep you functioning, but it only keeps things balanced for a limited amount of time, and then it will wear off. I’m tired of playing games, and even if I have to kill you to resurrect him, I will. You owe me that.
“The blue liquid will make it so that you can’t use your innate talents, but also should you attempt to do so, it will slowly begin to poison you, washing your blood in deadly bacteria—that will surely mean your death.”
I gulped. That meant if I didn’t do what she wanted me to, I’d die, and if I tried to use any magic, I’d die. And if I died, where would I go?
“Will I be allowed to correct what’s happening with Midgard. I will help you, but you have to promise me that we will save those people.”
Lady Hel laughed. “It is not like you have a choice, dear.” Two cloaked men in black moved to my side and removed me from the machine.
“This is crazy!” I whispered-yelled. “I have more than enough choice. Where is my friend, Chi?”
“You wish to make demands of me?” Hel asked, her voice filled with outrage.
“I can do more if need be. Don’t make me your enemy. I will make you pay for your part if anything has happened to her.”
I knew Hel had something to do with Chi being missing. Nothing happened on Midgard without her knowing, one way or another. It didn’t matter if she gave me dirty looks. Chi was my friend, and that was all I had left.
“You seek to challenge me?”
“I will do more than challenge you, or have you forgotten that I am the celestial key?” I didn’t know what that meant, but surely the fear that passed through her eyes said it meant something to her after all. “You don’t want to lose Harley forever, right? Then I will help you, and you will very much help me.”
“An alliance of sorts?” she asked.
Alliances meant nothing to Hel anymore than apologies to the already dead.
“That is the only way we will work together. I will not be your prisoner. But on equal footing, or I will make everything unravel until nothing exists, or ever existed.”
She cast me a scathing glare. I’d made a deal with the devil, and like a scorpion, she was sure to try and sting me.
“No, this is love, and if you knew what love was, you’d give everything to have it again.” Lady Hel nodded and snapped her fingers, then the bed on which I lay rose, dumping me on my feet. “Luckily our goals are one and the same. Come, time is ticking; my beloved awaits.”
Chapter 26
Thor
Kara and Thor marched alongside Gi, and with the massive crowd of elves and humans towards what must have once been a tobacco warehouse. The large building, with its packages long removed, still held the signage of a large cowboy. Cowboys seemed an off fixture for this time.
“You know, I can take them all,” Thor said. “We have more important things to do than allow these ingrates to subdue us and take us away from our paths.” Thor bristled. He longed to thrash and smash. With giants not being far away from wreaking more havoc in Midgard, the last thing he needed was a crowd of misfits and bad-ass wannabes playing punk dress up, hindering his progress.
“What are you going to do?” Kara asked. “You can’t smash your way out of everything, Thor.” Thor knew that together they could decimate the entire city, but to find out about Njord, they might need the humans to help.
“I will play their game for only a bit longer, for sure, when things go off the rails, I’ll need to jump in.”
“Yes, my prince. Allow them to herd us, and if they act like fools, then you can smash and thrash.”
“You sound like Sif.” He frowned. It would have been better to take a blade through the ribs than to worry about her. Surely, if she were dead, Odin would have appeared by now to admonish him for failing, again.
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