The Web of Loki
Page 1
The Web of Loki
Carla Reighard
Contents
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Preface
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Author’s Note
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Dedication
To all those who don’t feel like they matter – remember, no one else can be great at being you, but you. The things that are out of your control don’t define you – your reactions do.
Preface
Tuntre (pronounced toon-trā):
Name of a sacred tree in Norway.
If fear took on human form, it would look like the people who lived in Tuntre. Every villager was terrified to venture past the outskirts of town because of the Web. At a distance, it resembled the delicate pattern of a spider’s web. Anyone who was courageous enough to look at it closely would think a mythical monster had ripped out the putrid black entrails from its enemy and somehow magically weaved them into a beautiful design. Years ago, several brave men tried to get past this malicious entity that divided Tuntre from the territory they called Beyond. They were never seen again. Since then, Tuntre’s residents had never dared venture past the Web. Only during the Sacrifice did anyone volunteer to leave the safety of Tuntre; to keep the population from becoming too large for the enclosed village, one or more people volunteered every three years to leave Tuntre and enter the Beyond in hopes to find an escape from their torture – no one had ever returned.
Now, all that remained were tales of their own, isolated history. Those who had lived before the Web had told stories of their experiences, but they had long since died, and their accounts had now become more like fairy tales than truths. An insignificant girl with limited options decided she was going to be the next Sacrifice – and she was determined to return unscathed.
Chapter 1
The Web’s Beginnings
One night, an insidious organism began to slowly creep out from the branches of the gigantic tree that grew in the middle of Tuntre. Only if one were to listen carefully could they hear the sinister thing creak as it grew into the shape of a spider’s web while it connected the tree they called Tuntre to anything it could reach.
Tuntre was Norwegian for a sacred tree that was usually planted on a family farm in the center of the yard. This was supposed to reflect the tree’s intimacy with the place. Some who follow the old ways believed that their ancestors’ spirits lived in the tree and that’s why it needed to be cared for.
Now, the threads that came from the tuntre slowly put a veil of darkness over the village as it threatened to swallow it whole. Were the dead somehow haunting them through the Web or was it something even more sinister?
Ingrid could have died that day as her mother, Erika Hansen, explained it. What could have created something so potentially murderous, no one knew, but when Erika told her daughter how it had happened, Ingrid felt the pain as if she could recall the accident herself. She couldn’t, of course, because she had been too young at the time to remember.
If Ingrid could have written down the account on paper, like the stories she loved to read, she imagined it would have read something like this:
“Ingrid, stop playing in the mud. You’re going to create more work for me,” her mother scolded. “I swear you’re going to be the death of me!” Under her breath, Erika complained, “What was I thinking when I decided to have a child?”
Ingrid was an inquisitive child of three with blonde hair and a plain face, though her eyes were as blue as a summer’s sky. She didn’t need much to keep her imagination stimulated, but she tended to ask a lot of questions. Since the Hansens weren’t known for their patient natures, people of Tuntre wondered why the couple had wanted to have a child in the first place. The gossip was that they had wanted a boy to help them manage their small farm, so when Ingrid had arrived, she was a huge disappointment from the very beginning.
Erika continued to tend her garden while Ingrid left her mess of making mud pies to investigate the strange lacy thing that dangled from the nearby trees. Ingrid tottered over to it without fear or care since nothing had ever given her cause for such things. It was early morning, and the sun hadn’t made a full appearance yet. No one in Tuntre had yet discovered the thing that had invaded their village overnight.
Ingrid reached out to grab the strange web, but a piece of it that dangled in front of her face made contact before she could. Ingrid wailed in such pain that anyone within a mile heard her agony. Then the girl fell to the ground landing away from the toxic web.
As soon as her mother heard Ingrid’s cries, she looked up and saw the evil-looking black threads. Erika ran as fast as she could to pull Ingrid away from the Web. She carried Ingrid inside their small home and put her daughter on the dining table with Ingrid’s head hanging over the edge. Erika then placed a bucket underneath Ingrid’s head and proceeded to pour water over the girl’s face. Luckily Erika always had a pail of water from the stream available for cooking and other household needs. As she poured the liquid over her daughter’s skin, black goo washed into the container. The skin continued to sizzle like the sound of bacon frying on a skillet for a few hours after Erika had cleansed it. The wound had only remained red for a few minutes, and then it had blackened – just as a log engulfed in flames does when doused with water. The mixed odor of rotten and burnt flesh remained for days.
Ingrid had barely been breathing as her mother placed her on her straw mattress and tried to figure out what she could do for the girl. When Rollo came home, he had thought he was going to frighten his wife with the explanation of the Web that had veiled Tuntre overnight, but when he saw the shape of the thing branded on his daughter’s face, he went into shock himself.
Ingrid lived, but she was permanently scarred. The first time someone in the village saw her face, they gasped. People had been afraid that the Web had invaded Ingrid’s body as it had Tuntre. For months, even Erika and Rollo had thought perhaps the thing had possessed her and that she was now evil. When they were confident it wasn’t spreading, they accepted that Ingrid had just been scarred. But the other people of Tuntre still had been afraid that Ingrid was contagious and that the Web would spread to their own children through her.
It had been months after the accident before anyone realized that Ingrid had only been permanently marked by the venomous Web and that she wasn’t going to infect anyone with a disease. The stigma of fear still caused the villagers to avoid Ingrid, which kept her as an outcast permanently.
Chapter 2
Present Day - Saturday
“Ingrid, please make sure your lamp has enough fuel before you leave,” Ingrid’s mom said with a nasal-sounding voice. The tone seemed to get worse every time her mother nagged at her daughter.
“I will Mom. I always do,” Ingrid sighed loudly.
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br /> She wondered why her mother treated her like a child. She had lived in Tuntre her whole life, and now that she was eighteen, she was certainly old enough to avoid the dangers here. Everyone feared the Web, especially when it grew unexpectedly, but something about it was beautiful to Ingrid. Despite her fascination with it, she knew to avoid the thing. She would gaze at the lacey dark threads from a safe distance because she knew it wasn’t innocent. She wished that Tuntre had the electricity their ancestors had told stories about. If electricity were real, the paths would be lit, and Ingrid’s mother wouldn’t be such a worry-wart. They also talked about machines that made certain chores easier, such as cooking and laundry, but Ingrid sometimes thought all those stories were folklore. Of course, no one could be for certain since they were cut off from the rest of the world.
“Ingrid, wait for me.” Hilde’s voice broke into Ingrid’s thoughts. She ran up to her, panting like a dog, which Ingrid’s mom had always said was un-ladylike behavior. Hilde was a tomboy, which was one of the things that Ingrid liked about her best friend. Maybe she admired her because Hilde was her opposite.
“Stop running, you crazy girl; I can wait. Mom just made me so angry that I blanked out where we were going to meet.”
“What did she do now?” Hilde said breathlessly.
“Nothing new, it’s just that she treats me like such a child. If it were summer, we would at least have the sun that never sets to make it easier to see. Then she would be less paranoid about me running into the Web.”
“I know what you mean. I hate winter. The sun never shines and I can’t play all the sports I enjoy. Anyway, don’t let it bother you. I think it’s some kind of mom code to act that way, even when you’re old. I won’t do that if I become a mom; I want my girls to be just as tough as my boys, and I won’t let them be wimps.”
“I think it helps that you have brothers. Since I’m the only child, my parents don’t have any other distractions. Maybe they just act like they’re worried because they know it upsets me. Unlike your family, my parents don’t believe in fun or the idea that their own child should enjoy life.”
“Freya’s gown, let’s change the subject. You’re ruining my mood. I told Bjørn that we would meet him at the ice lake to go skating this afternoon.”
Just hearing Bjørn’s name caused Ingrid to heat-up like someone had put a slow-burning coal inside the pit of her stomach. Ingrid liked Bjørn more than just as a friend, but she wouldn’t tell anyone how she felt, not even Hilde. The threesome had known each other since they were little, and Ingrid figured her confessions would only ruin her friendships.
Bjørn didn’t only get more handsome as he got older, but he had also become more thoughtful. He was the kindest boy Ingrid knew. While the other boys had ridiculed her, Bjørn always stood up for her. It didn’t seem fair that her best friends became more attractive as they aged, while Ingrid only grew taller. It was also unfair that her scar hadn’t softened with time or become less noticeable as her mom had said it would.
Though Bjørn treated Hilde and Ingrid the same, Ingrid suspected it was only a matter of time before he wanted more than friendship from Hilde. All the boys wanted that from her. Hilde’s smile lit up her face. Ingrid had always marveled at the fact that someone so beautiful could be so clueless about the way her presence had affected the boys. Ingrid thought that it was to her benefit that Hilde wasn’t vain like the other pretty girls, because if she was, then Hilde – just like the other striking girls – wouldn’t have anything to do with her. Hilde seemed blind to Ingrid’s deformity.
Ingrid already accepted the fact that no one would want to marry her because of her face. Every time she saw her reflection in the mirror, the web-shaped scar covering the right half was a harsh reminder of the constant terror everyone experienced. Though it was no longer black, the imperfection embossed on Ingrid’s skin had a noticeable brownish tint to it.
“Good goddess, did you hear one word I said?” Hilde’s eyebrows knitted together as her hazel eyes glared at her friend.
“Sorry, my mind was wandering.”
“I asked if you know anything about Stein. He’s meeting us at the lake because Bjørn asked him to join us.”
“I only know that his family lives on the opposite side of the village, and that they’ve home-schooled him until last week.”
Tuntre may have been trapped by a dangerous net, but some people still remained aloof from their neighbors. The town was not one big happy family, even though one may expect that from an enclosed community.
“I think Bjørn has been hanging out with him a lot since Stein’s parents let him go to school with us. But there’s something weird about Stein that I can’t put my finger on. He seems like he has a big secret he’s hiding. I haven’t met him, but the way he looks at everyone gives me a strange vibe.” Hilde was never afraid to express her opinions.
“Despite the fact that we’re all stuck here, people still can have their own private lives. It’s hard to keep the whole town from knowing everyone’s business, but if you stay isolated, like Stein’s family does, it’s possible.”
“That’s not what I mean. It seems like he knows something that the rest of us should know but don’t.”
“I think you’re being paranoid.”
“You’re probably right.”
Hilde dropped the subject, but Ingrid knew she was still mulling it over in her head as their feet crunched through the snow-covered paths. She rarely stopped thinking about a mystery until it was solved. Ingrid worried that Stein would be like all her other schoolmates and not want to hang around her – no one had ever joined their threesome in all the years they’d been together. A part of Ingrid hoped that maybe Stein was somewhat of an outcast like her, since he had been home-schooled, and maybe he would be kind to her because of it. Ingrid speculated that Stein being a misfit was why Bjørn had befriended Stein – the same reason he had befriended her.
Since the sun didn’t rise in the winter of their Norwegian village, there were torch poles around the lake so that everyone could enjoy skating. The lamps were already lit, and the golden glow of the light made it easy to see that Bjørn and Stein were already at the lake, waiting for the girls.
As Hilde and Ingrid approached the boys, Ingrid let her long blonde hair cover her scar. Hilde kept her hair in one long black braid down her back. Ingrid thought it didn’t really matter how Hilde wore it, because her milky smooth skin and raspberry colored lips were stunning enough. Since Hilde didn’t like to fuss with her appearance, she normally pulled her hair away from her face. Ingrid, on the other hand, fiddled all the time to get her hair to be just right so that it would cover her blemish without obscuring her vision. Luckily, Ingrid’s thick, light golden hair was the one thing she liked. It was a pretty veil to cover her ugliness.
Bjørn was lacing his skates. He wasn’t aware that the girls were approaching. Stein was sitting next to him on a log near the lake, but his blades were already on his feet. He looked straight towards Ingrid and Hilde. Unlike everyone else in town who always avoided eye contact with Ingrid, Stein’s eyes pierced her with their stare. Ingrid didn’t look away since she was accustomed to being able to observe people without having them gaze back at her hideousness. She was sure he couldn’t see the details of her face from so far in the low light, but his unblinking eyes were still unnerving.
Despite Ingrid’s attempts to cover her scar, a quick breeze pushed her hair away and left it exposed. Stein’s gaze never moved from her eyes, as if the frightening thing on Ingrid’s skin didn’t catch his attention. Ingrid assumed it was probably because he couldn’t see the mark from a distance. She eventually blinked and looked towards the side, so that the right half of her face was away from Stein. Ingrid quickly grabbed a clump of hair to shield her blemish before turning towards him. He was still gawking at her.
Thankfully, Hilde was astute enough to see what was happening and walked in front of Ingrid. When the girls were near enough to be heard, Hilde sai
d, “Hey guys!”
She broke the spell and Stein was no longer transfixed on Ingrid. He smiled shyly. His hair was the same color as Hilde’s, which caused Ingrid to imagine Hilde and Stein having children with raven-colored hair. Ingrid pretended a lot in her private world. She thought about what it would be like if Hilde married Bjørn. Since Ingrid felt that there was no possibility of ever being loved by anyone, she found joy in envisioning Hilde’s happy ending. If Bjørn, instead of Stein, captured her friend’s heart, Ingrid pictured that all their children would be boys with the same dimpled smiles and dark blonde hair that Bjørn had.
Bjørn’s question broke into Ingrid’s thoughts. “Have either of you met Stein? He started going to our school last week. Stein, this is Ingrid and Hilde.”
Since the girls and boys were in separate classrooms, they had never formally met Stein, but the school had been a buzz of gossip about the new guy. The pretty girls all seemed to claim a stake on him before even getting to know anything about Stein. It had been like children fighting over a new toy.
Stein put out his hand to shake theirs, which Ingrid found strange.