Harlee scowled at Loki. “Get my friend back. Zoey doesn’t want to be Ingrid any longer!”
Chapter 19
“Since you don’t understand what is going on here, I won’t laugh at your ignorance. Even my own brother doesn’t totally understand it so I can’t expect a stupid Earthling to grasp the concept either. I can’t take Zoey off the story transporter. It is already too late.”
“What do you mean ‘it is too late’?” Ingrid yelled. The shock of seeing her own body had worn off enough for Ingrid to find her voice, and she felt a deep hopelessness overwhelm her.
“You see, the story transporter was only meant to create a portal to Valhalla, but I needed Stein to enter the story so I could disguise myself as him when I had succeeded at opening an entrance to the Bifrost Bridge. In case you all didn’t know it, Stein and I can change forms to anything or anyone. I figured I would change my appearance to look like Stein so the Bifrost gate keepers would let me pass. Stein would have lived the remainder of his life on Earth. He seemed to be adapting so nicely to his life there, and he did find his true love – although I had to take her away.”
“Why did you need Zoey to help you?” Stein asked angrily.
“I used her as bait for you to follow her. I also didn’t want to risk my own self getting hurt, so I got several people involved in the experiment. I wasn’t sure what risks, if any, it would take to create a portal to Valhalla. I figured if someone died, I would just keep putting a new person into the story until I got it right. I was able to trick all those people you saw at the bottom of this tower into thinking they were trying out a new virtual reality machine to rate and review. Earthlings are so gullible. Do you remember, Harlee and Brian? I got you both to do it too.”
Brian was perturbed, “Yes, because I believed what you said. I’m not gullible, I just trusted you. What a huge mistake, you piece of sh–”
“Now, now, name calling isn’t going to help you. I plan on returning all of you back to your homes safe and sound as soon as I get what I’ve accomplished. You weren’t supposed to wake up. You’re going to have to hook back up to the virtual machine so that when the story transporter is destroyed, you all will wake up in the real world and think you just had an adventure in an alternate version of Norway. If you anger me, the outcome won’t be as nice.”
“What?” Stein became outraged, and Ingrid felt her heart leap into her throat.
“You see, the story transporter actually can make something virtual become real. I knew this, and maybe you did too, Stein, because you were in such a hurry to get out of Tuntre. I wasn’t trying to make Tuntre a permanent village. I just wanted to make the World Tree real so it could connect Midgard or Earth to Asgard. It was inspired by the Norse myths of the gods and all the realms, but I discovered while snooping in Odin’s private archives that our planet Asgard does connect to Earth through the Rainbow Bridge. It was blocked so that humans and Valhalleans would never meet. I tweaked the story transporter so that it created a bypass through the normal route via the Yggdrasil. The World Tree is actually real, but I had to modify it. The warehouse, where all my lab rats agreed to hook up to the virtual machine, transformed into the Tuntre tree. Zoey complicated matters when that web started to grow out of her and seep into Tuntre, but it didn’t stop me from creating my portal.”
“Were we already in Asgard when we met Odin and Freya? They didn’t seem like the king and queen I remembered, but I assumed the fog that the story transporter put over my memories had something to do with that.”
Loki laughed at his brother, “No, no, they weren’t real, just creations formed through this handy computer.” Loki walked over to the desk to look at the monitor and patted it like a beloved pet.
He continued, “I needed you to stay in Tuntre while the tree portal formed. I had to write a lot of code to get this tree to connect to the Rainbow Bridge. Keeping you in Tuntre while I accomplished that wasn’t an easy task. You wandered off to the Beyond because of that stupid book you managed to use to warn Ingrid before your memories were washed away. Zoey and I had made the Beyond super scary so that no one would leave Tuntre. Originally, there was nothing past Tuntre, so if someone went wandering into the woods they would find nothing – which wouldn’t help me keep everyone ignorant about what Tuntre truly is. Anyway, I used my own version of Odin to get you to return to Tuntre with my fake Bifrost Bridge. I needed you here so that I could change places with you. I will have to take some of your DNA to trick the Bifrost guards, and it has to be fresh. Even though we’re brothers, each of our DNA has a special pattern that’s unique to us. I can’t just look like you – my blood sample has to be yours. After you give a vile of it, there is only one more thing for me to do, and I will be able to return home.”
“What’s that?” Ingrid asked.
“I’m afraid you aren’t going to like the truth. You see, since you were the bait to bring Stein here, it was your story I used to create it. In order for the story transporter to work, it has to be connected to the brain of the person who invented the manuscript. That makes it possible for everyone in the story to experience what you had conjured up for their lives. It also takes organic matter, which is your brain, to open up the portal to Valhalla.”
“So what about that isn’t Ingrid going to like? You used Zoey’s brain to open up the portal so I would follow her, but what is the final step?” Stein was livid.
“Dear brother, you need to calm down. You won’t be able to fix this, and anger doesn’t go well with your complexion.” Loki’s voice carried a sinister, seductive tone.
“I don’t care what it does to my appearance. Give us answers!”
“The last step is for me to open up that door.” Loki pointed to a door on the ceiling that Ingrid hadn’t noticed before. “Then I cross into Valhalla. Once the door opens and you all are back in your virtual chairs, I will enter my realm. I will destroy the story transporter and close the hatch, which will disappear a few minutes after the transporter is destroyed. You all will go back to that warehouse where you volunteered to go to test the virtual machine. You will wake up in a daze. I thought Zoey could be detached like the rest of you from the story transporter, but I didn’t realize that she was going to make things from the story come alive and feed off of her. That Web is connected to her brain like a living organism. I can’t detach it without making the portal disappear too soon. She is stuck to it forever. Everyone but Zoey can be disconnected from it.”
Ingrid gasped, “Will I be roaming around in Tuntre alone as Ingrid after you leave?”
“I don’t know for certain, but I suspect you will be in a black abyss if the transporter is destroyed.”
“What does that mean? Will Ingrid and Zoey die?” Stein’s face went pale.
“I don’t kno –”
“Stop saying you don’t know! You supposedly know more about this than me. Will Zoey die?” Stein was shouting at Loki, and it was evident he wanted to hurt his brother.
“I do know more than you, but I had to improvise what Zoey and I had already written on the transporter because you all discovered the inside to the World Tree and proceeded to find me. I tried to deter you with those monsters from the forest, but a whole floor full of blood didn’t scare you enough to turn back. My plan hasn’t gone the way I thought it would.”
“There has to be a way to get Zoey free from this contraption. I can’t let you go until we find a solution,” Stein said with restrained anger.
“Ha! I’m not sticking around any longer than I have to. Earth is wretched and boring. I want to get back to Asgard. I’m sure you will be able to find another girl to love, and live your boring earthen life.”
“I’ve always stuck up for you. I thought you were just mischievous, not evil. Did you intend to kill Balder or was that an accident?”
“What does it matter now? He’s dead and I got exiled because of it. Now, I intend to make Odin and Freya pay for what they did to me.”
“I wasted so much time
loving you and trying to protect you from yourself. Even though I’m the youngest, I wanted to be the hero.”
“Well, that’s boring, and you should change your life’s mission. You should hook up with a hot girl, pull pranks on some stupid people, and try to live a carefree life. One thing this whole adventure did do for me was get me out of my dreary marriage to Sigyn. She’ll think I’m you and not bother me anymore.”
“I thought you loved her.”
“I thought I did too, until I got some freedom. Earth gave me at least that. No, I’m not the marrying type. I think I’m just going to be single and play the field.”
Loki typed some more on the story transporter keyboard and a hatch on the ceiling of the room opened. Then a ladder fell down from the opening.
“I suggest you all hurry back down to your chairs in the bottom of this tree before I destroy the story transporter. Remember, you will wake up in that warehouse on Earth and be able to return home. I just created an elevator over there that you can use to get back down the tower. I’ll wait a few minutes to give you time to hook up to the machines. I assume you know how since you detached yourselves from them.”
The group, including Ingrid, walked toward the elevator doors. Ingrid knew she may end up stuck in a black hole, so she wanted her last view to be of people she cared about – not Loki. Since Loki had quickly created the elevator on the laptop, it didn’t have all the details a normal one would have. Stein pointed out, after the doors closed, that it didn’t show the floors the elevator was going to on the outside of it.
“I say we don’t go down, since Loki can’t see if we are moving. I’m going to transform into one of Loki’s monsters and keep him from going to Valhalla. While I distract him, you can take the transporter and keep him from destroying it.”
They had to move fast before Loki destroyed the transporter. No one argued with Stein or explained that his plan had potential risks and possibly wouldn’t work – but they all were thinking it. Ingrid, of course, didn’t see any hope, because she felt Loki was leaving out some important information. Somehow she realized that if they detached the web and wires from her, she would die. It wouldn’t just get rid of the portal to Valhalla, but it would kill her too. Tuntre and the web were a part of Zoey the same way her brain and heart were. Taking them away would end her life.
“Stand back. I don’t want any of you getting hurt in the fight,” Stein said as the elevator doors opened.
Before their eyes, just as the doors sprang open, Stein’s body morphed and grew. Ingrid saw similarities to the stray dog in the village, but this creature was much bigger. A loud growl came out of his mouth, and they all stood back to let Stein do what he had planned.
He leaped toward Loki in what appeared to be an attempt to tear out Loki’s throat. Ingrid wondered if Stein could process thoughts in that body. Would he try to kill his own brother? Before Stein had a chance to make contact, Loki had transformed into the nasty arachnid they managed to escape twice. It was a battle of claws and pincers until the spider turned into Stein and the transformation startled the wolf into stopping his attack – that was when the beast morphed back into the real Stein. The boys wrestled and punched at each other, but in the shuffle of their brawl, Ingrid couldn’t figure out who was the actual Stein. Nothing was different between the two boys’ appearance. Even their clothes matched.
While the brothers fought, Brian took the story transporter into his possession, and Harlee stood in front of him to block his view from Loki. When they realized that Ingrid still had her bag from Tuntre, they shoved the laptop into it. Stein had distracted Loki adequately enough that he didn’t notice the machine missing.
They continued the boxing match while their lips bled and their eyes grew swollen. The more they pummeled each other, the messier their faces appeared, until Ingrid didn’t think she would be able to recognize the real Stein even if Loki hadn’t duplicated his look for himself. Brian looked like he wanted to help Stein at times, but since he didn’t know who he would be helping, he left them to their own fight.
Suddenly, a voice shouted through the hole in the ceiling, “Who is causing all that ruckus?”
Both Steins transformed again, and all of their bruises and blood vanished from their faces and clothes. A woman poked her head through the hatch’s opening.
Freya, the queen of Asgard stared down at them in bewilderment.
Chapter 20
“What in the world are you all doing here?”
One of the Steins spoke, “Your Majesty, I was attempting to return home when Loki, my brother, followed me and changed his appearance to look like me. I no longer feel it necessary to help Loki on Earth, and I want to return to Asgard.”
Freya eyed him skeptically, “Stein, is that you? Have you come home? I was worried about you. Many years ago I had promised your mother I would look out for you and then you left to follow Loki. I was worried.”
“Yes, I decided to come home and stop trying to help my loser brother.”
“Who are these other three?”
The same Stein continued, “They are Loki’s friends who tried to stop me and help Loki.”
“Liar! I’m Stein, and he’s Loki in disguise. I was trying to prevent him from going back to Asgard, and these friends were tricked into this whole thing by my brother! You can test our blood to see for yourself that I’m telling the truth.”
The calmer Stein said, “He’ll say anything to get back to Asgard. He said he really didn’t mean to kill Balder, and I believe him, but rules are rules. Also, don’t bother testing our blood, he figured out a way to duplicate mine just like he mirrored my face.”
Freya sighed, “Well, you have caused a disruption on my ship by opening this portal. Until I can get to the bottom of this, you all must come with me.”
One of the Steins smirked, while the other one looked upset and said, “We can’t leave Zoey behind, and she can’t come with us.”
Freya asked, “Who is Zoey?”
Brian and Harlee pointed to the girl who was almost engulfed in black webbing. Ingrid felt disconnected to the whole situation so she said and did nothing. She was, after all, just a virtual reality person.
Freya climbed down the ladder to face the group. “All the blood was running into my head. But I really shouldn’t be down here. It doesn’t seem safe.”
Ingrid agreed with Freya’s assessment as she eyed the blood splatters that were everywhere from the boy’s fight and the slimy, threatening-looking threads coming from Zoey.
“Who are you? You seem to look almost identical to this Zoey the others are worried about,” Freya addressed Ingrid.
“I am Zoey. Loki tricked me into writing a book on the story transporter, and he said that computer put all of us into a virtual reality world of my creation. The only problem is my friends woke up from the virtual world but I remain connected to it. Loki said he can’t remove me from it because this portal to Valhalla will disappear. He claimed he needed a real brain to create the Valhalla portal to be connected to the story transporter, so he used mine.”
“Oh my, this is worse than I suspected,” Freya gasped.
“I was right. I won’t just close the portal if I’m disconnected from those wires. I will die,” Ingrid said with panic in her voice.
“What?” Stein yelled.
Freya nodded her head. “I guess you feel that more than you know that, but you are correct – you will die if I try to disconnect you. Loki may have or may have not known that fact, but to keep anyone on this blasted invention too long endangers them to be permanently in the virtual world. They become the story, as you can see by looking at Zoey. She has created some kind of nasty webbing in her story. Are you the girl she wrote about? Did she put a version of herself in this story?”
“Yes, she calls me Ingrid. The scar on my face matches the web because I supposedly ran into it as a child and was damaged by it.”
“Oh dear, you aren’t supposed to be able to exist in the same realm wi
th your true self. You aren’t real. I told Odin to ban that story transporter, but he didn’t want to be a dictator. I told him it is a dangerous form of entertainment for our youth, and this proves it. Too often our teens find escape from reality better than the real world, but then they get trapped.” She looked between the two Steins and scolded them, “Loki, you should have known better than to bring that technology to Earth. What’s worse is you used it on a human, and for what? Don’t answer that. I’m sure I won’t like your answer, and you would probably lie anyway.”
Freya climbed back up the ladder and returned hastily with a group of what Ingrid assumed were soldiers or guards.
She commanded, “Guards, put all of these young people into cuffs and take them to prison. Two of them are able to shape shift. Loki is one of them, and we can’t let him escape by pretending to be anyone else.” Then she looked at the two Stein’s and said, “We have invented new shackles that will impede your abilities. You can’t escape us by changing into an insect or something small. I know all but one of you is innocent, but until I get to the bottom of all this, I can’t risk having Loki loose. He’s already done enough damage.”
“What about Zoey? We can’t leave her here forever,” one of the Steins asked desperately.
Ingrid assumed this was her Stein, the boy she started to care deeply for, but Loki could be playing a game, and the real Stein wouldn’t try to contradict him when it was futile.
“Where exactly are you taking us? Harlee and I are humans; we belong back on Earth, away from all this craziness,” Brian commented.
“Since I’ve never met you or Harlee, one of you could be Loki in disguise. I can’t even test your DNA in case one of those Steins really could alter the results. By the questions that this Stein asked, I would believe he isn’t Loki, because Loki only cares about himself, but he could pretend to ask the type of questions Stein would ask to trick me. No, I can’t risk it. To answer the question about Zoey, she will not be harmed. I will get my experts to keep this portal active until we can figure out a way to disconnect her from the story without risking her life. I can’t make any promises that we will succeed, but we won’t let her die without a fight.”
The Web of Loki Page 15
