Dead Chaos (8 page)

And got none. Aidan was stumped. "I . . . I guess I hadn't thought about where we could go. I was concentrating too much on the research." Aidan looked at me, and a blush of embarrassment stained his cheeks as he scrubbed his fingers through his hair. "Maybe we could take them to Craven. Father would never think to look for them there."

"No. Not Craven. We need to take them to Asgard," I said firmly.

"What? Why?" Aidan asked, his voice strained and almost confrontational. Of course, he wouldn’t like the idea. It would mean revealing a whole lot more to his mother and sister than he had ever been prepared to.

"Can you think of any other way that wouldn't endanger whomever they stayed with?" I asked. I stared straight at his face, refusing to give him the chance to look away.

And he caved. "Fine. Then we'd better be quick about it." Aidan looked at his mom, who still stood in the doorway, confusion and a little fear darkening her eyes. She hesitated then hurried off.

Meanwhile, Aidan began opening the built-in cupboards that lined one wall of the room. At last, he found a large gym bag, which he threw on the bed. "Ens, is there anything you want to take with you in particular?"

"My violin," she answered, pointing at the case that sat on another chair near the door. I moved to fetch it when Enya let out a soft rush of laughter. "Aidan, are you packing my underwear? Oh dear. This is too funny."

Aidan and I both laughed with her. "Well, Ens, they won't pack themselves will they?" She stuck her tongue out at him and sat back as he stuffed clothes and toiletries into the bag.

It only took his mother a few minutes to return, and by that time, Enya's bag and violin were ready for the trip.

"Right, I'm all set too," his mom announced as she strode into the room. "Let's go then." With that, she strode to the open door, peeked behind it, and withdrew a wheelchair, which she rolled over to Enya. I watched, surprised, as mother and son helped Enya into the chair. I hadn’t realized she was that frail. It didn’t make any sense, either. Why would a Jotunn be so weak? What was wrong with her that her physical body seemed ready to fall apart?

Aidan's mom pushed his sister out the door and I was thankful I had a moment to talk to him in private. "We have a problem."

"What's that?"

"Getting them out of here isn't going to be as easy as you think."

"Why?" Aidan frowned and came to a stop.

I turned to him. "The guard outside? You know, the big muscled dude?"

"Yeah, that's Gus."

"Well, Gus the guard dog is also Gus the frost giant." I let that revelation settle on him, watching his features go from disbelief to shock to confusion then shock again.

"What? How do you know that?"

"I can see through his glamor."

"How come I can't see him then? I thought
einherjar
could see through glamor too?"

"I don't know. How long has he been with your father? Maybe there is some type of spell or something that prevents you from seeing it. I’m assuming humans can't see through glamor at all, but surely you should’ve been able to see it now that you’re a Warrior?" I couldn’t figure it out and regretted the words as soon as they were out.

"He's been here for a while. The last time I saw him was when I left Craven. And yes, you’re right. How come I can't see through the glamor? Maybe Loki fiddled with his glamor so I can’t see the real Gus? Loki is known for his magic, right?"

I nodded, not wanting to get into any deeper discussions. "So any suggestions on getting the guard away from the entrance?" I asked. "Unless you want me to fight him?" I offered but I didn't really want to fight him right now. I was still recovering and I still felt vulnerable without my wings. I had my weapons, but I hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

"I have an idea," he said as we entered the main room and made for the doors. The two women waited at the top of the stairs beside an elevator I hadn’t noticed on my way upstairs earlier. "Let's get downstairs. Mom, you, Enya and Bryn wait in the study. I'll tell Gus he has a call from Father and to take it in the kitchen. As soon as he gets to the kitchen, you get out the door. I’ll bring the car around"

A car? Good plan. I’d forgotten for a moment this was his house.

We were about to enter the elevator when a high-pitched voice drifted to us from behind. Aidan and his mother both flinched. I was still carrying the bags and threw a quick glamor over them as I turned to face the oncoming woman.

A housekeeper. A Jotunn too. More of them? I flicked a glance at Aidan and raised an eyebrow, hoping he’d get my meaning. His eyebrows almost met his hairline in shock, his eyes asking "her too?" I nodded, then turned back to the woman and smiled. The woman’s face was red, almost angry. Guard dog almost failing to guard.

"Hello, Gretchen, I was about to ring you," said Aidan’s mom.

The housekeeper looked slightly startled having had her scolding halted. She took a breath and smoothed her hands down her apron. "How can I be of assistance, Mrs. Lee?"

"We need tea in the front room please, Gretchen. My son has come to visit and brought his delightful girlfriend with him." With both my hands occupied by glamored bags, Aidan had to settle for sliding an arm around me and kissing my temple most lovingly.

"Hello, Gretchen."

"Aidan." She sniffed. "You look far too thin. You have not been taking care of yourself." Beneath the glamor, the Jotunn’s eyes flitted from Aidan’s face to mine but seemed satisfied enough by our story. If they knew he’d died, then they would also know he was
einherjar
. And they’d also know about us. So as Aidan’s girlfriend went, I fit the bill. Perhaps she was looking for wings. But my gut told me it was safe. She wasn’t about to turn into a towering giant just yet.

"Okay. You go to the front room and I will make you something exquisitely delicious." She smiled although I wasn’t so sure it reached her eyes.

"Can I have some of your lovely butter biscuits?" Aidan asked.

"Then you can’t be rushing off anywhere. You know how long it takes to prepare."

"Not going anywhere in a hurry. I just got home to visit Mom and Enya." She seemed satisfied and waddled off down the stairs as Aidan led his mother and sister into the elevator.

When the doors closed we walked down to wait for them, then gathered just inside the entrance doors. So close but yet so far.

"Gretchen will be about forty-five minutes preparing that food," said Aidan.

"Good. Will she be in the kitchen at the same time as Gus takes your call?" I asked. Aidan nodded. "Maybe you should call, pretending to be your dad, to make it sound more real," I suggested.

"Yes, good idea. That should stall him a little longer and buy us some time." Aidan fished his cell phone from his pocket and pointed at the door nearest the entrance. "You guys had better get inside there."

Weighed down with the bags, I followed his mom as she shoved the front room door open and pushed the wheelchair inside. I closed the door behind me and placed an ear to the wood. Outside, the house-phone began to ring. He rushed off, his footsteps disappearing in the distance. Soon the phone ceased its ringing and Aidan returned to the door, opened it. "Hey, Gus. My father’s on the phone for you."

A pregnant pause. My heart jumped into my throat. What if he questioned Aidan? How did Dr. Lee usually communicate with Gus? I clenched my fists to calm myself down. Beside me, Aidan's mom and sister waited in equally strained silence.

"Thank you, Mr. Lee," Gus said as he stepped inside the house.

"You can take it in the kitchen," Aidan said.

"Thank you, sir." Gus's heavy footsteps thumped away from us and disappeared. As soon as the footsteps stopped, I flung open the study door. I rushed to open the front door and we all trooped outside. Aidan’s mom pushed the wheelchair straight out onto the ramp that ran beside the stairs. She pushed the chair across the gravel a few feet; not an easy ride for either the chair or its passenger. Enya endure the jostling in silence. Aidan drove up slowly, the black Jaguar humming a little too loudly for my own comfort. He jumped out and swung Enya from the chair into the back seat. I threw the bags in the trunk while he helped his mother with the wheelchair. I jumped in the passenger seat and shut my door just as Aidan and his mother closed theirs. It felt like an eternity as we drove off down the driveway. Within seconds, we came to a halt in front of the gates, which were slowly opening. I glanced at Aidan who pointed at the remote on his sun visor. We sped out the gates and down the road. I sighed, relieved they were all safe and we didn't have to fight off the Frost Giant duo.

We made it to the Bifrost without incident and dumped the car a block away from the park. My fears of whether the bridge could handle a wheelchair were unfounded as the chair and its very flushed occupant arrived safely in Asgard.

"Oh, my goodness," said Aidan's mother, taking in the fire blazing in the large pit in the middle of the Transport Room.

I smiled as I walked out of the room and headed for Odin's hall. Aidan had some explaining to do.

***

Aidan spoke in hushed tones to his mom and sister behind me as we wound through the halls. I prayed Odin would be available to see us and heaved a sigh of relief when I walked through the doorway to see Odin and Frigga both on their thrones. Their discussion must have been serious from the worried expressions on their faces.

I hurried to the dais, flicking a glance over my shoulder at the small family that trailed me. Aidan's mom was white-faced with shock, but Enya seemed to be taking it all in her stride as she stared around the hall and gaped at the gods on the dais.

"Valkyrie Brynhildr, where have you been?" Odin's voice shook the hall and I could have sworn I heard a ceiling beam creak dangerously above.

"I apologize, my lord. You were busy I didn't want to disturb you. I had promised to help Aidan fetch his mom and sister, so I returned to Midgard." I spoke fast, hoping I could get as much of the story out as possible and maybe Odin would forget how angry he was at my disappearance. "Aidan and I have brought his mom and sister with us. They are looking for refuge here as we think Midgard is too dangerous for them right now."

I moved aside so Odin could see Aidan and his family clearly, and from the god’s silence and Frigga's gasp, I knew they noticed Enya and knew what she was.

"Einmyria," Frigga whispered the name but we all managed to hear her well enough.

"What's Einmyria?" I asked Odin, although my gaze remained on Frigga's shocked expression.

"Einmyria is the daughter of Loki. She is the goddess of Ashes and she is supposed to have died ages ago."

"Daughter of Loki?" I echoed.

"Yes, Loki had two daughters with his Jotunn wife, Glut, goddess of fire. The first child was Eisa the goddess of Embers and the second was Einmyria, who commanded the ashes." Odin paused and I scowled, still confused as to what Loki's daughter had to do with us. "Eisa came to the side of the Aesir, and of course, Loki went into a rage. In his anger, he accidentally killed Einmyria, who was always the weaker of the two sisters. Eisa and Glut both have had nothing to do with Loki since then." Odin rose and walked past me toward Aidan and his family. He paused in front of Enya, who seemed in a trance as the god leaned over her and said, "And now I see what he has done."

My heart thumped against my ribs as I began to suspect what Odin was about to confirm. I stared at Aidan, but he was looking at Odin, waiting as we all were, to hear the god’s next words.

Odin sighed, shook his head and said, "This is Einmyria, goddess of Embers."

"What?" Aidan and his mother said in unison.

"It seems that Loki has done the impossible. He has brought to life a goddess who has been dead for centuries." Odin still stared at Enya, who'd slid down a little in her chair. She wasn't strong enough to deal with all this activity.

Then Odin looked at me and I knew what he was thinking. It wasn’t all that impossible considering my father had performed that very miracle when he created me. The only difference was I wasn't a goddess.

Frigga walked over to the girl. "Had we known it was possible, we would have had our beloved Baldur returned to us."

"I think we may need the services of Eir once more, dear wife. The child seems ill." Odin turned to his Frigga, who nodded and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

She returned moments later with Eir, who gave me a warm smile as she passed. When she reached the wheelchair, she said, "Can you remove her from this contraption?"

Aidan nodded and drew Enya into his arms. He looked around as if unsure if he should just place his sister on the floor for the god’s inspection. Frigga waved her hand and a small cot appeared beside Aidan. He laid Enya down and stepped away.

Eir knelt beside Enya, holding both her hands above the girl’s body. Her hands hovered from head to toe and back up again. She sighed and rose to her feet. "She is ill, and very weak. Am I correct in assuming she is who I think she is?"

Eir also recognized Enya. Dr. Lee had certainly had a real prize hidden within his Florida estate.

Odin nodded. "We are fairly certain." Then he turned to Aidan's mother. "Mrs. Lee, can you tell us a little more about the birth of this child?"

Aidan's mom nodded. "As a baby, she grew and developed normally, but the older she got the more tired and weak she was. The doctor came to look at her and he was very concerned that she was so weak. I was always afraid of losing her."

"Did you have the baby at the hospital, Mrs. Lee?" I asked, hoping Odin would forgive me butting in. A glance at his face showed he seemed interested in her answer.

"No, no. Stephen would never have allowed that. I stayed home the entire pregnancy and the doctor came to me when I was ready to have the baby."

"Were you familiar with the doctor?" I asked.

"No, I'd never actually seen him before. I assumed he was a good friend of Stephen's."

I looked at Odin. "Loki, maybe?"

He nodded. "It is very likely it was Loki. He would have wanted to be right there when she was born."

I looked over at Aidan and felt a pull of empathy for him. His shoulders were hunched and his face was pale. I thought of going over to comfort him, but at that moment, his mother moved over to him and tucked her hand around his arm. He looked at her, and she gave him a soft smile. What a woman. It took a lot for anyone to accept all of this so well. The Bifrost, then Asgard, then Odin, and now Enya. And yet she was strong enough to give her son support. Her son, the
einherjar
.

It was up to Aidan to tell his mother what he really was. Not to mention how he died in the first place. But I guess if she handled all of this so well, no doubt she'd handle her son being killed as well.

While Odin and I had spoken to Mrs. Lee, Eir had been tending to Enya. She now sat up in the cot, drinking something out of a goblet. No doubt Mead, which would be the best thing to revive her.

"So Loki has kept her hidden with Dr. Lee and his family all this time." Odin spoke more to himself than anyone else. "That is probably one of the reasons she is so weak. Eisa and Einmyria, as twins, were inseparable. They truly exist as a pair. We know that Eisa has been considerably weaker since Loki killed her sister, but it seems that Einmyria is the one who has suffered most."

"Maybe it's because she went through the whole rebirth thing?" I suggested.

"That could be true. You yourself were not reborn the same as your original self, so perhaps it works the same way?" Odin said, tapping his lower lip.

"Maybe," I answered, pausing a bit. "But remember, my father spliced my DNA with his and my mother's. We don't have any idea what Loki did exactly."

"I suppose how he did it is mostly irrelevant now," answered Odin. "What matters most now is what Loki's intentions were. Why did he do it? What was his purpose?"

"Maybe he just regretted killing Einmyria in the first place and wanted to put it right. And since they suspected, correctly, that my father's experimentation had succeeded with me, they followed up on that and managed to repeat the process. And maybe the addition of human DNA to Einmyria’s own Jotunn DNA is what is making her so much weaker." I sucked in a deep breath after my long exposition and looked at Odin.

"It is possible you are correct, Valkyrie Brynhildr. Loki was half-crazed when he realized he’d killed his child. He never really got over it even though it happened centuries ago." The All-Father nodded and walked back to his throne. For a moment he was silent, and then he said, "Lady Eir, how is Einmyria now?"

"I'm feeling much better," Enya answered the god directly. "Can I just ask that you call me Enya? Everything you've just said seems so impossible to me, but even if it’s true, I've still been Enya since I was born. And I've been Enya to my mom and my brother too."

Odin guffawed, the sound loud and infectious. Then he looked at me and said, "Does she not remind you of a certain Valkyrie that told everyone she was not the legendary Brynhildr?" That set him off again, and when he finally got himself under control, he added, "Perhaps Midgard breeds their females with too much spunk."

His laughter soon died out though as he looked at Frigga's narrowed eyes and unsmiling face. He got pretty much the same expression from both Eir and myself. Seeing that none of us were too impressed by his source of amusement, he tried changing the subject. "Lady Eir, is there anything else we can do for the girl to make her feel better? I see the Mead has helped."

"Yes, my lord. The Mead has helped and can continue to be a regular source of strength for her. My only other suggestion would be that Eisa be found and brought to Asgard to spend some time with her sister. I am certain the more time they spend with each other the healthier both will become."

Odin nodded and turned to Frigga. "Do we know where she is?"

"The last we heard she went to visit with Glut," Frigga said.

"Very well, I shall get Thor to fetch her. He is the only one of my sons that Glut likes."

Frigga snorted. "Tell Thor to watch himself or he will find himself very quickly with a wife. Glut likes to get what she wants."

I choked on my laughter and notice the Eir's shoulders shaking too.

Odin grunted and disappeared from his throne. Then Frigga walked over to Mrs. Lee and said, "Let us get you and your daughter to more comfortable quarters."

"What about Aidan?" asked his mother.

"Aidan has his own quarters in Valhalla. So do not fret about him."

"His own quarters? Valhalla?" Aidan's mothers face wrinkled with confusion.

"Yes, Aidan will tell you more later. For now, let us concentrate on getting your daughter well. Aidan can come with you to your rooms, of course," said Frigga, sending Aidan a
you’d better tell her soon
glare over his mother’s shoulder.

They walked out, Eir following close behind, leaving me to my own devices.

And I'd missed my chance to speak to Odin about Loki’s offer.

***