Loki's Wolves (27 page)

F
en saw the two of them and realized they were trying to ditch him. His cousin, his almost-sister, was leaving him because he wasn’t as strong as Matt. He’d known it could happen, but he’d believed in her. She was the only one who’d ever stuck by him.

“So what, you creep out while I’m sleeping? Leave me here while you go save the world?” Fen advanced on them, growling deep in his throat like he wasn’t on two legs anymore.

“It’s a dream, Fen.” Matt had his arm around Laurie, and she was leaning on him.

“You and Thorsen?” Fen reached for her, but she flinched away. “You’re going to be heroes and leave me behind?”

“No.” Laurie pushed away from Matt. “This is a
dream
, and we’re all having nightmares about the things we fear.”

“They’re called mara. They’re attacking us with nightmares.” Matt stepped closer to them and pointed up to the second floor. “Laurie jumped from there thinking it was a fence.”

Fen looked at Laurie, and she nodded and then looked pointedly at the arm she was holding tight to her chest. “I broke it.
That’s
why I pulled away.”

He started to answer, but then Kris walked out of the shadows and stood behind Laurie. “You believe this trash? You always were dumber than the rest of the family, boy. You know they offered to pay me to take you in? And I still said no.” Kris laughed and then tossed a half-empty beer at Fen. “I lost the betting pool, though, and now I’m stuck with you.”

Fen ducked to avoid the can.

“Fen.” Laurie stepped up to him. “Whatever you’re seeing, it’s not real. Focus on me. Please. I need you to help me.”

He shook his head, and Kris vanished. “How do we fight illusions?”

“Focus on what’s real.” Matt looked back toward the house. “The bony women inside aren’t illusions, though, and my Hammer is in there. If we’re going to fight them…”

“Let’s go get it, then.” Fen marched up to the door and went back inside. His dad was on the floor in the kitchen,
being kicked in the sides and stomach by Skull and Hattie. They grinned at him.

“You’re next,” Hattie said. “Wait till I tell your little friends about how we got the shield and how you’re going to help us get Matt, too. Bet we won’t have to hurt you then. They’ll do it for us.”

Beside him, he heard Laurie repeating, “Not real. Not real. Not real.”

Fen squared his shoulders and looked away from the Raiders in the kitchen. They needed to find the mara and get rid of them. Baldwin ran toward them. “There are monsters in my house.” He held out a hand to Matt; cupped in his open palm was the Hammer amulet. “Here. You left this in the living room.”

“Thank you!” Matt folded the tiny Hammer in his hand so tightly that Fen thought it might cut the skin. Baldwin really was a good guy: he’d brought them what they needed without even being told.

“Where are the twins?” Laurie asked.

“They’re shooting something at the mara. I can’t
see
it, but every time they hold hands, the air ripples, and the illusions near them vanish.” Baldwin shook his head. “The bone people don’t, though. They’re not going away.”

“And Astrid?” Matt asked. “Is she okay?”

“Who?” Fen asked.

“New girl. With us when you woke,” Baldwin said, and
then he looked at Matt and shook his head. “She’s somewhere in the house, said something about magic.”

Fen, Laurie, and Matt made their way up the stairs and to the guest room, where the twins were to be sleeping. They stood arm-in-arm, staring out the door. Between the twins and them were five bony, ugly old women. The women couldn’t get in the room, but they weren’t retreating, either.

Reyna and Ray looked tired, but they kept flinging their free hands as if they were throwing things. The mara flinched, but they weren’t destroyed. Laurie had been right that the twins had a secret. They were witches of some sort.

A girl—presumably Astrid—opened another door and peered out at them. “Matt!” She grabbed Matt’s arm. “I couldn’t get in to the twins.”

With a sudden smile, Baldwin started to walk up to the mara. The mara didn’t look their way, even as Baldwin tried tugging them back from the doorway.

Then Fen heard the growls. He looked over his shoulder and saw at least three wolves coming up the steps. “Wolves! Get into the other room!” He started trying to herd them into the bedroom across from the twins’ room.

“Not real,” Laurie murmured. “Fen. Not real. Jordie’s not here. Mom’s not here. The wolves aren’t here.” She was too pale, and he knew she was going to pass out. The break in her arm meant they needed to go to a hospital, but he couldn’t leave Baldwin out there alone.

“Come on.” Fen shoved Matt aside, pushing him closer to Astrid and helping Laurie over to sit on the bed. “Need a plan, Thorsen. The twins and Baldwin are buying time, but we need a plan.”

“Let me see,” Astrid offered.

Fen snarled at her. He wasn’t going to let a stranger near Laurie when she was hurt.

“Plan, Thorsen,” he half snarled, half spoke.

Through the open door, Fen could see Baldwin clinging to the back of one of the mara like a cheerful monkey; the mara ignored him. The twins were making no progress, and Fen wasn’t keen on leaving Laurie’s side.

“Trying, Brekke,” Matt said. He was staring past Fen at something only he saw.

One of the mara turned and advanced toward the door.

“Not real,” Matt muttered.

Astrid came to Matt’s side and slammed the door, like a thin piece of wood would keep out a monster.

“They’re on their own out there, Thorsen. Either you go or I go. One of us has to stay in here to protect Laurie.” Fen gestured at her, and for the first time since they’d faced the Raiders in Blackwell, Laurie didn’t argue. That alone meant she was in real pain.

Matt must’ve noticed, too. He grabbed Astrid’s wrist. “Whatever you did before, you need to try it again.”

“I don’t know if it will work, but”—she put her hand on
top of Matt’s hand, who quickly yanked away from her—“I can try.”

“Now!” Fen demanded.

“Fen’s right.” Matt was at the door, ready to yank it open. “If you can’t do it, he and I need to go out there.”

“I’ll try,” Astrid said.

Matt yanked the door open. Astrid shot Fen a grin before she followed Matt into the hallway and started saying something unintelligible. The mara shrieked, horrible shrill noises that made Fen cringe, and then they vanished.

Astrid collapsed, swaying into Matt, who caught her and helped her sit on the floor. He stayed crouched beside her.

The twins left their room, stepped around Matt and Astrid, and came to the bedroom where he and Laurie were.

“Who is she?” Reyna asked.

“Astrid. Witch or something,” Baldwin sang out as he came bouncing past them into the room. “Did you see? She just zapped them away. I told you we were like superheroes. Bring on the next villain!”

Despite everything, Fen couldn’t help smiling at Baldwin’s attitude. “He’s as bad as us, Laurie,” he said.

When she didn’t even smile, a cold spike of panic rushed through him. “Laurie?”

She gave him the least convincing smile he’d ever seen. “Sorry. Maybe there’s aspirin or something here. Baldwin?”

“Sure, but we should call a doctor,” Baldwin said. “That’s
what people do when they get hurt, isn’t it? I never have, but there are kids at school and…” His words dwindled. “I’ll get aspirin and the phone.”

“No phone,” Laurie objected. “Aspirin. Then we can wrap my arm or something. If we go to a hospital, they’ll call the cops, and we just can’t.”

“We’ll fix it.” Ray stepped closer to the bed.

Fen put himself in front of Laurie and bared his teeth. The only thing keeping him on two legs was the realization that he couldn’t speak if he became a wolf.

“It’s okay, Fen,” Laurie said. When he didn’t reply, she snapped, “
Fen!
”

He glanced over his shoulder at her. He whimpered before he could stop himself.

“We’ve got this one, puppy.” Reyna walked over to stand beside her brother. “No hospital needed. Honest.”

“Let them pass,” Laurie said gently.

And Fen wanted to say something rude, but the truth was that if they could take that too-pale look away from Laurie’s face, he would owe them. He did, however, look at Matt—who had now left Astrid to stand with Fen beside the bed.

Matt looked as worried as Fen felt. That, at least, made Fen feel a little better. If there was trouble, he wouldn’t be alone in dealing with it.

“Don’t touch her while we do this,” Ray cautioned.

And then the twins stood on either side of the bed where Laurie lay. They clasped hands, right-to-left, so they were a circle of two over her. Then they lowered one set of clasped hands to her oddly angled arm and began whispering words in a rising-falling-rising way that made Fen’s skin prickle.

Baldwin came to stand with him, and Astrid walked over and leaned on Matt. He awkwardly put an arm around her waist to steady her, and Fen had a prickle of unease. Matt, despite Fen’s years of disliking him, had turned out to be a really good guy. Like Laurie and Baldwin, though, he was too trusting. That left Fen with several people to protect. He wasn’t sure what he thought of the twins, but he knew he didn’t like Astrid.

“Thank you,” Laurie whispered, drawing his attention. Her arm was looking straight again.

The twins stood in one movement, as if their very muscles somehow communicated and had to move as perfect mirrors.

“You saved us from the trolls; we fixed you. We’re even now,” Reyna said.

“You’ll need to sleep, but it’s healed,” added Ray.

“I knew you had a secret,” Laurie murmured drowsily.

As Fen stepped closer to her, both twins backed away. Ray held up his hands disarmingly, but Reyna snorted. Fen
wasn’t entirely sure how much magic any of the three witches had, but he didn’t care just then. They all needed to step away from Laurie.

“Thanks.” He remembered to say that part first, and then he added the important words, “Now leave.” A small growl slipped out, and he was pretty sure his eyes weren’t all the way normal, either. Laurie being hurt had scared him enough that he wasn’t feeling very in control. He’d learned that when he felt like this, he shouldn’t be around people. They
had
helped her, though, so he tried to sound a little nicer. “She needs to sleep.”

Matt said, “If you need us…”

Fen only nodded because he wasn’t quite sure he could talk. Too many strangers were in the room near Laurie, and Fen’s instinct to protect his cousin was making everything else unimportant. He trusted Matt and Baldwin, but the other three were threats until they’d proven otherwise. One battle didn’t make them allies.

Threats should be removed.

Baldwin stayed at the door, standing like a sentinel awaiting orders. Matt led the twins and Astrid away. As they left, Matt said to the twins, “Thanks for healing Laurie. What else can you do? Does the magic work for offense, too, like Astrid’s?”

There was a part of Fen that wanted to know, but mostly he was glad that they were gone. He and Matt weren’t
friends, but they’d gone to school together long enough that Matt knew Fen was overprotective. The only thing new there was that Matt knew now that they could be tangling with a grumpy wolf if Fen got too angry. Matt had done exactly what Laurie would’ve: taken the people away so Fen didn’t have to try to be nice.

He felt like something heavy fell off his shoulders as he walked to the doorway, where Baldwin waited. “Thank you,” he said again, and then he closed the door and lay down on the floor. The only way to get near Laurie was to get past him, and even as tired as he was, he’d wake if anyone came in.

W
hen Laurie and Fen came downstairs at almost lunchtime the next day, she felt more rested than she had in days. Her arm felt a little tender, but it seemed to be healed. The twins had definitely had a secret: they were witches. From what Fen had said had happened with the mara, so was Astrid.

That should mean that Laurie was happier. Having three witches along seemed like it should be an asset in stopping Ragnarök, except it didn’t feel like that. Laurie hated admitting it, but she was nervous. They’d gone from a group of three to seven in a single day, and they hadn’t had any time to stop and recover from the craziness before they were
attacked again. It felt like they were getting battered at every turn, and if Astrid hadn’t arrived, they would have had no idea how to defeat the mara. Laurie was grateful to the new girl, but she also realized that they couldn’t keep counting on surprises to save them.