Valkyrie Rising (23 page)

“Yes, that
is
the other option,” Astrid replied. For the first time, her lovely features twisted into something less than runway ready. I had the fleeting impression I’d offended her. “But something tells me you’ll change your mind when you understand exactly how painful that prospect can be.”

“I want my brother back,” I said, even though I knew this wouldn’t be over until my grandmother was safe too and we’d stopped Odin’s plans altogether. “I don’t want to fight you, but I will if I have to.”

“You have no idea who you’re playing with.”

Even though the look on her face should have chilled me to the bone, I stood my ground. “Then I guess you’ll have to show me.”

Astrid sighed as if she almost regretted what she was about to do. Maybe crushing skulls was getting old. But her hesitation lasted only an instant. The cold, efficient look in her eyes was back, warning me she was about to strike. I took a step away, but Astrid was far faster than I would have imagined possible. In a flash, she was behind me, her arm coiled around my neck like a noose.

“Swear loyalty to me and I’ll spare you,” she whispered in my ear as my throat closed under the pressure of her forearm.

While part of me wanted to use my last remaining breath to say anything that would make that arm go away, the voice in the back of my head told me that Valkyries can’t break their word. Once promised, my loyalty couldn’t just be taken back like a borrowed sweater. I’d never be able to rescue Graham and Grandmother if Astrid had that kind of power over me.

I twisted, desperate for just one sip of air, but Astrid was too strong. My field of vision narrowed. I was on the verge of passing out, but her grasp on me abruptly loosened as she pivoted to face something behind her. Tuck. He managed to shift out of the way an instant before Astrid’s blow would have crushed his rib cage like a soda can. Instead, it glanced off his shoulder, sending him crashing to the ground.

With a flick of her wrist, a knife appeared in Astrid’s hand. I struggled until my muscles ached from the effort but still couldn’t gain even an inch of wiggle room. But the knife wasn’t intended for me. As Tuck pushed to his feet, Astrid plunged the knife downward toward Tuck and, without so much as scratching his skin, sliced the chain of Graham’s necklace. It slithered to the ground at her feet.

“Another one?” she snarled, grinding the metal disk under her heel. “Hilda certainly has been busy.” When she took a step back, the necklace was a single, flat piece of crushed metal. The raised symbols that had adorned the surface had been replaced with tread marks from her boot. “You’ll have to do better than that.”

So much for the one thing we had to keep Tuck safe—other than me. And given how this showdown with Astrid was going, that didn’t bode well for either of us.

The knife was still in Astrid’s hand, and who knew what she intended to do with it next? I had to get enough room to maneuver and at least attempt to defend myself. I grabbed the low metal fence separating the bar’s outside seating from the sidewalk and pulled myself toward it, my fingers slipping and scrambling for a hold. It was just enough leverage to pull me out of Astrid’s grip. The crash as I slammed into the railing sent the people at the tables scattering. It clearly wasn’t every day you saw an all-out brawl on the streets of Bergen.

I filled my screaming lungs with one long gulp of air just as Astrid’s fingers dug back into my shoulder and wrenched me away. As I looked up, searching the crowd of spectators for a sympathetic face, Loki’s green eyes were waiting for me. He was lounging in a chair, tipped up on the back two legs, an amused smile on his lips.

I grabbed the back of a flimsy aluminum chair and lifted it over the railing. As Astrid pulled me back into a vise grip, I swung the chair as hard as I could, hitting her dead-on. The chair crumpled on impact, as did my last remaining shred of courage.

“Poor little Elsa.” Loki’s voice seemed to come from all around us. “Hilda will be disappointed if you die like this, with so little fanfare.”

“Thanks for your concern.” I managed the sarcasm despite the searing pain as Astrid twisted my arm behind my back at a physically impossible angle.

Tuck was unsuccessfully trying to pry me free of Astrid’s hold, but she just yanked my arm back harder then ever, until any move I made sent a wave of pure agony down my spine.

With no place left to turn, I caught Loki’s eye, begging for help.

In the blandest possible voice, he said, “Astrid, darling, let her go. Pick on someone your own size.”

The pain stopped instantly.

“I was hoping that wasn’t really you,” Astrid growled. “What are
you
doing here?”

“Babysitting,” Loki drawled. “Hilda is back. It sparked my curiosity. And then Ellie ignited it completely. With a wild story about Valkyries abducting her brother. Alive. Now I’m quite caught up in the tragedy. I’m determined to help her find him, and Hilda, who seems to have disappeared again—right after coming out of hiding.”

“I suppose you gave her mead—some liquid overconfidence?” Astrid said disdainfully. “You sent a sixteen-year-old girl after Odin because you’re too scared to face him yourself.” She looked right at me. “We give mead to soldiers sent on suicide missions.”

I’d known Loki wasn’t exactly on my side, but it was beginning to seem like he was my flat-out enemy.

Loki brushed Astrid’s comment aside. “That hurts, Astrid. Everything I do is for Ellie’s own good. I won’t sleep a wink until I see her smile again.” He set his hands on the railing and vaulted over. Then he approached Astrid until he was so close, I thought they might kiss. “We have a bit of a problem on our hands, don’t we? You’ve been breaking the rules.” As he spoke, he produced a roll of parchment from thin air.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Astrid snapped. But the vehemence of her reaction just made her fear that much more transparent. Never in my life had I thought I’d see one of the beautiful bobsled girls looking less than certain. She released my arm, and Tuck was there in an instant, hauling me out of her reach.

“Yes, you do.” Loki’s eyes never left Astrid’s face. The tension in the air between them stretched so taut that I almost expected an audible snap when Loki finally broke it. “And I’ll tell you what you’re going to do about it—that is, if you want to save yourself. Not everyone is as forgiving as I can be. Not all the gods have been sleeping away the centuries like Odin. Apathetic as they may seem about the state of the modern world, imagine what would happen if I sounded the alarm in Midgaard. Odin’s up to the same old tricks.”

“What’s your price, Loki?” Astrid forced the words out from between clenched teeth. “Even if Elsa didn’t have such foresight, I’m not agreeing to anything unless you tell me all the terms.”

“But you will, Astrid,” Loki said, stretching. “Because your trust is a condition of my silence. When the time comes, rest assured that you’ll have no choice but to give me what I want. Until then, your secret is safe with me.”

Astrid actually looked startled as she eyed Loki. She growled low in her throat. “Cleverness won’t mend a broken neck.”

“Just like violence doesn’t resolve conflict,” Loki said. “It only begets more violence. It’s unfortunate for you that the same isn’t true of cleverness.” Loki was the only one who laughed at his joke. “Odin may still delude himself,” Loki drawled. “But I think you see the nuances of this modern world. You understand that true peace comes through negotiation. Compromise. And don’t you worry, we’ll reach one.”

“Enough.” Astrid made an impatient gesture with one hand before taking two long strides toward her car. “Summon all of Midgaard, for all I care. I’ll give them a fight they’ll never forget.”

“Stop!” I said, trying to replicate her cold-blooded commands as she strode away. “I’m not letting you out of here until you give me my brother back.”

“Let it go, Elsa.” Loki groaned like it was a rerun he’d seen a thousand times. “Live to fight another day. It’s all going according to our plan.”

“No.” I spat the word. Tuck reached out and wrapped one arm around my waist, in a silent reminder that this time he was prepared to stop me from fighting. “I don’t know whose side you’re on, Loki, or what crazy plan you’re talking about. I can’t let her get away while Graham is missing. I won’t let Odin kidnap innocent boys and lead them to their deaths.”

Astrid turned. Ice-blue eyes bored into mine. There was a well of infinite bitterness beneath her beautiful surface. “If I can’t stop Odin, then you don’t stand a chance.”

Her reply was unexpected enough to stop me in my tracks—just long enough for her to reach the Range Rover, where the tall brunette Valkyrie and the three boys who had followed her out of the bar were still waiting.

“At least I’m trying,” I said. “What you’re doing is wrong. Now I know you realize it too. In my book, that’s even more inexcusable.”

The brunette studied me, open curiosity in her eyes.

Astrid scanned the crowd that had gathered to watch my pathetic showdown, letting her gaze wash over each and every face.

“Stop them,” she said to no one in particular.

I surged after her, struggling out of Tuck’s hold just as we were hit from the side by a burly boy in a university sweatshirt. He lifted me off the ground, crushing me against his ribs. Tuck reached for me but was grabbed from behind in a wrestler’s grapple hold. The crowd of spectators had formed a hostile wall three bodies thick, trapping us while Astrid made her leisurely escape.

I broke free of the boy’s arms only to be grabbed around the legs by two girls, while a third pinned my arms against my sides, and they lifted me, kicking and twisting. Astrid spared us one last backward glance. Her white teeth flashed, as if she found our situation particularly amusing. Then she climbed into the driver’s seat and the Range Rover peeled away through the city streets, sending pedestrians scampering like mice as she accelerated through a crosswalk.

Given that I hated to use my full strength on these not-so-innocent bystanders, our predicament was doubly frustrating, but I shook my arms free while only bloodying the lip of one of the girls. Our struggle ended the moment the Range Rover was out of sight. One minute I was kicking, trying to free my legs, and the next I was falling through the air, hitting the concrete with a thud, and rolling, cradling my arms over my head. I’d had enough skull trauma that day to last a lifetime. The three girls who’d lifted me were looking down with wide eyes, as if they couldn’t quite figure out what I was doing there, sprawled at their feet.

It appeared there was a whole new dimension to Valkyrie powers that I hadn’t even begun to explore. It was one thing to turn people passive and catatonic, but quite another to force them to do your dirty work.

An unwelcome face hovered above me, grinning hugely. I didn’t even try to stifle a groan at the sight of him.

“Well, at least I averted that catastrophe,” Loki said, bending and yanking me to my feet. “Practice some self-preservation, at least for my sake. A dead Valkyrie is useless to me.”

Tuck stood over another boy, offering him a hand up. Judging by the boy’s swollen, bloodied lip, Tuck must have thrown a few punches to get himself free. Now the boy was confused, staring at Tuck like he wasn’t sure whether to thank him or hit him.

“
Averted
a catastrophe?” I snapped. “Would have been great if you’d stepped in earlier.” I massaged my throat. I was pretty sure Astrid’s arm had partially collapsed my windpipe. “Plus you let Astrid get away.”

“Believe me, Astrid could have left whenever she wanted to. And that doesn’t matter for our purposes,” Loki said. “I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but you weren’t exactly winning that fight.”

“No thanks to you,” I hissed as the rest of what he’d said registered. “What purposes?”

The people who had assembled around us at Astrid’s command were now fully awake and watching us suspiciously as they tried to piece their memories together. Like we’d tricked them into attacking us.

“Loki’s right,” Tuck said, dusting off the back of my sweatshirt. “You promised you wouldn’t do that. You can’t fight Astrid. She was crushing you.”

Loki gave Tuck a smile that was somehow colder than his scowl. “You’re not nearly as stupid as you look.”

“So now I’m supposed to listen to Loki?” I shot back, ignoring Loki’s comment completely. “Because he’s got his own agenda. One that clearly doesn’t include getting Graham back. You heard what he said to Astrid—he’s using all of us.”

“Can I help it if I’m the only one keeping my eyes on the big picture?” Loki flashed a condescending smile. “The best poker players are patient. They wait until it’s a hand they know they can win.”

“I’m a card in this scenario, right?” I said, seriously contemplating breaking Loki’s nose.

“Would you prefer the term pawn?” he said. “I struggle to stay abreast of what’s politically correct.”

“Anything other than chum is fine with me,” Tuck murmured unhelpfully.

“Screw politically correct,” I said, frustration threatening to overflow the confines of my self-control. “Let’s focus on honest. How do I get to Valhalla? How do I get to Graham?”

“You need to be a full-blooded Valkyrie first,” he said, surprising me by looking me straight in the eye and actually answering my question. “Then you can access their power. The energy that flows between them. Surely you can feel it.”