Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 121534 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 608(@200wpm)___ 486(@250wpm)___ 405(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121534 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 608(@200wpm)___ 486(@250wpm)___ 405(@300wpm)
And then lightning zaps directly from the sky into his back.
My mouth opens in a silent scream.
The lightning doesn’t leave, though. It stays there, trapping Aric in place like he’s a bug caught under a scientist’s pin. But somehow, he’s not stuck. He slowly takes a deep breath and leans back on his haunches, then cautiously, methodically raises both hands, pressing them together like he’s reining in the power.
Thunder booms. I reach out a hand, wanting to help Aric, to protect him, but before I can get close enough, the sound of an explosion fills the air. I’m thrown back so violently, my vision blurs and my ears ring.
And then there’s nothing but silence.
The ringing is gone.
The crickets chirping, water lapping on the shore, the sounds of the Hunt—it all just stops.
Chest heaving, I look up and see Aric covering me with his body. And when I peek out from his frame, I gasp.
He just leveled acres of forest.
Gone as if it never existed.
I pick up the rocks at my feet, and immediately they turn to sand in my hands.
“Aric.” I test his name on my lips and slowly gaze up at him. His eyes are pure white, his hair has lengthened, and tiny ice crystals twist their way through the strands, creating a sort of crown on his head. His arms are covered in blue-and-white etchings, runes all the way down to his fingertips. A blue line divides his lips the same way it did for his costume mask, like he somehow knew that it was his natural state. It’s majestic, beautiful.
He looks like he’s ice himself.
A king.
He finally opens his mouth and whispers so low that I feel the rumble in my chest. “Home. He burned our home, destroyed world after world.”
My stomach clenches.
“You were next.”
Tears burn the backs of my eyes.
“Give him the hammer, and he’ll stop at nothing. Give it to Sigurd, and he’ll get revenge. Take it yourself…”
“And Laufey dies.”
“Is one life worth more than a world?” he asks, his gaze piercing. “What would Laufey want?”
I know in my gut exactly what she would want. She gave me the note. Spelled out exactly what to do. I kept thinking it was too easy…because it was.
Find Mjölnir.
Save the world from Odin’s rule.
Forfeit everyone else—me included.
The note wasn’t a clue.
It was her final goodbye.
Her last gift to a daughter she failed to protect—so I could do what she couldn’t. So I could be brave.
“I kept getting visions of frost,” Aric rumbles out, his voice growing deeper by the second. He starts to clench his teeth like he’s in pain, then arches his back. The rune, it’s doing something, and he’s trying to hold it at bay. “Frost is the key.”
“What do you mean? The key to what?”
But he can only hold out a shaking hand. “The note—do you have the note?”
“I have it.” I reach into the bodice of my costume and hand it over to him.
“Frost,” he repeats. “The Giants would communicate with frost on what looked like normal letters, but only a Giant—” He clenches his teeth again, then starts to cough. “Only a Giant’s frost can unlock it.” He breathes over the note, and ink appears between the runes. “Trust in Aric,” he reads. “You are safe. Giants will rise. Gods will fall. Do. Not. Fail.”
Chapter Seventy-Six
Aric
My back aches, my mind races, and the frost begs to be unleashed underneath my fingertips. Visions are coming so hard and fast, I can barely organize them in my mind.
But one vision stands out among them all.
A simple note being passed from my father to my mother.
And finally, in secret, to Laufey.
They entrusted her with this message.
And in the end, Laufey entrusted me with Rey.
Power builds and snaps within me, constantly pushing against my restraints. I have to keep Rey safe—I have to control my emotions and figure out a way to get these new abilities calm.
The runes on my back now pulse in my head, repeating their names like a chant over and over again. My blood sings out the location of Mjölnir. It’s like now that the power is free, it’s screaming too much information all at once.
Will the ancients’ whispers inside my head stop once she finds Mjölnir? Would I want them to? I’m overwhelmed, drowning under the weight of so many memories, so many possible future paths, but at the same time, they’re there. My heart strains at seeing them once again.
My parents.
They’re talking at the edge of a body of water. They stand still, holding each other, staring into water with trepidation, and it takes everything in me not to race over and pull them into my arms. I know this is just a memory, a vision. But it feels so real.
Slowly, they hold out their hands and squeeze drops of blood into the water. I can tell that there’s more, and I try to stay grounded in it, but my head aches, and I can’t calm the hum of power long enough to focus.