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)
All I know is that Rey is the common thread. Her presence is a flame to the cold I can’t escape. Every contact widens the rift, making more and more of the monster inside me want to break free.
I shove my hands in my pockets. My heart starts to race, a clammy sweat breaking out along my forehead. Damn it, it’s happening.
When I sneak a glance at Rey to see if she’s noticed, I realize her breath is doing the same thing, so it must actually be cold outside. I hate the sigh of relief it brings—knowing her air also carries frost but from the actual temperature, not me.
A small voice in my head whispers…for now.
I shove it from my consciousness.
It’s getting harder and harder to hide, to explain away—and one day, I know, it will be impossible.
“We should stay with the other students.” She nods jerkily, and we catch up to the rest of the group.
“All right.” Reeve stops at the massive stone entrance.
The iron door itself is at least twelve feet tall. The rest of the building is constructed like an ancient temple with icons and runes etched into the stone. “You’ll have around thirty minutes inside. Please don’t go into the pool at the bottom of the stairs. Trust me when I say you won’t come back. It’s roped off for a reason, so don’t be a dick, all right?”
Everyone mumbles their agreement and starts to go into the building. Phones out, cameras clicking or live streaming.
“That’s a massive beast if I’ve ever seen one,” Rey whispers next to me.
“Well you do live with Odin, so.” I glance up, following her gaze to the massive structure. Built from ancient black stone, it rises at least three stories high, the forest seeming to fold around it—trees growing against its sides like it belongs to them. At its peak, nine twisted iron spires form a serpentlike deity reaching skyward, mouth open in a silent scream, eyes hollow.
The steep roof is shingled in black slate. Another serpent coils over the oak door, iron-banded and scarred with faded runes etched deep into the stone.
The whole place feels alive. And ready to eat someone.
My father used to bring me here when I was a kid. I’d cry until he gave up trying to explain the carvings, the runes, the stories in the stone. Funny—I haven’t thought about that in years, probably because I usually avoid the area like the plague.
Rey studies the front of the building, her gaze tracing the runes as if she’s trying to memorize every detail.
“After you?” she asks.
I realize I’ve been staring. Not at the temple. At her.
“Yeah.” I touch the door and immediately yank my hand back.
I’m sure it must have burned me, but when I look at my palm, it’s totally fine.
“Everything okay?” She frowns.
“Worry about yourself.” I shove past her, shouldering the door open without touching it again, and keep walking into the large sanctuary. The air is damp from the open lagoons near the very back and the constant water that runs into the pool beneath the temple. The smell of incense is still eerily strong, like it became a part of the building and refused to leave. The high beams arch like ribs from a corpse, their surfaces carved with bodiless faces, each of them looking like they are people crying out in pain.
Rey moves closer to me. “This is creepy as shit.”
I almost laugh.
Nope. Don’t let her break your defenses. “History usually is.”
Reeve is guiding the freshmen around the hall, snapping selfies with the group in between his show-and-tell. True to form, his stories are heavily embellished.
Rey hangs back by me. Her eyes narrow as she walks toward the nearest wall and reaches for it, then jerks her hand back. “Why are there burn marks?”
I want to be an ass and walk away, but I answer her instead, like a glutton for punishment. “They say the priests made sacrifices to the Gods here, offerings to welcome them back. But I don’t buy it. Those weren’t gifts; they were penance. Humanity bleeding itself dry to make up for all its mistakes.”
“That’s…dark.” She licks her lips and stares back at me, expression blank. “Which Gods?”
“Does it matter?” I snap.
“Maybe.”
“Norse, I’d imagine.” I shrug. “It’s a Norse temple, after all, despite no one being able to date it.”
“Really?” she asks skeptically. “An ancient Norse structure on the West Coast of Washington state.”
“History doesn’t always get it right.” I shrug. “Leif Erikson journeyed to the Americas long before Columbus ever did.”
“Wrong coast. But…fair.”
“You can tell by the carved runes around the temple door. Nine runes for the Nine Realms.”
“It’s said the Bifrost connected our world to others long before recorded time. You know, if you believe in that sort of thing.” Her eyes look almost expectant.
“Sure, why not. There you go. Mystery explained. Any more questions, or can I walk in the opposite direction of wherever you’re heading?”