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)
The cries of sorrow, the stench of death, the destruction of a people.
Find me.
I close my eyes and put my hands over my ears, panicking when the vision suddenly stops. It’s like what happened in Aric’s room. Is it because I’m close to Mjölnir? It has to be nearby. Only Mjölnir remembers the battles and the bloodshed.
I snap my eyes open again when Eira starts pulling me up.
“Come on, Rey! Ziva is distracting them. Hurry!”
But I can’t.
My gaze is glued to the oak tree. Amid initials and heart carvings in the dark bark is a single rune.
Hagalaz.
My lungs seize.
I don’t know if it’s from the rune or the harrowing vision that consumed me.
What the hell is going on? I can’t catch my breath.
“Get your head in the game, soldier!” Ziva whispers, running toward us. She grabs my arm, tugging me behind her. “Let’s go.”
We join our small shield wall and run across the field, then disperse just like I’d planned. The Berserker team runs into the forest trails as predicted, and I hear laughter as people start getting caught.
“This way,” Ziva calls, and Eira follows. A few of our enemies are hiding behind the bushes. I fire off a volley of shots and get two of them, but we’re outnumbered. “Go! I’ll cover you.”
I lay down a peppering spray, mentally counting each dart so I’ll know when to reload.
I watch as Aric leads his team toward the dining hall.
Of course he’s on the offense. I can’t imagine him doing anything else.
Reeve is right next to him, laughing and hollering like a banshee.
I spot Ziva and run ahead to the tree she’s standing behind. “I’m going to see if there’s anyone over by the building,” I say. “It’s pretty dark, and the other team could be hiding.” It’s a lie, but I need to break away from the crowd.
Thunder claps overhead. That can’t be good.
“You’ve got this, Z. Get that flag!”
She salutes me and runs off.
We lost Eira, but I see some of our yellow team trickling out of the trail to run in the direction of the fountain. As they go left, I take a right.
I cut around the admin building toward the service door. Sure enough, it’s open. There’s an ashtray next to the garbage can and the lingering smell of something stronger than cigarettes.
I glance around quickly, then slip inside.
The directory on the wall spells out the rooms. President’s office. Third floor.
I dip into the stairwell and take them as quietly as I can. When I get to the door leading to the third floor, I look behind me to make sure nobody’s following me, then quietly set my Nerf gun down on the ground by the door to hold it ajar. Sigurd’s office is just up ahead.
I pass all the creepy antlers and lean down to examine the lock I’m about to pick. I grab the doorknob, and suddenly, the door shoves open. That was unexpected.
Everything’s blanketed in darkness except for the sliver of moonlight peeking out from the dark curtains lighting up Sigurd’s massive mahogany desk. I take a step back. Are those nail marks on the top? Why the hell would he be clawing at his desk?
I peer closer. Six rune paperweights are lined in a perfect circle around his computer. I raise my hand toward the circle, and the shock is enough to have me jerking my hand back.
Damn.
Okay. Well, it’s not like I had time to hack into the system anyway. I wonder how he’d explain that to any humans or custodians who came in here. Or maybe there are other wards that would keep people away entirely. I peer at the line of stones.
Raido. Dagaz.
The very runes that appeared with Aric. Both times I was with him.
Coincidence? Not a chance. And yet…the rest of the runes next to them don’t match the ones in Laufey’s note.
I start opening drawers, quick but careful. If Sigurd’s anything like my father, he keeps his sins tucked away in plain sight. And I need leverage. All of it.
Top drawer—pens, ledgers, receipts. The second drawer holds a small black notebook, completely blank. Suspiciously blank, like it’s waiting for ink only he can see. My pulse picks up.
I sift deeper. Stacks of student files—color-coded tabs with names I half recognize from orientation. Attendance, grades…and strange annotations in the margins. “Potential?”
Potential for what?
One file is flagged twice. Aric’s.
At the very back, shoved under a pile of old syllabi, there’s something heavier. A small iron key. I lift it, cold biting into my palm. What does it unlock?
I scan the office again, seeing books, artifacts, and ancient pottery.
But there must be something special here—
“Have you found anything interesting yet?”
Chapter Forty-One
Rey
I instantly relax at the sound of Aric’s voice, which is absurd. My plan hinges on making him relax around me. Not the other way around.