Chapter 9
At first, all she saw were the bushy needles of the white pine she was sitting in front of. Then, like a bunny emerging from a magician’s hat, a shadow slunk out from the branches.
Charlie hadn’t seen Elias in mare form since homecoming, when she’d sliced his legs off with Sophie’s Valkyrie knife.
Now, he looked just as she remembered from before: a human, whole, but made entirely of shadow, the edges of his body flickering like black candles.
Instinctively, she reached for the seam of her secret pocket, making sure the knife was still in place.
Her eyes stayed on the lower half of his body, not wanting to meet the pools of brilliant green that she knew waited for her.
“Hello, Charlotte.”
Time to go. She pushed herself off the stump. Henry yelped, scrambling to grab hold of her shirtsleeve before she stomped past Elias and into the trees.
“Leaving so soon?” he asked. Though she couldn’t hear his footsteps, she knew he was right behind her.
“Yes.”
“But I only just got here.”
“Exactly.”
“So rude, Charlotte.” Elias sighed. “You always did love to break my heart.”
She snorted. “What heart?”
“Exactly. Hearts are for the weak, am I right?”
“Elias,” she said without glancing back. If she didn’t meet his gaze, she couldn’t be ensnared by it. “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to speak to you in private, and I had a feeling you’d run straight to my old hideout. Make sure I didn’t murder the two idiots who moved in.”
Charlie grunted, not trusting herself to speak. Not when he’d guessed her plans with such eerie accuracy. She felt completely off-balance.
“What do you even see in them?” he went on. “They spend all day watching reality TV, for the gods’ sake.”
“They know how to fight. And now I do, too.”
“Do you really?” Elias sounded far too thrilled by this news. “Well, isn’t this an interesting development? I’d love to go toe-to-toe with you, Charlotte. See what you’re really made of.”
“Hard pass,” she said. “Now, if you have nothing useful to say, feel free to get lost.”
He tsked. “You wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss me if you knew what I had.”
She drew to an abrupt halt. What he had? What the Hel did that mean? Had he taken something of hers? Or worse—someone?
“You’re lying,” she said, keeping her eyes forward and her voice as flat as possible. “You have nothing.”
“Maybe I am lying,” he whispered, drawing closer, his cool breath trailing down her neck. He circled silently around her shoulder, coming to block her path forward. “Maybe I’m not. Maybe I have exactly what you need.”
Eyes down. “I don’t need anything.”
“No?” His shadows drew closer, licking at the air between them. “Not even the location of the person controlling Rattatosk?”
Like a rubber band snapping into place, Charlie’s head whipped up, her eyes meeting Elias’s.
Until that moment, she’d been too afraid to look directly at him.
Afraid that he would see through her, past her skin and straight to all the secrets she needed to keep.
Ruining her plans before she even had a chance to make them.
As far as she knew, mares couldn’t read minds; they could sense fear, and they could give thoughts to people—visions, nightmares, whatever grotesque thoughts enabled their ability to possess—but they couldn’t listen to what their victims were thinking.
Still, she hadn’t wanted to take any chances.
She’d been right to be afraid. Looking Elias in the eyes was a mistake—but not for the reason she’d thought. Not because she could feel him worming into her brain. No, it was a mistake because it felt, first and foremost, like staring straight into a solar eclipse.
All at once, she was hit with the full force of his gaze: the swirling color of his eyes and the intensity with which they locked onto hers, as if a magnetic current rushed between them.
And just like with an eclipse, you knew you weren’t supposed to look directly at it—that it wasn’t safe, that it could cause irreversible damage, marring your vision forever—but you did it anyway.
You had to look. You had to know. And when you did, it was both beautiful and terrifying—a dizzying reminder of just how small and powerless you really were.
Elias didn’t blink, gaze as steady as ever.
There really was nothing behind his eyes. No emotion whatsoever, outside of detached amusement. How could she have ever believed otherwise? Had he really been that good of an actor?
“Just like I thought.” His eyes twinkled. “I had a feeling that was why your sister paid you a visit.”
Shit. “She didn’t—”
“Don’t bother denying it, Charlotte. I saw her and her Valkyrie friend fly down and crash through that skylight. I see everything.” He quirked an eyebrow. “One of the benefits of being made of shadow.”
Shit, shit, shit.
“That’s not how your powers work,” she said, trying to divert the subject. “You might be made of shadow, but I can see you perfectly well.”
“Why do you think you know how my powers work? Because you spent a few days with me in the past?” He tutted. “I was holding back, Charlotte. You have no idea what I’m capable of.”
Without warning, he stepped under the shade of a pine tree. Once his whole body was in the tree’s shadow, he vanished.
Just like that.
Charlie gasped. She took a step backward, glancing around the clearing.
Had he slipped behind another tree? Ducked into a bush?
Her brain was trying furiously to come up with an excuse for it, but deep down, she knew the truth: He wasn’t hiding anywhere.
He was standing exactly where he had been before.
Only now, he was invisible.
“How did you—” she started to whisper.
Elias’s voice interrupted her own. He sounded like he always did, though she could swear there was a distant, echoey quality to his voice.
“I can melt into any shadows that I want. Those cast by trees, boulders, buildings…” His voice seemed to be moving closer, so she took another step back. “I own the shadows, Charlotte.”
Like snakes emerging from their nest in the ground, clouds of darkness began to unfurl from where Elias must have been standing.
They slid across the forest floor, billowing outward and licking at the sky—like fog, only colored a pure, impenetrable black that stood in shocking contrast to the bright fall leaves on the ground.
On her shoulder, Henry whimpered quietly.
Before Charlie could think to step away, the shadows were upon her, wrapping around her ankles and slithering up her legs.
She gasped. They didn’t hurt; on the contrary, they felt cool, almost soothing.
But when she tried to lift her foot off the ground, the shadows became suddenly corporeal, tightening around her ankle, gripping like great black vines.
No matter how hard she tugged, they held her legs firmly in place.
“Let go of me,” she said, glaring at the source of the black fog, which is where she assumed Elias stood.
“Oh, come on.” His echoey voice slithered across the clearing. “I thought you knew everything about my powers. Surely escape shouldn’t be too difficult?”
Escape. Charlie could escape his shadowy cords—she’d learned as much on homecoming night, when she’d sliced right through them with her Valkyrie knife.
She made to grab the knife out of its hiding place, but before she even touched the pocket, Elias’s shadows snapped up and wrapped around her wrists, drawing them down and pinning them to her sides.
“Ah, ah, ah.” Elias wiggled a finger. “No reaching for that pesky Valkyrie blade. I don’t make the same mistake twice, darling.”
“Fine,” she gritted out. “I admit it. I was wrong. I don’t know shit about your powers.” And I’m scared out of my mind, because you’re clearly way more dangerous than I ever realized. “Now, can you please let me go?”
All at once, everything returned to how it was: the shadow fog vanished, Elias’s mare form reappeared, and he stepped out into the sunlight. Charlie was free.
He held out his hands. “Was admitting you were wrong truly that hard? You really ought to work on your emotional vulnerability, Charlotte.”
She scowled and turned around, storming in the direction of the Bronco. Hopefully, her clenched fists would hide the shaking of her hands.
“I know what you’re thinking,” said Elias, catching up with her. “The mean old mare must be the one controlling Rattatosk and killing those poor kids.”
“Are you going to deny it?”
“Of course.” He stepped in front of Charlie, stopping her in her tracks, and lifted a darkness-clad arm. “You saw my human form at school. Did I have a sparkly golden leash?”
“No,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean you aren’t possessing someone who does.”
“Very wise, Charlotte. Very wise indeed. You really know how to think like a villain.”
“I didn’t—”
“It’s a compliment, darling. Just accept it. You really are your father’s progeny.”
“Loki is not my father,” she snapped.
“No?” Elias tilted his shadowy head. “But you were so ready to believe me at school. What changed?”
“I realized the obvious,” she said, remembering the ?lvor’s story. “I couldn’t possibly have come from that monster.”
“Of course.” His eyes flashed dangerously. “Because perfect little Charlotte Hudson has never been tempted by the darkness before, has she?”
That voice. It was the same one that had cocooned her in his bed, right after he healed her from the draugar’s attack.
The same one that had wrapped his lithe, muscular arms around her as they danced on homecoming night, holding her close, caressing her skin.
It set her whole body aflame, an instinctual reaction that she didn’t remember to squash until it was too late.
Until the fire at the base of her stomach had burned all the way up to her red-hot face.
“Ahhh.” Elias lifted his hand, brushing shadowy fingers down one flaming cheek.
She started to flinch but held herself steady, keeping her eyes locked on his.