Chapter 34
Linnea had stopped counting her own steps somewhere back in the forest of dead trees because the number only made her more tired.
They had walked since they woke, if 'waking' was the word for sitting up out of a thin gray sleep that left her hollower than before. They stopped to eat and drink. When they needed to move, they moved, because standing still in this country was worse than walking through it.
The tiredness was all wrong. Linnea knew the ache of a long hike, a big night out, and the leaden drag of grief. This fatigue sat over her like grime and sapped at her energy a little more with every hour the gray light refused to change.
What has Hel done here? Is this feeling another kind of trial?
"No, precious. We are the living in the land of the dead. It makes sense that they’re feeding off us the longer we are here," Von replied from beside her, making her startle.
"Sorry, didn't realize I said that out loud," she mumbled and rubbed her gritty eyes. "Am I the only one who would kill for a cheeseburger right now?"
"Nah, girl. I'm right here with you," Layla said over her shoulder. She started to walk backward so she could face them. "What I want to know is, is anyone expecting to find Jack Sparrow running about the deck of The Black Pearl?"
"Get out of my head," Von gasped. "If we do find a ship of Captain Jack's, they are all mine."
Linnea shook her head at Von's nonsense. She was still imagining how good a cheeseburger or ten would be, not a boatload of hot pirates.
By the time the path dipped toward a stand of black, twisted pines, she could sense what Von meant about the dead drinking them.
It was in small sips, the way you nurse a favorite cocktail you don't want to empty.
The longer the living stayed down here, the less of them there would be left when or if they returned.
Walk faster, her wolf said, like that was the answer.
The sound reached them before the trees thinned. Water, and a lot of it, was falling fast over stone somewhere ahead. The path opened onto the lip of a chasm that dropped away into dark mist with no bottom.
Fenris's hand found hers and drew her back from the edge. "Careful, I don't trust the ground to hold here."
Linnea went up on her tiptoes for a kiss. "Your sister had too much fun with this labyrinth."
"She inherited my father's creativity," he said and pressed another kiss to her forehead. "Stay close to me? I think the trials will get worse as they go on."
Linnea tightened her grip on him. "Staying close to the big bad wolf in the scariest place ever? You don't have to ask me twice."
"Not that bad," he replied with a little grin that made her think very dirty thoughts.
"Hey, there's a bridge over there!" Ciara said, pointing upriver.
The bridge was made of pale gold wood, a single clean span from their side to the far one.
It was glowing faintly against all that dark, like the last warm thing left in the world, and a woman stood at its entrance.
She was in a pale-yellow dress that matched the bridge, her face calm and expectant.
"Any idea who this is, Von?" Tor asked.
Von gave him a disbelieving look. "You don't know? She's the keeper of the bridge over Gjoll, the one who stopped Hermóer when he rode down to beg the dead for Baldur. Her name is Modgud. When we get home, you are all being made to do Norse myth 101."
"Why do we need to when we have our shaman?" Layla teased him.
"You have come a long way, children of the living," Modgud's voice interrupted them, carrying over the rapids without trying.
"Welcome, Torsten, Ciara, Layla, Arne, Von, Linnea, and Fenris.
My bridge is a simple one." Modgud folded her hands, her expression unchanging.
"It holds for anyone who can name what they truly seek on this journey.
Speak the true thing, and you cross. Lie to me, or dress the truth up to hide its face, and the wood will not bear you.
Step up when you are ready, one at a time. "
Tor didn't make them wait. He set his boot on the gold wood.
"My sister's safety," he said. "My mate's life. My family whole."
The bridge sang. A low, sweet note came up out of the wood like a struck string and rang under all their boots at once. Tor crossed without looking down and turned to watch from the far side.
Ciara went next, not about to leave Tor for long. "A world where our kind and the humans aren't at each other's throats." The note rang again, and she crossed.
Layla took a breath. "The truth. Whatever it turns out to be. All of it." The bridge sang, and Arne's shoulders dropped as she reached the other bank.
Arne followed her with, "A way to keep my people safe."
Von stepped up like he was walking out onto a stage and spread his hands wide.
"To know the answer to life's greatest riddle," he announced.
The bridge sang, bright and clear, and the corner of Modgud's mouth lifted into a smile, and she laughed softly. "I hope you're ready for what you find."
"I'm always ready." Von sauntered across like he had won a prize.
Linnea stepped up to the bridge, and Modgud's old eyes settled on her.
What she truly sought. Easy. She had said it a hundred times since Otta. Find Loki. Stop the dark. Go home.
She opened her mouth to say it, and her wolf got there first.
Him, the wolf said, loud and certain. We seek him. Say it. Say HIM.
Linnea's teeth clamped shut because the truth deep down wasn't about Loki and the end of the world. It was the wolf-god at her back, the one whose hand she kept reaching for. The Loki bit was true as well, but not in the same way
"To find Loki," she said, her voice cracking. "And to get…home."
The bridge didn't sing, but it held under her feet. The gold wood took her weight with a low, strained groan. For one long, sick second, she was certain it had heard the gap between what she said and what she meant, and it was going to drop her ass into the rapids for it.
Linnea picked up her pace, her heart slamming, and she didn't let one flicker of fear pass over her face. She had a lifetime of practice at masking, and now it had been useful for something.
Tor's hand closed around her arm the moment she was over, his eyes full of fear. "What the fuck was that?"
She gave him a confused shrug. "Don't know. Maybe I should have said, 'A cheeseburger' instead." They didn't laugh but didn't push her either.
Fenris stood alone at the foot of the bridge. Across all that dark and noise, Modgud's voice carried to them.
"And you, fanged one? What do you want most?"
Fenris looked across the span, past Modgud entirely, to Linnea. His eyes found and held her gaze the way he had on a forest path the first night, when she had been certain he meant to eat her, everything in him gone quiet and watchful.
"The end of the dark," Fenris said at last.
The bridge didn't sing for him either. It held the same low groan it had given Linnea as he crossed at an unhurried walk.
Linnea only started breathing again when Fenris stepped off the bridge onto solid stone. She closed the last of the ground between them and put her arms around him, her face against his chest, and held on. His arms came around her at once, one big hand spread between her shoulder blades.
"You made it," she said into his coat, which was a stupid thing to say.
"So did you," he said softly against the top of her head.
You are both liars, her wolf snarled angrily. Linnea only held onto him tighter.
Somewhere past the dead trees, the next trial was already waiting, and Linnea doubted it would ask them for only words.