Dead Silence (18 page)

"Sir, I think you can see that this situation has escalated."

"That was a trap, Bryn. Just as we expected." Fen was shaking his head, clearly unhappy about the failure to protect the building.

I gave a short nod. "There was nothing we could have done about the bombing short of infiltrating Loki's team." My words didn't seem to mollify Fen in the least bit.

"We're in danger," said the President quietly. He rubbed his face and then pressed his fingers into his temple. Shifting his gaze to Thor, he asked, "What is it you need me to do?"

"If you can help us gather all the people on the list, bring them here, or better yet to Asgard," Thor said, giving me a glance for confirmation.

"Considering it's likely that Loki has some secret access to Asgard, I think the best place is Muspellheim. With Steinn. Loki and the Jotunn cannot enter Muspell," offered Fen.

"Good plan." Thor nodded.

I'd forgotten that Steinn's father had placed a spell on the borders of Muspell using a strand of Loki's hair, thus preventing him from ever setting foot in the realm again.

I glanced in the direction of both Fen and Thor. "Can you take care of rounding up all of them?" They both frowned slightly.

Clearing my throat, I said, "I can't go with you just yet. I need to see how Myst is doing." I felt conflicted about the decision to stay but Myst was my responsibility and I had just gotten her killed.

The President cleared his throat. "Is she going to be okay?" I glanced at him, curious. "I saw the girl you were looking at. The one with the black wings. Is she badly hurt?"

My heart tightened as I answered. "I don't know. I'm going to check on her." I turned and stumbled, suddenly feeling slightly dizzy. Thankfully, the back of a sofa provided support so I didn't have to fall flat on my face.

"Bryn, you're bleeding," Fen said as he closed in on me. I swallowed, then put a hand to the throb in my shoulder. With adrenalin slowly draining from my bloodstream, pain began to take its place, making me swallow a gasp.

I gritted my teeth as I studied the ripped fabric on my arm, now gleaming with blood. "Crap," I said, annoyed. "I think it went right through."

A familiar hand snaked around my waist and I looked up into Joshua's worried eyes. "Come. If you don't behave I will have to carry you." His tone told me he was deadly serious.

The strangest thing was that I didn't mind the offer. "Don't you dare think of carrying me. Unless you want that concussion to kick in so you end up dropping the both of us on the ground." His only response was a dry snort as he walked me to the stairs.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

I entered the first room at the top of the stairs, guided by Joshua's hand at the base of my spine, drawing comfort from his proximity.

Inside, the room had been turned into a small infirmary, with blankets and cot-beds sourced from camping gear stored somewhere within the house.

Near the door, Myst lay on a low cot, her skin so pale I felt a shiver of fear ripple through me. I knelt beside her as she caught sight of me and gave me a weak smile.

She swallowed hard, then closed her eyes for a moment, her dark lashes fluttering against her pale skin. Then she opened them and met my gaze, her brilliant blue eyes glistening. "Thank you for letting me come with you." She sounded so grateful that I wanted to burst into tears right then.

She shouldn't be grateful. I'd just killed her by allowing her to accompany us.

I shook my head, anger and fear a terrible duo taking control of my senses, making my ears ring, making my throat close on the words I wanted to utter. "You can't be grateful if you end up dying." I almost snapped my words out and my eyes widened, as I feared I'd hurt her feelings, but she let out a soft laugh, followed closely by a rattling cough.

"Bryn," she whispered, her blue gaze unwavering. "There is only so much you can control. We are all here by choice, and as much as you are responsible for the team, you are not in charge of fate. Those who perish in this war, they are fighting alongside you for the same reasons you fight. To safeguard our world." She paused to swallow hard again, her lips dry and cracking. Part of me wanted to tell her to stop talking, to save her strength, but another part respected her need to speak. "Ragnarok is here, no matter how hard we try to ignore it. And Ragnarok is not one short battle, it is a length of time in our lives in which we were destined to fight Loki and his Jotunn."

I shook my head and tried to tell her to be quiet but she waved my hand away. "Don't worry, I have said my piece."

She took a breath and the sound crackled in her lungs, a sound that made me want to scream out at the unfairness of it all.

Then she reached out a hand and grabbed hold of my wrist. "Will you do something for me?"

"Anything," I answered, knowing I'd do whatever I could to grant her wish. I took her hand in mine and held it gently.

"Take me to the seaside. Somewhere where the sun is blazing and the beach is golden and the air is salty on your tongue." She smiled with longing as she spoke and her expression drew tears to my eyes. "I grew up by the sea, a long, long time ago. I want to see it one more time before I go."

I nodded, blinking hard to hold back my tears. "I will take you."

"Not until I patch you up," came Suri's stern voice.

Myst glanced up at Suri who was staring at me, and frowned. Then she turned her gaze at me, "Are you injured?" she asked, her voice almost accusing. "You should have told me."

I shrugged, then winced. "I'll live, Myst. The bullet went right through me."

She glared at me while Suri bent and grasped my arm, helping me to stand. She held onto me as the room spun a little, then led me to a chair by the window. As I sat, I caught Myst glaring at me, angry even while she was dying.

"Is there time?" I whispered to Suri as she helped me out of my jacket. "I have to take Myst to the beach as she asked. Before it's too late."

"She has an hour or so left in her. Probably more. But, I don't think she'd appreciate it if you died while taking her there. Do you know what happens when a person dies while on the Bifrost?" she asked sharply, her golden eyes flaring with dragon fire, her voice now loud enough for everyone to hear her.

"No idea," I said softly. "What happens?"

Suri clicked her tongue, "How the hell should I know?" she said as she slipped the shoulder of my shirt off my arm, and bared my chest to inspect the wound.

A ripple of laughter went around the room, making me acutely aware that all the occupants had heard me being scolded like a toddler. By a child, no less.

I didn't mind at all.

Joshua came to stand beside Suri as she worked. "I'll keep her company and bring her back in case she dies. Just to make sure we don't lose her on the Bridge." His lips twisted into an amused grin.

My eyes narrowed as I glared at him, but I said nothing as Suri cleaned out the wounds on my chest and then my back. I looked around the room as she worked, noting the battered baseball on a shelf beside the window, the pale blue walls printed with faded helicopters and hot air balloons, and a poster of a well-known time-travel movie. Another shelf held trophies, lots of baseball and basketball accolades.

I assumed the room had once belonged to the President himself as I knew he was an only child. How strange to be sitting in what had once been this man's past. No wonder he'd held onto his grandmother's house, what with all the memories it contained.

Heat surged into my shoulder and thrust me out of my thoughts and into the burning present, to feel Suri pressing her hands hard onto the skin of both wounds, shoulder and chest. "I'm sealing the wound with the lowest level of my fire. The last thing I need is to burn you to a crisp."

"Now, that's a description I do not want to imagine." I laughed, trying to take my mind off the pain of heat as it sizzled into my flesh. "Geez. I'm going to need a couple bottles of aspirin for this," I said dryly.

"Try this," said Aimee hurrying up to me from the other end of the room where she'd been tending to another warrior with a bullet wound in his thigh.

"What is it?" I asked, more than a little suspicious in case she decided to knock me out cold. I wouldn't put it past her.

"Mead."

"Thank god," I said, reaching for the glass a little too fast, making Suri click her tongue loudly.

"No, thank Heidren."

Everyone laughed at that too, even warriors in pain took solace in mirth. I was glad our conversation was providing some sort of entertainment for them considering what we'd just been through.

Derek walked into the room as I drained my glass. He was holding a black bullet between his fingers and I wanted to shudder.

"Is that from Thor's leg?" When he nodded I asked, "What can you tell from it?"

"It's made of obsidian, and a stone that Thor said comes from Jotunnheim. And another property." He gave me an uncomfortable look.

I grunted. "Don't tell me. They're using my blood again." With a snort I continued, "What would Loki have done without me?"

Derek nodded, still shuffling in his shoes. "This seems to be a more advanced version of the black goo they'd used on the new warriors."

The knowledge only piled on more of the negative, increasing the horror of my life. I wanted out, wanted to be far away from here. But I had a duty to uphold, people that were counting on me.

And yet they were dying because of me, too.

"And Loki would have found another way to invent ammunition to hurt and maim us. It's in his nature." Derek's tone was a little sharp, making me want to move to a less touchy subject.

"Are we anywhere near an antidote?"

Derek nodded. "There was some at New York HQ, still experimental. At the moment it just stuns the Jotunn, as opposed to killing their asses dead."

I almost shrugged but fortunately I remembered Suri and her nursing efforts just in time. "Right now we need all the help we can get," I said dryly.

"Yup. Fen's already sent two warriors to New York to bring back enough stock to tide us over."

A soft sigh drew my attention to Myst. She would be waiting for me. If I didn't get moving she'd slip into the next life before I fulfilled my promise.

I put a hand on Derek's shoulder. "I have to see to Myst. I don't think I'll be long. Can you see to it that the President gets some rest?"

Derek nodded, his expression tight, filled with the strain of the day. Another American kid who'd just witnessed the demolition of a symbol of his lifetime in a country that had once seemed invulnerable.

First, there were planes dive-bombing New York City. And now Loki had seen fit to continue that terror, inciting fear and instability worldwide.

Suri stepped away and dusted her hands while I readjusted my shirt. I moved over to Myst and crouched down beside her, brushing the hair from her face.

"Hey," I said, giving her a soft smile. When she turned her head slowly to me I asked, "Ready?" She moved her head in a parody of a nod, making it clear how hard the action was to perform.

I slipped my hand under her torso and helped her to sit beside me on the bed. The movement drew the attention of everyone in the room. And suddenly we were surrounded by them all. She smiled at them, tears glinting in her eyes.

"Thank you all so much. For welcoming me as part of your team. For listening when I threw orders at you." A ripple of soft laughter ran around the group. Myst held out her hand and Aimee took it, falling to her knees on the floor before the dying Valkyrie. Slowly, all the warriors in the room sank to one knee too, and when Aimee reached out to hold Suri's hand, a network grew, as if Myst's spirit reached out to all the warriors like the roots of energy.

And perhaps it was the other way too. Perhaps this group of warriors were sending their love and support to Myst because they all knew this would be the last time they would ever see her alive.

When she looked at me with her half smile, I knew it was time. I held her waist and shifted her to the edge of the mattress. Joshua went to the other side of her, supporting her as she moved upright with me. Holding her tightly, I met Joshua's gaze as I pulled Gungnir from my back and gave him a short nod.

Shucking out the spear, I pictured the one place that I'd been so very happy. The one place that had been a haven for me, a long, long time ago.

Sunset Cove in California.

Every summer until he died, my dad had taken me to Sunset Cove where he'd owned a house that backed right up onto the sand. We'd spend three weeks enjoying the sea and the gorgeous sun-drenched days. Myst would love it.

The moment we materialized onto the soft golden sand, Myst let out a soft sigh. "I have missed the beauty of the seashore, but in truth I may have forgotten how wonderful it was."

I held her waist and walked her to the water's edge. Joshua supported while I removed her boots.

She sighed when she set her bare feet onto the waterlogged sand, squishing her toes deep into it. "Feels so good." She walked forward, her legs shivering with the effort but she didn't seem to care that it was taxing her strength.

Holding on tightly, I took as much weight onto myself as possible.

Joshua hovered in the background and I was never more thankful for his presence than at this moment. Tears threatened to spill and I wanted to give in, but I had to hold it back for Myst. This was her special time.

She let out a soft giggle as a wave raced toward her and smashed into her bare feet before surging back out to sea.

Before us, the horizon glowed red-gold against the deep blue water, waves undulating, cresting and smashing back to nothing in the large expanse of water.

Myst sighed again. "Thank you, Bryn." She paused a moment before saying, "I think I need to sit down for a while."

I held her tight again, turning her to face the sand dunes behind us. But her weight began to grow heavy and I knew her time was close.

Joshua snaked an arm around Myst's waist right as she began to slip, helping me to move her to the dry sand. We sat her down and I sank into the sand beside her, giving her something to lean on.