Dead Silence (34 page)

Jormungandr's head rolled over and over until it stopped at Freya's feet. The goddess gave it a distasteful glare then turned her attention back to Odin, her face filled with grief and pain, while my gaze went from the serpent's head to Thor's face as he laid eyes on the reason he still lived.

I watched Suri as she flew around and came in to land. She moved from blood-stained, golden-scaled dragon to equally blood-spattered golden eye girl within seconds, her feet touching the ground and immediately heading into a run toward me. Joshua released me so Suri could put her arm around me. Still weak, I was happy for the support.

With Loki defeated, his greatly diminished Jotunn horde had fled leaving the battlefield to Odin's army and the remaining citizens of New York.

Ragnarok was over.

Odin and Loki were dead.

And the words of an oracle from thousands of years ago had finally come to pass.

One Month Later

Despite the pink-tinged sky, I couldn't help but enjoy the sight of the beach before me. My bare toes dug into the warm sand and I tasted the salty air on my tongue.

Odin's death had hit us all hard, a kick in the guts and broken hearts were what we now dealt with. There was a strange emptiness that I wondered would ever be filled.

Loki was dead, and I don't think many people mourned his passing. His Jotunn had given up, retreating back to their realm, but not before passing to us a little education on the mind of the Trickster.

One of his higher-ups traded information with the new gods in Idavoll. Apparently the Jotunn King believed in new slates, and had encouraged Loki's former minions to come clean.

Most of it we'd managed to figure out on our own, but at last the reason for the list had been revealed. It had been a plot to abduct the delegates. Sort of.

Loki had put things into motion to extract each and every person on that list, key personnel in the most important organizations in Midgard, in order to replace them with Jotunn impostors.

We'd know he'd been doing just that with certain influential people, but we hadn't guessed he'd gone large scale. Loki had been so confident that he'd survive the battle that he'd put things into place to ensure that Midgard, people, politicians and business, would be at his mercy.

Asgard was no longer the place I'd once known. The rift had opened again, sucking in the palace and the entire valley, destroying everything. The quakes had continued, with waters rising from the depths of Asgard's earth, and when they subsided they left behind a new, rich land. This was Idavoll, the new realm of the gods, and where Frigga and the surviving gods now lived, without the need for warriors.

I'd found out much later that the destruction of the palace of Asgard had caused the deaths of all those imprisoned within its dungeons. I had to admit I experienced no sadness for the passing of Dr Lee. I felt more sadness at the death of the frost giant Nita and I had brought back with us. What made me happy was knowing Enya and her mother had returned to their Great Lakes home, that having been the only property which survived the worldwide destruction.

Nita and Vanya had taken their young halfling back to Alfheim, assuring us they will offer whatever help we needed. All we need do is ask.

Sara and Dvalinn had sent word, good news I'd already known. They were expecting a child and wished for us to attend the naming ceremony when the baby arrives. That was at least something to look forward to.

With the end of the war, and the coming of the new age, the armies had disbanded, and Frigga had instructed all the warriors to leave and to live normal lives. Many of the Ulfr, Valkyries and
einherjar
had elected to live in Midgard where their non-human sides could be hidden from the general public.

It left Fen, a general without an army, and free to make a choice about his own destiny. For once in his life.

And he chose to come with us.

I laughed to myself as I recalled his words. Something along the line of knowing me well enough that I wouldn't sit still for too long and that I needed someone like him to keep me from killing myself.

And he was probably right about that.

Behind me, beyond the dunes, my house had survived the quakes, damaged but repairable. The houses on either side hadn't been so lucky.

Around the world, the earth had rebelled, quakes and volcanic eruptions waging a war we shouldn't understand, one we were helpless to fight. The upheaval had continued for days, but at last it subsided, with scientists around the planet assuring the people that it was over.

Only when Frigga had deemed it safe did we have the Midgardian delegates returned to their homes, to instill calm and order, and with a greater understanding of what the world had just experienced.

Now my patched up home was bursting with laughter, despite plumbing that couldn't be trusted, and windows which remained without glass while we waited for our order to ship from one of the few factories that had survived.

Joshua and Aimee had come to live with me, to fill the empty rooms of my father's house with life. Derek had stopped by, flying over from New York, eager to show me all the things he'd been working on.

A part of me wondered why we bothered with inventions, and continued studies of Loki's black goo, and poisoned ammo, but another part of me felt we had to. To be safe. Just in case.

Just in case Loki had succeeded in his plan to bring himself back using Midgardian genetic technology. He'd succeeded with Enya so who's to say that, right this minute, he couldn't already be a creepy little embryo in some naive woman's womb.

Only time would tell.

And being prepared wouldn't hurt.

Brody had chosen to return to Craven, to watch over the town and the people we'd all left behind, making Aimee and Joshua two very happy people. My mothers had both come to visit, Ms Custer bringing her boisterous laughter with her, and Brody had joined her.

My mother graced us with a more controlled happiness. In time, I was sure we'd be able to put the past behind us. I had to appreciate that she was trying hard to put her pride aside, to make inroads in a positive relationship with the child she'd left behind. A relationship that child desperately wanted. Somewhere along the line, within the tumult of our lives, I'd found it in my heart to forgive my mother.

And that was a good thing.

I think.

I had one more house guest. One I'd never expected, but one who I welcomed with open arms.

Fenrir.

Something moved close behind me, stirring the air against my bare shoulders, so close I could almost feel the heat from the person's body.

Before I realized what I was doing, I spun around on the sand, one hand going to my knife the other placed on the sand, helping me to boost myself into a crouch, my blade pressed close to Joshua's throat.

He just smiled, his green eyes a little sad as I dropped the blade on the ground, my hands shaking so hard I balled them into tight fists.

"Still happening, I see?" he asked softly as he dropped to the sand, and pulled me back to sit between his legs.

I turned to face the ocean, and leaned close against his chest, sighing deeply, letting the tension flow out of me slowly.

"Sorry," I whispered.

He chuckled, the rumbling sound feeding into the bones of my spine. "You know you don't have to apologize."

"I could have killed you." Another whisper.

"No. You couldn't have killed me. I think I can hold my own against a girl."

I snorted. "Technically, I could have killed you. Our stock of Mead is running low," I said, my tone dry.

Never before had our own mortality been so much a part of our lives. In Asgard it had been easy, wounds healed, broken bones knitted, the Mead aiding in unnaturally fast recovery.

But with Heidrun dead, and Derek trying hard to create a replacement serum, healing potions were scarce, leaving all the warriors, Ulfr, Valkyrie and
einherjar
, equally vulnerable.

I sighed.

My reaction worried me. But I wasn't the only one suffering the effects of the battle.

Post-traumatic stress, according to Aimee's Internet search. We all suffered the sleepless nights, the horrific dreams, the intermittent lack of appetite.

Worse were situations like this, when the smallest thing could set me off, to overreact to something totally non-threatening, like a boyfriend creeping up on me.

Joshua tightened his arms around me and I leaned my head back on his shoulder. With a tender kiss on my cheek he said, "Mead, shmead. We don't need magical drinks as long as we have each other."

I laughed softly then shifted around so I could see his face. "Do you think you'll miss it?"

"Life in Asgard?" he asked, easily understanding what I said. When I nodded, he said, "I already miss it. But it's part of our past. What we have here and now is way more important."

He moved his hand from my waist to trace my cheek with his knuckles. Even in the fading light I could see the darkening of his eyes as he stared at my face. He had a way of looking at me that made my heart melt.

We moved closer, as if pulled together by some irresistible magical force. And as our lips met, my veins flooded with heat. And a little touch of something else.

Peace.

At last we had a little bit of peace in our lives.

Joshua deepened the kiss, pulled me closer to crush me against his chest, enveloping me with uncontrollable heat, stealing the breath from my lungs and sending my heart crashing crazily against my ribs.

As I moved closer, a gong sounded from my house and I laughed, pulling away to look into Joshua's shining eyes.

He shook his head and moved smoothly to his feet, before reaching a hand out to me. He lifted me up and we left the beach to walk the path back to the house.

Suri had come by for a short visit, having chosen to live with her mother in Chicago. Seemed Steinn and Tyra were trying harder to make their family work, even if it meant a cross-realm effort. Suri had a strange obsession with the ancient Chinese gong my father had left me.

In the best interest of Suri and by extension, the rest of us, I would have to stop her from banging the gong and summoning strange beings from the world beyond reality. It too, like many of the things I'd inherited from Professor Wayne after she'd moved from her home in the Hamptons, had its own legends and myths attached to it.

The worldwide upheaval had also brought with them new discoveries, archaeological sites bringing to the surface pasts that had remained long hidden beneath the earth. Professor Wayne was so busy she probably wished they'd perfected cloning to make her job a little easier.

And, no matter how we looked at it, or didn't look at it,
we
were still creatures of myth, with powers and strength beyond human ability, especially if you take into account the whole wings and fur thing.

But for now, this is our life.

Peace, and rest. And family.

And I wanted to remain steeped in this reality for a little while longer.

THE END

***

Thank you for joining me in experiencing Bryn's amazing journey.

If you enjoyed Bryn's crazy world then the ride isn't over yet. I'm excited to announce that I have planned to write a continuation Urban Fantasy series which will release in 2016 - this will not be Young Adult. If you like Urban Fantasy series with a kick-ass heroine in a semi-dystopian setting with a couple gods and a few bad guys, then join me as I tell a new set of stories starring Bryn and her awesome team, fighting the good fight in Midgard.

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Also, if you want more to read along the lines of the Valkyrie series then the Hand of Kali novels may be right up you alley. A coming of age story about a average teen who discovers she's been given the powers of the goddess Kali. If mythology and paranormal YA is your thing then Maya's adventures will keep you reading.

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