Perfekt Balance (The Ære Saga Book 3) (10 page)

You didn’t. Runa did. You were right to want to bring her
in. We just hit a little hiccup, but we’ll get through it. I’ll try
to escape and get back to you guys, but in the meantime, I’ll make
myself useful and gather as much intel as I can—find out who she’s
working with, what she’s planning to do with
Fenrir
…she
really wants that dog. Be careful—I have the distinct impression
that if you show up wherever I am, you’ll be walking right into a
trap.

Elsa, surely you know that I am
un-trappable
. Tyr’s
arrogance made me smile.

Of course. You focus on steering clear of
Tosk, and whoever else he’s working with. When I’ve gathered as
much information as I can from Runa, I’ll find a way to get out of
here and track you down. If you guys happen to find me in the
meantime, we can catch the next Bifrost out of here.

Tyr’s
view narrowed as he furrowed his brow.
Sorry, Sis, but
finding you trumps everything else.
He spoke his next words out loud. “Forse, amend
your scan to include all towers in Svartalfheim over twelve meters
in height, surrounded by water. Don’t worry about looking for
Elsa’s trace; she says the tower’s cloaked in enough dark magic to
render the locator useless.”

“What the Hel?” Forse swore.

“I know. But that device can still track the
towers themselves. We’ll isolate all potential hostage locations.
And since there are only three of us, Forse, you’re going to port
us to each one until either that locator or our god hunt tracks
down my sister.”

“With pleasure.” Forse put his hands on
either side of my brother’s head and pulled him close. Now his
emerald eyes were just inches from my vantage point. They burned
with an intensity that was equal parts adoration and agony. “We’re
going to get you out of there, Elsa,” he vowed. “And then I’m never
letting you out of my sight again. That’s a promise.”

My energy fluttered, and I willed Tyr forward
so we could kiss the bridge of Forse’s nose. But my brother’s
audible groan, coupled with his vigorous removal of Forse’s hands
from his temples, thwarted my plan.

Tyr,
I complained.

“
Both of
you need to remember that you are talking through
me,
” Tyr growled. “And
this is getting weird. Elsa, knock it off. Forse, get to
work.”

“Fine.” Forse stepped back. He pulled the
locator out of his pocket and set up shop beneath the rocky
outcropping at the base of the mountain. He drew his shoulders
back, set his jaw, and began pressing buttons like a god
possessed.

You know he’d do anything for you.
My brother’s voice sounded inside his
head.

I’d do anything for him
, I said wistfully.
Tell him I miss him.

You can tell him yourself when we pick you
up
. Förbaskat,
Elsa, I can’t
believe they pulled one over on us. Again. How are they getting
through?
I knew Tyr
closed his eyes because the screens went dark.

Freya was—well, we’d never seen an attack like that before.
And we’ve never seen anything like the crystal Runa ingested. It
gave her powers, Tyr. Powers. We don’t even know the extent of
them. Did you know it could generate magic like that?
I asked.

If I did, I’d never have taken it out of the treasure
vault, much less put it in dark elf hands. We don’t need to give
them any tools that might help them bring about the fall of Asgard.
The Norns have been following the Ragnarok prophecy, but they don’t
see the end of days coming for decades, maybe centuries. Though
they’ve been wrong before
…Tyr’s screen brightened as he opened his eyes to stare at
the sky.

Don’t go there
,
I cautioned.

It’s my job to go there
, he growled.
But Ragnarok aside, these monsters are getting
around us, Elsa. We’ve got to tighten up or…or
…

He didn’t have to say it. I could see the
flashback from inside his mind.

Stop
, I
ordered.
We
aren’t our parents. I’m going to be just fine. You guys will get
me, and we’ll head back to Asgard, and everything will be exactly
the way it was.

That’s not good enough
, Tyr rumbled.
The way it was got a lot of gods killed. We’re
going to get you out of here and so help me, Forse and I are going
to make Runa and Tosk pay.

You do that, big brother. Just make sure you don’t give her
Fenrir. She wants him too badly
. I flinched as my energy went on lockdown. My ears picked
up on something clanging outside the door.
Sorry, I’ve got to get back to my
body. You know it’s hard on it when I send my energy out for this
long, and I think someone’s coming. I’ll gather intel on this end.
If I break myself out of here before the locator finds me, I’ll let
you know where to come pick me up.

Take care of yourself
, Tyr thought softly.

You do the same. And take care of Forse,
okay? I kind of need him around.

Will do
, Tyr
vowed.

Secure in his promise, I withdrew my energy
from his head, pulling it at breakneck speed across the black space
until I was once again back in my body.

It was the last place I wanted to be.

“
GET UP. YOU’RE GOING
to show me where they’re keeping Fenrir.” Runa stormed into
the cell, her stiletto boots clacking on the stones. A glow bathed
the room as Runa lit a wall sconce I hadn’t noticed in my
inventory.
Interesting.
I filed its presence away and pushed myself to my feet. I
pressed my back to the wall and kept my arms flexed in the
defensive stance Forse had drilled into me before we
left.

Runa
laughed, the barking sound echoing off the walls. “You think you’re
going to fight me,
ko
?”

Well that was just rude. I was many things,
but I was definitely not a cow.

“I think you’re going to be angry when I tell
you I don’t know where Fenrir is. So I’m prepared to defend myself,
yes.” I held my breath as Runa stood directly in front of me. Even
without the stilettos she would have towered over my five and a
half feet. She was easily as tall as my brother, and her shoulders
were practically as broad as his. I swallowed my anxiety and pushed
out calming energy. Bullies preyed on fear, and I wasn’t about to
give this one any reason to strike.

“
What are
you going to do, meditate your way out of this?” Runa crossed her
arms. “Don’t forget, I lived in Asgard once too. I know you went
through high school in the protected gods program. Those weaklings
didn’t get nearly enough fight training to take me on. Your
little
gift
meant
you never had to learn to fight for yourself—the rest of the gods
trained hard to be able to protect sweet little Elsa.” She snorted.
“I remember all about your freaky mind powers. Now they’re going to
take me straight to Fenrir, so show me what you know and I won’t
kill you.”

What I
knew was that the cell door was open, and with my magic on
lockdown, I might not have another window to get out of there. The
situation wasn’t ideal—a beast of a woman stood between me and
freedom, and I was hardly athletic enough to overpower her. But I
did have a modicum of Brynn’s Asgardian super-speed, and one Hel of
a lot of motivation to remove myself from my current situation. If
I faked left and dove right like Forse had shown me back in the
forest, I might be able to throw Runa off long enough to get to the
door. And from there
…well, there was a reason even gods in the protected
program went through so many improvisational drills in
school.

Here goes nothing.

I didn’t allow myself to think about the
risk, the odds, or the likelihood that I was about to incur severe
injury. I simply shifted my weight to my toes and bolted.

I launched myself through the door and
barreled down the narrow hallway. The grey stones were hard beneath
the thin soles of my shoes, and I stumbled across the uneven
surface before slamming into the thick slabs of a dark wood door. A
high-pitched laugh pealed behind me.

“Just where do you think you’re going?” Runa
called.

“Home,” I muttered, pulling on the heavy iron
handle of the door. It took all of my strength to wedge it open
enough to squeeze through, and I didn’t bother pulling it shut
behind me before I sprung into motion again. My arms pumped and my
flats clacked as I raced down the circular stone staircase. I bit
back a yelp as my elbow made contact with an uneven shard sticking
out from the wall. Runa’s laughter echoed through the rocky
chamber, letting me know she was close behind.

“Do you honestly think this little escape act
is going to work?” Runa barely sounded winded as she called from
somewhere behind me.

“
You
achieve what you believe,” I panted. And it was my absolute belief
that if I didn’t make it out of here
right
now
,
I might not get another chance.

The
staircase filled with a bright blue light as a beam shot over my
head. It struck the wall directly in front of me, sharp rocks
raining down on my head and arms. I pushed forward, ignoring the
pain as a dozen tiny tears erupted across my skin. I knew my
Asgardian super-healing would fix the wounds in minutes. My magic
might have been muted by whatever cloak Runa placed on this
structure, but my energetic gifts remained mercifully
unaffected.
For now.
I ducked as another beam shot past me, this one narrowly
missing my arm. It struck the wall, creating a boulder-sized hole.
Another beam struck the ceiling, and I covered my head as the
stones from above clattered to the ground, blocking the staircase.
I skidded to a stop just before I plowed headfirst into the rubble.
A keening cackle came from behind me.

“Now what are you going to do?” Runa’s voice
sounded unnervingly close.

What
was
I going to do? Forse had told me to identify two plausible
escape routes in any situation. But the staircase was blocked, and
the monster trying to kill me was closing in. The only way out
was…

I didn’t bother to look down. No matter how
high I still was, the freshly blasted wall was my only escape. I
bent my knees and launched myself off the staircase, through the
hole and away from Runa.

The
second I was outside, panic wrapped me in its manacles, and I
flailed wildly.
Oh, gods. I must be twelve meters high.
And I’m…over a moat? If I hit the water from this height…but I
won’t. I jumped as far as I could from the wall, and there’s no way
Runa could summon enough dark magic to extend the blocker this far
beyond the edge of the building; the cloak is going to wear off any
minute.
I held out my hands
and pushed energy at the rapidly approaching ground, secure in the
knowledge that my magic would kick in and slow my
descent.

Any second now.

It was about to happen.

Oh my gods. Why isn’t it kicking in? How did she cloak the
outside of the tower?
I
closed my eyes and braced myself for the collision, praying
whatever injuries I incurred wouldn’t prevent me from swimming to
the shore and clawing my way back to my friends…wherever they were.
But before I felt the sharp strike of the impact, my body was
yanked upward. My head bowed under the force and heavy energy
squeezed my heart. Darkness overwhelmed me, as I was ripped away
from the moat and back through the hole.

“No!” I screamed, clawing at the air in a
pointless attempt to overpower Runa and her blue beams of
terror.

“Yes,” she hissed, as the beam pulled me back
up the staircase and down the narrow hallway before flinging me
into the cell I’d just escaped. I landed on my hip and skidded
across the uneven surface. The stones scraped through my clothes
and left me feeling raw and bruised. But I pushed myself to my
feet, refusing to give up.

Runa wasn’t taking me without a fight.

“
You’re
going to tell me where they keep Fenrir.” Runa slammed the cell
door behind her and stalked toward me. “And you’re going to tell
me
now
.”

My gaze shifted between the closed door and
the barred window. I needed to buy time while I figured out another
escape route. I wrapped my arms around my stomach so my fingers
grazed the worst of the bruises. They hurt, but I’d had worse. “I’d
love to help you, Runa, but I can’t. Nobody told me where they took
Fenrir after we captured him. Maybe his guards knew it’d make me a
target.”

“
Liar.”
Runa thrust out her arm, and thick fingers wrapped around my neck.
The pressure against my windpipe was immediate, and my hands fell
to my sides as I opened my mouth in a futile effort to suck in air.
Was Runa always this strong, or
…
oh gods. Exactly what powers did she get from
that crystal
?
The
ability to port with at least one captive. Blue beams.
Super-strength…what else was she capable of?
Oh gods, oh
gods.
Forget gathering
intel. Forget outrunning her. I’d be lucky if I could hold off Runa
long enough to send my friends one final
jeg elsker
deg
.