Thor's Serpents (10 page)

Fen stared at him. He wasn’t sure if this glimpse of the older boy’s fear and trust was better than listening to Skull spout lunacy or not. On one hand, it was easy to think of Skull and the rest of the Raiders as the enemy. On the other hand, Fen was just like them in some ways: Skull wanted a better life; he wanted to protect his family, and while Fen couldn’t see even the first thing about
Hattie
that was worth protecting, he knew that he would do anything to keep Laurie safe.

They stayed like that, each boy silent, until they were interrupted by the arrival of a girl Fen would happily feed to the monsters if he could summon any—Astrid, the girl who had poisoned Baldwin with mistletoe and killed him. Fen would’ve been glad to never see her again.

“Fen,” Astrid said.

That was all she got out before he lunged at her. He knew she wasn’t a wolf, but she
was
a killer. That overruled the no-hitting-girls rule he used with non-
wulfenkind
.

She met his attack with her own. He landed his first punch, but she dodged enough that instead of connecting with her mouth, his fist glanced off the edge of her jaw. Her
knee came up quickly, but he had already moved back and she didn’t manage to bring him down with that dirty move.

“You killed Baldwin,” Fen growled at her, and he tried to swipe her legs from under her.

“And you brought him back,” she countered as she punched at him in a quick one-two of fists. “Fate.”

Fen’s next punch knocked her backward, but not as much as it should have. She was strong, far stronger than a human girl should be.

“I could’ve failed. He could’ve stayed dead,” Fen yelled. “We could’ve
all
died in Hel.”

“But you
didn’t
.” Astrid watched him with an attentiveness that seemed out of place. She punched him, snapping his head back with force.

He glared at her, both in anger and in planning. She fought surprisingly well, enough that he was surprised that Matt had fared okay in his fight with her after Baldwin’s death. She’d apparently been hiding this from them, along with her allegiance to the enemy and murderous intentions toward Baldwin.

“Well?” She was waiting for him to figure something out, taunting him. Her eyes narrowed.

Astrid was in their camp, surrounded by wolves. Wolves didn’t let non-wolves travel or stay with them. How had he not realized that she was
wulfenkind
? She’d tricked all of them. That made sense for Laurie and Matt, but Fen could recognize others of their kind.

“You’re a wolf?” he blurted, pausing in his shock, and in doing so, he lowered his guard long enough that Astrid landed a solid punch to his gut. “
Oof
.”

“Not a wolf.” She grinned, lowering her fists and stepping back several paces, putting herself out of his reach. “I’m just a girl, Fen.”

“No, you’re not.” He looked behind him at Skull, who was watching them with obvious amusement. “Is she usually here?”

Skull shook his head. “The boss said he’d be bringing her. Said she was to stay with us. I’m not sure who she is, but she’s not a wolf. The mayor says she’s going to be a part of the big fight, and we are to protect her, so you can’t really do anything to her… unless she does something
new
to upset you. She’s important to the old man.”

Fen tried to think of what he could remember about the various stories he’d heard about Ragnarök. If she wasn’t a wolf, what was she? Pink-tipped hair, bad attitude, strong, obviously on the monsters’ side? He had nothing; no monsters matched that description.

Wish Thorsen were here with his book geeking. Bet he knows.

Astrid was watching Fen. Quietly, she said, “I’m not your enemy. I did what I had to.… Don’t even try to pretend you can’t understand
that
!”

Skull groaned as he sat up on his pallet. His face was damp with sweat, and Fen suddenly realized he was hurt worse than he’d admitted.

“Do you need anything?”

“I’m fine,” Skull snapped, sounding like the boy Fen had known for years. “If the fight’s over, get out.”

Fen leveled a scowl at him.

“If you don’t mind, Alpha,” Skull added in a voice that was far from respectful.

It was enough of an attempt at politeness, though, for Fen to nod and motion Astrid toward the tent exit. “Out.” He glanced back at Skull after Astrid was gone. “If you need serious help, we can get you to a hospital or something.”

Skull rolled his eyes. “Raiders don’t go to the hospital, Fen. We heal, scar, and fight some more. We’re wolves. If we’re too weak, we die.”

“Not in
our
pack. Not now. If I’m alpha, I’ll set my own rules. If you need the hospital, we’ll go.”

“With what money?”

Fen barked a laugh. “I didn’t say we’d stop being Brekkes, just that we’d get help.”

Skull grinned. “You make a good alpha.”

At that, Fen realized that he
could
do this. If it weren’t for Ragnarök, he might even enjoy being alpha. He didn’t want to fight his friends, and he didn’t want his packmates injured by his friends. Being alpha had effectively put him
in a situation where he had to worry about people on
both
sides.

Unless I can find a way to get the pack to fight on the right side… which I can’t, since that would endanger them more because the good guys—the descendants of the North—are likely to lose.

The enemy was stronger. They had monsters. They had a leader who had been manipulating everyone. The good guys were a bunch of kids… and some goats.

Fen stepped outside, where Astrid waited. He’d never liked the pink-haired girl. She was rude and pushy and—well, she was a lot like him, actually.
That doesn’t matter
, he thought.
What matters is that she killed Baldwin.
Whether it was part of the whole fated events of Ragnarök or not, she poisoned Baldwin. She had killed the only boy with whom Fen had found an instant and true friendship. Sure, he had friends at school, but that was mostly because he was intimidating and they wanted to be on his good side. He wasn’t stupid. He knew that they weren’t the sort of friends who would stick by him no matter what. Matt was a friend, but they were still having to work at it… and that friendship might’ve just been destroyed when he’d seen Fen with the Raiders. No, there was no one quite like Baldwin, and Astrid had killed him.

“I don’t have to be nice to you. If the pack is sworn to keep you safe, I can do that. That doesn’t mean anything if you hurt any of them—or my cousin. I’m alpha, and I’ve already ordered them not to touch her.
You
will obey that,
too, if you’re traveling with us.” He crossed his arms and glared at her.

“Understood.”

It wasn’t fair that he had to protect her, but he took some small joy in the fact that he’d at least landed a few hits on the girl who’d killed Baldwin—
and
framed Fen for it so he almost got arrested for murder.

“Is Matt, umm, okay?” she asked in a weird, soft voice.

Her question was so unexpected that Fen simply blinked at her.
“Seriously?”

“Well, I mean, I know he’s alive and stuff. He did okay in Hel, though, right?” she asked as she fidgeted. She looked down at her hands, which she’d clasped tightly together.

Carefully, Fen said, “I guess he’s okay. He’s out there somewhere with my cousin, fighting who knows what.” He shook his head at the weirdness of his day and the whole situation he was in now, before adding, “And I’m left here trying to convince these fools that ending the world is a
bad
thing.”

“You’ll be a great alpha. I’m sure Matt taught you a lot.” Astrid patted his shoulder awkwardly. “I’m glad he’s okay, you know? I really don’t want Matt to die.”

Fen scowled at her.

“Or Laurie,” she added quickly. “I know you worry about her. Maybe you and I should talk.… We can’t
stop
Ragnarök. It’s already started, but maybe we can work together to save the people we, umm, want to protect.”

Fen looked at Astrid. He was pretty sure he didn’t trust her, but she was the only one in the camp who made even the slightest bit of sense. He shook his head again, trying not to think about the fact that she’d killed Baldwin once already.

“We’ve all had roles to play, Fenrir,” Astrid said quietly. “Yours was to rescue Baldwin. Don’t you think I knew you would cry for him? Trust me. I wouldn’t have sent him to Hel if I thought you were going to let him stay dead.”

Fen knew Astrid obviously wasn’t a regular human if she was to be fighting with the monsters in the final battle. She was something else. He didn’t know what yet, but he’d find out. “Why should I trust
you
?”

She frowned. “You’re here with the pack who fought against you repeatedly. You’re their leader now. Do you really think you’re the
only
one who doesn’t like what he has to do?”

Fen knew how tricky things could get with myths and fate. He had been the one to steal the shield and give it to Skull back before he knew about Ragnarök. It was hypocritical to act like other people couldn’t get trapped, too.

“I don’t like you,” he said after a moment of their glaring at each other.

Astrid crossed her arms. “That’s mutual.”

They stood there scowling at each other for a few more moments, and then Fen said, “Fine. What do you have in mind?”

S
o, the fire giant. Fifty feet tall. On fire.
Completely
on fire, from head to foot. Carrying two swords. Flaming, of course. Matt barely had time to
think
before the Jotunn turned his way. He would say it looked at him, but for that, he’d need to see actual eyes. It had a mouth apparently, though, which opened and breathed… yep, fire.

The tongue of flame shot right at them, like something out of a fire-safety video they’d shown in school about the dangers of back drafts, and Matt had this weird urge to stop, drop, and roll. Luckily, the flame stopped short of them, though he was pretty sure it still burned off half his eyebrows. Then the Jotunn seemed to expand, as if it
were inhaling, filling its lungs with extra air to propel the flame—

Matt grabbed the window frame on the fire truck. It was still hot enough to make him wince, but he shoved Baldwin in. The younger boy scrambled through and Matt followed. They got inside just as the flames struck, licking through the window and hitting Matt’s shield as he ducked behind it. Fire engulfed the wooden shield only to freeze in a spiky coat of ice. Yet he still felt the heat of the fire blast through the fire truck’s cab. Even Baldwin gasped.

“Just hold on,” Matt said. “It’ll…”

The flames stopped then, seeming to only last as long as the giant had breath.

“You okay?” Matt asked, crouched behind the shield.

“I’m invulnerable, remember?”

True, but Matt wasn’t sure if that meant Baldwin would be protected from the fire—or he’d burn to a crisp and come back to life. Baldwin might love pushing his limits, but Matt suspected that was one test he’d rather skip.

Another wave of flame hit the truck. This time, despite the icy shield, sweat streamed down Matt’s face. He made the mistake of reaching to grab something and his fingers grasped hot metal. He yelped and jerked back.

“Hot in here, huh?” Baldwin said. “We’d better hope that big guy gets bored soon, because I feel like a Thanksgiving turkey.”

When the Jotunn hit the truck with another blast, Matt realized that was exactly what the giant was trying to do—heat up the cab unbearably and drive them out.

“Head that way,” Matt said, waving to the broken passenger window. “We need to get out of here.”

They crawled out the other side and along the upside-down truck. When a dangling hose hit Matt, Baldwin whispered, “Too bad these things aren’t working, huh?”

Too bad indeed. That might be the only way of stopping the Jotunn. Unfortunately, unless there happened to be a hydrant nearby, the hoses were useless.

“On my count, we’re going to run,” Matt said.

“Run where?”

“In the other direction.”

Baldwin chuckled. “Sounds like a plan.”

They got into sprinting position. Then they tore across the road and almost plowed into a building. The front door was locked. Behind them, the Jotunn roared, as if realizing it had lost its prey. Then Matt could see it coming, the flames shimmering through the smoke.

He wrenched on the door. The Jotunn roared again. Fire crackled and Matt swore his back heated as he kept yanking on the handle. The door was solid—no glass to break.

A blast of heat, and this time, fire really did lick him. Baldwin shouted a warning and smacked Matt’s back.