Perfekt Balance (The Ære Saga Book 3) (12 page)

“
You’re
bleeding! Where are you?” Forse repeated. The urgency in his voice
jarred me from my calm, and as I cradled the screen atop my
forearm, I realized the justice god didn’t exactly share my inner
peace. The
V
atop
the bridge of his nose wasn’t the only sign of the toll this day
was taking on him. His forehead was lined with the wrinkles of a
god twice his age, and his lips were pale and cracked.

“Are you okay?” I asked him softly.

“
Are
you
okay?” he countered. “Gods,
hjärtat
, there’s blood
caked to the side of your head. Is Runa’s cloak on your tower
inhibiting your healing abilities too?”

“No, this injury’s just a deeper injury than
the ones I’ve been repairing lately, so it’s going to take a while
to fix itself.”

“Can you perform a healing or does the dark
magic in the structure block that gift?” Forse asked.

Good question.
I
brought my hands together and channeled restorative energy. A
moment later I felt the small surge of power between my hands. It
wasn’t as strong as I was used to; my energy had been severely
depleted by Runa’s attack, and that would have a corresponding
effect on my strength as High Healer. Even so, the tiny ball was
better than nothing. I placed my hands on the side of my head, and
sent the energy into my skull. The pounding decreased by half and
my scalp tightened as my skin slowly resumed knitting itself back
together.

“The tower still hasn’t affected my energetic
abilities, just my magical ones,” I reassured Forse. “I’ll be fine,
Forse. I swear.”

“
Elsa,
are you…you’re curled up in a ball, aren’t you? I’m going to kill
Tyr for bringing you here. War!” Forse bellowed. “Get the Hel over
here and see what you’ve done!”

“Shh,” I urged. “There’s not exactly a volume
control on this com, and you’re shouting through this end, too. She
confiscated my phone and my dagger; I don’t want Runa to figure out
I can still communicate with you.”

“Is she nearby? Let me talk to her. I’ll make
her—”

“What? You’ll make her what? She’s not
exactly open to persuasion. Trust me, I’m trying to get out of
here. It’s just not that easy, so until I find a way to break
myself out of this tower without getting any of us hurt, I’ll do my
duty to Asgard and try to figure out why Runa’s doing all of this.
She’s on a warpath, and so long as I’m stuck here with her, I’ll
keep trying to tap her energy to find out who she’s working with
and why. It’s not ideal, but it’s not without its benefits. Once I
leave, I’ll lose access to her, and we’ll lose our upper hand, so
I’m taking advantage of the—hopefully limited—time I’ve got with
her.”

“You think having you locked up is the upper
hand?” The vein popped across Forse’s forehead, but at least he
kept his voice down.

“Kind of. The last time she went nuts, we
didn’t see it coming and something really awful happened.”

“
Elsa…”
Forse’s red-rimmed eyes turned positively crimson.

“
This
time,” I pressed on, “we have the chance to get inside her head and
see what she’s planning. So we can stop it
before
it happens.”

“I thought Tyr was the only Fredriksen who
could read minds.”

“He is. But I can access her energy, which
allows me to see what her motivation is for whatever heinous crime
she’s planning this time. And if I can isolate her motivation,
maybe I can get her to talk to me.”

“You think if you call her out on the root of
her issues, she’ll get all meadow-elfy with you and share her
feelings, along with her diabolical plan?” Forse sounded doubtful.
“I hate to break it to you, but she didn’t get to where she is by
being touchy-feely with anyone—even the High Healer.”

“
Maybe
not.” I closed my eyes. It was a good idea in theory, but Runa was
a master of deceit. I doubted even her own spirit could see through
her darkness.
Hold on…
The thought triggered something. “Forse, remember a few
weeks ago when we were going through the boxes of my parents’
things, and we found Mom’s old journals?”

“You asked me to hold on to them until you
were ready to take them. You said it hurt too much to see her
handwriting and know she was never coming back.” Forse’s voice
cracked. “My mom’s still got them in our library. Why?”’

“
Can you
get a message to Freya? Have her scan the journals and e-mail them
to you, and then forward the scanned pages to my com. When we found
them, I just assumed they were personal—that she’d filled pages
about her epic romance with my father, and that it wasn’t my place
to look at them.” My own journal was peppered with sentimental
nuggets—
Elsa hearts Forse 4-ever. XOXO.
I’d die if anyone ever read it, and
figured I’d owed my mother her privacy. “But what if Mom wrote
about her work life too? About being the Unifier? What if the
answers we’ve been looking for have been right in front of us this
whole time?”

Forse’s eyes widened. “If that’s true, then
we’re the thickest gods in Asgard. If the key to unifying is
sitting in my parents’ library, I’m going to be beyond mad at
myself.”

I nodded.
“Me too. Forse, what if there’s something in there that can help me
figure out how to get through to Runa? I saw a flicker of light
when I was evaluating her energy…it made me think there’s still
goodness in her. If I can figure out how to multiply it, maybe I
can make all of this better.”

“You think there’s goodness in everyone.”
Forse shook his head.

“
Because
there is. Sometimes a soul gets confused, but most are inherently
kind. Even if that kindness is
really
buried.” The blood on my cheeks cracked as
I smiled at Forse. That was a good sign—drying blood meant my wound
was finally healing.

“
Gods, I
miss that smile.” Forse held his fingers to the screen, and I
followed suit. It was almost as if we were touching.
Almost…
“I’m so sorry
about all of this, Elsa. We’re doing everything we can to get you
out of there. We’ve ported to three different towers but they
haven’t been the right ones. If only we could break through the
dark magic barrier, we could Bifrost you out of there
and—”

“It’s not enough to get me out. You need to
take Runa into custody. She poses too much of a threat to the light
realms.”

“
I
agree.” Forse nodded. “But it’s more important to me to keep you
alive. Have you ever wondered why I call you
hjärtat
?”

Hjärtat
was an
endearment that was familiar but not too romantic; the kind of
thing you could get away with calling a good friend…or someone
truly special. Forse had never confirmed which side I fell
on.

“Why?” My heart rate tripled.

“Because you, Elsa Fredriksen, are my—”

“Are you talking to Elsa?” Tyr’s voice came
through the screen, cutting off Forse’s declaration. My hopes were
dashed as the face of the brother with the worst possible timing
joined Forse in my communicator. “Thank Odin! We can’t track you.
Do you have any idea how many towers there are in Svartalfheim? A
few dozen match the height specs you gave us. The first few were
busts, so—”

“Um, could you give us another minute?” I
asked Tyr hopefully.

“Can you give us a DNA sample?” Tyr
countered.

“Excuse me?”

“A sample. You say your tower is cloaked in
dark magic, but is there any passage to the outside of the building
from where you are? A crack in the wall, or a window or something?”
Tyr asked.

“I’ve got a window,” I offered.

“
Perfekt
. If you can swab a piece of your shirt, or any loose
article you can find in there, and throw it out the window beyond
the perimeter of the cloak, the locator might be able to pick it
up.” Tyr wore a
V
between his brows that rivaled Forse’s. At this rate, Idunn
was going to have to double up production on the anti-aging apple
serum.

“Breathe, Tyr. It’s going to be okay.”

“No it’s not.” Tyr clamped his jaw so hard I
heard a pop.

“Tyr,” Forse interrupted. “Look at her
ear.”

Tyr
squinted into the screen. “Great Odin, she’s bleeding.
Förbaskat
, we need to
find her
now
. Or
so help me—”

“
Calm
down!” I scanned my cell until my eyes fell on a pebble amidst the
rubble of the floor. In one movement, I’d picked up the stone,
pressed it against my bloodied wound, and flung it out the window.
I gritted my teeth as I tried to ignore the searing pain.
Note to self—do not shove sharp rocks into open wounds.
Ouch!
“Okay. I threw a
bloodied pebble as far as I could, at a ninety-degree angle to the
plane of this window. That probably doesn’t help narrow down where
to search for it, since you don’t know where my tower—or its
window—are located, but it’s all the information I have. Is the
locator picking anything up on the rock? Or did I not throw it hard
enough to cross the perimeter?”

“
It’s too
soon to tell.” Forse looked frustrated as he stared off-screen.
“Henrik wasn’t lying; the locator takes for-bloody-ever. Maybe
if…hold up. Tyr, look at this.”

Tyr leaned over, staring at what I presumed
to be the locator. “What is that thing?”

“Two beings just ported into one of the
potential tower locations. And if the blood trace from Brynn’s
dagger is correct, Tosk is one of them. I bet this is where they’re
hiding Elsa.”

I did a quick energy scan of my surroundings.
“I don’t sense two additional beings here. Are you sure?”

“I’m sure two creatures just showed up at one
of our places of interest,” Forse said. “It could be your
tower—maybe they’ve found a way to cloak their energy signatures
from you.”

“Gods, I hope not.” I shivered.

Tyr swore. “You can run, but you can’t hide.
Sit tight, Else, and be careful. We’re on our way.”

“I’ll be here,” I said lightly.

“Brynn!” Tyr shouted. “Pack it in. We’re
moving out.”

As Tyr
stormed off-screen, Forse turned to me with a small smile. “We’re
coming for you,
hjärtat
. And once you’re safe, I’m never letting you go
again.”

“Is that a promise?”

“Absolutely.” Forse eyed me with
determination. “And I’ve never gone back on my word.”

“I know you haven’t,” I said. “It’s why I
trust you.”

Forse’s gaze clouded, but before I could ask
what was wrong he signed off. “See you in a few.”

As the screen went black, I leaned against
the stone wall and closed my eyes. There was nothing to do now but
wait.

MINUTES TICKED BY, BUT
nothing happened. My friends should have ported here by
now; something must have gone wrong. Maybe the locator had misread
the coordinates, or maybe my energy assessment had been right and
Tosk had gone to another location. I grounded myself and pushed out
my energy, but the only other mind I could sense in the building
was Runa. I skirted around her, not wanting to alert her to my
search, and pushed my energy to the border of the property. There
wasn’t another soul to be found. My friends had definitely gone to
a different tower…and if Tosk was there, they’d probably entered an
extremely hostile zone.

I’d have to go looking for them. If my
intuition was right, they’d need all the help they could get.

I pulled back to check on Runa. Her aura was
still a red ball of anger, but she didn’t appear to be going
anywhere. I pushed my energy out of the building and shot straight
for the sky. The sun crept higher in the atmosphere, its filtered
beams cutting through the perma-smog covering Svartalfheim just
enough to lend visibility. In the light of day, I could see my
tower was part of a large, abandoned castle, and that its moat was
narrower than I’d previously thought. I made a note of the thick
grove of trees circling the property, and the distance from the
nearest mountain range. It was information I could pass on to Forse
to help him track me if the locator failed to pick up my blood
sample.

From my
vantage point atop the clouds, I saw a sea of towers. Maybe it was
a zoning ordinance—
all creepy gothic residences must come
complete with one tower
.
Thankfully the actual structures were few and far between, and my
scan for energy signatures revealed most were unpopulated. Dark
elves must winter in the southern region.

A pulse
of light to the west caught my attention, and I zeroed in on the
tower closest to the flash. The energy coming back at me sent a
wave of calm though my chest, and I knew it had come from
Forse.
Dang it
.
They’d gone to the wrong tower.

And judging by the intense darkness bearing
down on them, my friends had walked straight into a trap.

* * * *

Tyr!
I pushed myself into his head without asking for the second
time in less than a day, but the situation totally warranted
it.

Elsa?
He sounded
confused.
Where are you? The locator still hasn’t locked in on your
DNA trace.

Forget about me
,
I rushed.
Get everybody out of there. It’s a trap. They’re coming
from the northeast
—

But before I could finish warning him, an
explosion rocked the compound.