Perfekt Balance (The Ære Saga Book 3) (22 page)

My gut tugged. Runa might have made some
horrific choices, but so long as there was a spark of goodness
within her, this poor soul deserved my best effort.

I pulled my shoulders back and pushed my
spirit forward.

Runa, I know there’s still good in you. I’m
so sorry you never had the family you deserved. I’m sorry you never
knew the unconditional love every child should have. I’m sorry my
mom, and Forse, and now even me, all failed to help you overcome
your pain. I don’t know how to reach you, but I need you to know
that if you continue down this path, you won’t be able to turn
back. Right now there’s still a spark of light in you, but if you
go and kill Brynn, and—

I don’t want to kill anyone.
Runa’s spirit broke through. Oh, thank
Odin!

You’re there!
My
joy was so overwhelming, I wanted to reach out and hug Runa’s
spirit. But I wasn’t about to do anything that might send the
vestiges of Runa’s goodness back into hiding.

You have to stop my host. She snapped.
Runa’s spirit spoke hurriedly, like she
was afraid she might be snuffed out.

What happened?

Her father upped his deadline. She didn’t
deliver the wolf, so he banished her. It’s exactly like—

It’s exactly like what happened when he punished her for
protecting her brother
,
I surmised. Suddenly Runa’s energy shift made sense.
He triggered an
emotional memory of abandonment; the one that sent her on this path
to begin with. And now he’s forcing her to complete the journey.
Gods, what kind of a demon is this guy?

The
spirit shuddered.
You have to stop her. If she kills
Brynn, and unleashes Fenrir…your brother will blame himself. He’ll
spiral down the same path Runa is on. Only when he falls, the
aftermath will be devastating. Because he’s not just Asgard’s God
of War; he’s—

“Enough!” Runa’s shriek rang across the
castle. The sound reverberated throughout the floors, bouncing off
the stones and sending waves of pain through my heart. Heavy
footsteps pounded outside my cell door, and when Runa wrenched it
open, her face was nearly unrecognizable. Her eyes burned like two
blackened coals, and her lips were pressed together so tightly,
they made a thin line. She shot a beam at the wall sconce with her
hand, and the lava rocks within began to smolder. Their light cast
eerie shadows around my cell.

Block her
, the
spirit said.

Excuse me?
I
cringed as Runa stepped inside my cell.

Block her. If you have your mother’s powers,
you can make her see—or feel—whatever you want her to. Push a
thought into her head and take her off this destructive course.

My mother did that? How?
I asked. Runa raised her hand, and I covered my
face.

Just do it!

A blue light sparked in Runa’s hand, and I
knew the beam was coming. Without knowing how, I pressed the image
of a flower-filled meadow into her mind. Confusion colored Runa’s
features, but her hand remained raised.

“What the Hel? Did you transport us to a
meadow?” She pointed her palm at me.

It worked?
I
questioned.
How?

Forget how, just do it again. But flowery fields aren’t
going to work with Runa. Goodness won’t hold her off. You have to
access something darker
,
the spirit urged.

Oh, I can’t use dark magic.

I’m not asking you to. I’m asking you to debilitate her.
Fill her head with
darkness,
not light. It’s the only thing that will save your
friends.

A Unifier would never do—

Your mother did it. I saw her. Runa’s spirit
spoke quietly.

My mother filled someone with a dark vision?
There was no way that was
true.

Your mother filled many someones with dark
visions
, the spirit
corrected.
She had to. Her job was to bring beings together,
right?

I nodded.

Well, sometimes she had to work with beings like me—a
spirit whose host rejected the virtues she tried to instill. In
those cases, so long as she had the consent of the spirit, your mom
pressed dark visions into the host to distract it when it was on
the verge of committing a truly heinous act. In stopping that act
of evil, she increased the strength of the spirit’s goodness. It
was the only way she could preserve that being’s light. And it was
the only way to save them from themselves
.

I processed this quickly, as Runa’s hazy eyes
came into focus. Her spirit was right—the flowery field wasn’t
holding her off for long.

Even if my mom did that, I’m not sure I’d be
able to. I’ve never willingly hurt anyone before—

You won’t be hurting Runa. You’ll just be
taking her to a dark place.

Yes, but—

My protest was cut off by a blue beam
shooting past my head. It struck the floor of the cell, searing a
six-inch hole in the stone.

Oh, gods. She was going to kill me.

You have my consent; use a dark vision to
stop Runa. Do it for me.

I didn’t
have time to ask what exactly constituted a
dark
vision
. I grabbed hold of
the first picture that came to me and lobbed it at Runa before her
blue beam of death could take me down.

Darkness.
I
pushed the cloak of night into Runa’s mind, blanketing her vision
in a thick field of black. It was admittedly a softball
interpretation of
dark vision
, but
I hoped it would be enough.

“
What did
you do?” Runa screamed. “I can’t see!” Her hands swung around
wildly, the blue beam firing in a chaotic stream. It ricocheted off
the stones of the tower, and I threw myself onto the ground to
avoid being hit. The moment I broke my focus, I lost whatever
connection I’d forged to Runa’s brain.
No!
When I looked up, clarity
colored Runa’s eyes. Now she held her hands steady, pointing them
directly at me.

Use something darker
, Runa’s spirit pleaded.
I don’t want to hurt you. And I really
don’t want to kill your friends
.

I’d tried
sending lightness. I’d tried sending darkness. With a lurch, I
realized the only thing that could truly debilitate Runa
was…physical pain.

Hurry,
Runa’s
spirit begged. And I understood that in this moment, hurting Runa
was the only thing that could save her spirit—could save us all. I
opened my mind to hers, and consciously forged a link directly to
her brain. This time, I wouldn’t let it go.

I didn’t have a choice.

I took a
breath and strengthened the connection between our minds. Darkness
charged at me, barreling down the thick tube that joined us. But I
pushed it back, sending my own energy at Runa with a force that
made her step back.
Here goes nothing.
I closed my eyes and set my
course.

Pain.
I pictured a cluster of molten lava rocks percolating like
an angry popcorn ball, and pressed my vision at Runa. It funneled
down the center of her body, releasing a stone into each of Runa’s
energy centers.
Now
. On my command the rocks exploded, setting off a fiery
inferno of agony within each of Runa’s centers. The tiny balls
seared her from the inside out, and she cried out. My stomach
curled at my action, but I knew the consequences of
not
hurting Runa would
cause far greater injuries.

Pain,
I pressed again, praying I had enough power to halt Runa’s
destructive path. A second cluster of lava rocks made its way down
her spine, depositing explosives in each of her centers.
Now
. Runa clawed at her
stomach, shrieking as the new blast set fire to the nerves
throughout her body. As her face contorted, the blue spark at her
palm extinguished.

“What are you doing?” Runa wailed.

Harder,
Runa’s
spirit urged.

This is horrible
, I sent back.

Hurry, Before it’s too late.

Runa released her hold on her torso and held
up her hand. The spark flickered.

Again,
her
spirit urged.

I
fortified our connection.
Pain
. I dialed up the intensity, mentally coating the
outside of each lava rock with a jagged layer of shrapnel laced
with a paralyzing venom. I pressed the fortified cluster through
the cord that bound us, depositing the enhanced weapons in each of
Runa’s energy centers before detonating the devices. My heart
tugged as I watched Runa drop to her knees, the blue flame
extinguishing as she fell.

“Stop that!” She brought her hands to her
head.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, as I sent another
burst directly to her sixth energy center. She squeezed her eyes
shut and fell to her side, writhing on the ground.

Her loss of control provided the window I’d
been waiting for.

Pain.
I pressed one final wave of explosives through Runa’s body
as I released the cord that connected us and turned for the door.
In my haste to escape, I failed to realize that breaking our bond
would terminate my control. Razor-like fingernails gripped my arm
before I’d taken two steps, pulling me onto the ground just before
a spiky heel thrust against my chest.

“Whatever the Hel that was, it ends now.”
Runa panted as she spoke, wiping sweat from her forehead. “After I
take out the valkyrie, I’m going to wipe out Odin’s entire council.
Then it’s goodbye, Asgard.”

“
No!” I
screamed as Runa stormed for the door. I scrambled to my feet and
raced for the exit, trying to forge another connection between our
minds.
Pain. Pain. Pain!
I sent the intention, but I was too late. In one swift
movement Runa was gone, slamming the door behind her.

Stop her!
I
pleaded with the spirit. Its signature grew fainter as Runa raced
down the stairs and out of the building.

I’ll hold her off as long as I can. But
that’s all I can promise.

I
nodded.
Just tell her how sorry I am. It’s not her fault
she’s my first assignment. I wish I was better at this.

Elsa
…

It’s true. I’m a terrible Unifier. But you know who’s
really, really good at their job? Forse. And if Runa just calls off
this god hunt, leaves Brynn and Tyr alone, and lets me go, it will
show Forse her soul is capable of choosing what’s right, and he’ll
mitigate her sentence. Runa might be on a path she thinks she can’t
turn back from, but she still has a choice here. There’s
always
a choice. And if she makes the right
one, then Forse will
…hei?
Are you still there?

But she wasn’t. The spirit was gone, either
snuffed out completely, or ported to another part of the realm by
the goddess who’d seen too much loss in her life to recognize her
chance at redemption. My shoulders dropped. I’d failed Runa. She’d
made her choice.

She’d chosen fear over love.

I leaned back against the wall and resisted
the urge to give in to the weight of my failure. Instead I scanned
the room, looking for something that could help me break out of
this cell. I couldn’t have Forse charging into the castle; the way
Runa operated these days, he’d be killed before he made it to my
cell.

My eyes lit up as I saw the smoldering ember
of the lava rock at the base of a sconce. Either Runa didn’t know
the power it held, or she was too preoccupied to bother to
extinguish it. Either way, her oversight was my salvation. That
rock was my ticket out of here.

Since the
cell lacked any creature comforts, including potholders, I tore off
the bottom of my shirt and wrapped the fabric around my hand. With
great care, I picked up the rock and crossed to the window. The
heat from the stone passed through the thin fabric in no time,
searing my palm with its white-hot inferno. But I gritted my teeth
and ignored the pain, sawing through the metal bars of the window
like a crazed inmate. If Forse and I didn’t stop Runa
right now
, Tyr’s life
would be forever changed—he’d be dead, or descending on a path to
darkness that would break him.

And I couldn’t let either of those things
happen to my brother.

Blisters formed as I sawed through the
remaining bars, dropping the rock the second I’d created a space
big enough to squeeze through. Then I climbed out of the window,
closed my eyes, and sent my energy to my brother.

Hold on, Tyr. We’re all going to get out of
here.

Elsa
?
Tyr’s
confusion resonated inside my head.

Runa’s headed your way. Whatever you do,
don’t engage her. Grab Brynn and fly out of there right now.

I think it’s a little late for that.
Tyr’s thought radiated tension, but I
didn’t have time to scan his vision screens to see what he was up
against.

Just stay safe and get out as soon as you
can. I’ll grab Forse, and we’ll port in to pick you up.

Else, I don’t think
—

Our
connection broke as I lost my footing. I pulled my energy back from
my brother and scrambled to gain hold of the rocky outer structure
of the castle, digging my nails into the stones as I slid down the
wall. When I’d regained control, I didn’t dare focus my energy on
anything but a safe descent. For the millionth time, I wished I’d
gotten my brother’s flying ability.
One minute. One
minute and I’ll be with Forse in the forest, and he can port us to
Tyr and Brynn, and get everybody out of here.