Perfekt Control (The Ære Saga Book 2) (16 page)

I wracked my brain. Where could we hide a
teenage fire giant with hair so red it practically glowed, breath
that turned to fire, and flesh that completely betrayed what she
was? It wasn’t like the humans on Midgard could walk by a
violet-skinned girl without doing a double take. Especially if she
sneezed flames on them.

Hyro saw my confusion and touched my arm.
“It’s okay. I know I don’t fit anywhere. The trolls are afraid of
me, the dwarves would rather collect the bounty Surtr would put on
my head if he found out I was a refugee, and the humans…” She
shrugged. “I’m fine here. Honest. I have a semi-permanent camp in a
forest nearby, and I’ve gotten pretty good at hunting. Plus, it’s a
lot less lonely now that Forse talks to me. Or it was, before
today. This stopped working right after I told Forse about the
portal.” Hyro pulled a small communication device out of her
pocket. “I’m not sure how I’m going to talk to him now.”

“Hey, I made that!” Henrik blurted. “That
klepto Forse stole it without even asking.”

Hyro’s eyes turned down as she offered it to
Henrik. “Do you want it back?”

“No, keep it. But let me see what’s wrong
with it.” Henrik picked up the device and turned it over. He opened
the back panel and studied the communicator’s guts. “Ah.” He pulled
a key out of his pocket and poked at the wiring until I heard a
small pop. With a smile he replaced the panel, and handed the
device back to Hyro. “All fixed.”

“Thanks.” Gratitude laced Hyro’s tone.

“No worries. I’m glad it’s getting good use.
I didn’t know it could reach this many realms away.”

When Henrik puffed out his chest, I groaned.
“Henrik.”

“What?” He held out his arms. “Just taking a
moment to appreciate the awesomeness that is me.”

“I helped develop that, remember? In fact,
wasn’t I the one who reconfigured the chip so it could transmit
beyond the home realm’s gravitational sphere?”

Henrik waved a hand. “Po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe.
Either way, it’s a sweet little machine. Use it in good
health.”

“Um… thank you?” Hyro tucked the communicator
back in her pocket.

“Come on, Brynn. We’d better get back to
Forse and Tyr with all of this.” Henrik stuck out his hand, and the
girl shook it. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for us. We’d
have been fire giant fodder if you hadn’t shown us this cave.”

Hyro grinned. “It was nice to have someone to
talk to for a while.”

My eyes prickled. I had so much—my parents,
my brother, my friends, the entire Asgardian society. This girl was
so young, and she had nobody. “Hyro, are you sure you don’t want us
to relocate you? We can find an encampment that will welcome you.
You wouldn’t be the first refugee we’ve relocated. And you
shouldn’t have to be all by yourself.”

“If I ever change my mind, I know how to
reach you.” Hyro patted her pocket. “But really, I’m fine here. And
now that I’m on your team, I actually have a purpose. Forse said
the girl you’re looking for is somebody real important to all of
us.”

My throat constricted. “She is.”

“Well, then I’ll keep an ear to the ground
and pass along anything that might help you guys find her.” Hyro
nodded.

“Aren’t you afraid Surtr is going to catch
you?” Henrik wasn’t being snarky; he genuinely didn’t understand
why someone so young would take such a huge risk for strangers.

“A little,” Hyro admitted. “But after seeing
the dark magic and the portal open up in the volcano, I’m willing
to bet whoever’s behind your friend’s disappearance is responsible
for my parents’ deaths, too. Surtr might not have cared about all
the people that died in that explosion, but I did. They were my
friends.” Hyro’s eyes brimmed with moisture. She quickly pressed
the heels of her hands to her eyes, stopping the overflow. “Anyway.
I’m happy to help.”

“Thank you, Hyro,” Henrik spoke
sincerely.

“Yeah. Thank you.” I gently touched her
elbow, and tilted my head toward the entrance of the cave. It was
probably safe to call for the Bifrost now. “Well, if you change
your mind, let Forse know and we’ll evaluate our camps and
determine the best relocation for you. And I’ll have a messenger
deliver three bags of rubies to this cave. Asgard doesn’t have any
dragons, but if you see a pegasus fly by, you’ll know it’s
ours.”

“Thanks.” Hyro shot me a grin so sincere, the
fire in the sconces glinted off her sharp, yellow teeth. I returned
the gesture, then followed Henrik out of the cave, ignoring the
protests of my injured leg.
Why hasn’t it healed itself?

At the entrance, we paused to scan what was
left of the grove. It was nothing but black soot, grey smoke, and
the scent of freshly cremated trees.

I sighed. “I guess we can call for the
Bifrost right here,
ja
? No need to get to the water
anymore.”

“Agreed.” Henrik shifted his backpack with
one hand, and looked at my awkward posture. “Is your leg still not
better?”

“Not yet.” I gritted my teeth. “Just get us
home. Elsa can fix it.”

“Heimdall!” Henrik shouted from my side.
“Open the Bifrost.”

In a flash of light and color, the Bifrost
came shooting down from the tar-colored sky. It lit up the
clearing, filling my body with energy as it prepared to suck us up,
away from the fiery realm of Muspelheim and back to the safety of
the beach house, where our friends were waiting. As my feet left
the ground I caught a glimpse of a young girl standing at the
entrance to the cave, hidden behind a wall of red hair. She gave a
small wave before ducking back into the safety of her enclosure. It
wasn’t right. We would find a safe place to move Hyro. Running from
cave to cave in Muspelheim was no kind of life.

But unless we found Freya in the next few
days,
none
of us would have any kind of life. My brain
grasped at every bit of information Hyro had shared, from the four
black figures herding Freya, to the dragons circling the purple
mist. Time was closing in, and we needed to piece everything
together.

Fast
.

“
WHAT THE HELL? YOU
guys scared me to
death!” Mia sat on the sand in front of the safe house, wrapped in
a thick blanket. Her knuckles were white as she clutched her phone
to her ear, and she breathed erratic breaths at the same time as
she glared at me.

“Sorry.” My leg throbbed and my nausea ebbed
as I jumped from the landing area. A beam of light retracted above
us, disappearing in the thick coastal clouds. “It’s just the
Bifrost.”

“Shh,” Mia hissed. Then she spoke into her
phone. “What? No, you heard wrong. Brynn just got home and said
there’s a
light
frost
outside. Winters are cold here,
you know?”

Henrik let out a soft chuckle. “She’s
good.”

“If she’s going to hang with Tyr, she better
be,” I muttered. Our war god had more secrets than a phoenix had
feathers.

“Right, Jason. I hear you. I’ll talk to Mama
about the holidays.” Mia paused. Her mouth turned in a frown. “I
said I’ll talk to her! You don’t have to be rude about it.”

Henrik jogged to my side, and we exchanged a
look. Mia’s brother was never rude to her. Jason teased the
daylights out of her, but he loved Mia with all his heart, and
treated her with the kind of respect all men should have for women.
This wasn’t normal.

This was because of Freya’s absence.

This was
so
not good.

“Goodbye,” Mia harrumphed. She hung up the
phone and wrapped her blanket tighter around her.

“
Hei,
Mia.” Henrik lowered himself
down next to her on the sand. He kept his movements slow and
deliberate. I mirrored his action, so we framed our friend.

“Hi,” she muttered.

“It’s awfully cold out here. Do you want to
head inside?” I offered.

“No. I just need some fresh air.” Her words
sounded clipped.

“Mia.” I hesitated. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes.” She answered too quickly.

Henrik nudged her with his shoulder, then
pulled his beloved fake eyeglasses out of his backpack and slid
them over his nose. “Amelia Ahlström, as your T.A. I want you to
remember you can come to me with any problem. Any time. Even if
it’s got nothing to do with math.”

Mia looked up at Henrik and burst out
laughing. “You don’t have to wear those around me. I know they’re
just for show.”

“Maybe.” Henrik looked smug. “But I got you
to laugh, didn’t I?”

My lips curved up in a smile. Henrik was such
a
nörd
. What Mia didn’t realize was that he actually
liked
wearing the clear-lensed glasses. He claimed he wore
them to blend with mortals, but I knew he thought they made him
look smart.

What he didn’t know was that the glasses
added an extra hot edge to the sexy assassin vibe.
Like he needs
an additional edge…

“Alright.” Mia hiccupped. “I’ll tell you. But
don’t tell Tyr. He’s got enough going on already.”

I glanced back at the house. “Is he
inside?”

“Nope. He’s off fighting dragons. Again.” Mia
shook her head as Henrik and I exchanged a worried glance. Tyr knew
not to leave the realm without a bodyguard. Something big must have
been going down for him to take off without us. Either that, or he
was making a point to Odin about calling his own shots while he was
in Midgard.
Boys
. “Apparently there was another uprising in
one of your heims. Dwarfheim, I think.”

Henrik’s back straightened. “Nidavellir?
That’s the third time in a month. Do you know why?”

“I didn’t ask. He ran out of here in a
hurry.” She squeezed the blanket around her knees. “Why are all the
dragons being so uppity lately?”

“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “The scout we
just met said they’ve been acting weird where she is, too.”

“Oh, good. So you did find her.” Mia exhaled
in relief. “Any good news?”

“None to speak of.” Henrik pushed his glasses
up his nose. My stomach fluttered.
Seriously. Stop it
.

“Whatcha reading?” I toed the book laying
open in the sand. “
Norse Mythology
by John Lindow. Huh.”

“It’s the really helpful one I’ve been using
to help me understand what’s going on in World Myths in Art. I
thought I found a paragraph on you, Brynn—it said a girl named
Brynhild was the fairest of all the valkyries. But Elsa told me she
was someone else.”

“Oh, she’s someone else, all right.” I
snorted. “Brynhild’s the fairest. And the fastest. And the most
full of herself. She’s Freya’s second in command, so I guess now
that Freya’s missing, she’s running the show. I probably should
have checked in with her before I took off with Henrik, but Tyr’s
orders trump hers anyway, so it wouldn’t have mattered.”

Mia looked up. “I’ll bet that
really
lit a fire in her britches. Elsa also told me she’s not a fan of
your relationship with Henrik on account of him shooting her down
in high school.”

“Elsa talks too much,” Henrik muttered.

“And we don’t have a relationship,” I was
quick to add. “We’re just… work associates.”

Henrik gave me a disappointed look, but he
couldn’t exactly argue. They’d been his words, after all.

“Back to business.” Henrik drew his shoulders
up. “What’s going on with your brother, Mia?”

“Oh. That.” Mia blew at an errant strand of
hair. “He wants my folks to come to California for Christmas
instead of doing the traditional thing at home. Says he’s sick of
east coast weather, and the ‘stupid girls’ after him at school, and
his ‘asinine professors’ and, well, everything. He’s in a seriously
awful mood. I’ve never seen him like this.”

“He was rude to you?” I pressed.

“Yeah.” Mia shrugged. “Maybe exams are
getting to him. They’re coming up soon. Speaking of, any chance
we’ll be out of here by end of next week? Or do I need Dr.
Fredriksen to come up with a medical excuse for missing my tests?
For the record, I
really
do not want to miss exams. It is
extremely
difficult to retain this much information, and I
do not want to have to study over Christmas vacation.” Mia stared
each of us down.

“I’d love to say yes, but we can’t make any
promises. It all depends on when we recover Freya.” Henrik studied
Mia. “Have you noticed any other mortals acting differently?”

“Um…” Mia bit her bottom lip. “Well, Heather
and Charlotte seem kind of off. Charlotte texted me about Heather
not holding up her end of the chore chart. And Heather e-mailed to
tell me her boyfriend’s being a jerk and she’s swearing off all
men.” Mia’s lips formed a small
O
. “That’s not good, is it?
Is Freya’s disappearance causing their bad moods?”

“Let’s just hope they’re having a rough
week.” Henrik shot me a look behind Mia’s back.
Rough week
my right hook. The mortals could feel the effects of Freya’s
absence. I already felt off, which meant the rest of the immortals
wouldn’t be far behind. And then it was a short journey until the
aura of the cosmos turned dark and everything descended into
absolute chaos.

So, so
not good.

Assuming Odin was taking this seriously, we
should have every available squadron on a god-hunt by now. We
needed to get our newest intel to Forse, so he could disseminate it
through the ranks.

“Mia, is Forse in his house?” I asked.

Before she could answer, a blinding light
broke through the sky. It shot down on the sand, depositing a
blood-caked, mud splattered, thoroughly exhausted God of War in its
wake. We’d
definitely
be having a talk about his
unchaperoned excursion later. As I gritted my teeth, the Bifrost
retracted and Tyr moved slowly across the sand.

He was limping.

“Oh my god, what happened?” Mia threw her
blanket on the ground and ran to her boyfriend. “Your face is… and
your clothes are… oh Tyr, what did they do to you?”