Perfekt Control (The Ære Saga Book 2) (4 page)

“So you guys leave cameras lying around the
forest, just in case you need to spy on someone?” Mia’s tone hadn’t
lowered one note.

“Tyr’s
extremely
thorough about
security.” Elsa nodded. “But in case we didn’t have a mobile unit
handy, I could pull one from the closet downstairs and send it to
any location within the nine realms via the Bifrost.”

“Amazing,” Mia muttered.

“Can you pan out so we can watch for
hostiles?” I asked our in-house drone. Elsa tilted her hand. Now
the screen showed an overhead view of Henrik, Tyr, Freya, and Forse
moving past the trees bordering Elsa’s cottage, roughly fifty
meters from the cabin. They banked right and headed into a thick
cluster of sequoias. Northern California’s redwoods were gorgeous
to look at, but they were one massive pain when it came to
surveillance. Unless, of course, you were the one looking for
cover.

“I have a lock on the viewer.” Elsa opened
her eyes. She kept one hand pointed out the window, the other at
the flat screen. As she spoke, the image on screen swooped down—she
must have sent the camera beneath the tree-cover. “If you see
anything suspicious, call out coordinates and I’ll redirect the
birdie.”

“Will do.” I typed a message into my phone
and pressed
send
. On screen Henrik appeared, and pulled his
cell out of his pocket. He read my text, nodded, and placed his
earpiece in his left ear.

“What’d you tell him?” Mia looked back and
forth between me and the screen.

“Just that we’re watching. And that I’ll
communicate verbally if we see anything out of the ordinary,” I
explained.

Mia dropped into the wide leather chair. Her
hair framed her face with characteristic perfection, but tiny
fissures lined her eyes. The stress of spending the bulk of her
free time with the God of War and two bodyguards was bound to catch
up eventually.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Peachy as a summer pie.” She closed her
eyes. “Does it ever slow down around here?”

“We had a few calm weeks. It was great to
have your brother visit for Thanksgiving—especially the part where
he sat Tyr down for the ‘if you ever hurt my baby sister I will
crush you’ talk. I wish I had a video of
that
.” I stared at
the screen. “Henrik, there’s static along the northern edge of that
cluster of trees—approximately one hundred meters from Elsa’s
cottage.”

Henrik gave a small nod, then said something
to Tyr, Forse, and Freya.

“I can’t hear him.” I shook my phone and
turned the speaker feature on and off. “Why can’t I hear him?”

“I don’t know.” Elsa bent her fingers. “Is
that better?”

“It’s not the viewer, though now that you
mention it, sound should have come through those speakers too.” I
adjusted the volume level on the monitor. On screen, Henrik spoke
to Tyr, who nodded. But the only things I could hear were Mia’s
shallow breaths and Elsa’s soft chant as she tried to strengthen
her abilities.

“Still nothing?” Elsa asked after a
moment.

“Nothing. It’s really weird.” I watched as
Freya and Forse jumped to attention. They turned and ran into the
darkest part of the forest.

“My powers can’t
see
in there!” Elsa
groaned. “It’s too dense. Why don’t they go the other way?”

“What happened? Did they see something?” Mia
leaned forward on the edge of the chair.

“I don’t know!” I brought my fist down on the
desk. “I can’t hear
anything.
”

Elsa and I froze simultaneously. If our sight
and hearing were rendered useless, it all but debilitated our
vantage point. Oh,
skit
.
Skit, skit, skit, skit.
Skit.

“Henrik!” This time I shouted into my phone.
“Grab Tyr, and go after Freya and Forse. Then get out of there.
It’s an ambush!”

Henrik looked left and right, his lips moving
the whole time. I tried to make out the words since
I couldn’t
hear
, but I knew Henrik relayed my message when Tyr drew his
weapon and took off after our friends.

“What’s happening?” Mia sounded relaxed
enough, but she knitted her fingers together in worry.

Whatever you bloody well do, keep Mia
calm.
I could practically hear Tyr’s angry instructions. Given
the visual feed and our need to diffuse the situation on the
ground, it was going to be a tall order.

“Mia, our first priority is to keep you safe.
Whatever you do, do
not
leave this room unless I tell you
to. Got it?” I jumped up to check the locks on the door and the
windows. I’d already set the supernatural protections around the
house, but they’d only been programmed to keep things
out
.
We were still free to leave—we needed to be able to call for the
Bifrost and flee if absolutely necessary. “Elsa, that goes for you
too. Stay in here unless I order us out. The realm can’t afford to
lose our High Healer/interim Unifier.”

“It can’t afford to lose any of us,” Elsa
corrected through closed eyes.

“Brynn, what’s happening?” Mia asked again.
“And how can I help?”

“I don’t know what’s happening,” I said.
Elsa’s viewer dropped to ground level and followed Tyr and Henrik
as they bolted through the redwoods. The thick foliage seriously
impeded visibility, and the viewer briefly lost sight of them as it
flew through the trees.

“Elsa!” I exclaimed. “Find them!”

“Sorry.” She shook her head. “It’s having a
really hard time following their movements.”

“I know, but you have to try. Can it see
Freya or Forse at all?” I asked.

“No.” Elsa scrunched her face up in
concentration. Tiny beads of sweat appeared at her brow line as
Henrik’s back appeared on the TV. “Got him.”

Henrik moved slowly, so his back was against
Tyr’s. They turned in a quick circle, and I knew from experience
they were evaluating the environment for the most immediate threat.
My eyes took in every inch of the screen, and I verbalized my
assessment for Henrik’s benefit.

“I can’t see Freya or Forse from this angle,
but there are footprints five meters due south of your twelve
o’clock that could belong to them.” I squinted. “Women’s size
seven, men’s size… twelve? Dang, girl. Your man has big feet.” I
nudged Elsa with my elbow, and her cheeks turned pink.

“He’s not my man,” she demurred. “Just do
your job, Brynn.”

“Pan out,” I countered. The viewer pulled
back and Henrik and Tyr shrank as the screen expanded to include
more of the forest. “Footsteps head south for six meters, then turn
due west and… Ground team! Get down!”

Henrik dropped to the ground, pulling Tyr
with him. Something dark swooped across the screen, passing over
our friends and tracing the path of the footprints.

“What was that?” Mia blurted.

“Follow it! It’s stalking Freya and Forse.
Elsa, pan out as much as you can without compromising visibility.”
The birdie had to stay below the canopy or the trees would block
out everything, but my current vantage point wasn’t enough to let
me see where the
thing
had gone. And I still couldn’t see
the rest of the tracking party. The screen flickered with static. I
could barely see
anything
.

“Brynn.” Elsa sounded strained. “Something’s
trying to block it. I don’t know how much longer I can hold the
feed.”

“Just stick with Henrik. He’s moving.”

Elsa nodded. Her brow furrowed, and she
pressed her lips into a thin line. The image on the screen cleared.
Now we watched Henrik’s back as he and Tyr tore through the forest.
The dark thing swooped down on them again, and Henrik loaded his
crossbow and took aim. Two shots sailed to the north, but the boys
didn’t break their stride to check their target. The big black
thing dove again, and this time Tyr swung his broadsword. The
weapon was so big it should have been totally impractical, but Tyr
was half giant, and he held it as if it were nothing more than a
basic training dagger. The boys kept running as the shadow
continued to attack. They alternated turns trying to bring it down,
but nothing worked.

“Henrik, can you hear me?” I spoke into my
phone. The back of his head nodded in response. “Good. We still
don’t have audio on you guys, but whatever that thing is, it’s
circling back. It looks like it’s running a figure-eight pattern
overhead. I’m assuming it doesn’t want you to reach wherever you’re
going, which I also assume means you’re heading in the right
direction. I’m going to have Elsa run the bird up ahead to see if
we can find Freya and Forse.”

The shadow dove. This time it came so close
to Tyr his sword made contact. A thick black liquid splattered
against the screen, oozing downward in a slow trickle.

“Can you clear it?” I asked Elsa.

“No,” she replied. “But they can.”

“Henrik, wipe the lens of the viewer,” I
ordered. “Your seven o’clock, two paces behind. Tyr struck the
attacker, and it emitted a black goo that’s covering the
birdie.”

Henrik reached behind him to wipe the lens
clear. He held the camera to his face and gave a disarming wink,
then took aim with his crossbow and fired at his attacker just as
it dove for Tyr again. His weapon made contact, sending a trail of
black ooze pooling onto the dirt. The shadow quivered, and
disappeared. Henrik raced to Tyr’s side, nudging him in the
direction of the footprints.

“Elsa, send it ahead,” I ordered.

She nodded, and the images on the screen flew
by. Reddish trunks of sequoia trees, thick green ferns, more trees,
and then…

My breath caught in my throat.
No
.
Not again
.

I zeroed in on the four shapeless black blurs
herding Freya toward a tall, indigo door. This wasn’t like any
portal we’d seen before. It was twice the size of its predecessors,
with a wrought-iron frame that emitted sparks I could only imagine
were curses, and a door the purplish color of a fire giant’s boil.
The four blurs slammed against Freya from each direction. Her body
convulsed at each contact, like she was being shocked, the
frequency of the attacks creating the illusion of a prolonged
seizure. The whites of her eyes flashed as she endured the pain,
biting her bottom lip so hard she drew blood. The blurs swarmed at
the red liquid, ramming her backward with renewed frenzy. A few
more meters and the door would suck her into another realm.

When I finally found my voice, it sounded
hollow. “Henrik, they’re trying to abduct Freya. It’s a new portal,
six meters north of the previous location. Four black things, like
the one that attacked you and Tyr but smaller, are trying to get
her through. I don’t see Forse, but… oh,
skit.”

Elsa pulled the viewer back. Forse’s prone
body appeared onscreen just as Tyr and Henrik skidded into view.
The horde of black blurs battering Forse into unconsciousness rose
and merged into one thick mass before charging straight at Tyr.
Elsa gasped, and I reached out to squeeze her arm. Running intel
during a skirmish sucked. It was like watching your worst nightmare
play out, and knowing there was nothing you could do to stop
it.

“He’ll be okay, Else,” I assured her.

Elsa sniffled behind me.

Forse lay on the ground, twitching violently,
while Henrik took aim with his crossbow and fired. The blurs had
merged into a single massive black entity, and while the arrow
struck the darkness, the trickle of liquid that oozed from the
point of impact didn’t slow it in the slightest. It converged on
Tyr, covering him in a dense fog before cinching into a vise at
Tyr’s throat. Two strangled cries let out behind me, but I didn’t
turn to comfort the girls. Instead I kept my focus on the screen
where Tyr swung his sword through the mist as his face morphed from
tan, to red, to purple. The
thing
was squeezing the air from
his lungs.

Gods were immortal, sure. But for the Aesir
of Asgard, immortality didn’t mean we could live forever. It meant
we lived until we were taken out. An object laced with dark magic
could debilitate a full-blooded god faster than Mia could whip up
her Meemaw’s Mississippi Mud Pie. And since Tyr was only fifty
percent Asgardian, his survival odds decreased by half.

The pieces clicked into place. This wasn’t an
abduction, or even an invasion. This was an assassination attempt.
Whatever those black things were, they were using Freya as the bait
to lure Tyr into the open. They knew he’d fight for her, and they
knew at some point he’d be vulnerable. Freya and Forse were out of
commission. Henrik was scrambling to load his bow. The only thing
standing between that
thing
and the extinction of Asgard’s
first line of defense was… was…

“Henrik, drop the bow. Use the vacuum,” I
barked. The vacuum was the name Mia and I gave our newest
experiment. It looked like a small metal box, but it suctioned
repulsive forces that counteracted gravity, aka ‘dark energy,’ and
compressed them within a small chamber. It was equally effective on
dark matter—the unseen, highly reactive particles generated from
the harshest elements of our cosmos. The vacuum would contain the
dark elements for up to seventy-two hours before destroying itself
and its contents—plenty of time to deliver perps to the prison
chamber for questioning.

Henrik threw his crossbow on the ground and
dug into the pocket of his cargo pants. He whipped out a small box
and turned so his back was to the viewer. I couldn’t see his hands,
but I knew the moment he activated the vacuum. He charged at the
shadow, arms held high. As he ran, the black mass loosened its hold
on Tyr’s neck, allowing the war god to suck in a breath. Henrik
reached up to pull the shadow off our friend and it cinched around
Tyr again. Its four individual forms retained their singular body
as they battled Henrik for dominance. Henrik thrust the vacuum at
the shadow, and it shook violently, wrenching Tyr off the ground
and jerking him back and forth. Tyr kept his fingers locked around
the blackness squeezing his throat. The defensive measure
stabilized his spinal cord, and at the same time it constricted the
darkness trying to choke him. His strength must have been the
breaking point; with a flash of light the singular black mass broke
apart into four individual shadows. Each member was sucked down
into the vacuum. The device rattled violently as it absorbed its
charges and Henrik opened his hands, letting the box fall to the
dirt. Tyr dropped to the ground and stayed very still.