Struck: (Phoebe Meadows Book 1) (29 page)

“So what do we do?” I called over my shoulder.

“We need a place to hide,” Fen replied, taking a sharp right at the corner. We booked down the next street. No one was on this street either, but our luck was going to run out soon. “You mentioned having a friend. If she lives nearby, that could work. We can duck into her building for safety. We might be able to throw them off the track since we now have a big lead.”

“Yes,” Tyr agreed. “I have some spells with me. If we can find a safe location quickly, I can dispatch them. It will cover our scent for a few hours. Then we can steal away.”

Fen was talking about Sam.

Before I could respond, Fen added, “Your friend will remain safe. You have my word. She might have to leave her apartment for a day or two, if we are found, just to make sure. But once the elves, or whoever is after us, find we’ve left town, there will be no reason for them to linger. The creatures of other realms do not destroy life on Midgard. The penalty is stiff, usually death. We leave humans alone.”

I glanced up at a street sign as we jogged down the next block. Sam did live pretty close, and she would likely be home. She didn’t go out much, preferring to stay in and study lines or whatever it was that had caught her fancy that week.

“Okay,” I agreed. “We can see if she’s home. But I need to make double sure we’re not putting her in any danger.” What Sam would make of all this was beyond me. I smiled, imagining her stunned reaction when we tumbled through her door. “Are we allowed to tell her what we are? It’s this way.” I gestured toward the next block on the left before we went too far. Fen was moving fast, and I was surprised I could keep up with him. “We go down two more blocks and up one, and her building is around the corner.”

As we ran, Tyr answered my question. “Yes, you can tell someone you trust about us, but whether they believe you or not is a different story. There’s nothing they can do to us, so there’s no harm. Even if they told a story about gods from one of the Nine Worlds visiting, no one would take them seriously. The human realm is the only one that has no clue that the others exist. The other eight worlds interact and know about each other. Because of that, we must cloak ourselves when we’re here.”

“Does that mean the dark elves will be cloaked?” I asked as we turned another corner.

“If they don’t want to be punished, they will be,” Fen answered. “If you look human, like we do, it’s unnecessary.”

“What do the dark elves look like?” I tossed a glance behind me. “Do they look like ettins?”

“Yes and no,” Fen replied as we slowed. We had already covered three blocks and were in front of Sam’s building. Hers was a regular brownstone, like mine, but her apartment was nicer. There was no doorman, but unlike mine, this building had an orderly row of buttons on the outside that corresponded to the apartment numbers. “The dark elves are a little taller and more humanlike than ettins.”

“More humanlike?” I guessed that was better than more creaturelike. “Don’t worry about explaining. I’m sure I’ll have the unfortunate luck of running into one soon enough.” I depressed the buzzer for Sam’s apartment. She would likely be asleep. I kept my finger on it, tapping it on and off. It would piss her off, but she would also be more likely to get out of her warm bed and answer it that way.

Tyr’s gaze was locked behind us. “Hurry, I can sense them. They are near. I tossed something behind us to mask our scent a few blocks back, but we need to be off the streets.”

“I’m working on it—”

“Who’s there?” Sam’s voice cracked out of the intercom, sounding sleepy. “This better not be a joke. I was having the best dream
ever
.”

“Sam!” I yelled excitedly into the little metal grille. “It’s me, Phoebe! I need you to let me in.”

“Phoebe!” There was a brief pause. “Where the hell have you been? You left town without so much as a backward glance. I spent hours—”

“Sam, I’m in trouble!” I cut her off sharply. “I’ll explain when I see you.”

“The door buzzer is broken. I’ll be right down.”

Fen watched one side of the street while Tyr monitored the other.

Tyr slid something out of his jacket pocket. It looked like one of those big chalky bath soaps you buy at a specialty store. It was swirled dark purple and white. He grinned at me. “This will make us smell like livestock.”

Yummy. Tyr hardly needed to smell any worse. Add that to the list of bad smells we were bringing into Sam’s apartment.

There was a noise, and I spun around.

Sam stood in the doorway dressed in flannel two-piece jammies. They were light yellow with little blue sailboats dotted all over. Her blonde curly hair was ruffled from sleep. She opened the door a crack, glancing at the guys. “Get in here,” she ordered, waving her hand.

I slipped inside and just as she was about to shut the door, I said, “Wait. These two are with me. They have to come with me.”

Sam arched an eyebrow at me like I’d lost my mind.

“I promise it’s okay,” I assured her. “I have a really good reason for being gone and for bringing two very large, strange men into your apartment at this late hour, but we have to move fast. I’ll explain everything upstairs.”
And I’m so sorry one smells like a sewer and now a barnyard, and by the way he’s my half brother
. “Please, Sam,” I begged. “Bad men are following us.”

After a brief pause, she answered, “Fine. Come in.” She waved her arm to usher the boys in. “But the story better be good. It’ll have to top the ‘pizza guy with a banana’ story, or I’m going to be totally cranky.”

“Oh,” I told her as I walked in, “it’s way better.”

28

__________________________

____________

“I
thought your place was bigger,” I commented as Sam shut the door to her apartment. It was an asinine thing to say, but I had no idea how else to start this conversation. We were a motley crew stumbling into her home in the middle of the night.

There was no good way to begin this.

I glanced around. Her apartment was clean and sparsely decorated. New Yorkers usually had less, so the space was manageable. We all stood in the small living area, which held a couch, a table, and a few chairs. There was a tiny bedroom off to the left and a small galley kitchen to the right. Her kitchen had actual walls and a door.

“It looks small because it’s now occupied by both of us and two men who are the size of at least four adults,” Sam answered as she walked over to her couch and sat down, crossing her arms. “Start explaining, Phoebe, or I’m calling the cops. This is too strange, even for you.” She eyed Tyr, not commenting on his stench or his scarred face.

I appreciated that.

“I know this looks…weird,” I started, settling on a chair next to the couch as Fen crossed to the window to peer out, while Tyr stood by the door like a sentinel, staring straight ahead. I noted that Tyr’s jacket was extra-large, and the cuff came down to cover his missing hand. Best not to let Sam see it until she’d heard the entire story. She’d already witnessed him tossing an exploding talcum bomb outside the door and had said nothing.

I didn’t want to push my luck.

“This is more than
weird
, Phoebe!” she cried. “It’s bat-shit crazy! First, you don’t show up for work all week, and I think you left town because you were so freaked out about the stockroom incident. I actually forced your landlord to open up your apartment for me, threatening a lawsuit and pretending I was your concerned sister! When I saw your suitcase and clothes were gone, I figured you left in a hurry and were too distraught to call me. I decided to forgive you—
if
you ever came back. Now you’re back, but with two guys who make the New York Giants look like kindergartners. What gives? Are they holding you hostage?” She glared in Fen’s direction, and then Tyr’s. “Do you need to give me some kind of sign you’re in danger? Blink twice if you’re their sex slave. I have Mace in my bedroom.”

“No, it’s nothing like that,” I assured her, leaving off that Mace would hardly be an effective long-term deterrent for a god. “But the story I’m about to tell you is incredibly strange, and I don’t expect you to believe it. But that’s okay. I’m going to share it anyway, and then you can decide what you think. Just know that I would never leave town without telling you. You’re my best friend. If I’d had more of a warning, I would’ve gotten a hold of you. I promise.” I cleared my throat, readying myself.

This story was going to be tricky to relay in a coherent fashion—one that didn’t make me seem like I needed to be locked up in the loony bin.

Sam settled back on the couch, arms still crossed. “Well, I believe you already. I knew you would’ve called me. We’ve only been friends for a short time, but I consider you a sister.”

I smiled. I felt the same way. I’d always wanted a sister, and if I’d had one, Sam would fit the bill. “Okay”—deep breath—“here goes. When I came home from work the night I was shocked by the lights, I found a raven in my kitchen.” Sam’s eyebrows went up, but she refrained from commenting. “Then my neighbor Ingrid showed up. You remember Ingrid, right?”

Sam nodded. “The beauty who lives next door? I’ve always said she should be a model. Those eyes of hers are killer, and she’s got the height for it. She has to be almost six feet tall.”

“Yes, she’s tall, but I’m certain modeling is the last thing on her list.” Was it ever. “Anyway, she came into my apartment dressed like she was ready for battle, full breastplate, toga, and spear, and told me I was in danger. Then the raven started talking to me…” I continued to unleash the rest of the sordid tale, all the way up until we’d found Tyr by the docks.

By the end, Sam was perched on the edge of the couch. “So,” she asked when I was finally finished, her voice incredulous, “you mean this is your
brother
?” She scrutinized Tyr, who stood ramrod straight by the door. Sam got off the sofa and walked over to Tyr. He glanced down at her impassively. Neither of the guys had said anything during my story, but they’d both been listening to every word, especially Tyr. Fen had been watching out the window. Sam made a show of inspecting Tyr. Then she turned to me. “I guess you do look a little like him.” She turned back to Tyr. “How did you lose your hand and get that awful scar?”

I’d left the scar part out. I’d wanted to hear the story from Fen first before I relayed it.

I stood and moved toward them. “How did you know he’s missing a hand?” I asked her. “It’s been covered the entire time.”

“Just before the door closed, when he threw that stuff that blew up like a talcum bomb, his jacket came up and I saw it,” she replied.

“You’re not even freaked out by the fact that dark elves could be tracking us to your door right this minute?” I asked, shaking my head. “You’re tough as nails, Sam. Either that, or you didn’t buy my story and you’re deflecting.”

“Oh, I bought it, all right,” she said, turning to face me. “I might be an actress-in-training, but I’m a total geek at heart. I studied mythology in college. You basically just outlined the next big-budget blockbuster movie. Odin’s daughter meets up with Loki’s son in one of the Nine Worlds, is hunted by the evil Norns and dark elves as she frantically tries to find her shieldmaiden mother, while escaping notice from her overbearing father, aided by a talking raven and a god with one hand, who turns out to be her long-lost brother.” She shrugged. “Plus, it totally explains why you were struck by lightning at Macy’s. I’ve been trying to figure that one out since the day it happened. It was physically
impossible
for those lights to shock you. This is the only logical explanation in my book.” She crossed her arms, looking pleased with herself.

I gaped at my friend. She couldn’t be serious.

If she’d come into my apartment in the middle of the night spouting the same story, I’d have made an appointment for her to see a shrink. I never would’ve accepted it. “You can’t be for real,” I said, shaking my head. “
No
one on earth could be as calm as you are right now after hearing the story I just told.”

She dropped her arms, her face falling. “Okay, fine. I’m totally freaked out.” She began to pace the room, her arms tossed up. “Is that what you want to hear? I am out of my mind with fear and skepticism, and I think you might have a screw loose in a major way. But, at the same time, I’m totally intrigued.” She stopped, giving me one of her intense stares. “It’s hard
not
to believe someone like you, Phoebe. You’ve always been earnest and truthful in everything you do. I’m not exactly sure you’re telling me the whole truth, but I’m going to choose to believe you for now. Is that good enough? Because it’s all I can do. I mean, it’s not every day your best friend turns out to be a Valkyrie. That’s pretty cool to a geek like me. And if, later, I find this is an elaborate hoax to dupe me out of the fifty-seven dollars in my wallet so you can buy more Sudafed for your meth lab, so be it.”

I walked over and gave her a big hug. “That’s more like it. You’re being totally reasonable. You’re amazing, you know that? And, by the way, I’m not a meth addict. I’m not sure if that would be better or worse than my current predicament. I’m choosing to believe being a drug addict is worse, but just a smidge.”

“Your brother smells like he might be one,” she said, her voice muffled in my jacket as she started giggling.

Then we were both belly laughing.

Fen stepped away from the window, interrupting us. “I see nothing approaching outside. Our opportunity to escape will be soon.” His fight with Tyr had left him a little rumpled, but otherwise he looked good. My heart fluttered. He was a handsome, intense man, and he was mine.