Thor's Serpents (8 page)

Baldwin came to his feet. Owen left his post at the window and walked back to Laurie.

“I’m sorry, Mom.”

Laurie grabbed Jordie and hugged him tightly. “Be careful,” she whispered.

“I mean it, young lady. You are not walking out that door.” Her mother gave her the sort of stern look that used to make her quake.

“Okay.” Laurie looked at the boys and nodded once. Then she closed her eyes for a moment. She put her hands together in front of her. When she opened her eyes, she spread her hands apart and opened a portal. “I’m sorry, Mom. I’ll be as safe as I can. I love you. Tell Dad… I love him, too.” She glanced at her brother. “Be good for Mom. Love you.”

Her brother and mother were staring at the glowing portal in the living room, but Laurie knew that their shock would fade.

Owen finally spoke. “She’s brave, and we’ll be with her to help.” Then he stepped into the portal.

“Baldwin,
now
,” she ordered.

“Nice meeting you. See you after the battle!” he called, and then he jumped through the portal.

“I love you. I’ll be careful,” Laurie promised, and then she went through the portal, too, just as her mother’s shock was fading enough for her to reach for Laurie’s arm. Her mother was too late, and Laurie was gone.

L
aurie was obviously upset, but she didn’t want to talk about it. Matt introduced Jake and explained the plan to go to Mitchell. Then, as Laurie talked to Baldwin and the twins, he asked Owen to take Jake aside and persuade him not to join them, in hopes that his brother would listen to a guy closer to his age.

“It’s not happening,” Reyna said as they watched Owen unsuccessfully trying to dissuade Jake. “How about we make sure your brother brings up the rear—to guard us, of course. And then, whoops, the portal shuts before he gets through?”

“That wouldn’t be right,” Matt said, with some regret.

“Doesn’t matter,” Reyna said. “Even if he’s not a Grade A
jerk—and the jury’s still out on that—he’s going to second-guess your every move because you’re his kid brother. He’s not Thor’s champion. You are.”

Laurie nodded. “Reyna’s right. It might sound cowardly, but if it’s possible to ‘accidentally’ leave him behind, let’s do that. I’ll ask him to bring up the rear in case of trouble. You go first as Thor’s champion and he goes last as another Thor descendant. I’m pretty sure the portal will close after I go through. It’s like a part of me—that’s why I always go last, but he doesn’t know that.”

Matt hesitated. “I’m not sure he’ll buy that.”

“I’ll go second-to-last,” Ray said. “That way it won’t look suspicious. Laurie goes in. The portal starts to close. I leap through.”

“No,” Reyna said. “I’ll do it. You—”

“I’ve got this, sis. Now, let’s get moving.”

As they moved away, Ray caught Matt’s arm and led him to the side.

“I’m going to make sure Jake doesn’t follow you guys,” he said.

“Okay. Thanks.”

Ray kept hold of Matt’s sleeve. “I mean I’m going to do it by not following you myself. I’ll stall him as the portal closes.”

“You don’t need to do that.”

“I want to.” Ray met Matt’s eyes. “I’ll be there for the battle, but I… I’m not cut out for this. Reyna is. As long as I’m with her, though, she’s torn between protecting you and protecting me. Like at your place with your brother. It’s your back she needs to watch. Not mine.”

“I don’t need—”

“Everyone needs someone to watch his back, Matt. Even Thor’s champion. I have to let her do that. I’m better off here anyway. Your family has all those books you read. I can look through them for stuff about the battlefield, in case your uncle doesn’t have it. I’m good at that—reading and research.” A wry smile. “Better than I am at fighting.”

“That’s not true.”

“Yes, it is. Reyna’s powers might work better with me there, but when she’s trying to help you, I hold her back more than I help. I get that. So I’m staying behind.”

“Okay, we’ll talk to her.”

Ray shook his head. “There’s no time. She’ll fight us on this and I’ll end up going, and that’s not the right move.”

But she’ll kill me.
That’s what Matt wanted to say. When Reyna found out what he’d agreed to, she’d be furious. With good reason.

And that couldn’t matter because Ray was right.

“Guys?” Baldwin called. “Opening a portal over here…”

“You’ve got this,” Ray said. “I’ll be there for the big battle and hopefully I’ll find something useful in your books. Until then, look after my sister.” He leaned over and whispered, “Try not to let her drive you crazy.”

They exited the portal into a dust storm. Or that’s what Matt thought, seeing the gray floating around them, feeling it burn and chafe as he sucked it into his lungs. He braced himself, peering about wildly for stampeding bison. That’s what had happened the last time—he’d come through to see this grayish fog and nearly gotten trampled. It took about five seconds for his brain to remind him that bison in the middle of a city was highly unlikely. Then he smelled the acrid stink of smoke.

“Ray?”

Matt turned and saw Reyna’s dim outline through the smoke. Between that and the darkness, it was impossible to see more than a few inches.

“Ray?” Reyna called as she disappeared into the smoke. “Does anyone see Ray?” Her voice started rising in panic.

Matt’s gut clenched. He had to tell her, but not until he was sure everyone was safe.

“Roll call!” he said. “Everyone check in.”

Voices sounded in the smoke. “Baldwin!”

“Laurie over here, with Owen.”

A hand grabbed his elbow. It was Laurie, Owen beside her. Baldwin stumbled to them, coughing and rubbing his eyes.

“Where’s Ray?” Reyna said, still lost in the smoke. “Where’s my brother?”

“He decided—” Matt began.

Baldwin coughed again, Owen echoing it.

“Um, guys?” Baldwin said. “Smoke might not kill
me
, but…”

“He’s right,” Matt said. “Everyone, grab someone else, and let’s find a safe place.”

“I’m not leaving my—” Reyna began.

“No one’s leaving anyone.” Matt lunged in the direction of her voice and caught her shirttail. He started hacking. “We just need to get out of this smoke.”

They stumbled about for a few minutes, Reyna calling after her brother until she began wheezing and Matt made her stop. Baldwin spotted a door—a real door, attached to a building—and they staggered over, yanked it open, and tumbled inside. The first gasp of clean air seemed worse than the smoke, and Matt doubled over, hacking and gagging, feeling like he was going to throw up. Behind him, someone did, and he looked over to see Reyna puking against the wall. Matt tried to steady her, but she brushed him off, looking embarrassed.

“I almost did the same,” Matt said. “It’s the smoke. I can
still—” He coughed and realized his eyes were streaming, his face wet. “I swear I can still feel it in my lungs.”

Reyna stumbled toward the door. He lurched and grabbed her arm.

“I’m fine,” she said, shaking him off.

He kept his grip. “You won’t be if you go back out. Ray’s not there. He… he decided to stay behind.”

Reyna brushed her hair back and stared at him. “What?”

“That’s what he was telling me. He thought it was best if he stayed and helped Jake look through the old books in case my uncle doesn’t have what we need. Ray said he was good at research. He’s obviously smart—he handled those Norns way better than I could.”

“You left my brother—”

“He
stayed
behind,” Laurie said. “I overheard it. He wanted to for… various reasons. Good reasons. Matt still argued, and Matt wanted him to tell you. He could have gone along with Ray’s story—that he was planning to jump through, but the portal closed. That’s the easy way out. Matt told you the truth.”

Reyna shook her head and walked away. Matt watched her go and then pulled his attention back to the others.

“Baldwin and I will go outside and take a look,” he said. “Walk around a bit and see what’s happening. Obviously a fire, but there’s nothing in the myth about fire. Just…” He thought of something and trailed off.

“Matt?” Laurie said.

“We’ll go take a look. Baldwin?”

“Right behind you.”

The building they’d entered was some kind of office. Empty, it seemed—certainly no one came running to kick out the kids hacking and puking in their front hall. There was a restroom a few steps away. The door was locked—one of those you-need-a-key-from-the-office types. But Matt broke in easily enough, feeling little more than a twinge of guilt. Saving the world means breaking some rules… and some doors.

Matt took a spare shirt from his pack, soaked it with water, and tied it around his face before they went out again. Baldwin seemed impressed. It would be even more impressive if Matt could actually breathe freely with the thing on. But he
could
breathe—smoke free—and that was what mattered.

Shielding his eyes was tougher. He walked outside with his hand in front of his face, trying to wave the smoke back. He looked ridiculous, but there was no one in sight. No one he could hear, either—he realized that when he strained for voices, hoping to find someone he could ask about the fire.

Smoke. Darkness. Silence.

Whatever was happening, this was the creepiest thing
he’d ever experienced. Even creepier than the bone beach in Hel. All he could see was smoke, and it was like he was all alone on the street moving through fog, lost in the swirling.

Where were the fire truck sirens? The alarms?

As if conjuring one up, he heard the faint wail of a siren. It grew louder and louder and then…

Silence.

Matt stopped short. Baldwin did, too, whispering, “What just happened?”

I don’t want to know.

But I have to know, don’t I? That’s why I’m out here. Thor’s champion and all that.

He took a deep breath and turned in the direction he’d heard the siren. As they walked, a shape swerved in front of them so fast that Matt barely had time to lift Mjölnir. He saw the thing coming for them, huge and dark, whining as it bore down on them, and he threw Mjölnir the second he was certain it was too big to be a person. As soon as the hammer left his hand, he saw his mistake. It was a truck. Mjölnir slammed into the grille, metal crunching, the front end crumpling inward as the hammer seemed to drive right through the engine. The truck stopped dead… and Mjölnir flew back into his hand.

For a moment, the truck just sat there, smoke wrapping around it, the headlights glowing and then dimming as the smoke whirled past.

“It looks like there’s no one driving,” Baldwin whispered. “Maybe it’s a ghost truck.”

The door opened, and Baldwin jumped back. Matt had to steel himself not to do the same. They couldn’t see anything. Then a woman stepped through the smoke, squinting, with her forearm over her mouth. Spotting them, she gasped.

“What are you—?” Her gaze dropped to Mjölnir. “Where did you get that? Did you steal—” She took a slow step back. “I don’t have anything. I had to leave my purse at the office when we evacuated. All I had were my keys.”

It took a moment for Matt to realize she thought they were going to rob her. That they’d wrecked her truck on purpose and now wanted her wallet.

“Um, we’re here to help,” Baldwin said. “We’re trying to save—”

The woman turned and ran. Baldwin raced past Matt, calling after her, but Matt grabbed his shirt and held him back.