Page 100 of Soul of Shadow
Hesitantly, their mom pulled away, her splotchy face warped with confusion. She studied her children, no doubt noticing their shredded clothes, the mud and sand on their shoes.
“Mason?” she said. “What—”
“Who is our father?” he asked flatly.
The confusion on their mom’s face deepened. She looked between her kids. “What?”
“Who,” Mason repeated, “is. Our. Father?”
“You already know the answer to that question,” their mom said. “His name is Walter Moray. He’s a good-for-nothing piece of trash who—”
“—left us for a life of Bud Lights and neon signs, never once looking back,” Mason said, filling in the end of her sentence. “Yeah. We know. You’ve only told us a thousand times.”
“I know I have.” She shook her head. “So why are you asking me again?”
“Mom,” said Charlie, and her mother looked over in surprise. She was just going to say it. Just going to ask the question, because she desperately needed the truth. “Is Loki our father?”
“Is…” She stared at her daughter blankly. “What?”
“Loki,” Charlie repeated. “Is Loki our father?”
“Loki, like… like the Marvel character?”
“No,” said Charlie. “Not like the Marvel character. Loki like the actualgodLoki. Because the gods are real, and apparently, you’ve known this whole time.”
Their mom took two steps backward, looking between her kids with alarm. “Are you… are you two on drugs?”
“Of course not,” Charlie said impatiently. “We never had the chance to take any drugs, because we never made it to a homecoming after-party, because yourex-husband, a literalgod, stole all of that away from us and—”
“Jesus Christ.” Her mom’s face fell into her hands. “You’re completely out of it. I knew it. I knew I shouldn’t have let Colin Wilkins’s father host the after-party. I’ve always said she was bad news, the most negligent father at school, and…” She exhaled, steadying herself. Then she looked up at them. “Right. A lecture clearly won’t stick for either of you right now, so. Bed. Both of you. We’ll discuss this tomorrow.”
Charlie started to argue. “But—”
“Nope.” Their mom grabbed their shoulders and marched them over to the staircase. “Upstairs. Unless you’re so messed up that you need me to drag you.”
“We’re not,” Mason said quickly. “Thanks, Mom.” He turned and started up the stairs.
Charlie shook her head, bewildered. He was just going to give in? Not demand any answers? With one last look at her mom, who was massaging her forehead, Charlie turned around and followed Mason upstairs. She tailed him all the way to his room, stopping just outside so they could discuss what happened.
“Right,” she whispered. “What are we going to do? Mom is clearly lying, so—”
“She’s not lying.” Mason’s voice was flat, dead.
“What?” Charlie asked. “Of course she is. You saw Loki’s face. He lookedjust likeus. He had our eyes! Mom must be trying to protect us. She—”
“Charlie,” Mason cut her off, voice still flat as a windowpane. “You know Mom can’t lie. She’s never been able to.”
Doubt crept into Charlie’s mind, because her brother was right. Their mothercouldn’tlie. Just last week, she tried to get out of a dinner with her friends that she didn’t want to attend. She texted their group chat that she wasn’t feeling well; she was running a fever and had spent the whole afternoon over the toilet. But when her friend Martha had called to check in on how she was doing, she’d broken down and told the truth—even though Martha hadn’t asked.
She, Charlie, and Mason had laughed about it when she’d gotten off the phone. They’d all agreed that their mom was as good at lying as she was at remembering to mow their lawn—which, most of the time, looked like a miniature jungle.
Maybe their mother was putting on the best performance of her life… but it seemed far more likely that she truly believed Loki wasn’t their father.
“You’re right,” Charlie said. “She meant what she said to us. I don’t even think she knows that Asgard exists.”
“My point exactly,” said Mason.
“But that doesn’t mean that Loki isn’t our father, Mason. You know how Asgard is. Maybe Mom’s memory was wiped. Maybe a creature of the forest inhabited her body for three years and left when Sophie and I were born. I don’t know. Anything is possible now that real magic is on the table.”
