Page 66 of Soul of Shadow
All this time, Elias pretended to care about the safety of the humans. Pretended to be on her side. But it was all a lie.
But… did hereallypretend to care about humans? Did he ever once say that he was carrying out this investigation on behalf of the boys who were taken? No. He didn’t. He explicitly said hewasn’tdoing this because he cared about humans; he was doing it on behalf of his own interests. Charlie had just started to convince herself otherwise. She had started to believe, like a fool, that she was breaking through his hardened exterior. That he was starting to care.
How pathetic.
As if she sensed the deflation in her twin, Sophie’s eyes softened for the first time since she’d appeared on her rooftop. She lifted one gloved hand and set it on Charlie’s shoulder. It was the first contact they had made in over two years, and although it was through the fabric of the gloves that her sister wore, the touch still sent warmth through Charlie, seeping into her chest like a comforting sip of tea.
“Where are the missing kids?” Charlie whispered, knowing that she wouldn’t want to hear the answer. “Were they taken by the draugar?”
“They were not taken by the draugar,” said Sophie softly, dropping her hand. “We have a theory as to what took the high schoolers. But Charlie, you must know… the draugar are servants of Loki. Just as Elias is. He’s been lying to you this whole time.”
Her heart, which had begun to crack open, froze over with a thick layer of ice. A low roar began in her ears as rage bloomed in her stomach, flaring hot and cold at the same time, an unfamiliar feeling that terrified her, confused her, left her completely uncertain of what to do with her body. Elias was a liar. Afilthyliar, a cheat, a deceiver who would go so far as to kiss her passionately, desperately, as if he actuallywantedher.
And Charlie, pathetic sap that she was, had fallen right into his trap.
She wouldn’t cry. She wouldn’t even show her rage. She merely rolled her shoulders back, looked her sister in the eyes, and asked, “What can I do?”
At the steel in Charlie’s voice, Sophie’s lips curled into a half smile, and Charlie saw a hint of her old sister—the girl who loved to play games, soft-spoken but imaginative, who could pretend a chair and some sheets into an entire castle. And that hint was enough. Enough to make this feel real. To make her realize that Sophie wasback. She wasalive.Miraculously, wonderfully, genuinely alive. She wasn’t alone anymore. She’dneverreally been alone.
It made her want to weep. To close the distance between them and wrap her sister in a bone-crushing hug.
Yet she held herself in place. Despite her little smile, this Sophie was not the Sophie she had once been. That much was overwhelmingly obvious. She was hardened, sharp as the blade strapped to her hip. Her arms and shoulders were rippled with muscle. She hadwings, for God’s sake.
A light sparkled in Sophie’s eyes, as if she knew what her twin was thinking. Still, she didn’t step forward, either. Instead, she said, “Odin has a strong hypothesis about what made the markings on those trees.” She turned and paced over to the open window, peering outside. “It’s an ancient beast. One that hasn’t been seen in many millennia.”
“Something dangerous?”
“More dangerous than you could know,” Sophie said. “They call it the Fenrir. A wolflike creature, one of Loki’s many ghastly creations, born from a union between the trickster god and a giantess.”
Nerves pinched in Charlie’s belly.A wolflike creature.Exactly like the one she saw prowling down that very street outside.
“I’ve seen it,” she blurted before she could decide not to.
“You’ve…” Sophie turned away from the window, walking back to stand in front of Charlie. “You what?”
“Out there.” Charlie pointed over her shoulder at the street below. “Earlier this week. I saw it walking down the road.”
“Charlie.” Sophie closed the distance between them, grabbing her sister’s shoulders. “You must listen to me very closely. The Fenrir is bloodthirsty and impossibly strong. Above all else, he desires the destruction of the gods. When the gods got wind of what Loki had created, they acted quickly, binding the wolf to a rock with magical chains and gagging it with a sword. It was fated that the Fenrir would remain bound to that rock until the arrival of Ragnarök—the long-foreseen destruction of Asgard.”
“But how—”
“Exactly. If he was chained to a rock, how was he out on the street? How did he make the markings on those trees? How did he steal those children?” Sophie spoke low and fast, the urgency in her voice making Charlie’s heart pound. “If the Fenrir has escaped, it means that Ragnarök has already begun. The end of Asgard draws near.”
“What?” Charlie shook her head, trying so hard to keep up with her sister’s words. “The end of Asgard?Meaning… the end of the entire world? How is a wolf going to destroy the planet?”
“He isn’t.” Sophie dropped her hands, using one to scrub at her forehead. “He is only a pawn in a much larger plan, with a much worse monster—one capable of destroying entire planets. But, if we work fast, there’s a chance we can stop this.”
“How?” Charlie tried to puff herself up, to make herself look as formidable as her sister did. “Tell me what to do.”
“It is rumored,” Sophie said, “that the Fenrir knows the location of the Seal. That he coaxed it out of an injured raven who flew into the cave where he was chained up, offering the healing power of his blood in return for information.”
Goose bumps rose on Charlie’s skin. “And he’s Loki’s son,” she said. “If he gives that information to his father…”
“Exactly.” Sophie nodded gravely. “As far as we know, the Fenrir has not yet passed that information on to Loki. He seems to be playing his own game—to what end, we don’t know.” She fixed Charlie with a hard stare. “But if Elias is searching for the Fenrir, then he’s searching for the location of the Seal. What I need you to do”—she touched the hilt of her sword—“is to find the Fenrir before Elias does.”
“And do what? Wouldn’t seeking out such a bloodthirsty beast be a death wish?”
“Yes,” Sophie said, “but only if you came without something the Fenrir desperately wanted.” Reaching over her shoulder, she unlatched a small leather pouch tied shut with string. She held it out for Charlie to take. “When you find the wolf, you’re not to approach or engage him. Just figure out where he’s made his lair and then get the Hel out of there. And if things take a turn for the worse, you use what’s inside this bag, andthenyou get the Hel out of there.”
