Truth or Death Read online

  “Yeah, you said that last time,” I muttered, wondering myself why I had come.

  She leaned forward. “You know, you’re doing exactly what he wants you to do.”

  “You know I have to. I won’t let him have Erykah.”

  She laughed. “You and your child could have been safe in my realm. Instead you will help Odin destroy us all.”

  “You keep saying he’ll destroy us all, but not how? Maybe if you shared a little more information with me I might be more receptive.”

  She watched me for several seconds. “Did you know Odin used to have a wife?”

  I straightened. “Frigg. I know the myths, though I haven’t seen her anywhere around here.”

  Hecate’s gaze went distant. “Of course, no one here would dare speak of it. She died a very long time ago.”

  I lifted my arms over my head and stretched my neck and back. I should’ve been asleep, cuddled up with Alaric. “So what? If she’s long since dead, what does it matter?”

  She snorted, then straightened her back a little, finally reminding me of the proud woman we’d taken down at the Well of Urd. “You mortals are so terrible at seeing the big picture,” she chided. “You see just the problem in front of you, and ignore the beast stalking you in the periphery.”

  I rubbed my brow. I was beginning to get a headache. Sometimes Hecate actually had useful information, but it seemed tonight would be useless. “What are you talking about now?”

  “Find a way to get me out of this cell, and perhaps I’ll explain.”

  It was always like this. When I told her I had no intention of helping her escape, the conversation came to an end. “You know I have no interest in doing that.”

  “Perhaps we can strike a different sort of deal?”

  I lifted my brow at her. “I’m surprised you’re still talking.”

  She pursed her lips. Her next words were so scalding I could almost feel them on my skin. “We’re running out of time, Madeline. Forgive me for growing desperate.”

  I waited. Desperation was good. Desperation, I could work with.

  She stood and walked toward the bars of her cell. “Do you want to know how I always can tell when you’ve sealed off a root?”

  “I have a feeling you’re going to tell me.”

  “I can tell,” she said tersely, “because the magic doesn’t go back to the realm from whence it came. It comes here, to Odin.”

  I stood, scraping my boots across the stone floor. “What? That can’t be possible.”

  “If it weren’t possible, I wouldn’t bring it up. I’m not trying to trick you, Madeline. But as I’ve told you one hundred times, you’re doing exactly what Odin wants.”

  I moved closer to her cell. “So you’re saying that Odin is having me seal off the roots, not to restore balance to earth, but to give that magic to him?”

  “Honestly, I thought you would’ve figured that out by now. Can’t you tell that he’s changing?”

  I searched her face for any hint of a lie. “You’ve seen him?”

  “Ask your guard friend, though I can’t guarantee he’ll tell you the truth. Odin has come to visit me many times. I fear what he has planned for me, but I think it will happen soon.”

  I stepped back. “You’re being paranoid.”

  She laughed. “I have been stripped of my powers and thrown into a cell. I’m not being paranoid, I’m being realistic.”

  I thought about what she’d said. “So you think that Odin is tricking me into giving him extra magic, and once he has enough, he’s going to use it on you? Why would he need more magic? He’s a god.”

  Her hands slid down the bars until she rested on the floor. She seemed tired, even more tired than me. “All I can think is that it has something to do with Frigg. He speaks about her sometimes.”

  Now she really had my attention. I walked close enough for her to grab me through the bars, though I doubted she would. “And what else does he say to you?”

  She shrugged. “Not very much. He asks me about different magics, about life and death, about the bindings that hold time in place. That’s why I think it has something to do with Frigg. Like he wants to get her back.”

  I heard Morgan talking to someone outside, but through the two doors, I couldn’t make out the words. I turned my attention back to Hecate. “What do you expect me to do with this information?”

  “Just stop sending the magic here. He obviously doesn’t have enough to do what he wants yet, or he would have already done it. Just stop making him stronger.”

  I shook my head. “I have to keep cutting the roots. I have to finish this before my year is up, or he’ll try to keep Erykah.”

  “Foolish girl,” she hissed. “You can still destroy the roots, just don’t send the magic here. Keep it for yourself.”

  “I can’t hold that much magic. It would destroy me.”

  Her hands clenched the bars, making her knuckles go white. “You are the energy of the Morrigan. You are my counterpart. You are merely scared.”

  I held up my hands. “No, you don’t understand. I can’t hold that much power.”

  She looked up at me. “You have to try, Madeline. You may not believe anything I say, but take a closer look next time you see Odin. Sense his true power. I guarantee you’ll find more than you expect. Once you have done that, you’ll know I am right. You may not care what happens to me, but Odin is your primary adversary. Only a fool would willingly make him more powerful.”

  My mouth went dry. Had I really been making him more powerful? Had I really been such a fool? I’d been so driven to save Erykah, I’d never really questioned why Odin cared about restoring balance to a realm that was not his own.

  I could hear someone else coming into the prison, and decided it was well past time to leave.

  I looked down at Hecate. “I’ll consider what you’ve said.”

  She stared back at me.

  “Nice speaking to you too,” I muttered as I turned away.

  When I left the dungeon there was no one outside except for Morgan. I asked if he’d seen anyone else and he said no, but I was pretty sure he was lying.

  All I wanted as I left the estate and was hit by the balmy night air was rest. Days of rest. But I knew I wasn’t going to get it. I was going to go after the next root in the morning. If Odin really was gathering power, not just waiting by while I fixed the imbalance, I had to know why. The best way to find out was to corner Loki on earth, somewhere the All Father wouldn’t be able to hear us.

  3

  The next morning, I wandered through a dense forest not far from home with Mikael and Faas. Loki had walked off in the other direction in search of the root, since he could sense them as strongly as I could. Faas could sense them too, but I wanted him nearby to hear what I had to say.

  I glanced over my shoulder to make sure Loki was no longer in sight. I trusted him more than the other gods, but he was still one of them, and I wasn’t sure how he would react to what I had to say. I wanted to be prepared.

  “So I visited Hecate last night . . . ”

  Faas and Mikael both stopped walking. Both had identical expressions, like I was standing in front of a double paned mirror, though one was tall, auburn-haired, and very Viking, and the other was 5’9”, blond, and kind of reminded me of a skinny club-kid with his long bangs and hair shaved on either side of his head.

  Faas was the first to speak. “What are you thinking? You know you can’t trust that witch.”

  I held up my hands to ward off any further questions. I needed to say this quickly before Loki found the root and came looking for us. “It doesn’t matter why I went to her. She told me that every time we seal off a root, the magic I push back into Yggdrasil isn’t returning to its former realm. Instead it’s going to Odin. I think Erykah’s magic helps draw it into Asgard, which is why he’s so intent on keeping her there.”

  Mikael tilted his head, deep in thought. “I suppose it’s possible, but what did Hecate ask in return for thi
s information? I doubt she wants to help you in any way.”

  I gritted my teeth. Birds chirped loudly around us, but I didn’t hear any signs of Loki. I supposed I should tell them everything. “This might have not been the first time I visited her.”

  “Not the first time?” Mikael and Faas said in unison.

  I huffed. “Just let me finish what I need to say. In the past she wasn’t so forthcoming with information, but I think she feels we’re running out of time. She claims Odin has been visiting her, and he keeps mentioning his dead wife. She thinks he’s gathering power to get her back, though in what way, she’s not sure.”

  Mikael crossed his well-muscled arms, straining the limits of his black tee-shirt. “And what does she want you to do about this?”

  I crossed my arms over my thin tank top, mirroring him, though it wasn’t half as impressive. “She wants me to try to hold onto the energy from the next root rather than sending it back. She also said that if I look closely at Odin, you know, with senses other than my eyes, that I’ll be able to tell that she was speaking the truth about the extra power.”

  Faas seemed increasingly astonished. “Madeline, mortals aren’t meant to contain that much power. It could tear you apart at the seams.”

  Fear tickled my spine. He was right, and it was a big risk to take on the word of Hecate, but what if what she’d said was true? Wasn’t it an even bigger risk to continue on with how we’d been doing things? If Odin was our enemy, making him all powerful was something to be avoided, but was thwarting him worth the risk?

  Watching my expression, Faas nodded curtly. “I see you’ve come to your senses.”

  Mikael held up a finger. “Not so fast. Maybe we should look into this further. It has never quite made sense to me what Odin wants you to do. He was ready to sever Yggdrasil’s branch, cutting off Asgard from Earth, proving he does not care much for the mortals of this realm, yet, he is allowing you one year to fix the balance here. Why would he care? And why bring Erykah into the deal, unless what you said was true. He needs her magic in his realm to steal the power you’re sending through Yggdrasil.”

  I clenched my fists at the thought of Erykah. All I wanted was to keep her safe. “We’ve been over all of this. We don’t know what he really wants, and I highly doubt he’s going to tell us. We’ve played along thus far because there really wasn’t any other choice. There still isn’t, but it makes sense, doesn’t it? That he’s trying to steal power? Maybe it’s not for his dead wife, we don’t know his real reason, but the fact that he’s doing it shouldn’t be ignored.”

  Mikael placed a hand on my shoulder and the tension singing through my body eased. “You’re right in one thing. We don’t have any choice as to what to do next. We have to keep severing the roots, but maybe we can try and get some more information too.”

  “But how?” Faas asked.

  Mikael looked to him, then back to me. “I think we do what Hecate suggested. Sever the root, and try to keep the power for yourself. Even if you can’t do it and have to release it into this realm, if Odin really is absorbing the magic, he’ll notice when none comes through. We do this, then wait to see how he reacts. His reaction may give us more insight into the situation.”

  Faas shook his head. “It’s too risky. She can’t hold that much magic.”

  Mikael’s gaze remained on me. “If the magic is too much for you, do you think you can release it before you come to harm?”

  My breathing was shallow and panicked. Could I really risk myself with Erykah depending on me? “I guess I can try. Though I’d just have to release it into the earth here. Once the root is cut, I won’t be able to send it back through Yggdrasil.”

  Mikael finally turned to Faas. “Would that work?”

  Faas furrowed his brow. “I suppose it would. This world is so out of balance right now, it probably wouldn’t make a huge difference. It might just summon a few more ghouls or other creatures.”

  “Found it!” Loki’s voice echoed through the still forest.

  I turned in the direction of his voice, then gasped. Tall slender creatures with green skin and hair ran after him. Though their bodies were humanoid, the similarities ended there. Their green skin looked rough like it was made of leaves. Their ears were pointed and their golden eyes seemed too large for their narrow faces.

  “I also might have found something else,” Loki added as he ran toward us. When he’d almost reached us, he turned on the creatures chasing him and drew the sword strapped across his back, slashing one in the stomach.

  “He just had to bring them back to us,” Mikael muttered, lifting the axe from his belt. He lunged forward, swinging at one of the green creatures as it darted toward Loki’s back. It turned on him, narrowly avoiding his blade.

  “Stay back,” Faas ordered, then hurried into battle. He knelt and released the life of the creature Loki had slashed, then used the energy to knock three more of the creatures off their feet. There were only a handful of them, but they were fast. Too fast for my human reflexes to keep up with.

  I tried to follow their movements, but was caught unawares as one of the female creatures launched itself toward me, a dagger that looked like it was made of moonlight in hand. I let out a frightened burst of energy, like a little explosion between us. It knocked us both back, and I landed on my butt in the leaves. I let out a yip as the creature quickly righted itself and pounced.

  Suddenly all I could see was Loki’s broad back, his elbows thrusting forward as he impaled the creature on his sword.

  I took a shaky breath. As quickly as it started, the fight was over.

  His blade dripping blood, Loki offered me his free hand.

  I took it and stood, looking past him to Faas and Mikael. Both were unharmed.

  “What the hell were those?” I breathed.

  Loki dropped my hand. “Elves. Ancient elves. I’d never thought to see their kind again. They went extinct in their realm centuries ago.”

  I shook my head, taking in the slain bodies. Definitely not what I’d pictured elves looking like. “If they’re extinct, how are they here?”

  Loki tsked. “You know better than most that Yggdrasil does not only bridge the space between realms.”

  He was right. I’d traveled back in time myself. I shouldn’t have been surprised. “Let’s find this root and get this over with.”

  Mikael gave me a knowing look behind Loki’s back as he cleaned his axe blade.

  I nodded subtly. It terrified me, but I’d try what we’d talked about. I’d try to hold onto the magic, and if I couldn’t, at least I wouldn’t send it back to Odin.

  His gaze still on me as he cleaned his sword, Loki sighed. “It’s not a wise plan, Madeline.”

  My jaw dropped. Had he been eavesdropping all along? “Okay, tell me truly, can you read minds? Because you do that a lot.”

  He shook his head. “I can’t read minds, Maddy, but I do have eyes and ears, particularly good ones on both counts.” He sheathed his sword and walked away, presumably toward the root.

  I hurried after him while Faas stole the remaining energy from the dead. They wouldn’t be trapped in their corpses like Vaettir, but power was power. No Vaettir would willingly turn it up, not with the way we lived . . . especially lately.

  I reached Loki’s side and matched his pace. “Well since you already know our plan, care to tell me why it’s such a bad idea?”

  “You’re mortal.”

  I frowned. “And . . . ”

  “And you’re playing at being a god. Odin may find you useful now, but he’s not above killing you to prove a point. If he wants Yggdrasil’s power, he will have it, with or without you.”

  I stopped walking and put my hands on my hips. Mikael reached my back, but didn’t speak. “You sound almost as if you’re on his side,” I accused. I didn’t know exactly what Odin had done to Loki, but he’d been willing to work with us. He had an old grudge against the All Father.

  Loki turned to look at me, lips pursed, brow
furrowed. “You mortals are so impatient. If you hope to outwit a god, you must take your time. You cannot let him know you plan to betray him.”

  Mikael moved to my side. “He is the All Father. He sees all. How do we know he is not listening to us as we speak?”

  Loki rolled his eyes. “Because you’re with me. Odin thinks we’re in Argentina right now.”

  My frown deepened. “If we want him to think everything is normal, why trick him with an illusion?”

  Loki stepped toward me, dropping his voice to a dramatic whisper. “Because the foolish mortal chose today to discuss her plan out in the open.”

  My words were short and clipped, “I thought you said you couldn’t read minds.”

  He stepped even closer. “I can’t, but prison guards have loose lips.”

  He was only a few inches away from me. I resisted the urge to step back. I was already arguing with a god, may as well go all the way with it. “You were the one I heard talking to Morgan outside.”

  “I’m also the one who’s been preventing Odin from knowing you’re visiting Hecate.”

  “Just how often have you been visiting her!” Mikael cut in.

  We both turned to stare at him. I could see Faas coming toward us, finished stealing energy from the dead.

  “Okay,” Loki began more calmly. “Let us discuss this like rational adults. What exactly do you hope to gain in allying yourself with Hecate?”

  I blinked at him. “Umm, Hecate is not my ally.”

  “You have concocted a secret plan with her to take down your common enemy.”

  Well when he put it like that . . . “I just don’t want him to do whatever he’s planning to do. If he’s gathering all this power in secret, it can’t be good. If we let him become all powerful, there will be no stopping him. He could simply choose to keep Erykah, and I will have given him the power to do it.”

  Loki raised a brow. “But he already is all powerful. He already could keep Erykah, if he truly wanted to do so.”

  Mikael placed a hand on my shoulder before I could speak, then turned his attention to Loki. “Stop playing games. You’re helping us, so you obviously think there is a way to defeat Odin. If you find our plan so distasteful, why don’t you tell us yours?”