We rode under a sky of dingy fleece, the moon no more than a faint, smothered glow. Bren’s arms were firm around my waist, our boards barely touching the snow as we made our way toward Ringsaker. Ahead of us, the others spoke to the dark earth in their own way, Frey leaning with the boughs of young trees and riding the swells, Dag kicking up a fierce wake as he criss-crossed Frieda’s path, endlessly provoking her despite her easy mastery of his taunts. Far in the lead, Skye preferred to cut sharply around the trunks and stones, the ground barely lifting as she gathered her speed from somewhere within. Val rode behind, artfully dodging the currents thrown by the others, righting the trees and rocks as he passed and watching behind him to ensure that only night and the last tremblings of our progress remained.
I felt the tension as we neared the circle - my own mingled with that of the others. We couldn't be sure what we would find there. I watched the boughs of the evergreens lift as Skye approached, and sucked in a nervous breath as we all entered the clearing, one after the other. Bren tightened his arms around me for a moment and pressed his lips against my temple, and then we grabbed up our boards and leaned them against a tree.
In one moment, Ringsaker was a dark, glittering circle with seven shadows moving amid the invisible hiss of a bubbling stream, and in the next, Bren raised his palm and a flame rose to raging in the stone ring, washing us all in an amber glow. The stream glittered with firelight, the stones on the banks a contrast of dark and bright.
We all unzipped our jackets as Bren stood gazing into the flames, his breath slow and even, deliberate. No one spoke, and I glanced at Frieda anxiously, unsure of what was happening. She stepped closer to me, gave me a reassuring smile, and waited. Finally, he spoke.
“He’s been here.” He turned to the others. Skye nodded her agreement.
“How did he find it?” Frey asked.
Val pressed his fists into his hips. “He came through this way.”
“That’s my guess.” Bren paused, then turned to Val. “Only one way to find out.”
Val nodded and walked back toward the others. When they saw Bren step toward me, they moved farther away, gathering near the looming pine that sparkled in front of the cliff.
“I just want you to sit here for a little while and wait for me. Okay?” He said, motioning to a wooden stump close to the fire. His tone was gentle.
My eyes grew wide. “Are you going somewhere?”
“No.” He took my hand. “But no matter what you see, I don’t want you be afraid. I won't let anything happen to you.”
Somehow, these words only heightened my fear.
“Jenna,” he said, kissing my palm. “Trust me.”
He led me to the tree stump and held my hand until I sat, my back to the fire so that I could see him. Then he bent down and kissed me, his lips lingering for a moment on mine.
“Don’t be afraid,” he said again.
He walked over to the others and they arranged themselves in a loose circle, the pine at twelve o’clock. They bowed their heads and closed their eyes, then lifted their left arms toward the center, fists tight, rings shining in the wavering light. The fire cracked like a whip behind me and I jumped, but none of them even flinched. A breeze began to kick up, tossing their hair and blowing their jackets back. At first I didn’t feel it, but as it tousled the flames, making the shadows leap against the trees, it rushed against me, growing stronger and more persistent until it howled, lashing my face and grabbing at my coat. I raked long wisps of hair from my eyes and glanced over my shoulder, wary of the fire. When I turned back, I stopped cold as I saw what was happening. The huge pine was shimmering - not glittering as it had before, but wavering in and out of reality, changing from solid to transparent and back again. As it settled on transparency, I expected to see the sheer stone of the cliff behind it, as though I were looking through a fir-shaped window, but instead, strange hues began to flicker in place of the boughs - first red, then purple, then green, then forming into a perfect spectrum…a rainbow Christmas tree.
Bren’s eyes opened, narrowed as they slid to the side. He was listening for something.
In the next moment, a deafening crack echoed into the world, loud enough to make me believe the earth had split apart. All eyes flew open. Dag reached out and pulled Frieda behind him. Val and Skye moved close to Frey. Bren raised his head and stepped forward, staring into the spectral window, his expression transforming from alertness to fury.
“Where is my mother?” He asked, each word distinct, his voice low but barely contained.
Skye pulled at Frey’s arm. When he stood his ground, she dropped her hand and stepped in front of him.
“We have had an escape.” This new voice was a thunderous rumble. I winced as it throbbed in my ears. “Sif is distraught, concerned for your safety. I have sent her to rest until we have contained the problem.”
“She would never have agreed to that.” Bren was livid, his fists clenched at his sides.
“She will tell you herself, when it is over.”
I worried that my ears could not withstand the volume and pressed my hands against them as a precaution. Frieda caught my gesture. She hurried over and crouched next to me.
“What’s happening?” I asked her. “What is that thing?”
She leaned toward me, her eyes on Bren. “Bifrost. It’s the bridge between the worlds. That’s Thor on the other side.”
“What? Thor? That’s Thor?” For one moment, I was afraid I was going to lose my mind, and then it mercifully passed, leaving me trembling.
Frieda nodded, biting on the nail of her pinky. “He’s not supposed to be here.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but when we saw Bren cock his head to the side, we both quieted to listen. His voice was nearly sinister in its loathing. “You must be here at great risk.” He stepped closer to the wavering spectrum. “Who were you expecting?”
There was quiet for a long moment. Then a rolling storm of words. “You have had your fun, but we are growing weary of your games. It is time to return.”
“Who were you expecting?” Bren took another step.
”Return and appease your mother.”
Bren’s eyes flashed. “Do not ever speak to me of my mother." He paused, regaining his composure. "Did you release Loki? Have you sent him here to bring us home? Have you sunk so low as to conspire with a criminal?”
“I will do what is best for Asgard. Always.”
“You admit it, then.”
Silence.
Bren heaved with anger. “Whatever your plan,” he said, “it will fail. Because if I find myself back in Asgard, my version of destruction will be very different from yours.”
He glared into Bifrost for a long time, and I wondered if Thor stared back from the other side. Finally, there was another earsplitting boom and I jerked my hands up over my ears again. I waited until the noise began to fade to a tolerable rumble, then let my arms fall to my sides.
I leaned close to Frieda and she inclined her head to hear me. “Why does Bren hate him so much?” I whispered.
She shrugged. “Thor’s his stepfather.”
I stared at Bren. His stepfather.
Abruptly, Bren spun and spoke to the others. “He and Loki are in this together. Thor must have been spying on my mother. That’s how he found the portal. He somehow arranged for Loki’s release, maybe even persuaded the elders to look the other way…convinced them that Loki could bring us back. They’ve been using Bifrost to communicate. He was expecting Loki tonight, not us.”
“How’s Thor getting away with it?” Dag asked.
“He just can’t be at the bridge long enough to get caught,” Skye said.
I turned to Frieda again as they talked. “Why isn’t Thor supposed to be at the bridge?”
I slid over on the stump so she could scoot in next to me. Her braids bobbed against her shoulders as she settled. “Thor is forbidden from Bifrost. He’s not
a flight risk or anything. He’s actually a hero in Asgard. But he is who he is.”
“What do you mean?”
She smiled. “You know him as the guy with the hammer, right?” She curled her fist and made a pounding motion on her thigh to illustrate. I nodded. “Well, that’s true. But he’s more than that. It’s like…he is the hammer. Everything he does is thunder. He moves, sleeps, eats, breathes it. The elders are afraid he’ll destroy the bridge. Break it into pieces.”
“But he was just here,” I said, trying not to focus on how close I had been to witnessing such a thing.
She nodded. “Yeah. Well, Heimdall…have you heard of him?” I shook my head and she smiled again. “Bifrost’s guardian. He’s supposed to keep Thor a certain distance away, but Thor is technically his elder, so he probably wouldn’t interfere unless the bridge was actually threatened.”
“What would happen if Thor did destroy the bridge?” I asked. “Is it part of Asgard, or Earth?”
“Neither,” she said. “That’s the thing. A portal to Bifrost can be opened anywhere on Earth by a god in Asgard, or by an oath circle here. But Bifrost exists in the in-between. As far as we know, there's only a void surrounding it. Nothingness. If the bridge was destroyed, the connection would be lost forever.”
I didn’t know what that meant, exactly, and I wasn’t sure Frieda knew either, but I reigned in my questions. There were other things to think of now.
Chapter 26