the ground began to rise, and the soil hardened into a path. Now, from out of the corners of my eyes, I saw something unexpected—I appeared to be walking on a floating island above a sea of fog. Mist rolled all around the island like the waters of a river.
Ahead of me, the path joined an old cobblestone road, the stones coated in a thin layer of grime. No one had walked on them in a while.
Before me rose an escarpment, a black cliff nearly as tall as the wall I’d climbed. The road led straight toward it, but it was only when we were a few hundred yards away that I glimpsed the yawning crack in the cliff face. With the shades surrounding me, I passed once again into darkness.
As I entered the crevasse, the jagged rock quickly gave way to stone walls, constructed of boulders and carved into interlocking shapes like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The smallest boulders were twice as tall as a man. Every few yards, small alcoves had been carved into the stone. Within them flickered faint blue flames. Some sort of death magic, I guessed.
The shades floated along next to me, silent as ever. The only sound was the quiet footsteps of my feet on the stone. We walked along this stone pathway until it expanded into a massive hall.
I found the dimly lit hall empty. As the shades led me forward, my footsteps echoed in the vast space, and a faint whispering fluttered around me, growing louder and louder the deeper we moved. Through the corners of my eyes, I searched for some way out of this, some key to breaking the spell over me.
At last, we reached the end of the hall. It was empty but for a massive throne. Completely black, it appeared to be constructed entirely of obsidian. A giant form slumped over in it, and a shadow crept over my heart.
I knew who this creature was—or had been. One half of her body was a deep indigo, the other the color of weathered bone. Her hair hung limp over sunken cheeks. She wore a long gray robe covered in a thin layer of dust, and her eyes were closed. A gnawing terror filled my chest as I looked at her, like I was trespassing on something I was never meant to see.
Before me was the corpse of the goddess Hela herself. This was the mummified body of the queen of Helheim, Loki’s daughter. There was no question the goddess was dead, so I had no idea why they’d led me to her.
Under the control of the shades, I walked up to the throne. Slowly, they forced me to kneel.
A shade swept before me. “Why have you trespassed within our realm?”
I shook my head, pointing to my throat. He’d be waiting for an answer for a long time, since I couldn’t speak.
The shade’s eyes flickered. Suddenly, its inky arm thrust out and down my throat. My vision flashed white with pain. Then the shade’s fingers retracted, and it spoke again.
“Answer,” said the shade. “Now, you can speak. Tell us the truth. Why do you trespass on our lands?”
Chapter 44
Ali
I straddled the top of the wall, gazing at the vast expanse of Helheim. Beneath me, soot-colored clouds hid the ground. I hesitated as cold fear crawled up my spine. Whatever was down there, it didn’t want to be seen.
I desperately wished I could wait a little longer, but I knew that wasn’t an option. I hadn’t eaten a meal in days, and I was becoming dangerously dehydrated. I had to go down there, had to find Marroc. He was my ride home, my way back to Midgard.
Assuming we found Loki’s freaking magic wand.
Whatever it took, I had to find my way back to my people, with the golden ring in my hand.
I looked once again toward the road of the dead. Then I took a deep breath and jammed my fingers into the crack between the iron plates. Slowly, I began to descend, hand over hand.
As I inched my way down the wall, my shoulders and forearms throbbed with exertion. Slowly, I passed into the dirty clouds. A thick fog surrounded me, cold and oppressive. The iron became slick with condensation. Then the temperature dropped sharply.
Something brushed past me. A dark shape that seemed to fill my veins with ice. Frost spread across the iron like icy spider webs. Unease rose in my chest, and I clutched the wall tight.