wayward spirits,” Verdandi broke in, disapproval clear on her face as she stared at a point above our heads. “Misplaced souls who have decided to break out of Hel and come wreak havoc with the natural order of things. Your kind is not welcome here. You’re disturbing my threads!” She snapped her long, bony fingers in the air.
Perching on a root a couple yards above our heads, two semi-opaque ravens came into view, their matted feathers outlined by a shimmering green.
“Well, that’s just petty,” Magga huffed.
“You say you can help us?” Modi asked. If he had any reservations about the ghost ravens, he didn’t show it. “You come from Hel. Is Annabel Turner there? Do you know where she is being kept?”
Arni looked to Magga, then to us. He set off from the root and swung through the air, landing on Bjarni’s shoulder with an echoing caw. Magga followed, but when her claws gripped my shoulder like she had so many times before, I only felt a gentle chill.
“We were sent to you with a message,” Arni said.
“From the human girl you so love,” Magga added.
“She resides in Hel. She bids you to come to her side.” Arni nodded at Modi. “Most urgently.”
Bjarni swiveled toward the Norn. “Can you help us get there? Or do we need to get there the old-fashioned way? If the ravens can come back after what Loki did to them, so can we.”
She sucked her teeth at my brother and gave Arni a displeased look. “You do not wish to share their fate. An afterlife as a spectral may suit the Masters of Whispers, but it is a miserable existence for any creature who wishes to feel another’s touch ever again.”
“But can you help me?” Magni insisted. “Because if you cannot…”
He didn’t finish the thought, but we all shared it. If she could not, then eternity by Annabel’s side in Hel was a far better fate than staying here without her.
The Norn fell silent as she stared at the two ravens, her lips pinched in thought. After some time, she hummed and cocked her head, eyes narrowing.
“Perhaps… Perhaps there is a way. Your familiars may be little more than spirit vermin, but… they are still souls, of a sort. If there is enough left, mayhaps I can… borrow a connection.”
Arni and Magga looked at each other, then at her. “Borrow a what now?”
“A connection. If I can reach back to the place you exited Hel, perhaps I can create a portal.” Verdandi gave her cave a long look before she turned her attention back to us. “It is not a safe passage, young ones. If the cretins have too little spark left, there is every chance you will all be lost in the in-between for eternity. But I see your devotion to the girl I tied you with. Your determination. Perhaps… Perhaps it will be enough to bring her back. Enough to save us all. But it is your choice. I cannot weave this destiny for you.”
“There is no choice,” I said. “We will go.”
“Good.” She nodded, and without warning, reached for both Arni and Magga.
They shrieked and flapped their ghostly wings, but Verdandi held firm, her fingers plunging through their semi-opaque bodies and making green sparks fly. Slowly a flickering, obsidian rectangle specked with emerald rose from the cave floor. Up and up it stretched, until it was as tall and wide as a doorway.
Verdandi released her grip on the birds, who both flew back up to the root above our heads, slinging several hollow curses at the Norn.
Verdandi ignored them, her expression grave when she looked at us. “You must be careful on your journey, godlings. Things have shifted. Fates have been rewritten without the guidance of me or my sisters. If you are to succeed in saving us all, there will have to be a sacrifice.”
“Whatever sacrifice is needed, it will be given,” Modi said, voice gruff as he looked at the portal. “You have our eternal gratitude, wise one. You and the birds.” Without another look at the cave or our golden life threads, he stepped through the dark portal.
One by one, we followed him.
Twenty-One
Grim
Annabel seemed fond of the glade, or as fond as my despondent mate could be of anywhere in Hel.
She didn’t speak to me, nor did she smile or seem to listen much when Mimir prattled about some story or other, but she didn’t attempt to leave, either.
She spent most of her time lying on the grass and