Page 74 of Fallen Gods

I’ve seen plenty of strange things, but nothing like this.

It feels less like Washington and more like we’ve been dropped into the middle of Norway or Switzerland. Snowcapped ridges loom above us, their shadows stretching long and cold across the lot. Jagged boulders jut out at impossible angles, the kind that make you wonder how long they’ve been here and what they’ve witnessed.

There’s a chill in the air, heavier than mountain weather—an eerie weight that makes my skin prickle, like maybe we shouldn’t be trespassing at all. Like maybe we should get back in the car. Now.

The wind picks up as the storm brews overhead.

Aric slams his door, gaze cutting toward the trailhead sign half buried in snow. I’m very glad I changed into jeans before heading to the dining hall. Spandex shorts wouldnotbe it for this hike. “This path was used as a burial route,” he mutters. “Old tribes brought their dead up here, left offerings at the caves. Some of the bones are still sealed in the ice.”

My stomach flips. “Great. Haunted caves. Perfect study spot with my new partner.”

He ignores me.

We start down the trail, the gravel crunching underfoot. With each step, the trees close in, the air sharper, colder. It feels like we’ve stepped out of one world and into another entirely. Iwonder if this place, like Endir, has its own stories to tell and dark secrets from the past that nobody wants discovered.

Excitement suddenly bubbles up within me, only to be quickly tamped down. I’m not here for actual school. But how nice would it be if I were?

It’s a full mile hike to the first cave—which I wish I’d known. Every three steps I take is just one giant stride for Aric, so I’m winded by the time we reach the mouth of the first cave. Its massive entrance is encompassed in white ice compounded from years of snow melting and freezing over and over again.

The inside is brighter than I imagined, but the ceiling starts to get lower the farther you walk. Aric disappears into the cave without calling back to see if I’m okay or even waiting for me. I have to step carefully as I follow him, thanks to rocks and ice chunks littering the ground.

A stream trickles to the left, the sound of dripping water not helping my nerves. It’s clearly melting, the dome of ice over our heads.

“Hey, Aric?” I call into the eerie blue darkness. “I thought you said we’d explore around the entrance first. See if things are safe, then take some notes and pictures?” He keeps walking ahead of me; I can only tell because I can hear his feet crunch against the ground. The ceiling of ice gets lower the deeper I go into the cave, making me feel progressively more claustrophobic and panicked.

I hate the cold. I hate ice. This was a bad idea, miscalculated to the extreme.

There are better ways to keep your enemy close, right? If there is an avalanche or cave-in, we’ll be dead.

I’m so distracted by the fact that I have to duck that I nearly run into Aric’s back.

The cave opens to a cavern. The world around us is blanketed in blue and white.

His jaw unclenches. “It’s breathtaking.” His voice sounds awed, deep. Almost vibrating. The icy world around him feels like home—that much is clear. To me, it’s cold, but to him, it’s everything his sleeping half is missing. And I know more than anyone, the best feeling in the world is knowing who you are, and a lot of that comes with knowing where you’re from.

“Aric.” I grab his arm and discover that he’s shaking. “Things don’t look stable.”

I send my Aethercall toward him, testing whether he really is immune. He shudders. Is he fighting it off?

If he awakens in here, there’s no way I could fight him off safely, and if he suddenly realizes he can find Mjölnir and use it? I’m as good as dead. Would it answer to him without me? Or would he just cheerfully bleed me dry and see if that worked?

I take a deep breath and look down at his right hand. It’s still trembling. He reaches up and runs it through his inky hair.

He shakes his head and blinks like he’s trying to refocus. “Yeah, this feels wrong. We should go.”

Thank the Gods. “We finally agree on something.” I turn too quickly and slip on the ice, but Aric immediately grabs me by the shoulders. We share a sigh of relief right before we hear a thunderous crack reverberate through the cavern.

“Stay. Still,” he whispers, and his hot breath against my neck sends a bolt of electricity straight down my spine.

He doesn’t have to tell me twice. The cave groans with more loud cracks. He pulls me closer against him and wraps his arms around me. I can feel the power, the heat pulsing through him.

Another loud crack rips toward the mouth of the cave as snow and ice start to crash from the ceiling above us.

“Run!” he yells.

I do as he says, dodging shards of ice as more of the ceiling collapses above us. We’re going to die here. I’m going to die in the Ice Caves with a Frost Giant. There’s irony in theresomewhere.

Maybe if I make it out alive, I’ll laugh at how ridiculous the thought is, but I’m currently trying to dodge falling daggers of ice. One narrowly misses my foot. The cave is collapsing at an alarming rate, and I can’t run any faster.