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Then to Liv, she continued, “…Shifting was just as much a surprise to her as it is to us.”

“You really think she’s not controlling this?” Liv didn’t sound convinced. “I mean, trying to control it, or at the very least attempting to give into whatever…”

Then Hel saw it. During one of the flashes, one of the times Einn’s eyes changed color and her head made a crazy circle, she caught sight of something truly bizarre. There was something- or someone -inside Einn and that thing was trying to take control.

Long, slithering antennae sat atop a small, rounded, bumpy head that housed two, distended, muddy green, compound eyes.

There was no nose, just holes, teardrop-shaped black caverns leading to a mouth with snapping mandibles sporting pointed teeth and distended fangs.

All of that was covered in silvery-gray scales that should’ve been pretty but were not even close to appealing in any way, shape, or form.

And there was more. So much more that Hel couldn’t look away. She had to see it all. Had to know everything .

Eyes moving downward of their own accord, she refused to react to the fact that there was no neck at all.

None. Not even a hint of one. The head simply sat upon a flat and elongated carrot-shaped body with two short arms at the very top and two more jutting from each side of its torso.

Not to mention that all four arms had massive, oversized claws at the end with jagged, sharp edges and they were opening and closing, clicking and clacking, reaching for Hel with more hate and revulsion that she had ever witnessed.

Then came the bottom half and the goddess wasn’t sure if she should laugh or throw up-or both.

The lower part of its body narrowed and rounded into a point, however before that protrusion came multi-jointed, backward kneed legs that were long, more muscular copies of the arms–but her feet didn’t match.

It was as if the transformation had stopped short.

Just decided not to go all the way to the bottom.

There was absolutely nothing buggy about those feet. They were all Einn’s. They were flat as flat could be, long, thin, and mottled gray with lengthy toes at the end that had swollen, knobby joints topped with cracked and jagged, purplish gray nails.

“Holy shit!” Liv spat. “Your sister is possessed.”

“Yeah, but by what?”

“Evil?”

Hel could feel the Valkyrie’s mental shrug and wanted to respond with, “No shit,” but instead kept her eyes trained on her sibling and her comment to herself.

There was no doubt, Einn was possessed with something dark and evil, but it also felt familiar.

It wasn’t from the dark regions of Helheim, or any Underworld Hel had ever visited, but that didn’t negate the fact that she’d encountered it somewhere–or something like it–before.

So, what was it? How had it gotten inside of Einn?

And what was its beef with the Norse Queen of the Dead.

It didn't really matter. As she’d always been taught, There are no coincidences, and there is no such thing as complete Evil.

It can only exist in the absence of Good.

Not even those residing in the depths Pits of Lucifer’s Hell were one-hundred-percent Wicked.

It simply could not exist on its own. Darkness could only appear when there was no Light-even the Shadows needed Light to be seen.

So, did that mean that Einn could be saved? Did Hel want to rescue her or just send her back where she came from and let her mom and twin deal with her?

Would their father think less of Hel if she just opened a portal and shoved Einn into it? Did Hel care what he thought?

She wasn’t sure.

However, one thing was for certain, Einn was getting bigger, broader, and growing more misshapen with each passing second.

Worse still, the hump that had always been at the base of her neck was growing in leaps and bounds, forcing her shoulders forward as her already too-long arms were elongating, her knuckles were about to drag the ground, and her neck was extending upward.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" The words were out of Hel’s mouth before her brain engaged. Shocked that she’d spoken but going with it to cover her faux pas, she continued to bellow, "Is this something you inherited from your mother?

Did something slither inside of you? Have you pissed off a Demon lately? "

But no answers came. Not even a shrug of her shoulders. Time to come up with another plan.

Moving to the right as Einn moved to the left, Hel kept her distance and looked for an opening. All she had to do was get close to Einn, open a portal, shove her sister in, and hope for the best.

“Guess you decided that’s the plan to go with,” Carys chuckled.

“Yeah, there wasn’t much to eeny-meeny-miny-moe, now was there? Dad will just have to get over it.”

Not waiting for an answer, Hel continued with her half-baked plan.

She needed to distract her sister, and the best way she knew of was to piss her off.

"You stink like rotten eggs and sour milk. You're literally gagging me. You’re making my eyes water. You’re gross.

Did your mother forget to teach you to bathe?

Do we need to run to the nearest discount store and grab a bar of soap? Is there water wherever you call home?"

Lashing out again, swiping at the air with the claws on her left side then her right in quick succession, Einn’s mouth opened but it wasn’t her nasally, whiney voice that came out.

It was whatever was festering inside her that spoke, and it was roaring on a deep, gurgling, rasping baritone that vibrated the airwaves and assaulted Hel’s ears.

"Stop your incessant yammering, little goddess. Your time is done. Today you die. "

"Wait! What? Little goddess? What the fu…?"

And that was as far as Hel got. Watching with wide eyes, refusing to stand still but having to concentrate on remaining upright, she couldn't believe her eyes.

Steam rising off Einn’s body, the stench of burning flesh assaulting Hel’s nose, her sister’s skin bubbled and popped ten times worse than the first time.

It lifted away from the muscles and bone as if it was being heated from the inside out.

Becoming gelatinous and runny right before Hel’s eyes, the mottled gray skin cascaded down her new, lofty height into a puddle of festering goo that hissed and crackled, killing the grass and fallen leaves where it landed.

The shiny, silver-grey scales she’d seen through Einn’s eyes was revealed in grotesquely intricate technicolor.

Reflecting the sunlight, they nearly blinded Hel, as the giant insect’s body unfolded into its final ten-foot height.

Wild, nearly uncontrollable Black Magic rolled off the bug in waves as it slithered and undulated like an uncoordinated belly dancer, then quickly found its balance and learned to move with its newfound height.

Trying to look past the first Uncanny Valley moment she’d ever had in her very long life; Hel’s mind was working over time to come up with exactly what was standing before her.

Then it hit her like the proverbial ton of bricks.

"Holy shit! You’re a Silverfish?" The goddess spat. “One of those nasty little bugs that infiltrate bathroom floors and nasty drains on Earth! You’re…”

“SILENCE!” It seethed. “I am a Scrub, you insignificant waste of flesh and bone and Magic!” The beastly bug stomped the ground with its left foot.

It curled its thin, bloodless lip into an evil smirk revealing row after row of jagged, pointed teeth.

Its bloodred eyes pulsed with unspent Sorcery and pure malice and hatred.

Then it spat, "I was born of spite and loathing in the depths of the cave of the Twin of Loki. I was fostered on their repugnance of you, all you stand for, and all you took from the unholy duo. I am here to do what Einn cannot. What Tveir has commanded. I am here to watch you bleed, to witness your death, and to take all that was denied the true goddesses, Einn and Tveir!”

Still moving to her left, keeping her distance, looking for any way to gain an advantage against an adversary nearly twice her own size and sadly hopped up on enough Black Magic that Hel wondered if she, Liv and Carys could take her down, the goddess scoffed, "You’re a bug, an insect, something the humans wash down the drain like the dirt from under their fingernails.

All I need is a big can of Raid and your ass is toast."

Sure to keep her eyes on Scrub, Hel forced a laugh. “Hey, Liv! You think you could whip up some bug spray?”

“Oh, yeah,” the Valkyrie chuckled in response, but her voice came from a different direction than before.

When had Liv moved? Where the hell was she? Why did her voice come from behind the Scrub and not to Hel’s right?

The goddess had no idea, and unfortunately, she didn’t have time to find answers.

She needed to get rid of the ginormous insect and find Hopper.

After all, that was why she’d come to the island in the first place.

That stupid message floating in the middle of her kitchen, threatening her Mate’s life.

She had to save him. If she didn’t, she would never be able to tell him that she loved him.

She would never be able to say that she was sorry she’d been a big chicken and waited so long to come to him.

She would never have any chance at all of claiming the one man made for her by the Universe and having her very own happily ever after.

It was time to put the pedal to the metal, and truly and once and for all piss off the big ass bug that used to be her sister.