Page 21 of Soul of Shadow #1

When the bell rang, Charlie invented an excuse about using the washroom and beelined out of the classroom ahead of her friends. She wove through the crowd, following a tall, dark head of hair in the distance.

When she caught up to Elias, she grabbed his arm. “You and I need to have a little chat.”

“Good morning to you, too, Charlotte.” Elias didn’t even look at her. “What did you think of the lecture? I found it a tad dry, if I’m being honest.”

“Don’t try to dodge this.” She tightened her grip on his arm, which burned through his shirt with heat. “You need to tell me what the hell is happening to me.”

“I haven’t the foggiest idea what you mean.”

“You haven’t the foggiest idea ?” She yanked until he finally came to a stop.

He sighed, turning like a put-upon parent forced to listen to their child’s story for the third time.

“Is that some kind of joke? You haven’t the foggiest idea why I drove past a three-headed alligator on the way to school? ”

He eyed her with concern. “Sounds like you need to get your vision checked. ”

“I researched last night,” she said. “I learned all about Asgard and mares and—”

Elias put a hand on her shoulder and pushed her back until she bumped into the wall of lockers. He leaned in until he was only a breath away. “What,” he hissed, “was my one requirement for our deal?”

She exhaled, glancing up at him before looking back down. His touch was hot on her shoulder. She whispered, “That I keep your secret.”

“That you keep my secret,” he said, nodding. “And does shouting about what I am in the middle of the hallway sound like keeping my secret?”

“No.”

He released her and turned to walk away.

“But—” Charlie jogged after him. “You have to help me out here. Seriously. All you gave me was one cryptic sentence— This is Asgard —and then you vanished, and now I’m seeing things that shouldn’t exist. You owe me more information.”

“Listen, Charlotte.” Elias didn’t slow down, kept his gaze firmly forward. “I don’t owe you anything. I gave you what you asked for. I gave you proof that what I was telling you was true. That doesn’t make us friends.”

“I never said I wanted to be your friend .” She made a gagging sound.

“Jesus. No. What I want is for you to explain how any of this is possible. What I want is to know how I can see colors I’ve never seen before.

What I want is to know why there’s currently a gnome sleeping at the bottom of my backpack. What I want to know is—”

But she was cut off as Elias grabbed her arm, his burning-hot skin closing over hers, and dragged her sideways, toward the front door of the school.

He followed in the wake of several other kids that were streaming outside, probably to spend their free period lying on the grass under the late-summer sun.

The light hit Charlie hard, forcing her to squint and throw up a hand against its rays.

She fumbled around in her back pocket, grabbing her sunglasses and preparing to jam them onto her face.

It was so bright , Jesus, and if she could just get these things on…

“Don’t,” came Elias’s voice as he grabbed the hand holding her sunglasses. Her eyes were squeezed shut, so she couldn’t see his face. “I know it seems bright now, but give yourself a chance to adjust.”

Hesitantly, she let her eyes flutter open. The light was overwhelming, and colors and sounds clamored for her attention. But she forced her eyes not to shut, and slowly, steadily, they adjusted, bringing the scene into view…

Which is how she found herself standing face-to-face with one of the huge golden stags. It blinked innocently at her from beneath a tangle of gold-dipped antlers.

“This.” She whirled around, pointing at the enormous creature. “This is what I’m talking about.”

“What is what you’re talking about?” Elias peered around, as if he couldn’t see it.

“The huge goddamned reindeer standing behind me,” she hissed loudly, causing a few passersby to stop walking and shoot her confused looks. They looked where she was pointing and no doubt saw nothing but air.

Elias shrugged apologetically and whispered to them, “She’s off her meds this week.”

Charlie advanced on him. “You listen to me, Elias Everhart.” She waved a finger in his face, chasing him backward across the lawn.

“I’m not an angry person. I don’t get mad easily.

But I have had it up to here with your games.

You and I don’t have to be friends, but if you want my help finding the creature carving up those trees, you can’t just hang me out to dry like this.

” She advanced even further, putting her face right into his and lowered her voice to a threatening hiss.

“If you don’t start explaining all this shit I’m seeing now, I am going to lose my goddammned mind. ”

By the time she finished her lecture, she had stalked Elias right up to the Ledge.

His back pressed to the hard bricks, eyes wide as he stared down at her as she blocked him in like a professional hockey goalie.

She drew too close, her chest brushing up against his torso, feeling the intense heat radiating from his body, but she refused to back away.

She kept her eyes locked on his, face screwed as tight and menacing as possible—no easy feat, when he towered at least a foot over her.

For several seconds, they stared at each other. His eyes searched her face as if shocked, as if genuinely uncertain as to what she might do next.

Then, as if making a decision, he said, “Hel is real, you know.”

This took Charlie aback. Her finger lowered from his face. “What?”

“Yeah.” He didn’t move, didn’t try to slide out from her measly attempt at caging him in. “Helheim, we call it. The realm of the undead. Overseen by Hel, daughter of Loki.”

There. Confirmation of what she’d read online the night before. Now they were getting somewhere. “Does this mean that you’ll— ”

“Yes,” said Elias. “I’ll teach you what I know.”

“Is this a trick?”

“No trick. I’ll take you into the forest. Nature is where Asgard’s magic is strongest, which means it’s also where you can learn the most. And”—it looked as if it pained him to say it—“you’re right.

I do owe you more information, especially if you’re going to be of any use to me in this investigation. But not here. Not in public.”

“When?”

“After school. Come back to the house where we were last night, and I’ll show you around from there.”

A little squeak sounded behind her, and the gnome emerged from her backpack, having apparently just woken up from a morning nap.

Elias’s eyes lit up. He tilted his head, looking down at the creature on her shoulder. “Well, hello there, little guy.” He reached up, brushing two fingers down the gnome’s beard. “It appears a v?tte has found you.”

She lowered her arm all the way. “A what?”

“A v?tte. Clever little things,” he said. “They’re drawn to power and bravery.”

She snorted. “It must have stumbled into the wrong bedroom, then.”

He tilted his head, dark hair spilling over one eye. He studied Charlie for a long moment, looking at her as if he were able to see into her mind. Charlie squirmed beneath his gaze.

“You underestimate your own abilities,” he said at last.

“Right,” she said. “Because a human can measure up to a night mare.”

“Have you never heard of the Valkyries? ”

Charlie considered the question. The term did sound familiar. It made her think of Wonder Woman–like figures, with statuesque beauty and superhuman strength. “I think I have,” she said at last.

“No doubt a watered-down version of the truth.” Elias glanced over her shoulder, probably checking to ensure no one was within hearing distance. “Valkyries are human women born to human parents, blessed with supernatural gifts by Odin in exchange for their service to him.”

“So, they’re like you?”

Elias laughed harshly. “No. They’re not like me.”

Charlie studied him for a few moments. “Will you teach me how to protect myself, too? Because I am not cool with the giant wolf I saw prowling down my block last night.”

Elias’s gaze sharpened. “What giant wolf?”

“The giant wolf. Huge, creepy? Glowing red eyes? Fangs the size of butchers’ knives?”

This time, it was Elias who advanced on her, causing Charlie to stumble backward.

He took both of her shoulders, stooping over until his eyes were level with hers.

“Listen to me very closely,” he said, speaking low but fast. “If you see that creature again, I need you to tell me immediately. Do you understand?” He pointed at her backpack. “Give me your phone.”

“What?”

“Your phone .” He gestured impatiently. “Now. Hurry up.”

“God. Okay.” She dug into her back pocket and pulled out her phone, handing it to him. “What do you want with it?”

“I’m putting my number in here.” His fingers moved swiftly across the screen. “If you see that wolf again, you text me. Okay? ”

“Why?” she asked. “Don’t tell me—you’re worried about my safety?”

“Not even remotely.” He smirked as he handed back her phone. “I told you, Charlotte: we aren’t friends. I don’t care about your safety. But I do care about finding that wolf. And for now, that’s all you need to know.”

“If you don’t care about my safety, what are you doing following me around school, joining a junior-year science class when you’re a senior?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” His mouth crooked into a smile. “I’m making a statement. Showing you just how easy it is to infiltrate your life. To be near the people you care about.” His smile widened. “I have history next period with your brother. We’re good buddies now—did you know? He really trusts me.”

Her eyes narrowed.

“I’m a mare, darling. This is what mares do.”

“Right. You create fear. You kill people.”

He patted her shoulder once. “And don’t you forget it. You see, the thing is—” Elias arched an eyebrow at her. “You’re afraid of me, but I don’t know if you’re afraid enough .”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“What I’m asking is, Do you understand?” He advanced on Charlie again, walking her backward across the lush school lawn.

“Do you really understand how easily I could hurt the people you love?” He nodded over her shoulder.

Charlie turned and found Lou and Abigail poking their heads out the front door.

Their eyes bulged when they spotted Charlie talking to Elias.

“Take your little friends over there. If I were to grab hold of them, I could make them see things. Awful things. I could make them feel excruciating pain. Could force them to watch their loved ones be tortured. Could create monsters so horrifying they’d die of sheer fright.

” He lifted his hands, inspecting them from all sides.

“But if that isn’t enough, I can go ahead and drain the life from their bodies.

It only feeds me. Makes me stronger. Plus”—he smirked at her through his fingers—“it’s so much fun. ”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Charlie whispered.

Elias pasted a winning smile onto his face as if he hadn’t threatened to murder her closest friends. “Nothing is wrong with me, sweetheart.” He winked. “I’m a completely normal human, just like you.”

“But you—”

“Anyway,” he said loudly. “See you around!” He skirted around Charlie and strolled back to the front door, nodding at her friends as he passed them.

He had been gone all of three seconds before Lou and Abigail rushed over to Charlie’s side. Lou grabbed Charlie’s wrist and shook it excitedly. “You were talking to the hot new guy again,” she said. “ Spill . What did he want?”

Charlie was still staring at the door through which Elias had disappeared.

She opened her mouth. Closed it again. He was letting me know exactly how easy it would be to end your lives.

She swallowed thickly. She had understood Elias’s threat the night before.

Had even taken it seriously. But a part of her had thought he was exaggerating. That he wouldn’t really go that far.

She saw now how wrong she’d been.

She turned to her friends, putting on a smile. “He wanted to know what he missed the first day in physics class.” She threw an arm over Abigail’s shoulders and started leading her friends back toward the door. “Now, let’s go. We’re already late. ”

Her friends kept chatting as they walked into the building, but Charlie’s attention wandered away.

She kept thinking about what Elias had said.

What he’d threatened . And the more she thought about it, the angrier she became.

How dare he play with the lives of the people she cared about like a cat with its prey.

How dare he try to hold her free will hostage.

What was she going to do—sit back and let it happen?

She had spent almost two years in a fog. Barely existing, following Lou and Abigail into whatever activity they wanted to do but never living it, not really.

Not anymore.

There was a monster on the loose in her town.

Two monsters, actually. One stealing children, and another sitting in her physics class.

Charlie wouldn’t stand for it. She wouldn’t let Elias carry out whatever evil plan he was concocting.

She would figure out exactly what he was up to, and she would stop disaster before it began.

Heart racing, she laughed along with her friends, but in her mind, she was forming a plan.