Page 23 of Soul of Shadow #1

“Listen.” He kicked a pine cone across the ground. “I don’t know the guy. Obviously. I mean, the gods generally keep to themselves. All I know are the stories I hear.”

“Such as…”

“Such as his blood brotherhood with Loki.”

“Loki and Odin?” She knitted her eyebrows. “But I thought Loki and Thor were brothers.”

He waved a hand. “That’s a bunch of nonsense made up by Disney. No. Long ago, Odin and Loki were the closest any two gods could be. They sliced their palms and mixed their blood together in an unbreakable oath. Blood brothers, for all time.”

“Damn. I thought Loki was the trickster god.”

“He is,” Elias said. “He’s cunning. Devious. That was why Odin wanted him by his side. That was why he promised Loki that they would rule side by side, as equals, forever.”

Just through the trees, Charlie spied a dim green light floa ting just off the ground. She leaned forward, trying to make it out. “Do you see that?”

Elias peered around a tree. “Oh, yeah. Will-o’-the-wisp.”

“Will- what ?”

“Sneaky bastards. Under absolutely no circumstances should you follow a light cast by a will-o’-the-wisp.”

“Why not?”

Elias slipped through the trees, drawing closer to the green light, then ducked low. Turning, he beckoned for Charlie to follow. She darted over and squatted beside him, pushing aside a patch of leaves to get a better look.

Fifteen feet away, a tiny, hook-nosed man with wings floated across a clearing.

He had eyes the size of pool balls, nearly all white and manic looking.

On his head was a feather-topped hat, and a wispy white beard swept all the way down to his buckled shoes.

A bright-green lantern dangled from his right fist. The will-o’-the-wisp wasn’t looking at Charlie and Elias; his attention was squarely on the ground, and he seemed to be muttering to himself.

“Will-o’-the-wisps are troubled souls,” Elias whispered. “It is said that in life, they cheated someone out of their property. As a result, they cannot find peace in the afterlife. They’re doomed to wander Asgard forever, trying in vain to figure out where their real home is.”

Charlie perked up her ears, trying to hear what the creature was saying.

“This is right; this is wrong,” the will-o’-the-wisp muttered. He swooped down and picked up a stick from the ground, moving it two feet over before setting it back down. “This is right; this is wrong.” Then he picked the stick up and moved it back, repeating the process all over again.

“He’s trying to figure out the property boundary,” Elias said. “But nothing will ever feel right to him, no matter where he moves the stick.”

“That’s tragic,” Charlie whispered.

“It is,” he agreed. “But don’t let the act fool you.

Will-o’-the-wisps were tricky in life, and they’re tricky in death.

Before the Seal was laid, many humans were led astray by them.

Innocent farmers would follow the green light of the spirit’s lamp, thinking it would take them somewhere wonderful, only to find themselves stranded in a swamp. Or worse.”

Charlie shuddered. “Got it. No following the green light.”

“Exactly.” Elias pivoted on his knees, reaching into his back pocket. “Now would probably be a good time for some basic protection techniques as well.”

“Go on.”

When he pulled his hand out of his pocket, a necklace dangled from his fingers. It was a simple silver chain, no other gems or trinkets dangling from the end.

“Are you giving me…” She raised her eyebrows. “Jewelry?”

He snorted. “Hardly. This chain is made of steel, which is the material that spirits of nature fear above all else. If you keep this on, it should protect you from most of the spirits out here. They won’t want to get too close.”

“Excellent.” She snatched it from his hand. “I need one for every limb.”

Elias laughed. “That’s not really how it works.”

She unclasped the hook on the back of the necklace, then held it out to Elias.

His eyes widened with surprise, but he quickly recovered, accepting the chain and indicating that she turn around.

Because they were still squatting behind the bush, she merely turned over and plopped onto the dirt, crossing her legs in front of her.

“So,” she said, trying to distract herself from how Elias’s fingers would be brushing her collarbone at any second. “Odin and Loki. Blood brothers ruling side by side.”

“Yes.” Elias lifted the necklace up and over Charlie’s head, settling its cold metal on her chest. “At least, that was what Odin said would happen. It didn’t take long for him to change his mind.”

“Couldn’t handle having to share power with someone else?”

“You guessed it.”

When Elias rested his wrists on Charlie’s shoulders, fingers grazing her neck as he worked the chain’s lock, the first thing that she noticed was that he didn’t feel white-hot to the touch anymore.

While still warmer than a human’s body, his skin had cooled down enough for his touch to feel like no more than an electric heating pad.

“Your skin,” she said. “It’s cooler.”

His fingers paused. “Yes. When you passed me that Advil in the cafeteria, I forgot to regulate.”

“Regulate?”

“Mares can control our body temperature in human form. Make ourselves scalding hot or searing cold. It’s one of the many ways we protect ourselves.” After a brief hesitation, he added, “I didn’t… mean to burn you that first time. I’m sorry.”

Instead of responding to his apology, she said, “So, Odin didn’t want to share.”

“Right.” Elias resumed working the clasp at her neck. “A couple centuries in, Odin came to Loki and said that the deal was off. Loki was to return to his place alongside the lesser gods. Odin would call upon him only when he needed Loki’s assistance.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah. Naturally, Loki didn’t take the news so well.

Remember: he and Odin had mixed their blood.

Made an unbreakable oath to each other. Loki invoked that oath, asking the other gods to help him hold Odin accountable.

” Elias sighed, and Charlie wondered what was taking him so long with the necklace.

“No one would do it. They were too afraid of the Allfather, of the wrath he would surely rain down upon them. And although the blood bond prevented Odin from killing Loki—because if either of them murdered the other, they would both die—Odin thought up a different punishment for his once-close friend.”

At last, the clasp dropped to the back of Charlie’s neck. Elias’s warm hands lingered a moment longer before dropping away. Turning onto her knees and facing Elias, Charlie asked, “What kind of punishment?”

“Loki was banished to Helheim,” said Elias.

“It’s what humans would call our underworld and was overseen by Hel, one of Loki’s many children.

He was to live out eternity in the underworld, allowed to access Asgard only via one of the connection points with Helheim scattered about the realm, and only for five minutes at a time. ”

“Sheesh.” Pushing herself up with one hand, Charlie rose to her feet and dusted off her pants. “The gods sure are petty.”

Elias pursed his lips, clearly holding back a smile. “That they are.”

After a quick check to ensure that the will-o’-the-wisp was still occupied with his stick, they turned around and walked off in the opposite direction.

“So,” said Charlie, pushing aside a pine tree branch and edging her way through. “If Loki was allowed to visit Asgard for five minutes at a time, how often did he—”

A hand landed on Charlie’s mouth and another on her chest, cutting her off and yanking her backward into something hard, like a wall of rock. She squirmed, trying to escape, and clawed at the rocks—which she quickly realized were actually Elias’s torso.

“ Shhh .” His lips pressed to her hairline as he whispered. She shuddered at the mixture of hot and cold—the heat from his skin, the chill of his breath. Goose bumps rose on the back of her neck. “Don’t say a word.”

She fought his grip on her face and chest, but his arms were like iron, immovable. She had a better chance of breaking down a steel door.

“Look to your right. Through the branches. Two o’clock.”

With reluctance, she followed his directions. Her gaze traveled to the right, where it landed on a shimmering figure framed between tree branches.

It was a woman. She had pale-turquoise skin and dark-blue braided hair, out of which grew two long antlers.

Everything about her appeared sleek and feminine, from her high, regal cheekbones to the red-and-white tunic she wore, which covered everything but her impossibly long neck and two slender hooves for feet peeking out the bottom.

Her ears rose to sharp points. A falcon rested on one shoulder.

She sat atop a huge golden reindeer, her legs tucked in to one side .

She was the most beautiful creature Charlie had ever seen.

“That’s a skogsr? ,” Elias whispered. “A wood wife. Mistress of this entire forest—except the ash trees, which are considered the most sacred and each have their own ash wife that lives within them. Anyway. It’s very rare to see a wood wife.

They usually disguise themselves by turning into trees or animals. ”

At last, he loosened his grip on Charlie’s mouth, which allowed her to whisper, “Is she dangerous?”

“Extremely,” he said. “Like all spirits of nature, she can either help you do great things or curse you to a life of misery, depending on her mood.”

“Depending on her mood ?”

“Yes. If you piss off a wood wife, she’ll distort your vision so that you’re forced to wander in circles around the forest, never finding your way out.”

“Jesus,” Charlie whispered.

“But if you win her favor…” Abruptly, Elias released Charlie and grabbed the hem of his T-shirt, yanking it up and over his head and revealing a tightly muscled abdomen underneath.

Charlie hissed, “What the hell are you—”

“Quick,” he whispered. “Turn your shirt inside out.”

“Do what ?”

“I’m serious.” He gestured impatiently with one hand. “Hurry.”

“But why—”