Page 50 of Soul of Shadow #1

The house, as Charlie had suspected, appeared empty. No lights were on. No fire burned in the living room. Elias was no doubt far away from here, closing in on the Fenrir with every minute.

They needed to move quickly.

“I don’t understand,” said Mason behind her. “Why have we come to a graveyard?”

Charlie looked over at him in confusion. “What?”

And as she looked at the blank expressions on Mason’s and Abigail’s faces, she remembered what Elias had told her earlier that week—how he’d struck a deal with the ash wives that allowed him to disguise the house from human eyes.

“Oh,” said Charlie. “You can’t see it.”

“See what?” Abigail asked.

Charlie looked quickly around the forest. It was just as she remembered—brilliant-green vines and bright-orange sap on the trees, a cluster of purple ?lvor humming around a distant bush, everything a touch shinier and more beautiful than it had been before her first night at that house—and she didn’t spy any goblins or other threats lurking in the trunks.

Even if she did, she realized—those creatures couldn’t hurt Mason and Abigail .

Not until they ate the eyaerberries.

She looked down at the v?tte, who sat in the dirt beside her friends. “Stay here with them,” she said.

“Who are you talking to?” Mason asked, looking at the ground.

“Just wait here,” Charlie said, turning and jogging toward the front porch. As she ran, she pulled Sophie’s knife from her dress—in case Elias left any traps waiting inside.

This was a terrible idea. She knew it was a terrible idea.

Was she really going to bring Mason and Abigail into this world?

To put their lives at risk by opening them up to the dangers of Asgard?

It was a selfish move on her part. She longed for someone to share this world with, someone who would understand what she’d been going through the past week.

And she needed help if she was going to take on Elias and the Fenrir… but still. She could get them killed.

But if they did nothing, Lou would most certainly end up dead.

I hate him , she thought as she ran up the front porch steps. I hate him, I hate him, I hate him.

The words propelled her through the unlocked front door, down the hallway, into the creepy dining room, and over to the fireplace. She got on her hands and knees in the soot and started to dig. Soon enough, she found the small black box. She lifted it from the soot and opened its lid.

As expected, there were four eyaerberries left. Elias must not have fed one to Lou. Why would he? Her best friend was currently under some sort of mare spell. If she made it out of this alive, she probably wouldn’t even remember what happened.

Good , she thought. It was better that she not remember .

At least one of them would be spared.

She closed the lid, tucked the box under one arm, and jogged back outside.

When she reached Mason and Abigail, they were staring at her with perplexed expressions.

“What,” Mason said, “did we just see?”

“I have no idea,” said Charlie. “The ash wives bewitched this clearing so that you couldn’t see the house.”

“The what?” Abigail asked.

“You ran toward the graveyard,” said Mason, “and then you just… vanished.”

“Huh.” Charlie lifted the black box and opened its lid. “Well. You’ll know the truth soon enough.”

Mason and Abigail eyed the purple fruits suspiciously.

“What are these?” Abigail poked at their shiny flesh. “Some sort of drug?”

“Nice.” Mason dug eagerly into the velvet, pulling out one of the eyaerberries. “Sounds fun.”

“It is not a drug.” Charlie glared at her older brother. “And it’s not to be trifled with, either. Your entire worldview is going to change after you eat one of these.”

Mason grinned. “You mean Abigail might realize there are things more important than getting into college and moving back to New York?”

Abigail narrowed her dark eyes at Mason as she picked up one of the fruits. “Not likely.”

“I’m serious,” said Charlie. “I need you to think very clearly about what you’re about to do.

” She looked between them both. “The creatures of Asgard are beautiful, but they’re also deadly.

If you eat these eyaerberries, your life will always be at risk.

It doesn’t matter what college you get into.

It doesn’t matter what city you move to.

There are things you can do to protect yourselves, but at the end of the day, you will have opened yourself up to all the danger that magic entails. ”

Abigail and Mason shared a look. For the first time, Charlie thought she saw some doubt ripple through their eyes.

For Mason, it was gone as quickly as it appeared. “I’m always up for some fun,” he said. With a wink, he tossed the berry into his mouth and bit down.

Charlie’s muscles tensed. She remembered what came next: the full-body shock, like electricity running straight through your veins.

Mason’s eyes widened. He looked down at his limbs, as if expecting to see lightning under his skin.

As the sensation grew, his hands flew up to his head, gripping it as he let out a groan.

“What the—” Abigail stepped away, watching in horror as he doubled over, yelling and clutching at his skull. It was awful to see. Charlie wondered if she’d looked the same way.

With one final yell, Mason fell silent and his body went slack.

This is it , thought Charlie.

After a breathless pause, her brother straightened up and opened his eyes.

For a moment, he stood stock-still, taking in the forest. Then, at a voice barely above a whisper, he said, “Whoa.”

“I told you,” said Charlie.

“This is…” Mason’s voice trailed off.

She knew what came now: the fear, the confusion, the complete disorientation…

“This is…” Her brother’s face spread into an ear-to-ear grin. “ Awesome. ”

“ What? ” Charlie and Abigail said at the same time .

“Seriously,” he said, gazing around the clearing. “Abigail, I’m telling you: you gotta try this. It’s better than any drug I’ve done.”

Abigail stared down at the purple fruit in her hand as if this news were the worst she’d received that night.

“You don’t have to do it,” Charlie told her, half hoping she would put it back into the box and swear off the entire mission…

but knowing above all else that Abigail never backed down from a challenge.

Especially not if Lou’s life was at stake.

Abigail might act like all she cared about was getting into Columbia, but Charlie knew that she’d once stormed into the men’s locker room and verbally eviscerate three male swimmers twice her size, all because they’d made Lou feel uncomfortable at one of their swim meets.

She was as loyal as they came—and she took no shit when it came to her best friends.

Abigail shut her eyes, inhaled once, and said, “For Lou.” Then she popped the berry into her mouth and chewed.

As Abigail twitched and trembled, Mason turned to Charlie, grin still pasted to his face.

Charlie raised her eyebrows. “You don’t seem fazed at all by this.”

He shook his head. “It feels almost… familiar,” he said.

“All my life, I’ve had these strange memories that I could never piece together.

Flashes of things—vines with white flowers, sparkling green grass, purple fireflies…

I always assumed they were dreams. But the colors I can see now…

the trees…” He swallowed dryly. “It’s a perfect match. ”

Charlie stared at Mason, dumbstruck. “Are you telling me,” she said, the words feeling outrageous even as she spoke them aloud, “that you’ve seen Asgard before? ”

“I think…” Mason blinked up at the iridescent owl peering out at them from between two tree branches. “I think I have.”

“But that’s impossible,” she said. “Humans can’t see Asgard unless they consume an eyaerberry. And once they do, they see forever.”

“I know. You told me.” He walked toward the closest oak tree and ran his fingers down the bark.

Charlie knew how beautiful it must look to him now.

The colors brighter. The textures richer.

The hoot from the iridescent owl was like a beautiful high note on some ethereal instrument.

“But I’m telling you: I’ve seen this before. Or something just like it.”

Charlie opened her mouth to respond but was quickly cut off by Abigail.

“What,” said her friend, who had clearly just recovered from the eyaerberry experience, “the hell”—she turned in a slow circle, eyes narrow as she took in the forest—“is going on?”

“I know.” Charlie took a step forward, placing a gentle hand on Abigail’s shoulder. “I know it’s a lot to take in, but—”

“I refuse.” Abigail crossed her arms, shaking her head vehemently.

“I refuse to believe that what I’m seeing is real.

This goes against every law of physics and biology that I’ve learned.

The human eye sees color in one specific way: light filters through our rods and cones, then sends a signal to your brain via the optic nerve.

That’s it. That’s how it works. There are no special work-arounds, no upgrades that enable you to see colors that shouldn’t even exist. I mean…

” She stormed over to a nearby bush, furious now, and pointed at it.

“What the hell is this? What color is that?”

Mason and Charlie tilted their heads, taking in the offending bush in question. Charlie understood why Abigail was confused; the leaves of the bush had this shiny, silvery blue-green hue that she had never seen before. Her limited vocabulary could not accurately describe what color it was.

“Hmm?” Abigail pointed harder at the bush, awaiting an answer.

“Abs.” Charlie walked over to her friend and placed both hands on her shoulders. “I know that this goes against everything we were taught in school. I know that it seems outrageous—”

“ Impossible is more like it,” Abigail said.

“—but now is not the time for me to explain. Now is the time for us to figure out where the hell Elias has taken Lou. Now is the time to get her back.”

“Right.” Abigail nodded, keeping her eyes on her feet, as if not looking around would somehow make the world go back to normal. “Yes. Okay. You’re right. Let’s—”

Then she let out an ear-splitting screech.

“What is that ?” Abigail gasped, pointing down at the v?tte.

“Oh. Right.” Charlie bent over and scooped up the creature, setting him on her shoulder. “Don’t worry—he’s a friend.”

“A friend ?” Abigail looked as if her head might explode.

“He is cute as hell,” said Mason, scratching under the v?tte’s beard. “Hey, little man.”

The v?tte squeaked in response.

“We’re wasting time,” said Charlie. “We need to go inside the house.”

“What hou—” Mason asked, but when he turned around, his eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. “Oh. Wow.”

“Yes. That house.” Charlie started across the clearing. “Now, let’s get inside before a pack of goblins finds us.”