Bowing her head, Amy smacks her mittened hands together. Her fingers and feet aren’t exactly cold, but a chill seems to have seeped through her gear and all the way into her bones. She isn’t sure if it’s prolonged exposure to cold, or if it’s the knowledge of what’s happening on Earth. She takes a mitten off and rubs her brow. It’s what she wanted, right?
She hears snow crunching behind her, and turns to see Bohdi approaching. “What’s wrong?” he asks.
“Nothing.”
He sniffs, and stamps his feet. “Is this the Pandora thing?” he asks.
“No,” Amy says. But it is, sort of, isn’t it?
Rubbing his nose, Bohdi says, “Don’t lie.”
Amy puts her head in her hands. “It’s better if you don’t know.”
“Look, trying to protect me from the wrath of Hernandez or the U.S. government isn’t really necessary anymore.”
Dropping her hands, she finds Bohdi very close. The steam of his breath is hanging in the air between them. He gives her a twisted half smile. “We’re probably going to die out here before they can get me.”
Amy drops her eyes.
“A secret can weigh heavily on you,” he says.
She looks up at him sharply. He hasn’t been given a hat yet. Some drops of melted snow glisten in his black hair.
He shrugs. “Or so I’ve been told.”
Her eyes drop to her feet. He’s probably right, they probably are going to die. And she is so tired of holding this in. Amy looks over her shoulder. Everyone is busy packing up. The sound of snowmobiles charging their hybrid batteries will muffle their voices.
“Come on,” Bohdi whispers. “What are a few felonies among friends?”
Amy looks back to him. “I don’t care about felonies—what’s right is right … ” Her voice drops to a whisper. “But I’ve done something terrible.”
Stepping back, Bohdi cocks his head “You? Nah. You’re one of the nicest, most moral people I know … even if you get a little touchy about your theories.”
Amy stamps her foot and feels like she might throw up. “No, I’m not nice.”
“Prove it,” Bohdi whispers. She hears his lighter click. She remembers him hugging her and slipping Squeakers in her pocket. He never told Steve about her little mouse and kept her secret about Loki’s memories, too … mostly. She glances up at him. There’s something in his eyes—faith? Certainty? She hates it, and wants to destroy it, because she doesn’t deserve it. She rubs her eyes, looks at the door to the tent, looks back to him, and then whispers, “Come with me.”
Without waiting for his response she goes into the tent. She hears the snow crunching behind her as he follows.
As soon as they’re both in, and she’s sure the door is shut, she says, “I made the serum contagious.”
She glances up at him again. It’s getting dark outside, and in the tent it’s even darker. Bohdi’s features blend together, and she can’t read his expression. She sees a flash of white and realizes he’s grinning. And then he laughs. “And people think I’m trouble.”
Wrapping her arms around herself, Amy stamps her feet. “Don’t you get it! I’ve unleashed an untested virus with unknown side effects out into the world.”
Flicking his lighter, Bohdi snickers. “No, I think the SEAL team out there unleashed the virus out into the world when they had that night of R and R two days ago.”
“Bohdi, it’s not funny!” she says, keeping her voice hushed.
“No, it’s not.” His grin fades. When he speaks his voice is reverent. “It’s awesome.”
Amy looks down at the ground and almost growls in frustration. “Bohdi, I don’t know what will happen. Maybe most people will be alright, but maybe they won’t. Maybe some will change into other things, like Fenrir. Maybe Odin will hunt them. Even the people who are only mildly affected aren’t going to know what’s happening to them.” Amy shakes her head. “They’ll be alone … with no one to explain.” That isn’t the worst of it, but she can’t bring herself to say the worst part. She finds herself desperately wishing he’ll be clever enough to infer the full extent of the consequences.
Bohdi huffs. “Yeah, it will be like waking up and not knowing who or what you are.” His lighter flares again; the flame’s flare brings out the orange in his eyes. Looking slightly demonic, he smirks. “Can you see where I might not have any sympathy?”
Amy swallows. He isn’t clever enough to figure it out, and she has to say it. “Bohdi,” she whispers, “Eisa died because she was too magical.”
At the mention of the little girl she lost during her miscarriage, Bohdi’s smirk vanishes. The light at his thumb snuffs out.
Amy bows her head. “Maybe babies conceived while their mothers are infected will die … maybe I’ve planted the seeds of the end of the whole human race.”
Bohdi’s lighter flares again in his hand. He stamps his feet, and she realizes he’s only wearing sneakers, and no gloves or mittens. “No,” he says. “No, I don’t believe it.” He shakes his head, and the lighter goes out again. “No, it won’t happen that way. I can’t keep a houseplant alive, and a baku died on my lap, and even when I just want to knock a guy unconscious, I kill him. But you fix things, Amy Lewis. You fixed Steve and Fenrir. You kept me alive in Nornheim, and you saved the baku pups.”
“Bohdi, that’s—”
He puts his hands on her shoulders. Her eyes go to where he’s touching her. She swears she can feel the heat of his fingers all the way through her thick winter parka.
“Amy, I was just thinking how we were all going to die, and Odin was going to win … but he won’t. He may kill every single one of us here in Jotunheim, but it doesn’t matter. While he’s chasing us, magic is spreading on Earth. Humans will win even if we die.” He laughs and it’s low and a little frightening. “Odin loses, no matter what.”
He lifts his hands from her shoulders and brings them to her face, but he doesn’t touch her. Amy’s mouth opens, but no words come out, and she can’t move. Fingers just inches from her cheeks, he makes a sound halfway between a chuckle and a growl. Leaning just a little closer, he whispers, “Amy, the only way you are like Pandora is that you saved hope.”
Amy wants to tell him that he’s wrong, but she can’t speak. There is something in the way that he is looking at her. He looks very serious, and it’s scary.
He’s so close and she expects to feel his fingers brush her cheeks, but he doesn’t touch her. “You’ve taken on Odin, and the military industrial complex, and you’ve won … How could Loki not love you?” She can feel the heat of his breath on her forehead.
She looks down at her feet. She wants to protest, wants to push away, but can’t bring herself to move or even speak. Outside the tent, she hears Steve say, “Lewis, Patel, we need to take the tent down.”
Bohdi leans forward, or his shadow leans forward, Amy can’t bring herself to look up. And then she feels his fingers on her cheeks, warm and sure, and he kisses her forehead, just below the brim of her cap. His lips are soft and cool, but heat floods through her all the way to her toes. Her eyes slip closed, and she almost leans into him.
Outside, Steve clears his throat.
Bohdi pulls away. She opens her eyes. He isn’t smiling. He backs up a few steps and then calls over his shoulder, “Coming right out.”
He inclines his head to the door. Amy walks forward, feeling like her legs may give out at any moment. She stumbles out of the tent, into the cold air, and feels rather than sees Bohdi behind her.
Someone shouts, “Patel, we have some gear for you! Get over here.” Bohdi puts a hand on her shoulder, and then jogs off through the snow.
Amy glances up at Steve. He raises an eyebrow. “Did you have a nice chat?”
“Um … I guess?”
He studies her face for a moment, frowns as though she hasn’t said what he wanted to hear, or doesn’t see what he wants to see. And then he walks away.
Amy blinks. Well, that was weird.
x x x x
Bohdi slips borrowed boots over his borrowed socks. Maybe it is a good thing that Amy didn’t give him the serum. With the way Bohdi feels he thinks he might set the forest on fire. Maybe it’s adrenaline, or lust. Or maybe it’s purpose. He feels, at risk of being overly poetic, like he has ignited. A few moments ago, he had seen the wilderness of Jotunheim as a trap for them. Now he sees it as a vast hide out.
In Asgard, Odin told Bohdi that the incarnation of Chaos was destined to die in pain and fire. Later, Thor advised him to find something worth dying for. Leading Odin’s attentions astray while Earth has time to figure out World Gates, and hopefully shoving a few nukes up the Allfather’s “throne” … It seems like as good a cause as any. He smirks. The ultimate trick, and a fitting way for a trickster to go.
He squints in the low lights. He sees Amy beyond Ruger’s grave, behind a snowmobile, with Claire, Beatrice, and one of the guys. His elation begins to sink. Claire and Beatrice are wearing borrowed clothes, and Claire in particular looks tiny. Beatrice … she’s an adult and has shown herself to be able to handle herself in these situations. Amy—well, weirdly he doesn’t think Amy can die—she just, no, she can’t. She’s been through too much. But Claire is a child, in body and mind. He feels the bite of helplessness again. He blinks. The serum, Amy has the serum in her pack. He sets off in a lope in her direction—and nearly hits Ruger kneeling beside his own grave.
“Whoa,” Bohdi shouts. “What the—”
Jung Park, passing by carrying a large branch, says, “Redman made that.”
Bohdi looks again at the kneeling form. It’s an exact likeness of Ruger made of snow. “Wow,” says Bohdi. “This is incredible.”
Redman himself comes over, carrying another branch. “Oh, thanks, man. Seemed appropriate.”
“You did this in just a few minutes?” Bohdi says. He takes off his mitten, and before he catches himself, almost reaches out to touch the sculpture’s face.
“I uh… yeah… it was… I don’t know, my hands knew where to go. It was kind of strange.”
The stumbling words make Bohdi glance up. Redman shrugs. Redman, like all the SEALS guys, generally exudes an air of competence and confidence, but now he looks distinctly uneasy.
Jung snorts. “You’re an artist, man! I’ve seen your letters home. Filled with drawings.”
Before Redman has a chance to respond, someone shouts, “Park, Redman! Over here, now!”
Carrying his branch, Redman hurries away, as though he’s grateful to escape.
With one last glance at the statue, Bohdi trots over to where Amy, Beatrice, and Claire are backing the snowmobile with the sled over to a snowdrift. Sigyn and Berry are standing beside four other snowmobiles that look like they’re about to be swallowed by said snow drift. As Bohdi gets closer, he sees the snowdrift is actually a giant white bear. Ropes are tied from it’s front paws to the snowmobiles. “It will be easier to pull if it’s on a sled.” Berry says. “Would be better if we had time to dress it, but can’t be helped.” Several of the guys, Nari, and Valli come over, but the carcass barely budges. Without thinking, Bohdi runs over, slips off his mittens for a better grip, and joins in. Beatrice, Claire, and Amy also join in. Even with a lot of people, the bear’s still really heavy. Fenrir watches the whole proceedings quietly from the side.
As she tugs on the bear, Amy looks at the dog. “Strange. I would have thought she might try to eat it.”
“Fenrir ate something before we left,” says Claire, pushing the bear’s tummy.
“What was it?” says Amy, giving a huff as she lugs on a paw. “She must have eaten a lot.”
“A cake,” says Beatrice too quickly. “A yellow cake.”
Claire’s eyes go wide, and her jaw drops open. Bohdi puts a finger to his lips and shakes his head. No use having Amy worry about that. Claire nods and says nothing.
Harding puts a hand to her chin and says, “We’re going to have to split this beast up between a few sleds. Maybe we could use a machete …”
“How about a magic sword?” says Valli. “It should cut through the beast like butter!”
Bohdi blinks, interested in seeing that show, but from behind, someone shouts, “Patel!” Turning, he finds Lieutenant Larson approaching, holding a rifle in front of his chest. To Bohdi he says, “Can you handle one of these?”
“Handle it?” Amy says with a little humph. “Handle it? He doesn’t even need it. He can kill a giant spider with a toy airplane, a kappa with a stick, and take down an Einherjar with a shovel."
Larson blinks.
Bohdi doesn’t feel the urge to sneeze. But he still feels distinctly uncomfortable. Clearing his throat, he looks sideways at Amy, “Um, thanks … but I’d rather have the rifle.”
Even though the light is very low he can see her cheeks turn a little pinker. “Oh, right. Of course.”
Bohdi nods at the Lieutenant.
“Here you go,” says Larson, offering the rifle to him. And then Bohdi’s brain does a little short-circuity thing. He’s heard Larson talking in Steve’s office. Larson doesn’t like him, or trust him, but he’s offering him a very nice weapon … Hesitantly, Bohdi takes it.
As he lifts it from Larson’s hands, the Lieutenant says, “What you did for Ruger … ” Larson’s jaw gets stiff. “Thank you,” he manages.
Bohdi just bows his head, barely able to nod. His stomach twists into a knot. He stares at the rifle. Back at headquarters, he’d never been given permission to carry a gun. He remembers the guys nodding at him after he carried Ruger over the ice … he’d failed to save their teammate, and yet now they trust him more than he was trusted back on Earth.
From behind him he hears Claire say, “It’s rolling over.” He turns and sees Valli and Berry deep in discussion as the bear lists to the side. Before he can sling the rifle out of the way, Claire darts forward to brace the bear in place. Even on its back, the thing is nearly as tall as her chest. Bohdi has a moment of panic and thinks she’ll be crushed. But then Steve is just there, and then a few of the other guys too, and they right it. As soon as it’s stable, Claire touches the dead form with her bare hands. “It’s still a little warm,” she whispers.
Valli unsheathes his sword. “I have it from here.”
Steve drags her away from the bear, and the potentially gory scene. “What were you thinking?” Turning her around so he’s got a hand on both of her shoulders, Steve leans down and says, “That thing was too heavy for you! You could have been crushed!”
Ducking her head, Claire says, “I was just trying to help.”
Steve sucks in a long breath. The hairs on the back of Bohdi’s neck rise. He has a feeling like Steve’s trying to muster every ounce of his self-control.
“I know,” Steve says slowly. “You’ve got to be careful though. What we need to do is very, very hard.” His words come out very soft and slowly. Bohdi swallows. Steve is terrified for his little girl. Bohdi catches Amy and Beatrice’s eyes. They look as worried and uncomfortable as he feels.
“I know that!” Claire says. Lifting her chin, she meets her father’s gaze. “But we’ll make it.” Bohdi feels the air leave his chest. Her open face, her confidence. She has no idea.
Steve’s mouth opens, but he says nothing. Beatrice walks over and puts a hand on Claire’s shoulder. “Of course, we will,” she says, and Bohdi sniffs.
Steve’s eyes go over Claire to Bohdi. Bohdi feels his friend’s desperation, as surely as though it were a lead blanket draped over his shoulders. Mustering up the most confident voice he can, Bohdi says, “We have a few tricks up our sleeves.”
He hears the crunch of snow beside him. He looks down to find Amy looking up at him. She knocks him with her elbow, lightly, maybe a little shyly, and then to Steve she says, “We’ve outfoxed Odin before. We’ll do it again.”
Bohdi doesn’t sniffle.
“Yeah,” Steve says. “Yeah.”
And Bohdi doesn’t have the faintest urge to sneeze. Steve gives him a nod. Amy knocks him with her elbow again. Bohdi’s eyes dart between Steve and Amy. One has confidence in him despite knowing what he is, or maybe because of it. The other has confidence in him because she’s seen what he can do. Both feel good.
Bohdi drops his gaze to the snow. He’s outside, in the wilds of a foreign realm … and yet … he has the strangest sensation. He looks again to Steve. He’s patting Claire’s shoulder as Beatrice whispers something in her ear. He looks down at Amy and feels an echo of the buzz he’d felt in his lips when he’d kissed her forehead. He adjusts the rifle slung behind his back ... Around them, Bohdi can feel the night getting colder and the wind picking up. Still, he feels warmth radiating from his chest to the tips of his fingers and toes. He has a feeling of belonging that’s overwhelming. He looks up to the sky because he feels like if he looks at Amy, or even Steve and Claire, his heart might burst. Above the trees he sees a tiny pale moon rising.
“Time to move out,” Steve says, snapping Bohdi’s eyes back to earth—or Jotunheim, as the case may be.
Tapping his ear, Steve inclines his head to a snowmobile with a sled made of branches and duct tape behind it. “Patel and Doctor Lewis, you’ll be in that sled over there.”
Bohdi nods. He’ll have time to bring up the serum next pit stop. Without a word, Bohdi jogs with Amy over to the empty sled. Bohdi takes the back, Fenrir takes the front, and Amy sits between them, leaning sideways on her pack. Lieutenant Larson gets into the front seat of the snowmobile, and Beatrice sits behind him.
Leaning toward Bohdi, Amy whispers, “Wait until we hit a snow drift on the ice. It’s like flying!”
“I’ll expect you to keep quiet back there,” Larson says. He pulls a pair of night vision goggles off his helmet and over his eyes. “We don’t want the whales to hear us on the ice.”
Amy sucks in on her lips. All the snowmobiles’ combustion engines flip off. Before Bohdi has a chance to take it all in, they’re slipping silently down the small incline back toward Lake Balstead. As soon as they’re on the open plain of the lake, Larson hits the accelerator, and they pick up speed. He feels Amy close behind him. Cold prickles his exposed neck, but he still feels warm. As soon as they hit the treeless plain of ice, the sky becomes a vast roof of stars. Bohdi smiles and looks up. To no one in particular he whispers, “So this is home.”
The next installment of the I Bring the Fire series is Ragnarok. It is AVAILABLE NOW
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