“Ragnarok won’t come as a great, dramatic burst. No, I believe it will arrive as a series of small moments, a collection of choices that will become an unstoppable force. We won’t even hear it when it comes knocking.”
—Unnamed Scholar, Prophetic Musings
“You could add Fehu to the string of runes, right at the end, and that should create a stronger effect.” Loki scribbled out the new bits in Narvi’s notebook.
Narvi leaned in, scratching his nose, leaving a spot of charcoal behind. “But couldn’t that backfire? It’s also used in fertility seidr.”
Loki pointed to one of the runes further back. “It shouldn’t, not with Nauthiz there to indicate constraint.”
I reached around Váli to take his empty plate, the last remnants of dinner. “What are you working on?”
Narvi’s face was alight when he looked up. “Communication with animals. It would give Váli and I a big advantage if we could speak while he’s in his wolf form. I looked, but there’s nothing successful in the archives.” He pointed to a pile of books. “I read through all the old attempts, and we’re trying to find where they went wrong.”
“That’s incredible.” I looked to Loki. “Can it be done?”
He folded his arms over his chest and leaned back. “It’s not impossible. He’s been trying it with Sleipnir since I can at least act as a control, so we know if the communication is correct or not. The trouble is that we either need to translate the speech patterns of the animal or be able to communicate mind to mind. He’ll be a genius if he cracks it.” He ruffled Narvi’s hair.
“Well, don’t give up. I want my sons to be so undeniably amazing that they lay gold at your feet wherever you go.”
“That’ll be difficult.” Váli put his feet up on the table and slid a whetstone against the blade of a hatchet, one piece in his vast array of weapons.
Loki blinked slowly, drawing a long breath. “Why’s that?”
“Your reputation precedes us.” Váli didn’t raise his head, but the corners of his mouth were turned up in a little smirk.
I didn’t correct him.
A knock sounded at the door. I looked to Váli, who shook his head. So did the rest. No one ever came to our hall, and certainly not in the middle of the evening.
As I made my way to the door, Váli stood, hatchet in hand. Loki’s arm was around Narvi’s back. They were as ready as they could be for whoever had come looking for trouble. I made time for a quiet hope that it was Gersemi or one of the einherjar looking for Váli, anything that didn’t end in blood.
I opened the door.
A woman was on the other side, the hood of her cloak drawn up around her head to keep off the pattering rain. She was taller than I was and built sturdier. Jotun. There was a travel sack on her shoulder and the head of a snake was peering out from inside her hood, its tongue flicking at the air. Beside her was a young girl, draped in her own cloak, cradling a tiny white and grey wolf pup in her arms. Half her face was hidden. One emerald eye peered out, and something about it chilled me to the bone.
“I’m sorry.” I tore my gaze away from the child, looking back at this woman. “I think you’re in the wrong place.”
“No, I’m not. Where is he?” Her voice was rugged, confident.
A chair scraped back and clattered to the floor behind me. Loki pushed me out of the way. He was ushering them inside before I could protest, checking the street for anyone else.
Once the door was shut behind them, he cornered the woman. “What are you doing here?”
My eyes darted to Váli. His knuckles were white around his hatchet. I held up a hand to still him and pointed at his brother. Protect Narvi.
“I had no choice.” The woman pulled back her hood. Her hair was threaded into long locks, immaculately kept. Her eyes were so brown they were nearly black. “They know. They found us.”
“Skít. Alright.” Loki pulled his hands down his face, eyes wild with panic. “Alright.”
“Yes, hello. I don’t know you.” I went to stand near them, forcing my way into the conversation. “What’s going on?”
The woman looked down at me with such disdain that I almost backed away. “No, I don’t suppose he would’ve told you.”
“Angrboda, don’t.” Loki took me aside, his hands on my shoulders. “This was never supposed to happen. You were never supposed to know and now… they’re in trouble, and I’m begging you to understand.”
I shook my head, resisting every urge to push him away. “Understand what?”
Fear passed over his face. He took a deep breath and let it spill out. “This is my family. My other family.”
The noise that ensued was all encompassing. Váli lobbed threats at Loki and his—what? His other wife?—Angrboda was egging him on while Narvi held the two apart. The wolf pup started howling. The child was yelling at everyone else and I—
I punched Loki so hard his knees buckled.
“You kept this from me?” I screamed at him, needing every ounce of my effort not to beat him to death. “You were with someone else, and you lied to me? You have a child with her and—”
“Three children.” Angrboda turned her attention away from Váli’s insults. “I hope it stings, goddess—”
“And I’m supposed to call you Father, you worthless sack of—”
“Stop, everyone! Please! If you just listen—”
“What right did you have to know anything? You never—”
“ENOUGH.”
The room fell silent, the word ringing out, a foreign thought inside our heads. A chill fell over the room, covering me in gooseflesh.
“You’re acting like children.” The girl was still, watching us, her voice as cold as winter.
Váli scoffed. “What are you, seven? What are you going to do about it?”
“Whatever I want.” She pulled her hood down, and my stomach rolled. The right side of her face was mottled blue, like week-old corpse skin. The flesh around her right eye was sunken in, exposing the round whiteness of it. Her lips ended just past the middle, pulled back to show her teeth. She pulled off her gloves, revealing the same rotted blue on her right hand. With a move of her lips, all the shadows in the rooms lengthened and flickered.
Váli had nothing more to say.
“Please.” Narvi slowly put his arms down, testing Váli and Angrboda to see if they’d strike at each other. “She’s right. If you just stop, we can talk about this.”
The screaming was over, but we were all coiled and ready to spring at the first sign of danger. My eyes flitted to each of them in turn, waiting for someone to make a move.
“Fine.” The girl made her way to a chair and climbed up, standing on it to make herself tall. “Mother is too proud to ask, but I am not ready to die. If Odin finds my brothers and I, he may kill us. Or something worse. So, stepmother, I formally request refuge for us in your home.”
“Hel, get down—”
Hel interrupted her mother. “I will not. This is stupid, and I’m not leaving.”
“Why would the Allfather want to kill you?” Narvi took a step closer to Hel, nearly eye-level with her.
“He thinks we’re fated to destroy what he’s built,” she answered.
“Where are your brothers?” I stretched out my tense fingers, cracking the knuckles. “Did you leave them somewhere safe?”
Hel pulled the wolf pup out of the neck of her dress where she’d stowed him, holding him out towards us. He was cowering. “This is my brother. And so is he.” She pointed to the snake coiling itself down Angrboda’s body, heading for the floor.
I looked to Váli. He shrugged. The child could have her games, but this was serious. We were a breath away from having daggers at each other’s throats. “Little one. You have beautiful pets, but where are your brothers?”
Loki picked himself up off the floor and went to Hel’s side. He ran a hand down her long, silken black hair and held her against his side. His eyes caught mine. “She’s telling the truth.”
“You finally have lost your mind, haven’t you?” Váli laughed, tucking his hatchet back into his belt. “I mean, we all knew it was coming, but I’m glad I got to witness it.”
“Your father said you had a mouth, but I’d be happy to close it for you.” Angrboda crossed her arms, starting at Váli.
“Please.” I gestured for them to stop, taking an impatient breath. “Someone, tell me what’s happening.”
Angrboda turned to me. “Loki and I created three of the most powerful children these realms will ever see. They’ll tear through Odin and his spawn one by one until no one is left to hold the rest of us hostage. They’ll change everything.”
Loki took the pup from Hel’s hands and held him gently against his chest. “Fenrir is only four months old. He still stumbles when he walks.” He gestured to my feet, where the snake was passing by. I jumped back. “Jormungandr is three.”
I watched the snake slide toward the table, where a stray piece of meat had fallen.
Its tongue flicked at the air and it hissed, “Ssssnack.”
Something cracked inside of me. A tiny bit of the normalcy and dignity I’d been holding onto all those years. It snapped off and floated away, like a piece of ice flow headed for sea.
And then Váli started to laugh.
“No. This is too perfect! I can’t—” The unhinged laughter continued as he struggled to breathe, let alone speak.
“You won’t find it so funny when I cave your face in, boy.” Angrboda’s cheeks were flushed, her whole body tensed for a fight.
“Can’t you see it?” he asked me. “The wolf. The snake. Mother, he brought home Ragnarok.”
“No. No, no, that can’t be.”
“But it is.” Angrboda took a step toward me. “You and your father and your whole family have kept the realms in shackles long enough, and now we’re going to free it.”
Loki stepped between us, pressing Fenrir tightly into Angrboda’s hands. “Sigyn is not like her father.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Angrboda hissed. “She’s one of them. Skít, you’re one of them. You’re lucky I didn’t string you up when I first found you, licking your wounds like a dog. I’m not going to compromise to spare your feelings.”
“I am not one of them. You came here because you need her.” Loki gestured to me. “You want a place to hide the children, then you owe her some respect.”
“I don’t owe her anything. Not any of these Aesir, not ever.”
Váli shoved Angrboda back, pressing himself into her space. “Good, that makes this easy then. Get the fuck out. Why would we ever protect you?”
“Because Odin plans to kill you too.”
All eyes turned to Loki.
“What did you say?” I grabbed him by the collar, calling up energy under my skin, ready to burn his skin off. No one threatened my children.
He stared down at me, eyes cold. “Your father will be the end of us. You. Me. Váli.”
“How can you know that?” I shook him.
He looked at Narvi, who stood all but helpless in the face of so much turmoil. “Go to your mother’s bedroom. Take Váli. There’s a floorboard under the bed with the tiny black x on it. Pry it up and bring what’s underneath.”
Narvi had to drag Váli away from Angrboda, but they went. The bed scraped across the floor, then creaked as they tipped it on its side. I kept Loki in my grip, not willing to lose my chance to hurt him if I needed to as the scratching and screeching of the wood floorboards came from the other room. And then they were back. In Narvi’s hands was a cloth bag, drawn closed with a string. He brought it to Loki, who offered it to me.
“I hid it at first because I didn’t want to lose you. And then I kept hiding it because I thought I could protect you. Change our paths. But I didn’t.”
I pulled the strings. There was years’ worth of dust caked on the cloth, and it filled the air as I wiggled the bag open. Inside was a book, old and nondescript. A journal. I opened the cover.
The contents of this book are not for the eyes of anyone else. It contains the prophecy of the seer, transcribed as accurately as I could manage. No one is to read the contents of this book, not even you. I’ll return for it when it’s time.
—Odin
And like that, the memory started to come back in flashes. A locked room. Stealing keys. Sneaking through the archives. Finding this book under the mattress. Our names inside the pages. The full prophecy of Ragnarok.
I flipped to the earmarked page and read it aloud.
War bonds twisted
Fetters woven from Váli’s entrails
She saw a prisoner bound under the hot springs
A lover of evil, in the likeness of Loki
There sits Sigyn, alongside her husband
And she feels no joy, do you not see?
Angrboda’s smile was wicked. “So. Whose side are you on, goddess?”