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“Yes,” my father says back at him. “You’ve never seen them before?”
“I’m not sure they exist in Tuonela,” he says. “And if they do, that sky has been covered by clouds for too long for anyone to notice. At least, it was that way until I met Hanna.”
It’s my father’s turn to grumble. “I have to admit, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the two of you together in any way, shape, or form. It’s not…natural.”
“Oh, but it feels very natural,” Tuoni says in a knowing tone, and I give him a look over my shoulder to not get weird again.
Thankfully, the conversation is dropped after that. We continue to walk through the forest under the northern lights for another hour, maybe two. My nose is starting to freeze, andI know I’ll need to stop soon to warm up. Maybe going to my father’s cabin first would have been a better idea.
All you need to do is get to the waterfall, get through the portal, and then you’ll be in the land where you won’t feel so frozen.
And it’s not long after I have that thought that my father comes to a stop.
“We’re getting close now,” he whispers. “The river is just over there, the one that comes from the waterfall. Both will be frozen right now, but we’re almost there.”
We keep going, the path between pines getting narrower until suddenly, it opens up. Under the glow of the lights and the moon and the lantern is the frozen waterfall, just as I remember it last time.
“What is this?” Tuoni asks as my father comes over to me, gesturing for me to get down.
“It’s the entrance to the portal,” he explains as I climb off the reindeer and land in the snow. “Right behind that frozen waterfall. This is where we leave the reindeer. Come now, grab your bags. No sense going into the other world without a change of clothes.”
Tuoni grabs the bags off the other reindeer, and both animals turn to run off into the forest, more than ready to get out of here. Weird vibes, I suppose. My father is already walking ahead, and I shuffle through the snow to catch up. At least by walking, I’m getting a little more warmth into my body.
But as we come along the ledge leading to the waterfall, my father suddenly stops just behind the sheet of frozen water.
“Dear God, no,” my father whispers.
“What is it?” Tuoni booms, walking over to stand beside him.
I hurry forward and look around them to see what they’re staring at.
In the dim light of my father’s lantern, I can see the remains of what once was a tunnel. Dirt and rock flow out of the hole, creating a mound that nearly touches the ceiling. There’s no way to get into that tunnel, not unless you had several days and an excavator.
My father sighs. “The portal is gone.”
Chapter 21
Lovia
The Uprising
Ineed to get the fuck out of here, I think, looking around me at the Old Gods rising from the earth.I need to get help.
The only problem is, the dead crocodile beast on the boat is kind of weighing things down more than I’d like. Would it be quicker to go back upstream with the boat? Logic says it would be safest, but I also feel like I’d be a sitting duck, especially if I had to go past that giant elk monster.
I decide to take my chances on land. At least I can run fast.
I manage to steer the boat to the side of the river that doesn’t seem to have a lot of dead things reanimating, and then I grab my sword and jump off the boat. I head into the tree line where the forest comes down on the slopes of the mountains and take cover beneath the canopies, letting the cedars shield me from view of any Old Gods who may decide to pop up along the riverbank.
I start heading back to the City of Death. It will be a long walk, but it’s closer than the Hiisi Forest, and once there, I can hopefully find the Magician. My end goal is to make it back to Shadow’s End, but with all that’s happening—dead people, OldGods, and Bone Stragglers rising—I can’t count on my father being there. He wouldn’t let any of this happen.
Which means something really has happened to him, I think.My mother must have gotten her claws in him somehow. But how? How is that even possible?
Tears spring to my eyes, but I angrily brush them away with the heel of my palm. There’s no use thinking about this now. I can’t let my emotions run away on me. When they do, I can’t think, can’t act, and I need to do both of those things right now.
I keep walking beneath the trees, relishing the smell of the cedar keeping the stench of death at bay. Every now and then, a Bone Straggler pops up through the ground, but I make quick work of them with my sword. I do it silently, so as not to draw any more attention to myself. I can defeat them one or two at a time—thankfully, they are easier to kill than the Old Gods—but if a bunch of them got wind of me and started to attack at once, that would be a different story.
Eventually, I reach the dock, where I tie up to walk to the City of Death. It’s been destroyed, giant footprints left behind in the light dusting of snow. They look like they belong to a rabbit, if rabbits were ten-feet tall, and unfortunately, that might be the case.
