Page 85 of Heart of Mischief

“Plus.” Mason reached out and squeezed his sister’s shoulder. “We’re headedawayfrom the danger, remember? We’ll be far safer in the Gut than we are here.”

Charlie exhaled. Mason gave her shoulder one last squeeze, then dropped his hand and pulled out his phone.

“Regardless,” Charlie said, looking around at the rest of the group, “does everyone have their gear?” She didn’t saythe knives Sophie gave youbecause, to her knowledge, Elias still didn’t know that they had more than one Valkyrie blade, and it was the only advantage they had if he shifted into mare form and turned on them.

Although, if Charlie were being honest, she was starting to doubt that outcome more and more.

“Yeah, yeah.” Lou patted the side pocket of her bag. “I brought, like, three different weapons. Which took up way too much space, by the way. I almost had to leave behind the crop top I’m planning to wear tonight.”

“God forbid,” said Abigail dryly.

“All I’m saying is that we’re ready. If anything happens, we’re ready.” Lou grinned. “Though, personally, I don’t—”

“Guys,” said Mason, cutting Lou off. His voice was hollow. He was staring down at his phone, but his face was pale white, like he’d seen a ghost.

“What?” Charlie asked, dread gathering deep in her belly. “What is it?”

“It’s…” He swallowed, not looking up from the screen. “I follow r/SpookyMichigan on Reddit, right? It’s this thread where people post scary shit they see around the state. Naturally most of it is bogus, but I figured it would be a good way to monitor for sightings of magical Asgardian stuff, too. Just now, I was scrolling through the feed and saw a post with the headline ‘Bigfoot Spotted in Silver Shores, MI?,’ so I had to click on it, obviously, and…”

He turned his phone around to face the group.

Charlie’s stomach dropped to her feet.

Nothing could have prepared her for the creature on Mason’s phone screen. It wasn’t anything like the “Bigfoot sightings” she’d seen in the past, usually on silly TikTok or YouTube videos. Those were always blurry images of hairy, oversize men lit by the greenish glow of night vision goggles. But this…

This was a nightmare.

The photo showed an empty road late at night. There were no houses, mailboxes, or anything else lining the road. Only the dark shapes of trees, but above them the moon was full and bright. The light it cast was enough to reveal a figure standing a stone’s throw down the road, just outside the tree line.

This “Bigfoot” was unlike anything Charlie had seen before. It was huge. Nine or ten feet tall, at least—it was hard to tell for certain—and shaped roughly like a man, but hunched over, crawling on all fours. Its arms and legs were long and spindly, like that of a spider, but threaded through with what appeared to be pulsing muscles. The limbs ended in long, razor-sharp claws that dug into the dirt onthe side of the road. Its back was hunched toward the sky. Stringy black hair grew from its head, thin and dirty, like that of a half-rotten corpse. And its face.Gods, its face was awful. Mostly mouth, a gaping hole filled with long, jagged teeth and topped off with two tiny yellow eyes. And on its forehead, dim but unmistakably there…

A glowing red swirl.

“Sweet baby Balder,” Lou whispered.

“Fucking Hel,” said Abigail.

Elias, voice rough, murmured, “Rattatosk.”

Though Charlie had known that Rattatosk was supposed to be terrifying, part of her hadn’t really believed it. His primary form was that of asquirrel, for the gods’ sake. How bad could any other form he took possibly be?

But she’d been wrong. Gods had she been wrong. This creature leering out at them from Mason’s screen was so much worse than anything she’d imagined. It could rip her apart in seconds.

She touched the back pocket of her jeans, where her lucky cards rested, snug as always, as if their slowly deteriorating paper could somehow give her strength and safety.

“Okay.” Lou plucked the phone out of Mason’s hand, locking its screen. “Okay. Right. So, that’s obviously terrifying. And not cool to see right before we head off into the wilderness for two days. But.But.I agree with what Mason said earlier: we’re heading away from the danger, not into it. So.” She stuffed the phone back into Mason’s hand and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “We’re going to put that photo out of our minds as best we can and enjoy this weekend. Okay?”

No one in the group responded.

“Okay?” Lou said again, louder this time. “Come on. The winner of the annual Beer Pong tournament receives the sacred trophy and bragging rights for a full year. I’m getting to that pong table the minute the party starts, and I’m not letting a grainy photo posted by some creep on Reddit ruin my focus.”

“Seriously?” Abigail’s eyes lit up at the promise of competition. “I’ll play with you.”

“Absolutely not.” Turning on her heel, Lou grabbed Mason’s hand and started toward the line of school buses parked at the entrance to the lot. “You throw like an AP student. Mason will be my partner.” She pulled him along, auburn ponytail swinging. “Come on, Mace—you’re taking us to the back of the bus to sit with the seniors.”

Charlie’s brother stumbled along behind Lou, staring down at their hands with wide eyes. He cast a confused look over his shoulder at Charlie.

Fuming, Abigail chased after Lou and Mason. “What does that even mean?” she demanded. “AP students are just as good at drinking games as non-AP students. In fact, last year…”