Page 177 of Veil of Blood and Bone

Heart racing, ready to burst, I claw to the side of one and strike out at the jötun. He swipes at me with his rear leg, talons extending, lupine. Sharp.

I dodge and peck at his ankle as a massive sphere of hail cracks the edge of my head. Agony races through me, spinning me onto my spine.

My claws gouge the underside of the ball of ice as it presses closer. Heavy and unnatural.

I open and shut my beak, attention shifting back to Helene.

I’m not dead yet. Not disemboweled. A scratch, nothing more.

It will ruin me if it happens again.

Muscles clenching, honed through countless hours of flight, I shake the hail off me and right myself. A jolt of magic shoots to my wings, and I push up from the smooth snow.

The jötun twitches, tracking my retreat, and I freeze.

Helene slams something against the inside of the car hard enough to rattle the windows. But not hard enough to shatter them.

I take her in through dark eyes, but the unmistakable look on her face splits me.

Terror, yes. But also perseverance.

She’s still fighting.

The jötun lifts a shoulder and pushes his weight into the car to keep her trapped.

How will any of us survive another round of this curse?

We’re destined to lose, to only lose. There are never any wins under our belt. Only our love. That's never diminished.

Our resolve hasn't waned. Centuries of it accumulate, unbearable loneliness tossing us around, stronger than this storm. Or the god’s whims.

I won’t let her slip through my fingers again. Not when I’m here, and she’s in sight.

Phantoms or not. This time there will be no long goodbye or faded dreams of tomorrow.

I kick off the ground, shaking free of snow clinging to my pinions. With a growl I fly toward the trees, hopping up their limbs in the direction of the sky.

One hit. I’ll shift midway through and land on the jötun, severing his spine in one go. Use his focus on the automobile to my advantage.

The frost giant slams its fist into the car window. Cracks spread from the impact in a spider web of destruction. The girls scream again.

The sounds lodge terror under my breastbone and fill my veins with lead.

I’m halfway up the tree and tense to fly into the gloom. Somber clouds threaten to swallow the world. From this high, the forest is a mass of black and gray.

I angle toward the car, diving down.

The woods stretch beneath us like a mirror of the track of turbulent heavens. Mounds of snow blanket any distinguishing features, the true sky nothing but hammered nothingness, flat and dangerous.

Any attempt to mark the places I’ve passed before failed.

Somewhere underneath me, obscured, Helene and Audra huddle together for warmth and fight the inevitable.

I stare down through the dark silhouette of bare limbs and pine, picking up speed. A battle cry tears free. Burns my throat.

Ice slams into me with the force of Thor’s hammer itself, hitting harder and harder.

Hail cracks the bruised side of my head, and my vision darkens.