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Laughter erupted. Fearless, as always. The teen never ceased to amaze me. But I supposed I shouldn’t have been surprised. She took after her mother, after all.
“I think the better question to focus on is, what were those things?” Officer Rory asked. “And was that crazy lunatic really your mother?”
Astrid frowned. “Unfortunately, yes. Though, I don’t know the answer to your other question.” She glanced at me. “It’s been centuries since I last saw one of them, and we didn’t really know what they were then.”
The mention of centuries got the people’s attention, especially since they knew Astrid grew up here.
“I can answer that,” Aya said. All eyes fell on her. “They’re amalgamations created by the goddess Malsumis.”
I scowled. I knew little about that deity, but I’d heard she had some relation to Azzie, and something about corruption.
“Malsumis is a deity from these lands. However, her power was so vast, it was capable of occasionally affecting other continents. It corrupted souls and turned them into the creatures you saw today. When other gods and I sealed Malsumis, it locked up that power, and greatly reduced how often those cursed creatures were created.”
“So… Ingrid is aligned with this Malsumis?” Astrid said. I found her choice to call the woman by her name and not the title of mother very interesting. Hopefully, it would stay that way. That woman didn’t deserve to be called a mother.
Darius tapped the car he leaned on. “Meaning she was either always aligned with this deity, or they converted her after I met her.”
I had a sinking suspicion that woman was already worshiping the goddess and infiltrated FU.
Aya continued to talk to the townsfolk, filling them in on various things they needed to know right now to decide what they wanted. I found myself distracted.
Two ravens perched on a light pole.That’s odd.Ravens themselves weren’t peculiar in these parts. In fact, they were quite common. But these two had an unusual focus on us. A ripple of unease worked its way down my spine.These ravens…
Astrid noticed them, too, and wandered closer. She cocked her head. “Huginn? Muninn?”
Aya stopped her lesson and joined us. “That’s not possible. With Odin’s death, that should have severed his familiar bonds, and they would have become regular ravens.”
We all stared up at the birds, until Astrid spoke up. “Hey, pretty bird. What are you doing?”
I shivered at her familiar greeting to Muninn. After the celebration that resulted in her healing him, the raven would visit with her on the regular. She’d feed him and talk as if he were a friend. I’d tried to warn her not to, as he and Huginn were Odin’s favorite spies, but she brushed off that concern, always promising she never told the bird anything Odin would find worthwhile.
One raven croaked and flew off. The other stayed, watching her intently. Astrid manifested a nut and tossed it into the air. The raven took flight, swooping down to catch it, and then flew off.
My unease grew. “That was Muninn. Only he does that for you.”
“That’s not possible,” Aya said. “It can’t be, unless someone else took over their familiar bond.”
“I don’t know…” Astrid turned to look at us. “Garmr and Ingrid both said some peculiar things that made it sound like they were talking about Odin in the present tense. Did anyone ever confirm Odin’s dead body after the war?”
Aya and I passed each other a look, concern setting in. Neither of us had.
“We could be wrong, but I think it might be best to look into this,” Astrid said. “Just to be sure.”
I didn’t like this one bit. There was no way Odin was still alive. But a part of me also didn’t believe that, either.
“We don’t tell Fen,” Aya warned. “Or Starkad. Not until we’re sure. Both will go off the deep end if we tell them about these speculations.”
Astrid and I agreed, and Astrid suggested we inform Kirby in private so we could decide how to proceed.
In the middle of her talking, Astrid yawned so widely that her jaw popped. Diego chuckled as he walked over. “Why don’t we get you back home? You’ve earned a rest.”
“But we have to keep explaining stuff to everyone,” Astrid said. “And Fen and the others aren’t back yet.”
“We’ll take care of all of it,” Darius said. “Don’t worry, Ace. Even Angel is doing her job, going between people to give them the comfort they need after all this.”
“After she pissed on Garmr’s corpse,” Aya added, rather proudly.
Astrid laughed. “Okay. Okay. We can go back. I don’t have the energy to teleport, though.”
