The Guardian

Emily and the Librarian drove home in silence. Every once in awhile Emily would glance over nervously at the stately, tall woman, but saying anything might give too much away.

She hated it; hated the silence that had grown between them in the past couple months. When she was younger, first adopted by the Librarian, Emily had felt like she could tell her guardian anything. In turn, the Librarian had told her secrets, incredible, marvelous, beautiful secrets, about the reality of other worlds. Secrets she had sworn never to tell another.

But now it was different. Emily reached over and turned on the radio. Sweet, rapid notes dancing in sorrowful sweeps and bounds filled the car.

"Mozart's Requiem. Rather vivacious, that man. Ahead of his times," the Librarian remarked.

"Did you ever meet him?" Emily asked, more to fill the silence than anything.

"Of course. I spent some time in Vienna during that century, so I was well established in the court when he made his first appearance." The Librarian smiled in reminiscence. "Nobody quite knew what to make of him. A man of many foibles, outrageous by the day's standards. You might have liked him."

"Hm," Emily said, and returned to staring out the window.

She knew what was going on, and she couldn't tell them. "What did you give Levi?" Emily asked abruptly.

"A simple rune, nothing more," The librarian said.

"But Levi's full mortal. Why would you give him actual magic?"

"Several reasons." The Librarian's voice was flecked with annoyance, and Emily saw her mouth tighten a fraction. "You know I can't tell you any more, Emily. Stop pressing the point."

"You're not supposed to give mortals magic, and you did that as well. Guardian, I need to know what's going on."

"I don't half know myself, and I can't have you interfering in things you don't understand and are little prepared to face." They pulled up to their home, but neither made a move to climb out of the car.

Emily stared up at the tall, Victorian, 3 story house, tucked in behind vine covered fences, pine trees, and birches. A carpet of bright green damp grass ran right up to the doorstep. If the yard and gardens in the back weren't so obviously well-tended, the place could have easily fit into a movie of ancient horrors. Cracked paint the color of wistfulness flaked from the wooden panels, and the rust-brown shingles of the steep roof huddled beneath curved iron trellises. Most of the rooms were dark, storage places for weapons, ancient and priceless artifacts from every place the Librarian had lived in her long centuries, and books. Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of ancient works clung to every wall and created a maze with endless bookshelves. Only the two bedrooms on the top floor and the kitchen on the bottom were truly used for living. Emily wondered what Levi might think if she actually showed him where she lived. Living with the Librarian meant allot of strange rules, and one of them was that nobody could ever know the actual location of their house. Not even the postal service, which was always asked to deliver things to the school.

Finally the Librarian sighed. "Emily, when I can tell you more, I shall, but right now the situation is too delicate, too volatile. You're going to have to bottle up that insatiable curiosity for once. Just trust me."

Emily grimaced and popped the car door open without another word. The Librarian sighed after a moment and followed her charge to the back of the car, where a moment later they were unloading the books.

The books were unusual, as the house was unusual, as the Librarian and Emily herself were unusual. Many were written in unearthly tongues, unheard for centuries and forgotten. Many were completely mundane, other than their incredible age and beautiful state of preservation. A few, like the ones the Librarian had ordered shipped to the school, were actually magic. One of those was missing.

Emily hoped against hope that the Librarian wouldn't notice its absence.

Cave

                The dank drip of water echoed around the cave. The rough stone walls were slick and wet. The air was filled with the smell of moisture and wet animal fur. A rat scuttled along in the darkness. It scurried along, nose twitching, searching for food. The rat stopped and raised itself up to smell the air. There was a slight widening of its eyes, a terrified squeak as it tried vainly to run. Too late the last thing it saw was the flash of white teeth and its world ended.

            A seventeen year old, sandy-haired boy walked unconcerned through the dark passageways. His converse shoes made a squeaking noise over the slick spots of the cavern floor. He was tall with wide shoulders and amber eyes stared at his surroundings intently. He had on a hockey shirt with DTSS in bold across the front. The further the young man walked into the caverns the more his shoulders bunched up the more intent his gaze became.

            Further along the cavern a wolf appeared on the sandy-haired youths’ left. The boy didn’t look at it. For all intents and purposes it seemed like he didn’t even know it was there. The only sign that he knew it was there was the further pilling back of his lips. The wolf loped along, its yellow eyes catching the light. Its gray fur rustled and rolled with each step. Another wolf appeared, this time dappled tan. Its tongue hung out and it had a wild look in its eyes. Though the second wolf was slightly smaller than the first, both looked to be the size of ponies.

            They walked into a large cavern, bigger than any that they had previously been through. The front of the cavern held some light, but it was so dark in the back that even the boy’s intent gaze couldn’t pierce it. It was an unnatural darkness; it hunted the light to swallow it whole. The wolves peeled off to either side. Turning, they faced the boy and lay down. They were both no more than a body’s length away. The dappled tan’s eyes seemed to be smiling with madness. A rumble filled the room shaking the stones on the floor. A dark voice echoed inside and around the chamber.

            “Why do you don such a pathetic guise when coming before me, Vragi?” the voice echoed in his bones, touched with malice and amusement. The voice held the promise of death, the power and wisdom of age to do so. The boy Vragi knew that if he wished, the voice could kill him a thousand times over. “Isn’t your normal form more… pleasing?”

            “It is not so easy for me to make the change.” Vragi answered carefully; he bowed his head and stared straight at the ground. “And I bring news too important to waste time. We have found a spawn of the old gods.”

            The chamber rumbled and shook. The darkness boiled. Even the wolfs whimpered and flattened their ears.

            “Tell me what you know.” The voice was cool and collected, sharp, more dangerous than before.

            “One of my pack was found dead on yggdrasil. The stench of a half-blood was all over.” Vragi answered, fighting the urge to put his nonexistent tail between his legs. The chamber was quite for long moments before the voice spook again.

            “The progeny of the deceivers must not live on. You will take care of this, Vragi. I must rest and if this has not been resolved by the time I wake, I will take care of you and the god child.”

The Librarian

Levi turned around to where the Librarian had just set a bunch of books onto the table with a resounding thump.

"I wonder if you could help me with something for a moment, Levi?" The Librarian commanded.

"I, um... okay." Levi glanced back once more, where David and that other guy had been sitting, and then sighed. He would have to try and catch up with one of them later.

"I have a few books I need taken to my car, and since you apparently have no class at this hour, I know you wouldn't mind helping." Her voice was mild, musical even, but their was no doubt that when she "asked", her will was law. Levi had seen the library expanded, the atrium replanted, teachers beg and parents cry, all when she 'asked' for something.

Levi tried not to let his dismay show on his face and glumly took one of the boxes of books. Of course, because these were the Librarian's books, they had dull covers and titles, and looked to be hundreds of years old. Half of them were in languages Levi hadn't even heard of. The box was heavy and sagging, and Levi staggered a bit under the weight, but held on gamely. Never show signs of weakness in front of the Librarian.

Still, he was struggling, face flushed, by the time they got to the car. The Librarian held another box of books, leading the way silently, while Levi huffed and puffed behind her. He struggled to keep up with her long strides. The air was cool outside, and Levi's arms ached by the time they got to the Librarian's car, a green Suzuki hatchback. The trunk popped open with a chirp and Levi heaved his books in.

"What are all these for?" Levi asked curiously.

"It's a personal collection of mine. I had it shipped in from Norway, but they delivered it to the school instead of my home for some reason." She sounded somewhat irritated about that. "It doesn't matter though. Luckily everything arrived intact. Now I just have to get it home."

The Librarian looked down at Levi and smiled, "Thank you very much for helping me." Out of a pocket she produced a small, green stone with a golden symbol etched into it. "Here. Have this."

Levi took the stone, looking at the symbol. It was a straight line with a little triangle on one side, kind of like a weird D. "What is it?"

"That is the letter thorn. You used to have it in English for the "th" sound. It's also a good luck charm. Tribes in Europe would carve these as a form of protection and strength in battle." She laughed a little. "Some would say it's silly, but I'm fond of such things." The Librarian opened her phone, checking the time, and clucked her tongue. "Emily was supposed to be helping me with the books as well, but she seems to have- oh there she is."

Levi looked up from the rune to see Emily carrying another box of books across the parking lot. He slipped the rune into his pocket. A crazy idea popped into his head and before he could stop himself he asked. "Hey, um, do you know anything about alternate universes? Or werewolves?"

"That's quite a combination," the Librarian said wryly.

"I'm doing some research for a friend," Levi said quickly. "He likes to tell stories, so I wanted something to tell him."

"Well, the old vikings had stories about many worlds and about giant wolves, if that's any help. They used symbols like the one I gave you for magic rituals, in fact. You might try looking into Norse Mythology if you get the chance. We have quite a collection int the library."

"Thanks." Levi said. He jogged over to Emily. "You want some help?"

"I've got it, thanks," she panted. "What were you two talking about?"

"Oh, nothing. I'm doing some research for a project, is all." Levi felt really guilty about lying to Emily, but he knew how upset Brett would be if he thought that Levi had asked Emily for help.

Emily didn't look convinced, but didn't comment on that. "Brett has something for you, by the way. I ran into him in the hall." And then they were at the car, sticking the box in with the rest, the Librarian watching them carefully.

"Where were you?" she asked Emily.

"I ran into somebody in the hallway and the books fell on the ground," Emily said shortly.

"Well, let's get these back home. I don't want you late for your next class, dear," the Librarian said.

"Alright. See you Levi."

It always seemed weird to Levi that the Librarian was Emily's guardian. That's what she was called too, Emily never called her 'mom' or 'aunt' or anything, just 'my guardian'. Sometimes it seemed more like they were student and teacher more than family.

He watched as they drove away, and then walked quickly back up to campus.

I know where I am

Levi was lost. He sat at one of the cubical in the school library. It was a box with four separate cubicles. From above it looked almost like a Nazi Hakenkreuz. Levi always thought that that was a little ironic. In front of him was a stack of books. A Werewolf book sat next to a book on ancient Greek mythology along with a book of A History of Northern Vancouver.

Emily wasn’t in the library. Levi hadn’t been planning on telling her anything. But it would have been a lot easier if she had been there to help him. The librarian was there, Levi didn’t know her real name, and he didn’t think anyone else did either. Everyone just knew her as the librarian. Levi hadn’t asked her for help, for some reason she gave him creepy vibes.

The librarian was a very tall woman. She was stick thin and always dressed in a business suit. Her hair was pulled tight into a bun at the back that covered her ears. She had tiny spectacles perched on the tip of a long nose. Everything about her seemed long. Levi didn’t know why people didn’t avoid the library altogether. He would’ve if it wasn’t for Emily. But here and there students sat and did homework and even asked the librarian for help. Levi hadn’t, he had just had to find the books in front of him on his own. There was one thing he was certain of. No one had a late book, ever.

Levi knew exactly where he was. He was sitting in a library in Lynn Academy. The Academy was happily situated on a hill in the northern end of North Vancouver. North Vancouver was happily above greater Vancouver. Vancouver was next to inlet to the Pacific Ocean and just north of the border to the USA in British Colombia. British Colombia was one of the most western of the Canadian territories and Canada was in North America which was a continent on the planet earth. See Levi knew exactly where he was. He was just hopelessly lost, knowing exactly where he was.

Well that at least was what it felt like. After Brett went to have his arm checked out Levi rushed to the Library sure that he could help his friend out and find the answers. Now he sat there staring hopelessly at pages filled with words and pictures. A numb feeling had crept over his body. The shock had worn off now and now he could think. He thought about how Brett had just killed someone. Levi had watched as someone died.

Brett had told him of his stories. About how monster crept up and had to be put down. Honestly Levi had thought he was just telling stories. That Brett liked to make up stories and that he only told them to Him. It was the stuff you read about in comic books and fantasy. Not the kind of stuff that happened to normal people like Levi. It had been alien to find yourself still in school but certain that you were someplace else as well. Somewhere ancient and powerful, not at all like the modern construction of the school. That’s what it had felt like those brief moments when everything had taken on a green light and smelled of freshly turned soil hit by a rainstorm.

All of that took a back seat to the thought that he had just seen someone die. He didn’t try thinking about it but he couldn’t help it. It had been the first time that he had experienced something like that. Levi was certain that Camdon had been trying to kill them. Murder had been in his eyes and his very presence. Levi knew that Camdon would have killed them but it still wasn’t easy seeing what he had seen. How was he going to sleep tonight? Levi lost in his dark thoughts almost missed the susurration.

Levi couldn’t explain it but if a susurration had a feel it would have felt like this. It was like being touched by a whisper. Levi stood up and looked around trying to find the source. It was so slight that he almost did miss it when he found it. Two guys sat at a table in the back corner of the library their heads where close together and they were whispering. They looked like night and day. One was dressed in dark cloths his hair was almost as black as Levi’s. The other was Blonde. The guy with black hair was wearing a black hoodie that had a black fur enterer. It almost looked like he was trying to be Goth, Levi thought to himself, the kid’s skin was so white it almost looked like snow, and when Levi saw his eyes he gulped. They were such a light blue they looked like ice and they stared vacantly across the room. The guy was blind.

Levi knew who the other guy was, everyone did. It was hard not to know who David was. As the school president he had posters and pictures up all over school. He had also done some movies for the schools announcements with the rest of the student council. He was wearing nice blue jeans and had on a white button up shirt with blue pinstripes. His eyes were dark green like emeralds. The susurration feeling was coming from them. They both looked worried and as they talked a shimmer in the air like a heat wave in the summer hung around them.

Levi sat back down quickly. Brett wasn’t the only one, isn’t that what he had said? He had been so certain when he had said it. Maybe they were other superheroes just like Brett. From what Levi could tell everyone liked David. Even guys from other schools and from rival other schools all liked David. Maybe that was his super power to be liked. Maybe the blind kid had a super power too. Maybe they knew what was going on. Maybe they had some answers. The more Levi thought about it the more excited he became. I can get answers for Brett and I won’t have to go to Emily.

Levi stood up excited and ready to go speak to them and then sat back down. What was he going to say? Wasn’t David a senior? Why would he want to talk to him? Maybe the other guy would talk to him. Levi shook his head, your just staling he thought. He stood again determined to go talk to them. He turned and stared at an empty table. Where did they go? He looked around quickly and found them heading out the doors of the library. He was about to go follow them when a voice behind him cleared a throat to get his attention.

Emily Weird

On his way out of Adelaide's office, Brett ran pretty much literally into Emily.

"At least have the common decency to say sorry when you knock someone over," she said angrily, chasing papers and books across the floor. Brett, cheeks burning, bent to help her.

"You could watch where you're going too, you know," Brett said gruffly. One of the fallen books lay open to a page of a wolf, a serpent, and a robed woman standing around a little bearded man with a pointy chin. "What's this, Aesop's Fables?" he asked, waving the book in his hand. Glancing around, he noticed several of the books with similar themes. One picture in particular caught his eye, like a twisted Celtic circle thing made out of a tree. For some reason it seemed vaguely familiar.

"It's the Librarian's private collection," Emily huffed, adjusting her glasses. "I should have known it was you."

"Hey, I'm trying to be nice. See?" Brett handed her the books back in a neat pile. "I can be nice every once in awhile."

"Right, right." Emily seemed preoccupied. She took a deep breath, eyes closed, and when she opened them again she was her normal, stiff, acerbic self. "I apologize, Brett, for my unfortunate and misdirected outburst of vitriolic sentiment. I should not have maligned your chivalrous attempts to offer assistance."

Brett glowered. She always had to use huge words, when regular sized-ones would do. Brett always got the vague feeling that Emily had a personal distaste for him, though he wasn't sure why. Or maybe it was the knowing way she was staring at his bandages, like she knew exactly what was under them, and didn't like it. Either way, he always felt a bit uneasy around her.

"Are you okay? You look pretty banged up?" Emily said. She nodded to herself, "Just went to see Adelaide? That girl is amazing."

"Um, sure." Brett said awkwardly. "Do you, I don't know, want help with this stuff?" Why did I say that? Brett thought in disgust. Now I'm going to have to help her carry all this crap.

"No thank you, I'll be fine for the moment." Emily seemed to hesitate for a moment. "You could do something else for me though." She held one book out from the stack, a small, leather-bound thing. It had faded, soft yellow pages and creaked slightly in his hand. "You don't mind breaking a few rules, do you?"

Brett bristled. "Come on, Emily, give me a break."

Emily glanced at his bandages and snorted. "Obviously." She lowered her voice, glancing around to make sure they weren't overheard. A couple of seniors were laughing about something just down the hall, but otherwise they seemed to be alone. Looking straight into Brett's eyes, Emily said slowly, "I guess I forgot that one when the books fell. Clumsy of me." She dropped the book with a little plot between them. "I'm sure if somebody found it in the hall, they could take it back to the library in a couple days, saying where they picked it up."

Brett stared at her. "Are you asking me to steal this book for you?" He whispered, "Isn't this a bit too cloak and dagger."

Annoyance flashed across her face. "Brett, just pick it up."

Rolling his eyes, Brett grabbed the book, and gestured to hand it back to Emily.

"No, don't try to hand it back! Oh, you are hopeless at this," she grimaced. "Brett, have you ever tried lying to the Librarian? Have you ever met anybody who could get away with lying to her?"

"Not really." Brett shrugged. "But I'm not in the library too much."

"Well, take it from me, it doesn't work. You know; you might understand better than most that sometimes things aren't always what they seem, am I right?" Emily said almost casually.

Brett shrugged, giving nothing away, a cocky grin on his face. "Sure," he agreed without agreeing. He looked into Emily's eyes steadily, and she turned away, seeming a little confused.

"Anyways, just talk to Levi. He'll understand."

"Yeah, whatever." Brett shifted his feet, indicating his desire to go. "You should probably get going or the Librarian will start where you're at."

As she hurried away, Brett glanced down at the book in his hand. On the leather cover was another tree, and the title Prophecies of the Volva. He nearly started snorting, his face quickly turned from red to white, and he tucked it quickly under his arm. He didn't want anybody seeing what she'd given him.

Adelaide

“You should really go to hospital to have this looked at.” Adelaide said as she used a clamp and cotton swab to wipe away the blood and clean the wound on Brett’s chest and arm.

Brett nodded mutely as he let the chastisement wash over him. He sat on the hard bench bed that they used for doctor offices. Brett decided to go to the sports medicine room instead of the nurse’s office. He told himself that it was closer and more familiar but in reality he knew it was because he wanted to see Adelaide. He had thought it would be such a good idea to have Adelaide look at his wounds now he just felt like an idiot. A very happy, and contented idiot.

Adelaide LeBeaux was in Brett’s opinion the prettiest sophomore around. She had an exotic unearthly beauty about her, with hair such a pale blonde it almost seamed white. Striking eyes that in the right light turned violet. Pale white skin that almost seemed to glow. Quite honestly she looked like an angel. And when she came to treat you on the field after you were injured you almost didn't mind that you got hurt.

Adelaide wasn't the school nurse and it was really only luck that she was there by herself at all. Adelaide was the assistant to the sports medicine teacher and she had become so her freshman year. To say she was talented at medicine was an understatement. A lot of the players on the football team, and from Brett had heard from other teams as, well all agreed that Adelaide had more talent for medicine then the sports medicine instructor and the school nurse combined.

“How did you get this anyway?” Adelaide said working on the bite on Brett’s arm. “It looks like some kind of animal attacked you.”

“Ya, it was a umm… big dog.” Brett said. For some reason his brain wasn’t working so well. “Animals don’t seem to like me all too much. Well except raptors, I seem to get along with them okay.”

“Raptors?” Adelaide replied. “Oh you mean birds.”

“Well raptors more refer to birds of prey, like eagle’s hawks and owls.” Brett always felt a little like a nerd when he talked about birds. But it was the only subject besides sports that he knew a lot about. And right now he would almost say that he won the nerd competition to keep talking to Adelaide, well maybe not that.

“Well I’m really worried about this dog bite. I didn’t think dogs attacked for no reason.” Adelaide continued now focused back on Brett’s wounds. “The wound looks clean but did you notice anything about the dog? Did it look and act healthy? Did you see any excess drool around the mouth?”

“No nothing like that. It seemed really healthy just really really angry.” Brett momentarly got lost in thought. Why was the monster so angry? Why was he being attacked all the time? What was the strange place he kept going to? Camdon said more were coming. More of what? So many questions and he didn’t have any answers.

“Hey are you alright?” Adelaide was only a couple of inches from his face staring deeply into his eyes. Brett momentarily startled jumped back and immediately regretted it. So close and he ruined it. She had smelled… nice.

“No I’m fine.” He managed to strangle out of his tight throat.

“Are you sure?” Adelaide pressed. “You looked really worried about something.

“It’s fine.” Brett said “it’s my own problem.”

“Oh, is that so?” Adelaide said beginning to wrap his arm and torso with gaze. She was very quick. Her touch was light and gentle. She smiled slightly as she asked another question. “Are you an idiot Brett?”

“Well I try not to be.” Brett said carefully, trying not to be offended by the question. Man she had a pretty smile.

“Good, because only idiots refuse to get help when they’re in trouble.” She finished wrapping his arm and stood back to look at her work. “Okay all done. Put your shirt back on and promise me that you will go see a doctor.”

“Okay.” Brett mumbled as he pulled his ruined shirt over his head.

“And Brett?” Adelaide said as Brett was about to go out the door.

“ya.” Brett answered turning around and waiting for her to continue.

“You should really find someone to help you when you’re in trouble. The star quarterback can’t handle everything. There’s a reason why you have a team around you and it’s just not you on the field.”

Not Emily

"No, Levi." Brett shook his head. "Nobody can know but the two of us. Not even my family knows."

"Not even if she can help you make sense of what's going on?" Levi asked. 

"She? Who are you thinking of... Emily?? No way," Brett said. "She doesn't even like me." 

"Emily likes everybody," Levi said. "And she's really smart, you know. I didn't even have to say who I was thinking of. You thought of her right away too." Levi started following back to the school. the more excited he got, the bigger his hand motions became, but he still kept his voice low. "You're going to want to think up a story for that arm, by the way." 

"Dude, I'm not telling Emily anything. She's your friend, not mine." Brett still didn't notice any pain. It's not that he wasn't aware, in a peripheral way, that he'd been injured. It just didn't bother him at all. But at least this would give him the opportunity to visit the nurses office.

"One time I asked her about the Chinese ships that were supposed to have come to the Americas way back before Columbus," Levi said, ignoring what Brett said completely, "and she gave me pages and pages of stuff, pictures and citations and everything, all in a couple hours. She just knew exactly where to look. I'm telling you, she knows pretty much anything. I bet if we asked her, she'd be able to pull up a couple other cases of people like you. Unexplained stuff is her favorite." 

"Wait, you think there could be others like me?" Brett asked. He felt a little uneasy about that. So far, anything that Brett had faced went down without too many issues. But if he ever ran up against someone like himself, someone who constantly had to keep his real strength in check? Brett didn't say it, but he'd always felt like some sort of superhero, an avenging angel or something, meant to fight monsters. That's what he did, all the time. Somehow, the thought of others like him made him feel smaller. 

"Of course you wouldn't be the only one, Brett. If their are as many monsters as you say, constantly giving you grief, than I just bet that you can't be the only hero. Otherwise, wouldn't more people notice the monsters?" Levi said, sounding utterly convinced of his own logic. 

"Still, I don't want to tell Emily the Weird," Brett said. Levi glared at him for it, but Brett didn't care. It was his life, and his secret. "I don't care what she knows. I don't want her to know about me. I don't want her adding me to her collection of 'strange encounters'. I got more than enough weirdness in my life as it is." 

"But aren't you even curious to know how you got to be this way?" Levi asks. 

"I doubt anybody really knows how we get to be what we are," Brett said. "No Emily. I'm trusting you on this, Levi."

"Fine," Levi grumbled. "I'll just have to try to figure it out on my own." 

"That's what I've been doing for the past five years," Brett said, grinning. "Seems like my whole life sometimes didn't even start until then." 

"Five years?" Levi sounds surprised. "I didn't think it'd been going on that long."  

"The first time I didn't fight anything. I just saw it. I was on an airplane, and I looked out the window, and their it was, an eagle the same size as the plane. An eagle the size of a Boeing 747. It swooped right past us, and one of the little kids a few seats ahead of me started yelling, but nobody else noticed. Too busy sleeping or watching the in-flight movie to see what was right next to them." Brett thought often about the strangely immense intelligence he'd seen in the eye of the bird. It had kept pace with the plane for awhile, almost like it was waiting for him to notice it. Then, when he had, the eagle had swooped away. 

"Roc," Levi said confidently, "Giant birds like that are called Rocs. If you'd talked to Emily, you'd know what it was already." 

"Dude, shut up about Emily already," Brett growled. "I don't care what she knows, I don't want her nose in my business." He made a mock swing at Levi, who dodged it, grinning. "Anyways, I know what a roc is. I looked them up right after I saw the eagle. Wikipedia said they were from Madagascar, and this thing didn't look like that. It looked more... I don't know, more like it was used to cold weather. Northerly, or something." 

They were almost back inside the school. As Brett opened the doors, Levi asked, "And that was the first time?" 

"Yeah," Brett answered, "Although to be honest things didn't really start showing up on my doorstep until we moved to here." 

Thoughts

Brett looked over at Levi. He hadn’t moved since Brett had run the wolf though. Levi was looking at Brett like he had never seen him before. His face was pale and his eyes were wide. His breaths came in pants and he was shaking slightly.

“Dude, are you okay?” Brett asked Levi. Brett felt the change. The slight green light was fading the smell of the forest was almost gone now. The fence that Brett had torn apart fell and crashed to the floor. There was yelling from the gym below. “This is no time to be in shock.” Brett said grabbing Levi and pulling him towards the narrow staircase. “We need to get out of here now.”

They meet Taylor coming up as they were halfway down. “What happened?” he asked animatedly. “One moment Sam is saying how you’re taking too long and then the next we hear a gigantic crash coming form up here.”

Brett was about to answer him when Levi beat him to it. “It was awesome!” Brett almost strangled him. “That other guy from the other school just came here to fight Brett. Brett just threw him down and then the guy just started going crazy and broke the fence then took off didn’t you see him go past you on your way up?”

Brett looked in shock at Levi. That was not what he had been expecting him to say. Levi was still white and shaky, but the light was coming back into his eyes and he was grinning excitedly.

“No I didn’t see him go past me.” Taylor said looking around him, and up and down the stairs. Looking to see if Camdon was still hiding somewhere in the shadows. “Figures, the guy looked like nothing but trouble. Well we better take off. Most of the guys are already gone, come on.”

They took of down the stairs clearing the last in one great leap and headed out the gym doors. The color was now back in Levi’s face and his eyes shown with excitement. Brett should have known better. Levi would never betray him. Levi had been the only one that he had told his experiences to. For some reason he had been certain that Levi would never betray him and tell anyone. Now he just had those thoughts and feelings confirmed to him.

They didn’t stop running until they were safely outside of the school. They stood for a moment panting Levi had his hands on his knees. Brett slapped him on the back. Levi wasn’t the best at running and sports. Finally Taylor stood up looking around.

“Well I think I’m gonna go look for the other guys and make sure they haven’t been caught. I’ll catch you latter at Practice k Brett.” Taylor said turning to go back into the building.

“Okay sees you at Practice.” Brett replayed watching Taylor disappear into the building. Levi and Brett just stood there in silence just looking at each other finally Levi broke it with a question.

“Sooo, what are you?” He asked

“What do you mean?”

“Well you threw a pony sized wolf around like it was a doll and then you riped a mettle poll out of the ground and used it like a spear. I know you’ve told me stories, but to be honest, I thought they were just stories. That was pretty weird and in your case superhuman and in its case not human at all.” Levi paused for a moment thinking and then almost yelled excitedly. “Dude are you a super hero?”

“Wait, what?” Brett said confused

“Have you ever been bitten by a radioactive spider?” Levi asked.

“No”

“Are you an alien from another world?”

“NO!”

“Just making sure, did you ever sign up for a top military experiment?”

“No.”

“Would you tell me if you had?”

“Yes.”

“Sweet, Are you a billionaire and were your parents killed in front of you.”

“Dude Levi you know my parents.”

“Did an alien come and give you a magic ring that you have to charge at night.”

“Dude no and what’s with the alien questions.”

“Just making sure. So that only leaves two possibilities. One you’re a mutant. And the other is that you’re a demigod.”

“Dude Levi you’re confusing me buddy.” Brett said his head starting to hurt.

“Well it is standard for superhero origins. If you’re not an alien, have no alien weapons, aren’t rich and haven’t had your parent killed in front of you, if you haven’t been exposed to anything then that leaves being a mutant and or demigod. Although we are gonna have to keep an eye on you and make sure you don’t turn into a werewolf.”

“A what. Dude Levi you know that sometimes you’re really out there.” Brett said incredulously.

“Come on Brett wasn’t that what Camdon was. He was a kid that turned into a wolf. I think that is the definition of a werewolf.”

“Look Levi I don’t even know what’s going on. I would love to know what’s going on but I don’t. So right now I just want to get my arm wrapped up. I’m surprised Taylor didn’t say anything about it.” Brett walked off starting to go back inside and turned around when he realized that Levi wasn’t following. Levi was staring down at the sidewalk lost in thought. “Dude are you coming?”

“Well I can’t help you with your arm.” Levi said. “But I might know where we can get some answers.” 

The Wolf

"Great, not again," Brett sighed and turned to see what it would be this time.

Camdon stood behind them, growling, eyes narrowed. His hair stood straight up on his head, and as they watched his eyes started glowing a dull red. Fangs like needles schiiiikked into place where normal human teeth should have been. Camdon's chest narrowed and bulged grotesquely, claws extended from fingers, and fur rippled across his skin.

"You should have said something before," Brett said, cracking his knuckles and settling into a more defensive posture. "We could have taken this outside." Brett glanced over his shoulder, where Levi was scrambling back out of the cage of sports equipment. "Stay back Levi."

"I got your back," Levi answered, completely ignoring his advice. He dragged a hockey stick out from the supply room, eyes shining with excitement.

"Dude, you can't handle this," Brett turned slightly, focusing his attention on Levi. In that moment the wolf-Camdon was rushing him.

Camdon was now a totally transformed monster. He ran on all fours, with great curving talons instead of nails. Saliva dripped from his toothy maw, and his pointed black ears were pressed tight to his skull.

Brett was ready. His pulse quickened in excitement. He dropped to the floor, letting Camdon sail over him. The monster just missed, and Brett caught at the back paws before it had time to react, yanking it forward. Heaving the wolf-like creature now bigger than a tiger, he smashed it into the ground, cracking the linoleum flooring.

It was back on its feet in a second, teeth firmly bared in Brett's direction. The beast now favored one front paw. Its hackles raised, the thing that had looked like a boy only minutes before cut loose with a shivery, hungry hum, like the grumble of a diesel truck on steroids. They circled each other slowly, each looking for an opening.

That's when Levi came up from behind and swatted the monster wolf over the head with the hockey stick. Probably not the smartest decision he'd made in his life.

Camdon howled and swiped at him, breaking the hockey stick in two. Levi stumbled away, a comic terror pasting his face.

Brett leaped forward as the beast sprang for Levi's throat, just barely managing to pull the creature off of the smaller teen. He strained to keep the thing contained, Levi yelling and screaming to get it off of him, muscles straining as it struggled forward.

The wolf thing turned, teeth snapping, and grazed Brett's arm. Its claws scraped gouges across his chest.

A moment later they were all tumbling, twisting, falling down onto a branch of the Tree.

That's how Brett always thought of the strange gold-green twilight of leaf-litter and rough bark. He'd been here several times before, always just before or during a fight with some kind of monster. What made this visit different is that this time someone else had come along as well.

A moment after Brett and the Camdon wolf, Levi hit the ground, groaning.

Brett barely had time to worry about that. Almost before he could get to his feet the wolf was on top of him, snapping, scraping, clawing. Its jaws slobbered and bent forward, snapping inches from Brett's face. It twisted and bit down, hard, on Brett's arm, shaking him.

Brett gritted his teeth to keep from howling. He felt wet warmth in his arm, but managed to block out most of the pain. Rage tinged the edges of his vision red, and a feeling of invincibility engulfed him. A second later he gripped the wolf-things throat, injuries forgotten, and roared at it. The thing yipped back. Yanking it off his arm, Brett surged to his feet and tossed the beast away, all in one motion.

It thudded into a tree and lay still for a moment, stunned. The monster tried to regain its feet, wobbling, and then fell down, whimpering.

Brett ran over to Levi. "Are you alright? What did you think you were doing?" He yelled.

Levi stood shakily on his feet. "I'm alright."

"You won't be," the monster snarled, the worlds strangely twisted from its unnatural lips. "I'm merely the first. Soon my brothers will come for you, and they will tell others. The spawn of the dead gods shall not live." The creature hacked blood.

Brett broke off a branch of the tree, body trembling with adrenaline. As the creature made one final, halfhearted rush in their direction, Brett speared it through the chest. It shuddered once, and lay still.

"You killed him," Levi whispered, shocked.

South Gym

They walked through the hall. Most of the guys talked about their fantasy football teams. They would then switch and talk about real football teams so much that Levi didn't know which was which. They also talked about cars and girls. Girls was the only one of their subjects that Levi would have felt comfortable talking with them about. Besides Brett, Levi didn't feel very comfortable with any of the other guys. They were all seniors and juniors, they were jocks as well. Not the type of guys Levi usually hanged out with. Although it seemed that they only associated with him when they wanted him to open up the gym for them. they all seemed pretty cool. except for Camdon. He followed them through the Halls like he was stalking them.

            It was easy enough getting into the gym. Lynn Academy had three of them and Levi could pretty much get into any of them. He didn't know how to pick locks but he could get in with just a pen and a credit card. The biggest and nicest of the gyms was to the east and was reserved for Varsity events. The second largest gym was the North gym, and was the second largest gym used for school gatherings.

They headed to the South gym. It was the smallest of the gyms but held an advantage over the others, new equipment. The south gym held the room where all the new equipment was stored in. It was a strange room, Levi always thought of it like a birds nest. It was built into one of the walls over the rooms beneath. it was open to the gym but was about to levels up. the only way to get to it was a small staircase also built into the wall. This was the real reason that they all need Levi to help them.

Levi got the door open easily enough, and they all filed inside. He had found out how to get in here one day when he was looking for a place to play his music. Then Brett had showed up with some of the other football players and started to play basketball. Levi had never joined them, he had helped them get the Basketballs but he had never joined them. Levi wasnt that great at sports, not like Brett was. But most people weren't like Brett. Most people didn't have weird things happen to them all the time.

Most of the guys started rough housing and running around as soon as they were in the gym. Brett and Levi headed for the door set into one wall that lead up to the supply room and the basketballs that everyone wanted to play with. Levi was able to open the door and they headed up the narrow staircase.

“So, what brought up this basketball excursion?” Levi asked Brett as they headed up the dark passageway.

“Oh, you know. Didn’t like the way the conversation was going and decided to bail. “A couple of the other guys joined me and said they wanted to play basketball. And so thats how I ended up here.”

“Wow Brett. Thats so exciting I don’t know how you can handle your oh so popular and hard lifestyle.” Levi said sarcastically.

“Haha shut up man. You know I just love to play the game.” Brett said. “I could do without all the extra stuff.”

“Ha, ya, I know you Brett. You're just eating it up. Just admit that you like the attention. It will be easier when you do.”

“Ya sure Levi.” Brett said sarcastically, as they reached the top.

All the new equipment was behind a chain link fence that made a wall. They must not have had enough of the fencing because there was a little bit at the top that was just wood slats. Levi had loosened one up so that he could move it. When he did that there was just enough room for him to fit in. Thats why the jocks needed him. They were all to big to fit through the small whole.

“Okay.” Levi said. “I’ll be back in a jiffy.”

“Not if I eat you first.” said a cruel voice from behind them.

Levi

Brett went to find Levi, who of course was hanging out in the band room. He had out his guitar and seemed perfectly able to to ignore the three flautists in another corner, shrilly practicing their solo performance. Levi was totally engrossed in his music, head bent and shaggy hair obscuring his eyes.

"Dude, what are you playing?" Brett asked. Levi looked up, startled. Brett laughed. "You're so spacey, bro. I've been standing here, like, five minutes."

"Sorry," Levi placed his guitar back in the case and stacked it carefully in the back with the rest of the instruments. "Cliffs of Dover. Just kind of needed some music time. What's up?"

"A couple of the guys and I were thinking you could open the gym for us." Brett grinned.

"Again? Isn't this like the third time this week?" Levi made a huge sigh, pretending to be upset about it, but Brett knew his buddy was pleased to be asked for help.

"We've got to get in extra practice for Friday's game," Brett held up his hands. "We've been a little rusty on the last couple plays."

"You play basketball in the gym."

"Haven't you ever heard about that one dude that took ballet so that it could make him faster in football?" Brett threw his arm over Levi's shoulders as they left the squeaky flutes behind.

"Why don't you guys do ballet then?" Levi laughed.

Out in the hall Luke, Sam, Taylor, and two other guys that Levi didn't recognize were waiting. "Hey guys,"

Luke and Taylor were arguing about who got Andrew Luck for their fantasy football teams. "Dude, you got screwed on the draw. It happens, I got him fair and square." Luke crossed his arms.

"Payton Manning and Eli Manning are already taken by the red heads," Taylor listed on his fingers. "Brett's got Tom Brady is taken, Drew Breeze is taken. All I got left is Tony Romo. Switch me and I'll give you DeSean Jackson."

"What's up Levi?" Sam greeted him. He nodded to the two new guys, while Luke and Taylor continued arguing. "This is Camdon and Zhang from the game last week. They're hanging with us today."

Zhang smiled in greeting, but Camdon only bared his teeth. "So this is the guy? Let's get going," He said.

Brett had been feeling uneasy over Sam's friends... mostly Camdon. But Sam always tried to keep in touch with players from the other teams, and Zhang was pretty cool. Camdon just got on Brett's nerves with his gruff attitude and the weird way he stared at everyone like he wanted to murder them.

"No way," Luke wasn't budging. "Luck is mine. Better luck next season."

"Let's get going," Brett said, leading the way towards the gym. The older guys continued arguing as they wandered down the hall.

Brett

“Okay five hottest girls in school go.” Sadly this was a normal conversation around Brett. At least it was better than when they said what 5 girls do you want to bang in school. They had stopped doing that one around Brett when he started yelling at them for it.

“And this time no Clair, everyone knows she’s the hottest but she’s with David so none of us are going to get that one.” There was some laughing around the table, at Luke’s comment. Luke wasn’t always the instigator but he brought up the conversation about girls more often than anyone else.

The table consisted of your typical jock type. Athletic, big and burly. Most of them were seniors and juniors. There weren’t really any sophomores and Brett was the only freshman. 15 and already taller than most of the guys on the team, Brett had earned his right to sit at this table. He was there quarterback, and as of right now they were undefeated. Something unheard of for a new school like Lynn Academy. It was all thanks to players like Brett and others like Ben and Mark. Brett wouldn’t have even come here but Levi said he wanted to come for the music. So Brett had followed his best friend and became the quarterback, easily beating out the old one.

“Well, have you seen the librarian’s assistant, Emily?” Said one of the linebackers.

“When have you ever been in a library?” Someone else said bringing louds of laughter from the rest of the table. Even the guy who they were laughing at joined in.

“haha ya well she’s pretty Hot. I bet she would just go wild when…” The linebacker looked over at Brett and swallowed what he had been about to say. “Well she’s real hot.” This was meet by everyone pounding on the table showing there agreement.

“Dude my choice is…” Sam the cornerback said, quickly looking around, and after his next sentence it became apparent why. “Holly. Redheads are hot and she is smokin.” This was again meet by laughter and hearty pounding on the table. They would have never said that with Ben and Mark around. It just wasn’t a good idea to have your face reconstructed by the twins.

“Well if we are going for dangerous here why not…” again another quick look around. This time it was Taylor the wide receiver doing the talking. Good natured and always one for a laugh he had most of the guys attention waiting on his choice. “Autumn?” This brought on lots off table banging and some hollering and back slapping. “I know you would probably never be able to tell who was in charge of the relationship.” Taylor went on. “But if tall, brunette sexy amazon is on your list you won’t find any girl better then Autumn to fulfill your dreams.”

“Well if you’re gonna do Autumn you might as well include Tori.” Said someone else. “Heck there always together and if you get lucky you might get both. Although with Tori you’ll always need to check for a bucket of cold water.” More laughter and table slapping.

Brett sighed inwardly. Too bad the twins weren’t here. They at least had cool things to talk about. Especially Mark, if you could get him talking about circuit boards and stuff he could go on for hours. And even though Ben didn’t share is brother’s love for electronics and spent most of his time in shop class, don’t let that fool you. He had the mind of an engineer and had stumped countless people with the puzzles he made.

“What about you Brett?” Luke asked. “Who’s your pick?”

Crap Brett thought, I should’ve left when I had the chance. The whole table was now looking at him, smiling. They all knew who he liked. It was pretty obvious. It was also obvious that half of them liked her to. When she showed up it seemed like half the team came down with injuries. They just liked bringing this up to watch him squirm.

“Annnd that’s my queue to leave” Brett said grabbing his stuff. “See you guys at practice.” As he was leaving he could barely make out some of the conversation he was leaving.

“Dude his head over heels for her.”

“Ya but if he wants her he better get in line. He might be the QB but his still just a freshman.”

“Come on guys. You all know none of us stands a chance she doesn’t go for athletes and if any of us got with her we’d all beat the crap out of him.”

The last thing he heard was laughter as he left the lunchroom was the sound of their laughter and the beat of their hands on the table.

Waiting in the Car

Hod, Claire, and David walked out of the caves together. The bright lights of Lion's Gate Bridge and the city, the sound of the cars rushing past, and the cool running water were so clean after that dark place. They wandered back to David's car, where they finally got some decent reception. David stepped out for a moment and made a call to Mr. Lords.

When he got back, Claire and Hod were snuggled together in the back seat. They'd pulled out one of the emergency blankets. Hod seemed at ease, finally, the near permanent crease in his brow smoothed, the tightness around his mouth loosed in sleep. His head was on Claire's, her head on his shoulder. She was quietly fiddling with the lapels on his jacket.

"You're dad's already on his way, with James and Alvarado and the others. They'll be here in a half hour," David said quietly. "You guys doing okay?"

"Yeah," Claire said quietly, "I'm fine. Hod's asleep."

"I am not," Hod said, smiling. "I just like it here." He hugged Claire to him, and she snuggled closer. "What did you tell Mr. Lord?"

"Nothing much. Just that we found his daughter. Apparently he noticed something strange with Sherrie, and when they started going through old security footage they noticed Claire and Sheila in multiple places at the same time. By that time we were already underground, so we didn't get any of their messages." David settled into the driver's seat. "Guys, what are we going to do? We've never told anyone about the weird stuff before. Now suddenly Claire's whole family knows. More than my own mom and dad, definitely more than yours, Hod."

"David, stop being silly. Claire was kidnapped, we all almost died. I think worrying about that right now's a little insensitive," Hod said irritably.

"I'm fine, Hod," Claire said firmly. She paused. "Stuff like this has happened to you guys before, huh?"

David nodded. "Yeah."

Hod grimaced. "A lot." He hesitated. "And we're not the only ones."

"What?" Now it was David's turn to be surprised. "Who?"

"I'm not sure but... I think maybe Autumn. Maybe Brett, that new quarterback. A few others I'm even less sure of," Hod said, thinking out loud. "And... I think Claire has as well." The last was a slight question.

"A few times, I thought I've felt some things. I always called it luck," Claire admitted uncomfortably. "But I think I've always been subconsciously aware of the odd weirdness cropping up. Nothing like this. This was..." She shuddered. "I'm going to want counseling for sure." She got a puzzled look on her face. "But how I'm going to explain this, I have no idea."

"You can't," Hod said quietly. "My mom's a psychiatrist, and she never understood my 'psychotic episodes' as she called them. Tried to put me on Seroquel. The only person who really understood was David, and that's because the same kinds of things were happening with him."

"So you guys are like superheroes?" Claire asked. "David's impossible," she checked out his face and amended, "really hard to hurt."

"And my insufferable charm," David said, grinning. "Not even the hag could resist falling for my good looks," he stated, almost bitterly.

"And Hod, I'm guessing, can do something with ice," Claire continued.

Hod nodded. "And a few other things," he admitted. "It's not just what we can do, though," Hod continued seriously. "It's like their's another world behind this one, and we catch hints of it. Sometimes we notice things looking back from the other side."

Claire clutched his hoodie in her hand, then sat up. "Okay. We'll keep this mostly to ourselves. I'm pretty good at keeping secrets. So's my dad. It's kind of his job." She looked at David in the eyes, holding Hod's hands in her own. Hod sat up, looking in her direction. "I'm pretty sure I can convince him this was a mostly normal kidnapping, and that you guys saved me. The caves will take some explaining, and the doubles in the security footage, but I'm sure we can come up with something."

"Thanks," David sighed. "I guess all we have to do is wait."

Claire leaned close to Hod's ear, speaking so softly that even in the close confines of the car David wouldn't hear. "Thanks for coming to my rescue, Hod."

In the darkness, Hod smiled.

Rags

David was glowing! He was literally glowing. Clair walked beside him in the now illuminated passageway. It was hard for her to believe everything that had happened. if she hadn't been able to hear taste and touch everything she might not have believed it had happened at all. She gripped the nail and stayed close to David. Haf’gifr could be hiding anywhere.

As they walked in silence other things entered Clair’s mind. Things that didn't quit make since. David getting thrown incredibly hard into the wall and getting right back up. The hags claws that had so easily gone into Clair’s shield sliding across David’s skin barley scratching it. The way that David’s touch had just melted the Hags drug effects away. She understood none of it, and it frightened her.

They walked further and Clair put her hands to her arms. It felt like winters bone cold chill was coming from the direction that they were heading. They turned a corner and entered a large cavern and suddenly it was winter. Everything glittered, covered in a layer of ice. It all had an eire beauty about it.

There was a hep of rags by them. Clair gasped as they moved slightly. It wasn't rags it was Hod. Both Clair and David rushed to his side turning him over. He was covered in blood. His sweater and cloths now just ribbons of cloth. He felt colder then the room around them.

“Hod? Hod are you okay?” David and Clair said at the same time. His eyes didn’t open and his breath was so shallow. Clair eyes started to tear up. She couldn’t help it. Hod looked so torn up, he didn't even feel alive, and she had been so terrible to him lately. She pulled Hod onto her lap and then really did start crying.

“Cant you do anything for him?” Clair said through her tears turning to David.

“I’ll try.” David said taking Hods hand and closed his eyes in concentration.

“I’m so sorry Hod.” Clair started to say. Crying and holding his head. “Its was me Hod. I’m Elizabeth. I’m so so sorry that I ran out on you. I didn’t mean to I wanted to tell you for this whole time but I didn’t know how. Don’t die Hod. Don’t die hear not now.”

A hand brushed across her face wiping away a tear. Clair stared down at Hod. His eyes were still clossed but his face now held a smile.

“It is you.” He whispered.

Warning: Scary

The hag grabbed David's sword in her hand has he swung it down, jerking him off his feet and throwing him to the wall. He hit with a loud thwak! and groaned as he slumped to the floor.

"I will find her and kill her, little boy," The hag purred. "Her fate was sealed the moment I learned she was close to you." Stalking over, she grabbed David by his jacket, long raspy talons tearing through the fleece and polyester. "I wanted to save you, perhaps. You are so beautiful, like Freyr. But I need your heart's blood to bridge this world to the next."

David grasped at the ground for something, anything he could use against the hag. he gripped coins and balled them into his fists, punching her reptilian skin. Laughing, she flung him across the cavern to smash against the other wall.

David staggered to his feet, but she was already on top of him again, inhumanely fast, monstrously strong. She lifted him into the air with one clawed hand. She drew the other back, but before she could plunge it into his chest to pull out his beating heart, a broken broom-handle sprouted from her chest. The hag gasped and dropped David to the ground, whirling in an instant on the girl behind her.

"Leave David alone!" Claire screamed. She held the other half of the splintered broom in her hand like a sword, raising a shield in front of her. The hag swiped, and Claire just barely managed to get out of the way of the terrible talons, stumbling in her rush. The claws scraped the edge of the shield, tearing through jagged scratches.

"Your death I will make sweet," gasped the troll-wife, gurgling blood from her mouth as she yanked the makeshift stake out of her back and cast it across the room. "Sweet and long and painful."

David gasped for breath on hands and knees. Surging to his feet, he grabbed the first object that came to hand--a rusted nail the size of a railroad spike--and rushed forward. The hag turned as he approached, claws glinting in the strange green light. David raised the giant nail in front of him, parrying the awful talons.

In his hand was no longer a nail, but a sword, plain, with a dark leather handle and chunky pommel. David swung like a man possessed, putting all his rage, terror, and desperation into it. The hag's arm skittered through the air to splat against the wall. A moment later David struck her in the chest, the blade somehow cutting deep. Claire joined from the other side, raising the broken broom in both hands and burying it into the monster.

Shock glazed the hag's face. She shivered, a huge motion that knocked Claire to the ground and jerked the sword from David's hands. Her remaining arm seized at David, slicing his coat to ribbons and scraping across his skin with her talons, but then she fell back. Her body rapidly shifted from Claire to Sheila to others, a dozen faces of beautiful women David didn't recognize. She curled around the sword, gave one final gasp, and lay still. Her body calcified until a statue of a one-armed woman lay in front of them.

"The other one said that metal doesn't work on trolls," Claire said, breathing heavily. "How'd you do that?"

David looked down at the sword in his hand. "I don't think this is a regular sword," he said inanely. In a moment it shrunk back to a large nail. "Let's go find Hod."

Claire nodded, pausing only to grab another of the nails from the cave floor. In a moment they broke into a jog, back the way David had come, his skin glowing strongly, lighting the way.

Freeze

Hod was picked up and thrown across the room. He was able to twist in the air so that his feet hit the cavern wall first but that didn’t stop him falling flat on his face afterward. Gravity can be mean like that sometimes.

Okay so the thing had to have some kind of healing ability. Maybe it was like Wolverines, and had that healing type of ability. Hod didn’t just stay to the classics. Although he did prefer the classics over more contemporary pieces. Besides they don’t really make comics for the blind. Time to find out how much of a healing ability this thing had.

Hod ran. It wasn’t his favorite thing to do. It made the map in his head go bleary and he lost focus. He heard the troll come at him, good. The troll swiped at his head, Hod blocked it with his arm but not completely. He redirected the troll’s momentum and sent it stumbling past him. This should be the spot. Hod quickly did a sweep with his foot and hand. The arm that Hod had broken off was gone. The troll must have taken it and reattached it during their fight. That was good to know. This would have been tough if the thing could regrow limbs.

The thing swiped at Hod again. This time Hod ducked under the intended blow. He caught the things arm and thrust upward with his other hand into the things armpit. Hod heard a pop the troll cried out in pain and Hod smiled. The move didn’t come without consequences as the trolls other arm knocked him back.

Hod started to count. One, two, three… he went in again. Attacking the troll with everything that he had. 17, 18, 19… Hod dodged kicked and twisted trying to stay out of the trolls reach and give it punishment at the same time. 29,30,31… the troll swung at Hod with the arm that he had just dislocated a moment before. So it took the troll only 30 seconds to heal. No wonder everything that Hod had done had been for naught.

It seemed that the only thing that seemed to work on the beast was when Hod had frozen and knocked its arm off. But that in itself held dangers as well. Freezing something took energy out of Hod. Freezing something quickly took more energy. Being able to freeze something in seconds took more still. How was he going to beat this monster if he couldn’t kill it after freezing it? Would he only be able to freeze it so far and then lay on the ground helpless as the thing ate him. His thoughts were interrupted as the troll started to laugh and then speak.

“Mother says I need to hurry. She already have the Gold one ina cage. Say I can eat the not-Hod all I want.” The thing lunged forward screaming as it went. “Come here not-Hod. I eat you now.”

Hod stood in shock. David was in trouble now along with Clair. This was no time to be thinking. Hod widened his stance, he breathed on his hands to the point where they were almost frozen. Time to put everything that he had into an attack and pray that it worked. Pray that he would be able to help David and Clair after he was done.

Hod meet the oncoming trolls attack with one of his own. He needed to make every freezing hit count. Finally the moment came and everything seemed to line up perfectly. First the Right arm, Hod thrust, freezing the arm, and then thrust again breaking the trolls arm clean off. Hod could feel the energy going flowing out of him.

I cant let it the thing heal, Hod thought desperately. I have to end it all in 30 seconds. Not letting the troll have any time Hod pressed the attack. Now strike and strike again. The left arm hit the cavern floor.

The troll screamed in pain and rage. Hod put both hands on its chest bringing his leg into play he tripped the troll and the both crashed to the cavern floor. Freeze Hod thought desperately, Freeze! The troll screamed and tried to break, Hod held his grip. Soon the struggles slowed and then stopped all together. With on last surge of strength Hod broke the ice-block beneath him into a thousand pieces. 

Hod sat back breathing heavy and started to count. He went all the way to 60 this time but he couldn't hear anything he was all alone. slowly Hod got to his feet. Time to go help David and Clair. He made it two steps before falling flat on his face completely exhausted. The last thought Hod could remember was that he sure wished that he could hear Clair one more time.

Anne

Despite the situation, David found himself oddly thinking of Doctor Doofenshmirtz from Disney Channel. "Ha ha, you're trapped!" he would shout, and then proceed to explain his grandiose schemes of world conquest. There was definitely a certain similarity around the nose and eye area. But he wasn't a secret agent animal, and the hag was quite a bit scarier.

"The rest of the monkey scum that pollute this planet will soon be wasted, the world wiped clean of your filth," She leered, leaning in close. Her long-taloned finger reached into the cage, and David quickly swiped at it with the sword in his hand, but it just scraped by as if he'd tried to slice a stone. "Feisty, aren't you my precious? But the earth will not harm her children." She waved her arm in demonstration. "Don't worry, I won't kill you. Not yet anyways. You're so pretty that I might keep you for my personal collection." Her claws slide across the bars with a soft rasping sound.

"Where's Claire?" David growled.

"Your little friend? She's safe for the moment. My son loves his playthings," The hag gestured to the rest of the room, where the animals in their softly rotating cages watched with avid eyes. "He tries to take care of them, but his methods are rather... crude. When they are no longer pleasing, he consumes them with great gusto. I imagine that will be her fate, if I do not decide to destroy her first." The hag's eyes glinted. "Do you wish to see her? She's here, right now. You passed her not moments ago." The creature stalked over to the wall of statues and grabbed the one of Claire. She carried it... her easily over one shoulder and settled it carefully in front of David's prison, so that they could face each other.

David saw with horror that the eyes of the statue tracked his face, and the mouth closed, almost imperceptibly, inch by slow inch. David reached out of the cage, just barely brushing her hand. The fingers twitched.

"What did you do to her?" David shouted.

"I should think that was obvious," the hag purred, mockingly holding Claire's shoulders. The hag grinned, mouthfuls of sharp teeth like pins poking out of her mouth. She walked away slowly, "I suppose my son has taken care of the blind one by now. He should be coming back with the boy's mangled remains in his teeth at any moment." She pulled aside some chests that David hadn't noticed before, revealing a small parlor complete with couch and big-screen TV. She plopped herself in front of it, changing the channel until she found Chucky.

"You don't know Hod," David growled.

"On the contrary, my precious, I did." The troll-wife said, her voice like acid. "One of the most repugnant of the gods. The only thing he and your friend have in common is their blindness to the obvious."

David reached again towards the statue that Claire was, again holding her hand. Maybe he imagined it, but the hand seemed to move a slightly more quickly as it folded around his own.

David remembered the funeral, and the rain, and Hod's wet face, set like stone. He wouldn't use an umbrella. Everyone said it wasn't David's fault, but he knew. David knew how everyone looked at him. He had liked it, liked playing with their emotions. He'd liked the power it gave him, to get anyone to do whatever he wanted, just by asking. Just because he had a pretty face. He had thought that everyone loving him was only right. Of course he was the center of the universe.

So when Hod had said he liked someone, David had gotten a little jealous. Anne was one of the few people besides David that paid any attention to Hod. She was kind to him, opening doors, telling him when he was about to run into something or where he could sit in class. Hod was David's friend; they knew each other's secrets, how Hod brought the cold with him, how David could literally charm birds from the trees.

So David charmed Anne. He played with her emotions and then, when he was sure that she was in love with him, David broke her heart in the cruelest way possible. He let Anne find him kissing another girl; then he told her that he was just playing with her, and nobody could really like her.

Anne was found hanging from her closet at week later. Hod never blamed David out loud, but they stopped being friends for almost a year after that. Even then, it took the divorce of Hod's parents and a couple big fights before they could hang out again on a semi-normal basis.

From then on, David was terrified of what he could do; what he could make others do. He swore he would never let it happen again, to anyone else. Definitely not now, when finally Hod had found a girl he really liked.

Holding Claire's stone hand, he whispered to her. "It's going to be alright," he said. "We're going to get you out of this." He tried to put as much confidence in his voice as he could.

The stone seemed to warm in his hand, and the eyes seemed to almost flutter. A moan escaped her lips. Excited, David, concentrated harder, willing Claire to melt from the stone. She developed some color in her cheeks, her hair, her fingers. The rough surface softened, and pores appeared. David glanced nervously at the corner with the TV, but the hag seemed not to notice anything. She was completely engrossed in shears and blood and evil toys.

Claire's chest moved, up and down, and she gasped. The troll-wife glanced over irritably. "Keep it down, my sweet," she glowered. "Mother is watching the television."

David covered his mouth with his other hand, coughing, but after the first breath, Claire seemed to be doing better. Her fingers twitched.

"We're going to get you out," David whispered confidently, "Once you get free, hide. You won't have to wait long."

Claire shook her head almost imperceptibly. She jerked her head back to the witch. Slowly her lips formed the words. "Tell me when she's not looking."

David nodded. "She's watching TV."

Claire dropped to a crouch and turned back. Rifling in her pocket, she pulled out a pin, and fiddled with the lock. In a moment it was opened. "Come on."

"No," David whispered back, "It'll squeak. Get away, hide, get some weapons or something to protect yourself. I'll wait, and then before she starts looking for you I'll distract her. It's your best chance."

Indecision warred on Claire's face. "Thanks," she said.

"Thank Hod," David said. "I don't know how he did it, but he found you."

A moment later Claire was gone, and not a minute to soon. The hag looked backwards, irritated, a retort on her lips. "I said be SILENT! Wait, where'd the--?" She streaked across the room, clawing at the spot where Claire had been moments before. "WHERE IS SHE???" She screeched, glaring at David.

"She got away," David said grimly.

The witch turned around, screaming "I'll KILL her!" pawing through piles of treasure. David slammed the door of the cage open before she could get to far in her search.

"First," David said smiling, "You'll have to get through me." He raised his sword and charged.

Can't Die

                “What did you do?” the troll screamed in agony. “What did you do to Haf’gifr?”

                The monster started to thrash around wildly. Hod heard a whistling noise and raised his arm in time to block the trolls attack. Yet again Hod misjudged the strength of the beast and was thrown across the cavern floor. Quickly he scrambled to his feet and immediately had to throw himself to the side to avoid being trampled to death by the troll.

                Hod had a moments desperate thought. I can’t let it get to the door and get David and Clair. Hod climbed to his feet and tried to reorient himself. This was always the longest and most dangerous part of his skill. He moved trying to find the place he thought the tunnel would be in. Hod tripped over a raise in the ground and went headfirst into the dirt.

                He heard the footsteps of the troll and twisted around. This time he was wasn’t fast enough and a webbed foot pinned him to the earth. Taloned toes went through his cloths and pierced the flesh on Hods chest. He could feel his shirt becoming wet with his blood. The reeking stink got closer and Hod put a hand up to the things chest. Remembering David’s warning about avoiding the things face. He heard its mouth snap open and closed.  The troll must have been closer than Hod thought because a tooth or horn scratched the side of Hod’s cheek.

                In desperation Hod brought his foot up. He hooked it under the monsters only arm and heaved. The troll left Hod’s chest and crashed into something. Hod didn’t want to think what. According to David there was only really one thing for the monster to crash into. Hod got up and put a hand to his chest. He had to stop the bleeding, he concentrated and iced his wounds. Scrambling he found his way to the doorway and took position in front of it again.

                “The Pretty told me your secret.” The troll rasped. “You not the real Hod. He dead. Along with his brother. You a not-Hod, you is a fake. I will eat you. And when she get ugly I eat her.”

                Even with only one arm the thing was fast and deadly. The main problem was the creature’s strength. Hod knew he himself was strong. Stronger then he should be. The only person he knew that came close was Autumn. Even still, he couldn’t stop all the trolls’ wild swinging of his arm. But Hod refused to be moved from the tunnel opening.

Hod was lucky that he was still wearing his hoddie. It now hung on him in tatters. It wasn’t the best armor, but at least it had stopped the troll’s attacks from being as bad as they could have been. Hod now had long scratches on his chest to accompany the puncture wounds. He also had cuts up and down his arms.

                The creature wasn’t even slowing down. Hod was sure that he was giving as good as he got. He was sure that by now the thing should have multiple broken ribs a broken leg and its arm should be broken. Hod couldn’t understand why the creature was still able to move everything. Hod had heard the bones crack and break. He needed to end this, needed to go help David and Clair. Hod blocked an incoming swing. He twisted and round house kicked the thing in the chest. Hod put all his strength into it, he could feel the troll’s chest cave in giving way to his foot.

                The Toll flew back, crashing into rock this time and just lay there. Hod put his hands on his legs and tried to calm down his breathing. The troll wasn’t dead. Hod could still hear it breathing. Breaths that came in ragged and slow, rattling the things throat. It sounded like it was dying. It should be dying from everything Hod had done to it. Hod turned to go and help David but stopped as the thing spoke.

                “Stupid fleshling” Hod heard the thing move. It sounded like it was getting to eats feet. “You can’t beat me! Mother made me immortal. Can’t die. Always keep coming.”

                The creature rushed at him and Hod blocked its first attack. This time he was able to match the creature strength for strength. Hod felt like something was wrong. The monster moved slightly and Hod heard something coming. Letting go of the creatures arm with one hand Hod was barely in time to stop his own death. Somehow the troll had regained its other arm.