Struck: (Phoebe Meadows Book 1) (6 page)

It was working!

A loud clamor shook the earth under my feet. “The human”—the low, booming voice of the giant moved toward the room—“is in here.”

The swirl of light started to lessen. “No! No!” I took more of my blood and frantically rubbed it on the bark in circular motions. “Open! Please, open! I give to you, oh, blessed tree, I give you my blood. I’m paying my toll! Please take me back to where I came from!”

The glowing started to increase once again, but the bark beneath it stayed firm and hard. I rocked my hand into it, trying to force myself inside.

A wicked snarl erupted from behind me. “You think to escape me! There is no escape unless I deem it so. Nobody gets away from here,
human
.”

I turned around slowly, pressing my back against the bark, my fist still clutched around Gram.

Verdandi could obviously see me now, so the cloak stone must’ve worn off. She was livid. Her haunting, skeletal face contorted in some serious angry rage.

To her right and slightly behind her was the ettin who had ripped his arm open to get us through the portal. Bragnon, she’d called him. The giant lurked just outside the room, its head ducked so it could see inside, its pointy tusk curling into the space above the door.

“I’m…I’m not trying to escape,” I tried. “See, there’s been some kind of mistake. I’m not supposed to be here. You have the wrong girl, and I just want to go home.” I glanced down, and I suddenly knew why Verdandi could see me.

I was glowing.

Glowing!

I brought my arm up in front of my face and turned it from side to side. It was shining all the way through. The gash in my palm was still bloody, but instead of red, my blood was pure light, like the inside of a white glow stick.

“You cannot pass through the tree of life without permission!” Verdandi snarled, tearing me out of my shock and awe. “This is
my
domain, bastard child. My sisters and I make the rules here, and you may not pass.” She stalked forward, her dirty gray skirts kicking up the earth around her, bringing me back to the crushing reality of my current situation. A situation I had no idea how to get out of, much less
think
I could survive. The pit of hell would’ve likely been a better place to land.

“I’d really love to get…um…permission to leave,” I answered meekly. “If you could grant it, that would be extremely helpful. Honestly, this has all been a mistake. I’m not the girl you’re looking for. I grew up in a small town. I don’t have anything to offer. I just want to go home.”

Verdandi stopped midstride and let out a mirth-filled cackle, flashing a mouthful of broken, horrible teeth. “Oh, human, that is so
endearing
, really. You think to ask me permission to leave and think I’ll have
mercy
on you?” She started for me again, still chortling. It sounded like one of those kids toys at a birthday party that unrolled as you blew through it, wheezy and high-pitched. “There is no mercy for you here. We have much better plans…and there is no going
home
.”

I let out a small squeak and tried to scoot farther into the tree, willing it to open up and suck me in. Anything to get out of here. Warm energy radiated against my back. That was it, but it was the only thing keeping me from losing my mind. “I don’t know why you’re so interested in me,” I said, trying to stall. “I’m a nobody. I work in the shoe department at Macy’s. I’ve never done anything exceptional in my life, except move to New York City, which I’m actually in the process of regretting. I promise you, the moment I get home I’m going to forget all of this ever happened. I won’t tell a soul. Your secret…world…is safe with me.”

Verdandi reached me, a snarl on her flaccid face.

She leaned in, her fetid breath reeking as it wafted up my nostrils. I tried to shoo the bile back down my throat as it rose rapidly from my stomach. From this close, I could see her grotesque skin hanging like loose wallpaper. Her irises were a dead, flat black, but worse were the muddy lines radiating out from them, permeating the whites—or, in her case, the yellows—like vines, making it look like black rivulets were leaking back into her brain. “You will never leave here,” she whisper-snarled, clearly enjoying her torment. “This is where you
die
.”

A noise interrupted Verdandi’s reign of terror, and I flicked my eyes away from her terrible face, happy to look just about anywhere else.

Bragnon had scurried up behind her. Up close, he was just as awful as she was. He had leathery skin running in shallow folds around his head like a lizard. His eyes were rheumy, discharging a sickly greenish liquid. He opened his mouth to guffaw at my discomfort, and I glimpsed row after row of pointy shark teeth, immediately remembering what Ingrid had said about them being full of poison.

Oh, Ingrid! What am I doing here?
Where are you?

“You are
ourssss
now,” Bragnon hissed as he came to stand next to his missus. “You will do well to keep
quiiiiet
. No use for talking
nowww
.”

“Yes, that’s right, dear,” Verdandi said in a mockingly sweet tone. “Listen to Bragnon. No more talking.” She stepped back slightly, so there was a tiny space between us, and brought her index finger up. Her nail was long and jagged and yellowed with age.

The tip touched my cheek, and I flinched back, arching my head as far as it could go. When my face lost contact with the nastiness, I begged, “Please let me go! I don’t know what you want from me, but I’ll do anything. Please, don’t do this!”

The earth began to shake.

It took me a moment to realize the troll had entered the room.

“Verdandiiiii,” it bellowed. “Human.”

“What is it, Junnal?” Verdandi said impatiently, leaving her finger blessedly off my cheek for the moment. “I don’t have time for interruptions now. You will be paid as was agreed. Now go away. Use the portal in the barracks to get home.”

When the giant didn’t go, Verdandi glanced back, irritated.

“Human…hurt,” it managed as it thumped closer, my legs vibrating with each step.

“Yes, yes, the human will hurt. We’re working on it. If you’re patient, I might even give you a turn, Junnal. I will render her useless first, and then you may have her. We will show her together what hiding from the Norns truly means.” She turned back to me. “You cannot override your destiny, child…no matter who your father is or where you choose to
hide
.”

Out of the corner of my eye, Bragnon smiled in greedy adoration, rubbing his alligatorlike hands together. After the troll had his turn, I’m sure the wonderful ettin would kindly take his. Sinking his poison into me would be the final icing on my death-filled cake.

The earth stopped rocking as Junnal came to a stop next to Verdandi.

Verdandi chose to ignore the giant creature next to her, giving me an evil smirk and staring at me with her chalky, dead eyes. “Now where were we? Ah, yes, punishing the bastard girl who thought to elude us for all these years. We foresee all of what is told, and
you
were not meant to be.” She was so close her spittle coated my face, and bile took up residence in the back of my throat, where it had found a permanent new home. “You are a stain on our world, a mixed breed of dirtied blood, an ugliness that must be eradicated. Yggdrasil, our beloved tree, will take your soul as payment for your lies—as payment for being
born
!” She lofted an arm above her head, her nails fanned out like claws, a grimace of pleasure forming on her lips. Her eyes rolled back in their skeletal sockets, her unbridled ecstasy at my impending doom seeping out of every single pore in her body.

My gaze locked on her gnarled hand.

I was pressed back as far as I could go, still trying to will myself through the tree. Verdandi was going to tear me to shreds with her evil, jagged nails, and there wasn’t anything I could do. I clenched my muscles, bracing for the impact, my hand tightening around the dagger still in my hand. Sweat had saturated the hilt, dripping onto the floor. I didn’t have enough room to strike her.

She was too close.

I had to try. I lifted Gram, but the old woman moved too fast, her hand whipping down like a cat batting at a toy on a string. Her nails landed against my neck, digging deeply as they slashed me, rending open my skin and drawing wet, sticky blood.

I screamed, forcing Gram up between us, the pain searing me as I swung the blade upward. Instead of making its mark, it snagged on the sleeve of my wool jacket.

I didn’t have time to be mad at my incompetence, because to my utter relief, Verdandi was suddenly flying backward, away from me. I watched in stunned silence, with my mouth hanging open, as she whizzed through the air, hitting the earthen wall like a bullet, bouncing off, and crashing onto the table.

The wood buckled instantly, collapsing beneath her, covering her with broken pieces.

“Not”—Junnal bellowed as it brought its sledgehammer-sized fist back around in front of its body, looking directly at me—“human.”

I nodded dumbly, agreeing with it, as I glanced at the wood-strewn body on the floor, and then back at the giant creature. The thing had just tried to save my life by smashing Verdandi into the wall.

It didn’t take Bragnon long to figure this out for himself.

“You
inssssolent
troll!” Bragnon shrieked. “You will pay for
thissss
.” Then he dove for the giant’s legs. Junnal kicked out, but Bragnon found purchase and pierced his awful shark teeth into the troll’s leg, gouging at the hard flesh like a feasting piranha.

The sounds were sickening.

Junnal hardly seemed to notice as he reached down and grabbed Bragnon by the scruff of his rubbery neck. The little beast grinned, holding a mouthful of the giant’s bloody flesh between his incisors. Junnal roared, shook Bragnon a few times for good measure, and tossed him away like a reptilian rag doll.

Bragnon crashed against the bookcase. The creepy jars exploded on impact like fireworks, spraying the room with glass and liquid and parts. The smell was immediately toxic.

I covered my mouth, using the inside of my elbow, gasping and coughing as the fumes burned my lungs and tears rolled down my cheeks. The backs of my fingers grazed my neck. I pulled back my hand and saw my blood was still the color of a white glow stick, but it was fading to red as I watched.

Verdandi was still under the table rubble, but I saw a foot twitch. She wouldn’t be out for long, and when she awoke, there would be hell to pay for all involved.

I spun around and pounded my fist against the tree. “Please, please, open! I’m begging you!” I screamed. “Open.
Pleeeeeease
!”

A loud, thunderous crash shook the ground, and I peered fearfully over my shoulder.

Junnal now sat on the dirt floor.

His hurt leg was covered in deep magenta blood, thick as paint. It leaked out slowly, like ketchup out of an inverted bottle.

The giant stared straight at me.

I eased around, swiping the blood still trickling out of my neck and rubbing it into my now tattered jacket. It left a long streak of neon pink in its wake. I was forced to lift my arm back over my mouth and nose, because the smell from the broken jars was too intense. My lungs felt like they were on fire.

I quickly glanced over at Bragnon.

He was out cold. The contents of the jars had spread out over his body, and now his clothing, a nondescript brown toga-like thing, was smoking. I hoped it was strong enough to eat through his hide.

“Not. Human.” Junnal’s voice was quieter now, which meant it was at megaphone level. “Odin.”

I froze.

I wasn’t sure what to do.

The giant creature shook his head, the boulder rocking back and forth. I shrank back. When he was done, his entire body listed to one side, like he was trying not to pass out after a night of hard drinking.

The giant troll had been poisoned.

Bragnon had bit him.

I took a tentative step forward. This thing had tried to save my life, the least I could do was tell him thank you. I had no idea what to do to help him. “Um, hi, Junnal. I’m Phoebe.” I tread a little closer. “Thank you for…helping me. I wasn’t expecting that. I see you’re in pain. Can I do anything to help you?”

He shook his head as he tried to focus on me, his eyes looking small in proportion to his massive body. He blinked a few times before he opened his cave of a mouth. “Odin. Me.”

“You’re…Odin?” I had to admit I was a little shocked. “
Really
?”

He pointed to himself and shook his lumbering head. “Send…Junnal. Odin.”

Odin sent this giant to help me?

I really hadn’t been expecting that. “That was nice of him. So what can I do? If I aid you, can you help me escape?” My voice was filled with hopeful optimism.

Before the giant could answer, an angry shriek filled the room.

It had come from the pile of wood.

6

__________________________

____________

V
erdandi kicked her legs out, and pieces of the table soared around the room like she had superhuman strength. She didn’t, because she was probably zero human, but calling her
super
alone seemed wrong.