He waited until he was on the fence before calling, “Hey! Astrid!”
She was in the neighbor’s yard, partly hidden behind a rose garden. Matt saw the bag strap fall from her shoulder as she lowered her burden to the ground. Then she stepped from behind the roses without it.
“Hey,” she said. She gave him a sad twist of a smile, her gaze downcast, swiping her fingers under her eyes as if she’d been crying.
“Where are you going?” he asked, as casually as he could.
“I just…” Another swipe of her dry eyes. “I just needed a few minutes to myself.”
“Oh. Okay. I thought… well, it looked like you were leaving. For good.”
She paused. Then she walked back to him and looked up. A deep breath, then she spoke carefully, as if the words pained her. “I think I amleaving. I’m sorry, Matt, but this isn’t working out. Fen… he scares me. I’m sure he killed Baldwin. I don’t know how, but…” She shuddered. “He’s a monster. I know you don’t see that now, but you will. Just…” She laid her fingers on his arm. “Be careful. I don’t want him to hurt you.”
“He won’t. I just… I can’t figure out why he killed Baldwin.” He tried to say it like he thought it was true.
“Because it’s in the myth. He was destined to. You know that.” She tightened her fingers around his arm. “You have a traitor in your midst, and I just pray to the gods that you’ll figure it out before it’s too late. But in case you don’t, I’m going to find Odin and tell him and let him warn you. In the meantime, forget what I said about getting your Hammer. Fen will only steal it. Protect the shield, too. He’ll go after that, if he hasn’t already.”
“I’m not worried about that. I know exactly where the shield is,” Matt said.
“Are you sure? I really think you need to check and hide it.”
“It’s already hidden. Right over here.” Matt broke from her grip and walked over to the rosebushes.
Astrid raced after him and grabbed his arm, but he shook her off. When he reached down to grab the bag, she jumped on his back, grabbing his shirt and wrenching it so hard that the collar tightened around his throat. He started to choke and spun, fist out. It hit her and when it did, his amulet seemed to ignite, blazing so hot he gasped.
She ran at him, her face twisted into something so ugly that it stopped him in his tracks. She jumped on him, and he fell back with her on top of him. The amulet blazed again, scorching his skin.
Why couldn’t you have done that sooner? A little warning would have been nice.
Matt hit Astrid with a fast jab, followed by a second. As he pushed up, she started falling off him, then grabbed him again, both hands wrapped in his shirt. She hissed, and he caught a flash of her white teeth heading straight for his neck. He managed to push her away before she could bite him. One good heave and she went flying to the ground. When she tried to scramble up, Matt knocked her down again.
She seemed ready to bounce up. Then she stopped. Her shoulders folded in, and her hands flew to her face. She started to sob.
“It’s not my fault,” she said. “He made me do it. He said he’d kill my family if I didn’t.”
“ Whomade you do it?” Matt asked.
“H-him,” she sobbed. “He made me do it, and if I don’t come back, he’ll kill my family.” She lifted her face to his and her eyes seemed genuinely red now. “Please, Matt. Let me go, and I’ll tell him you’re heading to North Dakota. You’ll be safe.”
She reached out and wrapped her fingers around his arm, and when she did, the amulet’s heat scorched again.
Matt shook his head. “You’re going to answer a few questions. Then, if I think you’ve told me the truth, I’ll let you go.”
She looked up, and the red shot right through her eyes, through the whites and through the irises and even the pupils.
“You just don’t know when to give up, do you?” She lunged to her feet and gave him a shove.
He’d been crouched on his toes, and the push knocked him off balance. When he saw her going for the bag, he shouted, “No!”
His hand shot out, Hammer launching, but she veered at the last second before grabbing it, and was heading across the yard, for another neighboring yard.
Matt hesitated for a second. He looked at the bag. Then he raced to it, grabbed it, and went after Astrid. He pursued her over three fences, but she was a faster runner, and with each one, he fell farther behind, until he climbed the fourth, looked out, and saw no sign of her.
“You!” a voice boomed.
Matt followed it to a second-story window, where a man glowered down at him.
“Get out of my yard now, or I’ll come down there and—”
Matt didn’t hear the rest. He was already running for the gate.
Matt spent twenty minutes searching for Astrid. There was no sign of her. He’d have to go back to the house and see if Fen could track her. In the meantime, at least they had the shield. And they still had Paul. Whatever Astrid knew, Matt bet the Raiders did, too.
Matt walked to the shed. He opened the door, looked in, and saw a pile of cords and discarded duct tape. Paul was gone.
TWENTY-FIVE
LAURIE
“LET’S GO TO HEL”
When Matt had gone upstairs to Baldwin’s room to talk to Fen, Laurie had followed him. They didn’t talk, but she knew as well as Matt did that Fen had tried to save Baldwin. She wanted to tell all of that to Fen, but he was gone. She walked over to the window—which was still open—but she couldn’t see her cousin outside anywhere. Matt had taken off after Fen had, but Laurie wasn’t really sure if Matt could say or do anything to bring Fen back to them.
Laurie had been to funerals, so it wasn’t the first time she’d been in the room with a dead person. It was different with Baldwin. He’d just been alive, laughing, and being his goofy self. Staying in the room with Baldwin now that he was gone wasn’t like being at a viewing at the funeral home with her dad. This was her friend, one of the descendants, and he was dead.
The whole thing felt unreal, more than trolls or mara. Monsters were one thing, but a dead friend was another. Laurie felt like she was in a haze, too shocked to even cry, though tears kept falling from her eyes. She’d gone downstairs to wait. By then, Fen, Matt, and Astrid were all missing. She was alone in the house with the twins, who retreated to another room. On the heels of their victory in getting the shield, they’d lost in a way no one could have seen coming.
Who dies eating pizza?It was insane. It should be impossible. They weren’t even at a battle.
Laurie half sat, half flopped down on the sofa, thinking about how quickly everything changed. It was wrong to be here in Baldwin’s house now that Baldwin was gone. She imagined his parents coming home and finding him. The boy who was impervious to injury had died—which didn’t make anysense.
The only thing that could kill or injure Baldwin was mistletoe. Pizza wasn’t made with any sort of mistletoe. It simply didn’t make sense.
A door opened, and she scrambled up to see who it was.
Fen walked into the kitchen.
“I’m sorry,” Laurie murmured. She started to go to him, to grab him and hug him, but he looked so angry that she stopped.
Fen looked at her, and she knew he wanted to tell her it was okay, but it wasn’t. If someone had blamed her for anything, Fen would’ve jumped to her defense—even if she’d done it. She didn’t think he had done anything wrong, and she hadn’t thought it when Astrid had implied he’d caused it. She’d been shocked, scared, and crying. By the time she’d thought to speak, Fen was already gone.