“Okay.” The statement resonated, but given that I’d spent the last few days in a darkness coma, the execution looked pretty elusive.
Greta raised the twelve-inch crystal wand she’d used to dome me in one hand, and pulled its twin from her healing kit. She brandished both wands in front of her as if they were swords. The darkness shrank back, and I realized that her crystals were weapons in their own right—energetic weapons. Cool.
“Lesson number two,” Greta continued. “The darkness is alive. And so it can be killed.”
I liked that. That was the best news I had heard all week.
“Well, then. Let’s kill it.” I held my hands level at my shoulders, my palms facing out. Greta nodded.
“All right. Call up the Liv, and no matter what happens, don’t release it until I tell you. I’ll direct its movement; you just need to keep channeling it.” Greta tossed her long, strawberry braid behind her and squared her shoulders. It hit me that the gentle healer was, in her own way, a warrior.
And we were both charging straight into battle.
I drew a cleansing breath, trying to recall the frame of mind I’d been in when I healed Mack. Everything had happened so fast, I hadn’t had time to question what I did or how I did it—the Liv had come because I’d acted purely on instinct and free of fear. I’d been so desperate to save Mack, and so completely in the moment, there hadn’t been room for anything but focused determination in my consciousness. That’s it—presence, determination, instinct, and no fear. Bingo. I drew on those feelings now, keeping my focus on the power I knew lived within me. I didn’t allow myself to think about what the darkness could do to me; I focused only on what I could do to it.
And I waited.
After a small eternity, a pulse nudged at my navel. A second later, power burst from my belly, moved up to my necklace, and shot in radiant beams through my arm.
“Holy Hel.” Greta stared as a stream of blue fire blasted out of my palm, raining light down on the black tornadoes that hovered above my mother’s body. A low hiss moved through the room as the tornado lashed out at me. It slammed against my shield, sending me back a step. I dug my slippered feet into the tile and intensified the blue stream, dousing the darkness in my light. The tornado slammed into me again, this time with slightly less force. I’d weakened it. That knowledge gave me strength. Bring it on, twister.
As the tornado struck a third time, Greta launched herself into the Liv. She moved her crystal wands back and forth, like an artist sculpting clay. A form took shape around the dark funnels—Greta had molded Liv to the darkness, encasing it in a blue light. The tornadoes flailed wildly, but they couldn’t get near my dome. Greta had them locked in place.
My mother’s body jerked beneath the dueling forces, and I faltered. In our quest to help her, had we hurt her even more? “Mom?”
Greta’s scream brought me back. “Don’t stop!” Her voice sounded strangled, as if a hundred-pound weight rested atop her lungs. Instinctively I knew that if I stopped the Liv now, Greta would pay the price. Screw you, darkness. You’re not taking my friend. I dug down deep, reaching into my gut to draw up every bit of strength I had left. The Liv poured out of me, increasing its force in spite of my exhaustion. As it flowed, Greta moved around the bed, using her crystal wands like knitting needles to wrap my mother into a Liv cocoon. The darkness was now so well encased, it was barely visible. In one final move, Greta leaped onto the bed to stand over my mother’s body. She brought her wands down hard on the cocoon, one above each of the black cords. The tornadoes’ hisses increased in volume, until they became a single, ear-splitting shriek that shattered the window. Greta stabbed the cords one last time, smashing the darkness into dust-sized particles. She raised her wands above her head in an X, and a blast of energy forced the darkness from the room, out the broken window, and deep into the abyss of the cosmos. She was rosy cheeked and wild eyed when she turned to face me.
“You can stop now,” she panted.
I dropped my hands, trying to process what I’d just experienced.
The Liv dissipated, and I was once again able to see my mother’s still form. Her coloring was better now, and the only darkness surrounding her was the handful of blobs I knew tied her to the sleeping curse. I wished the Liv could destroy those, too, but I knew only Gud Morder could do that. And I still had six pieces of my weapon to find. At least I’d bought my mom some time.
Greta jumped off the bed and dropped to one knee in front of me.
“Oh no, are you hurt? Did the darkness injure your leg? I can try to heal it,” I offered.
But Greta bowed her head and placed her hand over her heart. “Goddess bless,” she said proudly.
Holy mother, is she bowing? To me?
“Goddess bless,” came a chorus of voices from behind me. I whirled around to see a handful of healers gathered in the doorway. They stood behind Tore with their hands over their chests, staring at me in awe.
Tore stepped into the room to place a hand on my shoulder. “You give them hope,” he murmured in my ear. “You’ve taken on your mother’s role.”
I was so honored, so overwhelmed, all I could do was nod.
****
After my mother’s healing, I grew extremely tired. Once Greta finally cleared me for travel, she joined the boys and me on the Bifrost home to Vancouver. I’d figured we’d get a few days down time, a chance to relax and rejuvenate in the Great White North, but apparently, I’d been dreaming. An hour after we got home, Tore was back to his normal self, issuing commands from the center of the cabin’s kitchen.
“Johann, Bodie, show Greta where the pieces of the weapon are, and help her prep them for fusion. Mack, keep watch over the woods, and make sure no more night elves show up.” Tore ran his hands over his long hair and shot me a rakish wink.
I understood his focus. It was good to be back on Midgard—I felt a definite sense of relief standing in a familiar, frost-giant-free place. But like Tore, I’d feel a lot better once we connected the two bits of Gud Morder in our possession. Tore said that once the entire weapon was fused, it would bond with my armor so that no matter where it was in any of the realms, the healed weapon would return to me when I summoned it. It would be my very own Asgardian, god-killing boomerang.
My life had gotten seriously weird.
“We’re on it.” Bodie headed upstairs, presumably to the safe where the boys stored magical weapon pieces.
“What do I do?” I asked Tore.
“You come with me. We have a few things to discuss.” Tore wrapped his hand around mine and tugged me toward the back door.
“Do I need to put on my armor, or will this be a recreational chat?” I wanted to make sure I was appropriately attired before leaving the house. Better safe than sorry.