I had thought that reaching the top of the training course would be the finish. Turns out, there’s one more step, and I was just taking it right off the edge. Plummeting about a hundred feet through the frigid air to the snow covered ground, I made a perfect, three-point “hero landing.” Well, not quite perfect: both of my knees hurt like hell.
“Woooo!” cheered Cat, who was taking a break from studying magic to come and watch me finish the course for the first time.
“Congratulations,” said Arey. “You finished the course with a time of three minutes, forty-five seconds.”
“Is that good?” I asked.
“Not really. It’s a decent time for a first finish, though. You should be proud.” She offered me a warm smile.
“Woo!” I cheered. “I’m an average jötun!” Cat and I high fived.
“That is some excellent work,” said Billie, coming down from the Library’s main entrance. “But I’m afraid the celebration is going to have to be cut short. We have a visitor.”
Cat and I locked eyes briefly, both of us worried and confused. Neither of us had ever seen anyone else in the Library that hadn’t either come there with us or wasn’t already there when we arrived.
“The Guardians of Yggdrasil have sent a messenger,” Billie clarified. “It seems we have a bit of a situation.”
****
We found Astveig in the kitchenette, preparing tea for our guest, who sat at the table resting his feet. The guest himself was… something new. He had dark, ashen skin and long, pointed ears. His eyes were a bright, molten orange. His hair was white, much like the jötnar I’ve seen, but he had it long and straight down his back.
Astveig brought a tea set to the table. “Ah, Crys, Cat,” she said with a smile. It had only been a day since I’d chosen my new name, but somehow I could actually tell the difference between when it’s spelled the old way and the new in spoken language. “This is Ulric. He’s one of the Guardians of Yggdrasil, and I expect you to treat him with the respect that deserves.” I felt like the unspoken thread here was that we HADN’T treated Astveig with enough respect.
“Um… it’s nice to meet you?” I wasn’t sure how to properly greet such a person.
Cat bowed her head in an attempt at reverence. “So, where are you from?”
Ulric laughed. “I see Astveig has truly been enjoying terrorizing the new blood. You can relax. I’m not as much of a hard-ass as our dear Astveig here.” He ignored the scandalized look on Astveig’s face. “As to your question, I’m from Svartalfheim, originally. However, I’m actually here on behalf of Asgard.”
“Asgard?” I said, looking to Billie.
Billie shrugged. “Relations between the Asgard and the Guardians have been strained for centuries. The location of the Library of Sigurgeir is one of the Guardians’ most closely guarded secrets. They won’t even let me know the spell to open a portal here, so Asgard has had to go to some lengths to make contact with us.”
“I’m afraid it’s even more complicated than that,” Ulric said. “I’m here with a message from Asgard, but the words I bear originated from Midgard. MAB, specifically. You’re familiar with them?”
I nodded. “They apparently have been having trouble with Fenrir,” continued Ulric. “Their people contacted Asgard, and Asgard contacted the Guardians, and the Guardians sent me to inform you. It would seem Fenrir has taken to causing some measure of chaos, likely in an effort to draw Crys out.”
The bottom dropped out of my stomach. “Oh no. Was anyone hurt?”
“It sounds like there were a few injuries,” said Ulric. “No fatalities, as far as I know.”
“Did they say where he attacked?” asked Cat.
“I don’t know,” answered Ulric. “Again, this is secondhand information from secondhand information. Even if I did know the answer to that question, my knowledge of Midgard’s geography is so limited that I’m not sure I could tell you.” Ulric stopped and thought a moment. “They did say you should contact an ‘Agent Chandler.’”
I thought back to the card Agent Chandler had left for me. I’ll have to dig that out and give him a call.
“Anyway,” said Ulric. “That’s the message I came here to convey. I have other business back in Svartalfheim.” He sipped the last of his tea. “My thanks for the excellent tea, Astveig, as always. And it was nice meeting you, Crys, Cat.” He gave an incline of his head and then bounded off toward the portal device, and in the blink of an eye he was gone.
“Well,” I said, “I guess we have to get back to Earth and check in. We can’t have Fenrir running rampant, hurting people.”
Arey stepped forward from where she was leaning against the counter. “I don’t think so. You’re not ready! You’ve only just finished the training course, and your time is less than stellar.”
Astveig agreed. “You are in no condition to be facing Fenrir.”
Cat let her anger get the better of her and snapped back at them. “And what? Leave him to continue attacking people? You might be fine letting people get hurt or killed, but Earth is our HOME. We have people we care about there. Would you stand by if your friends or family were in danger?”
Astveig relented. “I suppose I wouldn’t,” she said with a sigh.
Arey was taken aback. “You can’t be serious? You, of all people, should be the one opposing this! You barely let me step outside the Library for centuries!”
Astveig’s downcast eyes couldn’t even meet Arey’s. “I know. And, if nothing else, the past week has shown me that was probably a terrible mistake. I’m questioning a lot of past decisions these days. Besides, I doubt I could stop Crys even if I wanted to.” Billie barked a laugh at that last comment.
Arey’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “I guess that’s it, then. We’re heading back to Midgard. I guess we’d better get packing.”
“Astveig, would you mind if I dug around in your magical supplies cabinet a bit?” asked Cat.
“I suppose that’s okay,” responded Astveig. “Why?”
“I have an idea for something that might help us keep a more direct connection with Midgard.” That’s interesting. What was she plotting?
****
We stepped through the portal into mine and Cat’s backyard. It’s not a wide space, but it’s private and secure, and makes for a place much less likely to attract unwanted attention than the middle of a park, even if that park is large enough to get lost in. Cat said something about wanting to do something with her phone and ran off to her room, looking for all the world like she was about to perform some experiment that the rest of us would regret later. Meanwhile, I took out my phone and called Agent Chandler.
“Chandler speaking,” came the man’s voice over the phone.
“Agent Chandler, it’s, uh, Chris Wilcox,” I said, giving him the name he knew. It was already starting to feel weird to use that name again, even though it hadn’t even been a full day yet.
“Ah, Chris, I was hoping to hear from you. Have you considered what to do about your documents?”
“Uh, yeah, but that’s not what I was calling about.”
“You’re calling about Fenrir,” he said. It was not a question.
I nodded. Then I realized I’m on the phone and said, “Uh, yeah.”
“Where are you right now?”
“I’m at home,” I told him, a little apprehensive of why he was asking.
“Why don’t I head over there and meet you? I’m not far now, and this is likely going to be a big conversation. We can also hammer out your document stuff while I’m there, if you like.”
“Okay, yeah, sure.”
“Good. I’ll see you in about half an hour.” Agent Chandler hung up the phone.
I turned to Arey, Astveig and Billie. “Agent Chandler says he’s going to come over here. I imagine he’ll give us a briefing on the situation then.”
I decided to check on Cat while we waited. I walked down the hall to her room, and found the door shut. I knocked, and got no answer, so I tried the handle to take a peek inside if it was unlocked. The door came open a crack, and I got a brief look inside to see Cat sitting over her phone with what looked like a soldering torch. She looked up at me with a deer-in-headlights expression. At least, I think it was; it was hard to tell with the dark safety goggles she was wearing. I gently shut the door and decided that whatever the hell I’d just seen her doing was going to be stricken from my mind.
****
After giving Astveig a brief tour of the house, the doorbell rang. I answered the door to find Agent Chandler standing there on the front doorstep, once again in his clearly-too-hot-for-this-climate jacket.
“Hello, Chris. May I come in?” I gestured him inside, and he entered. “Arey and Billie I know, but who is this?”
“Oh, this is Astveig, the Librarian,” I said. “Astveig, this is Agent Ricardo Chandler with MAB.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” said Chandler, offering his hand. Astveig shook it with a grunt that signified vague acknowledgment.
I figured there was no point wasting time with idle chatter. “So, about Fenrir…?”
“Yes,” Agent Chandler began. “Fenrir attacked a local shopping center known as The Block. You’re familiar with it?” I nodded. Billie, Arey and Astveig shook their heads. “There were a few minor injuries, and some property damage, but nothing too severe that MAB hasn’t been able to cover up the attack as a gang scuffle. Do any of you know why he would have chosen such a public target?”
Billie offered up his theory. “Fenrir is searching for Crys on Loki’s orders. I suspect he’s getting desperate to draw Crys out, and he figures that hurting the people here might draw her out.”
“Well, we’re going to need to contain this situation somehow,” Chandler said. “Our treaties with Asgard only grant diplomatic immunity so long as we aren’t perceived to have an act of war against us. If this gets any more out of hand, we could have a war on our hands that I don’t think either of us want.”
“Understandable,” I said. “Our intent is to confront Fenrir ourselves.”
Agent Chandler seemed surprised. “You’re going to fight the wolf yourself? I would have thought Asgard would have sent a little more than a few jötnar and an outcast god.”
“Asgard isn’t sending anything,” Arey said, finally stepping into the conversation. “We’re on our own. Odin is too scared to face Fenrir himself.” Billie looked like he meant to argue with her, but then thought better of it and chuckled to himself. Apparently, he thought she was more right than she was wrong.
“That’s why I’ve come along this time,” Astveig said. “This is going to be a tough fight, and if I can’t keep these fools from it, I can at least try to minimize the harm.”
“Alright then,” said Agent Chandler. “Anything else I should know about before you set off on this fool’s errand?” I shook my head, as did everyone else. “Well, then, shall we discuss your documentation?”
We spent the next several minutes getting the changes to my documentation hammered out for Agent Chandler to take back to his office. At least, we were doing that until an explosion from Cat’s room interrupted us.
Seems like Cat have a knack for casing explosions when using magic....
Oh Gods, what's Cat up to now lol
Thanks for the chapter! <3
Thanks for the chapter!