Mack answered calmly. “You’re going to need to take a semester off school. Once you’re trained, we need to start searching the realms to recover your weapon. The situation with Nott will only escalate now that she knows you have your necklace and your armor. Your mother might be in danger, too.”
My stomach dropped. Could Nott break back into Asgard and hurt my mom again? I’d need to talk to someone about increasing her security—maybe two of my protectors could swap Allie duty for Mom watch. Surely, two of them would be enough . . . I hoped. And had Mack said I needed to take a semester off? I didn’t want to take time off school—I wasn’t sure how it would affect my scholarship, and college was freaking expensive. But . . . I bit down on my bottom lip with a sigh. It wasn’t like I’d have a college to go back to if Nott drained the planet of its resources and took over with her band of dark minions. There wasn’t much of a decision to be made . . . not that anyone had given me a choice.
“Okay, I’m in. Just tell me what to do.”
The boys nodded, and the plan was hatched. I would tell Mallory I had a sudden death in the family and needed to move home for a few months to deal with it. It was perfect timing—with Thanksgiving break, everyone would be away from campus anyway. We would gather my things and head up north to the safe house, where I would train twelve hours a day. And when the guys decided I was ready, we’d head across the realms, hunting for the pieces of my weapon. Awesome welcome to college, Allie. The brochure was right—this is totally the time of your life. Not.
When we were about to disband, Tore poked his head back into the complex.
“I need to speak with Allie alone,” he commanded.
Mack and Bodie shared a tense look. They each gave me a nod as they walked past. Outside, Johann was still burying dead night elf bodies. Oh Lord, what had become of my life?
Tore stalked into the complex and stood a few feet away from me. Crap. I freaked out on the God of Revenge’s son. He’d definitely returned for payback.
Tore ran a hand through his shaggy blond hair before pinning me with his icy-blue stare.
“You shouldn’t have heard me say those things . . . about not wanting to be here . . . I . . . I’m sorry.” The ‘I’m sorry’ part was barely audible. I guessed Tore wasn’t the type who apologized often.
“Well, thank you. But I did hear those things, and I can’t un-hear them, so . . . I’m not sure where we go from here.”
Tore’s jaw clenched at my words. The veins in his neck bulged as he stalked toward me. Mr. Not-So-Congeniality was back. “You’re so stubborn. Fine. You want to know why I don’t want to be here?” His wintery scent pressed against me as he stepped into my personal space. He was so close, I could feel the heat radiating off his body.
I stepped even closer, gritting my own teeth. “Yes. Tell me why you can’t stand to be around me. Tell me why trying to help me heal my mom is such a burden for you.”
His expression softened a little at my words, and his gaze fell to my lips for a brief moment before returning to my eyes. “Because it’s my fault, Allie. Okay? It was my duty to guard your weapon while your mother was in the Night Sleep. I was responsible for keeping it safe until you came of age. And Nott stole it right out from under me. All of this could have been avoided if I had just done my job. But I failed.”
His admission shocked me. I thought he saw me as weak, or just plain didn’t like me. I hadn’t expected him to say his jerkiness was because of . . . guilt. A guilt he didn’t even need to own. If her night elves were any indication, Nott was a pretty tough chick. It wasn’t a stretch to see her stealing something from anyone she wanted to . . . even Tore.
“Why do you think this is your fault? Did you give my weapon to Nott willingly?” I tried to see where he was coming from.
Tore looked like I had thrown acid at him. “Of course not. She put a spell on me—tried to send me into the Night Sleep, too. I put up a blocker when I realized what she was doing, but it was too late. I was lucky I only slept for three days.”
I shrugged. “Okay, so it was an accident. No big deal. You can’t protect something if you’re in a cursed sleep.”
Tore looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “You don’t understand, Allie. The plan was to just hand you your weapon when you came of age. Then you’d be able to kill Nott, wake your mother, and the two of you could stop Midgard from dying. Now we have to trek through eight realms to track down the pieces, bind them back into one useable weapon, and hope the re-attached pieces still wield enough power to kill the night goddess, all without getting you killed in the process. I can’t even look at you without feeling this all-consuming guilt. This. Is. All. My. Fault.”
With each word, he leaned closer to me until I could feel his breath on my face. When he licked his lips, everything he’d said scrambled in my brain, so the only things I remembered were (a) Tore was a jerk because he felt guilty, not because he was for some reason repelled by me, and (b) vulnerable Tore was really, really hot. My gaze landed on his pillowy lips, and as I stared, Tore slowly lifted his hand. It stilled in the air, just inches from my face.
A shout from the doorway broke our trance. “Allie’s roommate is here!” Mack yelled. We both jumped backward, the moment shattered.
I quickly dropped down to tie my shoe, even though it was still double knotted. “Right,” I muttered. “Sorry, I forgot I invited her over when I was verifying Johann’s whole ‘staying with my cousin’ story last night.”
“Mmm-hmm.” Mack’s eyes glittered as he looked between me and Tore. “Well, I’ll tell her you will be right in.” He backed out of the complex, and Tore quickly strode after him.
“Come on, Pepper,” Tore barked. His wall was back up. “We have a guest to attend to.”
I sighed. Can’t a girl get a break?
****
After spending some time showing Mallory the house and introducing her to my ‘cousin’ Johann and his roommates, we broke the lie that my aunt—Johann’s mom—had recently passed. Mallory sniffled when we told her Johann and I would be moving home for a semester, so we could help the younger kids transition. She hugged us both and drove me back to our dorm while the boys followed in their Range Rover.
“What about exams?” Mallory asked as she loaded one of my suitcases in the back of the SUV.
“I talked to my professors, and they’re letting me take them online.” Actually, Professor Vidarsson from the University of Trondheim, had spoken with the faculty on my behalf that very day. Professor Vidarsson had impressive powers of persuasion.
Mallory sighed. “I’m going to miss living with you.”
I hugged her tight. “I’m going to miss you, too,” I said honestly. “But I’ll have e-mail. And I’ll be back on campus next year.” I hope.