“Allie,” he murmured, “Du er s? vakker.”
I had no idea what that meant, but I clearly needed to find out.
“Time to get a move on!” Bodie called out from the front of the house, silencing whatever I’d been about to say. “The ravens saw a night elf at the top of Iskandar Mountain. If we want to catch the trail, we’d better Bifrost out now.”
Tore’s low growl rumbled against my chest. “Can you give us a minute?”
“No, it’s okay. We need to go.” I stepped away from my protector. Taking whatever train we’d nearly jumped aboard would have been a bad idea right then. I needed to focus on tracking down the weapon pieces and saving my mom, not on the pillowy lips of a guy who’d probably had another chick in his bed the night before. What would my kissing Tore say about my self-worth? Issues, Allie? Mack would have a field day with that one.
I turned away from Tore’s disappointed frown and stepped out of his thick, muscled arms. Bending down to kiss my mom’s forehead, I made her a promise.
“I’ll be back soon, Mom,” I said. “Right now, it’s time to hunt.”
****
Now that I was a Bifrost travel pro, I didn’t feel nauseous taking the rainbow bridge across the cosmos. I did, however, feel dizzy every time said rainbow deposited me in a new realm. The atmospheric shift of dropping into a foreign gravity shocked my system every time.
Jotunheim was no different. The second we landed in the home of the frost giants, I bent over to get my bearings. A frigid blast of air slammed against my face as I stood, and I pulled my faux-fur lined hood up to block the chill. Good Lord, it was cold. Like the North-Pole-in-the-dead-of-winter cold, and then add more cold on top of that. The Bifrost had placed us at the base of a huge mountain, and it provided a modicum of shelter from the blustering storm that whipped a white frenzy across the tundra. We’d packed for snow—Tore even had his snowboard strapped to his backpack in case he needed to make a Bifrost-free escape—but I seriously doubted we’d brought enough gear to handle—
BOOM.
We all froze as the ground trembled at the sound. Tore met my wide-eyed gaze and placed one finger over his lips. The ground shifted again—the needles on the trees surrounding us shook as clumps of snow fell from their branches. Either Jotunheim was prone to thunder-earthquakes, or we had a giant-sized problem walking our way. The boys moved stealthily into a circle around me, unsheathing their blades as they fell into a defensive formation. The thunderous steps sounded dangerously close, and as I peered around my protectors, I caught a glimpse of a massive beast with pale cerulean skin. Holy mother. Jotuns were way bigger than I’d expected. My breathing stopped as I watched the beast stomp closer to us—the thing was the size of a sequoia. The boys crouched, ready to attack, when the giant suddenly pivoted. It walked away from us, its attention drawn to something in the distance. Thank God.
I exhaled in relief, leaning forward to plop my forehead on Tore’s back. “You could have told me jotuns were that massive,” I groaned. “I about had a heart attack.”
“I thought the name frost giant implied plenty. But next time, I’ll be sure to spell it out for you.” Tore turned around to wink at me. “Everybody, move out. We need to make shelter and come up with a plan.”
My immobile arm saved Tore from a swift punch in the shoulder. The guys had insisted I wear my armor beneath my jacket, and no amount of insulation could keep the cool metal from freezing against my skin. This was miserable. We needed to be in and out of Jotunheim quick, or somebody—me—was going to lose a limb. Suddenly, the wind kicked up a notch, blowing a snow drift in my face and freezing my ears to the point that my head ached. I gave Tore a pointed look as I pulled my hood down further.
“Move out,” Tore ordered. We voiced our consent, some of us through chattering teeth. A quick glance at the sky revealed that the sun was going down, and there was no way we wanted to be caught in this storm once it got dark.
Tore took the lead, guiding us around the base of the mountain and through the trees. I didn’t hear any more thunder-earthquakes, but I kept my eyes open for frost giants, just in case. The storm continued to surge, frigid wind and clumps of snow whipping tiny white tornadoes around us. Strong fingers slipped in between mine and pulled me forward. Tore.
I followed him blindly as icy rain began to pelt from the sky. In an instant, the weather had shifted from snowing clumps to raining ice. I wasn’t sure which was worse. Just when I thought the frozen rocks might actually kill my poor nose, Tore yanked my arm. Stumbling forward, I was suddenly free of the ice-rain. Thank the maker! We seemed to have found some kind of a small cave tucked into the side of a mountain. Mack, Johann, and Bodie filed in behind me. They wasted no time in making a fire with the supplies they’d brought in their packs. And I wasted no time in peeling off my frozen outer layers, and letting my skin thaw next to the warm fire. Mmm, hello, fingers. Nice to feel you again.
Bodie looked up from his spot by the flames and confirmed my worst fear. “We’re going to have to stay the night,” he deduced. “That blizzard’s not letting up any time soon.”
I groaned. But being sheltered in a tight space with one fire and four protectors was infinitely preferable than donating my frozen nose to the frostbite-happy land of Jotunheim.
Tore squinted at the entrance to the cave. “The weather here isn’t normally this extreme. Must be dark magic.”
My eyes widened. “Can it do that? Affect the weather?”
“It’s affecting Midgard, isn’t it?” Tore shrugged. “Nott has some powerful people working for her, they all want a place in her new Midgard.”
This Nott chick was ticking me off more and more.
“Why don’t we take the Bifrost home and then come back in the morning?” I asked.
Bodie shook his head. “Bifrost can’t set down in a blizzard. It could rip us in two on takeoff.”
What? Nobody had mentioned half-ripping during How To Ride the Bifrost 101. I took a calming breath. “So we’re, what? We’re trapped here?”
My four protectors shared a look. “Let’s not focus on that,” Mack said.
Right. Frost giants patrolled outside; dark elves lurked who-knew-where, and we were stuck in a blizzard, with no way out. But we shouldn’t think on it. Snort.
“I know what we need.” Tore pulled something from his pocket, and the guys’ faces lit up. A collective cheer went up around the cave. A glance at Tore’s hand revealed two multicolored dice, each with weird symbols etched into their many sides.
“What is that?” I asked.
Tore leaned closer to me. “This, my dear Pepper, is Asgardian War.”