Chapter 10

Matthias did not sleep well. Something was wrong at home, he could tell. Something was amiss. Beside him, Peter was fast asleep, dreaming about something nice, Matthias liked to believe. He always wanted to believe Peter lived a happy comfortable life, but he knew it was not true. The poor kid had as many hardships as they did.

He sat up, unable to will himself back to sleep. "Hey, Lokum, I'm going on a walk. I'll be back in a minute." Peter and Matthias agreed to not call Peter by his real name and to continue to refer to him as Lokum. The villagers knew him as that, and if they changed anything, they might suspect Matthias. They didn't trust anyone anymore, after all.

He stepped over the sleeping bodies around him and headed outside. Everyone slept in one of the shops at night, but they changed the location often: everyone feared dying if someone fell ill, so they moved to avoid it as best as they could.

The night air was not refreshing, as much as he wanted it to be. It was still muggy and warm, much like the air of the southern part of the U.S. A couple decades ago, Matthias had spent part of the summer there with America and Canada. He left there never thinking he would face weather like that again, yet here he was, in Norway of all places, experiencing it.

Brownish clouds covered the sky, swallowing the city in almost complete darkness. The villagers left a few candles around the shop to keep out wild animals and to allow them to see if they woke up needing to use the restroom. Even so, the stars were gone, and so were the northern lights. That was what Matthias missed the most and wished he could have seen when he came outside.

"Not leaving, are you?" a voice startled Matthias.

"No! Just trying to get some fresh air," Matthias turned around to find Torben watching him from the doorway. The leader stepped forward to stand beside him.

"Not so fresh, is it?"

"Not really, but it's better than being suffocated by other bodies." Matthias motioned to the shop.

Torben nodded. "That is true."

Matthias agreed.

Torben continued, "Did you talk to Lokum?"

"Yes."

"Will you do it?"

"Tomorrow morning we plan to leave."

"To start his plan, I presume."

"Yes," Matthias lied.

Torben nodded. "Good. I am glad you understand our pain and what this country is going through. If our Dane were here with us, he would understand too, just like you. You are a good man like him, I know."

"Thank you," it took every bit of Matthias' willpower to keep a straight face and not laugh at the comment. Like the Dane. Yes I am so like the Dane. It's not like I was him or anything. Ha! Matthias nodded.

"I think we should leave early in the morning before everyone wakes up. I'd like to let them go about their normal day and surprise them later rather than hurt them with the stress of waiting for us to return. Holding all their hope in our journey might get a little heavy." Matthias let his laugh out.

Torben smiled. "That is a good idea. If you want, you can wake the boy now and leave. He won't mind missing sleep. He never sleeps much anyways. He is a busy child, that one."

Matthias nodded. "Okay, I will wake him and leave. Thank you for letting me in like this." He ducked back inside and shook Peter. "Wake up. It's time to go, but keep quiet."

"Mmm…" Peter yawned and rolled over. Matthias grimaced.

"Come on, hurry up."

"Five more minutes…"

"No, we are going now. Get up, brat."

"Jerk…" The boy sat up and wiped his eyes. "I never get to sleep," he whispered.

"You'll get to sleep again soon enough. Now come on." Matthias pulled him up and helped him to the door. Torben was not outside when Matthias returned to where he had been standing just minutes before. He pulled Peter along and kept going. "We need to hurry. Norge will like the surprise when he wakes up."

"Okay, that works for me," Peter followed closely behind as they ran down the path and out of the village. It took longer than Matthias remembered to get back to his and Norway's home, but after a little while they were there again. Matthias missed it more than he thought he would. Just one day and he wanted to be back in the safety of those walls.

"Norge here we come!" Matthias whispered excitedly to Peter, and he headed straight for the front porch, breaking into a run as he went. He didn't make it far. Just before he reached the house, he ran right into a wall and bounced back.

"Ouch!" Matthias grunted. "That damned w-" He stopped when he looked up. There was no wall in front of him, just open yard. Matthias stepped forward again, stopped by some mysterious force. He was merely feet away from the front porch, feet away from being inside again.

"Norge!" Matthias shouted. "What the hell is wrong with you?" He ran into the invisible wall a third time. "This isn't funny!"

Matthias could not move any further. He was stuck. The house was expelling him, by Norway's magic, no doubt.

Peter walked up beside him. "I tried that once. Norway blocked all visitors. He keeps anyone who isn't a nation out. We are both ex-nations, so I guess we don't count as accepted visitors."

"Stupid idiot!" Matthias pounded on the "wall" again. "Stupid freaking idiot! What is your problem? Why won't you let me in? Come out here right now and fix this! I demand you! As the King of Europe, I demand you open this now! Now, I say! Now!"

"It won't work. Norway can't hear you. He put a sound blocking system as well. Have you ever heard the storms that pass through?"

"No…"

"That's why."

"Nor…. You're such an idiot!" Matthias slammed his fists against the barrier, shouting aloud when they bounced back and hit him in the face. He turned to Peter. "Why can't he come out here and reverse this?"

"He might not know you are out here."

"But he has to know! I've been gone so long! He would have checked on me by now. He always checks on me so much…. Norge, please come out here! Please…"

Peter sat down by the barrier and pressed his hands against it lightly. "Maybe we can find a way to get through."

"Norge's magic won't have flaws like that. I've seen it too many times. He used this spell to keep me out of his room once. Trust me, there's no way through. I've tried." Matthias sighed as he remembered that day. He had run at it, threw forks at it, and rammed chairs against the barrier. They only resulted in injuries to himself. Norge had finally lifted the barrier when he gave up and left the hallway to go get food before trying again. He only discovered the barrier had been lifted when he ran right through it into the door.

Peter shrugged. "It's always worth a try."

"What would we do?"

"I snuck into Arthur's basement once and found his spell book. I wrote down some of the spells, and I still have some of them. We could try those."

"Peter, Arthur can't really do magic. Those won't work."

"Sure they will! We just need to figure out what they do!"

"Peter…"

"Come on! It's always worth the shot! You always said that, so you need to do that!" Peter pulled at Matthias' sleeve. "Hurry up, old man!"

"I'm not old…" Matthias muttered. "Now give me the spells and I'll take a look."

"Okay! They should be in my pocket somewhere," Peter stuck out his tongue as he fished through his pockets, finally producing a torn up sheet of paper. "See? I still have it. It's a little messed up from everything, but I bet we can still get something off it."

Matthias nodded and took the sheet from him. The handwriting was messy and worn, but he could make out a few of the spells. They were nothing like Norway's spells; the language was much different, and, frankly, it sounded like a whole load of balderdash. Matthias frowned and handed the sheet back. "Those aren't real, kid. You can try them, but they are no match for Norge's magic."

Peter watched as Matthias walked away. "Hey! Where are you going? You're not just leaving me here, are you?"

Matthias shook his head and kept walking.

"Hey!"

"Get a life, kid. You don't need me anymore."

Peter watched as Matthias walked away and around the corner, out of sight. He sniffed. "Uncle…"

Matthias did not return, so Peter sat down again in front of the great house. Nothing inside seemed to stir, not even in the slightest wind. He sighed. "Uncle, I lied… These weren't Arthur's. These were yours…"

Matthias walked around back to the fence he had climbed over to get out. He tested it once again, but the barrier held strong back there as well. Matthias hissed, "Norge, you are so stupid sometimes. I hate you, and I'll never forgive you. You're watching, I know it. I can feel you watching me, and you're doing nothing. Nothing! I hate you! I hate you, Norway, I hate you!" Matthias broke down in sobs and fell into the muddy ground below him. His fists pounded against the barrier as he cried, and he continued to shout. When his sobs finally fell away, he thought he could hear the words, "I'm sorry," but he knew it was just the wind. Norway never heard a single thing he said, and he never apologized.

"Shut up, stupid Dane."