I really question my floor mates planning.
Today was the day we would set off for our quest, but there were some pit stops along the way that might leave clues for us.
I was dreading the first stop, but not as much as my assignment now: wake up Saar Corbain.
Saar had been recovering in her room while we had the meeting with Helgi. Don't know why though, she seemed fine at the dinner, other than looking unfocused.
I used every once of concentration to sneak into her room, the door already unlocked. Holding my breath, I entered the room.
Saar kept her room at well below room temperature, a little colder than a freezer. Her walls were a dark gray with black boards, the Belgium flag waving above her bed. Saar was sprawled out on the mattress, no sheets, no blankets.
I shouldn't have even been in here, I should have just knocked on her door to wake her up. But curiosity got the better of me.
Most of the stuff in her room was plain, but her mantle snagged my attention. Slick black wooden frames with sparkly jewels held memories in place.
A woman holding two little kids with black hair, a twelve year old Saar with her head stuck in a headlock with who looked to be a family member, the boy from the first photo looking a little older and laughing at Saars misfortune. A photo with an elderly man cradling the back of Corbain's head with her face dug in his shoulder. A selfie with a brown haired girl around Saar's age at a beach. Another with Saar almost the age she is now with her shoulder slung around the boy seen in a few photos. The two stood in front of a fancy hotel, a small view of the ocean and a shipping dock in the corner.
There were other knickknacks I could see as well; an old ring, gun pieces, cards, papers, wallets, a safe. But for some reason, her photos appealed to me more. And why do I feel I've seen the boy in relation to Saar in other items?
Of course, that's when Saar came around. She, like me, is violent to wake up to. She shot up from her bed, shouting a threat in Dutch, a gun that might have been under her pillow produced in her hand as she looked around the room.
Her eyes finally fell on me. "What are you doing?" She demanded. I sputtered something incoherent as she marched her way up to me and shoved me away from the photos.
"You have no right being in here!" She yelled, pushing me towards the doorway. Finally, I collected myself and planted my feet.
"I need your help," I explained, but the burning in her dark eyes were unreadable.
"Give me a reason to help you." She demanded, still trying to get me out of her room.
"My friend is in danger and we need to help her." I pleaded "She's part of this team and were not going to abandon her! She's also your Valkyrie."
That seemed to win her over. Saar became a little less violent.
"I know you don't like me, I'm the same way towards you. But don't do it to me, don't hurt someone who has done nothing to you. This isn't you helping me, you're helping her."
We stood face to face for an eternity, having a silent war. I didn't even bother to acknowledge the cold.
Finally, Saar broke our moment, muttering some in French before giving me an answer.
"You're a complete numbskull." She said, not uncommon. "And even though this Valkyrie has hurt me, I'll help."
I thought that was it, but the daughter of Hodur took another step closer to me. "And just so you know," she warned, her voice low "if I ever see you poke around my privacy, or push your limits with me, I'll put a bullet through that small mind of yours. In the Valhalla boarders or not."
After a shuddering moment, I decided to put a pin in that threat and focused on what she said before. "Thank you! Wait, what do you mean 'has hurt you?' Sam hasn't—"
"None of you're concern," she bit back "now let me pack and get dressed, I'm not going on a quest wearing this."
Seeing her in a tank top and sleeping shorts, I gave her the time she needed to get ready. Once she was, we met up with the others at the elevator door.
"Good morning!" TJ greeted, always trying to keep spirit.
"Still he/him from yesterday." Alex added.
Next to me, Saar was struck with confusion. "He/him? Weren't you a girl yesterday?" She asked.
"Genderfluid." the einherji added "I shift between male and female. Got a problem with it?"
Saar just shrugged and shook her head "I've got queer cousins, and I'm not entirely straight. I don't mind, just corrected me if I use the wrong pronouns."
Why was she so nice to Alex about his trans-Genderfluid identity, and yet hates me?
"So," TJ began, sounding eager "where are we off to."
"Well, this mission is solely to save Sam and get the walnut back, but first we need to tie some loose ends so we won't cause a disaster." Alex explained.
He was wearing his signature green and pink checkered sweater vest on top of a white long sleeve collared shirt. Wearing tight green jeans, a forest green pack, and pink painted military boots that I think he stole from Saar.
"Meaning?..." asked Mallory.
"We need to inform someone of her disappearance." I elaborated with dread "We need to warn her fiancé: Amir Fadlan."
~~
This was the stop I was dreading for; telling an amazing man with cooking skills of the gods that the person he adored and worried for the most had been kidnapped.
All six of us paraded into his restaurant, carrying our best fighting weapons and ready for a brawl. We also took the responsibility of flipping the 'we're closed' sign around.
After accidentally wearing our threatening poser in the mortal's restaurant, asking him to cook us lunch, then breaking the news to him, he was beat.
Amir had a to-go bag to his mouth, huffing in and out of it as sweat pored down his brow. Alex and I shared a booth with him while the others stared at us.
I had my hand rubbing his back, trying to coax him into a state of more control.
"She's going to be fine," I cooed, sounding like a liar. "We're going to get her back."
"She told me her job was dangerous," he whimpered, pulling the bag away. "I thought she retired so she could try to lead a normal life. So we can get married!"
"We know Amir," Alex butted in. Sam, since she was Muslim, had an arranged marriage with same aged boy. The two were betrothed and would marry once they were both eighteen. I forgot how old Sam was, but I knew the marriage was approaching. "that's why we're here, hoping Sam left something with you before she disappeared."
Amir shook his head "No, she left nothing. All she said was that she had an order from Odin to pick up a demigod."
My mind clicked to the name king of Norse gods' name . "Odin sent her on that mission?" I repeated.
"Yeah, I didn't get a lot of details, but she said she was worried about the description of them." He continued.
I bit my lip and tried to steal a glance at Saar, who looked incredibly uncomfortable under what we heard.
The eighteen year old mortal saw me looking at the gunslinger, and looked over. "Are you the case she was worried about?"
Saar met his eyes for a moment, as if testing how strong she was to see if she could look into the eyes of a man who's fiancé was in danger because of her. She lost, downing her head to the floor. "Yes, I am."
Amir let out a cry and began to ramble.
"Of course. Economy makes owning this place harder, channeling funds to your children's home, and now my fiancé might be dead with the ceremony only months away."
That added to the pile of painful knowledge in my stomach. "What?" Alex and I demanded.
The fiancé sighed "Sam turned eighteen about a month ago, so we started setting up the big day."
Alex face-palmed "I forgot about that!" I had too. We both congratulated her, gave her gifts, but it felt like an eternity since that day.
Something Amir snapped suddenly. He jumped from his seat in the booth and pointed at me.
"You have less than three months Magnus. Get Samirah back safely or you are no longer welcome at the Fadlan's Falafels." He warned.
Alex's jaw dropped.
Just what I needed, another deadline to get me moving on the mission. Even if Amir was only bluffing with the threat, which he usually did, it still sent adrenaline through me.
Amir turned and began to give a spiel to the others as Alex got a call.
"And you guys," he announced "Even though I don't really know all of your names, please get her back! I'm relying on every one of you. She's relying on every one of you to get. Her. Back."
We weren't going to let the two down. We've faced worse and came out of it, we can get one of our family members back safely too.
Just then, Alex hung up from her call and faced me, looking sick with worry.
"Blitz just called," her words were shaky "someone attacked the Chase Space."
~~
That adrenaline from before gave me a bionic boost down the streets of Boston. I was usually the weakest of the group. But today, that moment when my papa bear instincts or whatever the heck you called them kicked in, I was miles away from my friends in a sprint.
Before I realized it, I was in front of the mansion. Smoke was spilling from some shattered windows, a large crater through the third floor. Crying could be heard from inside.
No, I thought to myself. No, no, no, no no!
I jumped into the mansion, the rooms were evacuated until I stumbled into the living room. Dozens of children were huddled, either crying, consoling, or patching up wounds. But no one seemed really hurt.
Blitzen, my best friend and dwarf, was trying to tend to a traumatized kids, though he looked like he needed the consoling.
"Blitz," I cried "what happened?"
The dwarf rubbed his nose "I-I don't know!" He choked "Everything was fine and then these zombies came barging in and just caused havoc! They tried to hurt the kids, burn the place, tore up furniture. Hearth stepped in thankfully, but then—..." he took a few deep breaths. His eyes were wild and bloodshot and his dark skin had a lack of blood.
"H-Heath's gone! While he was using the runes, a portal open and he just..." he voice began to break. It was obvious he had been through a lot.
I went to give him a bottle of water. Then, after tending to the kids, rushed up the stairs to investigate the damage.
The house really was trashed. The wallpaper was torn away and revealed the wooden walls, chips in the cement, the wooden floors cracked and riddled with ruble, stuffing, weapons and blood.
All the rooms had the same destroyed look, until I stumbled into Randolph's ex-study room. There was a single message carved into the floor: faced worse you say?
My legs gave out as my fear began to consume me. Hel left me this message, I was certain of it. So much had happened in only twenty four hours and I couldn't keep up.
I wanted to crumble, just like the mansion looked ready to do. Let myself crack and spill all the pain and cry. But I couldn't. My friends needed me, Samirah needed me, Hearth needed me, the kids needed me.
No matter how much it hurt, I shoved it down. There would be a time for mental care later. I made my way downstairs, back to Blitzen and the others, my friends already there and being debriefed by my dwarven friend.
Surprisingly, Alex shuffled closer and hugged me tightly. I melted into his warm embrace as he whispered to me. "We'll fix this," he promised "we have to."
I was to racked to respond. After a second, Alex pulled away so we could discuss.
"What can we do," Saar growled "who do we kill?"
Blitz rubbed his face and looked at me. "Heath dropped this during the fight. " he produced a small, worn out, sack: Hearth's rune pouch.
"I don't know how," he said "but this can help us. We can help Hearth."
"But how?" Mallory spoke up, it was clear she was irritated and was also hurt by everything that has happened. "We don't know where to even begin!"
You know the saying 'ask and you shall receive?' Well finally, someone received.
A raven's cry pierced the emotional tension. In a broken and deformed window sill, a messenger bird held a pellet in its ink black beak. With a disgusting hack, it tossed me the pellet.
I glanced up at my friends, each looking towards the container expectantly. We've been expectant a lot in the last hours.
I cracked it open and began to read aloud.
"Dear Magnus, I hope your afterlife has been well, it has been a while since we have last spoken. I am sending you this message because I am once again asking for your help. A friend of ours has these abilities of foretelling, and recently, she has been sick with them. She has been demanding you and keeps on warning about Ragnorok, which I am well familiar with the fact that it means the end of the world. It would mean so much if you could come to our camp and investigate, bring your friends.
With great thanks, your cousin, Annabeth Chase. "
I looked up at my friends with determination and a smile. We had our next stop.
"Looks like we're heading to New York."