The Fenrir Saga - Part I

Chapter 40

Ben

As if someone had decided to punish me for allowing myself too much at the dinner, I woke up from a perfect dream. It lingered in my head and my room as I opened my eyes. Everything was calm and serene. Everything was fine. Everything felt good. Except for that annoying strand of hair that kept falling into my face, this time, it was as if it carried the strength of a butterfly's wings from the other side of the world as the gush of scent coming from it completely overwhelmed me. It couldn't be more than a couple of molecules, but I had the strangest feeling of catching a whiff of cardamom.

I sat up. Something was... not wrong, but right. And yet wrong. Had someone been in my room? I sniffed the air. Did I imagine it, or was there a mix of strawberries with the cardamom? And dew. And beachy forests.

I should have been alarmed at the thought of fresh scents in my room in the middle of the night, but the scene was so calming and relaxing that it lulled me back to sleep. I slipped back onto the pillow, closed my eyes, and returned to a land of silver clothes and blue eyes.

The next time I woke up, I couldn't deduce if I had dreamt of waking up during the night, but the hoodie told me it was no dream. The scent that radiated off it was no longer a lone tune of cardamom but mixed with other things I was sure had not been there before. Either I missed the whole scent thing yesterday, or someone was in my room during the night. Someone with an intoxicating scent nonetheless. Could it be so? I deduced that it couldn't, that the scents had been there yesterday evening, but I had just not noticed it in my state of agony at how I left Hild after our walk.

I felt good, though. Stronger.

Somewhere out there, someone was giving me power by just being around. I couldn't understand why this person had not made herself known, but whatever her reasons, she had helped me already. I felt strength flowing through me. I had to find the source. I had to deserve the source. I had to let go of.. other things. I had to.

I had to.

Hild

It was as if everyone already knew. When I said I would fight instead of B, who was still out, virtually no one moved a muscle except for Vidar, who grinned, turned back to his quarters, and fetched a suit that he threw to me—his design.

It thus meant that I was now standing in the middle of the pack, getting the war paint from Gammal in a suit that was a mix of a short skirt and a leather bikini with arm-wrist protection. It allowed for more agile movements than the suit B had, but if I wanted extra cash afterwards, I could easily fit in at any strip joint. However, I decided that I looked fabulous in it, and after all, this was the most kick-ass body of them all, so why not? As long as nothing fell out, I wore more than the guys.

I mind-linked Trevor to ask if he could watch B while we were off at the pitch. I felt bad for him; I knew he would want to watch Vile, but we really didn't know anyone else that we trusted. Of course, he, being the nice boy that he was, accepted and loomed in just as we left for the arena.

As we stood in the locker room, Vidar entered and immediately approached me, trying to agitate me. I caught the scent of what he was doing and smiled at him.

"You don't have to make me angry, Vidar. I hate enough."

He grinned and shrugged. I raised my finger to him.

"Just make sure to get me home afterwards."

He nodded.

Since it was Sunday, I had made the guys promise to take me back to town afterwards instead of letting me sleep in the camp. It would save me some time tomorrow when it was a workday, and I had promised to come into the office. I had alerted my boss that it wouldn't be early in the morning but figured I could probably be there until noon, assuming my blackout followed the same schedule as B's.