The Hell of the Nine Realms: Book 1: The Mystery of the Odinsons

XXII: The Glorified Desk Jockeys

Lizzy didn't waste any time. She immediately ran into the place with us following far behind. I had never seen someone move so fast. It wasn't even twenty seconds before we all lost sight of her. Seeing such speed from her made me wonder if David could move like that.

When we lost sight of her, I began to panic, until Dylan calmed me down by saying he could sense the vibrations her footsteps were making in the earth and then led the way to her.

"She's normally not this reckless." I said to Jamie. She was the closest to me. We were in the back, with Abby and Solomon a few inches behind Dylan, and Ashley in the very back behind us. Unlike Lizzy, I knew Jamie could move exceptionally fast and thus would be right next to her big brother if she wanted to. But, instead, she deliberately moved way slower than she could to stay near me, the slowest of us all, which made a small smile form on my face. "Why is she being so rash?"

"David." Jamie answered. I looked at her. I opened my mouth to say something, but was momentarily distracted by how red Jamie was turning.

Jesus, I thought, Even thinking about him makes her blush? Why?

I dismissed her behavior, deeming it as a question for later and said what I was going to, "He's just her brother. One who never seems to have time for her. Why would he make her act so uncharacteristic?"

"It's because," Jamie replied sharply. "she finally has a bond with someone."

"Huh?"

"Yeah."

I turned my head. Ashley was catching up enough to hear our conversation. "David was the first person to actually treat Lizzy correctly. He spoiled her and at the same time he didn't. He acted like the parent Lizzy had always wanted. He was the one person who Lizzy could open up to without fear of any bad repercussions. David gave her strength and love. In return, she gave him love and loyalty. David gives all of us that. He doesn't expect anything back. He does it for the sake of doing it."

"I think," Jamie pitched in, "Even though we all (except Lizzy) don't have any blood ties with David, we're his family. We became the family he never knew. That's why." she added, suddenly serious and wearing a blazing look. "That's why we need to find him."

She began running faster and I had to struggle to keep up. My smile had gone, along with Jamie, replaced by a feeling of inadequacy due to now being far behind everyone. A few minutes later, we found Elizabeth, who was exploring a room. The room was full of bright orbs on shelves and for some reason, I had a feeling that we shouldn't be there.

"Lizzy," I called, "We need to go."

Either Lizzy unheeded what I said or she just didn't hear me and she continued exploring.

"Hey, Lizzy." Solomon's voice said. "This one had you and David's name on it, I think."

We all rushed to where he was.

"What do you mean you think?" Lizzy demanded harshly.

"Hey, lay off him." I said without thinking, and Solomon give me one of his dazzling thank-you smiles, which made me feel red. I considered saying The only one who talks to Kiernan like that is me but I decided against it. Instead, I looked at the piece of paper under the orb that Kiernan had been pointing to.

It read: Eht Sgnilbis ohw Devivrus: Divad Semaj dna Htebazile Yak Nosnido Seveer dna Aiag dna Sonaruo.

"What the hell does that even say?" Flora asked. "Is that even English?"

I was very tempted to tell her exactly why that question was stupid. Because, seriously? "Was it even English? Did it look like English? Did she think that this was a new kind of English that no on- I stopped my thought process for a second, then thought maybe I'd been around David too much.