BOOK 3. Trapped in Asgard after Odin's apparent death, Anna chooses an unlikely ally in her attempt to find Loki. While the realm is sealed from the rest of the Nine Worlds, her strange dreams lead her to the one place she'd never expect.
To him...
Dropping Anna's hand, Sigyn rushes over to the large canvas bag she brought with her and lugs it back to the table. It hits the seat of her chair with a dull thud, the contents clanking together while Sigyn gives Anna an excited - and somewhat unnerving - grin.
"What do you mean?" Anna asks, gripping the edge of the table in a failed attempt to keep herself grounded and somewhat calm. "How?"
Sigyn pulls out a vial of a murky-colored liquid, followed by several vials of various powders and a flask of what appears to be Asgardian mead. She pushes the tea and pastries out of the way, making room on the table for the assorted items, before pulling out a massive book that looks older than anything Anna could possibly imagine.
Her pulse is racing with the possibility of finding Loki, of seeing him again, and she can barely contain herself. Hope - something she was close to losing - filled her with a new wave of energy that she didn't know she had at the thought of him. Of seeing him again, of his emerald eyes meeting hers, of his lips pressed against hers. As much as she wanted to be angry with him for locking her in this chamber and abandoning her for months, part of her wondered if there was something else going on.
After all, if she's learned anything about Loki it's that his motives aren't always obvious. Whatever the reason, she's determined to find it.
"With this," Sigyn says, flipping the book open and pointing to a specific page. "We're going to get you out of here."
Anna's mouth drops open in shock, "What? Can you do that?"
"I see no reason why not," the blonde reassures her. "I found the stave last night. It took me a bit to translate, considering it's written in runes instead of Allspeak, but I think I have everything I need."
"Okay," Anna says, her blue eyes wide, "Say we get me out of here. Then what? How does that help us find Loki?"
Her mind is racing with the possibilities - the chance to escape this chamber taking second place only to chance to find Loki - as she struggles to breathe. Every inhale is a battle, her heart pounding heavily within her chest, and it feels almost as if she is standing on the brink of something monumental waiting to be thrown from the precipice.
The blonde woman smiles, opening one of the flasks and pouring some of the powder in her hand. She tosses it into her now-empty teacup, following it with a splash of the murky liquid she pulled out earlier. Adding a few more dry ingredients, she mixes it around roughly before filling the cup to the brim with mead and passes it to Anna.
"Drink up," Sigyn says, ignoring the question.
Anna lifts an eyebrow at her, accepting the cup warily before inspecting the liquid it holds. It's a sickly green-brown color, the smell reminiscent of sulfur mixed with turmeric, and she grimaces as she holds it away from her nose. Even after all of the draughts Eir had made her in the past few months, this is a whole new level of nasty.
"What is it?" Anna asks, swallowing the lump in her throat at the thought of whatever mixture fills the cup. "It smells like death."
Sigyn chuckles, "That's because it is."
Anna's fingers drop the cup unwittingly, and Sigyn jerks forward to catch it before it crashes into the tabletop. Some of the liquid sloshes out of the sides, so Sigyn grabs one of the cloth napkins to blot at her wrists whilst placing the cup gingerly on the table.
"I am not trying to kill you, Anna," Sigyn reassures, tossing the napkin back on the table once her hands are dry. "I only want to help you."
The brunette frowns, "See, I wasn't thinking about you trying to kill me until you told me that whatever the hell you just tried to give me would kill me. It doesn't exactly inspire confidence in this whole scheme."
"It will not kill you," replies Sigyn with a sigh. "It is a draught that mimics death. It's very old magic - very powerful magic - and we need it to trick the wards placed around the room into thinking you are no more."
Eyes wide, Anna is afraid to ask what that might be. She trusts Sigyn - or rather she wants to trust her - and right now she doesn't exactly have any other options. Regardless of complications, this might be her only opportunity to get out of Loki's chambers and find him which means it's a risk she needs to be willing to take.
"What complication?" She asks.
Sigyn hesitates, "You...well, your soul will depart from your body. During this time, I will move you - your body, that is - out of these chambers and into a safe space to wait for your return."
"Return from where?" Anna says slowly. "What happens to my soul?"
The blonde turns the book in front of her, so the pages are open to Anna. While she can't read the runes scrawled across the page, there is an illustration drawn on the adjacent page that is more than illuminating.
Sigyn grimaces, wrinkling her nose slightly, before taking a deep breath.
"Your soul will travel to Niflheim," she says, as the meaning dawns on Anna. "To meet Hela."
Now playing: Bad Moon Rising by Mourning Ritual ft. Peter Dreimanis.
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Writer's block? WHAT WRITER'S BLOCK?
Oh hi. I have writer's block. Sorry for the delay.
Two things:
1) If you have any questions for me about my books, my life, or any fun things - or if you missed my Instagram Live - you can ask questions and see answers on Ask.fm/jandralee.
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