Uniting Asgard [Book Three]

Chapter Five

The night before, Erica had trouble falling asleep. Most nights, she was fine, but tonight had been terrible. She had gone to bed early, hoping to be well-rested for the rehearsal the next day only to awaken from a nightmare; the same nightmare that had plagued her since she was a child. It had always started with her being back in the old palace. She would be running down the hall to her parents' bedroom and would walk inside only to find the image of her entire family surrounding a coffin. As she warily entered the room and got closer to the coffin, she was met with the image of her dead mother. She felt herself begin to cry as she reached out to her, beginning to recite the spell until she could hear her father's booming voice shouting get her out of here!

Erica awoke with a start in her bed, clutching the sheets to her chest. Her eyes quickly looked around the room, assessing where she was. Her chest heaved with every breath she took as she calmed herself down. The moonlight seeped over her sheets from the window beside her bed. She glanced outside and watched as a small flurry of snow began to fall to the ground. Erica closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Dronilnr tobor." She whispered.

When she opened her eyes, she saw the golden mist dance around her fingertips before disappearing. Almost every night when she awoke from the nightmare, she recited the spell given to her by Frigga. The first time she had recited it, she had believed the spell to have disappeared given that Alice survived. Much to her shock and wonder, Erica watched as the golden mist appeared in her small hands. This recitation became a routine for Erica. She needed to know that she still had the ability and remembered the spell. Having gotten older and more aware of the world around her, Loki and Alice had explained to her about the threats that surrounded them. Knowing the risk Alice was in every day, Erica knew she had to be ready to protect her at any moment. The spell had been specifically designed for Alice, so if she found herself in a life or death situation, Erica knew she could help. However, she never told anyone that she could conjure the spell, not even Loki or Alice. In some ways, she enjoyed being the only one to know.

As the mist disappeared, Erica exhaled sharply, plopping her hands down into her lap as she looked around her room. She took a few deep breaths before laying back down on her bed, sinking into the mattress. For the next several minutes as she tried to fall back asleep, Erica stared at the ceiling following the lines of the window pane's shadow.

Erica had moved into her small apartment a little over a year ago. When she had turned eighteen, Erica decided that she wanted to start to live her life independently. One afternoon, when walking home from her job at the market, she noticed a bulletin board near the town square with a listing for a vacant apartment. She decided to check it out, already formulating a lie to tell her parents if they questioned her lateness. Upon entering the space, Erica couldn't help but feel right at home. She felt the apartment speak to her and knew it was the right one for her. That night, Erica sat down Alice and Loki and explained to them her plans and what she wanted to do with her life. When she told them she had wanted to move out, she could tell they were hurt but acknowledged that they didn't plan for her to stay with them forever. A few months later, Erica was moving into the apartment.

She enjoyed having some much needed alone time but the quietness had been unsettling at first. In some ways, she missed the early mornings where everyone was up running around the house trying to get ready and out the door on time for either school or their job. She missed hearing Elli's infectious laughter and the bickering Haldane and Arlan got into. In the beginning, it felt strange passing by any of her siblings in the street. The fact that she wouldn't be able to see them when she went home rubbed her the wrong way. As the months went by, she adjusted to living independently and soon began discovering more about herself and indulging in her interests. She didn't need to ask permission if she wanted to go out, she just could. By the time a year had passed, Erica felt that she was thriving. She visited home for holidays as well as surprise visits to catch up with them all. She saw her mother most days when training. The days she enjoyed the most in the hospital were when Loki would visit to surprise Alice during her breaks. Erica admired her parents' relationship and how they managed to stay together for so many years. During one of Alice's breaks, Erica had inquired into how she had met Loki and was surprised to find out that her mother had shown a disliking towards him, and the same reaction for Loki.