Loki's Daughter Book 4

A few days later

I take Harper by her hand and lead her through the woods laughing as she points out everything. She let's go of my hand, and I watch as she dances ahead, spinning and miming stabbing every tree or branch that reaches out near her. I laugh and chase her. Then she stops and stands still. She slowly turns and faces me. I stop laughing the moment I see the fear in her eyes.

'Harper? What's wrong, Hunny?' I ask I kneel in front of her. She whimpers.

'Bad men. Gun,' she whispers.

'Where?' I ask her over the mind link. She jumps a little as a branch breaks and moves closer to me.

'Look at the girl. See how she hides behind the monster,' someone laughs once they finish speaking in Russian.

'Not a monster,' someone else says. 'But a Ghost.'

'You know the rumours man. Don't fuck with the Ghost that has ravens.'

'Boys look around you do you see any ravens?' the first one asks as he steps out from behind the trees and in front of me. I slowly stand up, a smirk appearing on my face. With a twitch of my finger, I cover the girl with an invisibility spell.

'Hey, where'd the girl go?' the second man asks as he lifts and aims his gun at me.

I laugh hollowly; I tilt my head back to the sky as my ravens swoop down and peck at him. He falls to the ground screaming. Then it turns to chaos.

Men and women swarm at me. Too many for me to fight alone, but I do my best. I fight, kill, injure and damage many of them all the while I hear Harper screaming and crying behind me. Slowly the wounds I gather as I fight, slow me down. My breathing races and I stumble as I stab someone. I miss them, and they shoot at me.

I hiss as a bullet hits me. With a quick flick of my wrist, I pause time, and I turn myself and Harper invisible. I run over to her, scoop her up, hushing her as I hold her tightly to myself and step through a portal and into my well-guarded bedroom in the palace. I turn her visible and teleport back to the fight leaving a clone with her.

'What's going on?' she sobs quietly.

'I am a clone, and I'm going to stay here with you until you are safe. You need to stay in this room until it is safe. Okay?' the clone tells her.

Getting back to the fight, I stumble back to where I was and start time. Another bullet hits me, and I drop to my knees clutching at my wound. Blinking rapidly, I struggle to see. Pausing time was taking a lot more energy out of me, then I would care to admit. With my magic weakening, I could tell the invisible spell I placed over her clone is fading as she constantly flickers to sight. I can't help but scream as something stabs me in the back. One person grabs hold of my right arm while other grabs hold of my other. They hold my arms back while pushing heavily on my shoulders.

DAD! I scream over the mind link.

Shut UP! He hisses back.

A tear rolls down my face as I lose the ability to hide clone Harper behind the invisible spell. The moment she becomes visible, two women immediately grab hold of her.

'NO!' I scream. I stand up and tear my arms out of the men's grip. I stumble through the falling snow that halls harder with every passing moment. I reach out; my fingertips graze clone Harper's skin as the people run and pull her out of my grasp. There's a loud bang, and I stumble forwards. I stand up and with a short scream, I create a snow army who surround me and the people that hold clone, Harper. She stares at me, whimpering, lips trembling as tears run down her face. I don't need to read the real Harper's mind to know that she is scared and wants her mum, but she remains quiet as does the clone Harper. I run through the snow to the shocked people and pull clone Harper out of their grip. I turn and open a portal showing a shocked Valarie on the other side. Valarie's mouth opens, and she screams out something. All I feel is pain and agony. I fall to the snow. The portal hissed shut. Through closed eyes, I seem them grabbing clone Harper. I struggle to get up, but I can't move. Against my will, my body falls limp and my eyes close as they take clone Harper while the real Harper finally falls asleep on my bed.

I sit up slowly. My throat feels raw from screaming. I shiver and can't stop shaking. I watch hopelessly as my blood falls and splashes onto the white snow that covers everything.

'Raven?'

'RAVEN!' Someone screams.

I lift my head slowly as Valarie runs towards me wearing her battle armour. Loki and some guards follow closely behind her. A tear falls from my eyes as I sit upon my knees in the snow.

'Harper...oh, Harper. Where's Harper?'

My body shakes, and I fall onto my side, coughing and spewing up blood and other stuff.

'They...' I manage to get out before I am hushed by Loki as he wraps his cloak around me. I shake my head and pull away.

'Valarie,' I croak. She turns and faces me. My eyes burn as I desperately blink away tears. 'They took...her,' I manage to tell her. My body continues to shake as I struggle to stay awake. The last thing I see is Val's face turning from disbelief to horror. The last thing I hear is Val screaming for her missing daughter. 

'YOU SHOULD HAVE TRIED HARDER. We were only a few minutes away. You should have kept fighting. If you had just kept fighting for those few extra minutes, she would be here with me now. Not GOD KNOWS WHERE!'

Tears well up in my eyes. My head pounds from trying to keep them back. My ribs ache, and my whole body aches from the fight.

'YOU SHOULD HAVE TRIED YOU-'

'No...you don't understand. I tried...I really did try,' I interrupt her as I get out of bed.

'Well, it wasn't enough.'

'Give her a break Valarie. Raven was half dead when we found her. She tried, and she was willing to die to protect your kid.'

'Well maybe if she did keep trying until she died, my daughter would be here with me,' Alec says.

'SHE WAS LYING IN THE SNOW BLEEDING OUT TO DEATH!' I flinch at Loki's raised voice and take a step back closer to my sister. She wraps an arm around my waist and holds me tightly. I turn and bury my head into her shoulder only for a moment later to look up slightly confused as my sister turns into my brother. He looks down at me and gives me a small smile.

Sorry. The skin was getting itchy.

Well. You can still take me to my room. I tease him.

He smirks and teleports the two of us to my room. I groan and lean my head into his shoulder as I wait for the nauseous feeling of the air changing density to pass.

'Raven?'

I groan and drop onto my couch.

'Why is Harper on your bed?'

'I brought her here,' I reply as I close my eyes, tilting my head back.

'What? When?'

I shiver as I close my eyes. A coughing fit takes over draining me of my energy. I'm pulled off the couch and gently lain on the floor. Liquid drips from the nose and mouth. I make short gasps as I struggle to breathe.

'Nurse...coming...do you want me...hide Harper?'

'Yes,' I breathe out. 'Explain...later.'