19. WATERSLIDE OF DEATH

19

WATERSLIDE OF DEATH

T he wall closed behind Bebe and me, throwing us into semidarkness. The sound of claws at the wall behind us did nothing to soothe my fear that Havoc and Han would be able to get through and follow us to the Norns.

I scooted forward, and the ground below me disappeared. I grabbed at Bebe with my arms, my hands still stinging painfully from pressing against the white stone and black crystals.

She screamed as we fell, and I just kind of held my breath. Would we drop into water? It seemed a definite possibility with the way my life trajectory had been going lately.

Only we didn't hit water, we hit something slick and hard, like a giant slide. Water sprayed around us. Check that, waterslide .

We were flipped and I had to let go of Bebe or crush her as I landed on my belly. "Fuck!" I blew out as I was flipped up and over, spinning down what could only be a waterslide of death.

Surely it was trying to kill us. There was no way that we wouldn't die.

"What the fuck is this shit?" Bebe yelled and I caught a glimpse of her before I was flipped again, the space below me gone once more as gravity took over.

I did the only thing I could. I held my hands in tight to my chest and just let it happen—whatever this was.

I don't know how many times I was spun, flipped, dropped…I knew that I was getting bruised and bashed to hell, I knew that there was something slippery that made it impossible to slow myself.

I tried a few times, but it just tore at my already tender fingers. Even if I'd shifted, there was no way my claws would have slowed us.

Bebe seemed to come to the same conclusion as I did and we stopped fighting.

I mean…at some point we'd come to a stop, right?

I hit a corner at high speed and the momentum took me all the way around the tunnel in a perfect loop over loop, knocking the wind out of me when I hit face down on the bottom of the waterslide of death.

A groan slid out of me and once more the ground gave way below me and I slid over an edge into a free fall.

Only this one wasn't short.

And I could no longer feel the edges of the tunnel to catch me or slow me down.

"You gotta be shitting me!" I bellowed as I reached for something, anything.

The weird semi-dark made it so that there was no sense of space, of anything that could give me a place to focus on.

As suddenly as I'd lost all sense, the tunnel was back at my back, curving in a slow twist that began to slow my fall, the angle far less steep than before. I blinked and the semi-light began to grow, and I wasn't being spun so hard that I couldn't see.

Forest sprouted up as I watched, the tops of trees appearing first, flocks of birds flying up as we disturbed them. I sat up and the fall slowed further even as it gave me a good view of this amazing expanse.

Mountains in the distance, forest and valleys, and a desert beyond that, like a whole world had just appeared in front of me. "What is this place?"

Bebe slid into me and wobbled onto my lap. "I don't see a spider, that has to be good, right?"

The curving, mocking waterslide dropped us below the treetops and the interior of the forest turned into a fairytale. Flowers and tiny lights were strung between the trees over and over, creating a canopy of light and color that drew the eyes. The song of birds was sweet and gentle, the wind was warm and brought us new scents.

"I smell food," Bebe said.

I sniffed the air. "Someone is cooking onions and garlic." My mouth instantly watered and I couldn't help but wonder what the onion and garlic were for.

As long as they weren't being prepped to aid in someone or something eating me and Bebe, I was good. My belly rumbled, and I was suddenly ravenous.

Part of that was the shifting back and forth. Part of that was just the fact that it smelled amazing.

The slide spit us out onto the top of a bright green mushroom that was as big as a queen size bed, and easily as soft.

I just sat there taking it in.

"You think the guys got through behind us?" Bebe asked.

"Not today they won't."

We both twisted and jumped off the mushroom cap.

Behind us stood a woman of ethereal beauty, her white hair flowing around her as if caught in an unseen wind. Huge, solid white eyes stared down at us, seeing us though it looked as if she should be blind. Her dress moved in the same manner, the material gossamer thin, and yet there was very little shown of her midnight skin.

All in all, she was a stunning beauty.

That wasn't what had my jaw dropping though. She stood over thirty feet tall and made our mushroom landing pad look like a freaking footstool.

"How do you know they won't?" I managed to get the question out. Part of me said I needed to run for my life—this was a giantess. And giants were known for eating the flesh of anything that walked through their lairs.

"Because those are the rules my sisters and I have set in place. Any who would brave the lair of the Norns would find themselves safe—for a time."

I blinked up at her. "You are one of the Norns?"

She dipped her head toward me. "I am Helestia. The oldest Norn. And you are Cinniúint, daughter of Tyr, daughter of destiny. I am pleased to meet you, young one."

Turning, she motioned for me to follow her. "Come. You look worn from your journey to find us."

Bebe sniffed. "That's an understatement. I feel like someone stuffed me in a washing machine with a bunch of rocks and set the spin cycle to high."

I took a step, stumbled and went to one knee. "A moment, Helestia, please."

The Norn paused and looked over her shoulder. "Take all the time you need, child. Follow the path when you are ready, and we shall be waiting for you at the end."

I blinked and she was gone. "Bebe?"

"Yeah?"

"Weirdest shit so far?"

"Oh, yeah, a thousand percent. Zero stars for that little ride back there, two stars for the landing."

I stayed there on one knee, knowing I had to get up and move. Because despite what Helestia had said about the guys not being able to follow…I just didn't trust that they wouldn't find a loophole.

I dug around in my pack and opened one of the Tupperware containers. This one was just straight chunks of beef, potatoes, carrots in a thick gravy. The label on it said "Not Sleepy".

Fucker. Loki was a damn fucker. I sniffed the food anyway and didn't pick up on any sedatives or herbs. I had to take the chance that it wouldn't knock me out. I needed fuel, and this was all I had.

"Bottoms up," I muttered.

I stuffed my mouth as quickly as I could, chewing very little, swallowing a lot of the food whole. I had to refuel while I had the chance.

Bebe snagged a chunk of meat, then another and another. We sat for five minutes, eating as fast as we could.

"That will hold us for a bit." I wiped my face with the back of my sleeve. Best we could do .

I pushed to my feet, wobbled and took a step, then another and another, the calories helping. Apparently, it wasn't laced with anything, so I was going to take the win.

The forest around us was littered with the huge, fluffy mushrooms like the one we'd landed on. The path was wide enough for the Norn giantess, and it wove through as if it had been placed after the mushrooms and trees had grown.

Fantastic smells floated from all around us, cooking food, sweet treats, fresh baked bread, cinnamon, vanilla, strawberry…I breathed it all in and my stomach growled despite having just eaten. Something in me said it wasn't good to eat anything here. Like Alice in Wonderland, we would be in a world of fucking hurt if we took a nibble of anything.

Bebe stuck close. "This place is too nice. It gives me the heebie fucking jeebees."

"Me too, don't touch anything you don't have to, and don't eat anything." I kept to the middle of the path and picked up my pace. "Let's get this over with."

Almost as I spoke the path widened, opening us up to a gazebo made of woven willow branches, the same tiny lights as before, and bird nests.

Three women sat under the gazebo, a fire in front of their huge feet. The flames were a rainbow of colors, not unlike the bridge we'd seen in Asgard .

Helestia sat to the far left. All three of the women had the same silvery white hair, and white eyes, though each of them had very different skin tones. Helestia's skin was midnight dark. The middle Norn was so pale I could see veins running under her skin as if she were translucent. The third had skin that was blue, like a winter sky.

The one in the middle tipped her head to the side. "I am Proferia. You have met Helestia. And this is our sister Kleteria."

Bebe huffed and I reached down and scooped her into my arms so I could clamp a hand over her mouth. "Not a word."

"I would never," Bebe whispered. "What do you think I'm going to do, compare her name to a female body part?"

I glared down at her. "Yes. That's exactly what you might do."

"Is there a problem?" Helestia asked.

I held Bebe a little tighter. "I am only reminding my friend that we are in the presence of three goddesses, who hold our lives in their hands, and to remember to be respectful. She is a bit…"

"Forward?" Proferia smiled. "We know. We see her life. We know exactly who she is."

She motioned above our heads to the canopy of the willow tree branches.

I looked up and immediately went to my knees, as if I'd been smacked on the crown of my head. "Holy shit."

They weren't willow branches, not the way I'd thought. They were color and life, flickering images held inside each strand. They were lives, woven over and over, some touching, some running parallel. Some ending abruptly even as I watched. It was overwhelming to say the least.

Proferia stood and pointed. One life drew closer to us, the strands that made it up flaring brilliantly bright red, glowing, vibrating with energy. "This is Bebe, as we see her. She is fiery, isn't she?"

A spark of lightning seemed to flare in the strand, and I couldn't help but laugh.

Proferia released Bebe's strand and it slipped back into the mass of lives that were too many to take in.

"It looks like her," I said. "Beautiful and spicy."

Bebe butted me. "What are you two talking about? You're not speaking English."

I swallowed and looked to my friend, but found myself speaking to Proferia. "She can't understand?"

Helestia shook her head. "She cannot. Nor can she see these lives as you and we can. It would be too much for her. You are like us, woven with destiny and fate and so it is something you can understand."

I bent and whispered to Bebe. "Hang on, we're negotiating. All good."

That seemed to satisfy her .

I wobbled a little as I stood. "And I can see these lives because…because I'm my father's daughter?"

"That is a piece of it," Proferia said. "Do you see anyone else you recognize?"

I blinked and looked through the lives, my eyes drawn to four…I reached out and touched them, drawing them closer to me. "My brothers and my sister."

"Yes."

They didn't tell me to trace the lines. Didn't tell me to look further. I just stared at how dark Kieran's line was, how all the lives around it seemed to be cringing from him. At how his life would end soon.

Very soon.

Richard and Ship were not like that—though I could pinpoint the moment I'd dragged them out from my mother's spell. Their lines went from dark to a wavering light, only growing in brightness.

Meg's line…that was far away, and it was not meant to cross with me again. She was safe and away from all of this, and that was the best that could be. "Be safe, Meggie."

"You would let her go?"

"You think she'd be safe around me?" I laughed, and shook my head. "No, I wouldn't bring her into this mess again if I didn't have to."

"But your brothers, you'd take the risk on them?" Helestia asked .

How did I explain that I'd tried to send them away? That they'd chosen to stand with me against whatever I faced. Their fates had been ones they had chosen. It wasn't the same as what had happened with them and Juniper.

Like the difference between choosing Havoc, or being forced to be with Han.

"That's different," I said. "But none of that is why I'm here."

Proferia nodded. "You come to find out what you must do next, how do you stop Ragnar?k, how do you change the world?"

I grimaced. "I don't want to change the world. I just don't want it to end. And I'd prefer not to die."

I took note that Kleteria was saying nothing through all this, her eyes half closed as we all spoke. "Does your sister have anything to add to this?"

"She rarely speaks," Helestia said. "Be glad of that. She's a bit of a bitch."

Proferia nodded and motioned for me to look at all the lives woven again. "Before you ask your question…look for your own life."

I blinked. "My own life? You want me to see how my life will go?" Maybe that would help me understand how to stop Ragnar?k?

I walked around the space under the woven willow branches that were in fact lives, three times before I shook my head. "I am not in here. "

"No. You're not. Neither you, nor Havoc nor Han have lives with set past, present or future," Helestia said, her voice solemn.

"What does that mean?"

Kleteria stood, and we all looked to her. "It means that because of who and more importantly—what—you are, there is not a set path for any of you. And we cannot help you."