Mist

find suitable garments to adorn her body.

“Mist?”

She turned to Koji. The skin around his eyes was turning dark with bruises, and dried blood caked the bottom of his nose. He smiled, hopeful and pathetic.

“Tell me what I can do for you,” he said, pulling a chair out from the table. “Do you want something to eat?”

She sighed. How could she have thought, even for a moment, that he was worthy of her interest? He was going to become very annoying soon. Perhaps if she sent him out for a suitable meal, she could get rid of him for a while. But that wouldn’t take care of him for good.

There was only one way to make sure he stayed away. She would have to become plain, ordinary, boring Mist again just long enough to break the spell.

“Come here, Koji,” she said, taking the offered chair. He knelt before the chair, his eyes fixed on her face. “You’re so beautiful,” he murmured.

She wondered vaguely if he would suffer any damage from being abruptly separated from the object of his affection.

That really wasn’t her concern. He was only a mortal. There were many more where he came from. Perhaps she would let him kiss her, just once.

Freya’s daughter smiled and held out her arms. Koji rose and leaned over her, bracing one hand on the tabletop. She tilted her face up, and his lips touched hers. She permitted the slightest pressure and then began to undo the spell, deconstructing the image she had made in her mind, erasing the glamour. Koji put his arms around her, deepening the kiss. She banished the primroses and the honey and the joy that had borne her up since the seduction began.

“Mist,” he murmured.

She bounced back, nearly upsetting her chair, and pushed Koji away. Her heart slammed under her ribs, resisting the pull of the vast, black emptiness yawning beneath.

Mist. That was her name. She looked down at her unbuttoned shirt and pulled it closed with a shaking hand.

“Mist?” Koji said, turning his head this way and that as if he couldn’t see her. “Where are you?”

She stared at him in horror. He was looking for the other. The one she had become in her need to protect Dainn and the children from the consequences of the Jotunar’s attack.

Her spell of seduction had worked perfectly. She had deceived not only Koji, but herself.

What in Odin’s name had she done? If she let go now, would Tashiro remember?

Gods curse her, she couldn’t let him.

“She’s not here,” Mist said, easing out of her chair. “But she’ll be back soon. She wants you to wait right here until she returns.”

His gaze met hers, and there was something like panic in his eyes.

“Are you sure she’s coming back?”

“Yes. Very soon.”

“Then I’ll wait.”

“That’s right,” Mist said. “Don’t move until she comes. In fact, maybe you should rest. You’ve had a rough day.”

“Rest,” he echoed. He crossed his arms on the table and laid his cheek on his wrists. In a matter of seconds he was asleep.

Mist backed away and stumbled against the stove, jarring her arm. The glamour was still working. Even though she knew who she was now, who she really was, she could still make him do what she wanted.

That was terrifying enough. But now a flood of memory returned, and with it the realization that there were still no sirens, no urgent voices to suggest the EMTs had arrived.

She turned and ran back into the hall. The gym was still empty except for the kids and the Jotunar corpses. Ryan was on his feet, leaning on Gabi’s shoulder.

Mist barely hesitated. She ran to join them.

“I did it,” Gabi said shakily. “Ryan’s okay.”

And Ryan did look okay. More than okay. He seemed bewildered, but the blood had been wiped from his face, and Mist knew the wound was gone.

Still, she had to be sure. “Turn around, Ryan.”

He obeyed her, with Gabi’s support. She parted his matted hair and found the place where the wound had been. It was still a little raised and rough, but it was otherwise completely healed.

“I got hit,” Ryan said slowly, turning around again. “Gabi healed me.” He raised his fingers to his head, and Gabi slapped his hand away.

“Leave that alone,” she said. She met Mist’s gaze. “I did it, Mist. I really did.”

“That’s good, Gabi,” Mist said, genuinely impressed. And more than a little worried. “You were right.”

Gabi flexed her fingers, and for the first time Mist noticed that they were red, as if she’d been badly burned.

“Are you all right?” Mist asked.

Suddenly the girl seemed embarrassed, as if she’d been caught doing something shameful. She touched the silver cross hanging from the chain around her neck.

“Si,” she said. “I didn’t really know what would happen, but it’s okay.”

Mist wondered. But Gabi had proven herself beyond any doubt, and she had to be taken at her world.

“You called the ambulance service?” she asked.

“I told them it was all a mistake.”

But that, Mist thought, only solved half the problem. The mess left in the wake of the fight was still untouched. She hadn’t expected she’d even get the chance to address that situation before the authorities showed up.

Now she had an opportunity, but she might as well try cleaning every street in the city with a paper towel. If she didn’t find a way to take care of it, the small advantage she’d gained from Gabi’s actions would be undone as soon as someone in the neighborhood called the cops to investigate suspicious noises or strangers in the area. The police could still be on their way.

But she had an idea. A crazy one that hadn’t a chance of succeeding. She didn’t have the control. She hadn’t been able to sustain that strange new magic during the fight with the Jotunar or call up any other kind to help Dainn and protect the kids.

But she hadn’t been sure about using Freya’s glamour, either, and it had been more effective than she could have imagined.

“I want you to go upstairs, and stay there this time,” Mist said to the kids. “Both of you need rest, or you’re going to keel over any minute. Ryan, you may be healed, but that doesn’t mean you’re completely well. And I want you to take care of those hands, Gabi. You’ll find disinfectants and gauze in the bathroom.”

“You got important things to do again?” Gabi asked with a belligerent tilt of her head.

“Look around you. I can’t leave things this way. I may be able to do something about it.”

“More magic?”

“If I can. But you’re not going to be here to see it. I want you out of the way, and safe.”

“What if the giants come back?” Gabi asked. “Who’s going to protect us?”

Mist shook her head. These crazy kids actually wanted to stay and watch, after everything they’d been through and the horrors they’d witnessed.

“They won’t come back,” Mist said, “at least, not right away. Go upstairs. If you distract me again, I could fail. And I need to make this work.”

Ryan shivered, and Gabi took his hand. “Where’s Dainn?” he asked. “Is he okay?”

How could Mist answer that? “You saw—” she began.

“Yeah.” Ryan swallowed. “He’s gone, isn’t he?”

“Yes.”

“Is he coming back?”