She nodded. “Sounds like a plan. So … have you, uh, thought of baby names?”
I choked on spit. “What?”
Raven shrugged. “Names. Is your baby going to be nameless?”
I rolled my eyes. “No. But it’s still too early to be thinking about that,” I mumbled.
“It’s never too early. Just so you know, Raven isn’t a bad name,” she offered with a grin.
I smacked her arm. “I’m so not naming my kid after you.”
I didn’t want to tell her that it would actually be cool naming my kid after a badass Valkyrie. She’d never hear me say that.
As Loch Lomond came into view, Raven circled and we descended. With one last beat of her wings, Raven gently set me down on the sandy shore.
The only downside of flying was that we arrived much faster than Bash and Fenrir, which meant we had to wait another thirty minutes before they showed up. When they did, they tied the reins of their horses to a tree and joined us at the shoreline where we were waiting.
“Are you okay?” Bash looked me up and down, searching for invisible injuries.
I grabbed his hand and squeezed it. “I’m perfectly fine.” I smiled up at him.
“All right, love birds, it’s time to head into the fae realm. Do you mind giving us your undivided attention?” Fenrir said sarcastically.
I flicked Fenrir on the forehead. “Shut up and let’s go.”
His jaw fell and he slapped his hand on his forehead. “Did you just—”
Before Fenrir could escalate the situation, Raven placed her hand in the waters and parted them, creating a watery path that sprouted with a whoosh to form an entrance to the fae realm. Turning back to glance at us, she said, “Let’s go,” and started walking toward the entrance.
We followed her without another word. Walking across the dry riverbed, flanked by walls of water on each side, we pushed past the waterfall. Water droplets cascaded and bounced off our skin, never wetting us.
One second we were in Loch Lomond, and the next we were walking out onto the bright, verdant fields of the fae realm. The grass was greener, the sun brighter, and the birds that were strangely missing in Caledonian Forest chirped all around us in a cacophonous orchestra. There was no doubt we were in a completely different world.
The entrance into the fae realm from Loch Lomond was different than the one from Central Park. It took us to a different part of the fae realm, even though everything still felt familiar. From here, I could see the glass castle that once belonged to the former fae Queen Drusilla. It was empty now, vacant and abandoned since the fae were currently in between rulers.
A checkered golden trail led the way to the castle in a zig zag motion through the hills. Raven shook her head, telling us we weren’t heading in that direction. “We’re going into the Fool’s Forest,” she explained, pointing in the opposite direction.
“Why is it called the Fool’s Forest?” I asked.
Raven grinned. “Because many idiots wander into that forest and never make it back out.”
Bash grabbed my hand and we followed Raven and Fenrir as they headed toward the tree line that led to the forest, totally at ease as if they’d been there a million times before. Maybe they had.
Even though we were surrounded by dense thickets of trees, the sun filtered in enough to lend its warmth, easing the chill on my skin. Within the forest, the birds were even louder as their high-pitched trills resonated across the land. Until that moment, I hadn’t realized how much I missed that sound from our own land.
“If Abaddon has been following you, he’ll know you’ve left Scotland,” Fenrir said as we walked through the forest.
“How will he know she’s gone into the Underworld?” Bash asked.
Raven looked over her shoulder at us. “Demons can sense when a door has been opened. Since she’s gone, he’ll assume it’s her. At least that’s what we hope.”
“He won’t be able to resist,” Fenrir smirked.
We walked for about forty minutes until we arrived at a clearing, ringed by brush that opened to reveal a huge, gnarled tree as tall as a skyscraper. Staring at the tree in wonder, I noticed a carved symbol in the center of the tree that I didn’t recognize.
“This is the Yggdrasil; the entrance to the nine realms,” Raven declared, walking up to it and patting the bark affectionately. “This right here,” she pointed to the symbol, “is a rune. It protects the tree from evil dwellers. It is especially useful since the Norns aren’t here to protect it.”
Bash glanced around the area. “So what do we do now?”
Raven grinned. “Hold hands.” She latched onto Fenrir’s hand and motioned for him to grab mine.
Fenrir started to take my hand when Bash smacked his hand away and stood between us, grabbing Fenrir’s hand instead. I bit my lip to keep from laughing.
As we made a living chain, Raven placed her free hand on the tree. Suddenly, her hand went through the tree and she was sucked in, followed by Fenrir, Bash, and then me.
I stumbled into the tree and fell into Bash’s arms on the other side. “Are you okay?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Yeah, I’m fine.” I squinted against the fog that swirled around us.
The ground was completely obscured by gray smoke that ebbed and flowed around us, coating the walls or ceilings and lending an unearthly feel that made it difficult to get my bearings. Voices whispered all around us, but the timbre was so low, I couldn’t discern what they were saying no matter how hard I strained my hearing.
“Ignore the voices,” Raven said. “They’re just lost souls stuck in limbo. Don’t pay them any mind.” She started to walk forward, and I had no idea how she knew where to go. I was completely lost within this fog.
As we walked through the fog, I started to notice darkened doors floating beside us, each one different
