Nightshade (17 tales of Urban Fantasy, Magic, Mayhem, Demons, Fae, Witches, Ghosts, and more) by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: k'12
Publisher: Bayou Moon Press, LLC
Published: 2015-09-20T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THREE

Sigyn kneels on one knee before Odin’s throne, head bowed. The palace has been recently illusioned to look like the architecture of the realm of Musselpheim pre-Sutr. The flagstones look like rugged black obsidian, but she feels smooth concrete beneath her. All change in Asgard is an illusion—but on Earth, real change is happening.

Her eyes flit up to the All Father. He’s sitting on his throne, his spine too straight to be comfortable. His lips are pressed together. He looks concerned. As well he might be. The Diar, the judges that help him rule the realms, flank him on either side, their faces looking as though they’ve eaten something sour. Loki, leaning against the throne, looks well into his cups even though it’s not yet noon.

“Say that again!” says one of the Diar.

“Humans have landed on their moon,” Sigyn says.

“Impossible!”

“Can they do that?”

“Can we do that?”

“No,” Sigyn says, and can’t keep the sharp smile off her face. “We can’t.”

“Can we even trust this account?” someone shouts. “Sigyn said she saw this on a human magic box, a … what did you call it?”

“Television,” Sigyn says. She’d been called again to Earth, apparently for no other reason than to see the moon landing on “TV.” Perhaps her purpose in the universe is just to witness the ascent of humans? In any case, the moon landing had been glorious—as had the television—magic for the masses.

“Heimdall!” Odin says.

“It is true,” Heimdall, the magical all-seeing gatekeeper, replies.

“This must be kept a secret!” one of the Diar declares.

“Our young are restless!” someone else says.

Sigyn frowns. The young who don’t drown their ennui in mead are restless.

Another voice joins the choir. “Some of them idealize the so-called freedom movements. They must not know of this victory for the Americans.” The name “American” is said with the same inflection as “bread mold.”

“Death in the Void for anyone who spreads word of this!” cries another.

Sigyn’s smile fades. She should have expected that. The same judges have helped rule Asgard for over two thousand years. They feel safer believing their civilization is above all others in every way. A flurry of conversation rises as the Diar discuss just how a species as inferior as humans and a society as depraved as the United States could possibly send a “boat” to the moon.

Odin’s voice finally rumbles above the rest. “We should not let the general populace know that the Americans are on the moon.”

She hears murmurs of agreement, and her body burns with anger and frustration. But then from behind Sigyn, a voice rises in the Great Hall. “The Americans are on the moon?” and Sigyn thinks a cold knife has pierced her ribs.

She turns and sees Valli, standing just inside the double doors of the Great Hall, lips parted in a look of wonder. Nari is wincing behind him, pulling his brother’s arm. “But that is splendid!” Valli declares.

Sigyn can feel her heart pounding in her chest. The boys should not be here, obviously. But she can well

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