Heartbroken, bitter, and resentful, Evangeline Darrow-Frost finds herself grappling with embracing her identity as a demigoddess descended from fire. As she nurses her wounds in the aftermath from her betrothment to the once malevolent Jack Frost, n...
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Throughout the rest of the afternoon, Elle was on high alert. She was certain Loki and his murderous minions would soon be coming to kill her. It was only a matter of time. Although, Elle couldn't fathom why they would wish her dead. Jack left her. There wasn't hope for a reconciliation. There was no longer a prophecy to worry about. Unless this was just to ensure that the two of them would never reconcile... Elle shook off the thought. It hurt too much to think of Jack. Calling for Hermes and Apollo was useless; neither immortal came to her pleas. Even though Hermes was most likely right, and the Olympians were dealing with a very large crisis, it felt lonely calling for help only for no one to arrive. She couldn't tell anyone she knew what was happening. No one that was human would possibly believe that the Norse goddess of death was coming for her. That much Elle was certain of. She was going to be alone as she awaited her own demise.
Night swiftly approached, darkness causing Elle to become a bit more fearful. It would be easier for an attack to come from the dark as opposed to the daytime. Taking precautions against this hypothetical attack that was surely bound to happen, Elle locked the basement door and barricaded it to disallow anyone from coming up the stairs. It was done in case they broke in through the basement window. But it was only after doing this did Elle stupidly realize there wasn't a point to locking doors when it came to immortals. They could come and go as they pleased with no need for something as simple as a locked door or window to prevent them from doing so.
It was remembering that for why Elle didn't bother to lock the back or front door to the farmhouse. She knew immortals were blessed with incredible gifts of speed, strength, and teleportation. Elle realized any attempt to lock out immortals would only make it harder on herself to escape if she needed to flee out a door or window. Abandoning her initial plan to secure doors and windows, Elle instead retrieved lighter fluid from the garage. With steady hands, she poured it in a circle around the front porch and repeated the process at the back door. Taking the remainder of the fluid with her into the house, Elle couldn't help but recall she had once set an entire house on fire in order to stop the evil Khione and Loki from taking her life. As impossible as it seemed, Elle survived the ordeal.
Despite the passage of time, Elle remained uncertain about the full extent of her powers. She was certain she could inflict significant damage if she tried hard enough. Still, Elle opted to err on the side of caution, choosing to prepare herself excessively. She gathered every sharp knife available in the kitchen and kept them within reach. Lucy's metal baseball bat became another integral part of her defensive arsenal, while her grandfather's ax, typically stored outside in the woodshed, now stood beside her as well. Elle braced herself for the impending attack she sensed drawing near.
Time seemed to move slowly. An hour passed, and then another. Elle waited in utter silence, refusing to even allow a television to be on. She needed to be prepared. Still, hours had passed with nothing happening, only causing Elle's paranoia to grow. Every small noise perked her dark head up to stare around. She could hear the horses in the backyard. The goats provide playful whimpers to one another. Waddles the pig occasionally squealed playfully. A light wind outside. Nothing out of the ordinary. But it was the sound of the front door slowly creaking open that caused the goosebumps on the back of Elle's neck to tingle. She stared straight ahead, taking ahold of her grandfather's wooden ax to hold steadily. She was surprised that Loki's daughter was choosing to use such a straightforward way of entry as opposed to a stealthy sneak attack. Yet, it was Lucy's chirpy voice that broke the tension filled silence.
"Hey, Elle! I know we had takeout too many times this week, but I don't wanna wait to cook dinner." Lucy dropped her bag to the ground, finally spotting Elle down the hall and holding the ax. "Um...Hello to you to?" Something felt entirely wrong with this situation. It was barely six at night. Lucy shouldn't be home for another few hours. She was never home earlier when it came to school or work. This wasn't right. Elle had the ax raised at her shoulder. She didn't lower it as Lucy came down the hallway. Suspicion gnawed at her senses.
"Why are you home so early?" Lucy could note the suspicion along with the narrowed eyes. Her wide eyes remained transfixed on the ax Elle held. For a moment, she stopped advancing. "My final class was cancelled." Elle's eyes narrowed. That wouldn't explain why she wasn't at work. "So the factory didn't need you to cover a shift?" Elle's inquiry hung in the air, laden with suspicion. It was a test, a subtle probe intended to gauge Lucy's reaction. She worked as a server at a cheesy Italian restaurant in the downtown area. It wasn't a cheap or blatantly inauthentic restaurant for why Elle thought it was cheesy. The establishment literally put too much cheese on every dish they served. The real Lucy would be confused by this question, but any immortal posing as her would fall for the trap...
Lucy raised an eyebrow. "Factory? What the heck are you talking about? Mary called in sick last week so today she wanted to work my shift today instead. I said yes." Elle didn't lower her guard. She could not assume both Hel making an appearance and Lucy randomly coming home early as a coincidence. "Prove you're actually Lucy," demanded Elle, her suspicion only growing. Her hands tightened on the ax. Whoever it was posing as Lucy was doing a fantastic job, Elle thought. She could only stare at Elle with a perfect amount of confusion and dismay. "What are you talking about?? Are you okay?"
Lucy side stepped into the nearby bathroom, flicking the light on as she went. "Ovaltoli's was fine with the shift switch. I was thinking of going out with that guy from Biology, but by the time I text him he had other plans. And will you PLEASE put that ax away, you're freaking me out!" As Lucy stepped into the bathroom to tame her unruly curls, Elle observed from the doorway, her suspicion lingering despite the familiar scene unfolding before her. Lucy's struggle with her curly hair resonated with Elle, a familiar sight that seemed to reassure her of Lucy's authenticity. As Elle watched Lucy grimace at her reflection, attempting to coax her curls into submission, a glimmer of recognition flickered within her. It was in the subtle nuances of Lucy's mannerisms—the way she squinted her eyes—that Elle found relief. It seemed improbable that an immortal could replicate such idiosyncrasies with such precision. But perhaps that was what Hel wanted her to believe...
Elle's brows furrowed as she continued to watch Lucy. She was searching for whatever it was that somehow felt off. She didn't really know what she was looking for before reality finally hit her with unsettling clarity. Elle slowly did a double take between Lucy and her reflection. As Lucy wore an annoyed grimace as she attempted to fix her messy hair, the reflection in the mirror wore a look of indifference as it attempted to fix its hair. The direction of Lucy's right hand as it fixed her hair was not equal with the mirror image. Lucy and her reflection were not one and the same. Elle immediately realized why this scene was wrong. It was because this wasn't Lucy's reflection in the mirror. This was a trick she had seen done once before, by the god of mischief, Loki...
"Get away from the mirror," said Elle at once, her eyes going wide. This took her by surprise. She had been anticipating a sneak attack. From where she didn't know, but Elle felt one was inevitable. She hadn't been assuming the enemy would come from the mirror. Lucy yelped at the same time Elle pulled her away from the bathroom vanity, and for good reason. An ugly, disfigured, clawed hand reached through the mirror the second Elle spoke. If Elle hadn't forcibly dragged Lucy away, the clawed hand would have slashed her throat to ribbons.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" screamed Lucy. But Elle had no time to explain. The attack had begun. Out of the vanity mirror soon crawled a horrific deathly creature with a skeletal face and bony arms. Due to Elle's grandfather accidentally placing the lock on the outside of the bathroom door back when he first started renovating the farmhouse years earlier, this worked for Elle and Lucy. Although unable to lock the door for privacy when using the toilet, Elle was able to lock the skeleton monster inside the bathroom. She next dragged Lucy behind her towards the kitchen where her stash of makeshift weapons were.
"You're really Lucy!" Confirmed Elle with wide eyes. "OF COURSE, I'M LUCY!! WHAT THE HELL IS-" But Elle covered Lucy's mouth to halt her shrill and panicked voice. Something bad had just happened. The skeletal creature was now completely out of the mirror, a large crash heard as it next tumbled to the floor. It knocked into the shelf on the opposing wall, taking down toilet paper rolls, spare shampoo bottles, and Grace Darrow's large glass bowl of scented pinecones. That wasn't the only movement that could be heard. A loud, throaty howl erupted from just outside the farmhouse, its ominous resonance echoing through the surrounding darkness. The chilling sound was potent enough to silence the farm animals in their tracks, their usual clamor abruptly hushed in the wake of the unnerving noise.
Elle and Lucy exchanged fearful looks, and in that instant Elle had confirmation her friend was simply home early and not an imposter. There was too much fear behind Lucy's eyes as she trembled in place. The rough howl sounded again, this time sending a tingle down Elle's spine. "Hell hounds," she whispered, remembering the horrible time that there had been a bounty on her head. During that time, the goddess Hel had brought with her a pack of merciless and disturbing hounds from the depths of hell. "Mmm hounds?" Whimpered Lucy from underneath Elle's hand.
But Elle didn't confirm or deny if this truly was hell hounds making the horrid noise outside. As the snarling and growling intensified, Elle realized that whatever was out there didn't sound the same as she remembered the hounds once had. The creature outside sounded bigger. ***
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