FROST- Jotun Chronicles #1

King Surtr

I collapsed onto the chair beside Erik, who looked at me with concern, “Are you okay? Did something happen?”

“Janet,” I said, “my foster mom. I just punched her in the parking lot.”

“What?” Charlotte craned around the wooden booth, trying to look past it and out into the parking lot, “Where is she?”

                “Hopefully gone by now. Eira called her and fed her some crap about me being wanted by the government.  She hired some thug to kidnap me, but he ran away when I froze him. I don’t think she’ll stick around,” I shot Erik a worried glance, “but now she knows where I am. What if she follows us?”

Erik shrugged, dipping a fry into his ketchup. He didn’t look the least bit concerned, “then she’ll see us disappear suddenly, and think she’s gone crazy. Humans can’t get into Muspellheim or Neflheim. You have to have some jotun blood in you to pass through the barrier.”

“Oh,” my brain was struggling with the idea, “so she’ll smack into the barrier or something?”

Erik snorted, “regrettably, no. She’ll go through it and carry on to whatever road lies ahead in the human world. If she follows us, our cars will simply disappear before her eyes.”

Loki leaned over from the table beside us, “and what do you think will happen if she tries to tell someone?” He mimicked a woman’s voice, high and quavering, “Oh dear, I just saw ten cars and an ice cream truck vanish into thin air. Someone help me!”

I shot him an amused look, “Was that supposed to be Janet?”

“Did it sound like her?”

“Not at all.”

Erik balled up the foil from his hamburger and then stood up, dumping his tray into the trash can. He surveyed the tables, “Ready to move on, guys?”

We were. Most of us had finished, and those who hadn’t just brought the rest of their meals with them. We trouped out of the Wendy’s in a large crowd, making the bell over the door ring like a fire alarm. I was the last through the door, and I glanced back at the cashiers. They both looked incredibly relieved.

Soon enough I found myself crammed back into the VW van, bumping along, enduring Charlotte’s game of eye spy. The game at least gave me an excuse to study the landscape. We were well out of Grande Prairie now, and into the rocky mountains. I had to press my nose against the glass, trying to see all the way up to the snowcapped peaks. We sped past a glacier fed lake that sparkled brilliantly blue in the sunlight, surrounded by dark green trees. I badly wanted to get out so that there was no smudged pane of glass in between me and the view. Maybe we could climb down to the lake and dip our feet in. I imagined how cold and fresh it would be, how pure the water would taste.

Waterfalls rushed down from cracks in the mountains, turning into snow trimmed rivers that ran alongside the road. We passed a caribou once, and the girls yelled excitedly, clamoring and leaning over one another to try to see it better as we drove past.  My jaw was hanging open as we passed by it slowly. It was so huge. It stood by the side of the road as if it were waiting to cross, observing us carefully with soft brown eyes. It was almost as tall as the van, and its antlers stretched far above its head, ending in wicked, multiple points. Loki laughed at me,

“You should see your face!”

We passed by several quaint little towns nestled in the mountains. They looked silent and still, sleeping under a blanket of snow, lights glowing in frosted window panes.

As we entered yet another set of mountains Loki grew visibly more excited, “Just up ahead!” He said, “the barrier is just up here, we’re almost there!”