Tracking the Bear (Blue Ridge Bears Book 1)(35)

“No.” A voice agreed from the mouth of the cave. The red haired boy from the trail head was walking toward us. He looked more careworn than I remembered him a few weeks ago. There were dark circles under his eyes, and he looked paler under all the freckles. “No, but it was my sister’s.”

I raised the necklace up to the light for him to examine. “Are you saying this is Freya’s? Why would she give it to me?”

“I assume she charmed it in preparation for just such an occasion,” he muttered, smiling wryly. “She certainly had plans, my sister. I just wish I could puzzle out what those plans were.”

I glanced at the necklace. The pearl shone innocently in the light filtering into the cave.

“Is it a weapon?” I asked hopefully. He shook his head.

“Defensive charms only. It’s meant to prevent magical interference. It’s the same sort of instrument the Aesir wore to fend off our magic in the first war. Of course, that was when they had considerably less magic than they do now. I suppose it was a reasonable precaution now that they are equipped with both magic and weaponry.”

My shoulders slumped. I’d been hoping it would be simple. I wanted an easy solution, some sort of cosmic gun I could shoot to take the bitch down.

“I don’t suppose you’re going to help us at all?” I asked testily. I was getting tired of his fortune cookie bullshit. If he was just going to pop in and out of my life at will, the least he could do was be helpful.

“I already have,” he said, fixing me with a stare. “That bear saved your life.”

“Thank you.” I huffed. “But now it’s Chance who’s in danger. I can’t just abandon him. Don’t you have anything useful to add?”

He scratched his chin. He had a beard coming in. His facial hair wasn’t as impressive or sexy as Chance’s in my opinion.

“I’m limited in what I can do,” he said. “Without Idun’s apples, our reserves our limited. Up to this point, I’ve bartered favors to accomplish what I have. I need to ration my power in order to prepare for battle. Frigg has already strained her abilities by forcing Kaswell’s change.”

“Could we use that against her?” I asked. I thought back to the wolf attacks the night before. They had been smaller than Chance, but they’d kept him still, harassing him, tiring him, slowing him down. Maybe I could achieve similar results.

“Perhaps,” he said, arching a brow. “What did you have in mind?”

I stood, latching Freya’s necklace around my neck. Almost at once, the pain in my leg became distant. I breathed a sigh of relief. Without the pain clouding my thoughts, I could actually plan. Freyr watched me expectantly.

I bent and picked up a rock from the cave floor. With the sharp tip, I drew a very wobbly picture of what I wanted on the cave wall. Hey, I’d been an athlete, not an artist.

“How much power would it take to give me something like this?” I asked, gesturing at the wall.

“You can’t be serious,” he said, looking simultaneously irritated and amused. “That will never work.”

“Just trust me,” I said. “I know this better than anything else. How much power would it take?”

“It could be doable,” he finally admitted.

“Will you do it?”

“This is still insane,” he grumbled. “But I don’t see we have much choice. Frigg won’t stop until Luke is dead. And you’re quite right, you’re the only one who can face off against her.”

Freyr pressed his large palm over my pathetic drawing, and the section of wall began to glow with the same silver light of as my bear. I just hoped that the actual weapon would turn out better than my crappy drawing had looked.

When he finally drew his hand away, he held my weapon in one hand. He offered it to me, looking skeptical. “This will only work short term. I can’t channel this much power infinitely. Not without Idun’s apples. You have two hours, no more.”

I took it from him. The power buzzed between my hands, and I nodded solemnly.

“I only need one.”





Chapter Twelve


Chance


Being forced to remain in animal form well after the moon had disappeared was one of the worst pains a were-creature could suffer.

I’d heard stories about it as a child. Bjorn the Terrible had been tricked by his lover into entering a mirror on the way back to his body. His soul lived permanently on in that mirror, while his body continued to roam, searching for but not finding him. The stories said he’d lived in agony for the remainder of his life, until someone merciful had smashed the mirror in to free him.

And as an adult, I’d seen actual proof that it had been used before. Trapping someone as a bear after the moon had once been a common punishment for lesser crimes. It had finally been ruled inhumane in the 1990s and was banned in the United States.

Even my brief experience with Frigg weeks before hadn’t prepared me for what I was experiencing. It was four in the afternoon. I’d been in bear form for fourteen hours, twelve of which I’d been conscious for.

At first, it had merely been uncomfortable. During the night I was naturally inclined to stay in my more capable form. But as dawn had approached, I’d tried to resume human shape. I’d met immediate resistance. And that was when the pain had started.