Page 122 of Dead Heat

“We need a lift, don’t we?” I stuck up my thumb and started walking backwards through the field.

“Have you lost your mind?” Max shrieked.

“Your voice gets impressively high-pitched for someone with your build.” I stopped walking as the eagle monster came in for a landing about twenty feet away. Flowers blew past us, causing a few petals to get tangled in my hair.

Hraesvelgr sniffed the air.

Max stood perfectly still beside me. “Do you think he can see us?”

“There’s nothing wrong with my vision,” the creature replied.

Max collapsed into a pile of rocks.

“It appears your friend has fallen to pieces.”

I shook my head at the cherufe. “I can see that.”

“You do not belong here,” Hraesvelgr said.

“Our stay is only temporary.” I hoped.

“Do you know who I am?”

“Hraesvelgr. You keep the status quo in Helheim.”

“Indeed, which you are not.”

“Is that why they call you corpse eater? You eat the bodies of those who trespass?”

“It is rare to receive unwelcome visitors. This is a realm the living would prefer to avoid, which begs the question—why are you here?”

“We’re looking for someone. A shade.”

“And what do you intend to do when you find them?”

I couldn’t tell him the truth. He’d never let us escape with a shade. “Oskar was taken from us too soon. There were things left unsaid between us. My friend Max agreed to accompany me to find him so I could say my piece.”

“You’d risk your life for a single moment?”

“Closure is crucial to my healing,” I said. I pushed my luck. “Any idea where the newer shades tend to congregate?”

Hraesvelgr considered me. “If I take you there myself, will you promise to leave immediately after the deed is done?”

“I promise.” The creature didn’t specify which deed, so technically I wasn’t lying.

“Why would you offer to take us?” Max asked, fully reassembled.

“Because the sooner you’ve said your piece, the sooner you leave. Status quo restored.”

“You could just boot us out now,” Max countered. “That would be even faster.”

“Whose side are you on?” I hissed at him.

“Yours. Definitely yours.” Max stepped closer to the creature. “This isn’t a trick? You won’t fly high and then tip us off?”

Hraesvelgr stared at the magma monster. “Who hurt you?”

“Let’s go,” I urged, before our winged taxi changed his mind.

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