Page 121 of Dead Heat

A serpent slithered through an eye socket. Max jumped.

“You’re made of rocks. What are you worried about?”

“I don’t like snakes.”

“They don’t bother me.” Mice, on the other hand, were a different story. In my experience, people either fell into the snake camp or the rodent camp, but never both. When I’d mentioned this to Kane one night, he’d said it was because one was a predator, and the other was prey. I hadn’t thought of it from that angle until then. Funny what we can learn about someone from their seemingly benign preferences.

I focused on the offering of paths ahead. There were no signs. No visible indicators on the horizon either.

“A yellow brick road would be helpful about now,” I remarked. It was difficult to discern which one might be safest for unwelcome visitors.

None of them, most likely.

In the end, we chose the straight and narrow path. Nana Pratt would approve.

The road was misleading. Beyond the horizon, it dipped, leading us through a deep valley, so dark that we couldn’t see our hands in front of our faces. We each tripped once but managed to avoid any injuries.

“Why haven’t we seen any souls yet?” Max asked.

“Because this valley is pitch-black.”

“Wouldn’t they glow?”

“They’re not jellyfish, Max.”

“You’re a goddess of ghosts. If they attack us, you can order them to stand down, right? It doesn’t matter that it’s a different pantheon?”

“We don’t need to worry about the souls of the dead. They won’t be interested in harming us.”

He shot me a curious look. “Then why is this so dangerous?”

“Because the souls of the dead aren’t the only inhabitants of Helheim.”

From the valley, we trudged up a hillside and into the light until we reached a fertile field where wildflowers bloomed. The colorful landscape was in shaper contrast to the void of the valley.

“This is unexpected,” Max said. “I thought the whole realm would be dark and dismal.”

“This isn’t a place of misery or punishment.”

A large shadow passed over us, drawing my attention skyward. “Damn,” was all I could muster.

Max looked up. “What is that?”

‘That’ was best described as an eagle monster with a dragon-shaped body, claws, horns, and large eagle-like wings.

“His name is Hraesvelgr. His name means corpse eater, if that helps you.” The eagle monster’s wings were so massive that he could generate hurricane force winds simply by flapping them.

The cherufe shuddered. “I thought this place wasn’t for punishment.”

“It isn’t.” Although according to the map, we bordered Niflheim, which was. I decided to omit that part. “Hraesvelgr’s purpose is to watch over Helheim and keep the status quo.”

We watched as the giant eagle monster turned to loop back toward the field.

“Do you think he senses living creatures?” Max asked.

“I imagine so, since our presence upsets the status quo.”

Alarm passed over Max’s features. “What do we do?”

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