Thor's Serpents by K.L. Armstrong, M.A. Marr Read Free Book Online

“stick together” really didn’t work out so well.
    They’d lost Laurie, Baldwin, and Owen back in the lobby. When they started out, he’d considered asking everyone to hold the shirt of the person in front of them. But they’d feel as if he were treating them like little kids. Now he wished he’d done it, no matter what they thought, because at some point before they left the lobby, half their “train” derailed. Once they reached the paleontology area, he’d called a question back to Laurie and hadn’t gotten an answer. That was when he realized she was gone. Along with Owen and Baldwin.
    He couldn’t blame Reyna and Ray, either. They might have been walking in front of Laurie, but they’d beenwrapped up in their magic, trying to weaken the mara when they took manifested form, changing from smoke into hideous old women with black pits for eyes.
    Now, as Matt headed back toward the lobby, he whispered Laurie’s name. He didn’t dare call it, for fear it would bring the mara. He could hear the crones’ handiwork deeper in the museum—people jabbering and begging and crying.
    “We need to get to them, Matt,” Ray said.
    “I know.” Matt squinted about, looking for any sign of the others. “You guys keep going. I’ll catch up as soon as—”
    “Uh-uh,” Reyna said. “We’ve seen how the mara operate. No one goes anywhere alone. But Ray’s right. I think we’re actually weakening them this time, and the longer we’re hunting for the others, the longer we aren’t stopping the mara and helping those people. Laurie can handle it. You know she can.”
    He hesitated and then whispered, “Okay. Fall in line behind me. And hold my shirt. I’m not losing anyone else.”

    They weakened a few of the mara and freed the people they’d been terrorizing. Well,
freed
might not be exactly the right word. They’d had to leave the people where they were, dazed and bewildered, still shaking from their nightmares as Matt, Ray, and Reyna raced off to help the next victims.
    Matt kept hoping they’d bump into the others. When he caught sight of a blond girl up ahead, he took off so fast Reyna and Ray had to shout at him to slow down. As he neared the girl, he knew it wasn’t Laurie. She was too short. She looked younger than them, maybe seven, with pale hair and bright blue eyes. She wore a blue sundress and no shoes, exactly as she had in Blackwell, when she led Matt into the community center to overhear his grandfather’s true plans.
    “Matthew Thorsen,” she said. “You are here.”
    “Friend of yours?” Reyna whispered.
    “This is one of the Norns,” Matt said. “It’s Present. I don’t know…” He looked at the little girl. “Do you have a name?”
    She smiled beatifically, in that slightly unfocused, surreal way of hers, like someone perfectly happy in the moment, with no worries about the past or cares for the future. Which made perfect sense, all things considered.
    “Do I need one?” she asked.
    “I guess not.” He looked around. “Are your sisters here?”
    “Not now.”
    “You mean they’re coming?” Reyna said. “Or they were just here?”
    “Don’t ask that,” Matt whispered. “She only knows the present.”
    “Seriously?”
    “That could make conversation tough,” Ray said.
    “Tell me about it,” Matt muttered. He turned to the Norn. “I’m hoping you’re here looking for me. That you have something to tell me. Maybe a clue about what I’m to do next.”
    “That would be Future’s domain.”
    He winced. “Right. Okay, um…”
    “Let me try,” Ray whispered. “Are you here looking for Matt?”
    The girl smiled. “For all of you. But especially Matt. He is confused about his path. We have come to guide him.”
    “Good,” Matt said, exhaling.
    “Can you tell him what he’s supposed to do?” Ray asked. “I mean
be
doing. Now.”
    “He ought to be speaking to Future.”
    “Okay,” Ray said. “Where is she?”
    “Behind you.”
    He turned to see a