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

at her side.
Everything
was scarier without Fen.
    She hadn’t realized how much she counted on the way that Fen and Matt were both there for her. They’d become a team, and she wasn’t sure how to fight the monsters alone—not that she was truly alone. The Berserkers, Matt,and the twins were somewhere in the museum, and Owen and Baldwin were still at her side. It was only Fen who was truly gone.
    “This way,” Owen muttered as he grabbed her arm and started pulling her through the lobby deeper into the Journey Museum. “Watch for wolves. They’re everywhere.”
    “Wolves?” She looked at him and saw that he had the glassy eyes of someone trying not to be swept up in the
unreal
things he was seeing. “They’re fake, Owen. Whatever you see is fake. These are mara.”
    He nodded. “The Berserkers are protecting people. I need to protect you.”
    His words weren’t wrong, but they weren’t exactly
right
, either. He’d helped her learn how to use her bow, and he’d rescued the twins. He wasn’t usually the sort of person to hover at her side like this. Not seeing the future any longer appeared to have left the representative of Odin a little lost. Around Matt and the others, Owen still seemed to be trying to sound like himself. With her, he was more… vulnerable.
    “They’ll take my other eye,” he whispered. “They might take your eyes, too. We need to hide from the wolves.”
    “Focus.” She lightly slapped his cheek. “Focus on me, Owen. There are no wolves. There are only mara here. They’re creating nightmares from your fears.”
    “Shhh! The twins are with Matt, so it’s just us with nomagic to help.” Baldwin was beside her then, standing on her left, so she was between the two boys. Walking three across wasn’t a good plan, though. It made them too much of a target. It also made them more likely to run into obstacles and meant that she didn’t have a free hand.
    Laurie linked hands with Baldwin, and then ordered, “We’ll walk in a row. Grab Owen, and don’t let go of him.”
    “Got him,” Baldwin whispered. “Lead on.”
    She kept her flashlight tucked under her shirt to dim the light. She wanted to keep them from being seen, but she couldn’t totally go without it. When there is no power at all, the world gets
very
dark—especially when the sun and moon aren’t anywhere to be found in the sky. The sky was black, and the lights were out. There was nothing but darkness inside and outside.
    I can do this.
    It might be a lie, but Fen wasn’t there. Matt was somewhere else. She didn’t have a lot of options. She would have to lead them.
    As if the dark weren’t already terrifying enough, monsters waited in the blackness all around them. Laurie wasn’t certain of it, but it seemed pretty likely that mara could see better without light than the humans could. They were creatures of nightmares, and nightmares happened at night. It only made sense that they were stronger in the dark. So Laurie would get them to a safer place than out here in thelobby, and they’d figure out what to do from there. Hopefully they could reconnect with Matt and the twins.
    Laurie led Baldwin and Owen farther into the museum, but they didn’t find any of the others. What they found were monsters. She heard growling only a moment before Baldwin jerked her to a stop.
    “Fen?” Baldwin asked.
    “Raiders!” Owen stepped forward so the three of them were standing in a small cluster.
    And there, in front of her, was Fen. He had a lantern of some sort, and he was only a few steps away. She was relieved. He was here! They’d all been wrong. She knew it! But even as she smiled, she noticed that something was wrong. Fen wasn’t coming to help her. He wasn’t explaining what Matt had seen in the forest. Instead, he stood there with Skull and Hattie at his side. Hattie held his hand in hers, and Skull smirked at them.
    “How does it feel?” Skull asked.
    “What?” Laurie croaked.
    “To know that Fen was