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Chapter 16

  That first day, the snow had a lot of attention, being a blizzard mid-summer fluke in the weather. Everyone was taking photos and videos of their yards and the snow piled up, and kids even broke out their winter gear and romped around. Everyone expected it to go away within a few hours.

  But the snow kept falling. One day became two, and then three. The plows came out to clear the roads that only got filled in again with more snow. The joy of random summer snow had faded into everyone wondering when the snow was going to end. The town folks watched the news and listened to their radios religiously, but the meteorologists could not tell them anything new beyond: Skjolden was experiencing a blizzard summer blizzard.

  By the fourth day of unrelenting snow, businesses shut down. No one wanted to transverse the roads that the plows struggled to keep clear. Everyone stayed inside, watching the sky and cracking up the heat as the temperature in the air dropped by the hour. By the fifth day, the Havhelle fjord was frozen over, and the mountain roads in and out of town were closed. The little weather fluke had made international news, a much needed break for people to talk about something other than politics or disasters.

  No one in Skjolden wanted to talk about it.

  In her bedroom, Jess spent a lot of time watching the snowflakes fall, trying to catch the moment they would stop, and the weather would return to normal. It never did.

  "Is dad still working?" Jess asked when Elizabeth came in to collect her dishes. She insisted she was well enough to walk to the kitchen herself, but her sister wouldn't hear it until she got rid of her cough.

  "He texted me a few minutes ago. There's a lot of accidents and stranded vehicles, so he's gonna be working late. Take this." She handed Jess a thermometer to put under her tongue. When it beeped, Jess took it out to read the screen.

  "What do you know: I'm back to normal." As she handed the thermometer back, she fought against another graphic coughing fit.

  Elizabeth saw straight through her. "Now's not the time to take chances. You better stay in bed until I get back." The hospital had been short-staffed from the weather and needed anyone who could make it to work extra shifts. It was ironic for Elizabeth - taking care of her sister all day just to go to work and take care of more people.

  When Elizabeth left, Jess closed her eyes, hoping to fall asleep and wake up to a new day and the blizzard over. It didn't work - she had been stuck in bed all day and her body was too restless to sleep. She did the next best thing and stared at the ceiling until her mind began to wonder. Her first thoughts were of Sigyn, and the day on the lake. She wasn't conscious when she dragged her out of the water, but she did remember opening her eyes and seeing Sigyn leaning over her. She looked so...perfect, her pale eyes wide open and her brows creased. Water droplets peppered her face and her damp hair stuck to her cheek, but all her attention was on Jess, like she was the only thing in the world that mattered. Oddly enough, the warmth she felt in the moment was stronger than the biting cold. She could have stayed there forever.

  Fed up with her restless legs, Jess sat up and threw the covers off of her, ready to run laps around the house to tire herself out, when she spotted Sigyn, paging through a book by her shelf.

  When Sigyn noticed her, she gave her usual charismatic grin. "Bought time. I was worried I'd have to stand here all day."

  Jess had to blink a few times before accepting that Sigyn was in fact real and in her bedroom. "How did you get here?"

  "Oh...I have my ways." She sat on the edge of her bed. "How are you?"

  "Fine! Just fine...a little bit of pneumonia, but it's cleared up. Everyone said you disappeared."

  Sigyn nodded. "I thought it was the safest option for everyone, but I guessed wrong. Have you read this?" she asked, gesturing to the book on her lap.

  She had - it was a book on Norse Mythology, the very book Jess had used when trying to decipher Sigyn's journal. "My mother liked to read me stories when I was little."

  "Believe any of it?"

  It was such an out of the blue question. Did she believe in Gods and magic and monsters? A month ago she would have laughed. Losing herself in Sigyn's eyes, she heard a quiet 'yes' leave her lips.

  "Do you know what I am?" Sigyn whispered.

  Jess remembered the shed, seeing her eyes change and ice erupt from her hand. Looking at her and seeing something that wasn't quite human staring back. "Jotun."

  A small smile pulled at Sigyn's lips. "You're kind has called us all sorts of things over the years: giants, trolls, demons, monsters...so ten points for using the politically correct term. Are you afraid?"

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  "Of course not! This is the coolest moment of my entire life! No pun intended..." There were moments when Jess was definitely afraid, and maybe she should have ran. Perhaps it was the very thing that scared her most that drove her forward: the tiniest hint of magic to brighten the mundane rhythm of everyday life. "So, Odin and Thor are real too? Are all the stories true?"

  "'True' is a tricky word. There is truth within them, but history is written by victors. These stories paint us as villains, and whenever we've crossed paths with humans, it hasn't ended well. It's refreshing to meet someone who's willing to hear our side."

  A flurry of questions stumbled out of Jess' mouth, some that didn't even make sense. But somehow, Sigyn knew the perfect way to responde. She took her hands to calm her, and then faced her palm to the ceiling.

  The air buzzed with electric energy that made Jess nervous at first, not knowing what to expect. As much as she wanted to move back, she trusted Sigyn not to hurt her.

  Light erupted from Sigyn's hand in tendrils reaching upwards, casting the room in a soft, glowing rainbow.

  The Northern Lights. Right here - in her bedroom. Jess reached her fingertips towards the ribbons swaying back and forth along the ceiling. There was nothing to feel except air, but the light responded to her movement, twirling around her fingers. Sigyn made a fist, and the lights faded.

  "We don't use electricity back home, and fire is...uncomfortable for us, so we use magic to light our chambers. It's even better when the halls are made of ice and the light bounces around. It never gets old." Sigyn stood up from the bed. "I should get going. I'm sure you all have had enough of this weather."

  Realizing Sigyn was leaving, Jess' heart sank. "You know what caused the storm?"

  She nodded. "I know how to stop it. I just...wanted to say goodbye first."

  It sounded too final. Jess had just found true magic in her life, and she wasn't ready to watch it walk out the door, never to be seen again. "Wait! What are you gonna do?"

  "Don't worry about me, sweetheart." Sigyn bent down to kiss her forehead.

  Jess closed her eyes, enjoying her cool lips pressed against her skin. But when she opened them again, Sigyn was gone, with only the howling winter wind as her witness.

  Throughout history, mankind has done crazy things. Scaling mountains, crossing oceans, flying to the moon. Perhaps they were all searching for something. An obsession with the unknown that drove them forward.

  That day, it was Jess' turn.

  In most situations, taking the spare car up the mounting into the heart of a blizzard was a stupid risk, but with everything at stake, it hardly felt like enough. Not a speck of pavement peaked through the mat of snow. The windshield wipers scrambled to keep the glass clear. Jess barely had to accelerate as the momentum of the car over the slick surface moved her fast enough.

  The last leg of the trip was the most treacherous driving between a steep ravine and the sheer face of the mountain. Each curve was a test of the car's traction that it barely passed. It was a balance of staying in control and going fast enough to plow through the snow, especially as the road included.

  Jess felt the car slow even while pressing the gas to the floor. Spinning tires threw slush past the windows. Jess turned the wheel back and forth, but there was nothing for the treads to grab to keep the car from sliding backwards.

  "No no no no no no!" Her knuckles turned white and her stomach crumbled into itself as the car went faster and faster down the hill, towards a sharp curve. Both her feet on the brake did nothing to save her.

  There was a small metal guardrail along the edge of the cliff, but at the speed the car was sliding, it would do nothing but catapult her into the air. At the bottom of the ravine, there would be nothing left for rescuers to find.

  At the bottom of the hill, hurtling towards certain death at full speed, Jess realized she was about to die.

  But when the tires hit the snow banks, the car lurched to a violent stop. The back of Jess' head smacked into the headrest. She shut her eyes for a minute, letting her breathing return to normal, and then opened the door. The snow was almost knee-deep. Cold wetness leached through her genes, but she'd rather walk the last 5 minutes to the lodge than try to make it over the hill again.

  Once inside, Jess ran straight to the lobby fireplace and stuck her numb fingers near the flames. The place was empty beyond a handful of stranded patrons.

  "Jess!" Kark hurried over from the cafe upon noticing her. "What are you doing here? You didn't have to come in!"

  "It's Sigyn! She said something about stopping the storm. I think she's in trouble." As she talked, she bounced back and forth with her hands tucked under her armpits for warmth.

  Hearing Sigyn's name had drawn Bodi's attention to the conversation, but she wasn't relieved. "You saw her?"

  "She was in my room. Did she come back here?"

  Bodi and Kark shared a look that said they knew exactly where Sigyn was.

  "You should sit and get warm." Kark steered Jess back towards the fire, but she stepped away in protest.

  "No! We have to help her! Can't you do anything? You helped her last time!"

  Kark glanced around in case anyone else was listening. "Last time was a bit of a different situation..."

  "How much did Sigyn tell you exactly?" Bodi asked.

  Jess responded with a quiet 'enough', and Bodi threw her head towards the sky like she wanted to strangle God. In a tired voice, she went on to say: "If you know everything else, you might as well know the only way for Sigyn to stop the blizzard is to turn herself in. Even if we saved her, the town would keep getting colder and colder until nothing was left breathing but frost jotuns."

  Jess shook her head. "There's gotta be a way to fight them!"

  "There was, and Sigyn refused every time. She'd rather throw her life away for your kind than do any real good," Bodi spat. "Be grateful for her sacrifice and move on."

  Jess recoiled from the hot anger radiating from her. She was hurting, and she was ready to take it out on anything around her. Neither Bodi nor Kark were going to do anything: it was up to her alone.

  Without warning, Jess sprinted through the door back into the blizzard. Kark watched her through the window.

  "Please tell me she's leaving," Bodi said.

  Kark watched her head into the woods. "Nope."

  They both raced after her.

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