The ice in her back merged into her body, but it would take a long time for her spinal cord to heal. Time she didn't have. She dragged herself towards the trees. They wouldn't protect her, but it felt worse laying out in the open doing nothing.

  As she crawled, all she could think about was the series of stupid moves that brought her here. Not everything was bad - perhaps she should focus on the good in her last moments.

  She remembered the sound of colliding metal as she and Bo sparred in the empty palace halls. Countless days, just the two of them, sharing their most vulnerable and strongest moments, and pushing each other to be better. The most intimate fights she ever had took place in that room.

  Then, there was the day she found a boy in the woods, hanging upside down in a trap. Against everything she was taught, she freed him, and from that moment on he stayed in her life. Up until he abandoned her.

  So much for peaceful thoughts. Looks like she was going to die mad. To Thor of all things.

  If she would have listened to Bo, she could have at least died in a fair battle. Maybe she could have landed a few good blows. Make the formidable Trym, king of Jotunheim, bleed in front his people, and show them just how "indestructible" he was. But what good would that do besides encouraging the others to die in a losing battle? Then again, if everyone died, Trym would have no Vorer to do his bidding, no loyal subjects to worship his every move. His plan to conquer the realms would fail, and he would be alone with his failure.

  But was such a victor worth the lives of thousands? The thought of sacrificing her kin left behind a sour taste. She wouldn't have to worry about it anymore.

  Her arms shook from dragging the weight of her body. Every last bit of strength had been drained, so she turned herself to face the terrifying sky and wondered how bad it would hurt to be blown into a million tiny pieces. Beneath the constant rumble of thunder she could not hear the approaching footsteps.

  "Sigyn!"

  By Ymir, let me be imagining her voice! Sigyn said to herself as she turned her head.

  There was Bo. And Kark. And...Jess? Running through the snow towards her. The fear bolting through her gave her the strength to lift her head and scream at them to run.

  She screamed until her voice cracked, but they didn't slow down. Tears fell down her cheeks. She prayed for lightning to take her out before they got too close and forced them to turn back. At that moment, she was ready to die, but she could never watch her friends get vaporized in front of her.

  When she reached her side, Bo grabbed one of her arms to pull her to her feet before Sigyn slapped her hand away. "You need to get out of here now! He's coming!"

  "Hold onto me - I'll carry you!" Bo yelled back over the howling winds.

  Sigyn grabbed the collar of her shirt tight in her first. "There's no sense in you dying with me!"

  Bo stared back at her stubborn, pain-in-the-ass best friend. This was all wrong. It wasn't supposed to end this way. They started this fight together, and that's how they were going to finish it, fate be damned. There were more important things in life than proving yourself right.

  Her hand squeezed Sigyn's shoulder. "Yes there is." She planted herself beside her in the snow.

  As much as she didn't want to see her die, it felt good holding Bo's hand again. The clouds didn't look so dark and the wind wasn't as loud as before. Thor would have to take them out on their terms. No thunder or lightning could strip it from them.

  "Kark!" Sigyn called to her loyal servant. "One last favor: I want you and Jess back at the lodge, safe. Hear me?"

  This was it? Jess couldn't believe what she was seeing. They had come all this way through the bitter cold and snow just to give up? It was straight betrayal - Bo had made it sound like they were actually going to save Sigyn. She was going to pitch a fit when Kark's hand fell on her shoulder.

  He had a blank expression on this face that was unlike him. Like someone had gutted his insides and left behind the shell. This was the only way could follow Sigyn's orders. Jess didn't have the heart to fight him when he moved her away.

  Lightning struck the clearing. One after the other in a never-ending assault. Jess ducked and covered her ears to block out the drum of thunder as she ran. Bo and Sigyn held each other tighter, shielding their faces from the hot blasts.

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  In one final, bright strike of lighting, he appeared.

  He was short, with long red hair and a beard that hung down to his gut. The jotuns were not fooled by his pudgy appearance: beneath his armor was muscle strong enough to crush mountains. Lightning danced around him, dissociating off his metal belt and the hammer in his hand. Even within his dark eyes.

  The jotuns would not let them see him afraid. They tightened their grip on each other's hands and stared back, eyes wild and feral as an animal in a corner. Any humanity they hid behind was long gone, replaced with jotun fury. Sigyn's eyes were white as a raging blizzard, and Bo's glowed orange like fire. A growl in their throats challenged the thunder.

  Thor would not be intimidated by a couple of jotun women. He swung the hammer in his hand and let out a battle cry charged by thunder. When he ran towards them, the ground shook.

  Sigyn braced for the blow of steel.

  "Stop!"

  The word barely made it above the wind. The shaking of the earth stopped, and the storm quieted for a moment.

  Daring to open her eyes, Sigyn saw a small figure between them and Thor. Though his face still broiled with anger, his bushy brows pinched together at the mortal infront of him.

  "Please don't hurt them." Jess' voice shook as she stared up at the literal god in front of her.

  Sigyn was paralyzed as she looked on, wanting to yell at Jess to run, but afraid that any sudden move or words from her would spur the Aesir's anger. They were too unpredictable, especially in battle.

  Thor's knuckles tightened around Mjolnir. "Stand aside, Child. They have you fooled." His low, booming voice reverberated through the air. He waited for her to obey, but she did not.

  Sigyn was sure she was about to watch Jess be smited. Smote? No, smited sounded right...

  "They did nothing wrong! In fact they saved my town, which...I thought was supposed to be your job. Where were you for the past week, Mister Protector-of-Earth?"

  The mountain went quiet. Sigyn and Bo's jaws dropped. Even Thor looked dumbfounded. Sigyn was sure any moment now, his rage would take over and he would swat Jess to the side like a fly. But the hammer stayed down.

  He looked between Jess and the Jotuns and paced back and forth, huffing and puffing.

  When he looked at Jess again, his nostrils flared like an angry bull, but his eyes were much calmer. He leaned over her, inspecting her from head to toe, trying to find where she had gotten such nerve. He spoke again, and Jess tried not to shrink away from his ale-stained breath. "Your kind has forgotten fear. Standing with jotuns." He spat on the ground. "I will not protect the ungrateful. When they wage war against you, or slaughter your loved ones, remember this. When their deception rears its ugly head, remember it was you who sent me on my way. May this one day make you wiser."

  Thor threw one last glare at the Jotuns before stomping up the mountain. In a flash of lightning and one last rumble of thunder, he vanished. As the sky calmed, Jess swore she heard hooves and goats braying.

  Jess turned around, almost bumping into Bo. She stared at Jess as if expecting something.

  "I know! It was a really stupid idea, but-"

  Bo pulled her into a hug, and held her until Sigyn tugged on her pants, asking to be helped up so she could hug her too.

  "You know..." Sigyn said, as she leaned on the two of them for support. "Sometimes stupid works."

  From the woods, Kark came running back with a wide grin. Before he could say anything, Sigyn stopped him with a hand on his chest and a glare. "What the hell? You were supposed to watch her!"

  Kark's eyes got big as he stumbled through an explanation about how Jess was right next to him one moment and gone the next and he did everything he could to try and get her back -

  Sigyn hugged him to calm him down. "You did good."

  The three of them helped Sigyn limp back to the lodge.

  They decided to celebrate by dining the lights and showing a movie on the projector screen in the lobby. Jess suggested a Marvel movie, but Sigyn quickly shot that down, having seen enough of Thor for one lifetime. They had all settled into their spots, curled up on the couches smothered by pillows and blankets, when Sigyn noticed Bo had disappeared.

  She was outside by the front door, a satchel hanging from her shoulder, tightening the laces on her boots.

  "You're leaving?"

  "I was going to talk to you once you were done," Bo said, straightening up.

  Sigyn knew exactly what she meant to ask. There was only one other place she'd be thinking of going to. "We just barely escaped with our heads and you want to run back into battle?"

  "I'm doing this because we lived. You faced Thor - the jotun slayer, the most fearsome of the Aesir, and you lived! How many others can say that? Don't you think there's a reason?"

  "We lived because of luck. Pure. Dumb. Luck. That is it!"

  "Luck. Fate. Destiny. It doesn't matter what you call it - it matters what you do next. You're really going to stand there and squander another opportunity?"

  "I'm not squandering anything!" Sigyn shot back. "I'm being realistic."

  Bo snickered. "You think anything about this-" she gestured towards the lodge, "is real? You play dress-up with the humans while your people die every day under the reign of a madman! That's reality, Sigyn, and you refuse to face it over, and over, and over again! Maybe you can stay here and live in an illusion, but I can't."

  Sigyn's lips trembled, trying to find something to say to convince her to stay. "What happened to staying together?"

  "Nothing's stopping you from following me."

  Here they went again: around and around like carousel horses, not going anywhere and too stubborn to admit it. There was something stopping Sigyn deep down. The words couldn't even fight their way out of her mouth. So she turned to go back into the lodge.

  "I know there's still a part of you that cares."

  She was ready to hear anger. The gentle tone of Bo's voice froze her in place.

  "I know the Sigyn I grew up with is still in there somewhere, and she wants to fight, and every day you deny it, she gets a little angrier. One day, your fear won't be enough to hold her back."

  Sigyn shoved her fingernails into her palms near hard enough to draw blood. Her teeth threatened to crack in her clenching jaw. But then she heard footsteps, and when she looked over her shoulder, Bo was gone.

  For a moment, the world could go back to the way it was. She could sit and watch a movie with Kark and Jess, and act like nothing Bo said had any effect on her.