Queen of Asgard (NaNoWriMo2018, Completed!)

35: Words Spoken

Lounging across the gold and white furniture were the four other contestants. No sooner had I entered the room did all four sets of heads turn and look at me. I saw Camila's cold glare meet me first, same as always, but I barely gave her any thought as I saw a flash of red and my hears where filled with the ever-lovely voice of Melinda.

"Oh my god!" Melinda shrieked as she ran towards me, eyes wide. "Holy shit are you okay?"

I winced. "Melinda," I said as I moved towards the cluster of chairs Elise was still seated by. "I'm standing right next to you."

"Sorry," she said and there was a definite drop to her volume that I was grateful for. "I was just freaking out when I got here and couldn't find you. I was worried that giant thing got to you!"

"I told you she was fine," Elise said dryly as I sat down in the chair next to her. I couldn't help but notice her crimson dress was torn at the hem. I filed the detail away to ask about later.

"I was on a date with Thor," I replied, "if anything, it probably would have gotten one of you guys."

"No," Elise shook her head. "None of us were in the compound. I don't know where Camilla and Vivian went but they were gone when Melinda and I left for the museum. Far as I know, no one was there when the frost giant attacked."

"Sif was," I replied, throat tightening as more images of Sif being severely injured or death flashed across my mind. "She got hurt."

"Oh my god is she okay?" Melinda blushed at her outburst. "Sorry," she whispered, "but seriously is she okay?"

"I was told she was hurt but stable. They wouldn't tell me anything else or bring me to her." I was unable to keep the whining helplessness out of my voice and my friends picked up on it.

"It's probably for the best," Elise said sagely. "Speaking as healthcare professional myself, it's easier to work without the family and friends crowding you. I'm sure if something serious were to occur they'd have sent someone to tell you already."

"Yeah," Melinda agreed. "The best thing you can do for Sif now is just to stay safe. I saw the size of that thing on the lawn when Fulla and Idun brought us here and holy shit, we were lucky none of us were in the manor when it came. We wouldn't have stood a chance at all. It's better that we're here, if we were to run into one, we'd be screwed. And that's when I don't think about how they can create ice blocks the size of a two story building."

Elise swatted her. "Melinda," she said tersely. "Could you have a little more tact please?"

"Oh shit, Suzume I'm sorry. I forgot."

"It's okay," I replied. I couldn't expect them to think about that night the way I did. No matter what I did or who I was with, it was always in the back of my mind and it always would be. I'd lost my best friend that day and now, for all I knew I was about to lose another friend again to those monsters.

"No it's not. I was being really insensitive with what happened to your cousin."

"Cousin?" A new voice entered our conversation and I turned my head to see Camilla approaching us. "A Jotun attacked your cousin?"

"She and I were attacked in a convenience store and despite Sif's best efforts, she was killed." I didn't want to go into details, but I knew I couldn't avoid the question either. The last thing I wanted to do was create a panic among the rest of the women by letting their imaginations run wild.

She raised a sculpted eyebrow at me. "And you didn't think to tell us?" she said stiffly. "You didn't think the rest of us should know that there were monsters targeting trial contestants?"

I'd never gotten the feeling she liked me but this accusation was something I hadn't expected. "It was an isolated incident-."

"Apparently not," she spat, crossing her arms, "another one just destroyed our house! You should have warned us! We're lucky to be alive right now, if any of us had been in the manor they would be dead!"

"There is no proof either incidents are connected."

"I'd say there's plenty." She said tensely as she glared at me. "You should have warned us!"She shook her head, as though too disgusted to speak. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"That grief is a personal matter," Elise said, rising from her chair and her expression harder than I had ever seen it. "So are conversations and I suggest you get back to your own."

"I think I'd rather stay here; I'd like to know if Officer Hamada is keeping anything else form us." She said my title like an expletive and Elise's expression morphed, she smiled at Camilla but it was more like barring her teeth.

"It is none of your concern whether or not Suzume has more secrets than Jason Bourne. Now get away from us and go back to your own friends."

"Or what?"

"Or we're going to kick your ass." Melinda declared, rising to her feet and glaring at Camilla as she stood beside Elise. "So unless you have a good plastic surgeon on speed dial, I suggest you scram!"

Camilla's expression was still unreadable at the threat and for a moment, I feared a fight would break out. "Don't worry," she said at last, her voice smooth as silk. "I would never dream of stooping to the same level as someone like you." Without a further word she walked away and I saw a steady flush rise in Melinda's face.

"Oh that bitch is going down!" she hissed. She moved to follow but Elise held out her arm.

"No-." Elise began but Melinda cut her off.

"Don't you dare tell me she's not worth hitting!"

"She's not," I pointed out, getting to my feet as well. "Some people are just awful, you can't hit all of them. Melinda please, I don't want to do this now. Not with everything that's happened, it doesn't matter." Camilla's apparent loathing of me didn't matter. Next to the Jotun threat and Sif laying with serious injuries in a hospital dwarfed the petty drama with her.

Melinda's death grip loosened instantly. "Of course, you're right. This isn't important right now."

I thanked my rare lucky stars that Melinda's anger had a support-your-friend override. "Thanks."

"I'm here for you buddy. You need anything?"

I needed to know Sif was going to be alright. I needed to find a way to keep Jotun off Asgard. I needed to not be helpless every time a monster came to my home. "Elise, what happened to your dress?"

"Snagged it on a bit of fence post when we were led away from the wreckage. I'm not hurt."

I smiled. "Good, Melinda, you're okay?"

"Fine, more worried about you than anything. Like I said, when I saw that thing in the yard," she shuddered. "It freaked me out."

"I know." I knew all too well. I could almost feel the cold that had engulfed the store the night Yuki was killed. I sighed. "I just hope Sif is okay."

"Thor took me to visit the hospital here," Elise said, "and their medical care is amazing. They mesh magic and science together and they achieve things we could only dream of on Earth. Sif couldn't be in better hands." That did nothing to reassure me though I knew Elise meant it as comfort. I was sure even with all the mix of science and magic available to them that even Asgard had no sure for an ice spike through the heart. Or being frozen to death.

Stop it, I chided myself as I leaned back against my chair. I was not going to go down this route. Elise and Melinda were right; Sif was in the best hands possible and the best thing I could do for her was to stay out of trouble. I'd just have to wait this out and hope that the 'no news was good news' proverb was true this time.

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New chapter, Jotun are on the loose, Sif is down and out and tensions are on the rise with the contestants. How fun! (I regret nothing!)

Write on! :)