Contest of Champions

12

"This year is going to be good," Hela promises as she shoves up from the sofa. "I can just feel it."

"Yep," Valkyrie affirms, although she sounds less enthusiastic than my sister. She lifts her bottle to her lips and then hurls it across the room when she finds it empty. It crashes against the wall and shatters, the glass shards falling to the floor. "This will be fun."

Hela glances at me out of the corner of her eye as Jane complains about a serial killer being allowed into the Contest. As Thor states that everyone is allowed to compete, including incarcerated murderers, I realize that Hela must have noticed my reaction to the female contender from District 8, by the look that she is giving me now. Which means that she must have been watching me closely. Why? She wasn't there, all those years ago. Why was she watching me? Why is she now watching me?

Sif stands and shakes her head from side to side, her hair flowing with the motion. "I'm going to bed," she declares, turning to Thor. She leans down, her knee pressing into the cushion of the sofa beside him, and whispers something into his ear, something she doesn't mean for me to hear but I just catch the words anyway. "I won't kill Hogun," she assures him before straightening and walking out. As Valkyrie follows her, a half full bottle in her hand, Jane leans her head on Thor's shoulder, it just being Hela and me left.

As I see my brother focused on his girlfriend, I wonder if this might be part of the reason why not one of our contenders in the past several years has lasted very long in the arena. With Valkyrie always drinking and Thor with eyes only for Jane, who is looking out for the contenders? Who is coordinating and giving them the life-saving tips mentors are supposed to give?

And that makes me think of Hela's strange appearance, here, of all Contests. The one I'm in. An extra pair of eyes, an extra guide to navigating both the public appearances before the Contest and the arena itself. Is it coincidence she has chosen this year to mentor, a position she hasn't held since Valkyrie won the 6th Contest, of all the years she could have picked to make a comeback? It's not like the Skrulls have lessened their meddling and left Hela with nothing to do. In fact, they're worse than ever, if what I've heard is correct. No, Hela is purposefully lending her expertise to the Asgardian contenders this year, for good or ill, and for what reason?

I can't figure it, or her, out.

As Hela leaves, I hurry after her, determined to ask her about her intentions. I catch up to her quickly and reach out to stop her. With a smirk and an upward roll of her eyes, Hela deliberately turns, placing her hands on her hips, and looks at me before I even so much as touch her. She was waiting for me to confront her. "What?"

"Why?" I ask her flatly. "Why mentor the contenders this year, when you obviously prefer not to? Why, Hela? Why? Why do you care? What is your reason for mentoring?"

Hela only grins, turning away from me. "There is no reason in what I do."

She's wrong. There's a reason in everything she does, every word she utters. I know that much about her.

I sidestep as soon as I hear the noise. The knife aimed at my heart pounds into the wall.

"Ah, you remembered!" I hear her voice. "But you still aren't ready."

And then I feel the blood on my cheek and jerk my head away with a snarl. But it's too late. The second dagger, a thin film of blood along its edge, has landed next to its twin in the wall. She knew which way I would step, where to aim the second knife to ensure it skimmed me just enough to draw blood. She knew.

"How...?" I murmur to myself, touching the wound on my cheek. The blood stains my fingers as I look with disbelief at the fluid.

"Little brother," she calls out. I can't see her, but her voice fills the air. "You have no idea what's possible."