Loki's Wolves, стр. 17

“We need to run.” Fen gave Matt a shove in the right direction and went after Laurie.

Matt turned to help, but Laurie had thrown off her attacker. Fen grabbed her by the arm, and they started to race toward the fair. Matt took one last look around—at the twister, the Raiders, the giant wolf.

At this rate, I’ll be lucky if I make it to Ragnarok, he thought, and tore off after Fen and Laurie.

NINE

LAURIE

“TORNADO TOSSED”

Laurie shook off Fen’s arm. Hailstones pelted them as they ran. Everyone knew not to run from tornadoes, but tornadoes andwolves? That changed things, but maybe not everything.

“I don’t want to get separated,” Fen yelled over the wind. He grabbed her hand and twined his fingers with hers.

She yanked away from him again. She was hurt and angry that Fen had kept such a huge secret from her.

“Then hold Matt’s hand,” she yelled back and got a mouthful of the sawdust that was lifting and swirling in the air.

He was family, her best friend—and he’d lied to her. He’s a wolf. How could he not tell me!She felt tears sting her eyes as the wind slapped her face.

She wasn’t sure which of the shrieks and howls in the air were wolves and which were from the tornado sirens and the storm itself. She wasn’t going to look back for either threat. If she’d been at home, she’d have gone into the basement of the building. Here, she wasn’t sure what to do, but Matt seemed to have a plan. She’d never expected to be following a Thorsen, especially after the fight Matt and Fen had had the other day, but right now they were all on the same side: the three of them versus the wolves.

“Over here.” Matt gestured toward the longship.

Climbing up seemed crazy, but the ship would protect them from the hail, flying things, and maybe even the wolves. It wouldn’t protect them from the tornado. The roar of it was awful, and being higher up seemed like a great way to fall farther.

“We can get inside it.” He scrambled up the side of the ship. Matt tapped in a code on a lockbox mounted on the wall. It popped open, and he grabbed a key. “Come on.”

Would Fen go with him?She wasn’t sure, and her loyalties were divided. She might be mad at Fen, but he was still Fen—and Matt was the kid who had thrown Fen at the longship . Was that magic, too?She felt like an idiot. They both knew things. Matt wasn’t freaked out about the wolf thing, either. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but right now, the two people who had answers were both staring at her. A new burst of hurt and anger filled her.

She ignored the hand Matt held out to help her over the side of the ship, and she didn’t say a word as Fen climbed over after her. They crawled across the deck of the ship on their stomachs, keeping themselves as low as possible; the sides of the longship protected them from the worst of the wind and kept them hidden from the wolves.

Matt fumbled at the lock, taking far too long for her liking.

The wind ripped at their clothes and hair; rain and hail pelted them. She opened her mouth to say “Hurry,” and the air took her breath away. She snapped her lips closed.

Behind her, she felt Fen move closer. He had put his body behind her to shelter her from flying branches and hailstones. Because he was blocking her from the storm, his mouth was directly beside her ear. “I wanted to tell you,” he said. “Wasn’t allowed.”

She didn’t answer. Later, they would have to talk—or yell, more likely—but right now, she couldn’t say anything. If she did, she might start crying, and she wasn’t going to look all wussy in front of the two of them.

Matt looked back and said something, but all she caught was “Fen, pull.”

Fen yelled, “What?”

“Pull,” she shouted, turning to him as she did so.

Fen glanced behind him, and then he nodded, apparently satisfied with what he saw—or with what he didn’t see.

As her cousin reached past her, she looked back, too, and realized that no one had followed them onto the ship. She wasn’t sure where the wolves had gone, but they weren’t here now. Maybe they’d had the sense to seek shelter, too. Being caught in a tornado could be deadly for a wolf, just as it could for a person.

Together, Matt and Fen tugged the door open. Matt’s arms were tight as he held on to the door, and Fen had to brace a foot on the wall, but they had the door open. Fen gestured with his head, and even though she couldn’t hear what he was saying, she knew it was some version of You go first.

She scrambled inside, fumbling in the dark, and felt someone bump into her almost immediately.

“Sorry,” Matt muttered as he steadied her. “Steps. Be careful.”

The door crashed shut, taking away any light. She’d already seen that there were steps. They were all standing on a small landing, and another foot in front of her steps descended into the still deeper darkness of the ship. “How many steps?” she asked Matt.

“Maybe twelve. Just follow me.”

“You can’t see any better than I can.” She rolled her eyes, even though neither of them could see. Boys had some pretty ridiculous ideas about what girls could do. She might not be able to wrestle—or turn into a wolf—but she was just as capable of climbing down the steps as they were. Unless… “Can either of you see?”

Fen snorted. “My vision is better than regular people’s, but when it’s this dark, I’d need to be a wolf to see.”

“Right,” she murmured. She started to laugh at the strangeness of… well, everythingtoday, but stopped herself. Fen was prickly on the best of days, and he was as likely to think she was laughing at him as not. The sound that started as a laugh ended like a cry.

“Are you hurt?” Fen sounded less worried than he would have if Matt weren’t there, but she knew him well enough to know that he was alarmed.

“I’m fine.” She sighed. It was hard to stay mad at him sometimes; he’d made it his personal goal in life to look out for her, to be there whenever she needed anything. He was a combination of her best friend and brother. She tried to push the hurt further away and said, “Bruises, but that’s all. I think. You two?”

Matt shrugged. “Like going a few rounds in the ring. No big deal.”

Fen snorted. “Yeah, right.”

Matt ignored him and said, “Just feel with your foot. We’re right behind you.”

“Let me pass,” Fen demanded. “I can go first in case—”

“I got it,” she cut him off, and eased her foot forward. The only way he was going to stop trying to shelter her from everything was for her to push him more.

Between the darkness of the storm and the lack of lights inside the ship, she had only her sense of touch to guide her. She made her way down the steps, counting as she went.

“Twelve,” she said when she reached the bottom.

She heard and felt them reach the bottom, too. They stood there in the dark, not speaking. Behind them and above them, she could hear the pinging and thumping of things hitting the wood, and the roar of the storm outside. She wasn’t sure if the boys were scared, but now that they were out of the storm and away from the wolves, the fear of what could have happened hit her, and she shuddered. We’re fine, she reminded herself. Right now, we’re just fine.

She felt around with her hands, but she wasn’t sure what would be down here. Was it storage? Things she’d knock over? And even if it wasn’t, did she want to fumble around in the dark and then have to fumble back to the steps when the storm ended? She ended up standing still.