Nina nudged her in the ribs.“You have a fucking talking hammer, Thor Junior.Yeah, magic exists.”
Right.Right, right, right.Duh, Dom.
“So they don’t remember what happened?Who put them in a trance?”
Wanda popped her lips and shook her head.“Nope.They don’t even know they were in a trance.It was as if they lost no time between landing in the basement and us bringing them back upstairs, and that’s good.What’snotso good?Someone put them in a trancelike state, and we need to find out who and why.”
That explained why Susan didn’t appear to understand Dom showing up so late, but she was grateful they didn’t remember.This was all too much to explain.
Blowing out a breath, her ribs still sore from hitting the floor, she absorbed this information.“So, I guess I have to believe whatever knocked me down in the hallway was who put them in a trance.Was that a giant?Because I’m telling you, whatever it was, and I didn’t get a good look—I didn’t getanylook—it was massive.I mean, itfeltbig.Really big.I realize that sounds like my vocabulary is limited at best, but it’s the only way to describe what I ran into.Also, there was that smell Wanda described so perfectly.”
Harvey ran a hand over his chin before he rubbed his eyes.“It was definitely a giant.I got a quick glimpse of him before he disappeared.”
How heartwarming.“So why was it here?How did it know to summon me under the guise of my grandfather’s voice—because I know what I heard.”
“To trick you into bringing me here,” MC explained.“They want you to hand me over to them and they’ll use whatever—and whomever—they have to in order to get their hands on me.”
Nina held up a finger.“But hold the fuck on, how can they get their hands on you if she’s the only person who can pick you up because her heart’s the purest in all the land, or whateverthehell the reason was for her being chosen by the universe?”
Dom also held up a finger.“He, it,whatever, did say, ‘Hand over Mjölnir, or you’ll suffer the consequences.’Like Nina said, how can they pick up the hammer if they’re not worthy?I mean, are people who want to end the world worthy of picking you up?”
Harvey answered for MC, and he didn’t sound pleased when he did.“Magic.Unlike in the Marvel movies, there’s ancient magic they can use, and if they find a way to get their hands on that magic…today was nothing more than a warning threat.I’m sure they know MC’s in the hands of a novice, someone they’ll consider vulnerable and weak.They used your grandfather as a pawn, as a reminder of the lengths they’ll go to in order to get their hands on MC, and I can assure you, they’ll be back for more.”
Dom gulped hard, sweat forming on her brow.Ominous…
But wait one second.Weak.They thought herweak?The notion incited her, made her veins flame.“I amnotweak.I might not know what the hell I’m doing,yet, but I’ll learn if it means protecting my grandfather.”
Nina winked at her, nudging her ribs again.“Attagirl, Thor Junior.Balls for days.”
Harvey gripped her shoulders, forcing her to face him full on.“I don’t think you’re weak.Theydo, but in the sense of whether you can handle the power MC wields…as of now, you’re vulnerable.Untrained and exposed.”
Her eyes flashed hot when she looked up at Harvey’s worried eyes.“And the reason they want MC is because of Fraggle Rock, isn’t it?”
“Ragnarök,” everyone shouted at her.
“Whatever!The meaning is still the same.They want to get their filthy paws on MC to end the world as we know it, correct?”
Harvey nodded, his lips a thin, grim line.“Correct.”
Dom sucked in her cheeks.“But I thought you said everything was quiet?There were no foreseeable threats, blah-blah-blah.Ending the world is a pretty big threat, Harvey.”
The very idea that all of this, in just a matter of a day, was turning her life inside out, felt surreal.But then, was anyone ever prepared for the apocalypse?Did it ever give you warning signs this blatant?
Harvey let her shoulders go, but his eyes remained fixed on her.“Itwasquiet.It was very quiet.Maybe too quiet.Maybe we took that peace for granted.The giants didn’t even know where MC was, as far as I can tell.But now that they’ve found him, they’ll go to any lengths to get him, and that includes finding ancient magic.”
Darnell, who’d been pretty quiet, stood up from where he sat next to her grandfather and placed a beefy paw on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze.“Then you need to learn how to protect the world, don’tcha?I’ll stay here with your grandpa.I’ll protect him and everyone else here.You don’t hafta worry ‘bout none of ’em.Promise.You go learn to be a badass.”Then he grinned and winked.“I got faith in ya.”
Faith.
I’ll take What Does Dom Need?for one hundred, please, Alex.
But there was nothing on this planet more important to her than her grandfather, and the people here at Remember Me, and there was zero chance she wouldn’t fight like an uncaged honey badger to protect them.
Zero chance.
ChapterEight
“Ooooh!”the OOPS gang, as she’d now come to almost lovingly call them, shouted in unison.
