“Odin fights the Fallen south of here,” Heimdallr said, gaze steady. The pupils of his pale blue eyes were ringed with a thin rainbow of color, and they seemed to stare right through Jono.
The veil hadn’t closed behind the pair, allowing Baba Yaga and Peklabog to step into Union Square. Baba Yaga rapped her mortar against the bone pestle she rode, cackling loudly. Bits of stringy flesh hung from her lips, caught between her teeth.
“Such an end you seek, cousin. Best hurry. Is new beginning clawing at roots of your world tree in this city,” Baba Yaga said.
Fenrir growled wordlessly, the sound muffled by the explosion of a mageglobe against Nadine’s shield. Fenrir seemed unperturbed by the chaos surrounding them, even if it raised Jono’s hackles. Patrick’s hand fisted in his fur, the soulbond humming between them. Jono shifted closer until he was pressed against the other man.
“Sir, we’re going, with or without you,” Patrick said, looking Reed in the eye.
Through Fenrir’s power, Jono could see the flicker of Reed’s hidden true form around his human shape. The flash image lasted only a second, but the size and age of the dragon meddling with human affairs was startling to witness.
“Then go and take who you must,” Reed said, bowing to Fate.
Patrick nodded, attention shifting from the general to Hermes. “What’s the plan?”
Hermes only smiled as Heimdallr put the Gjallarhorn to his lips and blew a long, resounding note that rang through the air like a thousand bells. Jono swore his brain rattled in his skull, and he wasn’t the only one affected. Many people around them clamped their hands over their ears and looked around for the source of the sound.
A lull settled over the battlefield for a couple of seconds as everyone tried to figure out what was happening. The sound fell away, only to return again when Heimdallr blew a different note. The ground trembled in response, and something exploded in the horizon behind them. In the veiled twilight of Manhattan, what came streaking through the sky was a shimmer of colors that stretched from horizon to horizon.
The Bifröst burned in the air above where they stood, a rainbow bridge of passage for their use.
At least you lot are good for something, Jono mused.
Now they just had to getupon the bloody thing with the rest of their pack and allies who could be spared from the fight in Union Square.
“Do we really have to run fifty blocks?” Patrick asked no one in particular.
Heimdallr clipped the Gjallarhorn to his belt and withdrew the sword from a sheath on his back. “Bring who you need. The Bifröst will carry you to the edge of the world.”
Patrick winced. “The Battery better still be standing.”
Call your pack, Fenrir said.
Jono threw back his head andhowled, pouring Fenrir’s power into the call, using it to draw who they needed to their current position. Werecreatures weren’t the only ones who answered. Jono could see the shift in the battle lines around them as vampires and fae heeded the call as well.
In the distance, Wade flapped his wings and launched himself into the sky, gliding over to them. People scrambled to get out of his way before he landed, even though he was careful of where he put his feet. He shrugged off a couple of spells aimed his way, human magic not bothering him.
“Head downtown when we do,” Patrick shouted at Wade.
Wade huffed smoke in their direction before nodding his wedge head. Fenrir tipped their head back and eyed the distance between them and the Bifröst. Before Jono could protest, Fenrir leaped for it, preternatural strength aiding his godly abilities to land them on the rainbow bridge.
The shimmering light was hard beneath his paws, the colors every conceivable shade that existed in this world and others. Jono didn’t have much time to appreciate it before Wade picked Patrick up with one claw and unceremoniously dropped him on the Bifröst.
“A little warning would be nice!” Patrick yelled, scrambling to his feet on the rainbow bridge.
Brynhildr and some of her valkyries dived at fast speeds to the battle raging on the ground. They unfurled golden nets and ensnared those who couldn’t make it up to the Bifröst on their own, Nadine and Spencer among them. Jono saw a couple of Hellraisers in the mix as well, along with Gerard. Werecreatures and vampires managed to fling themselves upward on their own, dodging spells and bullets to do so.
Ashanti was the first god after Fenrir to join them on the Bifröst but not the last. Hermes vaulted up with an ease that had him landing lightly on his toes. Fae beholden to Medb tried to climb onto the Bifröst but were summarily driven off by those already standing on it. The sound of assault rifles going off was a drone in Jono’s ears.
Jono made his way to Patrick, who was huddled with Nadine and Spencer, all three of them staring south at where the Bifröst followed Broadway through Manhattan. Situated above the fray, Jono could see past the brightness of the rainbow bridge the insidious glow of a creeping spellwork crawling over the skyscrapers.
“Is Samhain over?” Nadine asked.
Patrick shook his head. “No.”
“Are you sure? Because that looks like a sacrificial circle to me.”
Patrick glanced down at Jono, face pale, jaw clenched tight. Jono shifted on his paws to press against the other man in what comfort he could offer.
