Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 125422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 627(@200wpm)___ 502(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 627(@200wpm)___ 502(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
A flicker of uncertainty crosses my mother’s face before she squares her shoulders, regaining her composure. “Hanna has a strength and courage that surpasses even my expectations,” she says firmly. “I have seen my fair share of it. There isn’t much in this land my rays don’t touch. She will rise to meet the challenges ahead, guided by the light that burns within her.”
Vellamo grumbles something inaudible under her breath, something my mother ignores.
“Are you ready, my child?” my mother asks, her gaze searching mine for any sign of doubt.
And yet, all I have is doubt.
I look back at Vellamo, unsure of what to do.
Vellamo holds my gaze for a moment before she slowly nods.
“Very well,” Vellamo says stiffly. “I am not your mother, Hanna, merely a friend and advisor. I can’t prevent you from going if that’s what you wish. And if your mother says that’s where your powers will come to fruition, if that’s what we need to save us from Kaaos, then I can’t be the one to stand in your way. Who am I to stop the one who might save us all?”
I gulp. No pressure or anything.
“Can’t I just somehow get my powers down here?” I ask. They showed up before when Tuoni died. Isn’t there some way my mother can teach me, much like Vipunen did?
“I can’t stay here for long,” my mother says in a low voice. “The longer I’m here, the more I lose my strength, and the more mortal I become. You gather your strength from the sun, just as I do.”
“Yeah, but the sun…” I say warily. “Like the actual sun? Isn’t it a ball of gas? Won’t I just, you know, die?”
“It’s not what you think,” she says.
Uh huh. Very helpful.
“I will come back, won’t I?” I ask her.
“You will,” she assures me.
“You must,” Vellamo chimes in. “Otherwise, you might as well stay here.”
“She will be back,” my mother says sharply, her hair briefly turning into curling flames that rise like solar flares. “I will make sure she doesn’t forget.”
I frown. “Why would I forget?”
My mother’s gaze slides to mine, and she stares at me in such a way that I have a little Galadrial and Frodo moment. I would hate to see her angry.
Suddenly, I’m flooded with fear. I know she’s my mother and all, I know there’s so much I don’t understand and that there’s a fuckload of questions that need answering, but I really don’t know her at all. It’s not like she’s remotely personable. She even talks differently than the gods down here, as if she’s saying words she thinks are something a human would say.
I don’t even know if I should trust her.
What if Louhi has already gotten to her? The thought terrorizes me. What if this is a trap to take me out of the equation?
“You know what?” I say uneasily. “On second thought, maybe it’s better I stay here and help fight as I am. Vellamo and I just have to find the other Gods, the real ones, and Lovia and Tuonen, and then regroup. Tuoni and my father must be making their way through a portal somewhere, and honestly, I feel I should discuss this with him first before I—”
But before I can finish my sentence, my mother reaches out and grabs my arm, plunging my world into blinding light and an electrifying hum that makes my ears feel as if they’re about to explode.
And then suddenly…darkness.
CHAPTER TWO
LOVIA
“You have no idea what my mother will do to you when she finds out what you’ve done,” Rasmus says like a sniveling little weasel we’ve trapped.
I yank at the mycelia cord wrapped around him, causing him to stumble behind me over a tree root.
“Our mother,” I sneer as I glare at him over my shoulder. “Don’t pretend we aren’t related.”
He regains his balance at the last minute, his red hair falling across his brow, his eyes full of hate. I know enough about the kind of hate that’s programmed into you; I’ve seen it in my voyages to the Upper World. It’s the kind that’s passed down through generations, coddled by society until it blooms into something wretched. I have to remind myself that Rasmus was just a mortal boy living in that world until my mother decided to use him for her own gain. The hate that burns in his eyes was put there by her, ignited under controlled circumstances.
Careful, a voice reminds me. Don’t make excuses for him. He’ll kill you the first chance he gets, and then it won’t matter who taught him how to hate.
I glance over at the Magician. He meets my eyes with two swirling galaxies amidst the black void of his face that’s sheltered beneath his hood. While we’ve walked through the beginning of the Hiisi Forest, the roots high, the trees thickening the further we go, we haven’t said much to each other. Rasmus has blathered on and on about how fucked we are, that we’re on the losing side, that we’ll regret this, but we’ve been more or less silent. A lot of thinking, a lot of planning.