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)
“So where is she?” Rasmus asks, looking around nervously.
“Päivätär took Hanna to the sun realm to claim her powers,” she says simply.
“She did what now?” I ask.
“The sun?” Rasmus says in disbelief. “What powers? Hanna is mortal.”
Vellamo glares at him, her gaze sharp enough to cut glass. “You,” she spits, her voice steel. “Your presence here insults me. Why are you even still alive?”
“We have our reasons,” I explain, though I still wonder what they are. “What do you mean, Hanna is on the sun? What powers?”
“Hanna is Päivätär’s daughter.”
“Who is Päivätär again?” Rasmus asks, bewildered.
“She’s the Goddess of the Sun,” Tapio says gruffly. “And it would do you good to keep your questions to yourself. My patience for your existence is running low.”
I can’t help but shake my head. “I thought…I thought her mother lived in, like, America somewhere. Some mortal. Her father is Torben the Shaman.”
“It’s a long story,” Vellamo says. “One that explains how this Salainen has come into play, how she took Hanna’s place at Shadow’s End. For now, though, all you need to know is that Hanna has divine heritage. She’s even seen her powers begin to take flight here. But she can’t become who she needs to be unless she goes to the sun to grow her powers from the source.”
“So that means she’s coming back,” I say, “with powers that might help us fight.” The Magician had already said as much—yet another time I wish he could have just come out and said what he knew. Cryptic bastard.
“That is the idea,” she says carefully.
“You sound unsure,” Tapio says.
“Because there is a risk to all of this, of course,” she says. “And frankly, I didn’t think Hanna was ready. I’m willing to be proven wrong, of course. I want to be proven wrong.”
“What’s the risk?” Tellervo asks.
“Losing her humanity,” Vellamo says. “To gain the powers of a God, there is a tradeoff. I fear Hanna might not remember exactly who she is after a taste of immortality.”
“So she’s immortal now?” Rasmus says. He’s practically whining, and that’s when I realize what his problem is: he’s jealous of her. That’s all this has ever been; perhaps it’s why he willingly kidnapped her to begin with all those months ago, why he was eager to turn against her and do his mother’s bidding. Hanna not only has their father’s love, but now, her mother is a bona fide Goddess.
“I don’t think she’s fully immortal,” Vellamo says. “But even so, I don’t know how her transformation will affect her humanity.”
“As long as it can help us,” Tapio says. “As long as she can help us get our revenge.”
Vellamo raises her chin, her eyes sparking with determination. “We’re going to get our revenge, with Hanna’s help or not. This is why I was heading towards north. I want to find the Keskelli and see if they will join our side. Do you happen to have influence on them, Tapio?”
“The Keskelli? I’ve never even encountered one. They are trolls, are they not? My connection is only to flora and fauna. Anything sentient or close to human is beyond my reach.”
“Then you’re heading in the right direction,” I tell Vellamo, brushing the snow off my shoulders. “The Keskelli are found outside the Star Swamp, and that’s where we’re headed anyway.”
“Why are you going there?” she asks.
“Because Castle Synti is the last place Louhi would think to find us. Besides, she’s taken over my home. It’s only fair I take over hers.”
“I see your logic,” she says. “It’s petty. I like it.” She places her sword in her other hand. “Lead the way, Daughter of Death.”
I nearly tell her she should be the one leading us, but from the steadfast gleam in her eyes, I swallow down my humility and fear and nod.
I start walking again, flanked by Vellamo, the Forest Gods behind us, then Rasmus and the Magician. We march for what seems like forever, past strands of forest, where Tapio communicates with the undead deer who tell us they haven’t seen any Old Gods ahead. We go through more thickets of bushes, stopping to snack on the plump, frozen berries to gain enough energy to continue. Rasmus seems to need the sustenance most of all, as the only one of us who is completely mortal. He might have my mother’s demon blood, but it doesn’t do him much good.
After that, we continue until the bushes fade to straggly sticks, their leaves, berries, and bark stripped by hungry reindeer, which we pass along with grouse and a curious fox or two, who poke their heads out of their burrow in the snow, and then after a while, it’s just the frozen void, a landscape of undulating snow and ice.
Until it abruptly ends at the top of a ridge that gently slopes down toward the Star Swamp.