Sessi and the Race to Odin (A Sessi Nilsson Novel Book 2) Read online

  Copyright © 2020 Jack Lugar

  All Rights Reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real people, living or dead, events or locals, is entirely coincidental.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of very brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  Published and Distributed by The Jackodile Press

  Book Design by J.R. Lugar

  Cover Design by germancreative

  Author’s photo by J.R. Lugar

  Editing by Judy Lugar & Jill Johnson

  Please visit www.JackLugar.com for updates.

  Read the first book in the Sessi Nilsson Novel Series:

  Sessi and the Gate to Hel

  ISBN: 9798646467363

  To Elisabeth – love.

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1The Top of the Stairs

  Chapter 2 A Charmed Life

  Chapter 3Just Deserts

  Chapter 4A Room with a Tree

  Chapter 5Bifrost

  Chapter 6The Letter

  Chapter 7Not Good with Goodbyes

  Chapter 8Seax

  Chapter 9A Little Man-like Creature

  Chapter 10Freya

  Chapter 11Start Circle

  Chapter 12Kurlander and the Writhear Sea

  Chapter 13He-man Viking

  Chapter 14Fafnir

  Chapter 15Uncaged

  Chapter 16No Time for Rest

  Chapter 17Deathstalkers

  Chapter 18The Huldra

  Chapter 19 A Matter of Time

  Chapter 20 A Familiar Friend

  Chapter 21Yggdrasil

  Chapter 22The Bracelet Works Like a Charm

  Chapter 23Lyfjaberg

  Chapter 24All Paths Lead to Odin

  Chapter 25Casteron Again

  Chapter 26The Finish Circle

  Chapter 27Odinsword

  Chapter 28Bathroom Duty

  About the Author

  1

  The Top of the Stairs

  I’m pretty sure this is considered cruel and unusual punishment. Harvesting Luciferase is hard work, but the adventure to get there and the mysterious nature of the plant makes that worthwhile. Cleaning school toilets as punishment, especially when I really didn’t do anything wrong is stupid. The only thing that makes me smile about my work is knowing Sebastian is in the guys’ restroom having to deal with the same gross toilets like I do. Worse yet, he has urinals to deal with. The thought of him having toilet duty makes me smile because he’s probably never had to even touch cleaning supplies in his life.

  Having swabbed toilets for a week now, I’ve become very efficient and finish the last row of stalls at break-neck speed, putting in as little effort as possible. I wasn’t told how many days I would have cleaning duty, but Anderson has promised that he will intercede if it goes into a second week, so I’m counting on him showing a little backbone this time since he didn’t hold his ground with the new headmaster, Dr. Tyron, before. On top of that, this is all Anderson’s fault anyway since he’s the one who ratted us out. He says it was to protect us, but I think he just wanted us out of his hair for a week.

  I make my way back to Mr. Vester’s office, which is really just a closet with a desk and chair and shelves filled with cleaning supplies. Mr. Vester is the head custodian for Park Sessions Preparatory School, but I call him Uncle Fester because he looks like the guy from The Addams Family movie with his buggy eyes and bald head. If I could, I’d just skip stopping by his hole-in-the-wall office because I feel like I’m talking to one of those dead draugar. I can get more energy from a potato than when I have to talk to Fester. But I have no choice. I’m required to fill out my log confirming that I’ve done my two-hour shift including emptying trash cans in the classrooms, polishing hallway fire extinguishers, and cleaning four different bathrooms in the main building.

  What is it about putting the janitor’s closet in the dankest, darkest place in the building? I’m not bothered by having to go through a few dark hallways by myself. For me it’s just annoying to have to go out of my way. In some ways I’d welcome a deviant or some other creep to come around the corner, so I could take out some of my building aggression. Since putting Hel in her place, I haven’t been able to go back to the forest to see Stark or Sommarmorgon. I haven’t even had the chance to touch my axes, well, they’re not really mine considering I stole them off Wormslinger’s wall. He didn’t need them anyway.

  Maybe I should be a little unnerved walking alone in Park Sessions knowing what lies beneath, but for some reason I feel confident despite being unarmed.

  After taking a few turns following the empty corridor, I approach Fester’s closet. I’m hoping he isn’t there because the last thing I want to do is talk to him. Other than feeling like I’m talking to a wet sponge, except less responsive, I’m slightly bothered by the wandering eye. I’m not talking about the type of wandering eye that Wormslinger had. Both of his eyes wandered. Fester just has one eye that looks a different direction, which makes looking him in the eyes practically impossible because I never know which one to look at.

  Now only a few steps from the closet, I can hear someone rattling around in there. Funny how I’d rather it be one of the creatures I’ve become accustomed to encountering than Uncle Fester. Slowly, I peek my head around the corner of the doorway to see what I’m in for. The good news: it’s not Fester. And oddly enough, I’m mildly disappointed it’s not a monstrous creature for me to dispatch. No, it’s Sebastian.

  I watch him for a moment as he inspects the shelf of cleaning supplies. It’s hard to imagine that in less than two weeks, I’ve gone from wishing this guy would leave me alone to thinking up ways to be around him more. I’m sure one of my past psychologists has a term for this. I can picture Dr. Croninberg sitting in his puffy, leather chair pontificating about how high stress situations and sudden change can create dependencies and sometimes unhealthy relationships. When he would say things like that, I knew he wasn’t really listening because until I arrived here at Park Sessions Prep, I had zero relationships. After my dad died and child protective services started shipping me around to different foster homes and schools, everyone I ever knew fell out of the picture. At first, I blamed my friends for abandoning me, but what were they going to do? Eventually they would all just become distant social media “friends,” and for me, that has no appeal. That’s why I deleted all my accounts.

  I continue to watch Sebastian, who is unaware of my presence as he pulls down bottles, unscrews caps, sniffs the contents, and reads the labels. I’m sure I do strange things too when I think people aren’t watching, but this seems like a strange fascination with household cleaners.

  As I watch, I come to realize that at some point he may do something that grosses me out since he doesn’t know I’m standing here. What if he picks his nose or lets one rip? I don’t need any of those things in my memory bank.

  “Find something interesting?” I ask.

  The sound of my voice makes him jump, spilling the contents of what looks like a floor cleaner from where I’m standing. It also sends Sebastian climbing halfway up the shelf displacing several bottles from the neatly aligned rows. It wouldn’t be such a big deal except one of the bottles is glass
and a couple other containers are metal, so the end result is a clang, clattering, shattering cacophony. I laugh at the sight and sound, but Sebastian is anything but pleased.

  “Why’d you do that?” he asks as he climbs down from the shelving unit.

  “What’d I do?”

  “You snuck up on me.”

  “I was just trying to find out what you were doing.”

  “How long have you been there?”

  “Long enough to see you have an affinity for cleaners.”

  “Voyeur much?”

  He had me there. I was doing a little creeping. And why? I guess I’m not really much different than other people that way. I don’t want to admit to myself that I might be interested in Sebastian as more than a friend, but why would I be watching him like that? It seems to me that either I think he’s an oddity, and I’m watching because he’s weird, which doesn’t ring true in my mind; or I’m watching him because I’m interested and want to know more about him. This brings me back to the thought of how to respond to the “voyeur” accusation. How do I respond?

  “I win,” Sebastian says breaking the extended silence. “You took too long to respond. Maybe you’re not cut out for the witty banter club.”

  “Kicked out of the club? Drat!” I exclaim sarcastically. I’ll gladly take a loss on this one and suppress my feelings a little longer. “So, what’s your thing with cleaners?”

  “This may come as a surprise to you, but I’ve never had to do cleaning like this.”

  “No!” I exclaim, feigning shock.

  “Very funny. Before I came here, I had maids, nannies, and drivers. The thought of cleaning or picking up after myself was quite foreign.”

  I bite my tongue.

  “Have you ever read the labels on these things?” Sebastian asks.

  “I prefer books,” I quip.

  “Look.” He pulls a pump bottle of hand sanitizer off the shelf and shows me the label. “Triclosan.”

  “And that is…?”

  “They put it in antibacterial stuff. You know to kill bacteria.”

  “No!” I do it again and begin to annoy even myself.

  “It kills good and bad bacteria.”

  I don’t verbally respond but give him a look of “so what.”

  “You know how there are bad wolves and at least one good wolf?”

  I nod being reminded of how much I miss seeing my giant white wolf, Stark.

  “It’s the same with bacteria. Good and bad. They’re all killed by Triclosan.”

  “And you know this how? Chemistry class?” I ask.

  “No, YouTube.”

  I take the bottle from his hand, pump a squirt of the gel in my hand, put the bottle back. Smiling coyly at Sebastian, I say, “I like to live on the edge.”

  “Taken down by Triclosan,” Sebastian says, making air quotes. “I’ll make sure it’s on your tombstone. Now help me clean this up since it’s your fault”.

  I want to argue with him, but I choose to bite my tongue again. I’d say this is clear progress on my part, but I’m not sure my tongue will survive.

  Grabbing a roll of paper towels, I crouch down and mop up the spilled floor cleaner while Sebastian uses a hand broom to sweep up the broken glass. As I mop, I notice the sound of Sebastian’s sweeping has stopped. I turn to see him looking at one of the glass shards with a paper label attached. Reading it, he says, “Fyrir Stundu”

  “What does that mean?” I ask, taking it from his hand.

  “Probably window cleaner.”

  “Right, Fester keeps window cleaner in a glass bottle.”

  “What are you saying?” Sebastian asks.

  “I’m a skeptic,” I say as I scan the top shelf which has several little glass bottles. “Look at this one.” I pull a bottle from the shelf that has the same inscription. “It looks like water.”

  Sebastian unscrews the top and sniffs, saying, “Maybe that’s what it really is because I don’t smell anything.”

  I examine the bottle which could double as a perfume bottle without a sprayer, and I think about my mother’s scent of wildflowers in spring. I remember how as a little girl I got into so much trouble playing with her makeup and perfumes. Reading the label again I ask, “Do you know what Fyrir Stundu means?”

  “It might be Old Norse. Maybe having something to do with time.”

  “It means time? What household cleaner is labeled in Old Norse? And put in a glass bottle?” I question.

  “Don’t tell me you think it’s some kind of time potion.”

  “I hope,” I say as I put the bottle in my pocket. Sebastian gives me a disapproving look but decides to remain silent, which draws a mischievous smile from me.

  I finish straightening the rest of the cleaners on the shelf as Sebastian dumps the broken glass in the trash when we hear a simple chime ring.

  “Was that your phone?” I ask.

  “Not mine,” Sebastian replies. “I think I heard it earlier. Maybe it’s some type of alarm.”

  Looking over at Fester’s desk, I notice a tiny video monitor in the corner. Leaning in closer, I realize why the chime went off. The little monitor shows the hallway leading to Fester’s makeshift office. “It is an alarm.”

  “That explains why it went off right before you started spying on me.”

  No wonder Fester knew I was standing right outside his room the other day. I thought maybe he was clairvoyant, but now I see he’s got a spy camera. Watching Fester walk down the hallway toward his office, I conclude I have no desire to engage with him. “Fester’s coming, let’s get out of here before he sees us,” I say.

  “Where do we go? Eventually we’ll have to pass his camera, which will set off the bell.”

  “I say we go the opposite way and worry about the camera later. Grab your bag and let’s go.”

  I sign the log confirming my work for the day and throw my book bag over my shoulder. We run out of the closet and make a right down the portion of the hallway we’d never dared to explore until now. Fortunately, the hallway makes a left turn only a few feet down from where we started, which lets us duck out of sight. What I don’t expect is for the hallway to end immediately around the corner. Well, I guess “end” isn’t quite correct. Instead the hallway stops at a giant ornately carved door; much in the same style as other doors throughout the school.

  Now we have two options: Wait for Fester to settle into his office and make a run for it back the way we’re supposed to leave or see what’s behind the door. As expected, Sebastian and I don’t particularly see eye-to-eye on this. He would rather risk seeing Fester, which would result in an undesirable but harmless conversation followed by uneventfully returning to our dorm. I, on the other hand, overrule him and open the door, revealing a long staircase ascending into darkness.

  “Sessi, no,”

  “We won’t go very far,” I say as I turn on the light on my smartphone and start climbing. “Just to the top and then we’ll come right back down.”

  “Promise?” Sebastian asks as he follows.

  “No,” I reply with a playful glint in my eye.

  Even though both of us have our smartphones lit up, the light seems to be abnormally swallowed by the darkness. It makes me wonder if some darkness is just darker than others. I mean, once there’s no source for light, can it get darker? It’s sounds like a stupid question, but this staircase is really dark.

  At the top, we come to another door which would explain the pitch. I find the doorknob and am about to turn it when Sebastian puts his hand on mine and stops me. “You better watch yourself,” I warn.

  “Listen,” he says.

  I’m not sure how I didn’t hear it before, but I can distinctly hear two voices on the other side of the door. The one voice is easily recognizable. Even though I’ve only heard Dr. Tyron a few times; between the time he handed down cleaning duties the first time I met him and the assembly he called to introduce himself as the new headmaster, I would recognize that voice even muffled behind a t
hick, wooden door. It’s the other voice that baffles me for a moment. I clearly recognize it too, but I guess it’s so out of place my mind refuses to accept the truth.

  I look to Sebastian to see if he’s hearing what I’m hearing. By the look on his face, he’s as shocked as I am. Sebastian mouths silently, “Anderson?”

  This confirms that I’m not imagining things and I nod, confirming what he suspects. We listen for a moment trying to decipher the low tones that sound mostly like mumbles.

  “We need her.”

  “She’s dangerous. Attracts too much attention”

  “She’s an asset.”

  “When the time comes, she’ll have to be sacrificed.”

  “When the time comes, no one will be safe.”

  “We can’t risk this location just to protect her.”

  “Protect her? Maybe she’s protecting us?”

  “Hel is one thing. Giants. Loki. Fenrir. That’s different.”

  “I’ll bet on her until I have reason to do otherwise.”

  “Ultimately, it’s not up to us. What Odin says will be the final word.”

  I know that everything we hear is out of context. They never mention a name, and while I think they’re talking about me; I don’t know for sure. Of course, I want to barge in and find out what’s going on, but Sebastian pulls me by the arm, forcing me to go back down the stairway. I say “forcing,” but I know that my stubbornness would never give in if I didn’t want to go back down. I know that the right thing to do is get a clearer head and then explore what Anderson really knows over the weekend. If I’m lucky, Addy, Anderson’s wife, will know; and she’ll spill the beans before I have to pry anything out of Anderson.

  We quietly descend back down the darkened stairs and gingerly open the giant door. When we entered, the creak the door made didn’t sound nearly as loud as it does opening it now. It feels as if the whole school should be able to hear it. It’s also probably accentuated by how slow Sebastian is pushing it open, so I slide past him and quickly extend the door open all the way much like ripping off a bandage. I figure the faster the better. That makes the creak stop quicker, but in my vigorous enthusiasm, I slam the door against the wall behind it making an even louder bang.