Thor's Serpents by K.L. Armstrong, M.A. Marr Page A

wasn’t here. The whole thing was a waking nightmare caused by monsters.
    “I should’ve known that,” she whispered.
    Baldwin hugged her. “You’re worried about him. The mara took advantage of that.”
    Owen handed her the flashlight, and the three kids went inside the tipi. It was one of her favorite spots in the museum. Last year, she and Fen had been here to listen to a Lakota storyteller. They’d listened to a story about
Inktomi
, the spider. He was a trickster and could take the shape of a man or a wolf. Laurie didn’t know then that Fen was able to changehis shape—or that her father could, too.
Inktomi
seemed a lot like Loki, their dead ancestor, so it was no surprise that Fen loved that story. After the storyteller was done, Fen was happy and laughing, and he agreed with Laurie that the Journey was an awesome museum.
    “I hope you’re safe wherever you are,” she whispered, letting her hand graze the tipi. Then she took a deep breath and looked at the descendants of the North who were still with her. “Okay. We can move through the next rooms. If we see any crazy nightmares, we shake each other free. Once we find Matt, we get out of here. The three of us can’t vanquish the mara, so we’re just here to get any humans free. If there aren’t any, we portal out.”
    The boys nodded, and the trio went through the museum, looking for any people who were trapped inside the building with the monsters. In one corner of the pioneer exhibit, next to a creepy-looking old doll in a case, they found a family, curled up together and shaking. Laurie didn’t want to know if that doll was a part of their nightmare, but from the way they were staring at it, she wouldn’t be surprised. Baldwin and Owen pulled the three people to their feet, shook them free of their nightmares, and then the small group kept moving.
    After a few minutes, they found a museum employee fighting invisible intruders and rescued him, too. He’d broken free several rocks from the geology exhibit and wasusing them to beat invisible enemies. Once he was free of his nightmares, he looked around with wide eyes.
    “You’re okay,” Laurie promised. “They’re gone now.”
    The man nodded but didn’t speak. She suspected that was what the descendants had all looked like the first time they fought creatures that shouldn’t exist. She knew it was what she had felt like the first time she’d seen a troll.
    “We’re here to help,” Owen said calmly.
    “What he said,” Baldwin added.
    It wasn’t much, saving only a couple people when the world outside was in chaos, but it felt good. It felt like they were doing something right, and that helped. At least, it made Laurie feel better.
    When they came across the Berserkers, they handed the people over to them to escort them out of the building, and they kept going in search of their missing friends or more trapped people.
    “We’re keeping them all in the lobby,” one of the acrobatic fighters said. “And we’re guarding them.”
    Owen murmured something approving, and then he and Baldwin continued following Laurie. There weren’t any other museum visitors in the next few rooms, so she supposed that the Berserkers had done their part in rescuing them all. That only left Matt and the twins.
    “Maybe they’re in the lobby, too,” Baldwin suggested when she commented on their absence.
    “The Berserkers would’ve told us,” Owen pointed out.
    The three of them kept moving until they came across a theater. Inside, the twins were finishing some sort of spell. The two kids had their hands clasped together, and Matt stood at their side—hammer and shield at the ready—as if he were their bodyguard.
    As the mara snapped out of existence, back to wherever nightmare creatures should rightly exist, the twins slumped to the floor, looking like they were ready to pass out in exhaustion.
    “Are you all okay?” Matt asked.
    Laurie nodded. “We gathered up a few people, and the Berserkers took