Chapter 1: Between Two Worlds
The air smelled like damp earth and pine as I trudged down the familiar streets of Willow Creek, my hometown, where the mundane and the magical had somehow become tangled in the knots of my double life. The evening sun cast long shadows across the cracked pavement, and I could hear the distant hum of cicadas, a sound that once brought comfort but now only served to remind me of how out of place I felt.
A part of me longed for the simplicity of before, when school was just school, and my biggest concern was acing a chemistry test or figuring out what to say to Megan during lunch. Now, my life was a labyrinth of secrets, each twist and turn revealing another layer of the world I had been thrust into-one where ancient Valkyries walked among us, where portals to other realms were as real as the ground beneath my feet.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, a reminder that I was late-again. Thorn would be waiting at the base, probably tapping his foot impatiently, his stern face a mask of disapproval. The guy was practically allergic to tardiness. I picked up the pace, though part of me wanted to drag my feet, to delay the inevitable return to a world where every step I took could have life-and-death consequences.
"Mara, where've you been?" The voice came from behind me, and I turned to see Megan jogging to catch up. Her backpack jostled against her back, and a grin spread across her face as she reached my side.
"Hey," I said, forcing a smile. "Just... stuff, you know?"
She raised an eyebrow, but didn't press. "You've been spacing out a lot lately. Everything okay?"
I wanted to tell her. I wanted to spill everything-the late-night training sessions, the missions that took me to the edge of what I thought was possible, the fact that I could sense things, feel the ebb and flow of magic as if it were a heartbeat. But how do you tell your best friend that you're part of an ancient order tasked with keeping the balance between worlds? That your life was no longer your own?
"Yeah," I lied, pushing down the guilt. "Just school stuff."
We walked in silence for a moment, the weight of my unspoken words pressing down on my shoulders like a physical burden. Megan started talking about some drama with the school dance committee, and I nodded along, letting her words wash over me without really hearing them.
But even as I tried to focus on the normalcy of high school life, the other part of me-the Valkyrie part-sensed something amiss. It was subtle, just a slight tremor in the air, like the faintest ripple on a calm lake. My instincts, honed through months of training, told me to pay attention, but I didn't want to believe it. Not here, not now.
As we reached the school gates, I felt it again-stronger this time, a pulse of energy that sent a shiver down my spine. I stopped in my tracks, my eyes narrowing...
