Bab 87: Chapter 84: We meet the squirtle, I mean Squirrel
(Percy POV)
"Squirtle?" I asked confused, "Those are real?"
Squirrel Hearth signed.
Barking filled the room and Blitzen's widened, "It's just a regular squirrel, It's the squirrel!"
I frowned, "The squirrel?"
"Ratatosk!" Blitzen yelled, "This is bad news!"
I was not particularly scared by the thought of a squirrel attacking us, but the expressions on Hearth's and Blitzen's faces were enough to unsettle me. I glanced at the tree, expecting to see a monster jump out of it. Unlike Magnus, who wore just a Valhalla pajama, I was fully dressed, my backpack was still in my room, but I was sure it would appear once I needed it. Same for Rebel, who was sleeping. And trust me, a sleeping Nemean lion can not be awoken by anything.
Magnus grabbed his hotel sword, though he held it like he wanted to decapitate himself, and we burst into the hallway to find T.J. and Mallory already standing there, bleary-eyed and hastily dressed.
"What's going on?" Mallory scowled at me, "And why were you in Magnus's room at this time?"
I frowned but skipped her question, then she noticed Hearth and Blitzen. "An Elf and dwarf too? What were you doing?"
"Squirtle!" I yelled and slammed the door shut. "Squirrel!" Magnus corrected me.
Hearth said the same thing in sign language – a gesture that looked disturbingly like a set of mandibles rending flesh.
T.J. looked like he'd been slapped across the face. "How in Odin's name did you attracted Ratatosk?"
"We need to get out of the hotel," Magnus said panicked, "NOW!"
Mallory cursed. "Fine! I'll help you. This is going to get us laundry duties, but we'll cover your escape."
I felt terrible when she said that. I didn't even know these guys longer than a day, but they were already risking laundry duties for me.
The door of my room shook. Cracks spider-webbed from the nameplate. A decorative spear fell off the wall of the corridor.
Magnus stumbled backwards, fear written all over his face.
The door of X slammed open and the halftrol and lumbered into the hallway.
Enraged barking echoed from inside Magnus' room. X's eyes widened, "You woke the Squirrel?"
"Why is the squirrel such a big deal?" I asked.
This angered the aforementioned squirrel, the barking became louder.
Halfborn Gunderson stumbled out of his room wearing nothing but smiley-face boxers, double-bladed axes in his hands. "What's going on?" He glowered at Blitz and Hearth. "Should I kill the dwarf and the elf?"
"NO!" Blitzen and Magnus yelled.
"We are leaving the hotel!" I yelled quickly.
"Squirrel." T.J explained glancing nervously at the door. Cracks slowly spread over the door and the barking became more ferocious. Like the squirrel knew it was only a matter of time.
"Squirrel squirrel," Mallory confirmed. "And I'm surrounded by moron morons."
A raven soared down the hall. It landed on the nearest light fixture and squawked at me accusingly. I tried to send them a message, 'Leave me alone!'
To my relief it worked and it flew away. I hoped it was taking a break from picking up escaping Einherji instead of telling the Valkyries we were leaving.
From the direction of the elevator banks, half a dozen howls pierced the air.
"And those would be Odin's wolves," Halfborn said. "Very friendly unless you're trespassing or leaving the hotel without permission, in which case they'll tear you apart."
"Lucky we were not about to leave the hotel." I said nervously, I had a bad experience last month with wolves, and I was not about to repeat this experience.
Magnus' legs trembled and it was almost like he was having a panic attack. I put my hand on his shoulder and said, "We need to go, NOW!"
He slowly nodded. "Yes, where are we going?"
Halfborn Gunderson hefted his axe. "I'll slow down the wolves. Good luck, Magnus with finding the sword," he then glanced at me, "And don't get yourself into more trouble."
I frowned, "What?"
But before I could ask more about his strange advice he ran down the hall screaming, "DEATH!"
Mallory turned to T.J. "Take them to Recycling!"
"Recycling?" I wondered.
The room door burst open with a loud CRACK! and wood splinters flew through the hallway. In the hole of the doorway, I saw the shadow of a...squirrel.
The dust settled and now I could truly see Ratasok's appearance. He was as big as a WWII tank but with one glance I knew the tank was just a kid toy compared to Ratatosk.
The squirrel was way scarier than that. His front teeth were twin wedges of white enamel terror. His claws were scimitars. His eyes were Sulphur yellow, burning with fury.
He opened his mouth and a bark, which could've been interpreted as a cackle, filled the hallway.
My friends flinched, like they were struck by a truck, their faces were filled with dread and hopelessness.
I realized that Ratatosk's bark must have some kind of magic effect, which I was immune too thanks to Chaos.
I spread my hands and a burst of flames erupted in the squirrel's face, the flames were green and should've vaporized the squirrel but when the flames died down the squirrel was still standing, unharmed and it had not even moved.
Ratatosk tilted its head, his yellow eyes studying me.
"What's its weakness?" I asked without looking away.
"She is immortal." Blitzen said with a shaky voice, breaking from the trance.
"It's a she?" I asked without thinking, damn ADHD.
Ratatosk probably felt offended, she lunged at me, which was the same as a tank driving towards me.
She had opened her mouth, and her front teeth scratched my arm. A surge of pain ran through my veins, but I pushed it away. I mentally yelled for the shield to come up. It sprung to life on my right arm, and the sheer force of the shield popping to life in Ratatosk's mouth threw her to the other end of the hall.
She got up to her feet and glared at us.
"Run!" Mallory yelled.
I weakly nodded, and raised my good hand.
Water flew out of my hand and created an ice barrier between the squirrel and us.
It was thin, and it would not hold of the squirrel forever, maybe just a second and if we were luck 10 seconds.
"X and I will fight and try to slow down the squirrel." Mallory said, "T.J Bring them to recycling!"
"You'll die!" I protested, "I can't leave you here."
T.J grimaced and helped me to my feet, "Don't worry, the squirrel is after you. Not us."
This was not reassuring at all, but I had no other choice than to follow T.J through the endless corridors of Valhalla.
Behind us, wolves howled and Halfborn Gunderson bellowed in Old Norse.
As we ran, a few einherjar opened their doors to see what was going on. When they spotted T.J. with his bayonet, they ducked back inside.
I heard a Yaaaaark in the distance, followed by the sound of ice shattering.
"He broke through!" Blitzen yelped.
"We are almost there!" T.J yelled back.
"Where is there?" Magnus said with worry in his voice, and I agreed he had a good point.
We were just passing a T in the hallway when a voice shouted, "STOP!"
I was glancing backwards when I heard it, so I bumped right into the person.
Hearth bumped into me, and we both fell to the ground.
To our left, fifty feet away, Gunilla stood in full armor, a hammer in either hand. When I met her eyes, she froze too, "Percy?" She swallowed and asked, "What are you doing!"
I flinched, "Gunilla…"
I was still confused as heck about our, kiss. I had no idea what it meant, was it just experimental? Did she love me? Did I love her? I liked the kiss but-
'This is the perfect time to think about your love life.' Lyssa snarled, 'Because there is no squirrel you're running away from.'
I pushed the thoughts away and tried to explain why we were causing trouble, "Squirtle! We need to find sword!"
I thought it was a pretty good explanation myself, Gunilla however scowled. "You can't leave the hotel without permission!"
I rolled my eyes. Like I ever cared about permission, "Had a dream, the thanes will kill us."
Okay, I know that "I had a dream." is not the best excuse but in the divine world it is a valid argument.
"Percy, we need to run." T.J. said nervously glancing at Gunilla.I knew we had to run, but I couldn't leave without any explanation. Especially not after she stood up for me.
"You can't leave, the thanes will order me to hunt me down." Gunilla cried out, "Stay, I can convince the thanes to keep you alive."
"Hey!" Magnus complained.
"And Magnus." Gunilla scowled, "I don't want to-"
"We need to find the sword!" I insisted, "It's the only way to stop Ragnarok."
Gunilla shot me a worried look. "Trust me!" I said, "I know it is the only way."
IEEEEEE! The sound of Ratatosk came closer, Gunilla paled.
"Go!" She yelled, "I slow him down. Stop Ragnarok." she said with determination and turned around to face the end of the corridor, when she surprised me by turning around one more time, and she grabbed me by the shoulder. She leaned in and my heartbeat rose.
I froze when she kissed me, I had still my shield and sword in my hand and was totally unprepared.
As quickly as it started she broke the kiss and gave me a smile, "Now go save the world."
She ran down the corridor towards the sound of the squirrel.
"So…" Magnus said with a smirk.
"Still on the run!" Blitzen interrupted him and T.J. slowly nodded and led us to further into Valhalla.
Finally, T.J. found a recycling chute and yanked it open. "GO, GO!"
Hearthstone dived in, head first and Magnus followed with a scream.
I hesitated. The smell coming out of the chute reminded me of Tartarus.
I gulped and recycled myself.
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