Chapter Text
Storm.
It was storming. The only pine tree on the hill was waving harshly. Freezing cold was biting his cheeks. Magne was used to cold, but the gust was not just a breeze nor a sweet wind.
Suddenly the thunder crashed with the company of a blood red lightning bolt . Normally lightning would fill him with courage and relief but this time it was the opposite. There were frozen grasses underfoot. He tried to step forward. The grasses crunched under his boots. Didn't know how, he realized that he had to reach the tree. Squinted at the hill and saw something he didn't realize at first. There was a tall figure, a shady silhouette under the tree. Magne took another step.
A wolf howled from far away behind the hills. He trembled. Something was coming.
"It's a dream." a voice whispered as soft as silk. Melodic.
A dream, Magne asked but there was no response.
"Wake up."
How can I? he asked
Same silky voice echoed in his mind, whispering his name, but this time sounded as if confused, "...Magne?"
Magne suddenly woke up with a gasp, tried to inhale deeply. He was soaked with sweat. It was just a dream.
He stood up from his bed and left his room, went to the kitchen for a glass of water. The dream -no- the nightmare was so vivid that it had almost felt like a memory. Looked at the clock, Mother and Lauritis were about to get up soon. He boiled some water, he was only allowed to decaf coffee but he'd prefer tea rather than that. Laurits was going to have a black coffee surely, and Mom's choice was always coffee with milk and a spoon of sugar.
The sky slowly started to turn into a softer tone of blue. The dawn broke. As the sunbeams showed themselves behind the mountains, he brewed himself some jasmine green tea and some coffee for his brother and mother. Sliced some bread and grabbed cheese and tried not to think about the dream. He was calling it a dream once again even though he told himself it was a nightmare. Whatever was it, it was a nightmare and a dream both. The whispers were still echoing inside his head. Filled his stomach with the poor breakfast.
"Good morning." Mom rubbed her eyes and smiled sleepily when she saw the coffee. She took the milk carton out of the fridge, "Where's your brother?"
"I'm here..." Laurits yawned and went through the cupboard, holding the cereal box. Magne forgot about the dream as soon as his family appeared in the kitchen. It wasn't a solid thing he had to handle. But the school was.
"Okay class. Now it's time for the if clause type one. It's the easy one, no pressure."
His English teacher was a nice man. English doesn't seem hard for an ordinary student. But for Magne... Dyslexia was ruining almost everything. The grammar, the vocabulary, the typos and all... He was messing with Norwegian already and plus English? Terrifying... Anyway, giving up wasn't his thing. He started scribbling what he could read on the board. What had he said, If Clauses?
All of a sudden, he startled for no reason. At least no visible reason. Just an instinct. He slowly turned his head and looked back. There were just a bunch of classmates but nothing strange. Magne turned back to his book, confused.
Recess bell rang. P.E. was the last double class of the day but Magne was happy that he was going to be able to stretch his muscles some. Laurits disappeared from the class without telling anything. Not because Magne was expecting him to talk but probably he was about to ditch the P.E.
"Magne..." English teacher called him.
"Yes, professor?"
"I know all these English grammar is difficult for you. But I have some books you may be interested in. This is a Norse Mythology book in English. There are not many complex sentence structures. And this one is a similar book as well. More about legends and folktales."
Magne nodded, "Thank you sir. Means a lot."
The man smiled, "You're welcome. It's my job to help you as you need."
Magne went to the boys locker room and changed his clothes quickly. He was already late to P.E. class and had to hurry to catch up to others. The locker room was empty due to Magne's being late. There was no one but him... At least it was supposed to be.
Footsteps
His instincts screamed, every cell in his body screamed and Magne swiftly turned back and stood in a position ready for fighting.
"Show yourself. I'm not afraid."
An unexpected figure appeared behind the lockers. Magne was surprised by who she is. It was also confusing. But she didn't wait and walked towards the door and locked it.
"What are you doing... Saxa?"
She looked at him, narrowed her eyes. "I don't want to be interrupted."
"It's not appropriate for you to be here."
She rolled her eyes impatiently, "Are we really discussing this?"
"Is it a new way to attack me?"
She closed her eyes and giggled. But when she opened them back, her smile removed and Magne saw the caged fire. "If I wanted to kill you, I would do it when I threw a javelin to you weeks ago." She blinked and that fire was gone. It was her regular blue eyes. Sometimes as cold as ice. It was such a contrast that she was able to have both fire and ice.
"Then what do you want?"
Her behaviors changed with the question, her anger was gone like the fire. She was almost... nervous?
Saxa? Saxa Jutul? The popular face of the school, the girl who's twisting all the boys around her finger, stone hearted the immortal ice queen.. Nervous?
She waited for a second, took a deep breath. Finally asked, "Last night. I saw you... Did you hear the howl of the beast as well?"
"What? I was at home all night."
"I don't mean your body weirdo." sighed, "I talk about the dream, ...Magne."
Magne... His name.
The whisper. And the whisperer.
Her voice.
"You... You called my name, told me to wake up. It was your voice."
"I didn't tell you to wake up, told myself. I immediately realized it was a dream, but I couldn't wake up. Then you came out of nowhere. When I called out your name..."
"You woke up." Magne completed her sentence.
"How do you...?" she asked with partly shock, partly confusion.
"I woke up when you called me."
She stood silent for a second. As if she was thinking. When she wasn't aggressive nor teasing someone around she was so... Humanly. Magne stopped himseld thinking more of her and asked, "Didn't you tell your brother? Or your mother?"
She shook her head two sides. Bit her lip anxiously.
"Meet me after school. I'll send you the location."
Magne was hesitant to accept but it wasn't an offer. And she seemed sincere somehow about her feelings. Her fear.
She pulled herself together, stepped towards him and put her forefinger on his chest. An small electric wave danced on his skin. She was so close that he was able to feel the warmth of her body. "Don't be late, weirdo."
Somehow, Magne didn't hesitate to reply,
"I won't."