“And how could even Freya be able to bestow such a power?” Brandt asked. “That seems to be beyond her abilities, even for a powerful goddess such as her.”
“It was not Freya who gave you the ability to combine your powers as one. It’s not important right now who gave you that gift. What is important is that there is another element to it. Because the power is so great; being able to create life is a power above all others, there is another piece that is necessary to enact it.
“And that piece is me?” Cai said. “That is why you came to get me?”
“Yes. But not just you.” Norna pointed to the stuffed bear in Tara’s lap as the small girl beamed with pride for Button’s involvement.
“The bear?” Erik asked in disbelief.
Norna nodded. “Tara, may we borrow Button’s heart now?”
Tara nodded with hesitation. “I’m holding his hand,” she said bravely. “So he won’t get scared.”
Norna knelt in front of Cai’s lap and gently touched the bear. There was already a loose stitch near the spot where his arm connected to his body. Norna could tell that this was not the first time Button’s heart had been borrowed. She gently pulled at the loose stitch until the fabric widened slightly and then carefully reached her fingers inside the bear. She wiggled her finger around in his stuffing until she found what she was looking for, Button’s heart. Brynlee watched, knowing already what was hidden inside the toy, as Norna pulled out a black stone that shimmered like a piece of obsidian. She held it up for the others to see as Tara put her hand over Button’s eyes to keep him from seeing his disemboweled organ.
“That is what has helped me to keep control over my dark magic?” Cai said as he looked at it.
“Yes. It is not a mere talisman, it is a relic, and as such, it has great power.” Norna looked over at Brynlee. “Gretel was smart to have hidden it away inside your sister’s bear for so long.”
Brynlee nodded.
“Cai, your dark magic is needed as a catalyst to bind their four powers together. Without it, their powers will not unite as one. You are the balance to the immense power given to them. And this relic is the key to making sure you don’t lose control over it.”
She handed the stone to Cai, and he turned it over in his hand.
“As soon as you are done, Button gets his heart back,” Tara reminded him anxiously.
“You have my word,” he smiled at her and gave her a squeeze.
Everyone took a minute to digest all that Norna had said.
“What is my part in this?” Brenna asked as she broke the silence.
“Brandt must be the first of the four to initiate the powers coming together. He will need your help to do it.”
“He hasn’t ever needed my help before to use his power.”
“This time is different. He will need to set the intent for what will be brought back into life before the others join him. You must use your emotions, your feelings about the mortal realm and what has happened there to feed the thoughts into his memories. Use your magic Brenna and show him what haunts your mind. He will be able to take it from there.”
“What, now?” Brenna asked, startled. After all of the waiting she had been expected to do, she now found herself nervously unprepared to jump right into it.
“Yes, we have everything we need,” Norna spoke with confidence, but it was a falsified sense of confidence she portrayed. She still didn’t know why she felt so uneasy. There was no reason to question that this would work; she knew it to be true. They were all rested, everyone and everything they needed was here; so why did she feel so upset? She told herself she was just being irrational and overly cautious. She didn’t want her nerves to make anyone else feel unsteady, so instead, she forged a great sound of confidence and ignored the tiny voice of her intuition. She should not have.
“You should go outside,” Astra suggested. “There is power in the forest, and I think it would be wise to emerge within it for this. I’ll stay here with the children.”
“No! I’m going with Button,” Tara shouted.
“I’ll stay inside with you,” her brother said to Astra as he walked back into the hollow.
“As will I,” Leif said. “I’m not opposed to having some more breakfast.”
Astra laughed at him and his appetite.
“Unless you need me?” he checked with Norna.
“No,” she smiled. “We’ll be fine. It shouldn’t take too long.”
“How will we know if it works?” Brenna asked as they readied to go outside the tree.
“When it is over, you can go back to New York City to see for yourself.”
“What will it look like?”
“It should look exactly as you left if before all of the destruction. The mortals will not remember their brief time in Hel, and the world should be rebuilt as if nothing had happened except for a brief hiccup in time.”
“We’ll go back with you again to check it out,” Jerrik said. “We can’t have you falling down any more holes.” He winked at her and it made her laugh.
They walked to just outside the tree and stood in the clearing together. Norna held Tara up in her arms so the little girl could hold onto Button’s hand next to Cai. There really wasn’t any need for the stuffed bear or her to be out there since it was just the relic he needed, but Tara insisted that Button not be separated from his heart, so they obliged. The five men stood in a rough circle, and Brenna stood in the center in front of Brant to face him. Kemma came out too because she wanted to watch alongside Brynlee, who just wanted to stay by Erik as much as possible since her mind was wondering about the next encounter they could have once this was over. The two girls stood just outside the circle and waited to see what would happen.
“Whenever you’re ready, Brenna,” Astra said.
Brenna stood before Brandt, and he reached out to hold both of her hands in his.
“I’m sorry for this,” she said. “My thoughts have about what happened to Earth have not been pleasant ones.”
“It’s okay,” he smiled. “That’s why we’re going to fix it.”
She closed her eyes and drew upon her magic as she let her thoughts about the mortal realm and all the devastation she had caused there rise to the surface of her mind. Brandt closed his eyes, too, and called upon his power to allow her thoughts to seep into his memories. He saw her heartbreak, and as much as it saddened him, he used it to formulate an intent for his own memories that would mix with the pain, emotion, and time of the other men to begin the recreation of the mortal realm. When Norna saw that he had a solid grasp of it, she motioned for the other three men to join him. They each focused and added their power to the mixture that was brewing between them. Then Norna nodded to Cai, who gripped Button’s black stone of a heart in his palm and summoned his dark magic to the task at hand. As the dark magic bubbled up through him, Cai channeled it into the center of their circle, and the power of all the men began to emerge as one orb of energy between them.
Brenna watched as the magic grew. It was an incredible sight, like that of watching the birth of a new planet. The energies churned around each other, becoming more vivid in color and more beautiful as it weaved together into a whole of creation. She saw the memories Brandt added to it playing out across its shimmering surface, pictures of the city and the people, who looked like they were waking from a dream. She saw the time speed up inside the growing orb. And she saw the faces of mortals who were both suffering the pain of rebirth but also looked peaceful and happy, thanks to Erik’s power taking the painful edge off of Colby’s power.