Once again, Jess had been loaded with a suspicious amount of work, but she refused to let it beat her down. She didn't mind hanging around an extra 30 minutes after her scheduled shift. Elizabeth, the only person to give her a ride while their father worked, was not as nonchalant.

Unwinding from the day, Sigyn and Kark lounged in empty seats by the fireplace as they waited for the last of their employees to leave for the night.

"Regarding the girl," Sigyn said, "have you managed to crush her spirit?"

Kark shook his head. "I can't tell. She's done all her chores correctly. Honestly, she's gone above and beyond expectations. I don't think anything short of death with convince her to give up."

Sigyn tapped her fingernails against the leather armrest. "It's almost the end of the week. There must be a way to get her off our asses."

The front doors crashed open, and a loud "Where's my sister?" berated them from the entrance.

Sigyn raised an eyebrow at Elizabeth, and whoever-the-hell she thought she was. "You're sister will be down momentarily. She's just finishing up."

That answer wasn't good enough for Elizabeth. She stomped over to the bottom of the stairs and yelled at Jess to hurry the fuck up. "I just sat in the parking lot for 30 minutes wasting gas. If she wants me to be her chauffer, she needs to respect my time."

The tone of her voice was grating away Sigyn's resilience. She didn't know why Elizabeth's ranting and raving was drawing such a visceral reaction from her. More appealing than answering the why was the image of giving her a bloody nose. "I don't appreciate you speaking about my employees this way."

"She's my sister, so I can speak to her however I want," Elizabeth shot back. "What she needs is a reality check. She is completely inconsiderate of other people and never takes responsibility for her actions!"

Sigyn stood and made her way closer to Elizabeth, pacing at the bottom of the stairs. "She's done nothing but hard work since starting here. Maybe you don't know your own sister as well as you think, and it's a shame, because she's a bright girl."

Elizabeth scoffed. "You're the one who doesn't know her. She has no aspirations for herself. She wastes her time writing fantasy all day, refuses to go to college, and only now started a full-time job, and its as a maid. If she doesn't pick herself up she's gonna drive us into an early grave."

It was Elizabeth's voice, and someone else's words. Pure rage flooded her veins. She made a quick step towards Elizabeth and wound her hand back. Luckily, Kark knew his boss well, and knew the precise moment to intervene. But he hadn't shielded Elizabeth from everything. She saw, for a split second, something shift beneath her face, and her eyes turn a glossy white.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

It was Jess hurrying down the stairs, refusing profusely to her sister, that fully deescalated the situation.

"Get in the car." Elizabeth steered her baby sister towards the door by her shoulder, throwing one last suspicious glance at Sigyn.

Once they left, Kark coughed, and pointed above Sigyn's head, where flurries formed from thin air.

"Sorry." Sigyn waves away the snowflakes, and the last of them melted on the hardwood. "I don't know how she managed to get under my skin like that."

"Perhaps you have developed some fondness for Jess. I know I have."

"Absolutely not! I know better than to get attached to a human and so do you! It makes no difference. We're getting rid of her tomorrow."

image [https://img.wattpad.com/5f6a669c5d3daa81108969dcfbd7018a01b1aca6/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f367355456a6c31324177416371413d3d2d313437373536323939392e313766616563313161653766336432373238373430343835323534362e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

After a long day of police work, Chief Mikkelson usually came home, had a late night meal usually of leftovers, and went to bed. That night, Elizabeth had stayed up to wait for him.

"Has there been any updates on that poaching case from last weekend?" she asked.

"Well," he answered between bites, "the wildlife forensics lab got back to me. Turns out the wolf isn't a match for any known species. It's DNA doesn't match and domestic breeds either. There's a new species running around, and someone's already trying to drive it to extinction."

"I ran into the lodge owner today. Jess was right. Something about her is weird." She couldn't explain the weird. Working as a paramedic and nurse, Elizabeth had run into all kinds of people she called crazies, but there was always a pattern in the way they behaved. They all had a kind of glassy look in their eye, as if living in separate reality. Sigyn, on the other hand, was one-hundred percent aware of where she was and what she was doing. Somehow, it was more scary than dealing with the typical crackhead off the street.

After taking a moment to chew his food, the Chief set his fork down and scratched his beard. "I've been hearing talk from the locals about that mountain. Lots of stories about hikers and campers disappearing, but also strange things people found."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Every town has its urban legends."

"I'm just saying, if you thought you saw something strange, you're not alone."

"What is it, anyway? Some sort of Bigfoot story?"

The Chief shook his head. "You remember those stories mom read to you when you were kids? The stories about Thor and Odin?"

"I remembered them being incredibly boring and wanting nothing to do with them. Jess was the one who lapped it all up."

"The legends are based on those stories, mostly about the giants. Sometimes they would come to Earth and reek havoc on mortals, until the gods came to stop them."

Elizabeth pushed her chair back from the table and stood up. "Fairy tales are fine and all, but I'm worried about a real person. Sigyn seems unstable at best, and the fact that Jess is working for her scares me. You sure there isn't anything you can do?"

Jon leaned back in his chair. "I can try to dig some more, but without any new evidence, the investigation is at a dead end."

That's when an idea struck Elizabeth. She looked up in the direction of Jess' bedroom. If there was anything strange happening at the lodge, she would be the first to notice.