Carla by Kristal McKerrington and Joe E Legend

Asixteen-year-old teenager made an immortal warrior must decide the fate of the other immortals.

Norse Gods grant Carla the status of immortality. She must fight against all odds to survive when the man responsible for her becoming a demigoddess betrays her. Her connection to her Viking heritage is growing and she is becoming a threat to his plan.

“What’s the matter, Hella, got somewhere else to be?” she asked.

At least Carla had a name for the one with the red hair. She placed more pieces of a memory back together. Her heart beat harder as she remembered that these were the strongest women in the Norse God’s line. She felt small and angry. Carla realised that Mark hadn’t been lying after all.

“Don’t give her any more information than she has already sucked up Frigga,” Hella said coldly.

Frigga glanced at Hella with a scolding gaze in her eyes, Hella shrank back a bit. Her face was fixed with a grimace that told Carla that she was scared of something but not necessarily the woman who had stared her down.

“It’s not an easy decision to make, whether she is one of us or not,” the middle woman said.

Her facial features were so friendly and so loving that Carla felt safe when she looked at her. The fear of what was happening to her eased. There was unconditional love sweeping through her. Carla knew who she was but her name evaded her.

“Well this girl is absorbing information about the immortal world, about us too fast for my liking. Let’s keep this short,” Hella said.

Her words cut through Carla. She pinned a scorching gaze on the woman in the heart of the group. She seemed to never do anything else other than smile as she spoke or just considered things. She appeared to be the happiest person in the world. That should have angered Carla but she couldn’t muster the necessary energy for rage.

Hella paced back and forth in the shadows behind the Gods while they stared at her. It was like they were looking for something. Carla wished she knew what it was so she could give it to them. The willingness in her to help was overwhelming now.

“Oh, come on,” Hella complained.

Carla winced and tried to absorb the fact that they were going to decide whether she was going to survive or if she would go on to living as an immortal. She fought harder against the unseen forces holding her still. Panic took over her as she closed her eyes so that she couldn’t see the middle woman. She knew that her emotions were her strength.

Finally, she figured out the name of the woman. Freyja . . . Carla had barely thought the name when she heard someone turn away from her in the direction of Hella. Carla could feel her dark energy and knew what she was doing even though she couldn’t see her. The strokes of her chin were long and thought out. Her long fingernails were drumming against her lower lip. Actions designed to remind people of her power and position in their rankings.

“What now?” Freyja asked.

Carla realised she had been muted so she couldn’t verbally attack Hella. This Norse God had that fear about anyone who came here. She took the words to heart about her reign over her own part of the other plains that made Earth what the mortals knew it as. Her heart filled with compassion when she realised how scared and lonely Hella felt. Carla knew those feelings well.

She realised how it drained Hella to absorb all this information. It made her struggle to keep up the other magic she needed to wield for this meeting.

“She is feeling compassion for me because I have made her temporarily mute and is trying to say sorry for absorbing everything around her,” Hella said.