33
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I’d just finished strapping my scabbard on my back and was leaning down to lace up one of my boots when a knock sounded on door. “Phoebe? You up?” Ingrid called from below.
Fen was still in the shower.
My hair was still wet. The man knew how to get the most out of a good lather. I smiled thinking about it.
All told, I’d had less than an hour of sleep, but it’d been worth it.
“Yes, I’m up,” I called. It was predawn, but we weren’t taking any chances. We had a lot to achieve this morning. “I’ll be right down.” I heard the low murmurs of her conversation with Junnal as I finished securing my other boot and made my way to the door. I opened it, surprised to see only Ingrid standing there. “Where is everyone else?” I leaned my head out and looked around, but didn’t see a horde of Valkyries anywhere.
“Billie and Anya are here.” She gestured casually out into the yard where they stood by the gate. “We thought we’d get a head start and make sure you had an escort back to the Stronghold. The rest of the Valkyries will meet us on the way.”
“Sounds good,” I said. “If it’s okay with you, I have to run a quick errand first.”
“That’s fine,” Ingrid said as we walked down the porch steps. “Where’s Fen?” She glanced back at the house. “Isn’t he coming with us?”
“Nope,” I answered. “He’s still in the shower. I told him I’d meet him there.” I addressed Junnal. “When Fen gets out of the shower, tell him I went to run an errand at the Blue House will you?”
The giant nodded, folding his gigantic arms.
“What’s at the Blue House?” Ingrid asked as we left the gate, Billie and Anya trailing behind.
I reached into my pocket and withdrew a note. “I received this in the wee hours of the morning from Mersmelda,” I said in hushed tones. “She said she has something very important to share with me before the trial. I’m sure it has to do with the Norns.”
“The powerful oracle?” Ingrid gaped. “I thought she disappeared off-plane.”
“She did,” I said. “But apparently she’s back, and she has something grave to tell me. She was so much help before, I have to see her. But the note says not to tell Fen about it and to come alone. But I’m sure she won’t care if my Valkyrie sisters accompany me for protection.”
“I’m sure she won’t.” Ingrid raised her eyebrows. “I wonder what she has to tell you about the Norns.”
I shrugged. “I guess we’ll find out when we get there.”
We walked in silence for a few blocks. I stopped at an intersection and tapped a fingertip on my lip. The streets were quiet and dark, the Asgardians still asleep. The city was small, but confusing.
“I think this is the right place,” I hemmed. “But I’ve only been here one other time before. I can’t remember if it’s down this street or not. Let’s give it a try.” We began to walk but, halfway down, nothing looked familiar. “Sorry. This isn’t it. We have to turn around. It must be the other way.” We started back the way we’d come.
“How can you not know where this place is?” Ingrid asked testily. “Weren’t you there already?”
“I was.” I smiled. “But Grete was leading the way. If you remember, I’ve only been in Asgard the equivalent of a day. I’m confident we’ll find it.” We went down the next street, and I spotted the blue building. “See? There it is!” I said excitedly. We reached the building. “We have to go around back.”
A rustling of feathers caught my eye as we rounded the side of the house. Once we arrived at the old, worn door, I rapped my knuckles against it.
It opened quickly. “May I help you?”
“Sorry to bother you so early in the morning, Elrod,” I said to the worried man in front of me. He looked like he might faint. “Mersmelda summoned me. She said to come alone, but I brought three Valkyries for protection. Is it okay if we come in?”
He opened the door and ushered us in. “She is in grave danger. She risks much by coming back here and will disappear again as soon as you have finished your meeting.”
“I understand. And I appreciate her taking the risk,” I said.
“Up the stairs, first door on your right.” He gestured behind him.
We hurried up the steps. I twisted the knob without knocking and went in, leaving the door open so Ingrid and the Valkyries could follow me.
Mersmelda sat at the same table we’d been at not that long ago. “Thank you so much for coming back to Asgard,” I said. “I know you’ve put yourself at risk by—”
Her face went ash white as she glanced behind me, her chair scraping as she stood. “You brought them here?” she asked, her eyes tracking to me. “Why would you do that?”
“What are you talking about? These are my sisters. They are here to protect me—”
An evil cackle erupted behind me.
I glanced at Ingrid just as her face melted into Skuld’s. “I always took you for a fool,” the Norn spat. “You led us right to her!” Behind Skuld, the glamour dropped away, and there stood Verdandi and Urd. Skuld was positively gleeful. “Of course, we were just going to do away with you once we had you alone, but leading us to Mersmelda was much sweeter. We’ve been searching for this urchin for centuries. The one who claims she is more powerful than we are! Nonsense. Who looks the fool now?”
I unsheathed my swords, crossing them in front of me, stepping in front of a still stunned Mersmelda. “Nobody is doing away with anyone,” I announced. “And, in order to get to her, you’re going to have to go through me.”
“That won’t be an issue,” Skuld drawled, her pink princess dress so out of place in this room. She gazed over my shoulder, addressing Mersmelda. “I thought you were the most powerful seer in all the land. But you didn’t see us coming this time. It would seem you’re not as strong as you think you are.”
I glanced behind me, and Mersmelda met my stare, fear in her eyes. “I didn’t see them accompanying you,” she said, clasping her hands. “That can only mean one thing.”
Verdandi stepped forward. “That you are finally defeated.” Her voice rang with victory. She was downright gleeful.
Mersmelda cleared her throat, the last bit sounding decidedly male. “No, it means you are.”
Without surprise, I watched Mersmelda morph into Loki.
I lowered my swords, giving a silent prayer that I’d made the right decision by carrying out this plan.
“Loki,” Skuld purred, struggling to mask her surprise. There was no doubt she’d been taken unaware, but she was a master at game play and wasn’t about to give anything away. “How nice of you to join the party. Now you can be a witness to our glory. We will compensate you, of course, per our agreement.”
Loki crossed his arms. “I’m sorry, but there’s been a change of plans. You have lost this battle, dear Skuld. Your time in charge of our fates has come to an end.”
Verdandi clenched her fists. “What are you talking about? We will always be in charge of the fates! Nobody may take that from us.”
Loki shook his head. “Unfortunately, that is no longer true. It seems you three are being supplanted.”
“Supplanted? By whom?” Skuld asked, rage at the forefront.
“Let me introduce you to your successor.” Loki gestured toward the back of the room as a door opened.
The real Mersmelda emerged, looking frightened and unsure.
Fen followed, his massive arms crossed, giving me a look. It’d taken everything I had to convince him this plan was in our best interests. After Huggie had failed to do the trick, Odin had shown up.
It’d been a long night.
Mersmelda had come into Asgard in the wee hours, having foreseen my kidnapping by the Norns. Upon pressing by Odin, she’d admitted that fate had chosen her to become its new minister.
The showdown between myself and the Norns was to be this morning, the Norns appearing at my grandmother’s door glamoured as Valkyries.
I’d like to think I would have caught on sooner rather than later, because bringing Anya would have been a dead giveaway that it wasn’t the real Ingrid. But there was a chance I would’ve been fooled, and thusly harmed.
Mersmelda had told us that the only thing that would alter the Norns’ plan to kidnap me would be mentioning their adversary—Mersmelda herself.
So we’d hatched a plan.
Odin had promised Loki a lesser punishment for his actions if he renounced his agreement with the Norns and participated in their downfall.
Loki was powerful in his own right and, aside from Ragnarok, couldn’t be killed very easily. The trickster god had agreed, but it had left Fen and me uneasy. Loki’s cooperation meant he would be banished from Asgard for the next twenty years, but that was it. Twenty years was a drop in the bucket for a god, but in the end we’d all agreed.
“You think the four of you are enough to stop us?” Skuld scoffed. She took a step forward, her jaw tight. “We will accomplish our mission and leave this place.”
“Why don’t you take a look outside?” I gestured toward the window.
Skuld narrowed her eyes. “I don’t need to look out the window to know what’s there. I see the future, remember?”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “I’ve been told by a very reliable source that your visions have been shaky lately, more than you’ve been letting on to your sisters.” Skuld predicted the future, Verdandi the present, and Urd the past. “After all, you didn’t see all this.” I spread my arms wide. “You walked right into our trap.”
Behind her, Urd paced to the window.
I knew what she would see.
A wall of Valkyries, twenty deep.
“The Valkyries have surrounded the building,” Loki intoned, sounding bored. “You will not be exiting this building unless you submit to us.”
Now we were us? Yeah, right.
“We will do no such thing,” Verdandi spouted. “No one here is powerful enough to make us do anything we do not wish to do.”
“Um.” Mersmelda coughed politely, her response coming out just above a whisper. “That’s not exactly true. If you do not relinquish your power to me now, fate will strike you down where you stand.”
“I don’t believe you,” Verdandi said, her voice rising impossibly high. “Fate would not choose you over us! You are not strong enough to handle our jobs. This is ridiculous.”
“What’s ridiculous is you not understanding what’s at stake,” I said. “This is it. It’s over. Your reign has ended, just as you saw it twenty-four years ago. There was nothing you could do to stop it. Making me your victim was all in vain.” I watched their faces. They each shifted minutely, betraying what we already knew. “That’s why you took Loki up on his offer—it was your last-ditch effort to try and keep your positions of power. But that didn’t work. Your choice now is to relinquish power to Mersmelda or die. It’s very simple.”
Mersmelda had laid it out to us a few hours ago. The only thing she couldn’t see clearly was whether they would go along with the plan willingly or not.
Fate hadn’t revealed its final hand.
I couldn’t imagine them cooperating, but maybe their zest for life would win out.
“We surrender to no one,” Skuld seethed.
Okay, so no surrendering.
“Skuld, Verdi,” Urd interjected from behind them, “maybe we should speak about this first?”
“We will do no such thing,” Skuld said. “Without our sight, we are nothing.”
Mersmelda said fate would strike them down, but how? Like, right here?
Verdandi made a move forward, her eyes pinned on me. “This is all your fault, you greedy bastard child. I will end you—”
“Halt.” Odin’s command rang out in the tiny room, pinging against the walls with precision as he came through the door behind us. His spear was leveled at Verdandi. “Make no mistake. Fate has given you a choice. It should not be discarded so easily. Many would not get this chance at life.”
“Even you cannot kill us,” Verdandi said stubbornly. “We are revered in this realm! We have always been protected.”
Was she trying to be stubborn? Fate had decided to take a different path. It was time to get on the bandwagon.
“Do you wish to test that theory?” Odin’s voice was stark and ominous.
Anyone with any brains would have yelled, Hell no!
Verdandi sneered, “I will finish off your cursed daughter, and fate will welcome me back a hero.” She took another step forward. “She alone will lead us into Ragnarok. Once she’s gone, our power will return, just as Skuld has foreseen.”
Blinding light shot out of Odin’s spear, hitting her square in the chest.
Verdandi’s scream was bloodcurdling.