by Joan Holub
Luckily, the two dorms weren’t far apart. After passing the Valhallateria, she spotted Breidablik’s copper roof gleaming in the weak sunlight that shone through the clouds. In minutes she was at the front door. From within she could hear someone playing a lute, a stringed instrument with a deep, round back. She knocked, and seconds later the door opened.
A boy with curly brown hair stood in the entryway. His name was Bragi. He was the boygod of poetry, and since he was holding a lute in one hand, she guessed he was the one who’d been playing.
“I’m looking for Loki,” said Sif, going on tiptoe to peer around Bragi. The dorm’s inner door was propped open, and through it she could see that the boys’ common area looked much the same as the girls’, except messier. She’d heard that this hall had eighteen sleeping pods, just like the girls’ hall did. She could see a few boys running around inside and laughing, but none were Loki.
Bragi shook his curly head. “Haven’t seen him.”
“Could you check his sleeping pod?” Sif persisted hopefully. Girls weren’t allowed beyond the communal room in the boys’ hall (and vice versa with boys in the girls’ hall), so it wasn’t like she could go check for herself.
Shaking his head again, Bragi said, “Nope. He’s one of my podmates, and I just came from our room, so I’d know if he was there.”
“Any clue where he might be?” she asked.
Bragi creased his brow, as if thinking. Then he raised his lute and began to strum its strings. “Where Loki goes, nobody knows,” the god of poetry sang out. “But if I were thee, I’d check the V.”
“Uh, thanks for the tip, guess I’ll make that trip,” said Sif, grinning as she rhymed back at him. She turned and backtracked to the Valhallateria. Along the way she kept her eyes peeled for eagles flying beneath Yggdrasil’s leafy canopy or perching in the smaller trees that grew atop Yggdrasil’s huge branches. She didn’t see any, though.
Just as the V’s sparkling gold-thatched roof came into view, a girl with long, wavy black hair that had thick streaks of white in it came toward her. “Hey, Sif!” her podmate called. “Look at these cool new boots I bought at Midgard Mall!” Skade’s cheeks were red from the cold, and she was wearing a white faux-fur hat with flaps that covered her ears.
Sif looked down at Skade’s feet as the girls met up. “Snazzy,” she said, admiring the sparkly red boots. “Since you already have a blue pair, you only need a green pair to match all three colors of the Bifrost Bridge.” That was the tricolor rainbow bridge that ran from Asgard (located on the top ring), all the way down to Midgard (a world on the second ring). Its colors represented fire (red), air (blue), and water (green). The Aesir, which was what the goddesses and gods of Asgard were called, had built the bridge.
Though Sif had only been teasing about the green boots, an interested light came into Skade’s eyes. Sif had a feeling there would be a new pair of green boots in this girlgoddess’s future. Skade pulled off one of her new boots and, while hopping on one leg, showed Sif the boot’s thick fleece lining. “These’ll be perfect for winter, see? And I got them for a super-great price on sale.” She cocked her head at Sif. “Hey, that sale’s still on. Maybe you should look for new boots too!”
“Thanks, but I’m good,” Sif told her. She had just two pairs: the pair of plain, sturdy black ones that she was currently wearing, and a pair of fancy, fun white ones. That was plenty. She had only two feet, after all! “Hey, you haven’t seen Loki around, have you?”
Skade slipped her boot back on. “No, why?”
Sif explained what had happened to Idun. “Freya and I are pretty sure that eagle was Loki in disguise,” she concluded.
“Wouldn’t put it past him,” Skade said, scowling. “I haven’t seen him, though. Or an eagle, either.” Soon the girls parted, saying they’d meet up again in a few minutes at dinner.
Sif was almost to the V when she heard Thor in the distance behind her. “Whoa! WHOA!” he boomed out. Sounded like he was headed her way. Who was he talking to?
Recalling Freya’s Sif-Thor crushing theory, Sif panicked. Reluctant to face him while still thinking about that embarrassing stuff, she backed into a thicket at the side of the branchway. Using her (not-so-great) shape-shifting skills, she transformed into a rowan tree. It was one of only two forms she could take, the other being a swan. A swan would have stuck out too much, she figured, while a tree would blend in with Yggdrasil’s leafy branches.
No sooner had she transformed than Thor came into sight. He was driving his chariot, which was drawn by his two goats, Tanngrisnir (“teeth barer”) and Tanngnjóstr (“teeth grinder”). Since most chariots were drawn by horses, he got teased about these goats plenty, and not just by Loki. But Thor always laughed it off, saying his goats were better at the job. In Sif’s opinion, this showed he had a good sense of humor.
“Whoa!” Thor yelled again. His chariot was careening wildly, lurching from side to side as it came down the branchway toward Sif. Something must’ve spooked his goats! The red-haired boygod’s attempts to halt them were to no avail. At the last moment the chariot swerved toward the thicket of branches where she had hidden. Oh no!
As he passed, Thor reached out and grabbed hold of one of Sif’s branches with both his hands. “Ow!” she yelped, for the branch was actually a long lock of her hair, magically disguised. But he couldn’t know that.
Luckily, Thor didn’t hear her over the commotion. He was too busy using her hair . . . um . . . branch to swing himself free of the chariot. When his two goats swerved to the other side of the branchway, he let go of Sif and dropped safely to the ground. The goats broke free of their harnesses and raced off, while the chariot skidded to a stop on its side.
Still in her rowan form, Sif watched Thor run after his two goats and corral them. As he was bringing them back to the chariot, Loki appeared out of nowhere. “What happened?” he asked, surveying the scene.
Thor scratched his head. “Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr just bolted all of a sudden. You okay, guys?” Petting the goats, he bent and began to check them over for injuries.
Loki shook his head. “Gosh, I wonder what could’ve caused them to take off like that?”
Thor was so busy with his goats that he didn’t notice the mischievous glint in Loki’s eyes or the smile that was playing around his lips. Sif did, though. It was a total tip-off. She was sure Loki had done something to make those goats stampede! He’d probably shape-shifted into a mouse or some other small creature and darted between the goats’ hooves, making them startle. Most likely to get back at Thor for trying to punch him in Runes class earlier.
Sif rustled her branches in indignation. Unfortunately, Loki’s keen eye caught the movement. “Hmm,” he said, frowning at her leafy arms. “What is a rowan tree doing growing in Yggdrasil’s branches?”
Uh-oh. During the very first week of school, Loki, who could transform himself into virtually anything, had wasted no time in teasing her about her limited shape-shifting skills when she had made the mistake of mentioning them. Sif held very still now trying not to give herself away.
“I don’t know, but it’s a good thing it was there,” Thor replied. “When I thought my chariot was going to crash, I caught one of that rowan’s branches and swung out a few seconds before my goats broke free. Saved me from nine worlds of hurt!” Seeming satisfied that his goats were okay, he crouched to examine his chariot. His muscles flexed and bunched as he pushed it upright onto its wheels again.
Loki’s dark-blue eyes were sparkling as he studied rowan-Sif. “Hmm, who do I know that can shape-shift into a rowan tree?” he asked, tapping his chin with one finger. Then suddenly he lunged across the path and caught hold of one of her branches. Her arm, this time.
“Ow!” she yelled as he yanked it.
“Ha! I knew it,” crowed Loki, hearing her. She tried to shake her branch-arm free of his grip, but he just grinned and held on tighter. “Come out, Sif! I know you’re in there. Unshift!”
Upon his wor
ds, Sif felt herself begin to change back to her girlgoddess form. Because if someone caught hold of you while you were in shape-shift mode and commanded you to unshift, you couldn’t prevent yourself from doing so. That was simply how shape-shifting magic worked.
As she took her goddess form again, Loki found himself holding her arm instead of a branch. He laughed. “Gotcha!”
“You . . . you . . . bonehead!” she yelled at him, jerking away and rubbing her arm. Thor, who’d been rotating his chariot’s wheels to check their balance, looked over his shoulder and blinked at her in surprise.
“Question is, why were you hiding?” Loki asked her. His gaze went to Thor, then came back to her. Then he grinned.
Before he could leap to any embarrassing conclusions, especially in front of Thor, Sif huffed, “If I want to branch out, that’s my business.”
Loki smirked snidely.
This only made Sif angrier at him, and her hands fisted at her sides. “You’d better watch it, Loki. Freya and I are onto you, you Idun-scaring eagle. And if we even sense that you’re giving her any more trouble, we’ll go straight to Odin.” Though this wasn’t something she and Freya had actually discussed doing, she felt certain Freya would agree to it.
Loki shot her an intrigued look. “Sense? Are you hinting that you can foresee things?”
Ignoring his question, Sif took a step forward and stuck her face up in his face. “I sense that you caused Thor’s ‘accident’ just now. Am I right?”
Still crouched next to his chariot, Thor must have been listening to them. Because now his eyes narrowed as he swung around to glare at Loki.
But Loki was still focused on Sif. “Ooh, I’m sooo scared of Sif the Great Seer who can sense everything I do!” Making his eyes comically large and round, he drew back a step. Then, with his palms facing toward her, he wiggled his fingers as if in fright.
Thor jumped to his feet. “Leaf—I mean, LEAVE her alone!” he yelled at Loki.
Loki just laughed again, ignoring him. “First of all, you can’t prove a thing,” he said to Sif. “Second, your puny prophesying skills are just sad. And third, you have a weird braid in your hair.” He reached around her and tugged on a braid she’d unknowingly missed in her long golden ponytail.
“Ow!” she cried, pulling away. After tugging the band out of her ponytail, she located the remaining braid and started undoing it.
“Guess you didn’t foresee that coming,” Loki said smugly. “I doubt you could predict the future even if it was staring you right in the face.”
Thor balled his hands into fists and advanced on Loki a couple of steps. “I TOLD YOU TO BACK OFF!” he boomed in a voice so loud, it could probably be heard in the third-ring world of the dead, clear down in Niflheim.
Oh great, thought Sif as she banded her now braid-free hair back into a ponytail. This was getting sooo ridiculous! “It’s okay, Thor. I can handle this.”
“But . . . you sure?” Thor started to protest.
Loki grinned at him. “You heard what she said, goat boy. Ba-a-ack off.” He was obviously mocking the way Thor’s goats bleated, trying to rile the boy even more. And it worked.
The superstrong boygod’s face turned redder than his hair. Angry on his behalf as well as her own, Sif lashed out. “For your information, Loki, I can too predict the future. And I can prove it!”
Instantly she clapped her hand over her mouth and wished she could take the words back. Telling Freya that she was (sort of) a seer was one thing, but Loki? How dumb could she be?
Sif braced herself for his reaction. She was astonished to see a look of fear flit across the boy’s face. Was he scared of seers? Maybe he didn’t have that power himself and was worried she’d be able to guess his mischief-making plans and get him into trouble?
But then the look of fear was gone, leaving her to wonder if she’d only imagined it.
“Sure you are,” he said with a sneer. (Which was the kind of reaction she’d expected all along!)
“It’s true,” she insisted, hoping he really was afraid of seers. She put her hands on her hips. “In fact, I foresaw that you would steal Freya’s necklace!” For better or worse, her secret was definitely out now.
But Loki only rolled his eyes. “Humph! Doubt it. It’s easy to predict events that have already happened. Even a dummy like Thor could do that!”
Thor’s big hands curled into fists again, and his eyes shot daggers at Loki.
“Sorry. Just ki-i-idding, Thor!” Loki bleated out. “Ha-ha! I totally crack myself up sometimes!” He bent over, slapping his leg like his teasing was hilarious (which it definitely was not!).
Thor growled and made a grab for Loki. However, that wily boy was too fast. Thor’s hands caught only air as Loki transformed into a grasshopper and quickly boinged away.
And suddenly Sif found herself hanging out alone with her not-a-crush. Oh no!
4
Thor
BLAST!” ROARED THOR. HE RUBBED the back of his neck as grasshopper-Loki boinged off into the nearby forest. “I wasn’t done yelling at him. If I’d been faster, I could have grabbed him and stopped him from transforming.” He was referring to another rule of magic. It was impossible to shape-shift successfully if anyone else was touching you.
Sif nodded. “That would’ve been a hoppy thing, because that guy really bugs me sometimes,” she said, joking nervously. (She was okay talking to boys, but she wasn’t sure how to talk to a maybe-or-not-crush!)
Thor chuckled at her teeny jokes, which was nice of him, because she knew they were kind of lame. Afterward there was a silent, awkward pause. Thor shifted from one big foot to the other and tucked his thumbs in the top of his Belt-o’-Power. Was he as nervous trying to talk to her as she was to him? “Well . . . ,” she began, starting to sidle away.
Suddenly Sif felt a nudge on her arm. Tanngrisnir, who was slightly smaller than Tanngnjóstr, though they were both the same gray color, had trotted up and butted her gently with his horned head. (Saved by the goat!)
“Hey, stop that,” Thor scolded him.
“It’s okay.” She reached down and scratched the goat between his horns. “You just want attention, right, sweetie?”
Thor smiled at her as Tanngnjóstr wandered over to him to be petted too. “Yeah. Maybe I should change Tanngrisnir’s name to Loki. He can’t stand not being the center of attention either. That guy is such a pain.” He frowned.
“So where were you coming from in your chariot, anyway?” Sif asked, changing the subject so Thor wouldn’t keep thinking about Loki. (Otherwise, he might decide to go after him again!) She moved her fingers to scratch Tanngrisnir behind one ear.
“I was on my way back from guard duty,” Thor replied as he ran a hand along Tanngnjóstr’s back. “A bunch of us were out patrolling the border wall.”
“Any problems?” she asked. All students took turns doing guard duty. Sif’s last shift had been yesterday.
Thor nodded. “Yeah, I spotted two frost giants trying to tunnel under it. We all hoped that new wall would discourage attacks on Asgard. But instead those giants seem more determined than ever. It’s like they enjoy the challenge!” Then he grinned. “Anyway, they got stuck, so we just wound up helping them get loose. Heimdall gave ’em a lecture and sent them running home to Jotunheim.” Jotunheim, the world of the frost giants, was on the second ring, alongside the world of Midgard, where humans lived.
Sif laughed. She couldn’t help thinking how much Loki, a half-giant like Skade, enjoyed a challenge too. Only, his challenges usually involved teasing and playing tricks on other students, while Skade’s challenges involved skiing steep, snowy mountains and discovering boot sales!
It was a few seconds before Sif realized that silence had fallen between her and Thor again. Her cheeks warmed as she stopped petting Tanngrisnir and straightened. “Okay . . . um . . . I guess I’ll . . . see you later?” Abruptly she turned and hurried toward the Valhallateria. Though the horn signaling the dinner hour had yet to sound, he
r podmates might be inside already.
“Wait up!” Thor called to her. Quickly he tethered his goats to his chariot again, hopped in, and then rolled over to ride alongside her. “So are you really a seer, then?”
At her somewhat reluctant nod he went on, “How does it work? Can you do it without using runes? And can you foresee everything that’s going to happen?”
“No way. Just a few things every now and then,” she replied in answer to his last question. “And yes, I can do it without runes.” She hoped he wasn’t going to ask her what she saw in his future, like some kids at her old school used to do before the Horrible Thing happened with her then best friend. After that she’d clammed up about her abilities and claimed she had never really had them.
“I wish I was good at seeing the future,” Thor told her. “I’d stop Loki from making trouble before he does it!”
“Be careful what you wish for,” she replied. She wasn’t exactly sure yet how she felt about others knowing she could see. In one way, it was kind of a relief that her secret was out, even if some, like Loki, might not believe her. Denying and hiding her talent all these years had taken a lot of effort.
When they reached the Valhallateria, Thor leaped down from his chariot and tied it and his goats to a gold ring stuck in a grassy patch of ground to the left of the V’s doors. The grass could thrive in snow and had been planted here and elsewhere to keep forest animals from nibbling on Yggdrasil too much. There was even a dragon named Nidhogg down on the third world ring that liked to gnaw at the ginormous tree’s roots!
Yggdrasil faced all kinds of threats, and not just from animals that liked to snack on it. The war between Asgard and Vanaheim, as well as lesser battles, had a bad effect on the World Tree over time, causing it and the plants that grew upon its enormous branches to droop. Since Yggdrasil sheltered all nine worlds, the survival of everyone and everything was dependent on keeping the tree healthy!