I envisioned her as an angel of judgment, bringing retribution and righteousness upon the Valkyries. Skyla had confirmed her legacy, and her involvement would certainly influence the Valkyries’ future. To the sisters of the Aerie, that influence might feel like a tornado tearing up, chewing to bits, and spitting out. Then Skyla would lead them in building anew.
Poor things—they have no idea what’s in store for them.
After a final moment of silence, Embla tossed her lily into the fire, and everyone followed her example. When the last flower succumbed to the flames, the outer ring of women peeled away and turned toward the house. Before I could take a step in that direction, however, Val tightened his grip and dragged me farther down the cliff line, away from the house.
“What are you doing?” I asked, pulling against him.
“I want a few minutes alone with you. You’ve been avoiding me all day, and I want to know why.”
“I have not. We’ve been busy—”
“No, Solina.” The distant bonfire provided enough light for the high places on Val’s face to stand out against the gloom of night. The shadows emphasized his scowl. “Something happened when you talked to that ghost, and I’m not going to let you deny it any longer. Tell me what she said.” Hints of vanilla and chocolate sweetened Val’s breath. I suspected he had stolen one of my cookies. “I see you making up excuses in your head.”
“I suck at lying.”
“Yes, my lovely, you do.” Val leaned in closer. “Tell me.”
I’d never meant to keep the news from him anyway, not after talking to Tori, but I had been waiting for the right time to tell him. Out there on the cliff, with the roaring wind to cover our conversation and no chance of being overheard, I spilled the proverbial beans. “Tori has the sword. She went to Grim.”
“Ah, and where is Grim?”
“Corvallis.”
“Hmm. Probably. Grim has been an anthropology professor off and on for a long time. Teaches at Oregon State.”
An academic profession was so unassuming, but Indiana Jones had used it to his advantage, why not a Norse god? Especially one who had an interest in recovering powerful relics.
“You were going to go after him?”
“Yes,” I said. “And I want you to come with me.”
Val’s eyes widened, and he gasped. I had never known him to admit a loss of words. He shook off his surprise and asked, “When do we leave?”
A slow grin unfurled across my lips. “I’ve already packed my bags. Come find me at midnight.”
Chapter Twenty-one
I had heard Corvallis put on a dazzling display of natural beauty in the fall, but December was quickly approaching, and the trees had shed their leaves. Thick clouds and a gloomy drizzle had settled in, turning the landscape into a green-gray soup. Despite those things, the city radiated an innate charm—most college towns did, in my limited experience.
Perched on the west bank of the Willamette, downtown Corvallis beckoned visitors into its eclectic collection of shops and restaurants. In the distance, to the west, a set of hazy peaks watched over the sleepy town.
I took in the views through gritty, sleep-deprived eyes. I had intended to sleep during the nine-hour drive from Mendocino, but I couldn’t relax and had dozed in short fits and starts.
“Look,” Val asked, “why don’t we get a room? You can sleep for a while. We’ll get breakfast or brunch. Then we’ll go see what we can find.”
“Just stroll onto campus?” I asked, stifling a yawn. “Hello, Grim, we’re here for the sword.” I lowered my voice to imitate a man’s deeper timbre. “Oh, why certainly. I have it right here. Let me just get it for you.”
Val smirked. “Do you have a better idea?”
“Nope. That dramatization was the full extent of my plan.”
“It’s an optimistic plan. I like it.” Val plucked his phone from its perch on the dashboard and asked the electronic personal assistant to find us a place to stay. She produced the names and addresses of several nearby hotel chains and a couple of bed and breakfasts. “No Bellestrellas in this town,” Val said.
“If it has a bed and a hot shower, it’s a winner.”
“Who knew you had such low standards?”
I smiled and winked. “I’m hanging out with you, aren’t I?”
Val chose one of the places on his artificial assistant’s list and followed the GPS directions to a bed and breakfast on the edge of campus in an older part of town. He steered the Yukon to the curb and parked in front of a beautiful old Cape Cod. Two massive rhododendrons stood sentry on either side of the front-porch steps. The rhododendrons reminded me of home, of the Appalachian foothills, and a twinge of homesickness plucked at my heartstrings. I vowed to get an update on my parents’ status from Baldur the next time I saw him. Until then, I put my parents and thoughts of going home again out of my mind.
Val carried my bags inside. We had arrived in time to sit down to a home-cooked breakfast: eggs, thick sliced bacon, whole-grain toast, fruit compote, and homemade jam. I shoveled in the food like the half-starved woman I was, and the more I ate, the sleepier I got.
When I finally set down my fork and admitted defeat, Tom, one of our hosts, cleared away my dirty dishes. His partner, Gene, led Val and me up to a cozy bedroom and set our bags on the floor by the bed. I minded sharing a room with Val a lot less since learning he didn’t actually sleep, so long as he respected my boundaries.
After Gene left us alone, I told Val I wanted a shower and an hour of sleep. Exhaustion, pain, and hunger had taken a toll on my supernatural abilities in the past. Not knowing what to expect, if we would find Grim or not, I wanted my capabilities fully charged and ready to go if I needed them.
“Will an hour be enough?” Val asked.
“It has to be. Otherwise, I’ll end up sleeping all day, and I want to find Grim as soon as possible. If he has someone inside the Aerie reporting to him or Tori, then he might already assume we’re on his trail. He might run or go into hiding or something.”
“You’ve never met Grim,” Val said. “So trust me when I say he would never go into hiding. He and Thorin are chiseled from the same block of obstinate.”
“Still, I don’t think it’s smart to wait too long. An hour, Val. Don’t go to Grim without me. Don’t harass any undergrads, either.”
He pouted. “That’s no fun.”
“Go take a walk or something.”
Val shook his head and turned for the door. “No, siree.” He stepped into the hallway. “No fun at all.”
When the alarm went off, I felt as though I had just closed my eyes. I patted around the nightstand until I found my phone and silenced the ringer. I rolled over, intending to go back to sleep, but my phone came to life again, buzzing and rattling on the nightstand.
“Grrr,” I said and grabbed the phone. By then, I had awoken enough to realize the phone was ringing not because of the alarm, but because Thorin was calling me.
“What do you want?” I growled.
Thorin ignored my irritated greeting and said, “It’s nearly noon. What are you still doing in bed?”
“Really? You called to harass me about my sleeping habits?”
“I called because I want a status update.”
“After all those threats about keeping in touch, you haven’t been particularly easy to contact.”
“I’ve been in a hospital. Haven’t been able to keep my phone on.”
“Hospital?” I sat up and rubbed my eyes. “What’s going on?”
“We might have found Nina. There’s a Jane Doe here. She was in a car wreck. Baldur is checking her story.”
“Really? Is she okay?”
Thorin exhaled. “Not really. But I think she will be.”
“You think it’s her?”
“For Baldur’s sake, I certainly hope it is.”
The bedroom door eased open, and Val stuck his head in. When he saw me, awake and on the phone, his eyebrows drew down.
I read the question in his expression. Thorin, I mouthed to him.
Val rolled his eyes and came fully into the room, carrying two Styrofoam cups. He went to a seating area in the corner, settled into an armchair, and set the cups on the coffee table beside a glossy book full of Oregon landscape photos.
“Any news on the sword?” Thorin asked.
“Funny you should ask.” I filled him in on our discovery of Skyla’s relationship to Embla and my phone call to Tori.
“So,” Thorin said. “Grim.”
“You might have mentioned him before.”
“It was strictly need-to-know information.”
“Well, guess what? I have developed a severe and chronic case of needing to know.”
“The only thing you need to know is to stay far, far away from him.”
“Too late for that.”
“No,” Thorin said, and I imagined him smearing a hand over his face. “Please, please tell me you didn’t.”
“I could, but you don’t like it when I lie to you.”
“Where are you right this minute?”
“I’ll give you a hint. It starts with a C and rhymes with Horvallis.” I held the phone away from my ear while Thorin cursed a blue streak. Val looked up from the photography book in his lap, grimaced, and shook his head.
“Solina,” Thorin finally said in a more reasonable tone. I put the phone back to my ear. “He cannot be trusted. He’s my brother. I know what I’m talking about.”
“I don’t have to listen to you at all. If it mattered so much, you would be here. But you’re not.” I had basically restated what Tori had said to me earlier, and I felt disloyal repeating her words, but my feelings made the sentiment no less true. Thorin should have been there with me, and maybe I was more jealous of his loyalty to Baldur than I wanted to admit. “I understand your need to be with Baldur. I’m not asking you to leave him, but by staying there with him, you forfeit your right to express an opinion on my activities.
“I am going to find your brother, Thorin. If you know anything about him, anything useful that might help us, please tell me. What I really need is leverage. Does he have any weaknesses, anything we can use against him? Is there anything he wants?”
“The only thing Grim has ever really wanted was Mjölnir,” Thorin said. “What do you think is going to happen? You’re just going to change his mind with a little reasoning?”
“Probably not. But I can’t just sit around and do nothing.”
“Please. Please don’t do this.” Thorin sounded defeated, and I almost changed my mind. His anger and his belligerence I could resist, but a vulnerable Thorin was difficult to defy—difficult but not impossible.
I started to say something consoling, but Val crossed the room and took the phone from me. “Thorin. I’ve already made an appointment to meet with Grim on campus. There’s a flaming sword on the loose, and I intend to recover it. It was lovely hearing from you. Tell Baldur we said hello and call back soon. But not too soon.” Val swiped his thumb over the screen and ended the call.
“Oh, that’s really going to piss him off.” I pantomimed listening for a distant sound, cupping my hand behind my ear. “I can hear his head exploding all the way from here.”
Val chuckled. “Did you get enough sleep?”
“I guess. Why?”
“We have an appointment with Grim in”—Val glanced down at the screen of the phone—“thirty minutes.”
“Thirty minutes?” I rolled out of bed and crouched over my bags. When I found my scruffy suede boots, I plopped to the floor and tugged them on. “You found him. He’s here?”
Val nodded. “He’s got an office in the anthropology building on campus. I called and talked to his secretary.”
I grunted and heaved myself up from the floor. “Is one of those cups for me?” I pointed to the pair sitting on the coffee table.
Val swiped one and presented it to me. “Indeed.”
I stuck my nose to the opening in the lid and inhaled. “God, I love you.”
“You only love me for my coffee.”
I shrugged. “Beggars can’t be choosers.”
Val had already located the anthropology building, so we wasted no time wandering around campus. He led me to the entrance of an elegant Victorian-style building constructed of tan bricks, maroon trim, and black slate shingles. A slab of gray stone, etched with “Waldo Hall, 1907”, arched over the front doors.
“It looks like something from a fantasy novel,” I said. “Do you think if we stand here long enough, British children in blazers and knee socks will come marching out?”
“I hope not,” Val said. “I’m not particularly fond of wizards or witches or wardrobes of any sort.”
“Just prehistoric gods, wolves, and weaponry.”
Val tugged open the front door. “Of course.”
He seemed to know which way to go, so I followed him through the winding hallways until he stopped us before a suite of faculty offices.
“Doctor Thorin?” I said, reading from a placard by the door.
“We all have credentials, Solina. It would be difficult to get by in life without them.”
“I’ve never needed credentials to get by.”
Val smirked. “You’ve also never lived for an eternity.”
When Val and I entered the office suite, a secretary looked up from her computer and smiled at us. Well, she smiled at Val, anyway.
“We’re here to see Dr. Thorin,” Val said.
“Do you have an appointment?” She fluttered her lashes at my big, brawny companion.
I coughed and cleared my throat.
She looked at me and dropped her smile.
It’s okay, I used to bat my lashes at him too. You’ll get over it.
“I spoke to you on the phone just a few minutes ago,” Val said. “I’m Val Wotan. This is my partner, Solina Mundy.”
The girl’s face brightened, and she smiled. “Oh, I remember. Okay, Dr. Thorin is finishing up another meeting. He should be here shortly.” She motioned toward a sofa adjacent to her desk. “You can wait over there.”
When Grim returned to his office and turned to note our presence, I saw his eyes were lighter than Thorin’s, his smile a little colder and crueler. No one had indicated Modi and Magni were twins, but the brothers looked more alike than many twins I knew, including Mani and myself. Closer inspection revealed Modi Grimr Thorin wasn’t an exact copy of his brother. Grim’s hair was a shade darker and several inches shorter, and Thorin likely held the height and weight advantage between the two.
When Val and I rose to greet Grim, he beat us to it. “Wotan? Long time no see.”
“Not long enough,” Val grumbled.
“To what do I owe this honor?”
“I think you know why we’re here,” I said.
Grim’s jaw clinched, and he glared at me. Despite his lighter irises, he possessed the same black-eyed hostility as his brother. “Why don’t you come into my office? We can discuss your concerns in private.”
Grim showed us into a cozy, cluttered office outfitted in an eclectic mix of miscellanea: maps of ancient Scandinavia, antique helmets, wooden shields, and one very ordinary sword. He motioned to two mission-style chairs positioned before his desk. “Have a seat, although you’re welcome to stand. I can’t see how this will take very long. You wasted your time coming here. The Valkyrie made it clear that I intend to keep Surtalogi in my possession.”
“The Valkyrie?” I said. “You mean Tori?”
Grim shrugged and pulled out the leather chair behind his
desk, but he hesitated to sit. Val and I had not taken the seats Grim offered us, either. We were playing the anti-musical chairs game—the first one to sit would lose.
“Did you honestly think you would come here and change my mind?” Grim asked.
“Maybe,” I said. “Maybe I hoped you could be reasoned with. Maybe I thought to come and see what kind of person… being… god you are.”
“And if you judge me lacking, then what?” Grim shook his head. He turned his chair, sat, and swiveled around to face his computer.
Grim’s taking a seat felt less like submission and more like dismissal. He wouldn’t see me as a serious threat unless I proved myself one. Thorin had once told me the gods disliked unnecessary and public attention. Nothing to draw undue notice. Let’s see just how public and unnecessary I can be.
I raised an index finger, and a flame lit at the tip. Stepping forward, I placed my fingertip to the very old, very dry wooden shield hanging on the wall near Grim’s desk. Probably an important artifact from some time long before. Sorry, history. Sometimes a girl has to take drastic measures. Besides, you were never all that nice to my gender anyway. Maybe I owed history a little payback for its many slights against womankind.
The old circle of wood smoldered. Val watched me and quirked an eyebrow. The flames caught, and the shield ignited. Val smirked. Grim leaped up from his seat, grabbed a coat from the rack at the other side of his desk, and used it to smother the flames. While Grim struggled to rescue his ancient artifacts, I went to work setting little fires all over his office.
Juvenile? Sure. Attention grabbing? Absolutely.
“What the hell are you doing?” Grim asked.
“Forcing you to stop ignoring me,” I said as Grim scurried around the room, undoing my damage before the fire alarms kicked in, or so I hoped. An evacuation would negate the whole purpose of our meeting. “You can’t intimidate me, Grim. I’ve fought and killed wolves in the desert with your brother, infiltrated privately guarded compounds, confronted stone soldiers, and rescued gods from their own stupidity. I’ve transmuted and traveled cross-country as a freaking shooting star.
Arctic Dawn (The Norse Chronicles Book 2) Page 21