Vali tilted his head. “You hesitated.”
I looked past him to the slow undulations of the waves, and the white crests of the breakers crashing against the pale beach. “Well, it’s just—” I stopped, worried I’d sound like an idiot.
Vali watched me. The wind off the ocean lifted his dark hair, and it danced around his shoulders.
I sighed. “Well, what exactly would I do all day?” I asked
Vali laughed. The sound rang off the green hillsides.
“No, I’m serious,” I insisted. “I mean, it’s beautiful, but I don’t know how long I could stare at this ocean without losing my freaking mind.”
Vali raised an eyebrow. “You don’t think I could entertain you?”
“Oh, hell yes, you could entertain me. I mean, I’d love to stay here and do nothing but fuck you for days. For weeks, even. But don’t you think we’d eventually, I don’t know, want to do something...” My voice trailed off. Now I really was sounding like an idiot.
“I remember my mother did embroidery,” Vali said, with a soft half smile on his full lips.
Something in my face must have betrayed what I thought of embroidery, because Vali held up his hands in surrender and laughed. “So, beautiful Karen, I take it you prefer the chaos of Midgard?”
“I do,” I whispered. “I like my job, Vali. I like my chaotic, stressful life in Montana. I don’t want to give that up. Is that...okay?”
Vali grinned. “Of course, that’s okay.”
“And I—I want you to be a part of it,” I stammered.
Vali brought my fingers to his lips and kissed them. “Beautiful Karen, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
I felt a hard knot in my stomach begin to unfold as some nameless fear I hadn’t even known was there finally let go.
“Now, my darling,” Vali said, “shall we meet with Óðinn and find our way back to Midgard?”
“Yes, please,” I said, taking his arm and turning my back on the little cottage by the sea.
Óðinn met us in the fields. Very suddenly. One minute Vali and I were walking, our fingers interlaced, staring at the winking windows of Val-Hall or the crashing surf against the stone beach. The next, Óðinn stood in front of us, his single blue eye sparkling.
I jumped. I might have stumbled backward, if Vali’s arm hadn’t steadied me. Vali bowed slightly. The sunlight winked off Hrotti’s hilt nestled in its sheath across Vali’s broad shoulders.
“All-Father,” Vali said, his voice low and formal.
“Lokisen,” Óðinn said, nodding briefly. “The house isn’t quite like it used to be, but we can change that. If you’re willing to pay the price, of course.”
Vali said nothing. Óðinn’s broad smile did not seem to reach his eye.
“I take it you’re ready to go?” Óðinn said.
“We are,” said Vali, his fingers tightening around my hand.
Óðinn nodded. “Heimdallr usually handles this. But he hasn’t come back yet, so you’re stuck with me. Hold on tight.”
The world spun. With a start, I noticed a rainbow over the ocean. A very vivid, very straight rainbow. It was enormous, as big as the ocean, as big as the sky. It was all I could see—
—and then it was very cold, and very bright.
So bright it hurt. My eyes squeezed closed reflexively. Glare, I realized. I was staring at the brilliant glare of bright sunshine on ice. I moved my hand to shade my eyes and found my fingers were still knotted with Vali’s.
“You okay?” he asked.
Slowly, Vali’s golden eyes came into focus. I nodded and felt his arms wrap around my chest.
“Where are we?” I asked.
It was so cold the words bit at my lungs. I looked up and saw bare tree limbs glistening with ice.
“I know this place,” Vali said.
My eyes focused on the trees beyond his shoulder. We stood on a tiny frozen stream, in an ash grove. The trees gleamed with ice, refracting the sunlight in a thousand frozen sparks. The ash grove and the frozen stream both seemed deeply familiar, yet I couldn’t quite place them.
“Yes,” Vali said. “I know it now. This is where I first met you.”
“What?”
Vali pulled back, smiling. “Over there,” he said, moving his hands to my waist and turning my hips. “Do you remember?”
I followed his gaze through the ash trees and up a small hill to a woodpile.
My father’s woodpile.
The world spun again, and I fell backward.
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
I opened my eyes slowly. Vali’s face hovered in front of me, his brow furrowed, his golden eyes dark with concern.
“Karen?”
I shook my head. I was now sitting on the ice instead of leaning against Vali’s chest, and the air was so cold my nose stung with every breath. “Shit, I’m sorry,” I said.
Vali offered me his hand, and I took it. He wrapped his arms around me as I stood and gave me a long, sweet kiss that made my body flush with heat, despite the cold air.
“Do you not remember?” he whispered.
“I remember. The black wolf, by the wood pile. Of course, I remember.” I pulled away and ran my hand along his cheek. “I just can’t believe it was you. I thought—I honestly thought I invented you, as something to cheer me up during the worst time of my life.”
Vali laughed. “My beautiful Karen, I thought the same. And then, when I found you again, I thought it must have been the happiest day of my long life.”
“Found me?” My breath caught in my throat as I realized what he was saying. “Oh, Vali! Did you follow me? Did you follow me to Montana?”
His arms tightened around my waist. “I did. I’m not sure I even realized what I was doing, but yes. I searched for you. I spent years searching for you.”
His lips were on mine before I could say anything, his tongue deep inside me, his hands running the length of my back. I moaned in his mouth as my hips rubbed against his, my body trembling under his touch. When he pulled away, the cold air burned my lungs as I tried to catch my breath.
“Karen,” he growled.
I put my finger on his lips. “Vali, any other time, I would fuck your brains out right here. But it’s goddamn cold, and I’m freezing already.”
He sighed and kissed my finger so slowly and sensually that I started to seriously weigh the risk of frostbite if I ripped off my clothes.
“Fine,” he sighed. “What now?”
I shivered in his arms, trying to press more of my body against his warmth. Something hard bit into my hip. My cell phone.
“Oh, crap,” I yelped. “Colin and Zeke!”
“Who?”
Vali frowned as I dug into my pocket and pulled out my cell phone. The low battery icon flashed weakly in the top corner, but at least I had two bars of cell signal. I pressed Zeke’s name as my stomach tied itself in knots. The phone rang hollowly against my ear. Come on, Zeke, I thought. Please at least have the sense to get out of Yellowstone in the middle of winter...
“Boss Lady!” Zeke cheered.
“Thank God,” I gasped. “You’re okay?”
“Uh, yeah, considering. How the hell are you?”
“I’m okay—”
“Did you find him?” Zeke asked, cutting me off.
“Yes,” I said, smiling at Vali’s hopelessly confused expression. “I found him.”
“Well, nice. That’s good and all. But, uh, Boss Lady, I got some news. And it ain’t good.”
My phone gave a sad little ping, warning me that my battery was dying. My heart sank. “Is it Colin? Or our funding?”
“Nah, none of that. Colin’s just fine, and the NSF’s got our asses covered for the next two fiscal years. Boss Lady, it’s the park.”
Zeke took a deep breath over the phone as my phone pinged again. My mouth went dry.
“I take it you haven’t exactly been keeping up on the news?” he said.
“No.” I frowned. “Actually, I’m not ev
en sure what day it is.”
I thought that might make Zeke laugh, but his voice was deep and serious. “There’s a new hot spring bubbling up in West Yellowstone,” he said.
“What? Zeke, that’s not even within the caldera boundary!”
“Yeah, I know that. It’s swallowed half the goddamn town. And the grizzly bears are coming out of the park. There was one walking right down 191 into Big Sky, middle of the day and everything.”
I shook my head. “They should be hibernating right now.”
“It’s legit, Boss Lady. It’s been all over the news. People are freaking the fuck out. There’s, like, twelve different TV stations in Bozeman right now. John Rodriguez was interviewed by NBC, CBS, and the motherfuckin’ BBC, trying to argue that all this crazy cat crap could be part of a natural migration cycle, or some other bullshit.”
I did my best to ignore the absolutely irrational pang of jealousy that I wasn’t being interviewed by the BBC.
My phone pinged, and Zeke continued. “Uh, Boss Lady, I’m guessing you know what’s actually going on, don’t you?” he said.
“Maybe,” I said. “Listen, I’ve got to let you go. My phone’s losing it. Be careful, okay?”
Zeke’s response was cut off as my cell phone died in my trembling hands. I met Vali’s eye. “We’ve got a problem.”
“Níðhöggr,” Vali said.
“We didn’t stop him.”
“Of course we didn’t,” Vali said. “I doubt we even slowed him down.”
My gut clenched into a hard knot of fear. “What the hell are we going to do now?”
“We need to get you somewhere warm,” Vali said, taking my cold hands in his.
“Shit,” I whispered. There was an obvious solution to that problem, at least. “Do you want to meet my parents?”
MY FEET CRUNCHED THROUGH the ice-crusted snow as we climbed out of the ash grove and up to the woodpile behind my parents’ house. A thin column of white smoke rose from the chimney above the two bay garage at the bottom of the driveway. The McDonald’s Auto Repair sign glistened beneath its icy casing. I pictured Dad bent over the open hood of some ancient rust-bucket held together with salvaged parts and sheer willpower. Smoke rose from the chimney of the house behind as well, so they must be here. In one place or the other.
I faced Vali. He looked very tall and wild, dressed entirely in black leather, with Hrotti’s enormous sheath strapped across his back. He could not possibly be more different from Barry Richardson.
“Here goes nothing,” I muttered under my breath.
“Let’s try the shop first,” I said, turning toward the garage.
Vali nodded. He looked quite stern, and possibly just a little intimidated.
We picked our steps carefully down the ice-slicked driveway, trying to stay on the patches where Dad had scattered ashes from the woodstove for traction on the ice. The little silver bell above the door to McDonald’s Auto Repair jingled as I pushed the door open, and the smell of oil, exhaust, and rust enveloped me. An ancient Chevy pickup squatted in the first bay, and a space heater clanked away in the corner. I coughed to clear my throat.
“Hello?” I said.
Mom stood up from the desk. She met my eyes, then sat back down again very quickly.
“Karen?” she asked, almost to herself. “Scott! Come here!”
The old duct-tape-encrusted creeper seat squealed and clattered as Dad slid out from under the Chevy. He sat up and stared at me, wiping his hands reflexively on the rag tucked in his belt.
“Karen?” he said. “Is everything okay?”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.
“Mr. and Mrs. McDonald?” Vali said from behind me.
Shit! What the hell was I going to say about the enormous fucking sword on his back? I took a deep breath.
“I’m Vali Lokisen,” he said. “I’m so pleased to meet you. Karen’s told me so much about you.”
Vali stepped around me to shake my mother’s hand, and I stared at him, trying to keep my mouth from falling open. He was wearing dark jeans and a pressed chambray shirt. His long, dark hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail. He looked entirely... normal. I hardly realized he was still talking.
“I offered to surprise her with a New Year’s vacation to anywhere she wanted,” Vali said. My parents were staring at him with their mouths open. “And she told me she wanted to see you.”
“Oh, Karen!” Mom pushed away from the desk and walked over to me, grabbing my arms. “Oh, honey, you didn’t need to do that!”
“Uh...” I coughed, trying to tear my eyes off of Vali.
The room filled with a sharp electronic trill. I frowned.
“That sounds like my phone,” I said. “But the battery just died.”
With everyone staring at me, I pulled my phone out of my pocket. A name flashed across the glossy black surface.
“It’s... it’s Caroline,” I said, meeting Vali’s gaze. “Caroline Laufeyiarson.”
He shrugged. “Take it.”
“Just a minute. Sorry!” I said to my parents, who were still gaping openly at Vali.
I pushed open the door, listening to the bell chime as I stepped back into the cold. Once the door was safely closed behind me, I swiped the screen, raising the phone to my ear.
“Hello?”
“Hello!” Caroline’s bright voice came over the line, somehow transmitting clearly despite my phone’s dead battery. “Karen, are you okay?”
I rubbed the bridge of my nose. “Yeah. I’m fine. Listen, this isn’t a great time, actually—”
“Oh, right,” she said. “I know. I just thought it’d be a bit, you know, abrupt. Not to warn you.”
“Warn me?” Something cold danced up the back of my neck.
Caroline coughed delicately over the phone. “Behind you,” she said.
Very slowly, I pressed End Call and slipped my phone back into my pocket. Then I turned around.
Loki stood next to the door of McDonald’s Auto Repair, his arms folded over his chest and his bright red hair shimmering in the icy air. He raised an eyebrow.
“Hi,” Loki said.
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
I opened the door to my dad’s shop and heard laughter. My parents were both smiling at Vali, their faces happy and relaxed. Well, damn, it certainly hadn’t taken long for Vali to win over my folks.
“Hey,” I said. “Vali, I need a minute.”
Vali walked over to me and put his arm around my waist. “What is it?”
“Loki,” I whispered. “Outside.”
“Take me to him,” Vali growled under his breath.
I spun to face my parents. “Mom, Dad, we’ve got to go.”
I hesitated, slowly realizing how freaking weird that sounded. “I mean, we’re going to head into town. I really want to show Vali the, uh—” I paused and tried desperately to think of something, anything, in downtown Pinevale that would be worth showing off.
“The gazebo,” I said, finally. “I want to show him the gazebo. So, we’ll just be going. Now. Right now.”
Mom smiled. “Well, what do you two want for dinner? We have plenty of moose, and I’ll start on the bread right away. You could get some ice cream from Plourde’s, maybe? And some wine?”
I tried very hard to smile at my parents like a normal person. “Yeah. That sounds great. We’ll get ice cream and wine.”
Vali opened the door, the silver bell chiming above him, and I followed, bracing myself for the blast of cold air. As I stepped onto the ice of my parents’ driveway and pulled the door closed behind us, I heard the hiss of metal against leather. I turned and saw Hrotti gleaming in the winter light.
“Father,” Vali hissed, staring down the length of his blade at Loki, who was still leaning against the cold metal wall of McDonald’s Auto Repair.
“Welcome back, son,” said Loki.
“Wait!” I yelled, pressing my hand to Vali’s chest.
The world spun—
—And
it was no longer cold. I blinked as my surroundings swam slowly into focus. We were in a warm, brightly lit room, with huge, open windows. The sparkle of light on water filled the windows, almost blinding me. I turned away to face a back wall covered with books. The floor was a jumbled mess of bags, blankets, and baby accoutrements.
“Karen!” Caroline cried.
She was sitting on an enormous, round bed in the center of the room, surrounded by a deep nest of pillows, books, and what looked like every toy the Baby Einstein company had ever made. Tiny Adelina nestled against her chest. Loki walked to the bed, kissing Caroline’s cheek as he took the white-swaddled infant from her arms. He picked a careful path around boxes of diapers, fuzzy pink blankets, and black-and-white checkered toys to stand in front of Vali. Hrotti hovered in the air between them, gleaming a cold blue in the odd, warm light of the room.
“I should have told you,” Loki said, smiling at the baby in his arms. “Vali, you’ve got a sister.”
Vali did not respond, and a knot of fear settled in my stomach.
Caroline nodded formally at Vali. “It’s an honor to see you again,” she said.
Vali shifted, his body tensing as he brought Hrotti over his head. The sharp metal hissed as it slid into the sheath across his back. I dared to breathe again. Vali stepped away from my side, walking slowly around the room. He stared out the windows, then paced to the back wall, running his hands along the bookcases. Loki, Caroline, and I watched him silently.
“This place has changed,” Vali finally said.
“Much has changed,” Loki replied.
Vali moved to stand directly in front of Loki. He was taller than his father, I realized with a jolt of surprise. The air between them seemed to thicken somewhat, almost like a thunderstorm was approaching.
“Father,” Vali began.
Baby Adelina hiccupped once against Loki’s neck and began to scream in her high pitched and piercing infant voice. Vali’s eyes widened, and he took a step back.
“Oh, is she hungry?” Caroline asked. “I can take her.”
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