Secrets of Valhalla

by Jasmine Richards

  “Exactly. It worked very well at recess.” She began to scale the wall, and Buzz followed right behind her. “I even designed a setting so that the ray could burst any hidden balloons. But my parents took me out of school before I could test that function.”

  “Just so you know,” Buzz said, as they got closer to the area that had been illuminated by the watch’s beam on the rock face, “your classmates sound like absolute cretins.”

  “It wasn’t all their fault.” Mary pulled herself onto the ledge. “I have a knack for saying things that freak people out. Revealing things that I have no business knowing.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Buzz said, thinking of Theo Eddows. “Some people just seem to get a kick out of making others miserable. It’s a shame we have to save the whole world and not just people we like.”

  Mary inched along the ledge and used her watch to light up the rock face again until they reached the area of light blue.

  Now that they were closer, Buzz could see that the region was completely flat. There was no visible entrance, and he wondered for a second if Mary’s watch was quite as advanced as she thought.

  Mary began to feel along the rock face, her fingers prodding and probing. She gasped as her hand disappeared into an area of what had appeared to be solid rock. “Amazing,” she said. “It’s some kind of secret entrance. Come on, we’ve got to go through it.”

  Buzz nodded. “Let’s go.” He plunged his arm and then his whole body into the rock.

  On the other side, he found himself in a tunnel. The stone interior walls looked like a honeycomb, and each cell flickered with a dull golden light.

  “What is this place?”

  “The time tunnel,” a voice boomed from deep within the shadowy interior. “In this place you will each see your own timelines, your destinies, your fates.”

  The voice was retreating. “Walk the tunnel. To survive it you will need to stay focused. No side routes, no backward glances. If you make it to my workshop—and if you still want to ask your questions—then I will answer them. Good luck.”

  Mary and Buzz looked at each other.

  “So we just start walking?” Buzz asked.

  “I guess,” Mary replied. “But I think we should walk quickly.”

  Buzz nodded.

  A countdown appeared in each of the cells on the wall.

  X

  IX

  VIII

  VII

  Whatever was going to happen was going to happen soon.

  VI

  V

  IV

  III

  II

  I

  The countdown was over.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Time Tunnel

  Every cell in the honeycombed walls flickered into life. Each one glowed with a different image, like a mini TV screen.

  Buzz and Mary felt their way forward, the screens bathing them in a soft, golden light. Buzz had promised himself he wouldn’t look, but this light in the dark, dark tunnel was so comforting that he found himself drawn to the wall.

  He crept toward the nearest flickering cell and watched, a smile tugging at his lips. He saw her straightaway. His mother. She had her arms open wide, and he saw himself as a small child running into them.

  In the next cell, he saw his mother and father dancing around the kitchen together. It looked like the Prof was singing as they twirled around. Buzz was in his highchair, and his sister sat on the floor giggling as she watched their parents.

  Buzz couldn’t remember ever seeing his parents look so happy together.

  In the next cell, he saw himself again. This time at Christmas. He was older—maybe seven or so—and he was eagerly opening presents. He saw his expression change as the seven-year-old Buzz realized there were none from his father. I’ve been too busy to get to the store, the Prof had explained. Next time, I promise. Buzz remembered that Christmas Day clearly. It was the first time he’d called his father the Prof. No one had thought it would stick, but it had.

  Buzz could feel that familiar anger now. That feeling he got every time his father chose his work instead of his family. Every time he forgot a birthday, an anniversary, a school play, or a parents’ evening. Why was he like that? Why couldn’t he be like other dads?

  The next cell showed his house again, but everything in it looked worn and broken. His sister sat at the breakfast bar. Her shock of red hair was tangled and matted, and her caramel skin looked sallow. She was eating pancakes, but they didn’t look right. They were covered in mold and yet she still ate them, chewing steadily.

  Buzz’s eyes traveled along the wall of cells. He saw his sister again. The kitchen was now covered in a thick layer of grime. She sat at the breakfast bar, and the pancakes on her plate were mottled and actually seemed to crawl. Her face looked haggard—she was old and young all at the same time. She stared into space, never blinking, but a tear tracked down her cheek.

  In the next cell, he saw his mother. She stood on a small airstrip looking up at the sky. She was searching for something. Her plane. Her clothes were tattered and ragged, and just like Tia, her eyes looked tired and so, so old.

  He saw his father again in a new cell—he was framed by darkness. The Prof was shouting, his face critical and sneering.

  Buzz saw himself approaching his father—just a view of his back.

  The Prof’s expression changed to one of fear as the other Buzz reached for something from his pocket. And all of a sudden there was sound. “Don’t shoot me, Buzz. I’m your father.”

  Buzz could feel his whole body shake, as he watched the other Buzz lift whatever it was he had in his hand.

  “Stop, please.” Buzz pressed his hand against the cell’s surface and felt it pass through. He got ready to push his whole body forward but felt a hand on his shoulder.

  “You can’t go, Buzz.”

  Buzz whipped around to see Mary. Her face was drawn and her eyes had a bruised, wounded look to them.

  “I have to stop him. Stop me. I’m going to kill my father.”

  “I don’t know what it is you see in that cell,” Mary said softly. “I can’t see it, I can’t hear it. But I do know that you shouldn’t go in there. Remember what Saturn said. ‘To survive you will need to walk the tunnel. No side routes, no backward glances.’”

  Buzz turned to look at the cell again, but now it was blank.

  “I think I just killed my father.” Buzz wrestled the words out and collapsed against the wall and slid to the ground. “That’s my destiny.”

  Mary’s skin looked hot and flushed. “It might not be what it seems.”

  “He was so scared of me. He asked me to stop and I didn’t.”

  Mary sat down next to him, the light from the cells putting her face in and out of shadows. “Buzz, it’s this place. This time tunnel has been designed to drive people mad. I think that is what Saturn wants—what he expects—but we can’t let him win.”

  “It’s not about winning, Mary. In my timeline, everything I love is gone. Everything I love has become rotten, and then I discover I’m a killer. How am I supposed to deal with that?”

  “Maybe you don’t. Maybe you do what I’m going to do and remind yourself that these are possible futures and not actual ones.” Mary wrapped her arms around her legs protectively. “We’re in control of our own destinies. No one else.”

  “What did you see?” Buzz asked. Something in Mary’s voice told him that she was barely keeping herself together.

  “I saw a world like the one you’ve described.” Mary almost seemed to be talking to herself. “A rotten place. Broken. But I didn’t seem to care. I didn’t care that my parents looked like zombies or that my grandmother sat in a room that was filthy and festering, because I was somewhere else. And it was dark—a place of death—but I felt right at home. Then . . . Then I saw—”

  Mary jumped to her feet. “I’m not talking about this anymore. Come on, we’re getting out of this tunnel before I drive myself mad.”

 
; “Wait—what were you going to say?”

  “Nothing, okay?” She grabbed Buzz and pulled him up by his shirt, and for a moment he was struck by just how strong she was.

  “Okay, this is the plan,” she growled. “We’re going to look into each other’s eyes all the way to the end of this tunnel.” Her hands tightened on the material. “That is the only thing we’re going to concentrate on doing. Are we clear?”

  Buzz frowned. “How are we going to do that and walk at the same time?”

  Mary put her hands on Buzz’s shoulders so that they looked at each other directly and his back was facing down the tunnel.

  “I’m afraid you’re going to have to walk backward.” Mary grinned. “It’s the short straw, but it was my idea, after all.”

  Buzz shook his head but found himself smiling despite everything. “Why do I get the feeling I’m always going to be the one drawing the short straw?”

  “Because we both know I am the Sherlock in this little team of ours,” Mary replied. “I come up with all the good ideas, and you’re the brawn.”

  “Here’s an idea—let’s get out of here.” Buzz plonked his hands on her shoulders.

  Mary nodded. “Keep your eyes on mine and we’ll get to the end, I promise.”

  They began to walk, and in the dim light Buzz did his best to concentrate on looking into Mary’s eyes. Yet still, at the edges of his vision he could see that the flickering cells in the wall went on throwing up images, and despite his best efforts, his brain kept trying to capture the snippets and decipher what he was seeing.

  “Buzz, you’re cheating,” Mary said. “Look into my eyes.”

  “I’m trying.” Something crunched beneath Buzz’s foot. “What was that?”

  Mary’s gaze darted downward and then back up again. “A skeleton. More than one. Keep walking.”

  Beneath his palms he could feel that Mary was shaking, and he wondered if he was as well.

  “We aren’t the first ones to try and get down this tunnel, are we?” he said.

  Mary kept her eyes fixed on Buzz. “No, I don’t think we are. But trust me, we’re not going to end up as a pile of bones in this place.”

  They continued to walk, and after a while Buzz didn’t even flinch when he felt something crunch underfoot. Funny how quickly you can get used to something, he thought. Even really horrible things.

  Mary began to squint. “Hey, I can see something. Light! I think we’re almost at the end of the tunnel.”

  They walked faster. In fact, they were almost running, which was no easy feat when traveling backward.

  Finally they spilled out into a chamber, separated from each other, and stared around. The tunnel behind them began to narrow until the exit had disappeared entirely.

  The chamber they were in seemed completely empty except for a heavy door with an ornately carved surface. At first glance, Buzz thought the door had a geometric pattern carved into it. But as he looked closer, he saw that the carving was actually of a man with two faces. The older face looked to the left while the younger one looked to the right. In his left hand, the man held a key, while his right hand was just an empty palm.

  Buzz pushed at the door but it didn’t budge. He noticed the large keyhole. “Looks like we’ll need a key.”

  Mary nodded. “But there’s nothing in here.”

  “So let’s knock.” Buzz’s fingers clenched into a fist and he hammered at the door.

  “OW!” came a voice.

  “Ouch,” came another.

  Buzz stopped knocking. Under his fist, the two carved faces were scowling at him.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  The Gatekeeper’s Riddle

  “Young man, what on earth do you think you’re doing?” asked the old face.

  “Dude, that was seriously uncool,” said the young face.

  Buzz dropped his hand. “Whoops,” he said. “Sorry.”

  “Whoops indeed.” The old face rolled his one visible eye. “The youth of today are so incredibly uncouth and uncivilized. I blame the parents.”

  The young face yawned. “He said sorry, Janus. There’s no need to start going on and on.”

  “On and on? That’s rich coming from you. All you do is go on and on about the things that you wish you could do. ‘Oh, I wish I could go surfing, I wish I could go to that music festival.’” Old Janus sighed. “What I wouldn’t give to sit down with a nice cup of tea, a biscuit, and a newspaper! Small, civilized pleasures.”

  “Janus,” Mary said, almost to herself. “The Roman god of doorways.”

  “That’s us,” the two faces said as one.

  “Hi,” Buzz said, not quite sure who he should be looking at. “It’s nice to meet you . . . um . . . both. Thing is, we really need to speak to Saturn. He said that if we got through the tunnel we could get some answers. And we really need to know where the Runes of Valhalla are so that we can stop Loki. So if you can just open up . . .”

  The younger Janus laughed bitterly. “I wouldn’t be so eager to see Saturn if I were you. You can’t believe a word that guy says. He told us that we’d be his gatekeeper for just a little bit. And trust me, it has definitely been more than a little bit.”

  “I don’t think it is appropriate for you to talk about our employer in such unfavorable terms,” Old Janus reprimanded him.

  “The fact is this,” Young Janus continued, ignoring the other half of his face completely, “he’s a dishonest rogue who carved us into this door without our permission, and that is not cool. I was happy living my life and he used the old magic to trap us.”

  “It is an honor to protect time itself,” Old Janus intoned.

  “Time itself? At this point, he’s more like a paranoid wreck.” Young Janus sniffed. “Still, maybe I’d be paranoid as well if I did what that lot did to Loki.”

  “Saturn played no part in that,” Old Janus pointed out.

  “He didn’t stop them. And why would he, when his buddy Odin had already promised him Loki’s day?”

  “Be quiet,” Old Janus growled. “You’ve said enough.”

  “Make me,” Young Janus growled back.

  “Exactly how long have you been here?” Mary questioned.

  “Time is a funny thing in Saturn’s realm,” Young Janus explained. “In this dimension all things run parallel. It could be a year, or it could be a hundred or a thousand, but I know it is longer than I wanted it to be.” He pursed his lips. “He refuses to let us go.”

  “I’m sorry that he trapped you here,” Mary said. “It must be horrible to be a prisoner in a place you hate. But we really need you to let us through to speak to Saturn.”

  “Child, I will let you speak to him, but you will need to pay the price,” Old Janus explained.

  “The price?” Buzz and Mary repeated.

  “I’m afraid so,” Young Janus said. “The thing is, any door that has us carved into it is going to be pretty much impossible to pass through unless we give you permission. But even if we do give permission, it always comes with a price. That’s just the way it is.”

  “Okay, so what’s the price?” Mary asked.

  “We can’t tell you that, either, I’m afraid,” Old Janus said.

  “This is impossible.” Buzz’s skin prickled with annoyance.

  “It is not supposed to be easy.” Old Janus’s tone was mocking. “That’s the point of having a gatekeeper. Nothing gets through us unless we will it.”

  “Ah, come on, old guy, maybe we can give them a little clue,” Young Janus pleaded.

  “We can’t, really—it’s not in the job description.”

  “Neither was being trapped in the door,” Young Janus snapped back. “If these kids can stop Loki, then maybe Saturn will chill out and free us.”

  Old Janus seemed to consider this for a moment.

  “Think about the biscuits,” Young Janus said.

  “And the newspaper,” Mary added.

  “Small, civilized pleasures,” Buzz finished.

  “Fi
ne,” Old Janus said. “But I’m giving them the clue, okay?

  “Agreed.”

  “Actually, think of it less as a clue and more as a riddle.” Old Janus scrunched up his half of his face in concentration and closed his eye.

  “Psst,” Young Janus said to Buzz and Mary. “Don’t let me down, okay? If you deal with Loki, we might all have a chance of going back to normal.”

  Normal, Buzz repeated in his head. That would be nice. He was pretty sure normal wouldn’t include shooting his father.

  Old Janus’s eyes sprang open. “I am now ready to deliver your riddle.” He smirked. “You work out the answer, and you will know what payment we need to receive. But I doubt you’ll get that far.”

  “Okay,” Mary said. “We’re ready.”

  Buzz bit his lip. He felt anything other than ready. He was good at running and kicking balls into goals. But words were not his thing. It was part of the reason he and the Prof never seemed able to finish a conversation without it turning into an argument. Buzz never had the right words to talk to him.

  “I am two-faced but bear only one,” Old Janus began. “I have no legs but travel widely. Men spill much blood over me. Kings leave their imprint on me. I have greatest power when given away, yet craving for me keeps me locked away. Who or what am I?”

  Buzz let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. The riddle was easy. He grinned at Young Janus and then Mary. “Don’t worry, I’ve got this,” he said.

  “You have!” Mary sounded delighted.

  “You have?” Young Janus sounded dubious.

  “Sure I have. The riddle is talking about you. You are two-faced, and Saturn’s craving is for your protection, which means that he keeps you locked away in this door.”

  “Wrong!” Old Janus sounded gleeful.

  “Dude, that reasoning stinks,” Young Janus said mournfully. “The answer needs to fit with each of the lines of the riddle. That’s remedial riddling. What about the whole bit about having no legs and kings leaving their imprint? You didn’t even try and answer that bit.”

  “I don’t know,” Buzz mumbled. “I thought since I’d worked out the first line it didn’t matter if I didn’t exactly know what the rest of the riddle was going on about.” He stopped and wished that the starkly empty chamber had just a little bit of clutter to hide behind.