Secrets of Valhalla

by Jasmine Richards

  “And this young man is going to save mankind and godkind from Loki.” Old Janus snorted dismissively. “I mean—”

  “Leave him alone,” Mary commanded. “It was his first riddle and everyone’s allowed to make mistakes.”

  She smiled reassuringly at Buzz and his need to hide somewhere lessened. He couldn’t believe that she was standing up for him like this.

  “Are we allowed another go?” Mary continued. “We were just warming up.”

  “Well, not really,” Old Janus said. “It’s not the done thing when it comes to the business of riddles, and we take our role of gatekeeper very seriously.”

  Young Janus opened his mouth to say something but Old Janus spoke over him.

  “However, your first answer was so amusing I must admit that I’d rather like to hear your next attempt. It’s your last chance, mind.”

  Mary turned to Buzz. “Come on, then. Let’s solve this thing.”

  Buzz snorted. “I’m not going to be much help, am I?”

  “Hey, don’t look so glum. It doesn’t matter that you got it wrong.” Her eyes twinkled. “This whole thing is just a method of deduction and dismissal, remember. All great detectives do that.”

  “Right.” Buzz rubbed the back of his neck. He knew that Mary was only being nice, but he appreciated it.

  “So first, I think we need to slow this whole thing down,” she said. “And start right at the beginning.” Mary tapped her lip thoughtfully. “For starters, what has a face?”

  “A face?”

  “Yep, the riddle talks about two faces,” Mary explained patiently. “But to start with, we need to think about what has one.”

  “Okay, a person does,” Buzz said, feeling silly for stating the obvious.

  “Yep, but so do a clock, a mountain, and a wall,” Mary added. “So what has two faces?” She looked up at the door. “Other than Janus, of course.” She winked at Buzz.

  Buzz tried to think, flipping the question over in his mind like a coin.

  . . . a coin . . .

  A coin!

  It had two sides to it, two faces, but it only had one head.

  “I suppose a person can be two-faced,” Mary continued. “There were certainly loads of two-faced people at my school. Jenny Granger was a two-faced snake. Did you know you can get two-headed snakes? They are called—”

  “Mary, I’ve got it.”

  “Really?” Mary sounded unsure.

  “Really?” Young Janus sounded even less sure.

  “Oh, goody,” Old Janus said. “Go on, then. I’m ready for another good laugh.”

  Mary leaped forward and put a finger to Buzz’s lips. “Don’t you dare say a word.”

  “But—”

  “Don’t do it. All good detectives consult with their partner first. Didn’t I say that before?” She took his arm and led him a few steps away from the door.

  Buzz smiled. He’d never seen Sherlock Holmes consult with anyone other than himself in the TV shows. Frankly, Dr. Watson was just there for window dressing. What was really amazing was that for once, Buzz might actually be the Sherlock Holmes in this situation. He ran though each line of the riddle again, grinning because a coin could answer each part. “So do you want to hear the answer, then?”

  “Sure I do.” Mary was trying to sound upbeat, and Buzz appreciated that she didn’t want to hurt his feelings but was clearly worried.

  “A coin,” he said. “A coin is two-faced.”

  “A coin,” Mary repeated, her eyes widening. “Of course. A coin travels far even though it has no legs, wars are fought over money, and a king imprints himself on a coin.”

  “And coins are most powerful when they are given away,” Buzz finished, “but people like to hoard money. So they lock it up in a safe place.”

  “Wow, Buzz, that is pretty impressive,” Mary said. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m sure I would have worked that out eventually, but that is very impressive.”

  “Course you would have done, Watson. Come on, let’s go and tell Janus.”

  “Here they come,” Old Janus crowed as they approached. “This should be fun.”

  Mary turned to Buzz. “I think the pleasure should be all yours.”

  Buzz bowed gallantly and turned to the gatekeeper.

  “The answer is a coin,” he said.

  Old Janus’s imperious look slipped. “Oh,” he spluttered. “That’s correct. Er . . . well done.” The words were clearly choking him.

  Young Janus smiled widely. “Great work, dude. Now you’ve just got to pay us.”

  “Excuse me?” Mary and Buzz said at the same time.

  “You must now pay us a coin to pass,” Old Janus demanded, regaining some of his composure.

  Young Janus was frowning. “You do have a coin, right?”

  Buzz thought about his bag with all of his money in it, at the bottom of the tree. “No,” he groaned.

  “How about you?” Young Janus asked Mary. “Have you got anything that you can offer us as payment?”

  She shook her head, but even as she did so, Buzz realized that it wasn’t true. Around her neck Mary wore the chain and Sunna’s pendant.

  “What about the pendant?” Buzz pointed at it. “It’s gold.”

  Mary put her hand to her throat protectively. “But we’re keeping it safe for Sunna.”

  “Yeah, it will be really safe trapped here between the time tunnel and Saturn’s workshop,” Young Janus pointed out. “Listen, the old boot is right. We’re really going to need some kind of payment if you want to pass through this door.”

  “Old boot!” Old Janus cried. “How dare you, you impertinent, impudent, insolent pup.”

  “Hey, I’m agreeing with you, and I still get told off,” Young Janus said huffily. “I can’t win.”

  Mary unclasped the chain from her neck and gently tugged off the gold pendant. “Here you go.” She held up the pendant to the squabbling god. “But how exactly am I supposed to give this to you?”

  “Hang on.” The wooden door began to creak, and the carved, open palm belonging to Young Janus pushed its way out of the door, so that it was embossed rather than indented.

  Mary carefully draped the pendant over the raised edges of the hand.

  “Thank you.” Young Janus’s hand retreated back into the flatness of the door and the pendent became a carving in the shape of a lightning bolt.

  “You may now enter.” Old Janus’s voice was almost lost beneath the tremble and shake of the door as it swung open.

  “Good luck,” Young and Old Janus said as one as Mary and Buzz passed through the door.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  The Clockmaker’s Workshop

  The sound of ticking was overpowering as they entered the next chamber. They immediately saw why—the room, with its incredibly high ceiling, was a workshop, crammed full of clocks. All types: grandfather clocks, pendulum clocks, spring-driven devices, digital clocks, sundials, cuckoo clocks, and piles and piles of watches and timepieces.

  A man in a long black cloak was hunched over a scuffed wooden workbench holding a tiny pair of tweezers and a screwdriver. He gave a squawk of surprise as Buzz and Mary entered the workshop, swiftly clambered over the pile of clocks, bumping his hip on a sundial, and hopped up onto a raised throne.

  He sat down, but then cursed and quickly jumped off his throne to retrieve his scythe from where it leaned against a grandfather clock.

  He settled himself back onto his throne. “Welcome,” he said in a booming voice. “You are in the presence of Saturn. Please try not to be too awed.”

  Now that Buzz was closer, he decided that Saturn definitely looked like a god. He had flowing white hair and a beard that only a god could get away with. His eyes flashed like lightning.

  “Tell me. What is it you want to ask Father Time?”

  Mary coughed to clear her throat. “I would have asked you in the wheat field but you didn’t give me a chance. We need to find the Runes of Valhalla and reunite them with thei
r day guardians. Can you tell us where they are?”

  Saturn laughed. “Oh, you are mistaken. That wasn’t me in the field. Rather, a projection—your generation call it a hologram, I think.” Saturn removed a watch from the voluminous folds of his cloak and began to polish its face. “You can’t really expect that I’ll sit around waiting for visitors in a wheat field. I have time to manage.”

  “But we chased after you,” Buzz said.

  “That’s the idea. Anyone who comes to my realm is supposed to follow the hologram and, if they’re lucky, enter the time tunnel. Most people just end up stuck in that field and die of the cold.” Saturn breathed on the watch face and polished even more vigorously. “If they’re a bit luckier, they make it to the time tunnel, where they become jabbering wrecks and stay for all time.” He looked up at them. “Can you see why I was so surprised to see you?”

  “That’s just horrible!” Mary exclaimed. “You basically enjoy stranding people in fields and tormenting others in dark tunnels. Why do you make it so hard to find you?”

  “Gods are not supposed to be easily accessible,” Saturn said magisterially. “If we were, we’d be just like everyone else.”

  “What a ridiculo—”

  “Okay, time out!” Buzz shouted, feeling an awful lot like a referee. He could understand why Mary was outraged, but while Saturn had all the time in the world to argue the point, they didn’t. “We really need to find the Runes of Valhalla,” he said, as calmly as possible.

  For the first time, Saturn seemed to take real notice of what they were asking him.

  “The Runes of Valhalla? But they should only be needed if Loki has broken free of his prison.”

  “Well, he has.”

  Saturn jumped to his feet, his scythe falling to the ground. “Loki is free? The prophecy is coming true?”

  “Yep.” Mary looked almost pleased at Saturn’s discomfort.

  “He needs to be stopped!”

  “We know,” Buzz said, reminding himself to stay calm. “That’s why we’re here.”

  “But you’re not Sunna.” He peered at Buzz and then Mary closely. “No, neither of you are Sunna. Your auras are all wrong.”

  “Loki has Sunna,” Mary said, impatience making her voice very loud in the workshop.

  Saturn turned on his heel and began to pace along the platform beside his throne. His cloak was a swish of black flaring out behind him. “Poor Sunna,” he kept repeating. “Odin only had enough magic left to make one of the day guardians link psychically to Loki’s awakening. He dearly wished that it could have been otherwise, but it was a powerful charm.” Saturn bent down to pick up his scythe and resumed pacing, the scythe clunking on the ground as he stalked along. “Odin’s plan to use Sunna as an alarm system sounded good at the time, especially as I refused to get involved any more than I was. All she needed to do was come and find me.” He shook his head. “Now the game has been lost even before it has truly begun.”

  “The game is not lost,” Buzz said fiercely. “That’s why Mary and I are here. We’re going to stop Loki.”

  Saturn snorted with laughter. “This is no quest for children.”

  “Oh, really,” Mary said. “Sunna doesn’t think that. She told us to find the runes and reunite them with their sleeping gods so that the day guardians can help to stop Loki.” She put her hands on her hips. “So that is what we’re going to do.”

  “You don’t understand. Loki is one of the most powerful forces to have ever been unleashed.” The god sounded scared.

  Mary narrowed her eyes. “Then help us, instead of just telling us that we can’t do it.”

  Saturn’s hand tightened on the scythe. “Help? That’s all I’ve been doing—ever since Odin dragged me into this sorry mess and asked me to look after the runes and become the day guardian for Saturday.” He stopped pacing. “Obviously, it made more sense to split the runes up, so I managed to persuade my three sons to look after two of the blasted runes each.”

  “You mean you gave the responsibility to others,” Mary said.

  Saturn glared at Mary but did not correct her. “I am very busy, you know. I’m Father Time. It’s a big job.” He looked away. “I should have never agreed to become a day guardian—it forces me to return to your hateful realm once a week, give or take, to keep things in order, and now I’m being dragged into this whole Loki mess.”

  “Wow, you’re a piece of work,” Mary breathed. “You don’t want any responsibilities at all.”

  Saturn looked thunderous. “Everyone is living their lives on fast-forward in your realm,” he snapped. “No one has time. That’s what they say all day long. ‘I have no time.’” Saturn’s face wore a wounded expression. “So why should I care about your realm when I have my glorious workshop? My clocks are the most loyal of subjects.” He waved a hand around the chamber. “You judge me, but it’s not only I who has retreated, you know. Many of the other gods have disappeared entirely because no one believes in them anymore, and those that are left have taken themselves off to other hidden realms.”

  Buzz was fed up with listening to Saturn’s whining. “If you could just tell us where we can find your sons and the runes, we’ll be able to stop Loki, get Sunna back, and break the world out of its Saturday loop.”

  Saturn frowned. “Goodness me, I must be getting old,” he muttered. “It hadn’t even occurred to me that with Sunna taken, the day would be stuck on Saturday in your realm. All these consecutive Saturdays will cause things to get a bit . . . unsettled.”

  “Unsettled,” Buzz repeated.

  “Worn down is maybe a better way to put it. Poor souls in your realm won’t know what hit them. It will be anarchy.”

  “What do you care?” Mary asked. “You’re happy enough here with your stupid clocks.”

  Saturn’s eyebrows went skyward. “Young lady, I am a god, and you will speak to me with respect.”

  Buzz thought back to the images of his home in the time tunnel. How strange his sister had looked. He had to stop it from happening. “As Father Time,” he said, “can’t you reverse everything so that Sunna isn’t kidnapped or Loki isn’t freed?”

  Saturn’s cheeks reddened. “I could do that—of course I could. But I don’t believe in meddling.”

  “Liar, liar, pants on fire,” Mary taunted.

  “Excuse me,” Saturn spluttered.

  “Liar.” Mary pointed at him. “You can’t reverse time. You’re not powerful enough.”

  Saturn jumped to his feet. “I could extinguish you from all time with a click of my fingers,” he snarled. “Erase you from the memory of all who have loved you or will ever love you.”

  Mary crossed her arms. “Prove it.”

  “Mary,” Buzz warned. “Stop winding him up.”

  “I’ll do it,” Saturn threatened. His thumb and middle finger were a whisper away from meeting together. “It will take one click. Unless you apologize right now.”

  “No way, no how.” Mary’s back was as straight as a flagpole and her chin was tilted high. “Why don’t you just start telling the truth?”

  “You’ve made your choice.” Saturn brought his fingers together and clicked.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Three Clocks

  Nothing happened.

  Mary just stood there, her chin jutting out defiantly.

  The god’s shoulders dropped, and he slumped onto his throne.

  “I can’t reverse time,” he whispered. “Haven’t been able to for years. Not since mortals stopped believing in me.” He glared at Mary. “I’ve got no power, okay? In fact, every time I leave this workshop, I get weaker, and I can’t stay away for long or I get sick.”

  “But you’re still a guardian,” Buzz said. “You’re in charge of Saturday.”

  Saturn snorted. “The whole thing is ridiculous, if you ask me. Powers or no powers, each day guardian must be present in your realm for the order of things to be maintained, so I pop back every once in a while. After the battle with Loki, Odin and
the other day guardians chose to put their god aspects to sleep in their mortal hosts, rather than leaving your realm altogether.” He waved a hand. “The day guardians are a bit like gravity. You don’t notice it most of the time, but you would if it disappeared.” The god shook his head. “Truth is, you’re right. I never really cared about being a day guardian; I did it because Odin asked. But to be a god was extraordinary.” He sighed. “At the time, I thought Odin and his kind were deranged when they put their powers into the runes to rejuvenate. But at least their powers have been preserved. They haven’t faded away over time like mine.”

  “Hang on—so why are we all so worried about Loki?” Mary asked slowly. “Won’t he be just as powerless as you? I’m guessing his powers were stripped away by Odin when he was imprisoned, he doesn’t have a rune, and he doesn’t have worshipers, so he can’t exactly recharge.”

  “You do not have a sympathetic bone in your body, do you, young lady?” Saturn said. “I’ve just opened up my heart to you.”

  Mary stared back at him stonily.

  “It’s hard to know what state Loki will be in,” Saturn said. “He’s been in the ground a long time, and his worshipers are all gone, but then, he was always different from the rest of us. Loki comes from chaos. That place where fire, water, earth, and air boil as one. That place where everything started.” Saturn bit his lip. “Because Loki comes from chaos, he can feed off it as well, and if your world doesn’t have time, it certainly has chaos. Even more so now that things are stuck in a Saturday loop.” Saturn hugged his arms, and for a moment he looked like an old man who was no longer sure of himself. “Thank the gods he doesn’t know where I am. He’d blame me for stealing his day and think I was involved in his capture.”

  “But he does know where you are,” Buzz said, remembering that Loki had overheard Mary saying that they were going to Saturn to find the runes.

  “No, he doesn’t,” Saturn said confidently. “My realm is hidden from him. When Odin replanted the World Tree in the Tangley Woods, he ensured that the tree would not reveal my location to Loki.”