“And you didn’t do anything to stop him?” Buzz inquired.
Theo wouldn’t meet his eye. “Listen, I was there for pretty much the whole thing. I heard everything that Tyr guy said, and can I just say that he is seriously loopy?”
“Don’t change the subject,” Mary said. “You watched Tyr block us into those caves and didn’t do anything to stop him.”
Theo looked sheepish and defensive both at the same time. “What exactly was I supposed to do about an angry god who now also has my rune?” Theo spread his arms wide. “Yes, I let him block you in. Yes, I watched him run off at superfast god speed. Yes, I made my fingers bloody trying to move those rocks out of the cave mouth.” He held up his hands, and Buzz saw that his nails were indeed bloody and torn.
“Mary, give him a break,” Buzz said. “Staying hidden from Tyr was probably the smartest thing Theo’s ever done.”
Theo snorted. “The smartest thing would have been me keeping my mouth shut so that you didn’t know I was around.”
“But we’re on this quest together,” Buzz protested.
“And that’s working out great.” Theo rolled his eyes. “Uncle Mark seemed like a nice guy, he was on our quest, and now he’s a power-crazed fruit loop. As far as I see it, you can’t trust anyone.”
“So what are you doing here?” Mary asked. “Why did you follow us?”
“Because I want my rune,” Theo said. “And once I get it, I’m out of here.”
Fenris padded over to the steps, his huge head gazing upward at the mouth of the volcano. For once, Buzz understood perfectly. Hel’s kingdom was up there. The day guardians, the runes, and even little Ratatosk waited for them. And then there was Tyr and Loki.
Buzz stepped onto the stairs. “If you want your rune, it’s going to be up there. But it’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be a fight.” For a moment, Buzz was reminded of his English teacher, Mrs. Robertson. She said he was too quick to give up when things got hard. If only she could see him now.
“Can’t be as bad as the Dread Caves.” Theo tossed his helmet up in the air and caught it. “And besides, I’ve got this, remember?”
They began to climb the stairs, the steps whisper soft and smooth beneath their feet. As they ascended, Buzz observed that the walls of the volcano were pockmarked with recesses that seemed to lead off into other magma chambers. Buzz could see flashes of movement in these caverns—could feel eyes watching them—and he remembered what Pluto had said about Hel’s kingdom becoming a lawless place. His hand tightened on the slingshot, ready for any trouble.
But whoever was watching them was content with just that and let them pass. Maybe they’re hiding, Buzz thought. Hiding from Tyr and Loki.
As they walked upward, Mary reached out to touch a deep channel that ran alongside the stairs. When her fingers came away, they were just a tiny bit damp.
“Do you think this is the channel Pluto was talking about?” Mary asked. “The one that is supposed to bring the water to the River Styx from Hel’s kingdom?”
“Could be,” Buzz said. “It would make sense. Rain would fall onto the lip of the crater, then flow down this channel and into the branches of the rivers that run into the underworlds.”
“It’s just like Pluto said,” Mary breathed. “Something is stopping the water from flowing, and Hel is not here to fix it.” Mary’s hand went to the horn that still hung from her shoulder. “I wonder where she is.”
Fenris butted his head against her side and looked at her with mournful eyes, as if he could sense Mary’s concern.
Mary smiled. “Don’t look so sad, fella,” she said. “You’re the cheerful one out of all of us.”
They were almost at the top of the stairs now, the wide-open crater revealing an arc of sky only a good few feet above their heads. The last step led them directly onto a strip of rock that appeared to lead into another magma chamber.
“Theo, put your helmet on and go and tell us what you see,” Buzz ordered.
Theo nodded and promptly disappeared.
“Do you think that was a good idea?” Mary whispered. “What if he doesn’t come back? What if he just gets his rune and runs off?”
“Then better we know that now, before we go in there.”
“Oh ye of little faith.” Theo appeared again at their side, his hair flattened by the helmet. “Don’t worry, there’s no way I’m getting my rune back by myself. This is going to have to be a team effort.”
“What did you see?” Buzz asked.
“A dragon. A really big dragon, and he was toying with this squirrel by twirling him around by his tail and flicking him across the room with his talons. The squirrel was not impressed. Had quite a mouth on him.”
“Ratatosk!” Mary exclaimed. “He really is alive!”
“Then I saw Loki,” Theo went on. “He was placing the runes on this strange circle thing, and Tyr was standing in the middle of it, telling him to hurry up.”
“Anything else?”
Theo scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah, I think I saw the other day guardians—” Theo broke off. “You better come and see for yourself. Let’s just say there’s some familiar faces.”
Buzz nodded. “Let’s go.”
“Wait! Won’t Loki and Tyr see us?” Mary asked.
Theo shook his head. “I’ve found another path that takes you to a platform that is just above their heads. They’re right down in the bottom of the chamber.”
Buzz, Mary, Fenris, and Theo crept along the new path to the platform that let them look down.
This magma chamber was bigger than the ones Buzz had glimpsed on their climb up the stairs. In the center of the room, he could see a raised circular pedestal atop which stood Tyr. He was surrounded by a radial pattern of carved-out channels that looked like a sunburst. Each ray of the sunburst led to one of the six runes that rested around the edge of the pedestal.
All the runes except two were glowing with an intense brightness. Tyr’s rune had already been used up, Buzz reasoned, and Theo’s rune hadn’t been activated yet, but the others all had been. The tiniest amount of liquid light was already beginning to gather in the channels that flowed up the sunburst toward Tyr.
In one corner of the cavern, Buzz could see Ratatosk and the dragon. Ratatosk looked exhausted, and the dragon looked bored of the game. Buzz wondered just how long there was left before the dragon was completely fed up with his little furry toy.
In the other corner, Buzz could see Saturn. He wasn’t even tied up. Buzz was relieved to see that Father Time was still alive, but Saturn looked like a washed-out version of himself, and very fragile. Loki stood beside him, watching Tyr on the pedestal with a small smile on his face.
Buzz spotted Sunna on the other side of the chamber. She was tied to a post by a blue lasso of fire. It was identical to the one that had tied her to the World Tree in the Tangley Woods. But Buzz didn’t think it would be turning back to normal rope anytime soon.
Next to her, also lashed to a post, stood Coach Saunders. Buzz could tell it was him, even though he looked different. Taller and stronger, and with a silver moonlit aura radiating from him.
He was one of the sleeping gods, Buzz realized. But that god was no longer asleep. Coach Saunders would now be sharing his thoughts with a god who’d been awoken by his rune, only to be prevented from absorbing its power.
Next to Coach Saunders, Buzz saw Mrs. Robertson. She was likewise changed, an optimal version of herself. And then, next to her, he saw . . . he saw . . . the Prof.
“Dad?” he said out loud.
“Shhh!” Theo put a hand across his mouth. “I told you that you needed to come and have a look. Your dad is a god—that’s pretty mind-bending stuff, right?”
“That’s your dad?” Mary asked, pointing. “He looks so tall. And so godlike. I mean, much more than the others. He’s almost too bright to look at.”
Mary was right. Out of all the gods, his father shone the brightest. He was Odin. . . . He had to be.
“We
’ve got to help them,” Buzz said. He pushed his surprise, his questions about what this meant for his father’s future, deep down. They needed a plan. “Right.” Buzz turned to Theo. “You’re going to turn invisible, go down there, and free the day guardians.”
“What? I should get the runes.”
“We need you to use your helmet to break the blue fire that’s holding them. If you break the beam, they will be able to escape.”
Buzz put a hand on Fenris’s head. “I need you to deal with the dragon.” He pointed at the scaled beast who was breathing jets of fire at Ratatosk. The squirrel was almost dead on his feet, and he wouldn’t be able to avoid the flames for much longer. The wolf stared at the dragon with hard eyes. He understood.
Buzz took his slingshot out of his pocket. “I’m going to deal with our pedestal problem.”
“You’re going to shoot Tyr?” Mary questioned. “But your uncle Mark is still in there somewhere and—”
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to hit him. I’m going to hit the runes off the plinth, and I need you to catch them and give them to the proper day guardians. Once they have their powers back, they can help us stop Loki and Tyr.”
Mary nodded. “It’s a great strategy, Buzz.”
Theo nodded. “Now that I’ve heard all of it, Freaky, I’ve got to agree. It’s quite a game plan.”
Down below, Tyr still stood on the pedestal, and Loki was watching motionless as more of the light from the runes pooled in through the sunburst channels.
“Why is it taking so long?” Tyr snarled.
“Patience,” Loki’s smoky voice reassured. “Good things come to those who wait.”
“Those runes don’t belong to you,” Odin’s voice boomed from the Prof’s mouth. And his voice sounded like the waves and the wind. “What you’re doing is wrong.”
Loki whirled to face the All-Father. “You no longer get to choose what is right and what is wrong, Odin. That is for others to decide now.”
“I know you have no reason to trust me,” Odin implored. “I tore apart your family while I was still mad in my grief for my son Balder. I locked you up here in this place and told myself that the only way forward was the way of the prophecy. The way of Ragnarok. I told myself that everything had to end.”
“Odin, you didn’t just tear apart my family. You ripped out my heart,” Loki snarled. “My children were killed, banished, and scattered. And what about my daughter? My sweet Hel. This was her kingdom, and you made it my prison. But where is she now?”
“She would not stop until you were free,” Odin admitted. “So I sent her away. To a safe place.”
“Enough,” Tyr snarled. “Do you really believe him, Loki? Odin killed her. Just as you can kill him once I have all the power from the runes.”
“Listen,” Theo said. “This is our chance, while they’re arguing. I’ll free Sunna first. As soon as you see me take the helmet off to break the blue beam around her, Mary will come down with Fenris to catch the runes. Right?”
“Right,” Buzz said.
“Then down I go.” Theo shoved the golden helmet on his head and disappeared.
Buzz, Mary, and Fenris stayed in the shadows and watched.
“So your dad is Odin,” Mary whispered. “The father of the gods. That’s pretty major.”
Buzz shook his head. “Odin is Odin, and my dad is my dad. They might share the same body, but my father is nowhere in sight.” As he said the words, he felt a twist of sadness at the thought that he might never see his father again. His head filled with all the words that he’d never felt able to say before because the anger always got in the way.
Stop it, Buzz. He knew he had to focus on something else if he was going to keep things together. He concentrated on the figure of Sunna, and then he saw it. The flash of Theo’s face as he took off his helmet and used it to break the lasso of fire.
“Go,” Buzz said, placing a pebble into his slingshot.
“I’m ready.” Mary climbed onto Fenris’s back, and the wolf leaped down into the magma chamber with a howl.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
The Battle
Fenris landed on the ground in one elegant movement, and Mary scrambled off his back and rolled out of the way as the wolf turned to face the dragon—teeth bared and hackles raised.
The dragon opened his mouth with a screech and let forth a jet of fire, but Fenris was quicker. He pushed back on his hind legs and leaped high over the dragon’s head. Landing behind Nidhogg, Fenris managed to pounce on the dragon’s lower back with a guttural growl. His claws dug into the creature’s scaled flesh.
The dragon shrieked with pain but did not hesitate; it beat its massive wings, rose off the ground, and began to climb into the air.
The dragon thrashed wildly but he could not dislodge the wolf—Fenris’s claws were too deeply embedded.
Yet still Nidhogg rose.
Looking down from his concealed position on top of the platform, Buzz could see that both Loki and Tyr were staring at the battle between the wolf and the dragon, paying no attention to anything else.
Glancing across the chamber, Buzz saw that Theo had now released Sunna and Coach Saunders and was setting to work on Mrs. Robertson.
Ratatosk had joined Mary and they were crouched low, hidden in the shadows cast by the pedestal, waiting for the runes to start flying.
Just like we discussed, Buzz thought. The next part of the plan all rested on him.
Buzz launched the first pebble, sending it hurtling toward the plinth. It hit Sunna’s rune dead on and sent it spinning off into Mary’s hands. Buzz fired off another two pebbles in quick succession, both finding their targets as Pluto had promised they would. Mary and Ratatosk gathered up both runes and blended into the shadows once more.
Three down, three to go, Buzz thought, but the view of the pedestal vanished as the dragon and his wolf passenger suddenly filled his view.
Fenris was still clinging grimly to the dragon’s back and was desperately trying to claw his way upward, his sights fixed on the dragon’s neck, but he just couldn’t get close enough. With another beat of its wings, the dragon was now completely at Buzz’s eye level, and it opened its mouth in a screech of fury as it noticed Buzz.
Nidhogg let forth a new jet of flame, and Buzz threw himself out of the way, slipping off the strip of rock he’d been balanced on. He plummeted downward, then felt his whole body snap back up as the slingshot in his hand caught on a piece of jutting rock. He hung there, swinging from the sinews of the weapon.
Looking up, Buzz could see small holes where the dragon’s flame had scorched the magma wall and melted it. It looked just like Swiss cheese. Nidhogg was hurtling toward him now, an arrow with wings. The dragon was so close, Buzz could see Nidhogg’s slanted eyes and black pupils ringed with red. Buzz felt his hand loosen on the slingshot. What would be better? To fall to his death or be smashed to pieces by a dragon? Holey pajamas. It wasn’t much of a choice. Either way, every single bone in his body was going to get crushed.
Fenris give a furious howl, and Buzz watched as the wolf swung his body away from the dragon and toward the damaged magma wall. The dragon gave a screech of surprise and went careening off course, smashing into the wall and breaking it apart. Both Fenris and Nidhogg tumbled through the gap and out of sight.
Thank you, Fenris, Buzz thought, even as the slingshot gave a creak of protest and then the sinew snapped. Buzz was falling once more, knowing that this time it really was over.
Oomph. Buzz landed, but it wasn’t on the ground. It was in someone’s arms. He glanced up as he was placed on the ground and found himself looking at his father.
Correction: Odin, the All-Father. His dad was tall, but never this tall. Buzz had to tip his head back to look at him.
“Um, thanks,” Buzz said.
“You’re welcome,” Odin said in a deep baritone, his face telling Buzz that he knew all and everything. Odin’s face blurred and the expression became awkward and slightly stiff. It
was exactly the expression that the Prof wore whenever he wanted to talk about something big.
“Dad?” Buzz asked hesitantly, putting the handle of the slingshot into his pocket.
“Buzz.” His father folded his arms around him. “I’ve been so worried about you. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you before. I just wanted to tell you that.”
“How come you’re here? I mean, how come Odin is letting you talk to me?”
His father frowned. “It’s just manners. I am Odin’s host, we share a body now that he has been awoken, and he knows how worried I’ve been about you. Just as I know how sorry he is that any of this happening.”
Buzz thought about poor Uncle Mark and how Tyr had been controlling him completely for weeks now. How his godfather had fought to talk to him.
“Odin, we need you!” Sunna cried.
Looking in her direction, Buzz could see that Tyr was off the pedestal, wielding his sword against the day guardians. They were still without their runes, and powerless. Tyr showed no mercy. He was stronger than all the other gods combined, and he knew it.
His father kissed Buzz on the forehead. “I better let Odin take over from here. You must get those runes. I don’t think Odin and the others can fight Tyr and stay standing for much longer.” His father’s facial features blurred for a moment and then became granite once more as Odin took control. Buzz watched as Odin charged at Tyr, distracting him from Coach Saunders, who was cornered and defending himself with just the jacket he wore. Tyr swung out at Odin, but the All-Father dodged and ducked as Tyr tried to cleave him in two.
They need the runes. Why hasn’t Mary given them to them yet? Buzz scanned the chamber, searching for his friend.
Finally he found her, looking up at Loki. But she didn’t look scared. She looked joyful. Ratatosk was at her side, watching the two of them in stunned amazement.
Buzz felt something in his chest twist as Mary held out her hand and gave Loki the three runes that had been shot off the pedestal. The trickster god smiled, turned, and walked away with them.
“In the time tunnel, I saw myself make a really bad decision. I saw myself help Loki.” Mary’s words came back to Buzz then, and he hated himself for not listening to the warning she’d given him. His hand went to his slingshot, ready to try to stop Loki, but he remembered that his weapon had snapped.
Secrets of Valhalla Page 20