Thor Is Locked in My Garage!

by Robert J. Harris

  Thor nodded approvingly. “Susie has the spirit of a true warrior.”

  “You see?” beamed Susie. “Sven’s on my side.”

  “All right, Spinny, you win,” Greg conceded. “You’re on the team. But don’t forget who’s in charge.”

  “It’s not you, is it?” Susie smirked. “We’re in enough trouble as it is.”

  “We still haven’t sorted out how we’re going to get across town,” Lewis reminded them.

  “That’s what I was going to tell you,” said Susie. “We’ve got skis, enough for all of us. We can ski right down the Canongate.”

  “That’s fine, Spinny,” said Greg, “but it’s all uphill after that. What are we supposed to do? Attach rockets to our backs?”

  “Oh I can come up with something better than that, for sure,” said Thor. “Remember I have Mjolnir.”

  “How is a hammer going to help?” asked Lewis.

  “I’ll show you. Susie, where are the skis?”

  Susie led Thor off to the storeroom at back of the house where Mr Spinetti kept his supply of sporting goods. They returned with four pairs of skis. Susie was wearing a backpack. She hooked her thumbs through the straps and watched as Thor singled out one of the skis and examined it closely.

  “Wood laminate with a strip of aluminium,” he murmured. “That will do fine.”

  He touched his hammer to the tip of the ski and slowly drew it down the whole length. He did the same with all four sets of skis.

  “Right, now we are ready to go,” he declared.

  “What did you just—” Lewis began, but Thor raised a hand to silence him.

  “Better just do as he says,” Susie advised. “He knows his stuff.”

  As they headed for the door, Dad appeared with a glass of home brew in his hand. “Skis, eh? Would somebody like to clue me in?” he asked.

  “I must catch that scoundrel Loki,” said Thor, patting the hammer that was stuck in his belt.

  “He means Larry O’Keefe, Dad,” said Greg. “Sven’s kind of a policeman, you know, from Swedenborg.”

  “I suppose Larry’s been involved in some kind of financial scandal?” said Dad. “Made off with some share certificates, has he?”

  “Something like that,” said Lewis.

  “Sven needs our help to find his way around town,” said Greg.

  “That’s right,” Thor confirmed.

  “Don’t worry about us, Dad,” said Lewis. “We’ll be fine.”

  Dad took a slow sip of his beer. “I only worry about you when you’re apart,” he told them. “Each of you has his own kind of trouble he can get into. Together, though, I reckon you can cope with pretty much anything.”

  “Really?” said Lewis. “I never knew you thought that.”

  “What about you, Supergirl?” Mr McBride said to Susie. “Will I tell your dad you’ve gone skiing?”

  “Tell him I’ll be home for tea, Mr Mac,” said Susie with a smile. “I always am.”

  Once outside in the street they strapped on the skis.

  “Look, I know we won’t sink in the snow with these on,” said Lewis, “but it’s going to take us a long time waddling across town like this.”

  “And shouldn’t we have poles,” asked Greg, “you know, to push ourselves along with?”

  “Sven says we won’t need them,” answered Susie.

  “Form a line behind me,” Thor instructed them.

  Once they had lined up behind him, Thor lofted his hammer into the air. Immediately Lewis felt a tremor run down the length of his skis.

  “Hey, what’s going on?” said Greg. “It feels like there’s a current running through these things.”

  In front of them, Thor coasted effortlessly forward. It was as if his skis were moving across the snow under their own power. With a jerk Lewis, Greg and Susie found themselves sliding along the street after him.

  “The skis are alive!” Lewis exclaimed.

  “Better hold on to your hats, boys!” Susie grinned.

  6. A Wolf, a Snake, and an Ice Maid

  Snow swirled about them as they gathered speed.

  “You see, Spinny, it’s magic,” Greg called over his shoulder to Susie.

  “Don’t be daft,” Susie called back. “It’s magnetism. He magnetised the aluminium in the skis and now he’s controlling them with his hammer.”

  Lewis clutched his hat. “Sven, do we have to go so fast?” he pleaded.

  They were shooting down the Canongate Road so quickly he could hardly catch his breath. When they reached the bottom, instead of slowing down, the skis gathered speed and rocketed up the other side. At the top they shot five feet in the air and flumped down on the snow, still racing along.

  Lewis groaned. “This is worse than the Whizeroo ride you made me go on at the Lammas Fair.”

  “Don’t you dare throw up this time, Lewis,” Greg told him.

  They swerved right, shooting under the arch of the West Port into South Street. Lights glimmered in some of the shop windows, but the snow-covered street was deserted. Everyone was shut away safely indoors.

  Thor was holding Mjolnir straight out in front of him. “The tug is very strong, like there are two treasures in the one place.”

  “It must be Loki,” said Greg. “He’s got the box and he’s closing in on the next treasure.”

  They sped past the empty shell of the old Greyfriars chapel on their right. Before them on their left the spire of Holy Trinity church was capped with snow like a mountain peak.

  “He’s dead ahead of us now,” Thor reported.

  “It looks like we’re headed straight for the cathedral,” said Susie.

  Between the east end of the town and the harbour lay St Andrews’ medieval cathedral. It had been abandoned centuries ago and left to fall into ruins. Since then the enclosed grounds had served as a graveyard, but its surviving twin towers still made it an impressive monument. The encircling wall was heaped up with piles of snow, like ramparts raised to repel invaders. The gate was completely blocked up.

  “We are going over,” Thor announced.

  They skied right up the snowy rampart and came to an abrupt halt at the top. Lewis’ stomach lurched sickeningly and it took a moment for him to take in the sight below. The cathedral grounds had been cleared, with piles of snow heaped up here and there between tombstones dappled with frost and lichen. No snowflakes were falling here, but a cold mist had blown in from the harbour to wind itself around the ruins.

  “Loki had to move the snow so he can look for the treasure,” Thor observed. “Come on, we’re going down.”

  They slid down the other side, removed their skis and piled them up near the gate where a tall, skinny tower marked their position.

  “Have you any idea which of the treasures he’s after?” asked Lewis.

  Thor shrugged and gestured at the mist with Mjolnir. “All I know is that one of the treasures is hidden out there and Loki seeks it.”

  “Then let’s go and spoil his fun,” said Greg.

  They walked through an arch into an area, now open to the sky, that had once been the interior of the cathedral. To their right reared the old south wall, still mostly intact, while to their left ran a line of flat, circular stones, the bases of the pillars that had once supported the long vanished roof. Beyond these were rows of gravestones matted with moss and flecked with frost.

  Lewis peered ahead where he could just make out the towers of the east gable poking up through of the mist like a pair of horns.

  “It’s a bit creepy, isn’t it, what with the mist and all,” said Susie. “Just the spot for a ghost story.”

  “I think we’ve enough on our plate without ghosts, Spinny,” said Greg.

  “Shhh!” said Lewis. “I think I hear something.”

  They stopped in their tracks and listened. Through the chilly, misty air came a ponderous crunch. A heartbeat later, there came another crunch. A third followed, heavier and closer.

  “Something bad’s coming,” said S
usie, clutching her hockey stick tightly.

  Thor turned toward the sound. “Gotterdamerung!” he exclaimed.

  Marching towards them through an opening in the wall was a twelve-foot tall warrior woman made entirely of ice. Her face was a sharply contoured skull and her hair a mass of icicles hanging down the back of her head. An armour of glassy scales covered her body and in her frozen hands she gripped a spear of ice.

  A savage hiss issued from her blue lips and with a sudden spring she launched herself into their midst. Lewis ducked with a yelp and rolled away as she stabbed at him.

  “Try picking on somebody that’s armed!” Susie challenged, making a lunge with her hockey stick.

  The ice maiden whipped around and, with a furious sweep of her spear, dashed the stick from Susie’s grasp and sent it cartwheeling through the air. Snatching Susie by the back of her jacket, Greg yanked her to safety as the ice maid planted her spear into the ground where she had been standing half a moment before.

  “For goodness’ sake, Spinny, will you watch yourself!” he told her.

  “Get back, all of you!” Thor commanded.

  They fell back behind the burly Norseman as he confronted the ice maiden with his hammer.

  A stream of icy vapour issued from the monster’s nostrils. Lifting her spear high, she reared back and drove it at Thor’s heart. Incredibly, Thor sidestepped the thrust. With a lightning swirl of his hammer he dashed the spear to pieces.

  The ice maid’s jagged features contorted in fury. Her skeletal hands sprouted claws like daggers and she took a savage swipe at her enemy.

  Thor dodged again and crashed his hammer into her leg. The icy limb burst apart under the impact and the creature toppled over.

  With inhuman determination, she crawled forward and caught Thor’s ankle in her talons. Instead of trying to shake free, Thor raised Mjolnir and brought it down on her head. The icy skull shattered into a thousand pieces and the monster’s body went still. Thor kicked the motionless fingers, snapping them apart.

  “Nice going, Sven!” exclaimed Susie.

  “You don’t mess with the god of thunder,” said Greg, giving Thor a congratulatory pat on the back. “If that’s the best Loki’s got, this will be a piece of cake.”

  Susie retrieved her hockey stick and stuck it through the straps of her backpack.

  “Stay alert,” Thor warned. “If I know Loki – and I have known him for about two thousand years – he has more surprises in store for us.”

  They moved warily onward through the ruins until the wall to their right ended and beyond it they could make out the square bulk of St Rule’s Tower. As they paused to look about them a fresh cloud of mist blew in and enveloped them.

  “I can’t see a thing!” fumed Greg. He waved a hand as if trying to bat the fog away.

  “Hold still,” said Thor. “Don’t move.”

  There was a tense pause. Straining his eyes in the gloom, Lewis was aware of his heart beating rapidly. All at once Greg clapped a hand on his shoulder. “There’s something moving out there,” he muttered.

  “And moving fast,” breathed Susie.

  The air seemed to grow even colder and Lewis couldn’t help shivering. Thor strode to the fore. The next moment, a long glistening shape, like an oil pipeline come to life, came shooting across the ground towards them with staggering speed. Before Thor could make a move, the thing whipped itself around him like a tightly-coiled spring, pinning his arms and hammer to his sides.

  “It’s some kind of snake!” Greg exclaimed in horror.

  “Except it’s miles long!” cried Susie.

  This ice creature’s body was as thick as a tree trunk and lay twined around trees and gravestones on all sides of them. A scaly head as big as a car reared up above them, baring a pair of fangs like bayonets.

  “I can’t move!” Thor grunted, straining in vain against the monster’s coils. “Run, before it gets you!”

  They fell back as the monster took a snap at them. “Don’t worry, Sven,” said Susie, reaching into her pack. “I’ve got this covered.”

  “Got it covered?” Greg gasped. “Spinny, what are you talking about?”

  “This!” Susie declared, holding up a small red rod.

  “What’s that, a flare?” asked Lewis.

  Susie bobbed her head. “Campers carry them so they can signal for help if they run into trouble. We had one left in the store room.”

  “Enough talk, Spinny,” said Greg. “Light it!”

  Before Susie could act, the giant snake’s tail came sweeping across the ground and whipped her legs out from under her. With a yelp of surprise, she went flying backwards and the flare tumbled out of her hand.

  “Susie!” Greg yelled, dashing to her side. He seized her by the hand and pulled her to her feet.

  Lewis saw the flare rolling across the grass and made a dive for it, but the snake was faster. A flick of its tail whacked the rod into the air. The flare flew off and disappeared into the mist.

  The great serpent lunged at Greg and Susie, eyes glittering like diamonds. They flung themselves aside in opposite directions as the ferocious fangs stabbed the air between them.

  “Get away!” Thor yelled at them. His face was crimson with the effort of trying to struggle free, but the snake had him locked tight.

  Lewis peered into the mist, hoping to spot where the flare had landed. As he did so, the serpent tail smacked him in the back and sent him tumbling head over heels. He rolled to a bruising halt at the base of a headstone, panting in the freezing air. As he groped around dazedly for his bearings, his hand encountered a tubular object.

  The flare!

  He snatched it up in shaking fingers and struggled to his feet. He opened his mouth to shout for the others, but was struck dumb as he saw a new threat materialise out of the drifting bank of fog.

  Padding towards him, big as a horse and made entirely of ice, was a wolf. Its ears were folded back and it bared its icicle teeth in a vicious snarl. The crystal facets of its eyes flashed hungrily.

  Lewis backed off, brandishing the flare in front of him in the faint hope that the sight of it would keep the creature at bay. He racked his brains to think of how to light it, but his mind was a blank. Still retreating, he bumped against cold, rough stonework, and realised he was trapped against a wall. The wolf kept padding slowly towards him, as though relishing his fear.

  Lewis clutched the flare in trembling fingers, his mind frozen in terror.

  “Hang on, Lewis!” cried a voice.

  It was Susie, pelting towards him with her hockey stick in her hands. The wolf swung about to face her with a gravelly rumble. Pulling up at the last instant, she whacked it squarely in the mouth. Shards of ice went flying, but in the next instant the wolf caught the stick in its massive jaws and snapped it in half.

  “You stupid beastie!” Susie yelled angrily. She flung aside the stump of handle that was all she had left. “Right, now I’m raging! Lewis, toss me that flare!”

  Shaking off his panic, Lewis threw the flare and Susie caught it in one hand. She pulled the cap off the end and flipped it round in her fingers as the wolf crunched the remains of her stick into splinters. Spitting out the pieces, it opened its mouth wide and let out a horrible growl.

  “You know, in Norse mythology,” said Lewis, staring at the fearsome beast, “there was a wolf that ate the sun.”

  “Is that right?” said Susie, striking the cap against the fuse. “Let’s see him eat this!”

  As the flare sprouted its jet of flame she flung it with all her strength, right down the gullet of the great beast. The creature swallowed it and light blazed down into its belly. Lit up from inside, the wolf convulsed, snapping its jaws and staggering from side to side. Its body exploded and fell to the ground in pieces that dissolved into puddles as the flare fizzled out.

  Breathing hard, Lewis turned to Susie. “Sorry about your hockey stick.”

  “It was a classic stick,” sighed Susie, “even with all the n
icks.”

  “Do you have any more flares?” Lewis asked. “We still have to rescue Thor from that snake.”

  Susie shook her head glumly. “That was the only one. And that big worm’s still haring about the place like a runaway train.”

  “So how do we stop it?”

  The question was no sooner out of his mouth than they heard a cry of “Gangway! Leg it!”

  They looked round and saw Greg dashing towards them, his legs pumping furiously. The ice serpent was right behind him, jaws gaping, and some distance back, they could see Thor, still trapped in the freezing coils.

  Lewis and Susie joined Greg in his desperate race, jumping over graves and swerving round tombstones.

  “Where are we going?” gasped Lewis.

  “Back to the gate,” Greg puffed, “to get the skis.”

  “The skis?” panted Susie. “We can’t run out on Sven!”

  “We’re not!” Greg told her. “Just do what I say!”

  They skidded to a halt at the skis and Greg snatched one up. “Grab one each and get ready to throw it,” he ordered.

  As he picked up a ski, Lewis complained, “We can’t throw hard enough to hurt that thing.”

  “We don’t have to,” said Greg. “Thor will do the rest.”

  The snake slithered to a halt and reared over them, bobbing its huge head this way and that as if choosing which of them to devour first. Locked in its coils, Thor kicked his legs to no avail. “Why have you stopped?” he wheezed.

  “I’ve got a plan, Sven,” Greg called back. “Get ready to use your hammer when we throw the skis your way.”

  Susie’s eyes lit up. “I see where you’re going with this.”

  “I wish I did,” groaned Lewis, but he copied the others. They each gripped a ski in both hands and pulled it back at shoulder height. “One, two, three, fire!” cried Greg.

  They hurled their three skis into the face of the serpent. Instead of losing momentum and dropping to the ground, the three missiles gained speed as they flew. They shot down the throat of the serpent, fast as rockets, tearing it apart from the inside like knives.

  “It’s Mjolnir!” Lewis exclaimed. “Thor’s using its magnetic power on the skis.”