Dead Radiance

by Ayer, T. G.

  "So what happens if the rest of the necklace isn't there?"

  "Then we come back and have a look at another catalog."

  I folded my arms and frowned. "Isn't that a bit of a risk, Aidan? Coming back here again? What if your access card has some kind of trigger to it and makes them keep an eye out for us, or it locks you out? You don't know who your father knows here at the museum."

  "That's it!" He waved a finger at me and tapped the keyboard some more.

  "What's it?"

  He didn't answer, merely scribbled furiously on a piece of paper. He rose and stuffed the paper into his pocket, logged off the system and shut it down. "Come, we're done here."

  We headed out into the frigid night. And I breathed a sigh of relief. Every minute inside the museum had ticked by with the constant fear of being discovered.

  ***

  We grabbed some takeout, another tasteless meal in a long string of tasteless meals. We found a motel, much the same as the last one, and hunkered down for the night, eager to study the information Aidan had printed.

  "So what were you looking for?" I asked, my voice a tad too sharp. I was annoyed with him for keeping his hunches close to his chest, like the information he'd scribbled on the piece of paper. He still hadn't told me what that was.

  "I needed a catalog of every item found at the dig where Brunhilde was uncovered," he said. "And an inventory of the museum's collection of artifacts from the burial site. Now all we need to do is check through the two lists, tick off what's duplicated, and find what's missing. The rest of the necklace must have been found in the grave. It must be where your father found your pendant."

  I thought it was unlikely the reports would say: Brisingamen found. Brisingamen lost. But I paid attention. He began to read off items off one list, while I ticked them off on the other. A long, tedious process, and a necessary one. I crossed off lines that sounded insignificant, like feather and stones and shards of pottery.

  At last, he stopped calling out items and we had a small list of unmatched jewelry, adornments, clothing and weapons. We completed the checks and found what we were looking for.

  Two neckpieces.

  They were listed in the catalog, each marked with a note indicating they were no longer part of the collection. Aidan and I looked at each other, pretty satisfied with this development.

  "Well, we know your dad had one. Now to figure out who has the other item."

  "Do you think it could be the one Loki gave us?" I asked.

  "No, I don't. Unless the other piece was given to him by the museum or whoever had it in their possession."

  "Who do you think has it, then? What about the archaeologist who supervised the dig?"

  "Exactly who I was thinking of." Aidan nodded, then jumped off the bed to dig around in the pocket of his coat. He waved the paper at me and said, "This number should lead us directly to the Professor."

  I sighed. Relieved that we were making headway with our search. "You're ringing her now? It's almost three in the morning."

  But he was already picking up the phone and dialing, giving his head a tight shake as if a three a.m. phone call wouldn't piss a sleepy Professor off. When his face crumpled I knew we'd hit a snag. "It's a message. She's on a dig in Greenland."

  "I don't suppose the message said how long she will be away?" I should have known it was too good to be true.

  "Her message said to ring her service and they will get in touch with her. But what the hell do I say to her to get her to ring me back?"

  "Give me the phone. I have an idea," I said.

  I dialed the service and left my message. "Dr. Wayne, this is Bryn Halbrook, I need to talk to you about Brisingamen. This is extremely important—life and death."

  I cut the call and prepared to wait for a response. It would still be daylight for her in Greenland. The chances were slim that she would ring back in the next few hours. So I was shocked when the phone rang only two hours later as we were both finally falling asleep. I scrambled to answer it.

  "Hello," I said. I didn't say my name. Things had become radically crazy in the last few weeks and the knowledge that we'd already been followed was never far from my mind. Aidan's dad's thugs could be tracking us right now.

  The voice was female, with a clipped American accent. "Bryn Halbrook?"

  "This is she."

  "This is Professor Wayne here. You left a message with my service?"

  "Yes, I needed to speak to you, but it's not something I can discuss over the phone."

  "I can understand that. But I can't exactly take a cab to meet you. Can you charter a plane to get you here? I can't leave the dig site. Part of the glacier has shifted and opened up a burial site. I can't leave until the entire site has been processed."

  "I'm sorry, but we don't have that kind of money." I was appalled that she'd thought we could afford such an extravagance.

  Her next words astonished me. "Sure you do, girl. You are Geoffrey's daughter, are you not?"

  "Yes, but—"

  "Okay, I'll arrange the flight for you. The charter will ring with the details. How long do you have?" She was all business, and yet a little vibration in her voice matched the shiver of fear running down my own back.

  "Not much—a few days," I answered, knowing she'd have no idea what the reason for the deadline was.

  "That's cutting it pretty close, but get here and we'll see what we can do."

  We said our goodbyes and I hung up. I stared at the phone, aware that everything had just gone haywire. A charter plane to Greenland!

  Hugin fluttered his dark wings and flew toward me. At first, I'd been uncomfortable with the bird, especially when he flew right at me to land on my shoulder. Now all I did was watch him until he settled. He cocked his head and stared at me.

  "What is it?" I asked.

  For the first time, the enigmatic black bird spoke to me. I almost jumped out of my skin. "There is a way for you to get there without using a mechanical transport," he said, his sensual baritone so unsuited to his placid eyes. Such sexy tones didn't mesh well with the black-feathered raven.

  "Which is?"

  "The same method that you used to move from Asgard to your town of Craven."

  Chapter 36

  Aidan stared at me and it took me few seconds to figure out he hadn't heard a thing. So only I could hear the bird speak? Just great.

  I repeated Hugin's suggestion to Aidan and we exchanged doubtful glances.

  "Hugin, I have no idea how to do that. I've had someone from Asgard with me each time."

  Hugin cocked his head, his glassy eye staring straight at me. "There are different worlds that exist. I believe you refer to them as dimensions. We can travel through these worlds too, using the Bifrost."

  "Bifrost?" I asked, frowning.

  "Yes, the Bifrost. It is the Rainbow of the Gods. The bridge between the worlds."

  "The room in Odin's palace?"

  "That is one of the locations where the Bifrost sets down."

  "What are these locations then?"

  "Places where the walls between the worlds are thinner and easier to traverse, where the bridge can reach through the worlds."

  I raised my eyebrows, then filled Aidan in. "Right then, what do I need to do?" I asked.

  "Wait for me. I shall search out the nearest location and take you to it."

  Hugin flew into the bathroom and pecked at the window. I rushed to open it for him, and out he went in a rush of flapping feathers.

  A rainbow bridge between the worlds.

  I wasn't sure I wanted to believe such a farfetched concept, but the chink of chain armor reminded me that I was living in the middle of an ancient Norse myth. It was crazy and interesting and unbelievable all at the same time.

  Hugin came back within a short space of time and beckoned us to follow. "It can't be far since he got back so quickly. I'll go with him," I said, wanting Aidan to rest.

  "No way I'm letting you go anywhere without me, especially at this h
our." He sat up, more pale and drained that he'd been yesterday morning. The curse was sapping more and more energy as the days went by. For a moment he teetered on wobbly legs, then he slumped back onto the bed. "Okay, seems I don't have the energy at the moment. Why can't you wait until tomorrow?"

  "We need to check it out as soon as possible, so we can plan our next move. I'll be fine. Hugin will warn me of any danger and Fen's trained me practically to death. I can take care of myself, you know."

  Aidan muttered and scowled, upset with me for going and with himself for being too weak to join me. I hoped he'd get over it.

  Outside, the darkness fled from the sky as sunlight struggled to make its way through thick, angry snow clouds. I followed Hugin a few blocks into a dark alley. He came to rest on the edge of a putrid sky-blue dumpster and waited for me to catch up.

  "This is it?" I asked the bird.

  "Yes. What did you expect it to be?"

  The Rainbow of the Gods touched down right beside a stinking dumpster. I wondered where it would land on the other side of our trip. Let's hope we didn't find ourselves trapped beneath frozen glaciers. We left the alley and went back to fetch Aidan.

  The early morning air was icy cold and my breath circled my head, a white frozen mist. My footsteps echoed around the empty street. Soon the sound of a second set echoed in tandem to mine. I sped up and so did my stalker. Pausing, pretending to inspect the contents of a darkened pawnshop storefront, I scoped out the shape and size of my tail from the corner of my eye. The best way to deal with a stalker was direct confrontation—best performed when you have a sword strapped to your waist, of course.

  I rounded on the person, coming up right in front of his face, only to discover it was a girl. Low-cut blouse, a skirt so short it might as well have been a pair of hot pants. How come she wasn't freezing to death? I wanted to ask.

  Aloud, I asked the more important question instead. "Why are you following me?"

  "I'm not following you." The woman's eyes rounded, shocked at my confrontation, but I didn't buy it. Something just didn't sit right with this girl.

  "What do you want?" She'd definitely been following me, and I intended to find out why. Too many things could go wrong. Who knew what Freya was up to, or whether she would send someone to keep an eye on us, to protect her investment? Everything about this girl looked ordinary at a glance. Pretty skin, dark hair, young enough for me to wonder if she was still in school. But I found it odd when she didn't even shiver in the frigid weather. The edges of my eyes hazed, and for a moment my vision blurred.

  The girl's eyes swirled with color, an entrancing blue. Not your average eye color. Now where had I seen that before? My own eyes narrowed, studying her face, and I decided to go with my gut.

  "Loki? What do you want?" I kept my voice raised, projecting confident knowledge where I was just guessing. But it was not just my confidence that destroyed his ruse. In that same instant Hugin cawed above me, flapping his wings and landing with a shudder on my shoulder.

  "Hugin? What—" Loki stumbled backward, teetering on three-inch heels. Then the air changed, thickened. The girl slowly dissolved and disappeared. In her place, a pitch-black raven clawed the cold bare concrete.

  Hugin cawed again from my shoulder. Clearly unhappy. "Loki!"

  The Loki-raven disappeared in a puff of smoky shadows, and now a man stood before me. Not the visitor we'd received in the lab, though. This Loki was taller, more muscle-bound, almost wrestler material. Square jawed with large bright green eyes, he grinned from ear to ear.

  "Mighty astute of you, my dear. For a girl," Loki said. And he did look surprised. So what had he been used to, then—dimwitted, Mead-bearing subservients?

  I looked askance at Hugin. "You could have been a little more help, you know."

  The darned bird just stared back at me, unperturbed.

  "So I see you have dear Hugin as a companion. A nice loan from Odin." Loki nodded, but I could almost hear his mind working as he tried to figure out why I deserved the company of one of Odin's precious birds.

  "Yeah. He's good company most of the time," I said." Now what do you want? We still have three days left before we have to give you an answer."

  "Yes, yes. I know that." Loki's eyes brushed my response away, but his annoyance was visible in the tight line of his mouth and the rigid set of his shoulders. "I've just popped in to make sure you're both making some headway."

  "So, you mean you're spying on us?" I raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure Freya didn't send you?"

  Loki's eyes swirled a liquid gold.

  "Three days, Loki, that's all we asked for. Now, if there's nothing specific you want, I need to get back to Aidan." I turned on my heel and began to walk away, not daring to release my pent-up breath. Loki would pounce on the first sign of weakness.

  "Have you told him yet?" Loki's disembodied voice hovered before me, accompanied in a rush by the rest of his bulk to successfully block my escape. I wasn't sure what the punishment was for knocking out a god, so I flared my fingers and held my hand stiffly by my side. At last he'd revealed what he'd really come for. To prey on my guilt.

  I frowned, hoping to pull off a credible puzzled expression; I was never a good actor. "Told who what?"

  "Don't pretend, my dear. Have you told your boyfriend that his life will soon begin to slip away, and that unless you accept my help this whole mission will take far too long and he may just die in the process?" Loki smirked.

  Pure anger rose within me, heating my blood. It was a battle to hold onto my urge to hit him. I'd never been a violent person. Never had the slightest urge to raise my hand and hit or hurt someone just because of how I felt. But looking at Loki and his gleaming eyes, a fury burned inside of me the likes of which I'd never known.

  "We said we needed three days and we still do. Come back when the time is up and we'll probably take up your offer. For now, please leave us alone." We could do without this sort of distraction, without Loki haunting me with his insinuations.

  "Three days." Loki flashed pearly white teeth that were no doubt some kind of mirage. His once-blue eyes shifted to a startling shade of green. "And if you don't agree to take my offer, then I’ll be forced to tell your beloved the truth about the limited extent of his life."

  I glared at Loki, whose eyes were now solid black, probably reflecting the color of his putrid soul.

  "Three days and I will tell Aidan he is soon going to die," he repeated.

  As if he needed to speak twice.

  ***

  I shivered as I shut the door on both the bone-chilling cold and Loki's words. But the cold was easy to shut out. Not so with Loki. His threat rang inside my skull, sharp and insistent. Aidan looked up as I entered and frowned at the worried creases in my brow. I'd need to be more careful with my fears.

  "What happened?" he asked.

  "Nothing, it's just freezing outside and it looks like snow. Hugin showed me the place, so we can leave as soon as you're ready." I didn't need to fake the shiver that ran through me.

  "We should cancel the charter first, though."

  "We can't sit around and wait for them to call. I was hoping we could leave now." I was eager to be out of there, as far from Loki as possible.

  "Yeah. You're right. The charter wouldn't be able to reach us to confirm anything. Besides, we'll get to Professor Wayne in no time. She could cancel the charter when we get there."

  I nodded, gathering our stuff and scanning the room, wondering if we were about to shock the life out of the poor professor. She didn't sound like the wilting wallflower type, but she would have a lot of questions for us.

  And boy did we have some mythbusting answers for her.

  Chapter 37

  We checked out and set off for the stinking alley, our boots killing the beautiful, fluffy snowflakes littering the sidewalk. Soon the pristine white would be transformed into a wet, black sludge.

  Aidan walked silently beside me while I searched the streets for any sign of Loki. />
  "Are you okay?" I asked, concerned about his silence.

  He grumbled. "Couldn't Hugin have told us about this magic bridge back in Missouri, and saved us three days of driving? Not to mention several felonies." His eyes scanned the grey sky for the raven. Hugin circled high above us, out of earshot.

  "Maybe we had to prove ourselves first," I said. "Or maybe the Bridge doesn't connect to DC." Aidan shrugged. He stopped a moment, closed his eyes and massaged his temples.

  "Aidan!" I touched his shoulder. "Are you okay, really?"

  "Yeah, just tired. Not sure what's up. Maybe it's coming back to Midgard. Yikes, I can never get used to calling our world Midgard." Aidan shook his head, black curls bouncing. They'd grown, just brushing his shoulders.

  I handed him one of the small leather pouches of Mead that Sigrun had packed. Suddenly I longed to see my friend again. I hadn't had this experience before, missing a living person so deeply. I'd ached for Joshua's presence after he'd died. And for Aidan I'd keened inside, my grief both for my broken and my betrayed heart. But now I just missed Sigrun as you'd miss a friend and confidante. I held the thought close to me.

  Aidan slugged, then returned the pouch. Almost reluctantly. I watched his face. Saw the pleasure there. And I worried. Feared he would get addicted. He'd need the drink more and more over the next few days. I had to preserve our stash and decided to keep a better eye on the Mead from that moment on. The longer we remained here the more we'd need the Mead.

  We reached the alley, Hugin leading. It stank. Urine, garbage and heaven knew what else. Hugin flew down and perched on my shoulder, like an ever-present, overbearing conscience. We stood, almost hidden from the street by the incongruously cheerful blue dumpster.

  "Stand together, side by side and be calm," he said.

  I repeated his words to Aidan, who raised a questioning eyebrow. He also raised one offended nostril, as if asking me if this could seriously be the location of the Bridge. I shrugged and tried clear my thoughts.