Mary gulped in a deep breath. “This is all a bit close, Zelus.”
“I’m just having some fun.” He laughed. “Not bad wing control for an old forgotten god like me!”
“No, not too bad,” Buzz admitted. His voice came out as a hoarse croak.
Zelus laughed again. “You need to work on your exaltation, young man, but it’s a start. I feel stronger already. Let’s see what else I can do.”
He shot into the Tangley Woods, weaving between the trunks in an elaborate dance that left Buzz feeling dizzy.
At last, the trees began to open up, and Buzz could see a shimmering silver light.
The World Tree. It was as tall and regal as ever. Its bark still charcoal gray slashed with red.
It stood all alone, and the soil around it pulsed with power. Buzz could feel that energy in the air as well. It made everything thrum.
Zelus gently placed Buzz and Mary on the ground and rose up into the air again.
“Thank you, Zelus,” Mary said, waving. “Thank you for everything. We won’t forget what you’ve done for us.”
The god inhaled, as if drawing in her words like a sweet scent. He inclined his head. “I should go. I don’t want Berchta to get suspicious.” He looked around him. “I do hope your friend Ratatosk is here. I’ve heard from others that he can be somewhat unpredictable.”
“If by unpredictable you mean sometimes grumpy and sometimes very grumpy, you’re correct,” Mary said. “But he’s as loyal as Fides.”
“He’ll be here somewhere.” Buzz peered around the clearing. “He takes his job as guardian of the World Tree very seriously. . . .” He trailed off. Now that he was up close, he could see that the World Tree was suffering. The branches were sparser than before, and there were several ragged stumps where limbs had been ripped off. Sap seeped from the wounds, and now that he was right next to the trunk, Buzz realized that the silver-and-red bark of the tree appeared pale and sickly.
A strong gust of wind and the flap of wings made him look upward, and he saw that Zelus had risen into the sky.
“Farewell, mortals.” Zelus held up a hand. “And remember our deal. Give me thanks and tell others to do the same.” Then the god was gone, weaving swiftly through the trees once more.
CHAPTER NINE
I Smell Badger
There was a swish of leaves and then a scrabble of claws on silver bark. A furry red face appeared out of the foliage. Long whiskers twitched, and big dark eyes peered out at Buzz and Mary suspiciously.
“Ratatosk!” Mary said. “Am I glad to see you!”
“Pigeon man’s gone, then, has he?” Ratatosk asked with a sniff. His body was still hidden by the leaves of the World Tree.
“You mean Zelus?” Buzz questioned.
“Yer shouldn’t ’ave brought him ’ere.”
“Sorry, Ratatosk,” Buzz said. “It wasn’t exactly planned. Listen, we need your help.”
But Ratatosk’s head had disappeared into the foliage once again, and all they could hear was the sound of chomping.
“Ratatosk!” Mary looked like she was very close to stamping her foot. “There’s no time to eat. We need your help.”
“Well, I need to help myself first.” The squirrel appeared on one of the silver branches, his cheeks bulging. “Need to keep my energy up in case those scavengers try their luck again.” His red tail was held high, but by the glow of the silver tree and the moon, Buzz could clearly see the stump where the tip of his tail had once been. Ratatosk could be infuriating, but Buzz could never stay angry for long. This brave squirrel had lost part of his tail trying to protect Mary and Buzz from Nidhogg the dragon.
“What do you mean, help yourself first?” Buzz glanced over his shoulder. Was that the crunch of something underfoot in the inky darkness of the forest?
“Well, that lot are here, aren’t they?” Ratatosk said, finally swallowing his food. “Your mate Zelus is one of them.”
“You mean the Pantheon!” Mary exclaimed. “They aren’t our friends. But they are why we’ve come.”
“That Berchta should know better.” Ratatosk’s whole body was stiff and his red fur stood on end. “But she just came along and started snapping off branches.” He leaped up to one of the tree’s weeping wounds and sniffed the sap mournfully. “In all my years, I’ve never seen such a thing. Sure, occasionally she’d take one or two branches to use for the Ash Arch, but she always asked first in the past.”
“Wait a second, you know about the Pantheon?” Buzz asked.
The squirrel shrugged a shoulder. “Odin and his lot never had anything to do with it. The All-Father decided to put his powers in the runes after his followers began to disband. Most of the other Norse gods did the same.” The squirrel turned to face them once again. “They were already fast asleep when Berchta came to me for the first time centuries ago and asked if she could take a couple of branches from Yggdrasil.” Ratatosk shook his head. “I said yes. That was my first mistake. Now her and her cronies take and don’t even ask, and the tree is hurtin’.”
“Ratatosk, I’m sorry about the tree, but they have my friend Sam,” Buzz said. “And we need to get him back.”
The squirrel’s eyes went wide. “He ain’t the new god, is he?”
Buzz nodded.
“And they ’ave him over at the ruins?”
“No, he’s already gone through the Ash Arch,” Mary explained. “We don’t know where they’ve sent him.”
“But Berchta knows that we saw.” Buzz raked a hand through his hair. “She sent Zelus, Tiamat, and some others after us. We managed to stop Tiamat.”
“At least for a bit.” Mary looked out into the undergrowth. “We had to make a deal with Zelus to help us, but there are definitely more of them after us.”
Ratatosk was rubbing at his furry forehead. “This is bad. Real bad.”
“That’s not all of it.” Mary’s voice was low. “Theo was with us, but we got separated. He’s in this forest somewhere all by himself.”
Ratatosk sniffed the air, his whiskers bristling. “Fret not. He’s alive and on the move.” The squirrel began pacing backward and forward on his branch. “All right. I know we’re not really supposed to, but we need to get them runes and wake up Odin. Berchta will respect the All-Father’s word.”
“We can’t.” Buzz’s throat felt like it was closing up. “The runes are gone.”
“Gone!” Ratatosk and Mary said as one.
Buzz looked over his shoulder. There was that noise again.
“There’s no time now, but there’s this guy called El Tunchi, and my mum gave him the runes. She didn’t know what she was doing. She was just trying to buy herself some time.”
“Crikey, this is worse than bad,” Ratatosk said. “El Tunchi’s a wandering forest spirit. And a powerful one. It’s gonna be impossible to get them runes back.”
“I know, I’m sorry, okay,” Buzz said. “I’ve failed at being guardian of the runes, and I’ve failed Sam.”
“Don’t say that,” Mary said. “We don’t give up, ever, and we don’t let others choose how this is all gonna end. We get those runes back and we’ll find Sam as well.” She turned to Ratatosk. “How exactly do we do that?”
Ratatosk puffed out his cheeks. “It ain’t gonna be easy. They’ll have hidden Sam somewhere secure, and the only person who can help you find him is the Keeper of Myths.”
“Keeper of Myths?” Buzz turned the name over in his mouth. “Where do we find him?”
“Or her?” Mary interjected.
“At the end of the wisdom path, of course,” Ratatosk said. “Stories hold power. They teach us lessons. The Keeper of Myths would live nowhere else. You’ll need to find the Keeper’s temple, but the longer you take to find it, the harder it will become to see it.”
The sound of something moving through the trees was even louder now. It was joined by a snuffling noise.
Ratatosk raised his nose to the air and sniffed. “I smell badger,” he said matter-of-fa
ctly. “And a bit of feathered dragon.”
Buzz and Mary shared a look.
“They’ve found us,” Mary said. “We need to get to the wisdom path.”
“The tree will transport you.” Ratatosk sprang up to one of the upper branches—flying from limb to limb like a furry acrobat. “Now, normally, I’d say you should discover the branch that leads to the portal yourself. The magic works better that way. But we ain’t got time for all that.” He tapped one of the thick silver branches with a claw and Buzz saw it turn into solid metal. “Well, get up here, then. We ain’t got all day.”
Mary started climbing.
“What about Theo?” Buzz called as he pulled himself up to the first limb of the tree.
The squirrel sniffed the air again. “He’s close. I’ll find him.”
“Ratatosk, listen, that badger you can smell, he’s really big.” Mary was now level with the squirrel.
Ratatosk snorted. “It’s probably that Celt, Moritasgus. I’m not worried about him, and I’ve taken on a dragon before, remember?”
Buzz decided it wasn’t time to remind the squirrel that he’d lost that battle.
“Promise me you’ll find Theo.” Buzz stared into Ratatosk’s dark eyes as he reached the metal branch of the tree. “Swear on Yggdrasil.” The air here smelled of electricity, and Buzz’s skin pricked as he saw a portal begin to open up at the end of the branch. The night sky was there, but not there. The air had folded in on itself, leaving an absence. Making a door.
“I promise you, Buzz.” The squirrel met his gaze steadily. “Yer just focus on finding Sam. Bring him back, and all our problems will disappear.”
“How?” Buzz asked. “It’s all such a mess.”
Down below the sound of snuffling was even louder, and it was punctuated by a familiar loud screeching. Looking into the undergrowth, Buzz could see two pairs of eyes glowing like floodlights. The badger and Tiamat were here.
“Look at me, not them,” Ratatosk demanded. “With Sam’s new powers he can take on El Tunchi, and we can get those runes back. Odin will deal with Berchta. No problem.”
Mary was nodding from her perch on the branch. “It’s a good plan, Ratatosk.” She turned to face the portal. The beads in her hair clinked in the wind, making melodious music. “Here we come, Keeper of Myths.” She darted across the branch, her feet a blur as they crossed the metal bough, and then flung herself forward.
Buzz found himself grinding his teeth as she disappeared through the portal. “She always goes first.”
Ratatosk laughed even as his eyes scanned the ground below. Two dark shapes were moving toward the tree. “It’s her way of coping, and yer’ll find yours. Good luck, Buzz. The Forsaken Territories ain’t a place to dillydally in. Remember, the gods there are desperate and forgotten. Get yerself home as soon as yer can.”
Buzz nodded.
The squirrel broke off two twigs from the ash tree and gave them to Buzz. “Use these to get back if yer need to. They’ll make yer a portal, but yer’ll need to find an ash tree to plant them next to. They can only be used once, and only by you and Mary.”
“Keep safe, Ratatosk.”
“Always.”
Buzz slid himself along the cold, smooth branch and then fell into the darkness.
PART II
THE WISDOM PATH
CHAPTER TEN
Caught Up
Buzz was on a mountain path of stone and red dirt. The ground to either side of them was thick with thistles and scrubby-looking grass.
The sun was high and the air was humid and heavy.
A little farther ahead, Buzz could see Mary. She was staring up at a crossroad signpost that had three arms, and she had a frustrated look on her face.
“You really need to stop running off like that,” Buzz said.
Mary raised an eyebrow. “You really need to keep up.” She pointed at the tall signpost and its three arms. “This is not helpful. Not helpful at all.”
“This Way. That Way. Another Way,” Buzz read out. “It’s pretty clear to me,” he said. “We go Another Way.”
“Why?” Mary asked.
“Because This Way or That Way won’t lead us to the answer. They’re the normal way. They’re not the way of adventure.”
“Buzz, this isn’t about having an adventure. It’s about saving Sam.”
“I know that.” Buzz could feel himself bristling. “I don’t need a lecture on what this is all about. He’s my friend.”
Mary looked hurt. “I wasn’t lecturing you. I just . . .” She trailed off and looked up at the signpost again. “Doesn’t it annoy you that this is even here? Why can’t we choose for ourselves which way we go?”
“Because that’s not the way it works.” Buzz tried to keep the impatience from his voice. “You know that by now.”
Mary shoved her hands in her pockets. “I know that ever since we finished our quest for the Runes of Valhalla, you’ve been down in the dumps.” She bit her lip. “That you’ve been avoiding me.”
“That’s not true,” Buzz protested.
“Yes, it is,” Mary insisted. “Try being honest with yourself.”
Buzz was grinding his teeth again. “Try minding your own business. How about that?”
Mary narrowed her eyes. “You’re excited to be on another quest. Admit that at least. Admit it’s made you happier than you’ve been in months.”
“I didn’t choose this.” Buzz’s cheeks were beginning to burn.
“No, but I think you’d stopped choosing the real world months ago, and that’s scaring me, Buzz. There’s nothing wrong with normal.”
“How’d you know?” Buzz muttered.
Mary’s brows knit together. “What does that mean?”
“You’ve still got a sleeping goddess inside you. That’s not normal. I’d say that’s pretty unique actually.” Buzz’s gaze followed the path for Another Way. He could feel it pulling at him.
Mary snorted. “Trust me, I’d love a big dose of normal. Do you know how weird it is to share your headspace with someone else? To not know if something is your doing or theirs? To lose your power of choice?” She chewed her lip. “You need to start appreciating what you’ve got, Buzz, or all the things you care about will be gone by the time you realize their importance.”
“Okay, thanks for the pep talk,” Buzz said. “Can we get going now?”
Mary threw up her hands. “Another Way it is, then,” she said. “Let’s just hope it’s not the Hard Way.”
They walked along the path in frosty silence, and apart from the occasional tree or rock, there was nothing to distract Buzz from the fact that they weren’t talking. He studied one of the trees. Thick vines hung from the branches and they appeared to pulse with energy. They reminded Buzz of the vines El Tunchi had left behind in his house, and he suddenly felt very far away from his mother.
He stepped off the path and reached out to touch one of the creepers.
“Wait!” Mary grabbed Buzz’s arm and pulled him back onto the trail.
“What’s wrong?” Buzz demanded.
Mary tutted. “We’re in a strange place with zero knowledge of how things work. You can’t just go walking off touching things. You know better than that.” Mary was so angry she was shaking, the beads at the ends of her braids vibrating.
“Wait a second. Why’s it okay for you to run off through portals, but I’m not allowed to step off the path?” Buzz asked.
Mary opened her mouth and then shut it again. “Those are merely details. The important thing to remember is that we need to work together, okay? We make decisions together and we—”
“Help,” a raspy voice cried from farther up the path. “Help me, please.”
Buzz and Mary glanced at each other. Arguing was going to have to wait. They sprinted forward.
“Help!” The raspy voice was getting louder.
“Over there.” Mary pointed to a tree up ahead. They edged toward it. The sapling was dimly lit by the glowing, pulsating
vines that covered it, and wriggling within the creepers was the biggest, ugliest spider Buzz had ever seen. Its black skin glinted in the light of the strange vines, and its eight long legs kicked furiously as it tried to escape the writhing green tendrils that were gripping it tight.
“Eh. Don’t just watch!” The fangs at the side of the spider’s mouth were bared. “Get me outta here.”
Buzz glanced at Mary. She looked totally creeped out—exactly how he felt. Saving a spider the size of a large gerbil was not exactly what he expected when he ran over here.
“Um,” Buzz said.
Twelve inky black eyes regarded Buzz and Mary with mounting annoyance. “Be quick, now. These vines are gonna strangle me.”
“We should help,” Buzz finally said.
“Look at the size of it.” Mary’s lip was curled with distaste. “And it’s probably poisonous. What if it bites us?”
“Eh. I don’t bite . . . much,” the spider insisted. “And I have many names, but none of them are ‘it.’ You can call me Ayiyi.”
“Come on, Mary, we can’t leave him like this,” Buzz pressed. “And remember, you said that we have to make decisions together. So are we going to do this?”
Mary hesitated but then nodded. “You’re right, we should help.” She stepped a bit closer to examine the vines. “How exactly did you get tangled up in this stuff?”
“It’s a very short story,” the spider said. “I was walking past this tree and stopped to get a bit of shade when—”
There was a sound like an elastic band snapping and a vine whipped forward and wrapped around Mary’s arm.
“Hey!” she exclaimed. Mary tried to shake the vine off, but another tendril grabbed her other arm.
“Yep,” the spider said. “That’s exactly what happened to me.”
“Why didn’t you warn us?” Buzz shouted. He ran forward to grab Mary, but a vine immediately snaked toward him and snatched at his arm.
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