I fumbled at the constricting wall of my leathers that hugged my ribcage. I missed my old jeans and T-shirts. “You’re having way too much fun poking fun at the Valkyrie with amnesia.”
Will crossed his arms. “What’s behind door number one?”
Ymir pressed the final button and two doors pressed together hissed as they unlatched. When they slowly drifted apart, I drew in a gasp.
A thick glass wall separated us from raw, molten lava. Heat should have been billowing into the room and cooking us alive, but I realized the encasement wasn’t glass at all. I walked up to it and ran my fingers over the pristine material.
“Fascinating, isn’t it?” Ymir remarked, clearly proud as she straightened. She pressed a hand to the wall and closed her eyes. “I can almost feel the power it took to build this. Such a massive undertaking.”
“What’s it made of?” Will asked, sounding curious in spite of himself.
“It’s a form of diamond, carbon compressed until it’s so tightly bound that even heat can’t penetrate it.” She shrugged. “Perhaps there’s a bit of Yggdrasil sap in it as well. A little magic goes a long way.”
I pulled my hand away. “Great. So this is a giant grave.” I knew what it took to draw Yggdrasil’s sap from a soul. The Huldra’s honeycomb form had taken merciless sacrifice one after another to build enough power to fuel the Bifrost. The Surtr likely worked in the same fashion, being just another race of the collective Jotun.
“Don’t get your feathers all in a bunch,” Ymir said and clacked her hoof against the stone. “Valkyries return to this planet after their death, remember? That’s plenty of sap for us to work with. Your mother had no use for it, since she can only work with mortal souls, and she wants the Bifrost just as badly as we do.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You’re telling me that you can get the Bifrost under our control?” That’d be a game changer. Even Ragnarök didn’t have control over time and space to that degree. And once Ragnarök was taken care of, perhaps even Asgard could be reclaimed.
I shook my head, finding myself going down the path of a Valkyrie who served Freya. It wasn’t my responsibility to take control back from my brother. I was going to do what needed to be done to give Will the life he deserved, then I was done.
Ymir waved her hand and the wall emanated with a soft blue light, sending the lava parting to reveal the golden hull of a ship. “We have the Gulltop.”
A memory triggered at that name. “It’s what fuels the Bifrost.” Or, at least, it’s what used to power it before Dalia used whatever souls she could find. Realization swept through me. The Heimdall line, that was why they controlled the Bifrost. Only they had enough darkness and the capability to devour souls and fuel something as powerful as the Bifrost without the help of the Gulltop.
Will paced in front of the massive wall. “How do we get to it?” The lava swarmed around the Gulltop, revealing hints of tunnels that acted as release valves for the pressure, keeping the flow of lava constant.
Ymir laughed. “You can’t drain this chamber, not without blasting through the vent chambers and being disintegrated by the lava that would be released. This is lava from the heart of Muspelheim. Not even a Surtr or a Valkyrie could survive it. The Bifrost is a terrifying force and the Heimdall who controls it can only do small jumps. She can’t send entire armies between worlds. If she had the Gulltop, she could do just that.”
I frowned. “What if we had the Bifrost?” The original Bifrost worked not only in space, but in time as well. I could take Will back to before any of this happened. Perhaps I could even prevent his mother from selling his soul to the Norn.
That would mean that I’d never met Will in the first place and dread sank to my bones, but I knew if I ever did get control of the Bifrost, that’s exactly what I’d have to do. Ragnarök would never have been triggered, Will would get his human life he deserved… but what would happen to me?
Ymir frowned at me as I struggled to keep my face under control. I wasn’t very good at hiding my emotions. I cleared my throat and pushed hair that escaped the tight band of my headdress aside. The armor seemed to summon itself the longer I was in my Valkyrie form. I looked down, seeing bathing boots wrapped over my thighs. My spear hinted its presence with a flurry of embers at my fingertips.
“What did you have in mind?” Ymir asked, still watching me with that scrutinizing gaze that I had a feeling didn’t miss a thing. “There’s a reason we encased the Gulltop behind impenetrable diamond and surrounded it with molten lava.”
I bit my lip and looked to Will for strength. He was the one soul who was innocent in all of this. He didn’t deserve to be here with stress and fear glimmering in the rainbow sheen of his armor that crusted over his body. I wasn’t the only one on edge. “Where is the Bifrost now?” I asked instead.
Ymir pulled a device from her tool belt that was about the only garment on her Surtr body. The rest of her was covered in a light sheen of fur that kept her otherwise decent to my human-accustomed eyes. Her brows furrowed as she watched the screen. “It’s still over the city, but its cold signature is growing. It’s trying to jump something.” Her ruby gaze met mine. “Something big.”
Gods
Ymir took us to the mortal transitional quarters, a place similar to the rooms on the Einherjar designed for Immortals shedding their Immortal skin. I brightened when I spotted Mr. Jefferson.
My history teacher couldn’t have looked more at home in the small nursery where children Surtr and human alike played together. He laughed when they collectively grabbed his book and tried to rip it from his hands.
“Another story, Jeff-Jeff!” said a small boy with two little horns that curled over his forehead.
A human girl tugged on one of the horns and got him to release the prize. “No! He said he was going to show me how to dance!”
Mr. Jefferson still had his human form, and I wondered if he’d ever let it go. He seemed content in his skin, even if the tell-tale sign of fire streaked through his veins. He didn’t try to hide it here, and the Surtr children with human faces did the same. The fire-blood of Muspelheim transformed them and molded them, making them the only creatures I knew who could hold a fire in themselves better than a Valkyrie.
Mr. Jefferson’s smile grew when he spotted us. “Ah! Val, and Will? What a surprise.”
Will blinked, and I realized that he didn’t know Mr. Jefferson had been an Immortal. I laughed and prodded him in the ribs. “C’mon, don’t look so surprised.”
Will shook his head. “Is everyone I know inhuman?”
Mr. Jefferson stood and shook off the children that clung to his legs. He coaxed them with promises of more stories if they would be good and go with Ymir to learn about the rest of their daily lessons.
I expected the clinically scientific Surtr to be offended by the children, but Ymir drew the girl up onto her hip and laughed when the child tugged on her more impressive horns. “Come, children. Let’s leave Jeff-Jeff to talk with our guests.”
“Will you do the melting trick again?” A boy asked hopefully as he trotted at her heels.
She smiled and a wicked gleam glimmered in her eye. “Only if you behave. Now come along.”
I watched in fascination as the children swarmed around her, screeching with delight when she ran a finger along the wall and left a molten streak in her wake. So that was the melting trick.
“She does like to show off,” Mr. Jefferson said with a touch of fondness to his voice. He situated himself at a short table designed for much smaller Surtr and folded his hands. “Now, what brings you two here? Was it just Ragnarök?” His gaze fell to my pouch. “Or did you have something about Yggdrasil to share?”
I slipped into one of the chairs that was barely knee-high. My wings draped over the back and grazed the floor. Instinct born of the endless chiding from my mentors had taught me to pick the appendages back up, but I couldn’t even lift a finger right now. I was so tired and weighed down by secrets. I didn’t want to hid
e them from Mr. Jefferson.
“I went to Yggdrasil,” I said, my voice low with the admission. “I’m a Frigg and I have the same powers as a Heimdall.” Something deep within me told me that I’d taken my one and only shot at setting foot on Yggdrasil’s soil. After my thievery, I was not welcome back there again.
I glanced at Will, guilt returning with the knowledge that if I failed, he’d never get to find peace there. Even if I was doomed to wander the world for eternity, he wasn’t born into this fate. He’d been betrayed by the one supposed to care for him the most.
Will joined us at the round table littered with rocks that I now realized glowed with red. The table itself was a shade of limestone, strong enough not to be blistered by the fiery toys. I picked one up, indulging in the surge of blistering heat that ran up my arm. As a Valkyrie, I communed with fire. It’s why the Surtr and the Valkyrie were a good match.
“Do you believe Ragnarök can be stopped?” Will asked.
Mr. Jefferson stroked his chin, managing to look like an ordinary teacher as if we were sitting in his classroom at Mattsfield High. That life seemed so far away and so long ago. “No. I don’t.” When our faces fell, he lifted a pointed finger. “However, I do believe it can be buried. The universe is a large place and there are pockets deep enough for even a mass of that size to be put to rest.”
I continued to turn the ember over in my fingers, keeping myself busy so I didn’t go for the more precious treasure in my pouch. The fruit of Yggdrasil lingered a soft melody that drifted in the background of my senses, and I knew the longer I kept it in this world, the more it would wish to return home. “Isn’t that precisely what Freya and Odin have done during past cycles?”
Mr. Jefferson stiffened. “That’s what I suspected. They don’t admit to past cycles. Until now, that had been my theory.”
I bit my lip. I hadn’t intended to spill any of my mother’s secrets, but I let the guilt wash away. Leaving the rest of the universe in the dark and trying to manage Ragnarök all on her own was precisely why she’d failed. I wasn’t going to make the same mistake. “She told me that Ragnarök is the culmination of suffering and darkness that gave Immortals life in the first place.” I left out the part where she and Odin were actually its initial creators, having been the birth of Immortality in the first place. I would leave Mr. Jefferson to figure out that one on his own. “After it was done devouring the world, she trapped it in a pocket of space and time.”
Mr. Jefferson nodded gravely. “That would line up with my theory. The power of a Frigg and a goddess like Freya would be enough to trap the beast in such a prison.”
I leaned over the table and my wings draped over my shoulders. “Do you think we could replicate it before it devours the world?”
Mr. Jefferson hummed. “It has already begun its feed on Muspelheim and it’ll stay here until it’s drained the life-force of fallen Valkyries.”
My stomach lurched. “What’ll happen to them?”
He shrugged. “It seems Baldr made use of them as foot soldiers, but now that the majority of Freya’s forces have fled, I suspect he’s begun Ragnarök’s feed.”
Will scratched his nails against the table and growled his frustration. “What does this Baldr have to do with Ragnarök? I swear, this bastard plagues me in every area of my life. First he twists my mother with promises of Immortality until she becomes a monster. Now he wants to play god of Ragnarök? What does he gain by destroying the world?”
Mr. Jefferson’s eyes gleamed with the power of his race. I wasn’t fooled by his collected demeanor. Ragnarök had shaken his race to the core. “Let me ask you a question, Will. When you look at Valerie, what do you see?”
Will leaned back and glanced at me. “What do you mean?”
“Just tell me how she makes you feel. Then try to tell me why she makes you feel that way.”
Will shifted uncomfortably, and even through the gold hue of his Valiant magic, I could have sworn I saw his cheeks tint red in a blush. “Valerie is the only light in my life. She’s been there for me when no one else was. When I feel hopeless or like everything around me is about to collapse, I can just look into her eyes and live in the present. It’s what’s kept me sane.”
Rocked by how much I meant to him, I wanted to tell him he was wrong. I wasn’t the light in his life. I was the darkness that had blotted it out.
“And why do you think that is?” Mr. Jefferson asked thoughtfully. “What is it about her?”
Will looked into my eyes and smiled. “It’s the love we share. Even through death, it’s kept our bond strong. Even through the loss of memory and the loss of our bodies, my love for her will never fail.”
I swallowed hard. “Will.”
He took my hand. “There’s nothing wrong with me loving you,” he insisted. “If it’s about Tyler, it’s fine. I was childish to be jealous over it. He’s been there for you a hell of a lot longer than I ever have been. How could he not fall in love with you?”
Tears sizzled in my eyes and I was grateful I didn’t have to wipe them away. A Valkyrie never cried, for tears never survived the heat of our nature. “But you deserve so much better,” I insisted. “It’s my fault you’re a Valiant. I failed you. You should hate me.”
“What?” He slipped off his chair and knelt at my side. “Why do you insist to place this burden on yourself?”
“She’s right,” Mr. Jefferson said, the validation making my teeth grind together. I wasn’t sure if I was ready for this, but I couldn’t fight Ragnarök if Will followed me blindly into the fire. I needed him to let me go for the next step of my plan to work. “Freya and the Norn have a deal. The Norn entice humans with Immortality and the Valkyrie reap the souls. Of course there were disagreements over how many souls the Valkyrie would get until it turned into an all-out war. Baldr now leads the Norn and Freya fights for every soul she can get.” His ruby gaze landed on me, burning with merciless fury. “Ragnarök was due to come, be it from Valerie’s love or some other event. Fate cannot be avoided. Freya knew that when the echoes of Ragnarök began to spread across the universe.”
Will shook his head. “So what does that have to do with me? Why does this put any blame onto Val?”
Mr. Jefferson turned his gaze to Will. “Don’t you see? Valerie is a Frigg. She could have reaped your soul and prevented Ragnarök’s return. She’s strong enough to imprison it, but she let you go. She allowed you to kill her sister and become a Valiant.” He sneered. “Now you’re useless and just as damned as the rest of us.”
Ymir startled me by slapping Mr. Jefferson on the back of the head. “Jeffra!” she sniped, using his native name. “What’s the matter with you? I thought you were supposed to be good with children.”
The fire left his gaze and he rolled his shoulders back. “My apologies. I simply was taken off guard by learning a dark truth I’d always suspected about Freya.” He nodded. “If you’ll excuse me.”
We watched him leave and Ymir gave us an apologetic smile. “I don’t know what’s gotten into him. I’ll show you two to your rooms.”
We followed Ymir down the corridors and I’d stopped trying to keep track of where we were. If Ragnarök chased me right now, it would win, because there was no way I could find my way out again.
“Why do you think Mr. Jefferson asked me to clarify why I loved you?”
I shrugged and made an effort to keep my wings from trailing the ground behind me. “Perhaps he was pointing out that you’re in love with your own death.”
He shook his head. “No. There’s more to it than that.” He took my hand as we walked. I liked being close to him, but right now I just wanted to pull away. Even after everything we’d learned, he still hadn’t come to the conclusion that I was toxic to him.
“You’re light. You’re warmth. He was trying to show me that you’re everything good.” He gave me a raised brow. “Perhaps you’re everything Freya was supposed to be.”
“Yeah, so?” I asked. Freya has told me that I
was all her love, which meant I was the culmination of her failure and weakness.
“Then what does that make Baldr?”
I stopped in my tracks. Ymir and Will paused and stared at me. “If I’m light, then Baldr is dark.” I met Will’s gaze. “But I’m darkness too, Will. The only difference between my brother and I is that I’m trying to stop Ragnarök.”
Will grinned. “Perhaps not. Perhaps you’re just going about it differently.”
Ymir piped up. “Are you telling me that Baldr thinks he’s trying to save the universe?” She buckled over and laughed. “That’s a good one.”
I chewed on my lip before making a decision. “I think Will’s right.” When Ymir stared at me like I was nuts, I flared my wings, hoping it gave me a sense of authority. “Do you have any hologram screens I could use?”
It felt very twenty-first century to call up my brother, but that’s exactly what I’d decided to do. If I’d gotten him wrong all this time and his goals were the same as mine, at least in the larger spectrum, perhaps there was some reasoning with him.
Standing in the hologram room with a three-sixty wall that wrapped around me, I glanced at Will through the translucent screen. He nodded, offering me encouragement and strength, but staying off the platform so Baldr couldn’t see him. No matter my hopes, Baldr would only use him against me again.
The extravagant dining hall appeared when Baldr picked up the call. I swallowed, recognizing the luxurious low drapes and unending platter of delicacies. An Immortal didn’t need to eat, and the display of fresh fruit and wine only boasted Baldr’s stature. Asgard was alive and well and as of yet, untouched by Ragnarök.
“Sister,” he said, his voice already grating on my last nerve. “How unexpected. Have you called to plea for surrender?”
I glowered and flared my wings, which only served to make him laugh. Before he could comment on my Immortal form, I summoned my spear in a burst of flame. My powers came to me so much easier with my feet on Muspelheim soil. Lava and the magic that burned through my veins roared to life and whispered the desire to burn. Flame always changed anything it touched down to the very molecular level. If I found myself face-to-face with Baldr again, I’d show him exactly what kind of power I had for those who crossed me. “You attack our mother, you attack me, but you yourself remain lazing about on Asgard. Why is that?”
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