The wolf yapped again and sneezed once, twice, a third time.
“Can you find their trail?” Helen asked from somewhere in the back of the room.
The tip-tap of canine claws approached my hiding place behind a stack of pallets. I clamped my lips together and held my breath, as if that would help. Skoll didn’t need to hear me when he could simply snuffle me out. I probably smelled like fear and adrenaline and a bunch of other tasty things wolves loved to eat. Had Baldur’s rune disguised my smell, too?
“There’s something over here,” Nate said, much closer to my hiding spot than he’d been moments before. “The girl, the other one—her blood is all over the place.”
“She’s been wounded,” said Helen. “Good.”
Snap, crackle, pop, and Baldur was back, somewhere close by, but not in my sight line. Behind me, a wolf howled.
Nate translated. “She’s here. Now.”
Helen screeched. “Then find her.”
We played a second game of cat-and-mouse through the pallets, me searching for Baldur while Skoll, Nate, and Helen hunted for me. Baldur found me first and grabbed my arm, ready to pull me through his magical portal, but Helen came instantaneously after him and latched onto my free arm. I tugged against her, but she had inhuman strength. I’m like the baby King Solomon threatened to cut in half.
“Nice try, Allfather,” Helen said. She was as immaculate as the last time I’d seen her, in fitted skirt and elegant silk blouse. Malice glinted in her eyes, the ice-blue one and the black one. “But your rune work is weak.” A triumphant smile spread across her lips as Nate and Skoll arrived—Helen’s horrific reinforcements. “The girl is mine.”
Baldur tightened his hold, his arms twined around my waist. My joints and muscles strained from the tension. “You’ve taken everything from me. You won’t get her, too.”
“I’ll rip her in half. Skoll can finish her before she bleeds out.”
Helen had demonstrated uncanny strength. I believed her capable of fulfilling her threat.
Baldur let out a war cry and tugged me with a tremendous heave. Helen held on like an overzealous leech. Skoll lunged for me.
In the freeze-frame moment in which I was certain I was about to die, I noticed the most ridiculous details: the color of Skoll’s eyes, citrine flecked by peridot; the delicate weave of Helen’s ivory blouse; the familiar gold charm, nestled in the cleft of her breasts. Rather than defend myself from the wolf or fight to push Helen away, I lunged for her necklace and wrapped my fingers around the heavy gold charm.
That might have been the move that saved me.
Out of reflex, Helen’s grasp relaxed, and she reached for the necklace. My ears popped once, twice, like the pressure shift from a change of altitude. After an instant of dizzying blackness, Baldur lowered me to my feet in a dark, dusty field beyond the compound’s fence line.
“This is as far as I can go,” Baldur said, panting. “It should be far enough to avoid Helen’s immediate detection, but we should get moving.”
“Why doesn’t she pop through space like you and come after us?”
“She is Jötunn,” Baldur said as if that were a sufficient answer. When I gave him a questioning look, he said, “They don’t have the runes for it. I only gave that ability to the Aesir who survived Ragnarok.”
“If you could always move around like that, why bother with cars and airplanes? We’ve been wasting a lot of time.”
Baldur patted his chest. “I’m the only one strong enough to take on a passenger.”
Before I could ask for a better explanation, my ears popped again. A shadow lunged toward me, and someone dragged me off my feet. I fought my captor, certain Helen had managed to follow us despite Baldur’s assurances, but I caught a familiar scent of rain and musk and a glint of blond hair in the ambient light. Thorin pinned me in his arms and buried his face in my neck. He said nothing but held me so ferociously tight that my ribs creaked.
“Almighty gods,” he said in his rumbling baritone. “Tell me you’re all right. Then tell me what the hell you’re doing here.”
For a moment, I sagged against him, relishing the relief of having most of my team back together—except for Val. In all that had happened, I’d had no time to worry about him. Nothing had given me reason to believe he’d been caught, and I was operating under the assumption he’d made it out. Thinking of Val sobered me. I stiffened and pushed Thorin away. His nearness did funny things to my thought processes.
“I’m fine,” I said. “And I totally rescued you, by the way. You’re welcome.”
Thorin peered into my face and shook his head. “Swear to me you’ll never do anything that stupid again.”
“I won’t swear any such thing. If I want to save you, then I will.”
Skyla lay on the ground, nearly unconscious. Baldur squatted beside her, pressing his hands against her wound. A faint glow radiated from his fingers, and he was muttering a steady litany under his breath, but his eyes followed my every move.
I flung my hand around, gesturing at the others. “All of you,” I clarified. “I can’t do this on my own. If I ran away and left you all, how long do you think I would last? It’s take a risk and maybe die now, or run and certainly die later.” I inhaled and let my breath out in a gust. “It was a good choice, Thorin. Don’t be a jerk about it, okay? I’m sorry for the cheap shot, but it’s not like you’ve been king of wise decision-making lately. I told you going after Nina on that crappy lead was a trap.”
Baldur interrupted my rant. “And it’s all my fault. My shortsightedness and impulsivity put us all in danger. It’s been so long since I’ve had to think about the consequences of my actions that I’ve lost my good judgment.” He raised a bloody hand toward Thorin. “I release you from your vows, cousin. You are no longer obligated to risk yourself or anyone else to uphold your loyalty to me.”
“But—” Thorin said.
Baldur interrupted. “No buts. You must do what is best for us all. I am afraid I can no longer be trusted.”
“I have none of your knowledge or wisdom.”
“None of you have shown a lot of wisdom,” I said, sticking my nose in the middle of ancient business, “but I think I can help you with your power, at least.”
Thorin’s brow wrinkled. “What do you mean?”
“Open your hand.”
The look that shot across Thorin’s face indicated he wanted to balk at my order, but he swallowed his retort and did as I said. I covered his hand with mine and dropped what I had been holding with a fierce grip all that time. The warm gold shimmered to life in his palm when I pulled away. Thorin went still as golden light flickered like a firefly on his face. He glanced up at me, eyes wide, lips parted as if uttering a silent cry of surprise. The intensity of his attention pressed against me, and I fidgeted, resisting the urge to flee. Or kiss him. Anything to wipe the unsettling awe and adoration from his face.
“Does it take any magic words?” I asked.
“Magic words?” Thorin asked, his voice dry and gruff, his eyes never leaving mine.
