“What did you see?” Val asked.

“A beast, snarling, snapping his teeth. And there was a man, screaming, dying. H-he…” I stopped, took a breath, and tried it again. “He was being eaten alive.”

Val choked and sank to his knees before me. His voice came out dry and raspy when he asked, “Was it… Was it Mani?”

“No.” I shook my head. “I know what Mani’s screams sound like. This wasn’t him. I’ve never seen this before. He said something, but he spoke in a language I didn’t understand.”

“What did he say?” Val put his hands to my shoulders and squeezed. “What did he say?”

“I-I don’t know. It sounded like, like, ‘Nine brrotheer. Nine.’ Over and over.”

Val dropped his hands from my shoulders. He rolled back on his feet, stood, and moved away, turning toward the trees at the roadside.

“Val?” I rose to my feet and reached for him, but he answered in a ragged and broken voice. “He was saying, ‘No, brother… No, brother, no.’”

“Brother? What was that? What did I see?”

Val inhaled, and the breath expanded his ribs and shoulders. He stiffened his spine and stood taller. Then he turned to face me, his expression inscrutable. “Something that happened a long, long time ago. It’s not essential to the here and now. I’ll tell you some other time, when there isn’t something more important to focus on.”

I nodded, accepting his explanation. In my research, I had focused on Idun’s apples and what they could mean about my dreams and premonitions. I hadn’t delved deeply into the more obscure legends, and my knowledge of Val’s purpose as Odin’s instrument of revenge against Hodr was rudimentary at best. Did the memory I just witnessed have anything to do with Hodr’s death? When I had thought, just a little while before, about what pains Val had suffered that would stay with him for an eternity, I had decided I didn’t want to know. Whatever I had just heard from the past, it was horrible, anguished, terrifying. If Val wanted to keep the details to himself, I might consider that a blessing.

Chapter Twenty-three

Val and I skulked down a long pathway that ended before a large log cabin. Log manor? Log estate? Warm yellow lights shone from several first-floor windows, putting off enough glow to illuminate a deep wraparound porch. Beyond the rear of the house, the lake mirrored the cloudless night sky. A dark disruption in the reflective surface suggested the shape of a long, jutting dock. The darkness covered the details of the house and grounds, but its sheer dimensions suggested something grand and impressive.

“Jackpot?” I whispered.

“Turn off your glow,” Val said, his voice low. “I don’t want them to know we’re here yet. Let’s wait and watch for a while.” He took my arm and led me to the treeline bordering the yard, where we eased behind its cover. “How long before Skyla and the others get here?”

“The last text said they figured they were about half an hour out.”

“We’ll reconnoiter until they get here.”

“You think Tori and Grim will come outside and do some sword practice if we wait long enough? We’re going to have to be more proactive.”

“I just want to know if there are any surprises waiting for us.”

“I think Grim’s trap will be subtler than that.”

“Don’t be so sure.”

While we waited for Skyla and the others to arrive, Val and I crept around the property, hanging close to the treeline. No other cars accompanied Tori’s in the driveway, but we couldn’t check the garage without making a lot of noise—not that Grim needed a car to travel if he was anything like his kin. The exterior of the house and grounds remained quiet and dark, and blinds were drawn over the windows in the house, preventing us from looking inside. As the night deepened, so did the cold. My teeth chattered, and shivers trilled over me. We couldn’t risk my fire, or even my softest glow, but unless something happened soon, I thought I might march up to the house and start the hottest open-house party to ever descend on Mineral Lake.

“Last time I tromped around a lake in the dark, it didn’t go so well for me,” I said. “But I can’t wait much longer. The tension is killing me, and I really, really have to pee.”

Val snorted. “You want to go and ask Tori if you can use her bathroom?”

“If Skyla doesn’t get here soon, I might.”

I did end up squatting in a thicket of brush, and while I tugged my leggings back in place, Skyla finally texted, We’re here. I tiptoed back to Val and showed him my phone screen. He nodded, and we retreated down the driveway, heading to our Yukon. At the road, I lighted my internal candle again, and three gloomy figures emerged from the shadows to meet us.

“I take it nothing’s happened yet,” Embla said.

“Quiet as a graveyard,” I said. “We’ve watched the house. The lights are on, but no sign of activity. Haven’t seen Tori, Grim, or the sword.”

“Well.” Embla jutted her chin. “Let’s go knock on some doors. That bitch burned my Aerie. It’s time for a little payback. Solina, are you with us?”

“With you?” I asked. “I’ve been here, freezing my ass off in the woods, waiting for you to get here. Question is, are you with me? If we get that sword, what guarantee do I have that you won’t turn around and use it on me?”

Embla knitted her brows. “Skyla told us about your concerns. They aren’t unwarranted, and you’re smart to be wary, but we don’t intend to kill you. We want to protect you. You’ll just have to believe us, or you’re free to leave and go about your business on your own.”

Val stepped forward and put a hand on my shoulder. “She’s not on her own, and we’ve already made up our minds. We’ll stay, and we’ll fight.”

Embla processed for a moment. She bobbed her chin. “Good. Lead the way.”

We walked, without preamble or hesitation, down the driveway, through the yard, and onto the porch. Embla and Naomi peeled off from our group and scurried to the rear of the house. What now?

Before I could put my question to words, Skyla pounded her fist against the door, a thunderous knock. “Tori Ito, we know you’re here,” she yelled. “Come out and face us. Don’t hide behind your pitiful little god.”

Skyla pounded on the door a few more times, but either Tori had decided to hide from us, or she wasn’t home. Skyla rattled the doorknob. “Locked.”

I looked at Val. “This is where you come in.”

Val huffed but complied with my request. He peered through a crack in the window blinds near the front door. The air popped in my ears, and he disappeared. The front door opened an instant later, and Val smiled and motioned for us to come in.

Skyla and Val fanned out through the house. I let Embla and Naomi in through the back-porch entrance. They took the upstairs while Skyla, Val, and I searched the downstairs.

“Clear!” Skyla called from her corner of the house.

I found Skyla in the living room and motioned to the kitchen. “It’s clear in here, too.”

Val returned from searching the other downstairs rooms. He shook his head. “Nothing.”

Embla and Naomi tromped down the stairs and rejoined us.

“Nothing,” said Naomi.

“What game are they playing?” Embla asked.

Through the kitchen window, beyond the yard, somewhere on the dock, the sudden glimmer of a flame arced through the sky.

“Look.” I pointed. “I guess they’re playing capture the flag, er, sword.”

The flame waved, leaving a contrail of bright, burning plasma, like the color guard in a demonic high-school marching band. Come and get me, it said.

“If they want a fight, they’ll get a fight,” Naomi said, growling.

Skyla grabbed Naomi’s arm and stopped the Valkyrie from charging forward. “That’s what they want. They want us to go rushing out there, rash and unprepared.”