Skyla motioned toward a tapestry hanging on the stone wall. The fabric swayed, and I squeaked.
“Don’t hurt her feelings,” Skyla said.
“I’m sorry. I haven’t been trained in proper ghost etiquette.”
“Well, get over it. She won’t be able keep it together much longer.” Skyla turned toward the tapestry where Ariel’s ghost supposedly stood. “What can you tell us about the fire, Ariel?”
“Surtalogi,” said a disembodied voice.
I was glad to hear my suspicions confirmed, even if it was by a disembodied spirit. “That’s what we thought,” I said.
Skyla turned to me with an eyebrow arched in question.
“I dreamed of it.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“When has there been time? Besides, it’s not something I wanted to talk about around any of them,” I said, meaning the Valkyries. I gave Skyla a quick summary of my vision and explained how the three gods and I agreed Surtalogi had mostly likely furnished the fire. “I had no idea who was wielding it, though. I didn’t think it was Helen.”
“Not Helen, not Tori,” said the voice… Ariel… whoever.
“What do you mean not Tori?”
“Tori is not your traitor.”
“Then who is?” Skyla asked.
“The Valkyries… rotten to the core. We were collecting artifacts of the gods, under the direction of our patron, but we were secretly seeking to empower the Valkyries and end our dependence on the gods. We found many things… Surtr’s sword.” Her voice weakened as she spoke, and her last words ended in a ghostly murmur.
“No way,” Skyla said. “They are handmaidens of the Aesir. They’ve maintained their customs to religious dedication. They’re not going to pervert that after all this time.”
“We are hostesses of war,” Ariel whispered. “We ache for battle. We long to return to Valhalla and Folkvangr and see our halls renewed. To do that, we need independence.”
“You too, Ariel?” Skyla’s voice rose.
I put an arm to her shoulder to remind her where we were and that someone might hear her.
“Did you forsake the Aesir?”
Ariel took so long to respond that I wondered if she had left. When she finally spoke, her words were barely audible. “Blinded by delusions of glory… Confession for atonement. Tori denied the plan. Still loyal to Aesir. Tori was to be killed. Tori fought.” Ariel’s voice faltered again, and I barely made out her last words. “Aerie burned… Tori ran.”
“Tori took the sword with her?” I said.
“Yes,” Ariel said.
“Where is she now?” Skyla asked.
“Grim… Thorin… Corvallis…”
The candles flickered as a gust of cool air blew through the room. Several candles went out, dimming the room further.
“Ariel?” Skyla asked. “Are you here?”
We held our breath and waited, but she had gone.
“Did she say grim?” I asked. “What does that mean?”
“I’m not sure.”
“And Thorin and Corvallis? Does she mean Corvallis as in Oregon?” I’d never heard Thorin mention a connection to Oregon, but there were probably lots of things Thorin had refrained from mentioning, especially if any of them were of a personal nature.
Skyla shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
“Looks like I need to get ahold of Thorin, ASAP. In the meantime, I could ask Val—”
“No.” Skyla latched onto my arm and squeezed. “Don’t breathe a word of this to Val.”
“I’m not always his biggest fan, either, Skyla. But he’s a good source of information. Why shouldn’t I ask him?”
“If Tori wasn’t Helen’s spy, then who told Helen where we were at Oneida Lake?”
“Why Val?”
“He had opportunity. So many times, he’s had opportunity. He knew where you were when you were kayaking with me. He knew you were in the desert.”
“He didn’t know we were at Oneida Lake… unless you’re saying the Valkyries were feeding him information. And if that’s true, why would he kill them?”
“It’s classic James Bond, Solina. Kill your own spy to throw the enemy off the trail. With Inyoni and Kalani dead, we would never know who to suspect other than Tori. Inyoni as good as said she was leaking word to someone. Maybe it was Val. Maybe she didn’t know he would pass it on to Helen.”
