“It looks like something from a fantasy novel,” I said. “Do you think if we stand here long enough, British children in blazers and knee socks will come marching out?”
“I hope not,” Val said. “I’m not particularly fond of wizards or witches or wardrobes of any sort.”
“Just prehistoric gods, wolves, and weaponry.”
Val tugged open the front door. “Of course.”
He seemed to know which way to go, so I followed him through the winding hallways until he stopped us before a suite of faculty offices.
“Doctor Thorin?” I said, reading from a placard by the door.
“We all have credentials, Solina. It would be difficult to get by in life without them.”
“I’ve never needed credentials to get by.”
Val smirked. “You’ve also never lived for an eternity.”
When Val and I entered the office suite, a secretary looked up from her computer and smiled at us. Well, she smiled at Val, anyway.
“We’re here to see Dr. Thorin,” Val said.
“Do you have an appointment?” She fluttered her lashes at my big, brawny companion.
I coughed and cleared my throat.
She looked at me and dropped her smile.
It’s okay, I used to bat my lashes at him too. You’ll get over it.
“I spoke to you on the phone just a few minutes ago,” Val said. “I’m Val Wotan. This is my partner, Solina Mundy.”
The girl’s face brightened, and she smiled. “Oh, I remember. Okay, Dr. Thorin is finishing up another meeting. He should be here shortly.” She motioned toward a sofa adjacent to her desk. “You can wait over there.”
When Grim returned to his office and turned to note our presence, I saw his eyes were lighter than Thorin’s, his smile a little colder and crueler. No one had indicated Modi and Magni were twins, but the brothers looked more alike than many twins I knew, including Mani and myself. Closer inspection revealed Modi Grimr Thorin wasn’t an exact copy of his brother. Grim’s hair was a shade darker and several inches shorter, and Thorin likely held the height and weight advantage between the two.
When Val and I rose to greet Grim, he beat us to it. “Wotan? Long time no see.”
“Not long enough,” Val grumbled.
“To what do I owe this honor?”
“I think you know why we’re here,” I said.
Grim’s jaw clinched, and he glared at me. Despite his lighter irises, he possessed the same black-eyed hostility as his brother. “Why don’t you come into my office? We can discuss your concerns in private.”
Grim showed us into a cozy, cluttered office outfitted in an eclectic mix of miscellanea: maps of ancient Scandinavia, antique helmets, wooden shields, and one very ordinary sword. He motioned to two mission-style chairs positioned before his desk. “Have a seat, although you’re welcome to stand. I can’t see how this will take very long. You wasted your time coming here. The Valkyrie made it clear that I intend to keep Surtalogi in my possession.”
“The Valkyrie?” I said. “You mean Tori?”
Grim shrugged and pulled out the leather chair behind his desk, but he hesitated to sit. Val and I had not taken the seats Grim offered us, either. We were playing the anti-musical chairs game—the first one to sit would lose.
“Did you honestly think you would come here and change my mind?” Grim asked.
“Maybe,” I said. “Maybe I hoped you could be reasoned with. Maybe I thought to come and see what kind of person… being… god you are.”
“And if you judge me lacking, then what?” Grim shook his head. He turned his chair, sat, and swiveled around to face his computer.
Grim’s taking a seat felt less like submission and more like dismissal. He wouldn’t see me as a serious threat unless I proved myself one. Thorin had once told me the gods disliked unnecessary and public attention. Nothing to draw undue notice. Let’s see just how public and unnecessary I can be.
I raised an index finger, and a flame lit at the tip. Stepping forward, I placed my fingertip to the very old, very dry wooden shield hanging on the wall near Grim’s desk. Probably an important artifact from some time long before. Sorry, history. Sometimes a girl has to take drastic measures. Besides, you were never all that nice to my gender anyway. Maybe I owed history a little payback for its many slights against womankind.
The old circle of wood smoldered. Val watched me and quirked an eyebrow. The flames caught, and the shield ignited. Val smirked. Grim leaped up from his seat, grabbed a coat from the rack at the other side of his desk, and used it to smother the flames. While Grim struggled to rescue his ancient artifacts, I went to work setting little fires all over his office.
Juvenile? Sure. Attention grabbing? Absolutely.
“What the hell are you doing?” Grim asked.
“Forcing you to stop ignoring me,” I said as Grim scurried around the room, undoing my damage before the fire alarms kicked in, or so I hoped. An evacuation would negate the whole purpose of our meeting. “You can’t intimidate me, Grim. I’ve fought and killed wolves in the desert with your brother, infiltrated privately guarded compounds, confronted stone soldiers, and rescued gods from their own stupidity. I’ve transmuted and traveled cross-country as a freaking shooting star.
“There is very little that scares me anymore, Modi Grimr Thorin, and if I have to piss you off to get your attention, I will. If I have to burn this whole damned building to the ground, I will.”
Grim had put out the remaining fires, and he stood at the corner of his desk, breathing hard. Blackness filled his eyes, bleeding out into the whites until he looked alien. Demonic. I had never seen Thorin’s darkness extend that far. I had seen his anger, yes, but I had always believed he would never really turn it on me. Grim had never made any such assurances.
I put away my fire and sank into one of Grim’s visitor chairs. Now who is dismissing whom? “You are a single individual without allies, and you’ve turned the Valkyries against you. How long would you last on your own against Helen? She has an army, Grim. I’ve seen it. Give us the sword. We have more reasons and more resources to keep it from Helen than you do.”
Grim crossed his arms over his chest and leaned a hip against his desk. “You’re assuming Helen could find the sword in the first place. Do you think I keep it on me? Wear it as a trinket like my brother wears the hammer? And if the sword is so important, why isn’t Magni here? He sent a little girl and an impotent god in his place.”
