“We questioned one of the guards,” Skyla said. “Embla, uh, ensured he was telling the truth.”

“More rune carving?” I asked.

“Yes. He said the contents of the containers were moved a couple days ago.”

“Where’d they go?” Thorin asked.

“He didn’t know, and considering the conditions of his interrogation, we were inclined to believe him. He said a bunch of eighteen wheelers showed up. They transferred the cargo, and the trucks left.” Skyla inhaled a deep breath and let it out in a rush. “But we have a working theory about where she may have taken them. It’s not great, but it’s something.”

“Not great is certainly better than nothing,” Baldur said. “What’s your guess?”

“Okay, Hela used the spirits of the dead at a final battle which took place... where?”

“On Vigrid’s plain,” Thorin said. “It’s also called Oskopnir.”

“Vigrid is the place where the Aesir fought Hela, Loki, and everyone else,” Skyla said. “Legend said it measured a hundred miles each way. The hundred miles is considered to be a phrase generally indicating a vast distance—sort of like how forty days and forty nights meant a really long time in the Bible.”

“Seemed a pretty accurate measurement at the time.” Thorin rose from his seat and paced the open space between the table in the bathroom door. “But Vigrid existed in Asgard. That’s going to be a problem for Helen if she’s sticking to history.”

“But what is the literal translation of Vigrid?” Skyla asked.

“Battle-surge,” Baldur said. “Or a place on which battle surges. And Oskopnir means the not yet created or not made.”

“If we’re being literal,” Skyla said, “then Vigrid can be any place where the battle will surge, and it may even be a place that is not yet created but will exist when Helen names it and sets the battle there.”

I rubbed my face and shook my head. “If I’d had a full night of sleep, I might be able to process the meaning of what you just said.”

“All I said was that Vigrid is a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

“Nope. I’m sure you said a lot more than that.”

“That is a wonderful theory.” Sarcasm saturated Thorin’s tone. “But you can’t plot the not-yet-created-battle-surge on a map, can you, Skyla?”

“Don’t get your undies in a wad, Boss Man. I’m not finished. That guard gave us one more useful bit of information before Embla, uh, eliminated him. The trucks all have GPS tracking. The guard said if we could find Helen’s tracking program, we might locate the trucks.”

He stopped pacing and folded his arms over his chest. “And?”

“We left some of our techie types at the warehouse office. They’re trying to hack into Helen’s network, but even if we find the tracking program, who knows if the GPS trackers are on or if the trucks made a delivery and moved on to somewhere else?”

A very dull light bulb clicked on over my head. I shifted and sat up on my knees. “You’ve got to see if the trucks travelled somewhere that might serve as a modern-day Vigrid. And if we’re lucky, the trucks might still be there like a giant flashing sign—future site of Vigrid’s Plain, coming soon.”

Skyla snorted. “Yes, something like that.”

“You got your work cut out for you. And in the meantime, we have a new wolf problem to solve.”

“You said something about that in your message. It didn’t make any sense.”

I told Skyla about the new wolf, about our fight, my chase, and Baldur’s discovery of Val’s involvement.

“I think we should get over to that house and see what Val’s up to,” she said.

Baldur leaned forward toward the phone. “I can meet you at the Bellestrella and show you the way.”

“Val will know if you’re coming for him,” I said. “It’s probably what he wants.”

“You’re probably right,” she said.

“Be careful.”

“Always. Baldur, we’ll wait here until you show up.”

Skyla ended the call, and Baldur stood and looked at Thorin and me. “What are you two going to do?”

“We’re going to keep heading to New Breidablick,” I said. “Neither of us are in the best condition to fight right now.”

Baldur nodded. “Okay. I’ll meet you there as soon as possible.” My ears popped, and Baldur disappeared.

Thorin looked at me and arched an eyebrow. “Really? No insisting on going back to Vegas to confront Val?”

I gave him an are-you-kidding-me look. “My fire is bankrupt. I’m exhausted and in no state to fight wolves or face Val… Rolf… whoever.” My stomach turned over at the thought of seeing him again. My brain still tended to reject the truth—that Rolf and Val were the same, and when I forced the question, things inside me went cold and dizzy. “I have a feeling going to Val plays into his scheme, whatever it is. If he wants something from us, I don’t plan to make it easy for him. And maybe, just maybe, Skyla and Baldur will get lucky.”

He nodded. “I won’t argue. I think you’re making the right decision. And if you agree to go my way, we can be at New Breidablick in a blink.”

“Your way makes me seasick.”

“It’s another hour and a half by car.”

I motioned toward the parking lot. “What about the bloody truck outside?”

“The rental company will take care of it. Discreet, remember?”

“Is your rental company owned by the mob?”

“No, I own the rental company. The mob rents from me.”

I studied his face, looking for a clue as to whether he was teasing me or not. I rolled my eyes and snorted. He grinned, knowing he had won the argument.

Baldur had established New Breidablick as a fortress of runes, wards, and inexplicable magic that shouldn’t exist in the human world. It was safe and probably the only place I could relax. “You guys with your lakes and mountains and predilections for snow.” I slid out of bed, intending to retrieve my jeans from where I had left them folded in the bathroom. “You’re all so much alike and still so completely different. Take you and your brother, for example. What happened to make you two hate each other so much?”

I had meant the question rhetorically, not expecting an answer. Thorin and personal questions were anathema. Instead of ignoring me or changing the subject, he answered. “I don’t hate Grim.”

I paused at the bathroom doorway. “Could have fooled me.”

“Our history is too extensive for hate.”

“Well, I have enough hate for him to cover the both of us.”

He gave no reply but picked up his coffee cup and scrutinized the lid as if he had discovered an alien artifact.