“Catch it,” Tori said. “Don’t let it burn you out. Take control.”

Now that the fire had come, I sensed the origins inside myself, same as I had in Helen’s hotel room in Juneau. I focused on turning the flames into something useable, rather than something all consuming. Still, the use of my abilities sucked away my strength, and even at this reduced rate, I wouldn’t hold out long. “It’s taking all my energy,” I said. “It always does this. It burns until I black out.”

“You don’t always have to be a flamethrower,” Tori said. “Sometimes one hot coal is enough. See if you can turn it down a notch.”

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and pictured a temperature knob on an old oven. I imagined turning it to a low broil.

“That’s it,” Inyoni said, her voice full of excitement. “You’re doing it.” She smiled at me, her enthusiasm genuine.

I grinned, and the fire diminished even more. “Don’t distract me, or I’ll lose it.”

“It’s okay,” Tori said. “Now let’s take it back up. Try bringing it out on both hands, but just your hands and not your whole body.”

We worked like that for a while, but as exhaustion took over, my control diminished. We ended the night with me going up in a blaze of glory and the sprinklers dousing everything until an inch of water filled the basement. My black eye was gone, thanks to the self-healing aspect of my powers, but I would seriously have to invest in a flame-retardant wardrobe if I kept this up.

Tori sent Inyoni running for a T-shirt and another pair of sweats and a towel. When she returned, I dried off, tugged on the clothes, and sloshed my way over to the basement stairway. As I chugged up the steps, an immense sense of accomplishment swelled through me. No wedding cake or muffin basket had given me that feeling, and they never would.

The main-level workout room was full of women. They took in our sodden figures, and the whole room burst in a chorus of raucous cheers and whistles.

Kalani scampered over and hugged me, disregarding my wet hair. “You did it,” she said. “We knew you could.”

“She’s still got a long way to go,” Tori said.

The Valkyries lined up to slap me on the back or give me hugs of congratulations, but before I had passed more than the first few, a piercing whistle broke through the celebration.

“Hey, Solina!” someone shouted from the doors. It was Aoi, an older woman whose long black dreadlocks showed streaks of silver. “You’ve got visitors.”

Chapter Thirty-one

Val and Skyla rushed to throw their arms around me the moment I stepped through the door into the foyer of the Aerie’s main house. Over Skyla’s shoulder, Thorin watched in cool scrutiny. Baldur was absent, and I wondered if he was off somewhere looking for Nina.

“What happened to you?” Skyla asked, studying my damp clothes and sodden hair.

Val growled and glared over my shoulder at Tori and Inyoni, who came into the foyer behind me. “What the hell have you been doing to her?” he asked.

“They’re training me,” I said and turned to Skyla. “They’re Valkyries. I told them about you.”

Skyla recoiled. “You did?”

“Yes.” I turned to Tori and motioned toward Skyla. “This is Skyla Ramirez. I mentioned her earlier.”

Tori came forward and held out her hand. She and Skyla shook. “I’m sorry, Miss Ramirez, but maybe we can talk about this later. Tonight, I think you came for other reasons.”

“We came for Solina,” Val said, still bristling at the Valkyries before him. “We have her, and now we’ll be leaving.”

“That’s funny, Val,” I said, but my tone was anything but humorous. “You show up here after two weeks and think you can make demands like that? We’re not on your territory now. Show a little respect.”

“The Valkyries were always allies of the Aesir,” Thorin said.

“Hello, Alek,” Tori said. She lit up like a candle.

Thorin returned her smile in a way I wanted to call tender, except that meant sweetness and gentility, qualities Thorin didn’t possess—at least not in my experience. “Hello, Tori,” he said.

“It’s been a while.”

Thorin nodded. “It has.”

A shiver of something ugly passed through my chest, but I stomped it down and didn’t dare look at it. Thorin turned to Val. “Solina is not harmed. The Valkyries have kept her safe, and that is more than can be said for you or me.”

“Safe?” Val said in an outrage. “She looks like she’s been put through waterboarding.”

I narrowed my eyes, daring Val to push my buttons. “I’m learning how to fight.”

Val studied me, taking in my appearance. His lip curled. “Fight for what?”

“For my life. I’m learning to defend myself. Learning to control this… ability. It’s not like you guys were any help.” Skyla winced, and I instantly regretted my words. “I didn’t mean you,” I said, but she waved me off. I turned back to Val. “I won’t last very long if I always have to depend on others for protection.”

Val glowered but didn’t argue any more.

“It’s late,” Tori said. “You all are no doubt tired from your journey. We’ll make room for you. I hope you’ll stay.”

I turned to Skyla. “You have to stay. Wait until you see their gym and weapons room. You’re going to love it here.”

Skyla raised an eyebrow. “You think?”

“This place has got your name written all over it.”

Tori called several of her sisters to show the new arrivals to their rooms. “Skyla, I hope you don’t mind sharing a room with Solina?”

Skyla nodded. “She and I have a lot of catching up to do.”

“Please make yourselves comfortable,” Tori said to Thorin and Val. “If there’s anything you need, don’t hesitate to ask. Our home is honored by the presence of the Aesir.”

With that, we were dismissed. Inyoni and several others led us up the wide staircase to the sleeping quarters. In my two weeks in the Aerie, I had learned my way around enough to give a short tour but not enough to know which rooms were intended for guests. At Inyoni’s direction, Val and Thorin vanished into a pair of rooms across the hall from the one I used. Skyla followed me into my room and dumped her rucksack on my huge canopy bed.

“Grab a jacket,” I said as I grabbed a sweater from my borrowed collection of clothing. Then I went to the nightstand behind the bed and pulled out a small flashlight.

“Why?” Skyla asked as she opened her bag.

“I want to talk, but not here.”

I led Skyla to a slim spiral staircase at the end of the second floor hallway. The stairway accessed the old house’s attic. “What does Aesir mean?” I asked as I guided Skyla through the dark and dusty space. “Tori has used that word a few times.”

“It’s the race of gods from which our boys descended,” Skyla said. She eyed stacks of boxes and ghostly figures of draped furniture. “There are lots of different types of gods in the Norse pantheon. Aesir considered themselves the greatest. There were also the Vanir, the Jotunn – who were giants – and some others I can’t remember, elves and dwarves and stuff. Loki was Jotunn, so I guess, in a way, Helen is, too.”

“Helen doesn’t seem like a giant.” We stopped before an iron ladder that extended to the ceiling of the attic. I shined the flashlight on a hatch at the top of the ladder and motioned for Skyla to climb.

She arched an eyebrow. “Are you sure?”