I cursed at myself. What stupid game am I playing? I dialed the number again and let it ring until someone answered.

“Thorin Adventure Outfitters, Hugh speaking.”

“Hugh?” I said, not aiming to disguise myself this time.

“Not Jackman, Grant, or Hefner, but sexier than all three combined. How may I please you this afternoon?”

“Hugh, it’s Solina Mundy, Mani’s sister.”

Silence.

More silence.

Then a noisy gasp of breath. “Solina? Where in the holy hell have you been?”

“Um, I was on vacation.” I poised my finger over the End button in case things got weird. Weirder. Whatever.

Hugh muffled the receiver on his phone, yelled something unintelligible, and came back on the line. “It has been like the hunt for the Holy Grail around here, looking for you. Then you call the store out of the blue like you’re wanting to know if we carry your size in climbing shoes or something. Thorin is going to lose his mind.”

“What else is new?” I muttered.

A growl of background voices carried over the line. “Hold on a sec, Solina. Someone wants to talk to you. I’m going to transfer you to the Boss Man’s office line.”

Hugh hung up, the phone beeped once, and someone picked up on another line. “Miss Mundy?”

My jaw clenched, and my breath stuck in my throat, but I managed to squeak out a thin “Yeah?”

“What in the hell…” Thorin’s voice faded into nonsensical, angry muttering. I swiped my thumb over the End button again, not pressing hard enough to make it work, but close, so close. Let him say one nasty word to me.

“Is it really you?” Some strong emotion crackled in Thorin’s voice—anger, probably. Murderous rage. Volcanic fury. “How can I be certain?”

“You want me to prove it?” I asked.

“Yes. Tell me, what was the last thing I said to you?”

Heat bloomed in my cheeks when I thought of Thorin’s last words to me, and I desperately did not want to repeat them.

“Sunshine,” Thorin said, sing-songing his nickname for me. “What did I say?”

I grunted and spat the words out, rapid as a machine-gun. “You said you weren’t like Val. That you wouldn’t make his mistakes.”

Thorin cleared his throat and said, “Ah. It is you.”

“You also said you didn’t waste time playing games. I’m not your mouse, and you’re not my cat, so let’s stop screwing around.”

Thorin growled. “You got a lot of explaining to do, Miss Mundy.”

I ignored his formal use of my name. He was doing it to rile me, and I refused to take the bait. Instead, I rose to my feet and paced the short space at the foot of my bed. “I don’t have a lot of answers, unfortunately.”

“But you’re safe for the moment? Whole? No wolf nipping at you?” Thorin held his tone even, his voice low, but that cool demeanor didn’t fool me for a second.

“Safe as houses.” I didn’t fully understand the expression, but Val had used it once.

“Tell me where you are. I’ll come get you.”

And that was what I wanted, right? “Where’s Skyla?” I asked instead.

Thorin made a hacking noise in his throat. “The last I knew she was with you.”

“So, she’s still missing?”

“Yes, Miss Mundy. She is.”

“Damn.” Thorin had been one of my last hopes for leads on Skyla’s whereabouts. His lack of knowledge meant I had one card left to play, but only when the time was right.

“I assumed you two were together somewhere—that Helen had taken you—but after she failed to make her move, we all started to wonder. Tori told me about your dream. What the hell were you thinking?”

There it was—the animosity I had expected. “I was thinking about saving your life.”

“By putting your own at risk?”

“You’ve all but pounded it into my head that your—how’d you put it—your perpetuity is the most important thing to you. I don’t know how you expected to perpetuate with Odin’s spear piercing your heart. You can call it a lie if you want, but I saved your lives. You and Val both.”

“Only to put yourself right back in the middle of the situation we have all risked so much to keep you away from.” Something banged on Thorin’s end of the line, probably his fist on the counter. “You should have told me. I do my own fighting.”

“I know you can fight. I’m aware you are a freaking superhero, but how can you protect me if you’re dead?”

Thorin roared, “How can I protect you if you keep things from me?”

“Skyla—” I started.

“Skyla is human, and what good did that do for any of us?”

“The Valkyries—”

“Inyoni and Kalani are dead. We found their bodies eviscerated and—”

“You found their remains?” I asked. “What did you do with them?”

“Brought their bodies back to the Aerie and let the Valkyries do with them what they saw fit.”

“How did you know to look for us at Oneida? There’s been nothing in the news about what happened out there, and the only people who could tell you where we were are dead or missing. You said that truck you gave us was a ghost. I knew you were lying about that.”

“It was a ghost… for all intents and purposes other than my own.”

“So you tracked the truck and found it at Oneida. Good for you. Shall I call you Sherlock?”

Thorin grunted. “I want you to tell me exactly what happened out there.”