فصل 27

Let’s Play Frisbee with Bladed Weapons!

AT THE NORTH END of the park, Sam crossed Beacon Street, heading for the footbridge over Storrow Drive.

“Where’s she going?” I asked.

“The river, obviously,” Blitz said. “She checked out your body at the funeral home—”

“Can we please not phrase it that way?”

“She didn’t find the sword. Now she’s checking the river.”

Sam climbed the spiral ramp of the footbridge. She glanced back in our direction and we had to hide behind a pile of dirty snow. During the summer tourist season, it would’ve been easier to follow her without attracting attention. Now, the sidewalks were mostly empty.

Blitzen adjusted his dark glasses. “I don’t like it. Best case scenario, the Valkyries sent her, but—”

“No,” I said. “She was kicked out of the Valkyries.”

I told them the story as we crouched behind our snow-bank.

Hearth looked aghast. His swollen eye had turned the color of Kermit the Frog. Daughter of Loki? he signed. She’s working for her dad.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I can’t quite believe that.”

Because she saved you?

I wasn’t sure. Maybe I didn’t want to believe she was playing for Team Evil. Maybe Loki’s words had wormed their way into my head: I’m definitely on your side!

I pointed at Hearth’s eye and signed P for Permission? I touched his eyelid. A spark of warmth passed through my fingertip. The bruising faded.

Blitz chuckled. “You’re getting good at that, Magnus.”

Hearthstone grabbed my hand. He studied my fingertips as if looking for residual magic.

“Whatever.” I pulled my hand away, a little embarrassed. The last thing I wanted to be was Magnus Chase, Viking Paramedic. “We’re losing Sam. Let’s go.”

Sam headed downstream on the Esplanade jogging trail. We crossed the footbridge. Beneath us, cars edged along bumper to bumper, honking incessantly. Judging from all the construction vehicles and flashing lights on the Longfellow Bridge, the traffic was probably my fault. My battle with Surt had completely closed the span.

We lost sight of Sam as we took the spiral ramp to the Esplanade. We walked past the playground. I figured we would spot her somewhere down the path, but she had disappeared.

“Well, that’s just great,” I said.

Blitz limped into the shadow of the closed concession stand. He looked like he was having trouble carrying his bowling bag.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Legs are just slightly petrified. Nothing to worry about.”

“That sounds like something to worry about.”

Hearth paced. Wish I had a bow. I could have shot her.

Blitzen shook his head. “Stick to magic, my friend.”

Hearth’s gestures were sharp with irritation. Can’t read your lips. The beard is bad enough. The ski mask—impossible.

Blitz set down the bowling bag, then signed while he spoke. “Hearth is very good with runes. He knows more rune magic than any living mortal.”

“Mortal like human?” I asked.

Blitz snorted. “Kid, humans aren’t the only mortal species. I meant humans, dwarves, or elves. You can’t count giants—they’re weird. Or the gods, obviously. Or the soothsayers who live in Valhalla. I never understood what they were. But among the three mortal species, Hearthstone is the best magician! Well, he’s also the only magician, as far as I know. He’s the first person in centuries to dedicate his life to magic.”

I’m blushing, Hearthstone signed, clearly not blushing.

“My point is, you’ve got real talent,” Blitz told him. “But still you want to be an archer!”

Elves were great archers! Hearth protested.

“A thousand years ago!” Blitzen chopped his hand twice between his opposite thumb and forefinger, the sign for annoyed. “Hearth is a romantic. He longs for the old days. He’s the sort of elf who goes to Renaissance festivals.”

Hearth grunted. I went one time.

“Guys,” I said, “we have to find Sam.”

No point, Hearth signed. She’ll search the river. Let her waste her time. We already looked.

“What if we missed the sword?” Blitz asked. “What if she’s got another way to find it?”

“It’s not in the river,” I said.

Blitz and Hearth both stared at me.

“You sure about that?” Blitz asked.

“I…Yeah. Don’t ask me how, but now that I’m closer to the water…” I stared out over the Charles, its rippling gray lines etched with ice. “I feel the same as when I stood over my coffin. There’s a kind of hollowness—like when you rattle a can and you can tell there’s nothing inside. I just know—the sword isn’t anywhere close.”

“Rattling a can…” Blitzen mused. “Okay. I don’t suppose you could direct us toward the cans we should be rattling?”

“That would be good,” said Samirah al-Abbas.

She charged from behind the concession building and kicked me in the chest, propelling me backward into a tree. My lungs imploded like paper sacks. By the time I could see straight again, Blitzen was slumped against the wall. Hearth’s bag of runestones had scattered across the pavement, and Sam was swinging her ax at him.

“Stop it!” I meant to yell, but it came out as more of a wheeze.

Hearth dodged the ax and tried to tackle her. Sam judo-flipped him over her knee. Hearth landed flat on his back.

Blitzen tried to get up. His hat was tilted sideways. His glasses had been knocked off, and the skin around his eyes was turning gray in the daylight.

Sam turned to ax-smack him. Anger roared through me. I reached for the chain on my belt. Instantly, it was a sword again. I pulled the blade and sent it spinning like a Frisbee. It clanged against Sam’s ax, knocking the weapon from her hand, almost taking off her face in the process.

She stared at me in disbelief. “What the Helheim?”

“You started it!”

Hearth grabbed her ankle. Sam kicked him away.

“And stop kicking my elf!” I said.

Sam pushed back her headscarf, letting her dark hair sweep her shoulders. She crouched in a wrestler’s stance, ready to take us all on. “So help me, Magnus, if I had my full powers, I would rip your soul from your body for all the trouble you’ve caused me.”

“That’s nice,” I said. “Or you could tell us what you’re doing here. Maybe we could help each other.”

Blitzen snatched up his sunglasses. “Help her? Why would we help her? She knocked out Hearth at the funeral home! My eyes feel like chunks of quartz!”

“Well, maybe if you hadn’t been stalking me,” Sam said.

“Bah!” Blitzen readjusted his hat. “Nobody was stalking you, Valkyrie! We’re looking for the same thing—the sword!”

Still lying on the ground, Hearth signed, Somebody please kill her.

“What’s he doing?” Sam demanded. “Is he making rude elf gestures at me?”

“It’s ASL,” I said. “American Sign Language.”

“Alf Sign Language,” Blitz corrected.

“Anyway”—I raised my palms—“can we call a truce and talk? We can always go back to killing each other later.”

Sam paced, muttering under her breath. She retrieved her ax and my sword.

Nice job, Magnus, I told myself. Now she has all the weapons.

She tossed the sword back to me. “I should never have chosen you for Valhalla.”

Blitzen snorted. “On that, at least, we agree. If you hadn’t interfered on the bridge—”

“Interfered?” Sam demanded. “Magnus was already dead when I chose him! You and the elf weren’t doing him any good with your plastic sign and your squeaky arrows!”

Blitz stood straight, which didn’t make him much taller. “I’ll have you know my friend is a great rune caster.”

“Really?” Samirah asked. “I didn’t see him using magic on the bridge against Surt.”

Hearthstone looked offended. Would have. Got sidetracked.

“Exactly,” Blitz said. “And as for me, I have many skills, Valkyrie.”

“For instance?”

“For instance, I could fix your disgraceful outfit. No one wears a brown peacoat with a green headscarf.”

“A dwarf in sunglasses and a ski mask is giving me fashion advice.”

“I have daylight issues!”

“Guys,” I said, “stop, please. Thank you.”

I helped Hearthstone to his feet. He scowled at Sam and began collecting his runestones.

“Okay,” I said. “Sam, why are you looking for the sword?”

“Because it’s my only chance! Because—” Her voice cracked. All the rage seemed to ebb out of her. “Because I honored your stupid bravery. I rewarded you with Valhalla. And it cost me everything. If I can find the sword, maybe the thanes will reinstate me. I can convince them that…that I’m not—”

“The daughter of Loki?” Blitzen asked, but his voice had lost some of its edge.

Sam lowered her ax. “I can’t do anything about that. But I’m not working for my father. I’m loyal to Odin.”

Hearthstone glanced at me skeptically, like, Are you buying this?

“I trust her,” I said.

Blitz grunted. “Is this another rattle-the-can instinct?”

“Maybe,” I said. “Look, we all want to find this sword, right? We want to keep it away from Surt.”

“Assuming Surt doesn’t already have it,” Sam said. “Assuming we can figure out what’s going on. Assuming the Norns’ prophecy for you isn’t as bad as it sounds—”

“One way to find out.” Blitz held up the bowling ball bag.

Sam stepped away. “What’s in there?”

Hearth made a claw and tapped it twice on his shoulder—the sign for boss.

“Answers,” Blitz said, “whether we want them or not. Let’s confer with the Capo.”