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  The bird circled above us, gliding effortlessly in the air.

  Put the dagger in the tree.

  I wasn’t going to argue. I scrabbled to my knees, bracing my shoulder against the bark, ramming the tip of the blade into the tree.

  Light swirled at the tip immediately.

  Relief flooded through me, and I almost fell over. The tree began to tug on the dagger, welcoming me into its embrace. I sighed, resting my head against the bark, just wanting this to finally be over.

  I was about to let it draw me inside when I heard a shout, bringing me back to reality.

  Fen was still fighting Surtr.

  The demon king had the advantage and was about to slice Fen in half, his mighty arms up, the fiery blade whooshing down.

  “No!” I screamed, jumping to my feet, ignoring the pain in my chest. “Fen, take my hand!” Fen leaped out of the way right as Surtr’s sword crashed down millimeters from where his body had just been, sticking in the rocky ground.

  Fen extended his arm and grasped my hand.

  Surtr gave out an angry wail.

  Fen’s face was grim. “This is not going to work, Valkyrie. But I’ll let you try.”

  I clutched the dagger tightly with my other hand, but the pull from the tree was gone, the light already fading. I cried as I let go, pounding a fist against the rough surface. “Let us in! We will die if you don’t!”

  Huggie flew overhead with a loud flap of his wings.

  Fen released my hand. “Your agent is here. The raven will escort you home. Good luck, shieldmaiden.” He stepped back.

  Surtr yanked his sword out of the ground, but for once he wasn’t focused on us. As we watched, Huggie dive-bombed his head, his beak shearing off part of Surtr’s scalp.

  That had to hurt!

  The rage coming off of the demon king was beyond measure. He vibrated with it.

  Huggie circled back and flew low.

  Leave the wolf behind.

  “I’m not leaving him!” I yelled furiously. “He’s the only reason I’m still alive. He deserves to come with me!”

  He cannot accompany you from this realm.

  “That’s what you think!” Blood still leaked from my chest, adrenaline the only thing keeping me upright. I was so preoccupied with giving the raven the stink eye, I didn’t see Surtr begin to advance.

  “Valkyrie!” Fen shouted. “Move!”

  Too late.

  The flaming blade rushed down quickly.

  Searing pain lanced through my body like an arrow. I glanced at my thigh in shock. The sword had rent it open to the bone. Muscle was torn and gaping from the hole. My head swam. I heard Surtr’s gleeful howls, but not much more.

  “You will not…save her,” Surtr boomed to Huggie, his head tilted up at the sky.

  Strong arms lifted me off the ground.

  Fen had me. “Shh, it’s okay, Phoebe.” He was trying to move me, but my hand was sealed tightly around Gram. I had grabbed on in the chaos, and I wasn’t about to let go. It was the only thing keeping me conscious.

  If I broke away from this tree, I would forfeit my life. It was crystal clear.

  “Don’t…move,” I whispered on the barest of breaths.

  “What did you say?” Fen asked, his voice soft and tender, full of concern. “I have to get you back to the healing waters, shieldmaiden. Or you’ll die.”

  “No,” I moaned. “We leave now through here. Together. Or we both die…here.”

  Leave the wolf. The tree will save you.

  Instead of answering the raven out loud, which would’ve taken more energy than I had, I cried in my head, I’m not leaving without him. We either both go, or we die. Fen might come back from the dead, but I won’t.

  What you ask is forbidden.

  This time I yelled out loud, “I don’t care! Break the rules.” I was done debating this. I met Fen’s gaze, his blue eyes radiating something intense. I smiled weakly. “I’m trying to broker a ride for you. I told you I wouldn’t leave without you.”

  “It’s okay, Valkyrie. I didn’t really expect them to let me leave. I will survive alone.” He began to set me down.

  I grabbed on to his shoulder with my free hand. “You called me Phoebe.”

  “What?”

  “When you picked me up, you called me Phoebe instead of Valkyrie or shieldmaiden. I liked it.” My eyes slid shut, and my head fell back. The pain was too much.

  “Raven!” Fen shouted. I could feel his fury. “Take her now!”

  Just like that, he was going to let me leave.

  Before I could form a rebuttal, Surtr’s voice erupted, full of nastiness. “No one is leaving here…without my permission.” Huggie cawed loudly overhead. “Stay back, raven. This is my realm. You are not in charge—”

  A sickly sound of ripping flesh followed the loud clacking of a beak.

  Surtr let out a roar mixed with pain.

  Huggie was playing for keeps. That bird had moxie.

  “I’m going to set you down now, shieldmaiden,” Fen said as he lowered my body to the ground. “I need to take advantage of your agent’s distractions to escape. Farewell. I wish you well in your life.”

  Pain of a different kind rushed through me.

  In my haze, I grabbed on to Fen’s neck, clutching it for dear life. He was my true lifeline. Without him, I wouldn’t be able to cope in the new world that had become my life. “No,” I whispered, imploring him. “We go together.”

  He knelt next to me. His hand touched my cheek. “That’s not possible, Phoebe. Maybe we will meet again in the next life.”

  I squeezed. “No, this is the life we’re supposed to meet in,” I said stubbornly. “I can’t do this without you. Please…stay.”

  Huggie snapped his beak above our heads. I didn’t look up.

  You must leave.

  “I’m happy to go any time you decide to open this up for us,” I mumbled. “I’m fading fast, so make up your mind.” My hand was still wrapped around Gram, even though it was now awkwardly above my head. “It’s now or never. Once I let go, it’s all over.”

  Surtr gave a war whoop. His heavy footsteps vibrated the ground as he neared.

  There will be repercussions.

  I don’t care, I said internally. Won’t there be repercussions if I die? Make up your mind, bird. One by one, my fingers began to unfurl from Gram. Please. I’d uttered the last word in my mind on the thinnest of thoughts.

  Huggie didn’t answer. Instead, I felt the tree open up, beckoning me once again. I was still holding Fen in a death grip. I heard him gasp.

  “That’s right,” I said, my throat hoarse. “I just finagled us a one-way ticket out of this hellhole. The only thing I ask is please make sure I stay in one piece. I’m about to cash out.”

  He gathered me in his arms once again. “I will keep you safe. You have my word.” His arms tightened around me.

  “You will not leave here!” Surtr shouted. “You are my prisoners!”

  “It seems you have that wrong,” Fen answered. “And if you come any closer, Odin’s favorite pet will peck your eyes out. The bird is just waiting for a reason to do so.”

  The tree ramped up its pull.

  We would be off this plane soon. The word relief wasn’t big enough to describe how I felt, wounds and all. On my last breath, I uttered, “Please, Huggie, tell the tree to take us to Midgard. I want to go home.”

  It’s not safe.

  “I’m hurt. I need to heal and find Ingrid. I’m begging you, just take us home.” I had no idea if Huggie was in charge of directions, but since the tree opened only after he’d said so, I was thinking he had some say.

  As you wish.

  Our bodies tumbled through the void. Fen still held me, and I was grateful. I tried to cry out, but there was no air.

  The last thing I heard before I lost consciousness was Surtr’s angry howl.

  Goodbye, evil. I hope we never meet again.

  22

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  “Phoebe.” The voice was low and hushed in my ear. “You must wake.”

  I was warm and content and just wanted to sleep. “Not now,” I mumbled. “I’m so tired.” I tried to turn over and burrow deeper into the warmth, but I was stuck.

  The voice chuckled, rocking me gently. “If you point me in the right direction, I’ll carry you to your bed.”

  My eyes flew open, my hands clutching on to huge biceps. It was dark. “Fen? Did we make it back?” I sat up, wincing as I glanced around at our surroundings. “My leg still hurts.” I brought a hand down and tentatively stroked it through the huge rent in my pants. It was sealed, but the scar was tender. I felt my chest through my barely there tunic, but that seemed fully healed. “I thought the tree was the cure-all. Why am I still sore?”

  “My guess is you were too malnourished, and the ride was short.” Fen stood easily with me in his arms. “Your leg has mended enough, but you will require another trip to the tree in a day or two.”

  “Where are we?” I squinted around in the darkness. Trees surrounded us, and we stood on a large rock.

  “I believe it’s a place you call Central Park, but I’m not certain.”

  “Where is Yggdrasil?”

  “That is another mystery. It seems we took—how did you phrase it—a wormhole?” He chuckled again. “The tree must like you. It tossed us out ahead of the normal pathway.”

  “Did Huggie come through with us?” I asked as Fen began to walk. All was quiet, which was a hard thing to achieve in New York City. It must be the wee hours of the morning.

  “Your agent has not arrived yet.”

  “He’s not my agent!” I huffed. “You can put me down. I can walk on my own. My leg aches, but it’s not that bad.” Fen was reluctant to comply, but acquiesced, slowly edging me down to the ground. Leaving the warmth of his body was shocking as the cold air whipped through my tattered clothing. Fen’s dirty tunic and ripped trousers were no match for freezing temps. “It’s still winter! Brrr.” I don’t know why it surprised me. My teeth began to chatter, and I hugged my arms across my body. “I thought time might’ve sped up while I was gone.”

  “The realms do have some time changes depending on how far they are from one another, but nothing significant. How long have you been away from Midgard?”

  I gazed up at him. He stood close, and I’d forgotten how tall he was. I came eye to eye with his bare chest. “I’m not sure.” I started to walk, reaching back to grab his hand. “A week maybe? I lost track. Come on, we have to get to my apartment.”

  He followed without complaint.

  We made our way out of the park, and as I glimpsed the first street sign, I realized we weren’t too terribly far from my building. We couldn’t take the subway. It would raise too many eyebrows. Not as many as we would’ve in my hometown—a half-naked demigod and a rumpled, filthy girl dressed in oversized, tattered clothing would’ve been stopped and questioned by everyone. People would take notice in New York, but no one would likely corner us. But I didn’t want to take the chance.

  Plus, I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to go down into the subway again after what happened. I wondered if ettins had homes down there. The thought was too horrible.

  That left only one mode of transportation: hoofing it. “We’re about twelve blocks from my place,” I told Fen. “In New York, that’s considered close.”

  “It is of no matter, Valkyrie. I have not enjoyed a different landscape in hundreds of years, and the cold does not bother me.” His head tilted upward, and he took in all the buildings as we walked by. “Midgard is not as I remember it. Things have gotten…grand.”

  “When was the last time you were here?”

  “One of the times I broke out. Maybe two hundred years ago?” He shrugged. “It all blurs together.”

  I hurried us along, and we made good time. When we were two blocks away, I had a sudden panic attack. I stopped, tugging Fen into a recessed doorway. “Are we being stupid going back to my place?” I asked. “What if Verdandi knows where I live? Huggie said it was dangerous to come here.”

  “It’s possible,” Fen said, his face thoughtful. “But Skuld will foresee your movements wherever you go, if you are not cloaked, so it’s of no use to worry. We will fight if they come.”

  I bit my lip. That didn’t sound good. “How will we know if I’m cloaked or not?”

  “They will not come.”

  “Oh.” Duh. “Maybe we should go to Ingrid’s first? If she’s home, that’s great. If not, we can see if she left us a note.”

  “The shieldmaiden lives nearby?”

  “Right across the hallway from me.”

  “Do you know others in this city?”

  I thought about Sam, my only real friend here. She would let us in, no problem, but her questions would be off the hook. She’d be mad I skipped town without telling her. It would take more time than we had to calm her down and answer her questions at the moment, not to mention we looked like beggars and my feet were freezing cold. “I have one good friend, but she lives farther midtown. We can use her as a last resort. I’m sure no one knows about her. I just met her a few months ago.”

  “Once we get to your building, I will investigate. If there are beings of Asgard nearby, I will know it.”

  “Um, okay.” I stared at him. “That would’ve been helpful to know beforehand.”

  “I cannot teach you everything about our world in only days, Valkyrie,” he mused. “It will take years.”

  “Our world?” I commented as we started walking again.

  “Of course,” he said, giving me a rare upturned smile. “You are a Valkyrie. You are made of Asgard. You may not fully realize it yet, but you are not of this plane, even though it’s the only home you’ve ever known. Your birthright is the land of gods.”

  I pondered that. “It’s strange to think of myself in that way.” I wasn’t sure it would ever seem normal. “Like it’s not real, or somehow a mistake, and someone is going to jump out and tell me it was all an elaborate hoax.”

  “This is no hoax. You must get over your skepticism and accept your destiny. It will make you stronger.”

  “How will it make me stronger?”

  He quirked a brow. “For one, you will learn to harness the power within you and wield it to much greater strength.”

  “The power within?” That sounded both ominous and hilarious at the same time.

  “Valkyrie, you glow brighter than a star. Where do you think that resides?”

  “Inside…me?” I had no earthly idea. “Listen, I’m not even going to pretend to understand how this all works. My brain can’t even fathom such things. My life has become a complicated sci-fi movie with a plot twist you have to pay attention to, and even when you’re following it, the end doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Every fiber of your being holds energy. It’s who you are now. It’s what you’re made of. When we were leaving Muspelheim, you glowed as brightly as the first time I saw you.”

  “I did?” We were within fifty feet of my building, and I put a hand out to stop him.

  “Yes, you did.”

  “That’s my building. Second from the corner across the street.” I gestured, then glanced up to my two tiny windows, one of which Huggie had come through. My apartment was dark. That should be a good sign.

  “I will go first,” Fen said. “So far, I feel nothing. Stay here and be alert.”

  I grasped his forearm. “I don’t think that’s the right thing to do.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because last time the ettins got me. I’d feel much better if we worked as a team. Then, if things hit the fan, we can escape or fight together.”

  Fen inclined his head. “I don’t dislike that idea. Your reasoning is sound. Let’s go.” He took off across the street.

  I followed closely as I continued to glance up at the buildings. I had met some of my neighbors over the last few months and prayed none were lo
oking out the window right this exact moment to witness me trailing a huge shirtless man in dirty cutoffs running toward my building barefoot in the middle of winter.

  That required more explanation than I had in me.

  I arrived at the front door a moment after Fen. His hands were on the glass, ear pressed against it. “I am picking up nothing. What floor do you live on?”

  “The fifth, which is at the top. It’s a tiny studio.”

  Fen turned the door handle. It moved freely. “It’s not locked?” he asked.

  “Not always,” I answered. “Tenants get lazy.”

  “It’s of little consequence. A lock would not keep out what is hunting us.”

  I shivered. “When you phrase it like that, it sounds awful.”

  “Make no mistake, Valkyrie. They will come.”

  “Just the Norns?” I asked.

  “All of them. There will be a bounty on my head, set by Odin. They will clamor like flies, each of them wanting the honor of being the one who turns you over and brings me back.”

  “That sounds…great,” I replied in a listless tone. Would we ever be free?

  Fen’s face was set. “You and I will need to have a long discussion very soon. There is much you haven’t told me. If we are to be a team, as you described, there must be transparency. And you can start by explaining why Hugin, the eyes of Odin, is your agent.”

  “I told you, he’s not my agent.” Was he my agent? I really had no clue what an agent did. “What I told you in the cave was the truth. I was born and raised on Midgard. Ingrid came to find me, I got taken, and that’s all I know.”

  “Ah, shieldmaiden, it’s the information you haven’t divulged that I crave.” He edged inside, and I went after.

  The man was smart. Relaying what Ingrid had told me about my life was going to be rough. He might choose to leave me, and I wasn’t sure how I’d be able to cope in this strange new world without him. If Verdandi arrived with backup, I wouldn’t know the first thing to do. There was so much I had to learn.

  Fen crept up the stairs on full alert. He didn’t make a sound. I came after, trying to be quiet, but managed to sound like a herd of elephants tramping up the steps.

  “You might want to tone down the noise.” Fen smirked. “I’m having a hard time picking up on the real danger.”