Mist

If he got the joke, he didn’t show it. Gingerly he grasped the door handle, opened the door, and climbed in.

“Buckle up,” she said. “I don’t know where you’ve been living, but we have seat belt laws in California.”

With only the slightest hesitation he did as she asked. She wrinkled her nose at the elf ’s rank odor, cracked open the window in spite of the chill, and released the brake. The heater rattled and coughed as she turned it on. Dainn braced one hand on the dashboard and the other on the armrest.

It was still too early for commute traffic, though the buses were already trundling along Lincoln Way. Once she was on Nineteenth Avenue heading south, she took a deep breath and starting talking.

“Next question,” she said. “How did the Jotunar figure out how to make themselves physical when the gods couldn’t do it? How did the Aesir learn what the giants are up to if the races are separated? Are the Realms interconnected somehow?”

“I thought I made it clear that Freya has not seen the need to reveal all her knowledge to me,” Dainn said shortly, his fingers tightening on the armrest.

Resisting the urge to lean on the gas pedal just enough to rattle him, she cast Dainn a quick glance. Was that a hint of resentment in his voice? The Alfar had always been considered more or less the equals of the Aesir; in fact, some believed they were directly related to the Vanir. Maybe Dainn didn’t like the idea of playing servant to the Aesir simply because he was convenient to their needs.

But he’d want what they wanted, wouldn’t he?

Mist adjusted her grip on the steering wheel, aware that she had left her gloves in the park and her palms had begun to sweat. “Why was I the first?” she asked.

“Of the Valkyrie to be found?” he asked, clutching at the front edge of his seat with both hands as if he thought it might come flying off the chassis. “Gungnir itself led us here. As Odin’s weapon, it contains more power than any of the others, and Freya detected that power in this region of Midgard.”

That was the first time Mist had heard that Gungnir was more powerful than the other Treasures—it didn’t make a whole lot of sense, in fact, since anyone would think Thor’s Hammer or the Apples of Idunn would be more important—but it wasn’t as if she’d ever been the All-father’s particular confidante.

He’d certainly never been clear about why he’d sent the Treasures to Midgard when nobody would be left to use them. Maybe he’d known Ragnarok would never happen.

Oh, Hel.

“Okay,” she said, forcibly steering her thoughts back to the subject at hand, “the Rainbow Bridge was destroyed along with the other Homeworlds, right?”

“Bifrost is no more.”

“Then how are the Jotunar getting here?”

“There are other passages.”

“What kind of passages?”

“In some ways they are not unlike Bifrost itself, but linking Ginnungagap to Midgard.”

“I assume they don’t look like rainbows.” She glanced through the windshield at the blue-black, starless sky, half expecting a hole to open up above her and drop another Jotunn on top of the car. “How do they work?”

“The Aesir have but recently discovered their existence, and that the Jotunar have been using them,” Dainn said, his voice a little steadier now that he had apparently become more accustomed to the peculiarities of her mechanical mount. “They can transport physical objects and beings, but they themselves seem to have no distinct physical form. We do not know if these bridges formed naturally or were created by some force beyond our knowledge.”

Like whatever had put an end to Ragnarok, Mist thought. “So they’re like wormholes,” she said.

Dainn didn’t answer. Mist forged ahead.

“How did the Jotunar find them before the Aesir?” she asked.

“That we do not yet know. The Lady has been making a study of them, as much as she is able to from the Aesir’s Shadow-Realm.”

“Then the Aesir don’t have access to them.”

“Clearly not,” Dainn said dryly, “or Freya would not find my assistance necessary.”

Or mine, Mist thought. “So where do these bridges lead to? It wasn’t a coincidence that Hrimgrimir showed up here.”

“No.”

“So maybe these bridges can be controlled somehow, put wherever the Jotunar want them, like a Star Trek transporter. ’Beam me up, Hrimgrimir.’ ”

Apparently Dainn missed the reference. “We do not believe they have complete control over them,” he said. “There are indications that several such bridges lead to this city. In fact, all those Freya has located seem to do so.”

Mist laughed, taking humor where she could find it. “It’s an odd thing,” she said, quoting Oscar Wilde, “but anyone who disappears is said to be seen in San Francisco.”

“Unfortunately,” Dainn said, “they are appearing, not disappearing.”

His straight-man response almost made her laugh again, but she didn’t really feel like joking.

“So why this city?” she asked. “Does it have something to do with Gungnir? Maybe, if it’s so powerful, it sort of anchored these bridges somehow?”

She wasn’t really being serious, but Dainn gave her an odd sideways look, as if he found merit in her speculation. “You may be right,” he said.

“Mighty big of you to admit it,” she said. She hesitated, hating to admit her blatant failure to recognize that she was walking into a trap. “I felt a compulsion to go to the park a couple of hours ago, and I knew there was something strange going on almost as soon as I set foot on the grounds. Do you think Hrimgrimir used some kind of summoning spell on me?”

“It would seem likely. Clearly Hrimgrimir wished to confront you at a time and in a location least conducive to mortal interference.”

“I thought he might be following you, but you were following him.”

Dainn stared out the window as they passed Sigmund Stern Grove, thick with eucalyptus trees whose leaves had been badly scorched by the unusual cold. “I felt the presence of a Jotunn when I reached this city, and I followed him to the park,” he said.

Mist slowed as she turned southeast onto Ocean Avenue. “You didn’t know he’d summoned me?”

“No. I thought it best to conceal myself and observe him until he took some definitive action.”

“He took action, all right,” she said, glancing at his battered face, which was already beginning to heal. “He beat you within an inch of your life. You shouldn’t have had any trouble defeating him.”

Dainn was quiet all the way to the Southern Freeway ramp. “I preferred him to believe that I was no threat to him or his allies,” he said at last.

“You mean you weren’t unconscious when I found you? You just let me walk right into a trap?”

The muscles in his jaw worked. “No. I was unable to aid you.”

Unable to use his magic? Something didn’t add up—again—but Mist let it pass. “Inconvenient, since you need me to get Gungnir.”

“I was instructed to warn the guardians, not take the Treasures from them.”

“Then why do you need to come with me? You’ve warned me, and now you can run out and find the others, since I can’t help you with that. Though even if you find the rest, the Jotunar might follow you right to them.”

“We will make every attempt to keep that from occurring.”

“Who? You and Freya?” She leaned on the gas pedal, and the Volvo shot forward with a grunt of protest. “As you pointed out, Lord Elf, we’re only Valkyrie. Our magic is limited. It was never part of our job description to hold off a swarm of frost giants.”

“I do not believe the situation will become so dire.”

“Well, that changes everything. We’re safe.”

He was silent, but she couldn’t tell if it was because he was insulted or simply couldn’t provide a satisfactory response. She relaxed her grip on the wheel and pressed lightly on the brake.

“I still don’t understand why the Jotunar got here first,” she said, as much to herself as to the elf. “The only