Secrets of Valhalla (14 page)

B
uzz could see a ring of people through the leaves of the hedge. They were circling a lamppost, their heads craned back to stare up at something. They didn't seem to mind the rain that pelted them.

A couple of people in the crowd were holding tomatoes that were well beyond their use-by date and taking aim at whatever was up the lamppost.

Mary poked her head up over the hedge. “There's actually someone up there,” she said. “They must be terrified. Who knows how long they've been trapped.” She shook her head. “We've got to do something.”

“We
are
doing something,” Buzz hissed back. “We're trying to find the Runes of Valhalla and the sleeping gods so we can stop Loki, remember?”

“Of course I remember,” Mary snapped. “But we can't just leave that person up there.”

“Yes, we can. We need to find Uncle Mark.”

“And we will, but someone needs our help now. Just look.”

Buzz poked his head over the hedge and could just see the bottom half of a boy clinging to the lamppost. He wasn't wearing any shoes, and his pants were dripping with rotten fruit and vegetables. The faces of the people circling the lamppost wore manic, delighted expressions. They howled up at their prey.

“Okay, so what do we do?” Buzz asked.

“We scare them away.”

“How do we do that?”

“Leave that to me,” Mary said, and she emerged from behind the hedge.

“Mary,” Buzz called under his breath. “Come back.”

She ignored him and walked out into the crowd.

“You like to scare people, do you?” she asked, addressing the mob. “You think it's entertaining to terrify someone?”

“We do, actually,” said a voice that Buzz knew almost as well as his own.

Sam?
No, it couldn't be.

Buzz emerged fully from the hedge, and now he could see the whole mob clearly. His best friend, Sam, was there right at the head of it. Some of the members he recognized from school, others from around town. Children, adults, and the elderly stood together in the rain. Shouting at the kid trapped up the lamppost.

“Sam, what are you doing?” Buzz asked. “This isn't you. You're not a bully.”

Sam had walked right up to Mary, a dripping tomato in his hand. He stared at Buzz as if trying to place him. “Hey, Buzz,” he said after a moment. “Where were you this morning? Why didn't you come to the match?” He wagged a finger. “Coach Saunders didn't bother to come either.” He jerked his head toward the lamppost. “Unfortunately, our resident pain in the neck did make it, although he kept on complaining that things didn't feel right.”

Buzz stepped in between Mary and Sam, so that he was now directly beneath the lamppost. Looking up, he found himself staring at the figure of Theo Eddows.

Theo scowled back at him. “Bog off, why don't you?”

If Buzz could ignore how scared Theo looked under the scowl, he might have enjoyed this moment. But he saw the lines etched around the other boy's mouth too clearly—saw the trembling in his arms. He wasn't sure how long Theo could hold on.

At the top of the lamppost he could see a pair of white sneakers, their laces tied together and looped over the top of the light. He felt a wave of pity for Theo.
He really loves those shoes,
he thought. That was clearly how the mob had gotten him up the lamppost in the first place. Now they were using him for target practice.

Buzz looked back at his best friend. “Sam, I'm sorry I wasn't there this morning. Come on, let's get out of here and
go and play a match now. You can ask your friends to come as well.” His gaze traveled over the motley crew of young and old—it would be quite a game.

Sam was staring at Theo again, his fingers tightening on the rotten tomato in his hand. “I don't know. Using Theo as target practice is blatantly more fun than soccer.” He held out the tomato to Buzz. “Do you want to have a go?”

“Ha! Right,” Buzz heard Theo goad from up the lamppost. “As if Freaky Buzzard is any good at hitting a target.”

Buzz stared at the tomato. It looked so very appealing.

Mary snatched the tomato from Sam's hand and threw it to the ground. “Okay, Sam, since you like games and scaring people, how about we play a little game of our own?” Mary pushed Buzz to one side so she could square up to the other boy once more.

Sam crossed his arms. “Sure, why not?”

“The game is called
Guess Your Greatest Fear
.”

Sam laughed. “You're going to guess what my greatest fear is?” He looked anything but convinced.

“Yep, your deepest, darkest fear. And then I'm going to share it with everyone here.”

Sam snorted. “I'd like to see that. I'm not scared of anything.”

Buzz frowned. He knew for a fact that wasn't true. Sam had a full-blown phobia of custard thanks to an all-you-can-eat buffet, a dare, and an unfortunate incident with a trifle that had resulted in Sam being banned from that restaurant
for life.
But Mary's not going to know that,
he thought.
How could she?

Buzz stared first at his oldest friend and then at his newest, and somehow he knew that Sam didn't stand a chance.

Mary looked deep into Sam's eyes, concentrating hard. After a moment, she raised a single eyebrow.

“Custard,” she said. “You have a mortal fear of custard?”

There were some sniggers from the crowd.

Sam's skin blanched of color. “How . . . how do you know that?”

His eyes slid over to Buzz. “Did you tell her? How could you?”

“I didn't—” Buzz began.

“Oh, please,” Mary interrupted. “Buzz didn't tell me a thing. This is what I do best. I read people's fears. Scary Mary—that's what they call me, you know.”

Buzz remembered that Mary had told him this just before they went into the time tunnel.
I know things about people,
she'd said.
It makes them uncomfortable.

She looked out into the mob. “You.” She pointed a finger at a tall, lean man. “Your greatest fear is that no one likes you because you don't like yourself.” The man flinched and took a step back. Her finger traveled over the rabble and rested on a portly man in a tweed jacket. “Your greatest fear is that your family will find out that you've spent all your money at the races.”

The portly man looked defiant. “It doesn't matter,” he said.
“None of it matters anymore.”

The woman beside him, who had been busy hurling bananas at Theo, went very still. “Oh, but it does.” She crushed half a banana into the man's forehead and turned on her heel and stalked away. The portly man chased after her, splashing through the puddles in the street.

Mary's finger came to rest on a pretty woman in a fuchsia pink dress. “And your greatest fear is that you're just a pretty face and that one day, when you are old, you won't even be that anymore.”

The woman gasped, her heavily mascaraed eyes swimming with tears, and then she fled from the crowd.

“Anyone else?” Mary's eyes glittered fiercely, and two stripes of color rode high on her cheeks.

People were shaking their heads, not meeting Mary's gaze.

“Then I suggest you get out of here—quickly.” Mary's hands were planted firmly on her hips.

The crowd began to back away as one, many looking at Mary as if she were a wild animal that might pounce on them at any moment. In no time at all, the whole mob had scattered just as the storm clouds seemed to.

All except Sam. He lingered for a moment, his face miserable. “I think I'm going to go home,” he croaked. “Maybe lie down on the sofa.”

“That's a great idea.” Buzz put a hand on his best friend's shoulder. “Go home and watch some Saturday night TV.”

Sam turned and trudged off. “It doesn't matter. None of it
matters.” The words weren't much more than a whisper, but Buzz heard them.

“It does matter,” Buzz called after him. “And this Saturday will be over soon and everything will get back to normal, I promise.”

“I hope you're not expecting me to say thank you,” a voice said from behind him.

Buzz turned to see that Theo had climbed down from the lamppost. He was covered in tomatoes, potato peelings, and rotten apples, but his precious sneakers were around his shoulders, and he looked pleased to have two feet on the ground once more.

“I expect the minimum from you, Theo, at all times,” Buzz answered. “So no, I don't.”

Theo curled his lip but then turned to Mary. “You, on the other hand, are awesome. You've got to tell me how you did that whole deepest, darkest fear thing. That is a seriously cool trick.”

Mary blushed.

She actually blushed.

“You really think so?” she said.

“Absolutely,” Theo enthused. “I'm sticking with you. You seem like the kind of person I can trust to get me out of a tough situation.”

“Mary, this is Theo,” Buzz snapped. “You may recognize him as the charming fellow who threw my phone down the toilet at school.”

“Nice to meet you, properly, at least,” Mary said, and she held out her hand.

Theo took her hand and gallantly kissed the back of it. “The pleasure is all mine. You're really at our school?”

Mary smiled and nodded. “Just for a test-run day. Did you know there are nearly 332,000 genetically distinct bacteria on the human hand?”

Theo pulled a face and dropped her hand. “I did not.” He surreptitiously scrubbed at his lips.

“Okay, we've got somewhere to be.” Buzz steered Mary away. “Theo, why don't you get out of here and start looting or eating rotten fruit or something?”

“Off to fight a dragon, are you?” Theo asked.

“Something like that.” Buzz didn't even bother to look over his shoulder.

“Can I help?”

Buzz stopped and swiveled round. “Excuse me?”

Theo had knelt down and was pulling on his sneakers, his face hidden from view. “Listen, Freaky,” he said. “Things have been seriously trippy around here recently. I've been getting the worst case of déjà vu imaginable. I mean, I feel like I have lived this day twenty times already, but no one else seems to have noticed. And each time I live the same day, things around here are getting worse. My friends and family have all gone feral on me—worse than usual. I keep on walking over to those woods that you love so much. It's like I'm being summoned, but I don't know what to do when I get there. And
I feel like I'm being followed. I saw this strange geezer in the woods. He was bright and kind of shimmery and I just knew I had to run.”

“No way.” Mary's mouth hung open. “Buzz. He's one of them.”

“One of who?” Theo absently picked at his teeth and then examined his findings with interest.

“No, Mary, no.” Buzz knew he sounded scared, but that's because he was.

“Think about it,” Mary insisted. “Ratatosk told us that all the sleeping gods—Sunna, Mani, Tyr, Odin, Thor, and Frigga—would have enough influence over their hosts to ensure they stayed close to the tree. Stayed in Crowmarsh.”

“So?” Buzz questioned. “That doesn't mean Theo is one of them.”

But Mary was staring at Theo, a grin spreading over her face. “Ratatosk also said that the hosts of sleeping gods wouldn't be affected by the Saturday loop like normal mortals—they'd be more resistant.” Mary bounced onto the balls of her feet excitedly. “He's one of them. We've found our first sleeping god!”

“U
ncle Mark!” Buzz bellowed, charging into the Crowmarsh police station. “Uncle Mark?”

There was no answer.

The police station was deserted. A cold wind followed them into the room, and cupboard doors swung mournfully on creaky hinges. Files lay scattered on the floor, and the light overhead flickered as if the bulb was taking its last few gasps at life.

“Yo, Uncle Marko,” Theo cried, walking over to the stairs that led up to the next floor. “Come out, come out, wherever you are.”

“He's not your uncle,” Buzz said, following Theo to the staircase. He looked up the stairway. He thought he'd seen a flicker of light up there, but the entire floor above was in
complete darkness.

“Technically, he's not your uncle, either—he's your godfather,” Theo shot back. “Regardless, he's not here.” He nodded at the wide entrance to the police station. “Come on, let's go to that ash tree you were talking about so that I can get my Thor on.”

Buzz massaged his temple, trying to rub away the headache that was threatening to explode there. During the walk over to the police station, he and Mary had given Theo the full story of what had happened since Friday the thirteenth. They told him about the Saturday loop, the runes, the sleeping gods, Loki, and the end of the world as they knew it. Typically for him, Theo had only really listened to the part that he thought directly concerned himself, and that was the part about going to the underworld and getting Thor's rune and powers.

“You're not necessarily going to be Thor, you know.” Buzz tried to keep his voice even. “You could be Tyr, Odin, or even Frigga.”

He isn't Sunna or Mani,
Buzz knew that much. They'd given Theo the moon rune of Mani to hold, and exactly all of zilch had happened.

“There's no way I'm going to be a girl.” Theo sneered. “And to be honest, I don't want to be this Odin guy or Tyr, either.”

“You don't want to be Odin—the All-Father, the great and powerful destroyer?” Mary sounded amazed. “He's the big kahuna, you know.”

“All I know is that he's not Thor,” Theo replied stubbornly.

“Well, Tyr isn't too shabby, either,” Mary continued. “He used to be worshiped as the chief of the gods until Odin superseded him in people's beliefs. Tyr was the god of justice and a great warrior.”

“Thor, god of thunder,” Theo repeated, not listening to a single word Mary was saying. “The name just sounds right. Man, I can almost feel the hammer in my hand. What's it called again?”

“Mjölnir,” Buzz said.

“Mjölnir,” Theo repeated. He snatched up an umbrella from the corner of the room and began to swing it like a mighty hammer.

Buzz rolled his eyes. “Put that down before you hurt yourself. We don't even know for sure that you've got a sleeping god inside you.”

Theo grinned. “I'm special. Mary said it.”

Buzz opened his mouth to argue. But there was no denying that Theo wasn't being affected by the Saturday loop like other mortals.

Theo smiled smugly. “Listen, we don't know where your uncle Mark is, but we do know that Thor's rune is in the underworld. We also know that we need to speak to some guy called Pluto, so let's get going.” Theo steered Buzz toward the door. “Once I have my powers, I will be able to sort out this whole Loki mess for you, and you can go back to knitting or whatever it is you do in your free time.”

“He's right, Buzz,” Mary said softly, walking by his side.
“There is no guarantee that your godfather will even know where those runes are now—the article we read was from a few weeks ago. Maybe we're better off going for the runes that we already know the location of.”

Buzz heard a creak behind him and whipped around to see Uncle Mark walking down the steps with a cup of tea in his hand. Buzz could see straightaway that his godfather's eyes did not have the glassy, vacant expression that he'd observed in Tia and Sam. If anything, Uncle Mark looked even better than usual. Fitter and stronger.

“Uncle Mark, you're here,” Buzz said. “Why were you upstairs with no lights on?”

“Lightbulb blew,” Uncle Mark replied, the cup of tea sloshing over his hand as he swiftly put it down on a nearby counter. “Where have you been, Buzz?” Uncle Mark took two steps forward and folded Buzz into a hug. “I've been so worried.”

Buzz hugged his godfather in return, but a big question was already tickling at the edges of his brain. He stepped back. “How long have I been gone, Uncle Mark?”

Uncle Mark frowned. “It's hard to say for sure. On the one hand, it feels like it's been at least a couple weeks, but on the other hand?” He raked a hand through his hair. “The whole world is upside down. Nothing makes sense.” He gave a hysterical laugh. “It's Saturday every day.”

“So you've noticed that we are stuck in a Saturday loop?” Mary asked.

“Of course I have,” Uncle Mark said. “And I've noticed that
all sense of decency has gone out the window, and that food rots right in front of your eyes. I patrol these streets, and I can't believe what is happening. And no one other than me seems to notice.” He looked at Buzz. “Have you seen your father?”

Buzz shook his head. “Just Tia, and she's like a zombie.”

“It's probably for the best that you haven't,” Uncle Mark said. “Your father is not much better than your sister. He didn't seem to care that you were missing. He couldn't see that we were living the same day over and over again. It didn't matter what I said.”

Mary turned to Buzz. “Are you thinking what I'm thinking?”

Buzz nodded. Uncle Mark was exhibiting signs just like Theo.
He's another sleeping god.

“Uncle Mark, we've got something to tell you,” Buzz said. “And it's going to sound unbelievable.”

Uncle Mark stared back at him steadily. “It can't be any more unbelievable than what I've experienced recently. You'd better tell me everything.”

And so Buzz and Mary did.

“So you think I'm a sleeping god.” Uncle Mark said the words softly, as if he was afraid someone might overhear. “That I'm one of these day guardians?”

“Yes,” Mary said.

“But not Thor,” Theo added. “I'm Thor.”

Uncle Mark ignored him. “And you've come back from Atlantis to try and find those runes that were mentioned in
the newspaper article. The ones that we uncovered during the raid.”

Buzz nodded. “Any idea where they might be now?”

“I have more than an idea.” Uncle Mark walked over to a safe in the far corner of the room. He swiftly punched some digits into the keypad.

The door swung open, and inside the safe Buzz saw two runes sitting on a black cloth. One was shiny and smooth, and the other looked a little rougher and duller.

“I don't understand,” Buzz said. “Why have you still got these? The raid was weeks ago. Are they being held as evidence?”

Uncle Mark shook his head. “One of the curators from the university got in touch and said that the runes were to stay in the area so that they could be put on display at the city museum. We were told to look after them until they could be collected,” Uncle Mark explained. “With this whole Saturday loop thing, they have been in our possession far longer than they should have been.”

“We're not complaining.” Mary dragged Theo over to the safe. “Pick up the runes,” she ordered.

“I don't want to,” Theo whined. “I don't want to be Odin or Tyr. They both sound like complete and utter losers.” He nodded his head over to Uncle Mark. “Make him pick them up first.”

Uncle Mark was standing very stiffly, and if Buzz didn't know better he would have sworn that his godfather was
furious. But the very idea of that was ridiculous. Uncle Mark never got angry about anything.
Maybe he's just nervous about the whole sleeping god thing,
Buzz thought.
I'd be nervous if I thought a sleeping god was inside me, too
.
What if they didn't want to go back to sleep after they'd been awoken?

“Theo, I'm the one who put the runes in the safe in the first place,” Uncle Mark pointed out. “But I've no problem handling them again, even if you do think that Odin and Tyr are losers.” He picked up the runes, rotating them in his palm.

Nothing happened.

He held out the two runes to Theo. “Your turn.”

Theo grimaced but held out his hand, flinching as Uncle Mark dropped the runes into his palm. He squeezed his eyes shut and held his breath, but after a moment he cracked an eye open. “I'm still me, right?”

“Unfortunately,” Buzz said.

“Yes!” Theo punched the air. “Project Thor is still a go.” He chucked the runes back to Uncle Mark, who slipped them in his pocket.

“Hang on, did it occur to you that my uncle Mark might be Thor?” Buzz asked.

“Yeah, right, Inspector Marko is probably that moon guy, Mani. It was his rune you got me to hold on the walk over here, right?”

Buzz nodded.

“Theo's got a good point,” Mary mused. “Nothing happened with him when he held the rune, but it might with your
godfather.” She reached into her pocket and passed Mani's rune to Uncle Mark. He held it in his palm and stood very still, but nothing happened.

Buzz's disappointment curled through him like smoke. So far they had four runes, potentially two sleeping gods, and not a single superpower between them. They had nothing.

And all the while, Loki was probably out there seeking the other sleeping gods of Crowmarsh,
Buzz thought.
Capturing them, even, or giving them to the dragon Nidhogg.
And the increasing chaos outside would only be fueling Loki's powers. Buzz was going to need the help of as many gods as he could get.

“Hey, Buzz,” Uncle Mark said, slipping Mani's rune into his pocket with the other two. “Don't look so down. The runes that Pluto protects will be the perfect match for me and Theo. They have to be.”

Buzz nodded. The final two runes that waited for them in the underworld belonged to Thor and Frigga. They had to be the keys to awaken Uncle Mark's and Theo's sleeping gods.

The final two runes will change everything,
Buzz realized. Two of the sleeping gods would be restored, and with their help, they would be able to find the other sleeping gods in Crowmarsh and reunite them with their runes as well.

Buzz took Sunna's rune from his pocket, feeling comforted by its weight but wishing at the same time that it was Sunna who held the rune and not him. This had all begun with her, and he hoped she was all right.

Suddenly the weight of Sunna's rune was gone.

“Hey!” Buzz was pulled from his thoughts in time to see Uncle Mark pocket the rune.

“It makes sense to keep them all together,” his godfather explained. “In the safest place.”

“Yes, but—” Buzz began.

“Your uncle Mark's right,” Mary said. “We shouldn't split them up.”

“I don't disagree,” Buzz replied. “So let me look after them.”

Theo snorted. “It's me and Inspector Marko who are the gods, remember?” He threw an arm over Uncle Mark's shoulder, having to stand on his tiptoes to do it. “You're just a boy.”

Uncle Mark threw off Theo's arm. “And so are you until we find those last two runes. Come on, Buzz. Show us the way to the tree and let's get to Pluto's underworld.”