Secrets of Valhalla (19 page)

F
enris galloped along the length of the tunnel, his giant paws slapping against the rocky ground while Buzz and Mary clung to his fur. The dry, warm air of the tunnel glided across Buzz's skin, while grit thrown up by the wolf's massive strides stung his eyes and coated his teeth. It was like being on a roller coaster.

A furry roller coaster
that charges up the steep inclines of the tunnel and comes careering down the other side while taking corners at extraordinary speed.

Despite the wolf's amazing pace, Buzz felt safe on Fenris's wide, muscled back, though he couldn't help wondering what danger they were heading toward, and if any of them would survive it.

They eventually spilled out into a cavern that arched
above them like a vaulted cathedral. It almost looked like they were inside a volcano. The walls were completely covered in a pattern of striped, solidified magma, and they stretched upward as tall as ten Statues of Liberty balanced on top of one another. Carved into one side of the cavern's walls were steps that climbed up to what had to be the mouth of the volcano, and through that hole Buzz could see stars above them that burned brightly in an indigo sky.

“I think we're actually in the bottom of a volcano
,
”
he said, as Buzz and Mary climbed off Fenris
.

“Whoa, awesome!”
came Theo's voice. Then a short, sharp whack filled the air, like a hand being slapped over a mouth.

“Theo, show yourself!”
Mary's hands were on her hips and she turned in a slow circle
.

Theo did not appear.

“We heard you
,
”
Buzz said. “We know you're here.”

Still Theo did not appear.

Buzz took out his slingshot and a pebble. He rolled the pebble in between two fingers. “Do you really want me to use this again to find you?” Buzz asked.

But before Theo could reply, Fenris bounded forward and released his massive pink tongue, slurping at the empty air.

“Eww,” Theo cried. He suddenly appeared, helmet in hand and with wolf saliva dripping off his face.

Mary laughed. “Nice to see you again,” she said.

“Yeah, yeah,” Theo grumbled.

Buzz looked at him closely. Apart from the dripping
cheeks, Theo looked much better than he had the last time Buzz saw him. Gone was that look of fear and despair that had been in Theo's eyes in the Dread Caves. He just looked put out that he had been licked by a wolf.

“How did you find your way here?” Buzz asked.

“I traveled on the wolf. I was sitting right behind you. Not very observant, are you, Freaky?”

“You were invisible.”

“Excuses, excuses,” Theo responded.

“Hang on—if you got on Fenris's back, then that means you must have been right by the Dread Caves when Mary freed us.”

Theo nodded.

“So did you see Tyr trap us in those caves?” Mary asked.

Theo hesitated but nodded his head again.

“And you didn't do anything to stop him?” Buzz inquired.

Theo wouldn't meet his eye. “Listen, I was there for pretty much the whole thing. I heard everything that Tyr guy said, and can I just say that he is seriously loopy?”

“Don't change the subject,” Mary said. “You watched Tyr block us into those caves and didn't do anything to stop him.”

Theo looked sheepish and defensive both at the same time. “What exactly was I supposed to do about an angry god who now also has my rune?” Theo spread his arms wide. “Yes, I let him block you in. Yes, I watched him run off at superfast god speed. Yes, I made my fingers bloody trying to move those rocks out of the cave mouth.” He held up his hands, and Buzz
saw that his nails were indeed bloody and torn.

“Mary, give him a break,” Buzz said. “Staying hidden from Tyr was probably the smartest thing Theo's ever done.”

Theo snorted. “The smartest thing would have been me keeping my mouth shut so that you didn't know I was around.”

“But we're on this quest together,” Buzz protested.

“And that's working out great.” Theo rolled his eyes. “Uncle Mark seemed like a nice guy, he was on our quest, and now he's a power-crazed fruit loop. As far as I see it, you can't trust anyone.”

“So what are you doing here?” Mary asked. “Why did you follow us?”

“Because I want my rune,” Theo said. “And once I get it, I'm out of here.”

Fenris padded over to the steps, his huge head gazing upward at the mouth of the volcano. For once, Buzz understood perfectly. Hel's kingdom was up there. The day guardians, the runes, and even little Ratatosk waited for them. And then there was Tyr and Loki.

Buzz stepped onto the stairs. “If you want your rune, it's going to be up there. But it's not going to be easy. It's going to be a fight.” For a moment, Buzz was reminded of his English teacher, Mrs. Robertson. She said he was too quick to give up when things got hard. If only she could see him now.

“Can't be as bad as the Dread Caves.” Theo tossed his helmet up in the air and caught it. “And besides, I've got this, remember?”

They began to climb the stairs, the steps whisper soft and smooth beneath their feet. As they ascended, Buzz observed that the walls of the volcano were pockmarked with recesses that seemed to lead off into other magma chambers. Buzz could see flashes of movement in these caverns—could feel eyes watching them—and he remembered what Pluto had said about Hel's kingdom becoming a lawless place. His hand tightened on the slingshot, ready for any trouble.

But whoever was watching them was content with just that and let them pass.
Maybe they're hiding,
Buzz thought.
Hiding from Tyr and Loki.

As they walked upward, Mary reached out to touch a deep channel that ran alongside the stairs. When her fingers came away, they were just a tiny bit damp.

“Do you think this is the channel Pluto was talking about?” Mary asked. “The one that is supposed to bring the water to the River Styx from Hel's kingdom?”

“Could be,” Buzz said. “It would make sense. Rain would fall onto the lip of the crater, then flow down this channel and into the branches of the rivers that run into the underworlds.”

“It's just like Pluto said,” Mary breathed. “Something is stopping the water from flowing, and Hel is not here to fix it.” Mary's hand went to the horn that still hung from her shoulder. “I wonder where she is.”

Fenris butted his head against her side and looked at her with mournful eyes, as if he could sense Mary's concern.

Mary smiled. “Don't look so sad, fella,” she said. “You're
the cheerful one out of all of us.”

They were almost at the top of the stairs now, the wide-open crater revealing an arc of sky only a good few feet above their heads. The last step led them directly onto a strip of rock that appeared to lead into another magma chamber.

“Theo, put your helmet on and go and tell us what you see,” Buzz ordered.

Theo nodded and promptly disappeared.

“Do you think that was a good idea?” Mary whispered. “What if he doesn't come back? What if he just gets his rune and runs off?”

“Then better we know that now, before we go in there.”

“Oh ye of little faith.” Theo appeared again at their side, his hair flattened by the helmet. “Don't worry, there's no way I'm getting my rune back by myself. This is going to have to be a team effort.”

“What did you see?” Buzz asked.

“A dragon. A really big dragon, and he was toying with this squirrel by twirling him around by his tail and flicking him across the room with his talons. The squirrel was not impressed. Had quite a mouth on him.”

“Ratatosk!” Mary exclaimed. “He really is alive!”

“Then I saw Loki,” Theo went on. “He was placing the runes on this strange circle thing, and Tyr was standing in the middle of it, telling him to hurry up.”

“Anything else?”

Theo scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah, I think I saw
the other day guardians—” Theo broke off. “You better come and see for yourself. Let's just say there's some familiar faces.”

Buzz nodded. “Let's go.”

“Wait! Won't Loki and Tyr see us?” Mary asked.

Theo shook his head. “I've found another path that takes you to a platform that is just above their heads. They're right down in the bottom of the chamber.”

Buzz, Mary, Fenris, and Theo crept along the new path to the platform that let them look down.

This magma chamber was bigger than the ones Buzz had glimpsed on their climb up the stairs. In the center of the room, he could see a raised circular pedestal atop which stood Tyr. He was surrounded by a radial pattern of carved-out channels that looked like a sunburst. Each ray of the sunburst led to one of the six runes that rested around the edge of the pedestal.

All the runes except two were glowing with an intense brightness. Tyr's rune had already been used up, Buzz reasoned, and Theo's rune hadn't been activated yet, but the others all had been. The tiniest amount of liquid light was already beginning to gather in the channels that flowed up the sunburst toward Tyr.

In one corner of the cavern, Buzz could see Ratatosk and the dragon. Ratatosk looked exhausted, and the dragon looked bored of the game. Buzz wondered just how long there was left before the dragon was completely fed up with his little furry toy.

In the other corner, Buzz could see Saturn. He wasn't even tied up. Buzz was relieved to see that Father Time was still alive, but Saturn looked like a washed-out version of himself, and very fragile. Loki stood beside him, watching Tyr on the pedestal with a small smile on his face.

Buzz spotted Sunna on the other side of the chamber. She was tied to a post by a blue lasso of fire. It was identical to the one that had tied her to the World Tree in the Tangley Woods.
But Buzz didn't think it would be turning back to normal rope anytime soon.

Next to her, also lashed to a post, stood Coach Saunders. Buzz could tell it was him, even though he looked different. Taller and stronger, and with a silver moonlit aura radiating from him.

He was one of the sleeping gods,
Buzz realized. But that god was no longer asleep. Coach Saunders would now be sharing his thoughts with a god who'd been awoken by his rune, only to be prevented from absorbing its power.

Next to Coach Saunders, Buzz saw Mrs. Robertson. She was likewise changed, an optimal version of herself. And then, next to her, he saw . . . he saw . . . the Prof.

“Dad?” he said out loud.

“Shhh!”
Theo put a hand across his mouth. “I told you that you needed to come and have a look. Your dad is a god—that's pretty mind-bending stuff, right?”

“That's your dad?” Mary asked, pointing. “He looks so tall. And so godlike. I mean, much more than the others. He's
almost too bright to look at.”

Mary was right. Out of all the gods, his father shone the brightest. He was Odin. . . . He had to be.

“We've got to help them,” Buzz said. He pushed his surprise, his questions about what this meant for his father's future, deep down. They needed a plan. “Right.” Buzz turned to Theo. “You're going to turn invisible, go down there, and free the day guardians.”

“What? I should get the runes.”

“We need you to use your helmet to break the blue fire that's holding them. If you break the beam, they will be able to escape.”

Buzz put a hand on Fenris's head. “I need you to deal with the dragon.” He pointed at the scaled beast who was breathing jets of fire at Ratatosk. The squirrel was almost dead on his feet, and he wouldn't be able to avoid the flames for much longer. The wolf stared at the dragon with hard eyes. He understood.

Buzz took his slingshot out of his pocket. “I'm going to deal with our pedestal problem.”

“You're going to shoot Tyr?” Mary questioned. “But your uncle Mark is still in there somewhere and—”

“Don't worry. I'm not going to hit him. I'm going to hit the runes off the plinth, and I need you to catch them and give them to the proper day guardians. Once they have their powers back, they can help us stop Loki and Tyr.”

Mary nodded. “It's a great strategy, Buzz.”

Theo nodded. “Now that I've heard all of it, Freaky, I've got to agree. It's quite a game plan.”

Down below, Tyr still stood on the pedestal, and Loki was watching motionless as more of the light from the runes pooled in through the sunburst channels.

“Why is it taking so long?” Tyr snarled.

“Patience,” Loki's smoky voice reassured. “Good things come to those who wait.”

“Those runes don't belong to you,” Odin's voice boomed from the Prof's mouth. And his voice sounded like the waves and the wind. “What you're doing is wrong.”

Loki whirled to face the All-Father. “You no longer get to choose what is right and what is wrong, Odin. That is for others to decide now.”

“I know you have no reason to trust me,” Odin implored. “I tore apart your family while I was still mad in my grief for my son Balder. I locked you up here in this place and told myself that the only way forward was the way of the prophecy. The way of Ragnarok. I told myself that everything had to end.”

“Odin, you didn't just tear apart my family. You ripped out my heart,” Loki snarled. “My children were killed, banished, and scattered. And what about my daughter? My sweet Hel. This was her kingdom, and you made it my prison. But where is she now?”

“She would not stop until you were free,” Odin admitted. “So I sent her away. To a safe place.”

“Enough,” Tyr snarled. “Do you really believe him, Loki?
Odin killed her. Just as you can kill him once I have all the power from the runes.”

“Listen,” Theo said. “This is our chance, while they're arguing. I'll free Sunna first. As soon as you see me take the helmet off to break the blue beam around her, Mary will come down with Fenris to catch the runes. Right?”