“Someone discovered the mark I left on its forehead,” Odin said. “Not just anyone, but someone powerful enough to unmask its true nature. I see it even now, burning clear in my mind. It is dangerous for that creature to fall into the wrong hands.”
“We’re well aware of that, Odin, which is why we don’t intend to let it – ”
“Return the dog to me, or there will be hell to pay.”
I looked around the room, at the mixed reactions – the god twins with their barely contained horror, the members of the Boneyard, shaken, yet defiant. Banjo panted, his tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth.
“And what exactly would you do to Banjo if you did get him back again?” I said.
“You’ve named it? You poor fool, growing attached. Put it to death, of course. The creature was an accident, swept up in one of my hunts.”
I frowned. “The Wild Hunt? That kind of hunt?”
According to myth, Odin loved to do exactly that, going on frenzied hunts with teams of horses and dogs, sweeping across the land, gathering hunters and hounds to the cause, whipping their blood into froth as they rampaged.
Odin groaned. I could tell that his eyes were rolling. “We happened to pass by some human settlements on our last hunt. One of those giant stone huts you call ah-part-ments. The frenzy of the hunt reaches out at times, touches what it can find, gives it power. But a corgi? This stubby little beast? What good is it for a hunt? It is of no use to me. Return the dog to me that I may dispose of it.”
“Over my dead body,” Carver snarled, his fingers locking around my phone. “Do you hear me, All-Father? You can pry Banjo from my cold, dead hands.” Carver’s eyes burned into me with genuine, visceral rage. “Tell him. Tell the All-Father.”
My voice squeaked as it came out of me. “Oh. I think he heard you.” Apollo had his face buried in his hands. Artemis was stress-eating lumpia by the fistful.
The silence on the other end of the line was far more terrifying than anything Odin, the All-Father, the king of the Norse pantheon, could say.
“Listen,” I said, openly quivering. “We can take good care of Banjo. Give him a good life. He’ll be safe with us, and you’ll never have to worry about him again.”
“I will find you, human,” Odin said, slowly, carefully. “I will find you, and the man who dared to defy the All-Father, the one with the cold fingers and the dead body. Do you hear me, you filthy revenant? Gungnir will taste your blood. Sleipnir will trample you to dust. And I will drink from your skull.”
I pulled with all my might, but Carver yanked on my phone even harder. He brought it close to his lips, and hissed. “We’ll be waiting.”
The line went dead.
“Oh my God,” Asher said. “We’re all dead.”
“You’re all dead,” Apollo said, casting his finger around the room. “It was really nice knowing you.”
“Yeah,” Artemis said. “Listen, can I get this stuff to go? It’s been great, but if Odin shows up, I’d really much rather be far, far away. Like, in a different dimension.”
“Please,” Carver said, stroking Banjo behind the ears, the god-mark on his forehead fading. “With the Boneyard’s new protections, and the rune on the dog’s head under my control, Odin will never find us.” He nuzzled his nose into Banjo’s head, laying a multitude of noisy kisses. “Daddy’s little murderer.”
I shook my head. “You’re like this whole other person. Who are you?”
“Don’t listen to the bad man,” Carver told Banjo.
My phone rang again. I jumped, catching it as it made a little flip in midair. The room was deathly silent once more. Carver glared at my phone, like it had played a role in murdering his entire family. My heart was going to explode. But it wasn’t Odin this time.
“Bastion,” I breathed, rel
ief flooding my chest. “Finally. We heard Delilah woke up.”
“Yes,” Bastion said. “And things are not great. You’d better get here as soon as possible, and don’t bring the dog with you. I’m concerned about this whole Society thing. We’ve got Delilah bound, but she keeps talking about something that lies sleeping. That isn’t truly dead and gone.”
My blood ran cold. Delilah’s last words at the Ramsey House, before she went into her coma. “It waits.”
The pause on Bastion’s end was hardly comforting. “That’s what she said. Get here, as soon as you can. Bring back up. And don’t. Bring. The dog.”
I ended the call. “You guys heard everything. Someone needs to stay here with Banjo. Everyone else? Who can come with?”
“I’m out,” Apollo said. “Did my part. But as for you – we’ll be seeing each other again, Dustin Graves. Pretty soon, I hope.”