“Deadwood was the last frontier,” he said. “I remember reading letters on it for a project, and someone said they didn’t fear going to hell because they’d been to Deadwood.”
“Why was it the last frontier?” Laurie asked as they resumed walking. Fen rolled his eyes, but she gave him a look and said, “I’m interested, okay? As long as we’re here, might as well get the unofficial tour.”
Matt smiled. “I can do that. Never been here—my parents don’t approve of Deadwood, past or present—but I know all the stories. They called Deadwood the last frontier because the town itself wasn’t even legal. The land was supposed to belong to the Native Americans, but General Custer found gold here and that started a gold rush, which started the town of Deadwood. Because it was illegal, though, there wasn’t a whole lotta law and order, not until Seth Bullock—a Canadian guy who became the first sheriff—came along.”
Matt continued with the tour as Fen trailed along behind, shaking his head.
As they walked, Matt managed to find all the famous graves—Wild Bill, Calamity Jane, Seth Bullock, Preacher Smith, and Potato Creek Johnny—but they didn’t find the twins. And they took so long getting to the back of the cemetery that they then had to search on the way out, in case the twins had come in during the meantime. Fen complained about that… and about the fact that Matt continued to stop for things he’d missed the first time, including Potter’s Field. He explained to Laurie that was where most of the unmarked graves were.
“I’m going to put you in an unmarked grave if you say one more sentence with the word dead in it,” Fen muttered.
“Does that include Deadwood?” Matt said, grinning.
“Yes.”
Matt laughed, but Fen had a point. They really should get back to the front of the cemetery and watch for the twins.
They found a place to hide behind a monument and waited. An hour passed. Then another. Dark began to fall. Matt was out stretching his legs when he heard something cracking and snapping. He looked up to see a flag whipping in the wind.
“See something?” Laurie whispered as she crept out from behind the monument.
Matt shook his head. “Just the flag.” He squinted up at it in the twilight. “It’s weird. They don’t lower it at sunset like most places. I read that they leave it up twenty-four hours a day and—”
“Are you at it again?” Fen said. “I swear I’ll find you a nice empty grave if you keep it up.”
“I’m not too worried,” Matt said. “Cemetery’s full.” He thought of stopping there, but really, it was fun to push Fen’s buttons sometimes. Especially when there wasn’t much else to do for entertainment. “You know, though, there actually might be some empty graves. Back in frontier days, they’d bury prospectors here, and then sometimes their families would find out and want the bodies sent home. Except, of course, by that point, the person had been dead awhile, so digging them up and mailing them would be pretty gross. They’d just send back the bones, which meant they had to boil—”
“Hey!” Fen jabbed a finger at Laurie. “You think she really needs to hear this?”
“Actually…” Laurie began.
“No.” Fen swung his scowl on Matt. “Shut it, Thorsen. Or I’ll shut it for you.”
“Before or after you put me in the empty grave?”
Fen growled. Matt grinned back.
Laurie stepped between them. “He’s baiting you, Fen.” She turned to Matt. “Stop that.” Then to Fen. “You stop it, too.”
“But he started—”
Her look silenced Fen, and she stalked back behind the monument. Matt and Fen followed. As Matt stepped behind the monument, though, he thought he heard something. He looked around. When he didn’t see anything and turned away to ignore it, he felt a… brain twitch. That was the only way he could describe it. Like the weird sense of someone watching you, except it wasn’t the hairs rising on his neck, it was a ping in his brain that said Pay attention.
Then he really felt the ping as his amulet jumped and began to heat up. He opened his mouth to say something, but wasn’t sure what exactly to say and leaned out from the monument instead, peering into the growing darkness. That’s when he saw two figures making their way toward the cemetery.
Norns? Valkyries? Trolls? His amulet had reacted to all three. As the figures drew closer, though, he saw that it was the twins—Ray and Reyna. So he could detect descendants, too? That hadn’t happened before. Maybe it was a new power.
He tapped Laurie on the shoulder and pointed. She saw the twins and murmured that they should wait until they got closer. Fen shuffled impatiently, but he didn’t argue.
Matt wasn’t sure what to make of the twins. They weren’t the kind of kids you saw in Blackwell or Lead or even Deadwood. Not that there was anything wrong with being different. He just… he didn’t know what to make of them. That meant he didn’t know how to talk to them or how to convince them to join the fight.
But that’s your job, isn’t it? That’s the test the Valkyries gave you. Find the others and get them to join up.
The fighting part was so much easier.
He sized up the twins. The answer seemed to be to ignore the weird clothes and the makeup and just talk to them. But Laurie had already tried that.
The heat of his amulet flared, as if to remind him that he could make the twins join up. Scare them into it. The very thought made him queasy. That wasn’t how a leader acted. It wasn’t how Thor had acted, either. Sometimes people thought he had, but in the old stories, he always used his strength for good. To help others, not hurt them.
Matt watched the twins, now close enough for him to see their faces, set in that same the-world-bores-me look they’d had earlier. And he realized he had no idea what they could do now that they hadn’t done earlier, and Fen and Laurie were expecting him to do more, to find the right words, except he didn’t know them and now they’d gone through all this for nothing and—
He took a deep breath. He’d talk to them. He’d be reasonable. Use logic.
Logic? They were telling these kids that they had to help them save the world. Fight a giant serpent before wolves ate the sun and moon and plunged Earth into eternal winter. Logic didn’t even—
His amulet began to vibrate now. He tugged the new cord and flicked it outside his shirt so he could concentrate. Only even as he was moving it, he felt the vibration, and it wasn’t coming from his warm amulet. He dropped quickly and pressed his fingers to the ground. It was vibrating. Which meant it wasn’t the twins making his necklace react.
Matt leaped up. “Tro—!”
He didn’t even finish the word before two headstones sprang to life. They vaulted over the wall before Matt could get out from behind the monument. The twins turned and gaped.
The trolls scooped them up and swung them over their shoulders. The boy—Ray—froze. Reyna pounded at her captor’s back and shouted. Matt raced from the monument, Fen and Laurie behind him, but the trolls moved lightning-fast, swinging back over the wall. As the trolls ran, another headstone jumped up and followed, and the three tore through the cemetery. All the while, Reyna was howling and struggling.
Matt raced after them, but by the time he reached the spot where they’d jumped the wall, they’d vanished into the dark cemetery. He ran in the direction they’d gone. There was no sign of them, though, and he slowed, squinting as he kept jogging forward. Finally, he saw something move over by the monument to Wild Bill Hickok.
He stopped Fen and Laurie and pointed. The troll who’d been playing backup for the kidnappers had stopped at the fence surrounding Wild Bill’s grave. He was trying to shove his hand through the chain-link fence to grab at something.
“The coins,” Matt whispered, remembering Laurie throwing one to the troll at Mount Rushmore.
As he moved from headstone to headstone, he could see he was right. Earlier, they’d noticed that people had reached through the fence to leave “offerings” on Wild Bill’s grave. There were a couple bottles of whi
skey, a flower, a set of aces, and coins. It was the last that had caught the troll’s attention.
As Matt watched the troll struggling to get the money, he had to stifle the urge to laugh. It was kinda funny, like watching a six-hundred-pound tiger stop chasing a gazelle to bat at a butterfly. The other trolls were long gone.
“I’ll circle around,” Fen whispered. “When I give the signal, we’ll both run out and jump him. Make him tell us where they took the twins.”
A day ago, Matt would have thought this was a perfectly brilliant plan. But he’d fought the last troll. He knew that, as silly as this one looked, grunting and grumbling and straining for pocket change, it was still a living pile of rock… with a sledgehammer punch. Forcing Leaf to reveal the twins’ whereabouts hadn’t worked so well. So he motioned for Fen to hold off and just watch.
The troll spent about five minutes trying to get its oversized arm through the wire before it realized that the fence barely came up to its chest. Then it took a few more minutes to figure out how to climb over.
“Not too bright, are they?” Laurie said with a soft laugh.
That was an understatement. And something Matt needed to remember if they had to take this guy on. They didn’t, though. It got the money, climbed back over the fence, and loped off. Matt motioned for them to follow.
With the other two trolls long gone, this one didn’t seem to be in as much of a rush, and they were able to keep up. The troll continued over the hills, occasionally disappearing behind clumps of trees or melding with gray headstones then emerging a moment later, still on the move. Finally, nearly at the far side of the cemetery, Matt heard the twins.
“Do you really think we’re stupid?” Reyna was saying. “You’re working with those kids. They tell us stories about gods and trolls, and you guys show up wearing troll costumes. Lame troll costumes. I can see the zipper in the back, you know.”
“I don’t see a zipper,” Ray’s whispered voice drifted over on the breeze.
“Well, there must be,” his sister said. “They’ve put on costumes to kidnap us for ransom. That’s what you want, isn’t it? Ransom?”
“Treasure,” one of the trolls rumbled. “Aerik want treasure.”
“See?” Reyna said.
Matt darted along the headstones until he could see the trolls. The third one had joined its companions, and all three crouched around the twins, who sat, bound back-to-back. Ray looked terrified; Reyna looked furious.
Now that they were closer, Matt recognized one of the two trolls who’d taken the kids. He’d know the crags of that ugly face anywhere. Leaf.
It was Leaf who spoke next, turning to the one who’d been delayed and saying, “Where Sun go?”
The troll—whose skin was veined with dark red, like rusty iron—opened his hand, revealing the coins.
“More?” Leaf asked.
Sun shook his head.
Leaf grunted and turned to the twins. “You have treasure.”
“Money?” Ray said. “Sure, our parents have money. Our dad runs one of the casinos.”
“Don’t—” Reyna began.
He shot her a look that silenced her, then he turned back to the trolls. “Our dad will pay. I can give you his cell phone number. Or…” He looked them up and down. “I can call on mine.”
The trolls stared blankly at him. Then Aerik said, “Treasure. Aerik want treasure. Leaf say girl daughter Freya. Boy son Frey. God kids want. Frey and Freya have treasure.”
Laurie leaned over and whispered, “They know the twins are valuable because we wanted to find them so badly.”
Matt nodded. “And to them, valuable means treasure.”
They listened for a few more minutes, as the two sides tried—without much success—to understand each other.
“They’ll be at this for a while.” Laurie turned to Matt and asked, “Should we wait until they turn to stone?”
Matt looked up at the sky. The stars had just appeared about an hour ago. It was a long way from dawn. He glanced over at the trolls. One they could handle. Two might be okay if they could free Ray to help. Three? Not happening.
Matt nodded. “We have to.”
A half hour later, the twins finally started to get what the trolls meant. Kind of.
“No paper money?” Reyna said. “How do you get a ransom without paper money? Bonds or something?”
“Gold,” Ray whispered to his sister. “They said shiny treasure, so I think they mean gold.”
“Then why don’t they say gold?”
Ray looked at the trolls, and Matt could see by the way he studied them that he’d figured out they weren’t guys in costumes. But when he glanced at his sister, he seemed to decide this wasn’t the time to argue with her about it.
Ray wriggled in his bonds and pulled off a ring. Then he held it out as best he could, pinched between his fingers. “Is this what you want? More of this? Treasure?”
Aerik made a move to snatch the ring, and Ray quickly tossed it onto the grass. All three trolls dove for it. Leaf came up victorious, chortling in that scraping-rocks way that made Matt’s teeth clench.
“That’s what you want then?” Ray said. “That’s treasure?”
“Yes,” Aerik said, bouncing. “Treasure. More treasure. Aerik want treasure.”
“Give them your ring,” Ray whispered to his sister.
“What? I am not—”
“Reyna!”
Reyna grumbled, but managed to yank it off and tossed it. Again, it was like a football tackle as all three went for it. Leaf got this one, too, but Aerik snatched it away, and they argued in wordless rumbles before Leaf gave in.
“There,” Reyna said. “Now, if you can untie us…”
“More treasure,” Sun said, rolling forward to crouch in front of her. “Want more.”
“We don’t have more with us,” Ray said.
Reyna wriggled her fingers. “See? No more rings. That’s it.”
Now Leaf sidled forward, rocking from side to side, knuckles dragging. “More treasure.”
“We don’t have—”
“More treasure!” Aerik roared as he shot forward and grabbed Ray by the throat.
Aerik swung Ray up, Reyna dangling behind him by her bound hands. He lifted Ray overhead and started to squeeze. Ray gasped and kicked. Reyna shouted and tried to twist around.
“Treasure!” Aerik shouted. “Give treasure or Aerik break son Frey. Break his bones. Grind his bones. Do now!”
Matt yanked off his amulet and lunged from his hiding place. “Did someone say treasure?”
Aerik turned, the other two turning with him, and Matt found himself facing off with three trolls. He swallowed and found his voice.
“Remember me?” Matt said.
“Son Thor.” Leaf held up an injured hand. “Cracked Leaf fingers.”
“Right. And the son of Thor has a very special treasure, doesn’t he?” Matt unclenched his fist and let the amulet fall. “You remember this, too?”
“Hammer,” Sun said. “God Hammer.”
“And the god Hammer is a very special treasure, isn’t it? Better than a whole mountain of rings and coins. It has power. Thor’s power. Giant-killing power.”
He swung the amulet. All three pairs of beady eyes tracked it, back and forth.
“You want this?” Matt asked.
Three ugly heads nodded.
“Then put those kids down.”
Aerik dropped them, Ray landing on Reyna, who let out an oomph.
“Good. Now, I know all three of you want it, so we have to make this a race. I’ll throw it. First one who gets it wins the power of Thor. Is that fair?”
They nodded again. Leaf inched forward. Aerik shot out a long arm to stop him, and they grumbled at each other for a moment before Leaf moved back in line.
“Everyone ready?” Matt said. “On the count of three. One.” He pulled his hand back. “Two.” He flexed his arm. “Three!” He pretended to whip the necklace, instead tossing it up, hidden,
in his fist.
None of the trolls moved. Matt lowered his fist to his side and waved with his other hand. “It’s out there. Go get it.”
“Is in hand,” Sun said.
“What?” Matt held out the hand he’d waved. “No, it’s empty. See?”
“Other hand.”
Aerik took a long stride forward. “Son Thor think Aerik stupid. Aerik not stupid. Hammer in hand.”
Matt opened his other hand and faked surprise at seeing the necklace there. “Huh. It must have gotten caught on my finger. Sorry about that. Let’s try again.”
He waved Aerik back in line between the other two. Behind them, Ray and Reyna were working furiously to get free. Reyna had one hand out and was pulling at the knot. Matt tried to stall, but the trolls started grumbling and rocking back and forth, as if ready to attack.
“Okay, okay,” he said. “Here we go. I’ll throw it this time. Everyone ready?”
The trolls nodded. As Matt had been stalling, hoping the twins would get free, he’d tugged the amulet off the cord. Now he gripped the cord, letting it dangle, but held the amulet firmly between his thumb and palm. He counted down and then whipped the cord as hard as he could.
Again the trolls just stood there.
“Didn’t you see it?” he said, waving with one hand as he slid the amulet into his pocket. “I threw it this time.”
“I saw it!” Ray piped up. “I can still see it, on the base of that grave over there.”
“Is black strap,” Aerik said. “Thor son threw black strap. Not want black strap.”
Why isn’t it working? Laurie tricked them easily. Panic swirled in his gut.
Laurie moved forward. “But the black strap is what holds the Hammer on his neck. It’s over there. Just like Frey’s son said. See it?”
“Is trap,” Aerik said. “Hammer in pocket.”
“What?” Matt said, patting his pockets, hoping his hands weren’t shaking. “How would it get in there? I threw it. It’s—”
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