That’s what he had to do now. Accept it. Believe it. He was looking for a Norn.

Which would be a lot easier if he had any clue what she looked like. The mosaic wasn’t much help. In it, the youngest Norn had been about his age, and the only thing she had in common with the little girl who had actually appeared was her blond hair. Blond hair in Blackwell was as rare as fleas on a homeless mutt.

He weaved through the crowds. Normally, that would be easy. While people knew who he was, they wouldn’t do more than nod or smile. Now Thorsens would stop mid-carnival-game to say something, and of course he had to be polite and respond.

With so many Thorsens talking to him, others noticed, and they said hi, too. Any other time, that would have been great. The center of attention. Can’t argue with that, especially when you’re usually only there if you’ve done something wrong. But right now, when he was on a mission, it was kind of inconvenient.

Finally, he spotted her. The Norn on the mosaic had been about his mom’s age, but this girl didn’t look older than Jake. She was dressed differently from the other girls at the fair, too. She wore a skirt of rough cloth, and her hair was piled up on top of her head in a heap of tiny braids. She sat on a bench, legs swinging as she watched kids on the merry-go-round.

So how did he know it was her? Because his amulet started vibrating. The same way it had right before he’d met the first Norn.

Still, he had to be sure. So he walked up as casually as he could and said, “Hey,” but she only smiled and said, “Hello.”

“Are you waiting for me?” he said.

She got that look of confusion, a mirror image of the little girl’s. “I do not know. That is—”

“The present. You only know the future. Got it.” And got the right girl, apparently. “Kind of feels like it should be Christmas, don’t you think?”

She tilted her head, frowning.

“Scrooge? The ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future?” He shook his head when she continued to frown. “Never mind. Okay, so I should be looking for Odin, because he’s going to tell me… what exactly?”

“How to defeat the Midgard Serpent.”

Matt exhaled as relief fluttered through him. “And stop Ragnarök? So things don’t need to happen the way they do in the myth, with all of us dying and the world ending?”

“Some parts cannot be changed. Some can. You must discover which is which.”

“But you can foresee the future, right?”

“There are many futures. I cannot tell which will come to pass. You will try to change what the myth foretells. You will succeed in some parts and fail in others.”

“Right. Except the whole die-defeating-the-serpent thing. I can definitely survive, despite what the myth says?”

“Yes,” she said.

“And if I do, the world doesn’t end?”

“It does not end, even if you fail,” she said carefully. “However, almost all life on it will perish.”

“Same thing. But if I defeat the serpent and survive, that doesn’t happen, right?”

“Correct.”

“Good. Now, where do I find him?” He paused again. “Is it really Odin? I mean, the gods died, didn’t they? Did Odin survive?”

She smiled. “No, the gods are dead. The one you seek is like yourself: a descendant. He is Odin as you are Thor. Yet he is not Odin, as you are not Thor.”

Which made perfect sense.

“So he’s a kid then. Where is he?” Matt asked.

“I do not know. Where Odin is, that is present. I know only what is to come.”

Matt exhaled. They really weren’t making this easy. “I willfind Odin, though. That’s a guarantee, which means I don’t need to look for him.”

“You may find him, or you may not.” She had a faraway look in her eyes as she spoke. “There is more than one future.”

Great.

Before he could try another tactic, the Norn said, “This is the best future. This is the one we wish for you: that you will find Odin, and you will find the others; that you will fight, and you will win.”

“The others? But they’ll come here, right? The Thingis going to gather them up.”

“They will gather possible champions, but they will not gather the right champions. That is your task.”

“And, let me guess, you have no idea where I’ll find anyone.”

“That is how. I do not know how. Only—”

“That I will or won’t,” he interrupted. “Do you know how completely useless that is? I’m thirteen. I can’t just hop in my car and let my magical god-descendant-finding GPS guide me.”

She looked at Matt blankly.

“Can I get one clue?” he said. “A bread crumb to start me on the trail? An e-mail address, maybe?”

“E-mail…?”

“Anything. I’ll do what you tell me, because while saving the world and all would be great, I’m not keen on the dying part, either. I’d like to live long enough to get out of middle school.”

She nodded. “That would be wise.”

“So, the other descendants. It’d be nice if I could find them all in Blackwell, but it’s only Thor and Loki here, isn’t it?”

“You will not find the others here. Aroundhere, yes, but not here.”

Matt tried to be patient as he asked, “Around here…? In the county? The state? The country? The continent?”

“In the place known as South Dakota.”

At least she hadn’t said “continent.”

The air beside her shimmered, and the little girl took form again.

“I know where Loki is,” the little girl said.

“Okay, that’s great, but I don’t need Loki. Sure, he’s to be at Ragnarök, but he leads the other side.”

“That is not the present,” said the girl Norn.

“Okay so…” He turned to the older Norn. “Am I right that Loki—or his descendant—will lead the monsters?”

“Loki may, or he may not. That is up to you,” she said.

“Meaning he could help us, which would sway the battle our way, so I need to get him on our side. Got it.” He turned to the youngest. “Where is he?”

“Loki is there.” She gestured.

Matt followed her hand to see Laurie and Fen standing in line for the Tilt-A-Whirl. Fen? No way.

“Right there. Now?” He pivoted to watch Fen and Laurie as they climbed into one of the red cars. “But you said there were other champions. Maybe you can find another one for Loki, because Fen is not ever, in a million years…”

He turned back and found he was talking to himself. The Norns had vanished.

“… going to help me with anything,” he muttered.

EIGHT

MATT

“ALLIANCE”

Right after the Norns vanished, Cody and the others found him. While the last thing on Matt’s mind was hanging out at the fair, right now, being part of a group might be the best thing. No one would bug him if he stayed with his friends, who also wouldn’t really notice if he was quiet. He wasn’t exactly loud at the best of times. He could just retreat into his thoughts. And he had a lot of thoughts to retreat into.

He had no idea what to do next. Apparently, he was supposed to buddy up with Fen. Which was not happening. Fen wanted nothing to do with any Thorsens, and Matt’s family was worst of all—his dad had been responsible for putting Fen’s father behind bars.

Speaking of his parents, what did they think of all this? He remembered his grandfather’s words. Those who need to know the truth already do.His dad and mom would need to know, obviously. So they must. That’s why they’d been so nice to him. That’s why Dad had given him a hundred bucks for the fair.

Enjoy yourself, son… while you still can.

The Norns had said that he didn’t have to die fighting the Midgard Serpent, but Granddad believed the prophecy was fated to come true. That meant he couldn’t go to his grandfather or his family for help. He needed to do this on his own. Gather up the other kids and find Odin. Train. Fight. Win. There was no other way. If they failed, the world as they knew it would end. Which was kind of a big deal.