his increasing fury told me that he was well aware of my tactics.
"Where is Loki?" I asked, hovering in the air ten feet above him. "Tell me and I'll be on my way. I don't have any quarrel with you." As I spoke I realized I spent way too much time with people who hadn't spent enough time in the modern worlds. I was beginning to sound like a girl out of time.
Then the giant's snort drew me from my thoughts. "Forget it, bitch. Even if I wanted to tell you anything, you think I'd do it when all I'd get is my tongue ripped out?" His lip lifted in a sneer, revealing blackened gums filled with dozens of icy teeth.
I laughed tonelessly. I wasn't going to get anything from him. "Maybe I like you better without you head?" I asked as I raised my sword and flew at the Jotunn, swiping hard at his neck. I felt the blade connect with frost giant muscle and bone.
When Nita came rushing out of the kitchen she found the Jotunn's head rolling to a stop at her feet. Her eyes went from the head, oozing blue blood at the open wound, to my face.
One eyebrow curved as she nodded, smiling. "Well done, Bryn."
I grinned. "Two down, one to go."
She nodded and as I rose into the air she made for the barn, flitting into and out of reality as she went, as if she used some long forgotten route of travel that circumvented normal movement from point A to point B.
I lowered myself to the ground beside the open barn door, out of sight of the Jotunn occupant. Nita appeared beside me, trailing glowing air as if a breeze drifted past blowing the colors of her skin and hair and clothes away.
Then she was solid again.
"Ready?" I asked, but from the pink in her cheeks and the sparkle in her eyes, she was clearly enjoying the intrigue and danger as much as I did. Although, as experiences went, getting caught by Loki, being drained of all my blood and having my head bashed in were not experiences I'd like to repeat.
Ever.
I slipped inside the barn door, and was assailed by the odor of straw. As I slid forward, inching between bales of hay and forks with tines as long as my hand, I wondered how Loki had known we'd come right to him. Had my arrival been a happy coincidence?
Or did I have to question Derek's loyalty?
I filed away the thought as I spied the frost giant sitting on a bale, picking his great, rotting teeth with a lengthy piece of wire. Beside him on the bale, sat a familiar friend.
Gungnir.
And this time the mere sight of the spear confirmed it was real.
But the sight of the spear also bugged me. Why had Loki left it here, guarded by a lone Jotunn. Did he really find the spear so useless as to leave it unprotected? Why had he abandoned the farmhouse, and left all those plans where I could easily find them? Loki's capricious nature was endlessly unpredictable so this could be a total trap, or I could just be a pawn in the Tricksters game, every move I make at his will.
I paused to wait for a while, watching the Jotunn. Then I crept forward slowly. He didn't see me until I'd come so close I could easily have swung my sword and lopped his head off. Maybe my shadow had tipped him off. Maybe he had a better sense of smell than his friends, or maybe it was just his lucky day.
He sprang to his feet throwing himself into a lunge. But this time I was ready for the frost giant, swiping hard at his midsection and drawing blood in one smooth moved. I pushed into the air then swooped around to strike at his back, my blade carving a deep line of blood on his upper torso. His dark shirt glistened wetly and I gave a silent whoop.
He growled again and this time even the pigeons roosting in the eaves took flight, streaming their way out of the loft door above us in a flurry of feathers and bird dust.
I hovered above him, feathers flexing and pulsing in order to maintain my buoyancy. "Are you done?" All I got was another growl. And I thought I was being polite. "I'm sorry, I don't understand Growl. Anyway, we want to leave so let us pass and you can keep your