with Derek.
I hurried to Fen's side and whispered in his ear. "I need to speak to Derek about directing me straight into Loki's loving arms."
Fen glanced at me, a tiny bit of shock coming through in his expression. It didn't look like the thought had even crossed his mind that Derek may be a traitor. He hid his surprise quickly and said, "That I had totally forgotten about."
"Me too," I whispered. "I don't really think he betrayed us, but I do need to speak to him. I'm going next door. Do you want to wait outside to back me up? Just in case?"
He nodded and I turned on my heel, hurrying to Derek's side. The young einherjar was busy pointing at a swathe of guns stacked onto the large table, explaining what they did with his usual excitement. Words like 'super-heated bullet core' and 'capable of large scale damage to a frost giant' piqued my interest, but I brushed it aside. He looked up at me as I came to his side and smiled, his expression so open and genuine that I had a hard time believing him a traitor.
But I had to be sure, so I bent closer and said, "Could we talk in my office for a few minutes before I leave?"
He nodded, his grin cheerful and his eyes bright and eager. He pointed at his laptop. "Just give me a couple minutes?"
"Sure," I said before heading out of the hall to my small room next door.
When Odin had relegated the job of looking after the realm to me, I'd been given a small hall down the corridor from Fen's. It served as a base of operations for me and all my teams, but I'd barely spent time in it over the last week or so.
I moved to stand in front of the empty fireplace and waited for Derek, fiddling with the ties of the invisibility cloak.
A scuffling at the door drew my attention and I glanced over my shoulder to see Derek hurry inside. When he saw me at the fireplace, he frowned, looking slightly confused, as if he'd lost something. A significant change from the confident Derek of a few moments ago. Was he beginning to get nervous? Was he guilty and now on edge because he now suspected we may be on to him?
I brushed the thoughts aside and went to the table, taking a seat before waving Derek at the one opposite me. It was a large table, seating about ten people, each chair high-backed and large enough to accommodate the largest of the Ulfr warriors.
Derek seated himself and smiled, "Hey, Bryn. How can I help you?"
"Just a little information." When he nodded I asked, "So when you told me you found Loki's last location using the program you developed, did you have any other data on the location."
He shook his head slightly. "I'm not sure what you mean?" His face remained unaffected by my question, almost as if he wore a mask to hide his emotions.
My stomach tightened.
"What I mean is, how did you find that particular location?"
"The program showed me the last place he'd been to." His answer was short but uninformative. Not the usual rambling-unnecessary-info-dump Derek answer.
I frowned, studying his face but he remained unaffected by my scrutiny. "You do realize where you sent me?"
He shrugged. "I just gave you the location you asked for." Again, another answer that was not Derek.
"What is going on with you, Derek? Do you realize you send me straight into Loki's trap? He was waiting for me, standing right in front of the portal."
Again he shrugged. "I'm not sure how that's my fault. I gave you the location that the program gave me. How was I to know that Loki was waiting for you?"
Defensive Derek? Now that was new.
I got to my feet, shoving the chair back behind me. "I don't know, Derek. I'm not sure I can trust you any longer."
Derek also moved to stand, the points of his spiked hair quivering above his head. I couldn't understand how he'd changed so much in attitude and demeanor. Had he been pretending all along?
A noise on the threshold drew my attention and Fen and Derek both walked into the room. I gasped, my gaze going from the Derek at the door, to the Derek standing across the table from me.
Everyone froze for a moment, then all hell broke loose. Fake Derek rushed backward, tipping his chair over as he spun to face Fen and Real