dreary feel. None of the buildings were from this century or even the last, and it felt like stepping back in time.
Until a tiny red Porsche screamed down the street, a young woman at the wheel. She was gone in seconds, but I was left with the impression of someone important.
In the distance, I heard the faint sound of police sirens. I turned to Lachlan. “Something’s going on.”
He nodded, spinning in a circle to inspect the street. Glass-fronted shops filled the bottom levels of the three-story buildings, though the tops floors were quiet. Flats, no doubt.
There weren’t many people on the street, and those who were out and about were all headed in the same direction—following the red Porsche.
I looked at Lachlan and shrugged. “Follow them?”
He nodded. “It’s as good as anything.”
Lerwick wasn’t huge, and fifteen minutes later, we’d reached the back edge of town. Though I could smell the sea, we had walked away from it, toward the interior of the island. When we reached the end of the street, I got an expansive view across the rolling hills of Shetland. A circle of standing stones stood about a mile away, directly on top of a hill. Dozens of people crowded around—probably hundreds, in fact.
A young boy appeared at my side, clutching a football, his face slack as he stared at the stone circle.
“Is this normal?” I asked. “People gathering around the stones?”
“Not today, no. Today is for the ship.”
“The ship?”
“It’s Up Helly Aa.” He looked at me like I was a moron, and apparently I was, because I hadn’t the slightest idea what he was talking about.
A split second later, he was off, racing up the hill toward the stone circle.
Lachlan stared at his phone. “Apparently, Up Helly Aa is the Viking boat burning festival. Happens once a year. They spend the year building a Viking boat, then they burn it at a massive nighttime bonfire.”
“Then that’s tonight, I suppose,” I replied, “but the commotion at the circle has nothing to do with that. Far too early, isn’t it?”
“Looks like.” He started toward the circle, and I followed.
Cool wind whipped my hair back from my face as we climbed the shallow hill toward the stone circle. The air smelled of salt and grass, a fresh scent that cleared my lungs and my mind.
There were so many people around the circle that we couldn’t get close, but I immediately heard whispers of what was going on.
Theft.
I leaned close to an old woman who gossiped with her friend, straining my ears.
“Dug it right out of the ground, they did,” she said. “Under the cover of night. Can you imagine?”
“What did they take?” I asked, unable to help myself.
She shot me a suspicious look. “Eavesdropping, dearie?”
“Sorry.” I gave her an apologetic smile. “Just curious.”
She huffed. “Well, you’d have to ask the Alpha. This is her turf and her business.” And not for the likes of you, outsider.
I could all but hear her say the last bit. She was definitely thinking it.
“How do I find the Alpha?” I asked.
“If you weren’t so obviously a mainlander, that would have revealed it,” she replied.
“Please?”
She harrumphed. “It’s a busy night, but you’ll find her at her club, The Norn. Good luck getting in, though.”
“How—”
She turned away, and clearly, the conversation was over. I glanced at Lachlan, who was studying the crowd around us.
“We’re not going to get close right now,” he said. “Let’s head back and see what we can find there.”
“We need to go to this place called The Norn.”
He nodded. “We’ll find it,” he said, and headed away from the stone circle.
“Could this be related to the theft at the museum?” I asked, knowing it was a long shot.
“Maybe. But these circles were here long before the Vikings. The coincidence is too much, though.”
I agreed. This was related somehow. I just needed to find the connection.
The town was still quiet when we returned, and we set about looking for The Norn. Google Maps didn’t have any answers for us, though I shouldn’t have been surprised. Supernatural towns like this weren’t exactly inviting the Google vans to town to map the streets.
Over the afternoon, we covered every lane, read all the signs, and traipsed down the smallest alleys, and yet, we were still unable to find anything. Even the people we asked seemed to have no idea—or they didn’t want to tell us.
We ended up stopping in a pub for dinner—fish and chips, which was excellent—and managed to pry a bit of info out