Page 13 of Loki

Did he still think Loki was a traitor, after hearing Erik's lies? Or would he listen to Loki's own explanation for what had happened?

Loki had to find him, and tell him, and hope...

Yes. He had his own honour to save.

He'd get the pin back from the thief, and bring it to Odin as a gift. A peace offering.

Hearing her voice in his head must be part of the spell he hadn't managed to entirely shake off. But he could resist it. He didn't need to obey Erik, or Erik's thief. He could steal the brooch back from her, with no qualms whatsoever.

Because to do Erik's bidding was to truly be a traitor, and he had to prove to Odin he was as loyal now as he was the day Odin had put his spear into his hand. As loyal as he'd always been, no matter what Erik said.

TWELVE

Sibyl looked as green as Jorunn felt, but she stood up, ready to continue the survey when Karl called, so Jorunn had no excuse but to go back to work, too.

Until Sibyl said, "Guys, I think I found something." That catch in her voice grabbed everyone's attention, even before they saw the hammer.

The rest of the day was a blur, as they gave up the survey to pry the hammer from the ice. The energy in the air, the eagerness to be part of such a discovery...Jorunn could almost taste it. And when they carried the hammer back to the mess tent...everyone wanted to hold the tub.

She and Sibyl trailed after the procession, more stunned than hungover at this point.

Dinner was a distracted affair, with everyone shooting glances at the ice block that gave them tantalising glimpses of the hammer as it melted.

Until Jorunn realised she still had that bloody brooch in her pocket. Well, the mess tent was the place to hide it, with all the other artefacts. She edged toward the boxes in the corner, and slipped the brooch under the lid of the topmost one while no one was watching.

Then a chunk of ice calved off the hammer, landing with a mighty splash in the tub below.

"Oh my god, you really found Thor's hammer!" Jorunn cried, hugging Sibyl. It wasn't Utgard, but it was still an amazing find. She had to stay now.

Karl sent everyone off with orders to have an early night, as they had a lot of documentation work to do tomorrow before the packhorses arrived to take the first load of artefacts back to the university for safekeeping.

Which meant she needed to label the brooch now, before someone discovered it and started asking questions. Jorunn dug out one of the documentation cards, and pulled out her phone. As long as she got the GPS location right, no one would mind if the rest of the card wasn't filled out.

Then she opened the artefact box where she'd stashed the brooch...and it wasn't there.

"What are you doing?"

Jorunn nearly dropped the box in shock at Karl's demand.

"I was trying to put the documentation with one of today's finds, only it's not here," she said. She held out the card, then pulled out her phone to show him the picture of the brooch. "See? I know I put it in here, but I found the card, and realised I hadn't attached it, so I came back to fix things."

"Came back to steal it, I bet," Nik snarled.

She hadn't even seen him enter the mess tent.

"No, I didn't. It was here," she protested.

"Turn out your pockets!" Nik demanded.

Fuck. It was like she was six years old again, being shouted at for doing what Mum said. Only this time, she knew she was innocent.

Slowly, Jorunn pulled things out of her coat pockets. A lip balm. Her head torch. Two spare hair ties. A silicon sachet that must have still been in there since she bought the coat. A spare power pack to charge her phone out in the field that she hadn't had to use today, what with all the excitement over the hammer. Nothing that shouldn't be there, and definitely not the brooch that had been there for half the day.

"Your pants pockets, too!" Nik barked.

Jorunn set her hands on her hips. "They're women's pants, dickhead. They're not made to stuff a couple of pairs of socks down the front to make yourself look impressive. Women's pants don't have pockets big enough for anything bigger than a lip balm, and even if I did have one in there, which I don't, you'd see it. See?" She grabbed the one on the table and shoved it in her pocket, where it stuck out, pressed against her hip bone.

Karl held up a hand. "Enough. Put your things away, Jorunn, and then would you step outside with me for a minute? Nikolai, you stay here."

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