Page 45 of Disabling Relics for Dummies
Killian started nodding.
“Loki said Thorunn wasn’t the best spell writer. She must have relied on Asfrid. I’m guessing she kept the grimoire safe since Asfrid was the one writing most of the spells. Would Asfrid have kept the location a secret after they died?”
“If anyone would have, it would have been Asfrid,” Sleipnir said. “She was always the nicest to me out of all of them.”
“I agree,” Loki said. “She was brilliant, but she let Thorunn bully her. I told Asfrid several times that she was stronger than Thorunn and to stand up to her. It wouldn’t surprise me if she did that in death.”
I always liked Asfrid. She was very sweet, but she was also a total doormat. Loki, Sleipnir, and I all tried to talk her up. If she refused to tell Thorunn the location of the grimoire in death, I was so proud of her.
I felt a pounding behind my eyes. Then, the black spots started swirling, which meant a vision was coming. My body went rigid, and I gasped. Loki caught me as I nearly fell off the sofa. I saw something that terrified me.
Loki and Ravyn both had their arms wrapped around me when I came to.
“Are you okay? That seemed terrible,” Ravyn said.
“What did you see?” Loki asked.
“A wolf, standing over a chest full of bones. He’s talking to Thorunn’s spirit, and she’s guiding him. They are both angry. They have Asfrid’s spirit there as a hostage.”
“That utter mingebag!” Loki yelled. “Thatwas why he was stalling me doing the rites. He was collecting the bits of Thorunn and Asfrid like a good little pet. Does he not see the irony of a werewolf hoarding hybrid bones? The spirits fought me, but I didn’t see Thorunn’s ghost. I didn’t question it at the time because she’s always been more about letting other people fight her battles. Ihatebeing tricked. She’s probably been spying on us at the museum!”
“I can say for certain she hasn’t,” Ravyn said. “My museum is haunted as fuck, but they don’t like it if new ghosts show up. There’s this entire adjustment period and a lot of bitching if we get a new haunted object. The regular spirits would have made themselves known and demanded answers if Thorunn’s ghost was anywhere on the property.”
“Asfrid betrayed me like the rest of them, but she doesn’t deserve this. Thorunn is only using her for the grimoire and to write more spells. I wish this weren’t the type of century where people tend to get upset when you bust up into an inn, kill the bad guy, and make a mess performing rites on some dusty bones.”
Ravyn cocked an eyebrow at him.
“So, I’m guessing you weren’t joking before about getting arrested?”
“Is that a deal breaker?”
“No. I guess none of this is. I wish you would have trusted us with the truthbeforeyou kissed either of us, but witches don’t fuck with fate. I can’t exactly argue with you barging onto Valentine’s dig, him picking my museum to bring it to, and your boy seeing me in a vision while he was stuck in a puzzle box. That’s fucked up, by the way.”
“We majored in fucked up at the academy, Ravyn. How do we fix this?” Killian said.
“We kill him,” Sleipnir said.
“I’m not trying to be weird about you being a horse shifter, but hold your damned horses, dude,” Ravyn said. “Iam notgetting fired killing a famous archaeologist who has a history with this museum. I did a whole thing in Hell with a pretty famous dragon in the Paranormal Investigation Bureau, and I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t throw my ass in jail, but Gertrude, the chairman of the museum board, has a giant stick up her ass.”
“Gertrude is terrible, but so is Valentine. I haven’t forgotten what you were like after he sent you that book he wrote about all the times he cheated on you. He’s gone beyond that now. He’s attacking your museum. Valentine is listening to a deranged bear witch who we all know wants to come back and make another cult. We probably won’t get out of this without killingsomeone,and you know you want to with Valentine.”
This century was so strange. Someone already would have taken care of this wolf for hurting a beautiful woman back in my day. It would have been a toss-up if it were her or someone who cared for her. This century seemed to have a lot of comforts mine didn’t, but the asshole population must be raging if there were that many consequences for ridding the world of one. Sleipnir was with me on this.
“Mother, this man hurt your woman, and he’s working with the hybrid who betrayed you. Why is he still alive?”
“Good question. I was using the bastard to find out what Thorunn told him about how she planned to return, but he tricked me, and I don’t like it.”
Of course, he didn’t. Loki had tricked most of the gods more than once. He’d probably fucked a few mortals over now that he wasn’t associating with his friends anymore. Loki didn’t even think twice about it when he did it to other people. He didn’t get tricked often. I’d never personally seen it.
“Okay, it’s not a deal breaker that you’ve been arrested and lied to me. It’s even sexy as fuck that you’re Loki. If you mess upanythingin my museum, get me investigated by the Paranormal Investigation Bureau, and Gertrude Von Stein descends on my ass with that terrible old lady perfume micromanaging my museum,thatis a deal breaker.”
“Ravyn, please. I can totally kill a werewolf without doing any of that. You’ve never seen me in action. I just need to think and plan. I need a good sleep and to watch my enemy more closely. I’ll be watching and plotting that asshole’s demise when we’re back at the museum in the morning.”
“How are we going to explain Sleipnir and Bjorn to Valentine?” Killian said.
“Reyson told Ripley the possibilities about my love life. These two pop out of a fucking puzzle box and seem to know me. I don’t need to be a god or a seer to see where this is going. We can tell him I brought them in as consultants, but he’s always waiting when we get there. When he sees us show up together, he’s just going to pitch another fit because he thinks we’re dating.
“And I just want to say that if this is a fate thing, it’s happening onmyterms. You’re both deathly hot, and I’m curious about the whole hung like a horse thing, but neither of you are going here until you’ve been properly vetted,” she said, pointing to her vagina.
