Hiccup and Astrid landed their dragons on the ground and found waiting at the door was Gobber. Gobber was a one legs and one-armed Viking, whose spirit had managed to make it to Valhalla, but he was on Midgard as one of their teachers.

Midgard Academy was a safe place for demigods to train and hone their power safely without being attacked. It was also an actual school teaching them stuff like English, maths and science. Hiccup found it ironic that they taught science even though it was a magical school, but he would never question the choice of lessons.

"Glad to see you made it," said Gobber as he hobbled his way over to them. "The headmaster is waiting for you in his office."

"Any news on Ragnar?" Hiccup asked as Toothless faded.

Gobber shook his head. "Not a peep, lad." He then turned his eyes towards Eric. "Ah, Eret welcome back to the Academy."

Astrid raised an eyebrow at Eric. "Eret?"

Eric shrugged. "It's what he likes to call me, you know Gobber and his nicknames."

"Eret here was one of our best students," said Gobber.

"And no one questions that he's a frost giant?" Astrid asked bewildered.

Gobber waved his hand dismissively. "Lass, this is a school for all demigod children no matter their race. I mean we do have several dwarven students and one or two elves don't we?"

Astrid grunted. "Just take us to Mimir."

They began making their way down the hallway and Hiccup was always amazed by the size of the Academy. It was like stepping into Doctor Who's phone box as it was big on the inside then it was on the out.

"Nice to be back," Astrid smiled.

Hiccup remember that Astrid practically lived in the Academy as things were tense with her mother. His thoughts immediately turned to the rest of his friends.

"What about the others?" Hiccup asked, looking at Gobber. "When they attacked?"

"Aye, but we got them here safely," he assured him.

Hiccup looked at Astrid. "Guess we're all being targeted."

There were that many students, though that wasn't surprising as they were still a month away from the semester starting. Students did have permission to stay at the campus, the only ones who took adult were the ones that felt their presence would harm their families or those that did not have one.

"Here we are," said Gobber as he came to a stop.

Hiccup looked ahead he had been so busy in thought that he had noticed they had approached the headmaster's study.

Gobber then opened the door, and they followed him inside. "They're here Mimir."

"Very good, take a seat," said a voice.

The headmaster's office was rather ordinary for those in academic schools. Though the headmaster was anything but ordinary because he was nothing more than a decapitated head. Mimir's head was resting on the table as pale as ever, and his eyes were following their every movement, which was rather unsettling.

"Don't think I'll ever get used to this," said Hiccup as he sat down.

"You get used to it," said Eret as he sat down.

"Really?"

"No."

Astrid coughed as she sat down. "How about you don't talk about Mimir as if he's not here."

"I appreciate the sentiment, lass, but I'm quite used to it by now," said Mimir. "Now let us get to business. I believe you would wish to know why you were summoned here."

"For our protection," Astrid assumed.

"Aye, that is part of it, but there is another major reason. We believe that Johann is making yet another move."

Hiccup didn't like where this conversation was going. "What's he up to now?"

"We're not entirely sure which is why we have Ragnar spying on him," said Mimir.

"Ragnar was the one that informed me to get to Hiccup," said Astrid.

"Yes, I'm afraid we lost contact with him," said Mimir regretfully.

Hiccup eyes widened. "Then, we need to find and quickly."

He was about to rise from his seat, but he was stopped by Gobber. "Hold the eight-legged horses, lad. You don't know the full story yet."

"We have teams currently searching for Ragnar, but sadly they have come up empty," said Mimir. "Ragnar is the best tracker that this school has had in the past 200 years, so finding it will not be easy if he does not want to be found."

"But why would he send a letter to Astrid and not want to be found?" Hiccup asked.

"I don't know," said Mimir. "Though his last report made it seem that Johann is after something, though we have no idea what."

"Any idea what he could be after?" Astrid asked.

"Sadly there were tons of magical artefacts with great power that have been lost through the ages," said Mimir sadly.

"Could he be looking for a way to free his father?" Hiccup asked.

"That is something we have considered," said Mimir. "If that is the case, there are few magical weapons that can cut through his bonds. Those chains are some of the hardest substance known to man or god; it puts Gleipnir to shame."

Hiccup knew that Gleipnir was the magical rope that tied Fenrir to his rock, and it was practically indestructible. It had to be if it was to hold the strongest wolf in the cosmos.

"But all this is speculation," said Eret folding his arms. "We have no idea what is objective is, and if Loki is involved, there will be a straightforward plan."

"Agreed so until we have more information all we can do is wait," said Mimir.

"But Ragnar could be in trouble right now!" said Hiccup.

"Or he could be undercover which means trying to chase after him might make things worse for him," said Mimir sternly. "I promise that I will inform you any more information comes to light, but until then I suggest that you try and relax." His eyes then looked at Hiccup and Astrid. "I already spoke to both your parents, and they agree that the two of you will stay here for the remainder of the holidays."

Hiccup didn't like it not with the idea that Ragnar could be in danger, but Mimir made it perfectly clear that they were to do nothing.

"Look, there's nothing you can do at the moment, so I suggest that you make your way to the dorms," said Mimir.

"What about me?" Eret asked.

"With Ragnar on his mission we do need another supervisor," said Mimir.

Ragnar was a light elf from Alfheim, and he was currently exiled from his home. He may look like a normal human teenager, but in fact, he was 200 years old. Elves lived extremely long lives. As a result, they mature much slowly.

Ragnar was Hiccup's best friend, and they met up at his old school way before he realised that he was a demigod. When he was suddenly attacked by a Fire Giant Ragnar came clean and even had a big part in their previous quest.

Astrid looked appalled by the idea of having Eret supervising them. "He's going to be our supervisor?"

"He was a student here, Miss Hofferson," said Mimir strictly. "And he was also a member of House Thor."

"But he's a Jotunn?"

"As is your grandmother," Mimir reminded him. "You cannot judge someone by their race, and I will not have racism in this school. You should treat him with respect Miss Hofferson am I clear?"

Astrid looked as if she wanted to argue more, but she relented. "Fine."

"Good, then I suggest you get settled in into your dorm. I believe your friends are waiting for you."

Hiccup and Astrid started to make their way towards their dorms. The Academy had four different houses where students were placed in Thor, Odin, Tye and Loki. House Loki had always been a rival to that of House Thor, and until recently they always got the upper hand, but last year things changed when Hiccup came.

"I can't believe that Mimir is allowing that Jotunn to supervise us," said Astrid frustratingly. "To make it worse he was a member of House Thor."

Hiccup sighed. "Astrid remember what Mimir said about showing him respect."

"I know," she snapped. "Doesn't mean I have to like it though!"

"Don't you think you're being too hard on him, you barely know him."

"And I don't want to."

Hiccup sighed and decided to give up.

When they reached the dorms they found their friends waiting for them they certainly looked pleased to see them alive and well.

"You're here," said Fishlegs as he jumped off his bunk.

"Told you they'd be here," said Ruffnut smirking at Snotlout. "You owe us five gold sovereigns."

Snotlout muttered under his breath.

"Nice to see things haven't changed," said Hiccup.

"Did you expect them to?" Tuffnut frowned.

"Never mind that," said Astrid looking at them. "I don't suppose you guys have any more information about what's going on?"

"Nope, everything is on a need-to-know, and apparently we don't need to know," said Ruffnut.

"That has not been from a lack of trying," said Tuffnut.

"Yeah, we try to sneak into Mimir's office, but he saw as right away," said Ruffnut.

Snotlout snorted. "These two geniuses the girl that he is just a severed head and that he spends most of his time resting on the table. The moment they opened the door, he spotted them."

"You know I'm always curious what he does with his day," said Tuffnut looking at his sister. "I mean I've heard of people sitting around, but that's what he does all day."

"Yeah, must be boring just sitting there thinking," said Ruffnut.

"He does a bit more than that," said Fishlegs shaking his head.

"Can we get back to the problem of what's going on?" Hiccup asked.

"Yeah, what happened to you guys?" Astrid asked.

"Well, I was at home studying a few things when a band of orcs attacked," said Fishlegs.

"You were studying on holiday?" said Ruffnut, look at him as if he was crazy. "Holidays the time and we have fun."

"Studying is fun," said Fishlegs.

"Snotlout, did anything eventful happen at your home?" Astrid asked.

"Apart from being attacked by a werewolf everything was perfectly normal," Snotlout shrugged.

Hiccup looked at Astrid. "So Fishlegs get attacked by a band of orcs same as you."

"You were attacked by orcs?" said Fishlegs.

Astrid nodded. "Yeah, Eret said that they were part of Zar's clan."

"Wait, who's Eret?" Fishlegs asked.

"He's a frost giant," said Astrid dismissively.

"A frost giant here?" Snotlout stared.

"He's also a demigod and a former student of the Academy," said Hiccup quickly. "Apparently he was ordered by Odin to watch over me during the holidays."

"Really?" said Fishlegs.

"You'll get to see him for yourself really soon he taking over Ragnar as our supervisor," said Hiccup.

"Speaking of where is the elf?" Snotlout asked, folding his arms.

"No clue, Astrid was the last one to have any kind of contact with him," said Hiccup.

"And it was only instructions for me to get to Hiccup," Astrid added. "Mimir mentions that they've lost contact with him and that he's been on a secret mission tracking down Johann."

"Has he been captured?" Fishlegs asked fearfully.

"We don't know, there's just no evidence whatsoever," said Hiccup.

"Sounds like he doesn't want to be found," said Tuffnut.

"That's what Mimir said, and he's told us to just stay put," said Hiccup.

"He expects us to do nothing after we'd been attacked?" Snotlout stared bewildered. "I don't know about you guys, but I don't like the idea of allowing our attacker to roam around just to attack us again."

"We don't even know where they are so we can hardly go out hunting them down," Astrid pointed out. "Besides we're completely safe here, and it would be best to get some training in."

Hiccup nodded. "I don't like the idea of leaving Ragnar out there alone, but right now the only thing we can do is wait."