Quick update

Valhalla

Magnus POV

"What does Odin have planned?"

"Why would he take Frigg?"

"Why did he make you King?"

"Does he think you can stop Loki from taking over Asgard?"

"Why you?"

The questions are coming at me too fast.

"This is just a personal favor. Nobody thinks I can save Asgard single-handedly...", I say, just in time for Halfborn to wave his stump around.

"Bet I could!", he calls out, and everyone laughs.

Mallory lightly smacks his good arm. "Idiot."

"Alex, I'll get Sam to come stay with you while I'm gone...", I begin.

"I'm not going to deliver yet. If you think you're going away to live in Odin's golden palace for two days while I stay here and watch this crowd fight over their Saehrimnir and burp the alphabet with mead, you have another think coming", she says.

"I knew you were going to say that", I answer.

"What should we do now?", Halfborn calls.

"Whatever you normally do, Halfborn, I don't have any insider secrets to fighting Loki. I'm no leader..."I offer.

"Odin seems to think you are", Mallory insists. The room falls silent.

"Errr, stay vigilant", I say, pumping my fist and rush to the elevator.

"How was that?", I ask Alex when we're alone in the elevator. "A stirring speech?"

"Henry V", she taunts.

"Oh shut up. I've always been tongue tied."

"So let me untie it", she says, pushing me against the wall of the elevator. Alex slips her tongue into my mouth and it dances with my own.

"Wow", I grin.

"Hormones. So what was all that about? Why are you King for the day?", she asks.

"It's a favor from my father, I'm sure of it."

"It must be nice to have a godly parent who wants to help, who loves..." She stops.

"I'm so sorry, Alex. You have another family that loves you now. And swear Loki will pay for putting you in danger..."

"I think I put myself in danger", she corrects.

"And I helped", I add. "We should have listened to him."

"Then we wouldn't have them..." She touches her belly. "No matter what happens I'll never regret the twins, I'll never regret my children, even if..."

"Stop, Alex! Stop. Dammit, I can fix this! We need to get there." I bang my fist into the door in frustration and it opens with a gentle "bing" onto Floor 19. We need to get packed and go to Odin's palace.

3 Hours Later

"Holy..." she starts, looking at our heavenly surroundings.

"That was the idea."

Odin's palace soars into the blue clouds of Asgard, higher than the eye can see. The golden doors in front of us rise into the stratosphere and disappear out of sight.

We don't have to knock; the doors open for us. "Magnus Chase, we've been expected you. You are welcome here", says the voice behind the door. Heimdall steps out, smiling to greet us.

"Heimdall! It's great to see you again, but who's guarding the Bifrost?", I ask.

"It will be okay for a minute or two. I wanted to get a picture...you and I...in front of the doors. And maybe you and...whoa...what happened to you?"

Alex frowns. "I'm pregnant."

"Aren't you a dude?", Heimdall asks.

"What I am is your worst nightmare, selfie boy", Alex barks, instinctively reaching for her garrote.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, everybody calm down. Alex is transgender and gender fluid, Heimdall. Alex, we don't threaten gods please...", I begin.

"We do if they're willfully ignorant", she grits out between her teeth.

"Alex, calm down, honey..."

"Oh no, you did not just tell me to calm down "honey"", she barks.

"Oh I've seen weirder stuff than that", Heimdall answers, "I've seen a three-headed dragon."

"Maybe you should go check on the Bifrost", I suggest, "Who knows who may be trying to get in. Loki is coming. And Surt!"

"Hmmm. Maybe I should. Surt! I'd like to chop his fiery head off", Heimdall fumes. Surt wouldn't be as dangerous as Alex right now.

"That would be awesome if you did, extremely helpful. And don't worry, I won't make any decisions while "king of Asgard" that the All-Father wouldn't approve of", I laugh.

"Magnus...right now, you ARE the All-Father", Heimdall corrects. My mouth falls open. Alex looks impressed for...well, the first time since we met.

Heimdall bows his head to me slightly, then starts back to his post.

"We can get in sooo much trouble", Alex says, rubbing her hands together like a kid who got a chemistry set for the holidays.

"Oh boy", I sigh, "Let's get our stuff up to the master bedroom."

I didn't have to do much to talk Alex into a hot bath in a solid gold bathtub that squirts bubble bath out of jets, while she sips iced guava juice from a horn.

I have to ask directions three times to the main audience chamber, but my breath catches in my throat and I know I've found the right place when I walk into an enormous room that feels like it's the size of Fenway Park when empty. At the front of the room are two golden thrones. I know I have I sit on the bigger one.

I climb the dais with trepidation, a series of 13 stairs that lead to the platform where the thrones sit. It's easy to feel like a god looking down on a room like this. It's easy to feel like it's okay to mess around with other people's lives.

"Listen, Odin said it was okay to sit here, so don't like...zap me or anything", I tell the throne, "And don't do anything bad. I have a right to sit here."

I take a deep breath, and sit. A low rumble grows louder and louder, and for a moment I nearly jump right back off of it, but I'm not budging. I have questions to ask. "Oh pipe down, I have a right to sit here", I say. The rumbling softens and fades.

I have a lot of questions, but one is the most important. "I want to know how to save Alex's life. Show me how Alex and the twins can survive this."

The rainbow colors of the Bifrost surround me and start moving, zooming past me and I feel like I'm on one of those rides at an amusement park that gets closed down because 12 people puked on it in the last hour. "I'm getting motion sick!", I yell, but it keeps zooming. Then the lights slam to a stop and I'm bathed in golden bright light.

Valhalla

Sam POV

"Hunding, can you make sure fresh sheets are on Alex and Magnus's beds before they get back?", I say. "We need to be as kind to them as possible, we don't know that Magnus will have good news."

"Sure..."

"Boom! Boom!"

"What in the Nilfheim is that?", Hunding yells.

"Don't say Nilfheim", Helgi screams as the door to Hotel Valhalla thuds twice and crashes in on itself.

"Call Thor!", Hunding yells, "He's supposed to be guarding the place!"

"Stop!" I leap in front of fire giant as he enters. None of us thought Surt could get here on his own.

"I have come for the einherji, son of Loki, called Alex Fierro, who is pregnant with the children who will destroy me...wait a second that can't be right...", Surt says, flaming hot, pulling a paper out of his pocket.

He has a pair of spandex leggings hanging from one side of his crown, and a sports bra from the other.

"Son of Loki, son of Loki...", he repeats, "Pregnant...that's impossible...okay correction, Magnus Chase, son of Frey, who is pregnant with...nevermind...that can't be right either..." he corrects. "I want Alex Fierro, son of Loki, and Magnus Chase, son of Frey, brought to me immediately..."

Thor comes crashing into the room, Mjolinir in hand, Mallory on one side, Halfborn on the other, each holding a black steel axe.

"He came in through the Forever 21 women's activewear entrance?", Mallory asks.

"Thor, son of Odin!", Surt booms, "I demand Alex Fierro, son of Loki, and Magnus Chase, son of Frey, be brought to me immediately!"

"Surt! Son of...a bitch, what are you doing here?", Thor asks.

"I demand Alex Fierro son of..."

"I can't sit through all that again", Mallory interrupts.

"Your timing is impeccable like always", I yell to Surt. "They're not here!"

"What does impeccable mean?", Thor asks.

"They're einherjar aren't they?", Surt booms, "Where are they?"

"Not here, toasty", Halfborn supplies, then sticks out his tongue.

"Then bring me Odin All-Father, so that I may slay him...", Surt insists.

"He's not here either", I tell him.

Surt roars.

"Where is he?!", Surt roars.

"With my dad."

"Who's your dad?", he asks.

"Loki", I supply.

"Son of L...nevermind, where is Loki?", he asks.

"With Odin."

Surt roars again. "I know he is not with Odin, he is with me."

Halfborn looks behind Surt. "Where is he?"

"He's not WITH me with me, he's with me, we're together...", Surt says.

"You're dating?", Mallory asks, laughing.

"We're partners...we're working together!", Surt roars. "He's with me in spirit! He would not be with Odin."

"He's with you...in spirit?", Halfborn asks. "I think you should lie down."

Surt roars louder.

"I will kill you all..."

"Not today, toasty pop", Thor offers, and throws his hammer straight at Surt, who flies backward through the door. "Now get back to Musspellheim where you belong!" Fighting can be heard outside. The grunts gradually fade.

"Should we help?", Mallory asks.

"I think Thor has it in hand", I say, "How the heck did he get in here?"

"We let him in, he's supposed to guard the place", Hunding offers.

"Not Thor! Surt", I say.

"Clearly the women's activewear section", Halfborn offers.

"Yes, but how did he get even that far without Loki's help?", I ask. "It's frightening to think he's more powerful than we imagined."

"I don't believe that", Mallory comments, "Unless he had help."

We all look at each other.

"But why would Loki send Surt today? I'm sure he knows what we do before we do it, and that Magnus and Alex aren't here. He also knows Thor patrols the Hotel, and Surt's attack was doomed to failure before it started", I say.

"Unless he was trying to distract us", Halfborn says, "Ivar the Boneless used to do it all the time...if we were evenly matched, we'd set up this big battle with the Saxons...then be a no show and head for the camp where there weren't many guards instead. Take their women, ransom them, and buy a bigger army."

"First, that's sexist, second, oh shit", Mallory moans.

"Do you think he's going to take Odin or head to the palace?", I ask.

"I hate to say it, Sam, but he's your dad...what do you think he'd do?", Mallory asks.

"The palace. While kidnapping Odin would be a more intelligent choice in the long-run, Loki is always focused on what he wants in the short-term, and he thinks the twins will get him Asgard", I say. "Let's hope it's not too late."

Jotunheim

Odin POV

The only thing worse than waiting for my erstwhile brother is waiting for him when he's late.

"Did he know you were coming?", I ask Frigg, who just stares at me. "What's the hold up?"

"He's Loki", she responds.

"Yes, but... oh no."

Asgard

Alex POV

"Magnus, can you tell that guy to get me another juice?"

I hear someone enter the bathroom, and turn my head expecting to see Magnus. Instead there is the deity I swore I would never see again.

"Alex...you look ready to pop", Loki teases with a wink.

Exactly who I want to see when sitting naked and pregnant in a bathtub—Loki.

"What's up...mom?", I spit. "I thought you said everything you had to say."

"I'm sorry it has to be like this, Alex, I really am. It's not my fault this happened, in fact, I warned you both. But it's too late now, and those children you're carrying are going to have powers most of the gods can't even dream of", he says.

He's sorry, but he's focused, that's what's written all over his face. He's comfortable with losing me, he's comfortable with doing whatever he has to do to get what he wants—the avarice, the greed for power, I've never seen that look on anyone's face before. And I'm terrified.

"I've waited long enough. I need those twins, and you're going to give them to me. Now."