(VALI)

Modi was pushy. Even more than me. Wherever we went, it was his idea. Whatever we did, it had to go his way. Narvi didn't mind following him around, but I did. I wanted to explore on my own.

Still, Mum was clear—if I was alone, I might get into trouble. And getting into trouble here meant I wouldn't just answer to her or to Father; I might have to answer to Modi's father, too. Or maybe the old man who sat on the throne our first day here. Or even the tall gatekeeper with the golden sword. None of it was worth the risk, so if Narvi said we should stay close to Modi, we did.

I just wished it wasn't so boring.

Modi's life in the palace was more exciting than he made it sound when we met him by our portal. Every day, he had horse riding lessons, and archery, and wrestling, and even had an hour with an old woman who taught him how to sit at a table and eat without making a mess—something Modi called "etiquette", which took me five tries to say correctly. That's why I was so frustrated; we were forced to sit in a corner or against a wall to watch him finish his routines. Even more annoying was the fact he wasn't very good at the things he spent so much time with. His form on the horse was all wrong. He wasn't a strong aim with a bow, either; Father taught me well, even if Narvi hated it. Once, Modi lost a wrestling match and threw a screaming tantrum, beating his feet and fists against the floor.

As for how well he sat up straight, Narvi and I seemed to have him beat with that, too. It was like his shoulders were pulled forward and down to the floor unless he thought about keeping his head up. For all that Modi was older than us, richer than us, and called a prince, I would've thought he was lying about all of it if we hadn't seen how everyone else treated him.

I liked him less and less. Yet even though Modi annoyed me, Narvi and I didn't have anything better to do than spend time with him. Every day, once Mum finished breakfast with us and Father left for his meetings upstairs, we went to the training field behind the palace to find Modi like we promised we would any time we said goodnight.

After eight days of following the same routine, Modi surprised us by intercepting our path outside. "Hey—wait for me!" He sprinted toward us through the palace hall, squeaking his shoes on the smooth floor. "I want to show you something."

I looked to Narvi, who was always able to seem interested. He ignored me to keep Modi's attention. "Show us what?"

"Shh...follow me." Modi ran past while waving behind him, turning the far corner to the left.

I raised a brow and opened my arm in Modi's direction.

"At least it's not the same thing as yesterday," Narvi said. He shrugged, then raced to catch up.

The archery field called to me. I grumbled and jogged behind them, wanting nothing more than to sprint through the forest behind the big city and find my way home, but my promise to Narvi was more important. I'd never leave him behind, bored or not.

Modi took us in circles, then changed his direction, slipping through a small doorway and up spiral stairs. It wouldn't have surprised me if he was trying to stay hidden or confuses us on purpose so we wouldn't find our way back on our own. Wherever we were going, it was precious and supposed to be a secret.

Amateur. With Father's help, I'd mapped most of the palace by now. This was just another room to write down.

When Modi finally slowed at the top of the stairs, he turned to look us both in the eye. "You've never seen anything like this."

"Where are we?" I asked, staring at the tall doors ahead of us. The black wood breathed somehow, like they were actually two sides of a lung. I heard them lurch back and forth.

"My grandfather's library. Come on." Modi grinned and pulled hard on the handle, swinging the door in.

Heaviness filled the room like the darkness on all sides. I lifted my hand to snap—a small light would go a long way—but Narvi put his palm over my fingers before I got a chance to. He shook his head slowly, silently telling me not to show Modi our magic. Our portal was enough of a risk. Given his animal speak, Modi would surely turn our skills into some kind of competition.

"All the books my minders give me are so dull. Father says I have to know Asgard's history, but my classes don't teach what's in here." Modi pulled a curtain open by the far wall, flooding the room with light. "I bet even your parents don't know the things I know."

So nice to share it with us, then. I folded my arms and glanced over the many bindings on all sides. Many had letters I'd never seen, some language I'd never heard of. Narvi took them all in with wide eyes, like he understood them without being taught. I hoped I was wrong.

"Is there anything here about Vanaheim?" Narvi asked, raising his voice hopefully.

Modi paused for a moment. His cheeks turned red. The same red I saw when he lost his wrestling match—a look of defeat, of failure, of embarrassment. But he covered it well enough and told an obvious lie instead of admitting that he didn't know. "Your realm must be too new. I'd never heard of it until I met you. Surely if it was half as old as Asgard, I would know all there is to know about it."

I nudged Narvi when his brows fell with disappointment. Next time Modi wasn't with us, we'd comb the place ourselves.

"Speaking of which, do you know much about the other realms?" He waved us over to a large blanket hanging on the wall, which reminded me of Father's many sketches. "Asgard is at the very top. The best of all. Someday, I will be King of Asgard, and I will rule over everything beneath it."

As he said the words, my stomach twisted. Not from jealousy—no, I knew that well enough with Narvi. Something else bothered me. "King of everything?" I asked with an admittedly sharp tone.

"Of course," Modi said, painting his face in a smirk that only confirmed how sick it made me feel. "My father is Thor, the God of Thunder. He will become king when the Allfather dies, which means the throne will come to me. It's only a matter of time."

"Thunder?" Narvi asked, barely enough to hear.

"Oh, yes." He spread his hands over the wall hanging again, suddenly coming alive with a story that felt like one of Father's for how serious he was. "You see, the people of this world are Gods and Goddesses. They thrive and live with magic. Power beyond anything you can imagine." The way he glanced over his shoulder only made his pride more obvious. "Would you like to see what real magic looks like?"

Narvi kicked me as I started to laugh, keeping me in check. I nodded quickly instead, swallowing the urge to prove him wrong.

"See this place, here?" Modi asked, pointing to a small blue orb near the bottom of the world, under the roots of Yggdrasil. "This is where real monsters come from. Enemies of my grandfather, Odin. The Frost Giants of Jotunheim."

The way he paused for some kind of effect left Narvi and I glancing at one another.

"You've never heard of them?" Modi beamed even more.

"No," I said, taking the bait so he wouldn't waste time. "Who are they?"

"They're only the most heartless race in all Yggdrasil. Nasty, evil, with hearts of pure ice. I'd kill them all if I could. Father says they don't pose a threat to us now—he doesn't know I found out he destroyed them himself." Modi found a black book on a neighboring shelf, clearly prepared to find it for this purpose. The front was scrawled in illegible writing—or another language again—but Modi flipped open the first few pages and held it open for us.

"Bet you've never seen a book quite like this," Modi said. As he stood still, a face grew larger on the page, coming closer as if a creature walked toward us. The eyes glowed red, angry, like something invented to scare us on purpose.

"I don't like it," Narvi said quickly, turning away. "Vali, make him stop."

"What a baby," Modi muttered, slamming the book closed. "When you get to the page with my father, if you yell for him to destroy them, it shows you how he did it. Only grandfather's books come alive like this. My classmates don't believe me. I would've told you sooner, but I don't think you would've believed me, either."

Moving books were certainly something new. Exciting. Intriguing. Far from boring. I wasn't ready to leave yet and hoped Narvi would let me stay longer. "What other stories are in here?" I asked.

"Anything you can imagine."

"Except Vanaheim," Narvi whined.

Modi rolled his eyes. "Fine. What else do you want to see? More books on magic? On fighting? Animals? I know best where all the animal ones are."

I reached for the book still in Modi's hand. Maybe Father would be impressed to see a magic book and show me more, maybe how it was made, and teach me the skill. "May I read this one? Bring it back tomorrow?"

"You have to swear you'll return it," Modi said, clutching it against his side.

"I do, I swear."

"Swear you won't forget, or the Frost Giants will freeze you in your sleep."

"Yes, I swear, I swear." I held my hands open. "Narvi will make me bring it back as soon as we can anyway."

"Animals," Narvi said, shifting the focus again. "My mum likes snakes. Is there one on snakes?"

Modi surrendered the black book to me and chuckled. "Only the biggest snake anyone has ever seen." With that, he marched to the opposite side of the library and mumbled the titles to himself as he searched for Narvi's bounty.

I didn't like reading much at home, but this was a whole new world. While Narvi and Modi passed books back and forth, I smiled privately and ran my fingertips over the bumpy lettering of the treasure in my hands.

The only thing that made me think twice about its contents were the harsh things Modi said about the people inside; if he thought evil and cold went together, did everyone else think that way?