Tessa’s friend called a “Code Blue” and Tessa stood back so that the team could work, but she felt something strange under her foot and looked down to see she was standing on straw.

Straw in a hospital room?

The private investigator screamed out and Tessa watched him fight something off. Something that she couldn’t see.

Something that wouldn’t let her see.

Tessa felt her own heart rate suddenly increase, and she dropped to the floor, looking under the beds.

“What are you doing?” her friend asked.

“I . . . uh . . .” Tessa stood. “Nothing.”

“Hon, you have to go.”

“I understand. Thanks.”

Tessa waited until she was out of the hospital and by her car before she pulled her cell phone out of her jacket pocket. Chloe picked up immediately.

“Hey,” Tessa said, “I think we have a really big problem.”

The Crows watched as Kera drew the runes in the dirt. They all took a moment to study them before admitting, “No, dear. Don’t know what that is.”

“And you saw this near a sacrifice, you say?”

“The runes surrounded a blood-covered altar that had jewelry trapped under it.”

“Jewelry?”

“Gold and diamonds and other very expensive stones.”

Aditi glanced back at the Ravens. “Do any of you recognize these drawings?”

The Ravens looked over what Kera had drawn and shook their heads.

“Doesn’t look familiar to my eyes.”

“Where did you see this?”

“At the site of multiple sacrifices,” Kera replied.

“Multiple?”

“As in many.”

The Raven’s eyes narrowed a bit. “I know what multiple means. I was raised in England in the 1800s.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“That,” another Raven pointed out, “looks like something from before our time. When all the gods still lived.”

“Maybe it comes from the Vanir. They have their own runes in Vanaheim.”

“We think they’re trying to raise something,” Vig said.

“No.” One of the Crows shook her head. “This isn’t to raise something that’s been dead. This is to pull something into this world from another.”

“From Helheim?”

“No. Something buried far away. Farther than Hel’s court. I would—”

The Crow stopped talking and looked up at the sky.

“What’s wrong?”

“Move back,” the Crow ordered. “All of you move back!”

Kera scrambled back as the air and ground around them exploded, and they were suddenly surrounded by hawks and falcons, circling and diving until they merged together into a raging ball of birds that eventuallyformed a beautiful woman.

She was tall and blond in bright silver armor, a cape of birds’ feathers billowing behind her.

She stood by the runes that Kera had drawn, her gaze locked on them. When she looked up, the Ravens went down on one knee before her, their heads bowed. The Crows didn’t. But they did give her space.

A whole lot of space.

“Who drew these,” the woman asked. But when no one answered her, she bellowed, “Who drew these?”

The crows in the trees flew off and the ground shook beneath their feet from the power of her yell.

“I did,” Kera said.

Bright eyes that flashed between a deep human blue and a harsh yellow like the eyes of a bird of prey suddenly locked on Kera.

“You’re not dead.”

“No.”

“Why are you here?”

“Training.”

The woman pointed at the ground. “Why would you draw this?”

“I . . .” Kera cleared her throat and tried again. “I wanted to know if anyone recognized it.”

“Why?”

“We found it at a sacrificial altar. One filled with diamonds and rubies and—”

“Gold?”

“Yes. There was gold. It was like an offering. Those who can see, I guess you’d call it, reacted strongly to the runes, but they didn’t know what they meant.”

“Did you see this here? On these lands?”

“No. In a cave. In Catalina. In California.”

The woman looked off, her hand brushing against her bare neck, then back at Kera. She studied her for a long time before asking, “Who are you?”

“I’m Kera Watson.”

“I don’t care about your name, girl. Who are you?”

“I’m a Crow.”

“Perfect. Then I have a task for you, Crow.”

Kera glanced back at her sisters. “Uh . . . I don’t think I can.”

“Really? And why not?”

“My loyalty is to Skuld.”

The woman walked around Kera in a circle. “Of course your loyalty is to Skuld. You are a Crow. But I am Freyja and it is with my Valkyries that Skuld rides. If your loyalty is to her, your loyalty is to me, Crow.”

“That’s the first I’ve heard that.”

“Do not worry. If you take on this task, you’ll get the answers you seek.”

“What task?”

“Nothing you haven’t done before, Crow. You must retrieve something of mine. A necklace.”

“A necklace?”

“Brísingamen.” Kera heard gasps behind her, but she focused on the god in front of her. “It is mine, and I want it back. Find those who hold it and retrieve it for me.”