Page 34 of Thor

So she called Tacey instead. May as well call all her cousins while she had a moment. It would be lovely to catch up and find out what they were doing.

"Hello?" Tacey sounded suspicious.

"Tacey? Is that you? It's Sibyl!"

She heard a chorus of cries at that, like Tacey wasn't alone.

"Who's there?" Sibyl asked.

"I have you on speaker, because I'm home with Rory, Octavia, Alethea, Callie and Rochelle."

Jackpot. Not that she could say much in front of five-year-old Rory, but...

"Oh, perfect! So I can tell all of you – I met someone up here, a real Viking, so I'm staying for another season so we can work on this dig together. We've already found so much, but we're hoping for an ice mummy, like Otzi. Seeing as the borders are still closed, it's probably the best place for me, until it's safe to come home. We're pretty isolated, so we've missed the worst of the pandemic in the big cities so far. Even now I'm in civilisation, it's a tiny little town, and half of it's taken up by our research labs. Can you believe there's still snow on the ground in summer?"

"It was like that in Scotland sometimes," someone said. A male voice Sibyl didn't recognise.

"Who was that? Who else is there? Has one of you finally gotten a boyfriend?" Sibyl demanded.

"Well, Octavia's engaged, and her and Callie are considering a double wedding when the weather gets warmer and the restrictions ease," Tacey said.

Sibyl let out a squeal. "What? Oh, I want to be there. Callie and Octavia getting married? And here I thought you or Alethea would be first..."

Hell, she should tell them about getting handfasted to Thor. But how did you tell your family something like that?

Luckily, Alethea got in first. "What about you? Did you say you'd met someone in the Arctic? Is he hot?"

Sibyl swallowed.

"Didn't I tell you? Oh, you have to meet Thor. He's a real, live Viking, just like they made them a thousand years ago. I'd take him over a Hemsworth any day, because he's the real deal. Oh, did you say Callie's there?"

"I'm here!" Callie called, sounding like she was in the bottom of a well, or at least not that close to the phone.

Sibyl took a deep breath. "Hey, in all your research on ancient spells and stuff, did you ever run into mentions about foundation sacrifices, or gargoyles?"

Silence.

Shit. They'd never believe her if she told them the truth about Thor, not if she'd shocked them with just a mention of what he was. She should never have called them.

As if by magic, her phone beeped with a message.

"Oh, wait, I've just got an emergency message coming through..." Sibyl said, swiping across to see what she'd been sent.

The message was from Lara's satellite phone.

Her jaw dropped, and it took her a long moment before she could speak again.

"Um, we were supposed to ship out in a week, with the next supply run, but they've found something in the glacier that needs to be helicoptered to the lab right away, which means I need to get out to the helipad if I want a ride. It might be a body buried in the ice - a real live Viking!" The moment the words left her lips, she regretted them. Of course the ice mummy they'd found couldn't possibly be alive. He wasn't Thor.

She hurried to end the call so she could tell Thor they were headed back to camp.

THIRTY-SEVEN

"If they have found someone, it must be Odin," Thor said when Sibyl told him the news.

Sibyl's mind blanked for a moment. "You mean...Odin, Odin? The father of all the Norse gods, rides an eight-legged horse, traded his eye for wisdom, Odin?"

Thor laughed. "I mean the leader of our village, Odin. He's no more a god than I am. But if his wife's brooch was there, then he could not have been far. If your people have found his body, then he was buried with full honours, and his soul likely resides in Valhalla, as was his due." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Wherever did you hear that about Sleipnir?"

---