“I’m interested too.” Rosamund sat up. “I swore I heard something shrieking, but I couldn’t get anywhere near whatever it was. I failed as a guard member.”

Seppo rubbed his boyfriend’s back. “There, there, now, you’ll have to be a disappointment like the rest of us.”

Only Diaval didn’t inquire about my “fight” with the thing in the water. Instead, she had a sly smile slowly spreading on her elfin face. “You finally did it, Janneke.”

“I did,” I agreed. “What did I do, exactly?” I did definitely get the feeling I’d accomplished something major as the stag but wasn’t entirely sure what that thing was in the first place.

“You reached into a liminal space and pulled something back from it. The memories of the spirit in the water. You let them play out and then let the spirit pass on to the afterlife.”

“Did you know that would happen, Diaval?” Soren asked, a slight growl coloring his tone.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Soren,” Diaval said. “I knew that crossing was dangerous, and I made that very clear. I also knew, as should you all know, that Gjall does harbor spirits of water-based death if they cannot fully pass on but aren’t wicked enough for the Naglafar. I wouldn’t have made you cross this way if there were an easier or safer way to do it.”

Soren made a noise in the back of his throat but didn’t comment further, laying his head back down against the warm ground. It was nice after the freezing water and part of me wished it would swallow me up and wrap me tightly in its embrace. My gaze flickered to the others. Usually things in the Permafrost were not pleasantly warm unless you were in immediate danger, and I had no reason to believe that Helheim didn’t work the same way. But even Diaval was relaxing slowly from her swim.

“We’ll need to continue on,” I spoke, though my voice sounded tired and I held back a yawn. My muscles ached from the swim, and I was beginning to feel a sharp pain in my temple that was no doubt the beginning of a headache. “We can’t stay and relax. We have no time.”

A couple of groans came from the pile of sleepy goblins. “I get that,” Rose said. “Truly I do, but give us a moment. The water takes a lot out of us. You and Diaval are lucky. Even Seppo’s got the muscle strength of a particularly limp noodle right now.”

“You’re a limp noodle,” Seppo muttered.

“He’s not lying,” Soren said. “Running water is awful.”

“She’s right,” Diaval said, standing. “We don’t have time for this.”

“You weren’t affected the same way; you don’t get a vote.”

Diaval raised a finely shaped eyebrow. “I wasn’t aware we were voting.”