With Tove safe—relatively speaking—I ran over to where Finn and Sumi had been standing. They were buried in debris from the barn—mostly stone, wood, and moldy hay—and rocks from the recent slide, which were heavy enough that I found them difficult to move.

My whole body ached, my head throbbed, and my vision blurred in my bad eye. I worked as hard and fast as I could to unearth Finn and Sumi, but I worried that I didn’t have enough strength to move fast enough.

“Help!” I shouted as I dug through the rubble. “Somebody! Please help!”

Loki—the King of the Trylle—suddenly rounded the barn, running toward me.

“Hurry!” I shouted at him. “Finn and Sumi are trapped under the rocks!”

“Finn’s there?” Loki blanched slightly, and he sped up. He lifted rocks I’d been unable to move like they were pillows.

“Help!” Sumi’s voice barely carried through the rocks.

When her hand came through, I grabbed it and started pulling her up. Loki kept moving junk out of the way while I pulled her out. She coughed hard as soon as she was free. Wood chips, dirt, and hay were tangled with her hair, and some of it shook free as she doubled over.

“Are you okay?” I asked her, as Loki kept searching for Finn.

She nodded and struggled to catch her breath. “All the old crap from the barn softened the blow of the rocks. It would’ve been great if I hadn’t breathed in so much dust and mold.”

“Got him!” Loki announced, and I looked over to see him helping Finn out of the rock pile.

He coughed hard enough that he threw up, and he was bleeding from his temple. But he stood on his own, once Loki helped him off the rocks.

“What the hell happened?” Finn asked, looking around in dismay.

Loki put his hand on Finn’s shoulder. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

“The dragon chasing us,” Finn said.

“We can’t kill it.” I clenched my jaw, holding back the frustrated tears that stung my eyes. “Tove used everything he had to hold it, and I broke my sword on its scales.” I lowered my gaze. “That was probably the best chance we had, and I couldn’t . . .” I grimaced. “I don’t think we can hurt it at all. We just pissed it off.”

Nobody said anything for a moment. Loki stared down at the ground, his arms folded over his chest, and Finn looked up at the dark sky. Sumi sat down next to Tove, catching her breath.

“I told Wendy to evacuate with everyone she could,” Loki said, and he exchanged a look with Finn. “You should go too. They’ll need you.”

“You’ll need me if you wanna stop this thing,” Finn countered.

“She says we can’t stop it.” Loki motioned to me.