Feeling uncomfortable with Mum in the room, I look at the pile of journals on the table. Her reading glasses sit on top of them and I wonder how many she’s read and how much she knows.

Mum sees me and smiles. ‘Breakfast?’

‘Great. I’m starving.’

I sit opposite Stig and she sets a plate of pancakes and a cup of coffee before me.

‘Good?’ asks Stig.

I swallow. ‘Very. But not as good as yours.’

‘I heard that, young lady.’ Mum sits next to me. ‘When you’ve finished, I thought we might take a walk out to the tree and water it together. And then you can tell me where …’

I nod, not wanting to think about Yrsa and Olav. I point at the journals. ‘So you read them?’

‘Yes, and Stig told me some of what’s been happening. It’s a lot to take in.’

Stig smiles shyly. ‘It was for me too. I didn’t believe Martha at first; it seemed so crazy. I found it hard to trust, but she has a way of being persuasive.’

I smile at Stig and feel so many things. Happy and excited that I met him and he’s OK, but sad about Yrsa and Olav.

After we clear the breakfast things, we put on our coats and head out. I trudge through the snow with Stig and Gandalf, while Mum strides out, carrying the pail. She slows as we reach the tree and I gaze at its mighty branches and imagine Odin hanging above me, finding the runes in the well. My breath catches, remembering what Stig said. If the journals are right, the tree stands at the centre of the cosmos, connecting different worlds. Who knows where its branches and roots might lead?

Mum’s face is pale. I leave Stig and take her arm. ‘I used to be afraid of it too.’ I realise that it no longer scares me. The dead are back where they belong and there’s nothing that remains of the draugr – not even bones. The ravens must have carried them away. As long as we tend to the tree, it should never happen again.

Mum watches as I take the pail from her, dip it in the well, then throw the water over the hole inside the tree. A raven caws overhead and she glances nervously at the sky.

‘It’s fine, Mum, I promise. Nothing bad is going to happen.’

‘OK. I might leave you two alone. I’ve got some more reading to do.’

She spots the axe in the snow and picks it up. I give her a hug and watch as she trudges back to the cabin with it. Stig stares at the tree, seemingly lost in thought.

‘Penny for them.’

‘What?’

‘For your thoughts. It means, what are you thinking?’

‘Oh.’ Stig puts an arm around me and pulls me close. I fall into him, enjoying his warmth.

‘Sprinkler systems,’ he says.

‘What?’