“I’m the doorkeeper. I should be able to keep the door open.”

I saw Liz and Diana exchange a look over my head.

“Yes, you should …” Liz began uneasily. “It’s just that your power seems rather … unstable …” Liz’s voice died away as we reached my backyard. I looked up to see what had made her pause. My house’s roof, which Brock had been coming to fix, was in even worse shape than before. A dozen more tiles were missing and the gutter had been dragged off. Damn that Lorelei! She’d probably cost me another thousand in home repair and cost Brock a day’s work. His ladder lay on the ground … which was odd, because Brock took meticulous care of his equipment and tools. As I crossed the yard I tripped over something in the grass. A hammer. Brock’s hammer, hand forged in the fires of Muspelheim, the Norse realm of fire, and imbued with magical powers. He’d never leave it in the rain to rust … unless …

Soheila gasped just as I looked up. Around the corner of the house, she knelt beside Brock in the grass, searching for a pulse in his neck and shaking her head. I wasn’t the only victim of Lorelei’s fury. Brock Olson had been thrown from the roof and killed.

CHAPTER SIX

SOHEILA RAN A hand over Brock’s broad forehead and short-cropped hair. His face might have been handsome were it not for the many scars and craters in his skin. Looking at his body I realized how little I knew about him. He was a Norse demi-god, a blacksmith to the gods who had once forged their weapons and crafted jewels for their human conquests. More recently he and his brother Ike ran a gardening shop, Valhalla, outside of town and he did odd jobs and handyman work for me. Although he wasn’t particularly talkative, I’d found his presence in the house comforting when I was working and had grown to greatly appreciate his quiet, patient manner.

Soheila held her hands above him. “His life spark has left his body, but I feel it flickering not far away. It was torn away by the storm. It might be coaxed back, but it’s not something I can do alone. We need to call Ike.”

“Shouldn’t we call an ambulance?” I asked as Liz got out her cell phone.

“If he’s taken to the hospital he’ll be declared dead. They might even …” She held up a finger indicating that her call to Brock’s brother had gone through and turned abruptly away from me as she spoke into the phone. Diana murmured something about blankets and ran across the street toward her house. I stood around feeling useless while Liz talked to someone in a language that sounded like it could be Old Norse. I decided the least I could do for Brock was pick up his tools. He’d want them if …