Magnus Chase and the Hammer of Thor by Rick Riordan

Author:Rick Riordan [Riordan, Rick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: k'12
ISBN: 9780141342573
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2016-10-03T16:00:00+00:00

THIRTY-ONE

Heimdall Takes a Selfie with Literally Everyone

Amir almost pulled an einherji move. He would’ve jumped sixty feet if I hadn’t been holding on to him.

‘What was that?’ he demanded.

Samirah beamed. ‘You heard him? That’s fantastic! It’s just Heimdall inviting us up.’

‘Up, like – up?’ Amir inched away from the Citgo sign. ‘How is that fantastic?’

Halfborn and Alex strolled over to join us.

‘Will you look at that.’ Alex didn’t sound particularly impressed by the cosmic bridge arcing into the sky. ‘Is it safe?’

Halfborn tilted his head. ‘Probably, if Heimdall invited them. Otherwise they’ll burn to ash as soon as they set foot on the rainbow.’

‘What?’ Amir yelped.

‘We’re not going to burn.’ Sam glared at Halfborn. ‘We’ll be just fine.’

‘I’m in,’ Alex announced. ‘You two crazy kids still need an escort so you don’t do anything irresponsible.’

‘Irresponsible?’ Amir’s voice went up another half octave. ‘Like climbing into the sky on a burning rainbow?’

‘It’s okay, man,’ I said, though I realized my definition of okay had become flexible over the last few months.

Halfborn crossed his arms. ‘You all have fun. I’m staying right here.’

‘Why?’ Alex asked. ‘Scared?’

The berserker laughed. ‘I’ve met Heimdall before. It’s an honour I only need once.’

I didn’t like the sound of that. ‘Why? What’s he like?’

‘You’ll see.’ Halfborn smirked. ‘I’ll meet you back in Valhalla. Have fun exploring inter-dimensional space!’

Sam grinned. ‘Amir, I can’t wait to show you. Come on!’

She stepped towards the Citgo sign and vaporized in a smear of multicoloured light.

‘Sam?’ Amir yelled.

‘Oh, cool!’ Alex leaped forward and also disappeared.

I clapped Amir’s shoulder. ‘They’re fine. Stay strong, man. Now I get to pay you back for all those falafel plates you spotted me when I was homeless. I get to show you the Nine Worlds!’

Amir took a deep breath. To his credit, he didn’t collapse, curl into a ball or cry, all of which would have been perfectly acceptable responses to finding out there were squeaky-voiced beings in the sky who would invite you up their rainbow.

‘Magnus?’ he said.

‘Yeah?’

‘Remind me not to give you any more falafel.’

Together we stepped into the orange glow.

Nothing to see here. Just four teenagers hiking up a nuclear rainbow.

Radiance surrounded us, fuzzy and hot. Rather than walking across a slick, solid surface, I felt like we were wading through a waist-high field of wheat … if that wheat were made of highly radioactive light.

Somehow, I’d lost my sunglasses from Alfheim. I doubted they would’ve helped, though. This light was intense in a different way. The colours made my eyes throb like twin hearts. The heat seemed to swirl a hair’s breadth from my skin. Under our feet, the bridge made a low-pitched rumble like the recording of an explosion played on a loop. I supposed Halfborn Gunderson was right: without Heimdall’s blessing, we would have been vaporized the moment we set foot on the Bifrost.

Behind us, the cityscape of Boston became an indistinct blur. The sky turned black and full of stars like I used to see on my old hiking trips with my mom.

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