Secrets of Valhalla (10 page)

T
he sound of ticking was overpowering as they entered the next chamber. They immediately saw why—the room, with its incredibly high ceiling, was a workshop, crammed full of clocks. All types: grandfather clocks, pendulum clocks, spring-driven devices, digital clocks, sundials, cuckoo clocks, and piles and piles of watches and timepieces.

A man in a long black cloak was hunched over a scuffed wooden workbench holding a tiny pair of tweezers and a screwdriver. He gave a squawk of surprise as Buzz and Mary entered the workshop, swiftly clambered over the pile of clocks, bumping his hip on a sundial, and hopped up onto a raised throne.

He sat down, but then cursed and quickly jumped off his throne to retrieve his scythe from where it leaned against a grandfather clock.

He settled himself back onto his throne. “Welcome,” he said in a booming voice. “You are in the presence of Saturn. Please try not to be too awed.”

Now that Buzz was closer, he decided that Saturn definitely looked like a god. He had flowing white hair and a beard that only a god could get away with. His eyes flashed like lightning.

“Tell me. What is it you want to ask Father Time?”

Mary coughed to clear her throat. “I would have asked you in the wheat field but you didn't give me a chance. We need to find the Runes of Valhalla and reunite them with their day guardians. Can you tell us where they are?”

Saturn laughed. “Oh, you are mistaken. That wasn't me in the field. Rather, a projection—your generation call it a hologram, I think.” Saturn removed a watch from the voluminous folds of his cloak and began to polish its face. “You can't really expect that I'll sit around waiting for visitors in a wheat field. I have time to manage.”

“But we chased after you,” Buzz said.

“That's the idea. Anyone who comes to my realm is supposed to follow the hologram and, if they're lucky, enter the time tunnel. Most people just end up stuck in that field and die of the cold.” Saturn breathed on the watch face and polished even more vigorously. “If they're a bit luckier, they make it to the time tunnel, where they become jabbering wrecks and stay for all time.” He looked up at them. “Can you see why I was so surprised to see you?”

“That's just horrible!” Mary exclaimed. “You basically enjoy stranding people in fields and tormenting others in dark tunnels. Why do you make it so hard to find you?”

“Gods are not supposed to be easily accessible,” Saturn said magisterially. “If we were, we'd be just like everyone else.”

“What a ridiculo—”

“Okay, time out!” Buzz shouted, feeling an awful lot like a referee. He could understand why Mary was outraged, but while Saturn had all the time in the world to argue the point, they didn't. “We really need to find the Runes of Valhalla,” he said, as calmly as possible.

For the first time, Saturn seemed to take real notice of what they were asking him.

“The Runes of Valhalla? But they should only be needed if Loki has broken free of his prison.”

“Well, he has.”

Saturn jumped to his feet, his scythe falling to the ground. “Loki is free? The prophecy is coming true?”

“Yep.” Mary looked almost pleased at Saturn's discomfort.

“He needs to be stopped!”

“We know,” Buzz said, reminding himself to stay calm. “That's why we're here.”

“But you're not Sunna.” He peered at Buzz and then Mary closely. “No, neither of you are Sunna. Your auras are all wrong.”

“Loki has Sunna,” Mary said, impatience making her voice very loud in the workshop.

Saturn turned on his heel and began to pace along the platform beside his throne. His cloak was a swish of black flaring out behind him. “Poor Sunna,” he kept repeating. “Odin only had enough magic left to make one of the day guardians link psychically to Loki's awakening. He dearly wished that it could have been otherwise, but it was a powerful charm.” Saturn bent down to pick up his scythe and resumed pacing, the scythe clunking on the ground as he stalked along. “Odin's plan to use Sunna as an alarm system sounded good at the time, especially as I refused to get involved any more than I was. All she needed to do was come and find me.” He shook his head. “Now the game has been lost even before it has truly begun.”

“The game is not lost,” Buzz said fiercely. “That's why Mary and I are here. We're going to stop Loki.”

Saturn snorted with laughter. “This is no quest for children.”

“Oh, really,” Mary said. “Sunna doesn't think that. She told us to find the runes and reunite them with their sleeping gods so that the day guardians can help to stop Loki.” She put her hands on her hips. “So that is what we're going to do.”

“You don't understand. Loki is one of the most powerful forces to have ever been unleashed.” The god sounded scared.

Mary narrowed her eyes. “Then help us, instead of just telling us that we can't do it.”

Saturn's hand tightened on the scythe. “Help? That's all I've been doing—ever since Odin dragged me into this sorry
mess and asked me to look after the runes and become the day guardian for Saturday.” He stopped pacing. “Obviously, it made more sense to split the runes up, so I managed to persuade my three sons to look after two of the blasted runes each.”

“You mean you gave the responsibility to others,” Mary said.

Saturn glared at Mary but did not correct her. “I am very busy, you know. I'm Father Time. It's a big job.” He looked away. “I should have never agreed to become a day guardian—it forces me to return to your hateful realm once a week, give or take, to keep things in order, and now I'm being dragged into this whole Loki mess.”

“Wow, you're a piece of work,” Mary breathed. “You don't want any responsibilities at all.”

Saturn looked thunderous. “Everyone is living their lives on fast-forward in your realm,” he snapped. “No one has time. That's what they say all day long. ‘
I have no time
.'” Saturn's face wore a wounded expression. “So why should I care about your realm when I have my glorious workshop? My clocks are the most loyal of subjects.” He waved a hand around the chamber. “You judge me, but it's not only I who has retreated, you know. Many of the other gods have disappeared entirely because no one believes in them anymore, and those that are left have taken themselves off to other hidden realms.”

Buzz was fed up with listening to Saturn's whining. “If you could just tell us where we can find your sons and the runes,
we'll be able to stop Loki, get Sunna back, and break the world out of its Saturday loop.”

Saturn frowned. “Goodness me, I must be getting old,” he muttered. “It hadn't even occurred to me that with Sunna taken, the day would be stuck on Saturday in your realm. All these consecutive Saturdays will cause things to get a bit . . . unsettled.”

“Unsettled,” Buzz repeated.

“Worn down is maybe a better way to put it. Poor souls in your realm won't know what hit them. It will be anarchy.”

“What do you care?” Mary asked. “You're happy enough here with your stupid clocks.”

Saturn's eyebrows went skyward. “Young lady, I am a god, and you will speak to me with respect.”

Buzz thought back to the images of his home in the time tunnel. How strange his sister had looked. He had to stop it from happening. “As Father Time,” he said, “can't you reverse everything so that Sunna isn't kidnapped or Loki isn't freed?”

Saturn's cheeks reddened. “I could do that—of course I could. But I don't believe in meddling.”

“Liar, liar, pants on fire,” Mary taunted.

“Excuse me,” Saturn spluttered.

“Liar.” Mary pointed at him. “You can't reverse time. You're not powerful enough.”

Saturn jumped to his feet. “I could extinguish you from all time with a click of my fingers,” he snarled. “Erase you from the memory of all who have loved you or will ever love you.”

Mary crossed her arms. “Prove it.”

“Mary,” Buzz warned. “Stop winding him up.”

“I'll do it,” Saturn threatened. His thumb and middle finger were a whisper away from meeting together. “It will take one click. Unless you apologize right now.”

“No way, no how.” Mary's back was as straight as a flagpole and her chin was tilted high. “Why don't you just start telling the truth?”

“You've made your choice.” Saturn brought his fingers together and clicked.

N
othing happened.

Mary just stood there, her chin jutting out defiantly.

The god's shoulders dropped, and he slumped onto his throne.

“I can't reverse time,” he whispered. “Haven't been able to for years. Not since mortals stopped believing in me.” He glared at Mary. “I've got no power, okay? In fact, every time I leave this workshop, I get weaker, and I can't stay away for long or I get sick.”

“But you're still a guardian,” Buzz said. “You're in charge of Saturday.”

Saturn snorted. “The whole thing is ridiculous, if you ask me. Powers or no powers, each day guardian must be present in your realm for the order of things to be maintained, so I pop
back every once in a while. After the battle with Loki, Odin and the other day guardians chose to put their god aspects to sleep in their mortal hosts, rather than leaving your realm altogether.” He waved a hand. “The day guardians are a bit like gravity. You don't notice it most of the time, but you would if it disappeared.” The god shook his head. “Truth is, you're right. I never really cared about being a day guardian; I did it because Odin asked. But to be a god was extraordinary.” He sighed. “At the time, I thought Odin and his kind were deranged when they put their powers into the runes to rejuvenate. But at least their powers have been preserved. They haven't faded away over time like mine.”

“Hang on—so why are we all so worried about Loki?” Mary asked slowly. “Won't he be just as powerless as you? I'm guessing his powers were stripped away by Odin when he was imprisoned, he doesn't have a rune, and he doesn't have worshipers, so he can't exactly recharge.”

“You do not have a sympathetic bone in your body, do you, young lady?” Saturn said. “I've just opened up my heart to you.”

Mary stared back at him stonily.

“It's hard to know what state Loki will be in,” Saturn said. “He's been in the ground a long time, and his worshipers are all gone, but then, he was always different from the rest of us. Loki comes from chaos. That place where fire, water, earth, and air boil as one. That place where everything started.” Saturn bit his lip. “Because Loki comes from chaos, he can feed
off it as well, and if your world doesn't have time, it certainly has chaos. Even more so now that things are stuck in a Saturday loop.” Saturn hugged his arms, and for a moment he looked like an old man who was no longer sure of himself. “Thank the gods he doesn't know where I am. He'd blame me for stealing his day and think I was involved in his capture.”

“But he does know where you are,” Buzz said, remembering that Loki had overheard Mary saying that they were going to Saturn to find the runes.

“No, he doesn't,” Saturn said confidently. “My realm is hidden from him. When Odin replanted the World Tree in the Tangley Woods, he ensured that the tree would not reveal my location to Loki.”

“Well, we kinda made it visible,” Buzz said. “He saw us come here.”

Saturn's expression became very still. “What?”

Buzz was going to reply, but a loud pounding at the door stopped him. The whole chamber was quaking. Hairline cracks crept across the surface of the door, and dust from the stone wall that encased the entranceway was raining down.

“He's here,” Saturn said. “Loki is here.”

“But Janus will stop him from getting in, right?” Buzz asked.

“Janus will do their best, but I was a fool to believe that anyone could keep Loki out. How can you keep chaos out?” Saturn leaped from his throne, sweeping the contents of one of his worktables to the floor. Racing around the workshop, he
placed three clocks on the table.

“The runes you seek can be found using these three clocks. Choose one to begin your quest.”

The pounding on the door was even fiercer now, and the sound of wood creaking and then cracking filled the chamber.

A voice that hissed and spat like a funeral pyre seeped under the door. “Saturn, is this any way to treat a friend? We have so much to catch up on. And you owe me, old man. You owe me.”

Saturn pointed to the first clock. “This is an astronomical clock and will open a portal to the cloud realm, where you will find my son Jupiter, god of the sky. He has the first two runes, which hold the powers of Sunna and Mani.” He pointed to the next device. “This is a water clock, which will open a portal to my son Neptune, god of the sea. He has the second two runes, which hold the powers of Tyr and Odin.” Saturn's hand moved over to the last clock, which glinted with gold. “This is an ormolu clock. Many call it a death clock.” He touched the golden clock gently, his finger tracing the gilded edge. “It's a thing of true beauty, but the men who made these clocks often died for their art because the gold-mercury veneer used to embellish the clock killed them with its toxicity. This clock will take you to my son Pluto, god of the underworld. He has the last two runes, which hold the power of Thor and Frigga.”

The door gave a splintering crash, and Saturn flinched. “I can't promise that my sons will welcome you. But this is all I can do to help.”

Buzz stepped toward the astronomical clock, his eyes sweeping over the weight-driven device with its train of gears and etched star map. But Mary did not follow him. She was looking at the death clock, the gold reflected in her glasses.

“How do we access the portal for Jupiter's realm?” Buzz asked.

Saturn stepped forward and, concentrating on the star map, pressed two of the shining nodes on the device. A pair of stars shot out of the clock and zipped around the room with a high-pitched ringing noise.

“You each need to catch one of the stars before its light goes out, and then ask it to take you to Jupiter,” Saturn said. “Your star will do the rest.”

Buzz nodded, his eyes tracking the stars. They were already slowing down a bit, their light fading gradually.

“Mary, come on!” he called as he climbed up onto one of the benches and watched the star drift toward him.

Mary pulled her gaze away from the death clock. Her expression was almost wistful.

“Are you sure we shouldn't start with Pluto?” She said the words as if in some kind of daze.

“Too late for that now,” Saturn said. “You need to catch one of these stars before it winks out completely. If that happens, I won't be able to call on more stars before Loki appears.” He looked at the door, which amazingly was still standing, but only just.

Buzz climbed from the bench onto the table and reached
for a star. His fingers just grazed its warm brilliance.

“Come on, Mary,” Buzz said, reaching again.

Mary dragged herself from the death clock and leaped onto one of the tables as well.

“Good luck in your quest.” Saturn had tidied away the three clocks and was now heading toward the door. “Time is on your side.” He smiled. “I mean that.”

“Where are you going?” Buzz asked as his fingers closed around a star.

“To let Loki in. Janus should not have to pay for my cowardice, and I'm not sure the door will stand much longer. I'll do my best to throw Loki off the scent.”

The star was now in Buzz's grip, and it vibrated in his palm, making his hand tingle. Looking over at Mary, he saw that she had a star in her grasp also. She nodded at him.

“Take us to Jupiter,” they said as one.