Jess screamed, scrambling to get away. By the time she made it to the far corner of the room, Sigyn had found the trap door to join her in the dark basement. She grabbed Jess by the shoulders to calm her. "Take it easy! Those ones don't move, they can't hurt you!"

  Jess side-stepped to put Sigyn between her and the two dead bodies. "You're not slightly freaked out?"

  "Oh, I've seen worse!" Sigyn walked right up to the foot of the bed to get a closer look. "I didn't think their bodies were still here." She couldn't tell if they were male or female, but the two skeletons had their arms wrapped around each other in a couple's embrace.

  "It's so creepy," Jess said.

  "Leave them alone, they're dead - they can't help it! Would you prefer them clothed with their mouths stapled shut and pumped full of chemicals?"

  "Actually...yes. That's why embalming exists - to give their family peace."

  Sigyn shook her head. "The harder you ignore death, the harder it is to face. Our bodies aren't meant to be preserved forever. It's time these two got a proper send-off." She marched out of the cellar, with Jess close on her heels, not wanting to be alone with the dead.

  "Help me gather wood," Sigyn instructed. "For a pyre."

  Jess skidded to a stop in the snow. "We can't just burn them! This whole place is a historic monument. We have to call a museum or university or something. They're artifacts!"

  "They're people," Sigyn snapped back with a look that made her swallow her words like a tough pill.

  Jess began collecting firewood.

  The wood crackled in the orange flames. Rising heat created a hazy glaze in the air. Sigyn took a seat beside Jess on the front steps. The girl had a far-away look in her pale eyes.

  "They were all alone out here," Sigyn said quietly. "No one else knew they were here until we came along."

  Jess didn't know how to respond, but taking her hand felt right. Sigyn looked down at their joined hands and readjusted to intertwine their fingers. The movement gave Jess a clearer view of the tattoo on her forearm: two wolf heads woven together in a long knot. She asked what it meant.

  "Oh." Sigyn glanced down at it as if reminding herself it was there. "It's my family's crest."

  Jess raised an eyebrow. "Do people still have those?"

  "I don't know. We're kind of old-fashioned, with all sorts of rituals and ceremonies and symbols too old to date. Your crest, your family, your lineage - you are nothing without them. They represent who you are, or...who other people think you are." She moved her forearm closer to Jess and traced the lines of ink under her fingers. "The two wolves represent a duality. Wolves are feared for their ferocity but also praised for their unity and relentlessness. The knot holding them together is fate, which we are all subject to."

  "You believe in that stuff?"

  Sigyn quickly shook her head 'no'. "It's an outdated way of thinking. Before we knew how big the universe truly was."

  "It might be nice, knowing everything in your life happens with a purpose."

  Sigyn pressed her lips together. "It sounds good in theory. In the real world, it does more harm than good."

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  The smoke lifted into a still gray sky, floating on the breeze towards the distant trees. A large raven sat in the branches, watching them. Jess thought it was a cool sight, so she pointed it out to Sigyn. Sigyn tensed, snapping her head toward the bird - a bit of an overreaction to Jess.

  "Get inside. Now." Sigyn's lips hardly moved as she growled the words, her eyes focused on the bird.

  Once inside, Sigyn locked the door behind them, but the crumbling wood walls were a weak barrier.

  "Is everything okay?" Jess asked.

  Sigyn opened her mouth to answer. Then shut it. Then opened it again. Jess took that to mean 'no.' "Use whatever you can find to block the windows. Hurry!"

  The house was painfully vacant of suitable items. All Jess could do was drape old rags over the windows, while Sigyn pushed over a table to jam against the front door. Outside, a symphony of ravens loomed above the roof.

  The two girls cowered at the top of the cellar stages, ready to duck at any moment.

  "You don't have to answer," Jess whispered. "But is this...like, a phobia thing? With birds?"

  Sigyn put a finger to her lips. The crows had stopped, now replaced with the crunch of boots in the snow. The front stairs snapped and creaked as someone came closer. They pushed against the blocked door.

  A woman's commanding voice announced something in a language Jess couldn't recognize. On the other hand, Sigyn understood the warning loud and clear: You think you're safe in there, Ransdottr?

  Though ignorant of the true danger, Jess knew something was wrong. The air dropped at least 10 degrees. She pulled the zipper of her jacket up as far as it could go. Crackling ice reached through the gaps in the wood, starting around the door and expanding across the home, like cold spiderwebs. Jess had never seen ice form so fast.

  She scrolled through her contacts to call her sister. "Elizabeth!" she whispered. "We need help! I'm with Sigyn, and I think there's someone outside...We're in a cabin a little off the northern trail, up the mountain-"

  Sigyn snatched her phone and ended the call.

  "Hey! What the-"

  "You can't call anyone," she said.

  "We need help!"

  "No - you need to find the backdoor and get as far away as you can. Once you're out, keep running downhill until you find a lake. Cross it, find the road, and it'll take you back to the lodge."

  "Then I'll send help for you!"

  "No!" Sigyn awkwardly laughed it off. "Don't worry about me."

  "Look, I get you might be worried about the police, but if you're in danger-"

  Without warning, Sigyn shoved Jess' head below the floorboards. Moments later, all of the front windows shattered.

  Spikes of ice pierced the brittle wood walls. Sigyn had avoided them by centimeters as she stepped outside. She kept her face emotionless and her eyes still while secretly counting the number of Vorer surrounding her and brainstorming how in Helheim she was going to fight so many at once and walk away.

  The Vorer's leader, ?sa, stood in the center, a tall woman clad in leather and ice. Her outfit did nothing to protect from the cold or a blade - she didn't need it to. Glittering crystals of ice pinned her white hair back to keep away from her face as it blew in the wind. Her eyes were just as white. Unlike Sigyn, she hadn't bothered blending in with the humans.

  She wore a smug smile that Sigyn wanted nothing more than to smack off her face, but now was not the time to act rash.

  "Quite the abode," ?sa said. "Good to see you've upgraded your living quarters, Sigyn."

  Sigyn kept her arms crossed, refusing to acknowledge any spark of provocation. "This is overkill. I already left - I am not going back. You needn't chase me across the realms."

  "I don't need to, but nothing gives me greater pleasure. Your father wants to see you. You left without saying goodbye."

  "He can die mad about it."

  With a nod of ?sa's head, the Vorer tightened their circle around Sigyn, cornering her against the house.

  Sigyn wanted to glance over her shoulder to make sure Jess had gotten to safety, but to be distracted at this moment was to be dead. "You always did let your goons do all the dirty work for you." She sized up each one of the Vorer. They weren't physically intimidating. Frost jotuns fought with speed, not strength.

  "It doesn't have to happen bloody," ?sa chided. "You could bear a morsel of maturity for once in your life and surrender."

  Sigyn smirked. Her fingers flexed in anticipation. "Where's the fun in that?"

  ?sa made a fist, and a blade of ice elongated into a wickedly sharp spear. Ice weapons formed in the hands of all the Vorer, spears, swords, and even shields.

  Before anyone could make the first move, a thunderous roar quivered the tree branches. ?sa flinched when the silver knife of a mountain jotun nicked her shoulder. Sigyn spread her arms and leaped into the air, changing into a large golden eagle. One of the jotuns threw a spike of ice, slicing through her wing and sending her crashing back to Earth. She changed back into human form, knowing the last way out of this was to fight.

  The world exploded in a cloud of ice and powder.