Chapter 4

You frowned at the video you saw. It was like a blooper reel. You could clearly see the cuts and the jumps and the overlapping scenes. You looked at Gunilla and saw her smirking triumphantly. A surge of anger went through you and your original (hair color (h/c)) locks turned into a darker shade of red and your eyes turned into a frightening shade of orange.

It wasn't in your nature to be angry at Gunilla that badly but you felt a connection with the new kid, Magnus. Your hallmates noticed your change in demeanor and appearance and their eyes widened. "Meinfretr," Halfborn cursed again while T.J. placed a hand on your arm, trying to calm you down.

A voice spoke in your head. A voice you only heard during moments where you needed help. It was your mother's. "Darling," it said, elegant as always. "Calm down, it will not do you any good to lose your temper,"

You closed your eyes and took a deep breath. When you opened them again, they had turned back to their natural (eye color (e/c)). "I-I'm fine," you told T.J., who was still holding your arm. You smiled at him and turned back to Magnus.

"No," Magnus said. "No, that's not how—Someone edited that. It's like a blooper reel,"

You shot another glare at Gunilla, which she just ignored. You wanted to stand up and hit her in the face but you knew you would get in so much trouble. You had already been placed on cleaning duty last year because you punched Snorri Sturluson. Helgi set down his goblet. "Samirah al-Abbas, explain," he said.

You looked at the valkyrie and saw that she was tugging the edge of her scarf, probably wanting to pull it over her head.

"Magnus Chase died bravely," she said. "He stood alone against Surt."

You gasped and so did many others, including your hallmates. Eric Bloodaxe, roughly 70% of Hotel Valhalla was named 'Eric', stood up. "You say that was Surt," he said. "A fire jotun, certainly, but if you are suggesting it was the Lord of Muspellheim himself-"

"I know what I saw, Erik Bloodaxe. This one"-Sam gestured at him-"saved many lives on that bridge. The video does not show the whole story. Magnus Chase acted like a hero. He deserves to be among the fallen,"

But you knew they would never let it happen; because Magnus didn't die with the sword in his hand. Sure, they looked over that before, but they wouldn't now, simply because Sam is the daughter of Loki.

You were shaken back to reality when you noticed that everything had turned quiet. You looked around to find that you were in the middle of a tense atmosphere. "What happened?" you asked Mallory, who's eyes were flitting between Samirah and the thanes.

"Lord Ottar brought Sam's dad up," she answered, reaching for the emergency shield you always made her bring. You wouldn't blame her; Sam may not like violence but she could throw a mean ax. "Has he not learned anything from the last time?" You hissed and placed your hand on your plate, just in case.

"Samirah," Helgi said, breaking the uncomfortable silence, "we're not seeing any heroism in this boy's death. We see a dwarf and an elf with toy weapons –"

"A dwarf and an elf?" Magnus asked, confused. You sighed and shook your head in sympathy. Of course, Helgi just ignored the poor boy.

"– We see a fire jotun who fell off a bridge and took the boy with him," he continued, "that's an unusual situation, a son of Muspell crossing into Midgard, but it has happened before,"

"Shoot," muttered Lord Crockett... well, I say muttered, but he actually said it loud enough for everyone to hear. "Y'all should've seen the big ol' fire jotun Santa Anna had with him at the Alamo. I tell you –"

"Yes, thank you, Lord Crocket,"

That was the only time you were happy that Helgi talked. If you had to go through one more of Lord Crocket's stories about his expeditions with generals, dragons, and/or giants, you would chuck yourself off the Prudential Building.

"As I was saying," Helgi cleared his throat, "we see very little evidence that Magnus Chase was a worthy choice for Valhalla,"

"My lords," Sam spoke as one might talk to a toddler, "the video is not accurate,"

You nodded in agreement, but it wouldn't have done any different. Instead of being an open-minded manager, like he was supposed to be, Helgi just laughed. "Are you suggesting we shouldn't trust our own eyes?" he boomed.

'Well, you can't even trust that small brain of yours, so probably not' you were tempted to say, but one look from T.J. shut you up.

"I'm suggesting that you hear the story from my point of view. It has always been our tradition to tell of the hero's deeds," Sam said, but a pleading tone was present in her voice. She was trying to save herself from being removed from her occupation as Valkyrie.

Gunilla stood. "Pardon me, my lords, but Samirah is correct. Perhaps we should let the daughter of Loki speak,"

The crowd booed and hissed. Some called, 'No! No!', including Halfborn but Mallory shut him up with a glare. Helgi gestured for silence. "Gunilla, you do your sisterhood credit by defending a fellow Valkyrie, but Loki has always been a master of smooth, honeyed words. Personally, I would rather trust what I see than have it spun for me in some clever explanation,"

Warriors clapped and you glared at Gunilla, who was smiling innocently at you. You wished you could turn into a falcon and rip her to shreds but the punishment wouldn't be worth it.

"Magnus Chase!" Helgi called. "Do you know your parentage?"

"I don't know my father," Magnus admitted and tried to explain the video but Helgi was having none of it.

"Perhaps you have potential we do not recognize," Helgi continued, obviously doing it for formality. "Perhaps you are a son of Odin or Thoror some other noble war god, and your presence brings us honor. We will seek wisdom from the runes,unless the All-Father would intercede?"

The throne remained empty and Helgi called the vala, but before the woman could come forward, the roots of the where the waterfall hit the dark lake, a massive bubble erupted. On the surface of the water were three old women. "The Norns," you whispered in shock.

A/N

Sooooooo. I forgot X. I'll just add him to the next chapter and make up some excuse.