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Chapter 51
"Crystal, just drop it, please. There's no reason to go insane over this. Mrs. Johns made one innocent statement. She's old and reaching her end, so give her gr—"
"You don't know her like me and Nicole." I cut him off before he could finish the excuse. "She's the worst when it comes to keeping secrets. Her husband has been dead for a while now. Do I need to connect the dots to who she spoke to?"
I brought my report up as I gave it to him—concerning the deceased Mr. Johns. He'd been gone since after we got back. Going on nine years.
So what happened close to two years ago—before everything started blowing up—only pointed to my horrible ex.
"That bastard couldn't? He gave me the authority and everything?" he snapped.
I shook my head, my headache growing at the thought of Nicole being right for so long.
"Not him, dear," I said flatly. "The unlikable saint who refused to let Chaos win. Tyr is still unaccounted for, besides a dying Odin statement."
I'd gone over that statement more times than I wanted to admit.
"And the God King—or whatever he called it—still fails to register on any footage. Just darkness."
I bit my nail, replaying the footage again on instinct—
—and my door burst open.
Nicole stood there like she ran all the way here. No heels. Hair off. Eyes crazed.
"Where's your phone?"
Her eyes dashed to it—charging on the corner of my table. The way she moved told me everything.
I made a mad dash too.
I reached it half a step first. She tried to claw my hand down to drop it.
I flicked it out of her reach, smirking at her naivety—until the screen caught my eye.
Mass texts.
Emails.
Across news sites and explorers.
My smirk died.
I paused—and she swiped it out of the air.
I caught a glance of Baldur reentering the room as he rushed to block me off, which only fed the suspicion boiling in my chest.
"Give it here."
I punched Nicole in the shoulder.
She ignored me. Rolled with the hit, tossed the phone out the room, and slammed her body into the doorway like a barricade.
"We can't let you leave," she begged. "You'll do something crazy—something worse than an unstable Crow. I understand your relationship could be called tense, but please… just don't. Not today. For me."
Tears welled before I could stop them.
I looked between both of them, and my mind replayed Nicole inviting us to her home for Christmas a week ago—before all the meetings, before everything had to be taken serious.
It had been the only balance I could find. My advisor on life.
And now she was barricading a door like I was a weapon.
My chest crumbled.
I tried to hold back—
—and Baldur caught me, like he was afraid I'd slip into madness.
Alexis POV
"We come here today not to mourn, but to celebrate the life—and the end—of Tiamat, the Mother of Monsters."
The words came from the front, steady and old with authority.
The Giver.
"The longest surviving patient of Stage Five Astral Poisoning… three years past her expected death."
I glanced around the room where even the rowdiest of American Travelers had gathered in suits—or whatever they could find that wasn't battle gear.
I sat between Crow and Lily, with Thomas and Amber covering the ends.
"Although she is human like me," the Giver continued, "she has single-handedly kept the King of American Explorers under her table of manners."
His voice didn't crack. Mine would've.
"Where many would call her a monster for producing Odin… and his two hellspawn siblings—Agni the Destroyer and Tasey the chaos engine."
The room held it. No one interrupted. No one laughed.
"She is the main funder of the programs that assist non-astrals within the country living under Baldur's sphere of influence. The schools and auctions send royalties she declines—and offers for the schools to reuse—as long as the proof is sent of work. Success or failure, neither matter. Only the effort to try."
Crow's eyes stayed shut like he'd chosen to retreat inward.
Lily was crying buckets. I patted her shoulder gently, like my hand could do anything.
"So I ask you, as a fellow member of her generation—take her example forward. The world is changing fast. New enemies are coming. Where she lit the torch of unity among those you call leaders in America today, we aim to push that forward and help one another."
The Giver's voice sharpened.
"Her child gave approval for the researchers to tear into his books to advance the future. So let us not mourn in sadness—let us take her story forward as a benchmark."
I swallowed hard.
With my mom not visible, I knew she was hiding her own breakdown behind a barrier like usual.
Like a gut punch hit her after finally gathering the strength to sit down with her before we went to her home for Christmas two weeks ago.
Alexis POV
"You may place your flowers before we lower her," the Giver commanded.
Authority over her burial—down to placing her grave within the private grounds of Travelers who die in the line of duty.
I watched from the side after placing mine with Crow and Lily—us the first people the uncles allowed to step forward—before the line of neighbors and close friends in the community began their own.
"Ha," I muttered.
Crow's eyes had deepened in that way they only did when he was doing something he wasn't supposed to.
"Whatever you're thinking, Crow—drop it now," I warned. "Or I'll start an issue with you first."
His eyes landed on me like I'd struck a fresh reverse scale.
"I couldn't even if I wanted to," he said under his breath. "He's all but said I can't touch the realm of souls without turning myself into dust in exchange. Even gave me a tongue-lashing for trying to command authority where the Kings can't even shake the One's rules."
I looked up in confusion—then terror at what kind of deal he'd tried to strike.
"Who is the One?" I asked.
Crow's stare went cold. He didn't answer.
I refocused on the line—and felt it.
White hair littered with rings. Gems larger than anything anyone was wearing.
Crimson eyes glanced over once, then a finger lifted in a shush motion.
I looked immediately to Crow's uncles watching him as well—still, controlled, unmoving.
I focused on Tam—the one I'd misidentified him as—because Tam was grinning like it was a challenge.
The second the stranger placed his flowers—
—the world paused.
Guards drew weapons. Baldur and Hugin moved in from the side.
"I don't recall inviting a man of your description to this gathering," Baldur said. "Place yourself into shows of family."
"If I say no?" the man replied.
My father moved to grab his shoulder.
His hand passed straight through.
Black flames licked out—then forced themselves back inside him.
"I told you it was most likely goodbye," the man said softly. "I am the architect of the endings and beginnings. Not the master of the afterlife."
He lifted his hand.
"Yet you shall enter the next life accompanied by your lifelong partner again. That's the only deal I could make."
He vanished into black embers that burned atop the casket.
"Her rest shall not be disturbed."
The flames ate the metal frame.
The casket fell.
Silence followed.
Even my father stared at his own hand like it had betrayed him.
Alexis POV
After the funeral, my mom and Aunt Nicole met in private.
The remaining Johns brothers were already securing their mother's home.
Standard protocol.
Even the funeral itself had been closed—Traveler and close associates only.
A headline like Odin's mother has passed would've been a nuke.
"Lily has the pendant, so I won't ask her for it," I said. "But I remember what was inside."
A pitch-black skull lined in gold.
A darker black sun.
A tilted crown cutting through it.
"So whoever gave it to Mrs. Johns—it isn't Tyr."
Nicole's head snapped up.
"That's not his," she said sharply. "Tyr was my husband. That imagery is wrong."
Silence.
"And you," my mom said, turning to me. "You're the only one who claims to have seen him clearly. Have you met this Ten before?"
I swallowed.
"I didn't want to ruin the surprise," I admitted. "But I have a patron."
She broke.
Tears. A hug. Relief.
Then research mode.
"What's it like?" she demanded. "Core cracking? Names? Requirements?"
I told them about the academy field.
The trees.
The bow.
"Actually… it's better if I show you."
I drew.
Sunlight formed.
The arrow bent—danced—then struck the center of the O in STOP.
Giver POV
"Hello, Grandfather of Travelers."
Sophie stirred.
The voice came from behind me—where there was only a wall.
I poured two cups.
My hands shook.
"That's my label," I said. "And I can't retire… since you took the heart of my crown jewel."
"You wanted my head once," he said calmly.
"I did."
The wine warmed my hands.
Warmed my body.
"Healing," not liquor.
"You understand loss now?" I asked. "Watching your daughter follow another man?"
"Oh my little cosmic fuck up," he replied. "Madness."
"She lived untamed," I said. "Like her mother."
"The Missing Era," I accused.
He nodded.
"I closed it. Left scars. Ended cycles."
My body grew heavy.
"You let Tiamat pass," I said. "But not the grandfather."
"They must stand first," he replied. "Then I build."
Sleep took me.
I woke to shouting.
A black gourd sat beside two cups.
Proof.