Astyr was getting ready for the Homecoming dance at Gwen's house Friday afternoon. The game had been played in the early afternoon and the Vikings had won by a very slim margin; Hakon was good but without Gunnar to catch his passes it was hard to carry the team to victory. He had been forced to run the ball himself twice to keep the team ahead but the spectators had loved every minute of it.

Gwen was almost glowing with pride that her date was the undisputed most popular boy in school at the moment. Gwen was even being nice to Astyr; despite the fact that Astyr rode home with Hakon every afternoon, it was common knowledge that Astyr was very involved with Randy. He had started taking his helmet off when dropping her off to give her a kiss and since he stopped by the student parking lot, they were seen by a large number of the students.

Even Hakon had seen them kissing. He wasn't thrilled about it but when he had tried to bring it up on the way home Monday afternoon, Astyr had politely reminded him that it wasn't his business; Hakon was her friend and he should be happy for her. He politely reminded her that it was his job to look out for her and that as her friend; he would be there for her when the human let her down. She rolled her eyes and thanked him for the support. Their relationship had been a little strained the rest of the week. Hakon seemed to be trying to keep her in his sights at all times and Astyr was feeling annoyed at his lack of faith in her judgment.

When Hakon arrived at Gwen's house to pick them up, he was obliged to come in and have pictures taken with Gwen by her parents. Gwen was beaming in a strapless red dress that fit snugly until it flared out to swirl just above her knees. Her shoulder-length light brown hair was piled up on top of her head and she had a shiny red clip pinned in it for decoration. She checked her lipstick in the mirror before every shot and clung tightly to Hakon's arm while he kept a forced smile plastered on his face. Astyr had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing out loud as she stayed safely off to the side during the photo session.

Astyr was also wearing a short strapless dress but it was in a soft pale blue color that brought out the blue in her silvery-blue eyes. It was cut in an empire waistline and there was a layer of chiffon over the soft silk that made the dress seem to float over her body. Where the waistline was cinched in was a band of light blue crystals and she had on a pair of long crystal earrings that matched. Instead of piling her hair up like the rest of the girls on the cheer squad were doing, she had opted to pull her pale blonde hair back into a sleek low pony-tail that wouldn't get in the way when she put her helmet on to go home with Randy later. She wasn't wearing as much make-up as Gwen; she had added only a sweep of shimmer over her eye lids and slick of pink lip gloss because she really didn't need much.

When Gwen's parents finally let them go, Hakon carried Astyr's bag out and dumped it into the trunk before coming and holding open the passenger door for the girls. Astyr climbed into the back to let Gwen have some quality time with her date and Hakon drove a little too fast making the short three block trip even shorter. Randy had promised to meet her inside so Astyr went in ahead of Hakon and Gwen. Gwen had pretended to need to fix the strap on her high-heeled shoes so that her entrance with the football captain wouldn't be spoiled by having Astyr along with them. Astyr didn't mind and was actually glad to be able to find her date without having Hakon glued to her side.

It didn't take Astyr long to spot Randy. He was leaning against the wall away from the other kids who were throwing suspicious glances his way. Most of them knew he was Astyr's boyfriend but seeing him outside on his massive motorcycle made him seem normal size. Seeing him inside standing among the high school students in the dim light of the decorated gym showed exactly how big he really was. He was wearing black pants and a black button-down shirt with a heavy black leather jacket over it and he was easily the size of two of the boys giving him wary looks.

She walked over to him and put her hands on his chest and leaned closer for a kiss. She loved the warm softness of his lips against hers and when he put his hands on her waist and pulled her closer, she gave a soft laugh. "You'd better cut that out before we get kicked out of here." She said to him as she pushed back against his chest to put a very little distance between them. "Let them kick us out," he answered in an amused growl, "I can think of better places to be with you right now." The deep grumble of his voice sent a wave of heat coursing through her body and she was glad for a moment that she wasn't alone with him. He caught the look on her face and knew what she was feeling. He laughed again and pulled her out onto the makeshift dance floor. The song was a popular one and everyone was jumping up and down and bumping into each other. Randy kept his hands on her waist and stayed close and the loud thudding of the bass and the press of so many bodies were making her feel giddy.

After a few more songs, the D.J. put on a slow tune and all the couples turned to each other and were swaying gently. Randy bent his head down and asked her if she was having a good time. "Yeah, I am." She said. "I've never been to a dance before." He squeezed her tighter and said, "I'm glad I got to be the one to bring you, then." She snuggled close to him and said, "Me, too."

They finished the song and were going to keep dancing but they were interrupted by Gwen insisting on being introduced. Hakon was standing behind Gwen and glaring at Randy as Astyr introduced Gwen as her friend and head cheerleader and Hakon as her friend. Hakon frowned and grabbed Randy's hand in a crushing grip. Randy seemed to understand that this was a battle of wills and he squeezed back just as hard and kept his eyes locked on Hakon's. Gwen started to get nervous and made a lame joke about them fighting over her but Astyr was really worried. After several long moments, Hakon dropped his hand and grabbed Astyr's arm and started to push her towards the door.

"What do you think you're doing? Hakon!" she said. "Let me go!" She tried to twist her arm out of his grip but he held on tighter. "I'll tell you in the car. We have to go, now."

Randy and Gwen were both following them and Gwen was protesting loudly, causing a large number of kids to turn to see what was going on. Hakon was walking very fast despite Astyr's attempts to break free and go back to Randy and Gwen was having a hard time keeping up but Randy reached them easily and pulled Hakon back by his shoulder. "What do you think you're doing with my girlfriend?" Randy said menacingly right in Hakon's face. "Yeah, Hakon." Astyr added, "I'm here with Randy and you're supposed to be with Gwen. Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"I can't leave you here with him, Astyr." Hakon said in a low voice. "He's a liar and you're not safe with him."

That caused Astyr to stop trying to pull her arm out of his grasp. "What do you mean he's a liar? I don't remember telling you anything that Randy has ever said to me. And I don't know how you could decide he's lying when you two didn't even talk." She looked from one tall boy to the other waiting for them to explain to her what was going on between them. Gwen took this opportunity to butt in and she grabbed Hakon's other arm with two hands and pulled him down towards her. "Hakon, this is embarrassing." She hissed at him. "You came here with me and you are not leaving me here alone to run off with that pathetic little orphan girl!"

Three pairs of eyes turned to Gwen at once; one pair full of hurt and two filled with rage. Randy growled and took one step in Gwen's direction but Astyr reached out and pulled him back. Hakon, however, had let go of Astyr and grabbed Gwen instead. He pulled her roughly out of the door and off to the gazebo where nobody could see them. Astyr followed hoping to keep Hakon from hurting her even though she felt like giving Gwen a couple of good hard kicks herself, but when she caught up, Hakon was doing nothing other than holding Gwen in front of him and staring into her eyes. He said nothing to her and Astyr waited for something to happen. But after several moments, Gwen just turned and walked past Astyr back into the gym without saying another word.

"What just happened?" Astyr asked him. "What did you do?"

Hakon just shrugged a bit and mumbled something about teaching her some manners. He was already over Gwen and was ready to finish what they had started before she had interrupted. There weren't any kids out in the courtyard to overhear them so Hakon walked up to Randy and pushed him hard in the chest back into the wooden support that held up the gazebo. Astyr screamed at him to stop it but he ignored her. "Did Randy forget to tell you that he isn't human, Astyr?"

Astyr stopped and stared at Randy in confusion. "What do you mean, Hakon?" she asked in a quiet voice. "How do you know he's not?"

Randy turned to Astyr with a look of pain on his face. "He knows I'm Aesir because I'm blocking my mind from him and because I'm just as strong as he is." Astyr just stared at him in confusion. "I thought you knew, Astyr. I never tried to hide it from you; would a human have been able to catch up with you when you were running?"

Hakon snorted at that, "That's hardly being open and honest, Randy."

Astyr jumped in to defend her boyfriend. "Hakon, just because he didn't come right out and tell me doesn't mean he's got an ulterior motive."

Hakon sighed before answering, "Astyr, in our world there are two kinds of people, those with your father, and those against him. If Randy was on our side, he would have told you right away."

Astyr took a step back away from the two of them. The last month had been full of changes and surprises and information that she could have waited to find out but the idea that Randy had only been getting close to her in order to hurt her or the father that she didn't even know was just one thing too many. She carefully kept her face blank and looked Randy in the eyes. She stopped trying to block him out and stared into his honey-colored brown eyes. She felt her heart breaking as she gazed into the golden flecks of his iris. He was blocking her out. She dropped her gaze and took another step away.

Hakon backed away from Randy, too and when he and Astyr were at the other entrance to the gazebo he grabbed her arm and they turned and walked away to the parking lot leaving Randy alone.

When they were inside the car and pulling out of the parking lot Hakon told Astyr to call Grima and tell her what had happened. As she was dialing, he pulled out his own cell phone and called his father.

"Father, it's Hakon. The boy Astyr has been seeing is Aesir and he's not one of us. I'm bringing her to our house and Grima will be coming later." He listened for a moment and then hung up the phone.

Astyr had finished talking to Grima and she turned to see Hakon's face. "What's going on?" she asked him in a tired way. She was tired of all the surprises and drama. A month ago her biggest problem had been fitting in at another new school, now she couldn't even begin to figure out who and what the nature of her problems were.

"I'm really sorry, Astyr." Hakon said to her. He reached out to her and took her hand. "I know you really liked him, and I could kill him for hurting you, but if he didn't mean you any harm, he would have told you who he was and offered to protect you. The fact that he didn't proves he was up to something. You're going to come and stay with us for now so we can keep you safe and we're going to find out who Randy is working with."

"How?" It was all Astyr could think of to ask.

"First, Grima is going to go to his house and see what she can find out about him." He answered. "Once we have an idea of what his plans were, we'll know what to do."

"What are you going to do about my caseworker?" she asked pragmatically. "I can't just go and live anywhere I feel like. I'm still a ward of the state."

"Don't worry about it." He told her. "Grima will come and stay with us, too, and she'll take care of the paperwork."

Since it seemed that Hakon would have an answer for everything, Astyr just stared out the window at the passing blackness the rest of the way to his house. When they parked in the garage, Hakon grabbed her bag out of the trunk and led her into the house. Gerda was sitting at the small dining table in the kitchen with Frey and Gunnar and she rose as Astyr entered and came to her and hugged her tightly. "I'm so sorry, Astyr." Gerda said to her. "Those people shouldn't try using you like that, but I promise you that we'll keep you safe here." Astyr mumbled a thanks to her but it hurt to hear Randy referred to as 'those people'. Just an hour ago he was one of the nicer things in her life; he was a friend and she couldn't believe that he had been trying to hurt her. This had to have been a mistake. She decided to wait and find out what Grima might discover before giving up on him for good. She took a seat at the table with the rest of the family and settled in to wait for Grima as Hakon and his parents went over what had happened at the dance in detail.

Just as he got to the end of the scene in the gazebo, Astyr's cell phone rang. She saw that it was Grima calling and quickly answered the call. "Hello Astyr," Grima said quickly, "Are you with the Falkors now?" Astyr told her that she was and Grima asked her to give the phone to Frey. He listened for several long minutes and then told Grima that he would come right away to help and then he disconnected before handing the phone back to Astyr. He said he would explain everything when they came back and then took Hakon and left.

Gerda took Astyr upstairs to show her which room would now be hers and Gunnar came with them carrying her bag. They entered the game room and instead of turning right towards Gunnar's room, they turned left to the door opposite. Gerda let Astyr enter first and she came into a large room with three French doors in the wall facing her that led out to the balcony overlooking the pool. The walls were covered in a dark blue silk and the heavy wooden furniture was painted white. There was a high, carved wood, king-size bed centered against the wall opposite the French doors and there was a pale blue duvet that matched the Queen Anne style bench at the end of the bed. Right in front of Astyr against the wall was a white desk with a padded wooden chair in front of it and on the other side of the bed against the far wall was a large dresser with six wide drawers and a mirror above it that almost reached the ceiling. There were big side tables on each side of the bed that matched both the bed and dresser and there were blue and white Chinese style ceramic lamps on each. The French doors were covered with dark blue velvet curtains which were tied back to expose the gauzy white lace underneath. Gunnar put her bag on top of the dresser and showed her to the small hallway that was on the other side of the bed from the entrance. There were three doors and the one on the left led into a large walk-in closet, and the one on the right to an enormous marble bathroom. "That door goes to a back stairwell and it will also take you straight to Grima's room if you need her." Gunnar told her.

Astyr thanked them both for showing her the room and they all went back downstairs to wait for Frey and Hakon and Grima. They sat at the dining table again and Gunnar started telling Astyr of the plans for his birthday ceremony while Gerda got up to make some tea. Astyr had just finished her cup when Hakon came in carrying two large bags that seemed to contain most of Astyr's clothes. He dropped them on the floor near the door and sat down with them. "Dad and Grima are going to take a little more time." He told them. "They're getting the rest of Grima's things out of the house so they can fire it."

Astyr's lower jaw dropped open in shock. "Why are they going to burn down her house?" she asked in a voice rising in alarm.

"Grima went to Randy's house and found his father sitting dead in his chair." Astyr and Gunnar both gasped in horror. "His throat was slit open. But that's not why they're burning her house. Randy's father was Hati Hrothvitnisson." Gerda was the one to gasp in horror this time and she grabbed the edge of the table to steady herself. She looked at Astyr quickly and then turned back to Hakon. "Do you mean that Astyr's Randy is Randulf Hrothvitnisson?" Astyr turned to Hakon in confusion and waited to hear his answer.

"Yes, he is." Hakon answered briefly. "We're sure it wasn't Randy that killed his father. He only rides that motorcycle and there were tire tracks from a big car over the last of the motorcycle tracks. Whoever did it didn't care about hiding what he did; he might have even been trying to frame Randy for it."

Astyr jumped in at that, "Of course Randy didn't kill his father! How could you even think that?"

Gerda reached over and patted Astyr's hand to calm her down. "We don't think that, dear, really. Please don't get upset. It's just that Hati was the grandson of Loki. Loki feels that it was your father's fault that his son Fenrir was imprisoned and Loki's other son was injured in the fight to take Fenrir and later died. It was a terrible tragedy but Loki has never been able to see it reasonably."

Astyr took a deep breath. "Why did Fenrir have to be arrested?" she asked trying to find a way to make some sense of all this.

Hakon answered her, "Loki's children and descendants have a genetic anomaly. Where most Aesir can change forms for only a short time before running out of energy, Loki and his children can change forms and stay in those forms indefinitely. They only use energy during the change and after that their bodies go back to normal no matter what shape they take. Loki's eldest son, Fenrir, liked to take the form of a wolf and he would go around and attack other people's humans. It caused a lot of panic and chaos and Tyr decided that he needed to be caught to put an end to it. Fenrir was really strong no matter what form he was in and the blood he had taken from his victims had strengthened him to a surprising degree. He put up a great fight and attacked everyone who tried to take him in, even his two younger brothers. Your father lost his right hand and Navi lost his life but they eventually managed to pin him down and tie him with chains. He's been imprisoned ever since and Loki has been waiting to get revenge on your father just as long."

"How long ago was this?" Astyr asked.

Gerda gave her the answer this time. "It happened a couple of thousand years after the war ended."

Astyr calculated quickly and was stunned by what she had heard. "Loki's son has been tied up in chains for ten thousand years." She said it as a statement but she was hoping someone would deny it.

"No, he hasn't been tied up." Hakon said quickly. "They built a special prison for him and he's been there for most of the time."

Astyr was still stunned, ten thousand years in jail was a harsh sentence but then again, how many people had he slaughtered when he was on the loose. And maybe he had showed no signs of repentance in all that time. She had no idea what her father was like, but she didn't want to believe that he would be unnecessarily cruel when he didn't need to be. But maybe she was wrong, it's not like she knew anything about him.