CHAPTER 1

MATT

"CONFRONTATION"

Matt walked through the center of Blackwell, gym bag in hand, jacket thrown overhis shoulder. It was dark now, with an icy wind from the north, but the coldfelt good blowing back his sweat-soaked hair. After two hours of boxingpractice, he'd been tempted to take a detour and jump in the Norrström River,even if he had noticed ice on it that morning. Ice in September. Weird. Even inSouth Dakota, winter never came this early.

A muscle spasmed in his leg, and he winced as he stopped to rub it. The upcomingtournament might be for charity—raising money to help tsunami victims inHawaii—but Coach Forde still made Matt work as hard as he would before atitle match.

Matt started walking again, limping slightly. As much as he wished he could callfor a ride, he knew better. He'd made that mistake last winter, when Coach hadsaid a blizzard was coming. He'd gotten his ride—and a lecture on how hisbrothers had never needed one, even when it was storming. He couldn't catch alift with his friends, either—that was worse because it set a bad example.If Sheriff Thorsen's boys weren't safe walking through Blackwell at night, whowas?

Matt was reaching down to rub his leg again when something moved in the townsquare. His head shot up, eyes narrowing. Outside the rec center, two kidsclimbed onto the weathered Viking longship. Shields lined both sides as ifinvisible warriors rowed the old wooden boat, protection always within reach. Acarved dragon arched from the hull.

The kids were probably setting up a prank, trying to beat the one Matt had donewith his friend Cody at Sigrblot, the spring festival. The parade had arrived atthe longship to find it covered in a tarp ... and making honking noises.Underneath the tarp, they'd discovered a flock of geese wearing little Vikinghelmets.

Best prank ever, that's what everyone said. Unfortunately, Matt had topretend he didn't have anything to do with it. If his parents had found out ...well, they wouldn't ground him or anything. He'd just get "the talk." Howdisappointed they were. How embarrassed they were. How much more responsible hisbrothers were. Personally, he'd rather be grounded.

In a few more steps, he saw that one of the kids was a guy with shaggy brownhair that needed cutting and clothes that needed washing. With him was a girl.Her clothes weren't in such rough shape, but her blond hair needed a trim justas badly.

Fen and Laurie Brekke. Great. The cousins were always getting into trouble.Still, Matt told himself they really might just be pulling a prank ... until hesaw Fen wrench at one of the shields.

There were a lot of things Fen could do and Matt would just look away, tellhimself it was none of his business. That wasn't always easy. Being thesheriff's kid meant he'd had lectures about vandalism since he was old enough tocarve his name into a park bench. But this wasn't a park bench. It was an actuallongship—something the people in Blackwell were really proud of. And therewas Fen, yanking on it and kicking at it.

As Matt's temper flared, his amulet flared with it. He reached for the silverpendant. It was in the shape of an upside-down hammer and almost as old as thelongship. Thor's Hammer. Everyone in Matt's family had one. Thorsen wasn't justtheir name. They really were descendants of the Norse god.

As Matt looked at Fen and Laurie again, his amulet burned hotter. He was aboutto yell at them, then he stopped and took deep breaths, sucking in cold air.

He could hear his mother's voice. You need to learn to control it, Matty. Idon't know why you have so much trouble with that. No other Thorsen has thisproblem. Your brothers could handle theirs even when they were younger thanyou.

Controlling his temper—and Thor's Hammer—seemed especially hardaround the Brekkes. It was like the Hammer knew they were related to thetrickster god Loki. The cousins didn't know that, but Matt did, and he couldfeel it when he looked at them.

Matt took another deep breath. Yes, he needed to stop Fen and Laurie, but he hadto be cool about it. Maybe he could just walk past, pretend he didn't noticethem, and they'd see him and take off before they were caught.

Fen spotted him. Matt continued walking, giving them a chance to sneak off.Being fair. His dad would be proud—

Fen turned back to the longship and yanked on the shield again.

"Hey!" Matt called.

He didn't say it too loud, and he tried not to sound too angry. Just lettingthem know he saw them, giving them time to run ...

"Yeah?" Fen turned and stared straight at him, chin up, shoulders back. He wasshorter than Matt. Skinnier, too. The only "big" thing about Fen was hisattitude, which was always getting him into fights with larger guys ... not thathe seemed to mind.

Laurie stepped beside her cousin. Matt couldn't see her expression, but he wassure it matched Fen's. They weren't going to walk away. He'd been stupid tothink they would.

"You shouldn't be doing that." Even as Matt said the words, he wanted to smackhimself. It was exactly the kind of thing everyone expected the sheriff's kid tosay. By tomorrow, everyone at school would have heard Fen and Laurie repeat itwith a twist of their lips and a roll of their eyes.

Matt cleared his throat. "It's an artifact, and it's really important to thetown." Yeah, like that sounded better.

"Really important to your town," Fen said. "Thorsen-town."

"Just ... don't do it, okay?"

"But I want to. And if you want to stop me ..." Fen stepped forward, giving agrin that was all teeth, and for a second, Matt thought he saw—

Matt shook it off. "Look, I'm just asking—"

"The answer's no." Fen jumped out of the ship with a leap that would make anOlympic athlete proud. "So what are you gonna do about that, Thorsen?"

Matt's amulet heated again. He took a deep breath. Cool it. Just coolit.

He remembered something Coach Forde had said during practice. He'd been tryingto teach Matt how to intimidate an opponent. You're a big guy, he'dsaid. Use that.

It was hard for Matt to remember how big he was. At home, he only came up to hisbrothers' shoulders. But he was the tallest kid in eighth grade.

"What am I going to do?" Matt squared his shoulders, flexed, and steppedforward. "Stop you."

Something flashed in Fen's eyes, something cold and hard that made Matthesitate, but only for a second. He finished his step, stopped in front of Fen,and pulled himself up to his full height.

Laurie climbed out of the ship and moved up beside her cousin. She leaned in andwhispered something. Egging him on, Matt was sure.

Fen waved her off. When she hesitated, he said something so low it was almost agrowl. Laurie looked at Matt, then backed into the shadows of the longship.

Fen moved forward. "You think you can fight, just because you've won a few inthe ring? That's not real fighting. I bet you've never thrown a punchwithout gloves on."

"Then your memory sucks, because I'm pretty sure I beat the snot out of you andHunter when you two ganged up on Cody."

Fen gave a short bark of a laugh. "That was what? First grade? I've learned afew things since then, Thorsen."

Matt took another step. He was sure Fen would back down. He had to. Taking onMatt was crazy. He hadn't just "won a few in the...