I expected him to start screaming in pain from the searing hot flames but, it didn't happen. Instead, a faint glow encircled him as if it was protecting him from the fire. I don't think he even noticed it. I breathed a sigh of relief.

He walked through the fire and smacked Surt in the head with the crappy sword. The swirling flames died.

The impact didn't seem to affect him, only surprise him. Surt stared at him for a millisecond before punching Magnus in the gut. He folded like a deck chair, puking out the continents in his stomach.

I cringed. Oooo.​​

Surt paced in front of Magnus, making tsk-tsk sounds instead of killing him straight away.

"Feeble," he said. "A soft little boy. Give me the blade of your own free will, Vanir-spawn. I promise you a quick death."

My eyebrows furrowed. Vanir-spawn...I've heard that before...

When Magnus didn't do anything, Surt kicked him in the ribs and sent him sprawling.

"NO!"

I ran to where he landed and crouched down beside him. He lay flat on his back, with a dazed look. "Magnus?"

It took a second but, his eyes snapped to mine.

"The sword," Surt demanded, his obsidian face looming over us. "It's worth more to me freely surrendered, but if I must, I will pry it from your dead fingers."

In the distance, sirens wailed. At the edge of the bridge, Hearth staggered to his feet. Some pedestrians had started to become conscious. I couldn't spot Mr. Randolph and Blitz anywhere.

I felt a shift next to me, making me look. Magnus was starting to get up. I grabbed his arm and carefully helped him up. "Are you okay?"

But he wasn't looking at me. I followed his gaze and gasped.

Instead of a corroded piece of crap, Magnus held an actual sword. It had a leather-wrapped grip like a lot of other words I've seen. The pommel, a simple polished steel oval, helped counterweight the thirty-inch blade, which was double-edged and rounded at the tip, more for hacking than for stabbing. Down the center of the blade, a wide groove was emblazoned with Viking runes--the same ones Magnus was looking at in Mr. Randolph's office. They simmered in a lighter shade of silver as if they'd been inlaid while the blade was forged. And the weirdest thing was that it was humming as if it was waking up.

Surt stepped back. His lava-red eyes flickered nervously. "You don't know what you have there, boy. You won't live long enough to find out."

He swung his weapon.

I unsheathed one of my daggers to block the blow but, Magnus beat me to it. He spun it in an arc and hacked into Surt's right leg.

The fire giant screamed. The wound in his thigh smoldered, lighting his pants on fire. His blood sizzled and glowed like a path of lava. His fiery blade dissipated.

"How did you--"

Then, before I could finish my question, Magnus leaped forward and slashed his face. With a howl, Surt stumbled back, cupping his hand over his nose.

To my left, someone screamed--the mother with the two kids.

The hearth was trying to get her toddlers out of the stroller, which was now smoking and about to dismember.

"Hearth!" Magnus yelled.

Magnus limped over to his friend, me staying behind to watch over a distracted Surt. "Go! Get the kids out of here!"

I kept my eyes on Surt.

"Leave now," Magnus said, who I assume was the mother. "My friend will help you."

I tilted my head. I don't think he meant it but, he sounded gentle. It also made him more attractive than he cared about their safety.

I looked around. Other innocent people were still stuck on the bridge: drivers trapped in their cars, pedestrians stumbled around in a daze, their clothes steaming, and their skin lobster red. Emergency sirens were closer now, but they couldn't help this.

"Boy!" The Black One sounded like he was gurgling with syrup.

He removed his hands from his face, and I saw why. Magnus had taken off his nose. Molten blood streamed down his cheeks, splattering on the pavement in sizzling droplets. His pants had burned off, leaving him in fire-patterned red boxers.

"I have tolerated you long enough," he gargled.

"I was just about to say the same thing about you." Magnus raised his weird sword. "You want this? Come and get it."

Above me, I saw a girl in armor on a horse made of mist, circling us like a vulture. She had a spear of pure light, and her chainmail shone like silvered glass. She wore a conical steel helmet over a green head wrap. She was beautiful but stern. She was looking at me like, Well? Go on.

Instead of charging, Surt bent down and scooped hot asphalt from the road with his bare obsidian hands. He started molding it. Oh, gods.

I started running to the path between Surt and the person I need to protect. Time slowed, causing the distance to seem longer. My body burned from the heat, making me want to pass out from heatstroke. I kept running. Surt launched his sphere of steaming sludge.

I intercepted it.

The cannonball collided with my chest and started remodeling--burning, searing, destroying.

My breath left me, and I fell back from the force. My vision dimmed dark but, before I lost it completely, I saw Magnus speeding toward me along with the weird gray apparition from above.

I succumbed to the darkness.