Taking a deep breath of relief, she let her eyes adjust.
Until they went deeper into the cave…
When Dom saw Stavros, sitting in a chair with chains around his ankles and wrists, she almost passed out, but Harvey was there to keep her steady.
“Papa!”she cried, racing across the craggy surface so he could see her.
“Toula?”he whispered.
In that moment, she was grateful he didn’t know where he was, or whoshewas, for that matter.She prayed he’d forget this whole mess.
Brushing his thick hair from his face, she nodded.“Yes, Papa.I’m here now.Everything’s going to be fine,” she soothed, checking every inch of his form to be sure he wasn’t hurt.
“I’m Greer, Stavros.Let me help you,” the witch offered in a gentle tone.He did the same for Stavros’s chains as he had Thor’s, breaking them with ease, brushing away the dust.
“We need to get him out of here,” Harvey said, scooping him up in his arms, turning to head out of the cave, when a booming voice rang out.
“Ah, if it isn’t Thor’s bastard son.”
Dom gasped.Now that was just mean.She whirled around to face whoever belonged to the voice, to tell him what an assface he was—but when she did, her heart stopped in her chest.
Sweet frankfurters and beans, he was ugly, from his granite-block head to his gaping mouth full of overly large, crooked teeth and a body like a brick wall.There was nothing that could save him from how frightening he appeared.
He looked like someone had piled boulders, one after another, on top of each other to make a person.Rather like the way one would make a snowman.
Except he was no Frosty.
But Dom wouldn’t be thwarted by some big, ugly oaf with tombstones for teeth.She lifted MC high above her head, preparing to zap this goon from here to eternity.
“Move out of my way!”she ordered, feeling ever so small next to this beast.
But he just laughed in her face, deep and gravelly.“Andwhowill make me?You?A warrior the size of a frail bird?”
Harvey handed Stavros to Greer, standing in front of Dom, his stance wide, the way he stood when he was training next to her with Bard, and looked up at this monster.“Let us pass, Og.You have nothing to threaten us with.You’ll never get your hands on Mjölnir.”
Out of nowhere, laughter escaped Dom’s lips, bubbled right up and out of her mouth like a popped champagne bottle.“Og?”she said in disbelief.Your name isOg?”She had to bend at the waist to stop her laughter.“Man, if I didn’t think some of these names for you crazy people were hysterical, yours sure takes the cake, buddy.”
Og didn’t much like that.He bent at the waist, too, leaning into her and jamming his face close to hers.“You dare mock me?”he boomed, his breath lifting the sweaty tendrils of hair from her face.
But she held up MC and pointed it at him with a fury she’d never known.“You got that right, you ugly jerk!This is the fragile bird making fun of you.Back away, or I’ll knock you to kingdom come!”
Og lifted his colossal paw, taking a swipe at Greer as he snatched her grandfather from his hands before she could even blink, then backed out of the cave.“Give me Mjölnir, or I promise to all that bear witness, I will drop this bag of dusty bones off the cliff!”
Tears sprang to her eyes, fear clawed at her gut as he dangled her struggling grandfather over the edge of the cliff.Stavros would never survive a fall like that.They were at least a few hundred feet up.
But Dom swallowed hard, strengthening her stance.“Let my grandfather go or I’ll rip your head off!”
Og dangled her grandfather as if he were nothing more than a ragdoll, letting him hang in the air, swaying to and fro.
Stavros’s eyes found hers, terrified but determined as he squirmed in the giant’s grip.“Let him do it, Shish kabob!Don’t give up the hammer!Save the people—save the world!”
His words caught her completely off guard.Of all the times for clarity to rear its head.Somehow, he understood what had been happening all around him all this time…and he was willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good.
Anger, hot and spiky, slithered up her spine.There was nothing she hated more than feeling helpless, but this was her papa.Her mind struggled to find a way out.A bargaining chip—something to stop him from letting her papa go.
“You would kill a man when you can’t even wield the hammer’s power?”
Og laughed as though she were some silly girl with crazy notions.“Leave the hammer with me and let me decipher the rest.Drop it, weakling.Drop it at my feet!”
