Chapter Twelve

Max was leaning against the balcony, shuffling his feet anxiously, as Cousin Maggie, Ash and Ex closely studied the stitching on a medieval dress. He’d enjoyed their first few minutes in the museum, but then the sight of all the old costumes and weapons on display brought back terrifying memories to him: the Vikings, the World Serpent and, of course, Loki.

He wondered where Arthur and that other girl had gotten to. No matter how frightened or wary he’d felt over the past months, having Arthur or his sister nearby always put him at ease. He knew he was safe around them. But now Arthur was suddenly missing.

‘Where’s Arthur?’ he asked out loud, his voice reverberating around the quiet museum.

He looked over the balcony into the main exhibition hall. There were lots of people down there, tourists and families milling around and gazing with fascination at the artefacts. Cousin Maggie and Ash joined him at the rail and peered over. No sign of Arthur or Ellie anywhere.

‘Oh, I’m sure they’ve just gone exploring,’ Maggie said, then turned back to the medieval mannequins. ‘Something wrong, Ex?’ The boy’s eyes were wide, staring straight over their heads at the ceiling. Cousin Maggie, Ash and Max followed his gaze.

Through the glass they could just about make out some shadowy figures moving about. People in black were walking along the roof, stepping over the rafters and supports that held the glass in place, but taking care not to stand on the glass itself. It was difficult to say how many there were, but there were enough to disrupt the faint January light that had been coming through.

‘Who on earth is that?’ Cousin Maggie muttered, her eyes fixed on the ceiling, but no one answered her as they all stared upwards. The people around them noticed their staring and looked up. Soon everyone on the balcony and the floor below was watching the glass and exclaiming to each other.

A shiver ran up Max’s spine and he had a strong feeling that whatever was going on wasn’t good. No, he thought. No, not again. Arthur. Where was Arthur? Max had just made up his mind to go in search of him when one of the figures on the roof placed something the size and shape of a tennis ball on the centre of a pane of glass. Everyone watched as each figure placed their own dark ball on each of the panes.

‘What do you think those are?’ Ash managed to ask, the dread in her voice clear to her companions.

‘Get down,’ Ex said.

‘What?’

‘I said get down!’ With that, he shoved them to the floor. ‘Cover your heads!’ This time nobody questioned him and they all did as he ordered, covering themselves with their coats. Ex did likewise, ducking down next to them and wrapping his thick, muscular arms over his head.

And just in time too, as a series of small explosions burst through the ceiling. They heard the sound of glass smashing, disintegrating to smithereens, followed by the security alarms blaring. They could feel shards of glass showering down onto their hunched backs, almost like rain. Cousin Maggie whimpered next to Max, and the shrieks and terrified screams of other visitors filled the air. As the noise subsided, Ash, desperate to see what was happening, took a chance and raised her head, peering over the edge of the balcony.

Slivers of glass coated the lower floor, twinkling where the remaining light reflected off them. It would have been a beautiful sight if not for the sounds that accompanied it: the screeching alarm, the screams and clattering as people ran for the exits, some of them bleeding from cuts caused by the falling shards. She looked up at the ceiling. The glass was totally gone now, blown out by whatever explosives the figures had used. And she could see the dark figures more clearly now. They were all dressed from neck to toe in fitted black Lycra overalls with black gloves on their hands. Motorcycle helmets covered their heads, perfect dome shapes that shone like ebony. As she watched, they each pulled a metallic cord from their belts and attached them to the rafters with a carabiner clip. The other end was still attached to them and, before she knew it, they were dropping into the museum, the cord extending from their belts as they abseiled to the ground with a whoosh. And, Ash saw with alarm, they each had a crossbow strapped to their backs. The figures dropped past the balcony, descending to the floor below.

The others joined Ash at the edge of the balcony now, peeking over carefully. Cousin Maggie gasped as the figures in black – both male and female from their shapes – unhooked the cords from their belts and aimed their crossbows at the people cowering below who hadn’t managed to make it out. The attackers didn’t shout any commands at the frightened people, probably because they wouldn’t be heard through their thick helmets, Ash assumed. Nevertheless, the people understood what they wanted them to do and all moved together in one group to the centre of the hall, shaking with terror. More of the figures came in through the door from the anteroom, leading other terrified visitors and museum workers from the souvenir shop. They shut the huge wooden doors with a bang that echoed throughout the hall.

One of the figures grabbed a security guard by the collar of his jacket. His hat fell off as the black figure shoved him through a side door marked Staff Only. Seconds later, the alarm stopped. The sound continued to ring in their ears for a second, but then all they could hear were the whimpers of the people held captive.

Ash looked around for a way out. At the corner, past the row of medieval mannequins, she spotted an emergency exit. She tapped the others, put her finger to her lips then pointed at the door. They all nodded in agreement, apart from Max. He was shaking, his eyes squeezed shut, and whimpering, ‘No, no, not again’ over and over. Ash squeezed his shoulder lightly to get his attention. He looked at her, tears glistening in his eyes, then nodded. With that, they all carefully shuffled across the upper balcony, keeping their heads low in case anyone on the ground floor spotted them.

Ash could feel her heart beating a mile a minute and hear the blood pumping in her ears as she approached the door. Nearly there, she thought. If we get out, we can get help. She put her hand on the aluminium bar and pushed hard. It swung open but, rather than freedom, she found herself facing the pointy end of a crossbow bolt.

Will smiled. ‘I thought I saw you coming in here,’ he said. ‘Who was that girl I passed a few minutes ago, Arthur? Did you find my replacement so soon?’

A burst of green vapour enveloped him. When it dissipated, he had transformed into Loki. He was wearing a long black coat with black suit legs peering out from underneath and highly polished shoes. The ball that Arthur had been holding disappeared in a puff of smoke. The alarm shut off and the last ring echoed around the exhibits.

‘What are you doing here, Loki?’

‘Oh, Arthur,’ he said menacingly, taking a step forward. ‘I can’t tell you that. It would spoil the surprise.’ Suddenly, he shot his right hand out against the nearest display unit. His fist crashed through the glass. When Loki withdrew it, clutching a longsword tightly, blood was seeping from cuts on his knuckles and shards of glass stuck out of his skin. He looked at his hand, as if surprised to see blood on it. There was a flash of green light. When it cleared, Arthur saw that the hand was completely healed.

Loki turned back to Arthur. The sword was badly rusted but, by the looks of it, it could still do some damage if wielded correctly. He swung it over his head in a fluid demonstration of strength and skill, all the while grinning.

‘I never was much of a swordsman,’ he said, examining the blade. ‘But that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy using one. Back in Asgard, before Odin banished me, I would amuse myself by skinning cats. I’d disguise myself as a mouse, trick them into chasing me, then lead them right into my trap.’ As he spoke, he sauntered towards Arthur, swinging the sword lazily by his side. ‘Then I’d take them back to my hall and hold them down. I’d start by slicing from here …’ he pointed the tip of the blade towards Arthur’s throat and traced a line down to his waist, ‘to here. Then I’d start to peel away the skin … at this point, the cat would be in unimaginable pain and making a terrible racket, but I’d just keep going … it was fascinating the way the blade slid so easily into the flesh … it would be so tender, so fragile … I’d try to take my time, go verrrry care-
fully …’ Watching Loki, Arthur could see the madness in his eyes. ‘But then I’d make a total mess of it! I always did – I was just too impatient. So I’d just start chopping …’ he swung the sword down, ‘and chopping …’ he swung the blade again frenziedly, ‘and chopping. Until the cat was completely unrecognisable. Just a piece of meat.’

Arthur shivered – he couldn’t help it – but he hoped Loki hadn’t noticed his apprehension.

‘Now,’ Loki went on, ‘I’ve never tried to skin a boy before. But I’m sure the principle is the same.’

Arthur pulled the pendant from his shirt and let it fall on his chest. Loki recoiled a little at the sight of it.

‘If you try to touch me, I’ll use this,’ Arthur said. ‘And we both know how much it can hurt you.’

Loki lowered the sword by his side once more and looked down at the floor. He shuffled his feet, turning slowly away from Arthur.

‘You’re right,’ he admitted eventually, still staring at the ground. ‘But you’ve forgotten one thing, Arthur.’

‘Oh, yeah? What’s that?’

Loki swivelled sharply around on one foot and faced Arthur again, grinning. ‘I’m a god.’

With that, every sword and axe on display crashed through their glass cabinets. They hung in the air momentarily then turned their blades gradually towards Arthur.

Arthur had no time to think, as every weapon in the room flew straight for his forehead, and only a split second to react. He threw himself to the side just in time, feeling a gentle movement in the air next to his ear as a blade flew past, narrowly missing him. He landed on his hip with a painful crash and cried out in agony. He watched as most of the weapons thunked into the wood-panelled wall behind where he’d been standing. The ones that didn’t just shattered on impact.

He turned back to see that one of the large glass cabinets just above his head, which was filled with Viking coins and medals, was rocking crazily back and forth. It teetered before the front two legs finally snapped and the cabinet fell slowly forward.

Arthur rolled sideways as fast as he could. The cabinet crashed to the ground. Glass smashed and precious Viking artefacts clattered out. Arthur sat up groggily and pushed himself back against a wall for support, at the same time looking round frantically, trying to locate the god. But as he did so, a Viking shield hanging on the wall above him, which had been set swaying dangerously by the vibrations caused by the impact of the cabinet, fell from its fixing and hit him on the crown of the head, sending him tumbling into unconsciousness.

Ellie turned when she heard the crash of the display unit from the Viking Room behind her. She briefly considered going back to investigate but didn’t want to risk getting caught.

When she’d left the room a few minutes previously, she’d been on her way back to her brother. Just in time, she spotted the figures on the roof and ducked back inside the entrance to the gallery. And now, just moments later, the museum was in total chaos. The glass ceiling had been blown out and some raiders dressed all in black had abseiled in. A young couple on her side of the balcony crouched behind a large map of excavation sites in Ireland, just out of sight of one of the raiders standing sentry on the balcony. He held his crossbow across his chest, poised and ready. She followed the couple’s lead and hunkered down behind another exhibit, peering carefully around the edge of the cabinet to watch what was going on.

A few of the raiders had herded all the frightened people on the ground floor into the centre, crossbows armed and aimed at them. The rest were looting the place. They smashed the glass cabinets open with the blunt ends of their crossbows and filled black sacks with the more valuable contents. They gleefully ran from exhibit to exhibit, pilfering everything in sight, grabbing chalices, jewellery, illustrated manuscripts, weaponry and more.

While the raiders busied themselves, Ellie pulled her mobile phone out of her coat pocket and looked at the screen. No Service, it read in bold black text.

A lot of help you are, she thought bitterly, dropping the phone back in her pocket. More than likely someone had heard the alarm outside and the Gardaí had been notified already. But Ellie didn’t want to take that chance, and the alarm had been shut off so quickly she was sure the raiders probably would have been able to spin the Gardaí a yarn about a malfunction. She needed to get word to the outside world as quickly as possible. And if she could somehow scare off the raiders, all the better.

Then she spotted the perfect solution. The only problem being that it was at the far end of the upper balcony, past the hiding couple and the sentry …

The raider at the emergency exit stepped towards Ash, keeping his crossbow aimed directly at the space between her eyes. Ash, Max, Cousin Maggie and Ex all took a step back. The raider nodded his helmeted head towards the corner. The four of them understood instantly and crouched down on the ground where he’d indicated, their backs against the wall. He gestured with the crossbow and they understood again, putting their hands up.

‘Why are you doing this?’ Cousin Maggie asked.

There was no response from the raider. All they could see was their reflections in the polarised helmet glass – a distorted view of them all sitting in the corner, terrified.

‘Let the children go,’ pleaded Maggie. ‘Just let them out the emergency exit.’

Still no answer.

‘Please!’ Maggie said, growing desperate now.

The raider simply kept his crossbow aimed at them. From the ground floor, they heard the smashing of glass as the others broke into the cases.

Max leaned closer to his sister and, in a trembling voice, whispered, ‘Ash, do you think it’s something to do with–’

The raider grunted behind his helmet and thrust the crossbow pointedly at Max.

‘Yes, Max,’ Ash said, looking defiantly at the raider, ‘I do.’

Ellie inched on her hands and knees along the wall towards the young, cowering couple. The wall was to her immediate left, a row of glass-enclosed exhibits to her right and, just beyond that, the balcony rail. The sentry was standing at the rail so the exhibits were between him and Ellie as she scuttled along.

The couple saw her coming and she could see the fear in their eyes as they very subtly shook their heads at her, afraid that any large movement would attract the sentry’s attention. Ellie understood their fear. They didn’t want her making noise and getting them caught. But she had to reach the end of this row of exhibits. It was her only chance of alerting the Gardaí and saving everyone. So she kept on crawling.

When she reached the couple, the man grabbed her arm.

‘Stop moving,’ he whispered, ‘or you’ll get us killed!’

She shook his hand off. ‘Let me pass,’ she hissed back angrily. There wasn’t much space between the main wall and exhibits and the couple were in her way.

The woman shook her head. ‘Hold on to her, Seán,’ she said to her boyfriend.

Ellie craned her neck and peered through the display unit to her right. The sentry was just beyond it, overseeing the entire hall, with his back to her. He still hadn’t noticed them, but if she was forced to step over the couple he just might. Still, those helmets probably made it pretty difficult to hear, she reasoned. She turned back to the couple furiously.

‘If you don’t let me through, I’ll scream,’ she threatened.

‘You wouldn’t!’ the man whispered, hoping to call her bluff.

‘Oh, wouldn’t I?’ With that, she took as deep a breath as her lungs could manage. But before she could let the scream out, the woman clamped her hand over her mouth.

‘OK, OK!’ she conceded. ‘Please, just be quiet!’ The couple pushed themselves against the wall, making just enough space for Ellie to squeeze through. She looked towards her destination. Not far now.

She continued to crawl as quickly and silently as she could. She finally reached the end of the row of exhibits. Here the balcony turned off to the right, where it ran along the entire length of the main hall. She glanced down the length of the balcony and gasped in shock. In the opposite corner, huddled on the ground under a raider’s crossbow, were Ex and the others. Her brother was staring up at the raider with resentment while the others were too afraid to look away. She’d have to help them. But first she had to complete phase one of her plan.

A little red box was fixed to the wall across from her. It had a piece of glass in it that said break in case of emergency. A fire alarm. If she set it off, it was sure to get the attention of the Gardaí. And, if they were lucky, it might spook the raiders enough to send them running. The only problem was that she’d have to step out of her hiding place to set it off.

She looked back the way she had come. The sentry was standing stock-still, keeping an eye on the main hall. The couple were watching her intently, their eyes pleading with her not to do anything stupid. She’d have to be quick about it, she knew. There was no other way. She took her phone out of her pocket then slipped her shoes off. They had a tendency to make a lot of noise on tiled floors and she didn’t want to risk it. Finally, she counted in her head to ten.

She stood, taking care not to make a sound, and tip-toed from her hiding place. As she crept towards the fire alarm, she glanced over her shoulder. The sentry behind her was still watching the goings-on down below. Each step seemed to take forever, but eventually she reached the alarm. With one last glance at the sentry, she positioned the end of her phone on the small glass panel and pushed hard. The glass cracked abruptly and an alarm rang through the museum for the second time in a few minutes.

As soon as the second alarm started, a number of things happened very quickly. The sentry behind Ellie turned and immediately pointed his bow at her. The cowering couple threw themselves to the floor, hands over their heads. The sentry guarding Ash and the others turned to see what was happening. Meanwhile, Ex looked up to see his little sister standing by a broken fire-alarm panel, a mobile phone in her hand and a sentry with his crossbow advancing on her. Ellie was motionless with fear. Ex looked up at the man guarding them. The raider’s attention was also – momentarily – focused on Ellie. Taking his chance, Ex sprang into action and threw himself at the man, hitting him with his full body weight in the chest. The raider fell backwards with Ex on top of him, knocking his head against the parapet, while his crossbow flew out of his hand and skittered across the floor and over the edge of the balcony. Before the stunned raider could recover, Ex was on his feet and racing towards Ellie. As his feet pounded the wooden floor, he barely slowed to pick up a folding metal chair that a security guard would usually sit on.

‘Get down!’ Ex shouted to Ellie, sprinting as fast as his legs could carry him – which was, much to Ash’s surprise as she watched from their corner, quite fast indeed.

The sentry had heard the commotion with Ex and turned towards him. He aimed the crossbow and let a bolt loose. Ex threw up the chair like a shield just as quickly and the bolt bounced off it with a clang. By now, all of Ex’s attention was focused on getting to Ellie.

‘Get down!’ he shouted again. This time she listened, snapping out of her trance, and slid back behind the relative safety of the glass cabinets.

The sentry kept Ex in his sight as he dashed along the balcony, cranking another bolt into the crossbow. Judging that he wouldn’t be able to break through Ex’s makeshift armour, he aimed a few feet above the boy and loosed his arrow. The glass in a painting smashed overhead and rained down on top of Ex, but the boy kept on going.

He turned the corner, his feet pounding as he passed Ellie and the couple crouched behind the exhibits. The sentry was busily cranking another bolt when Ex lunged forward with the metal chair, whacking the raider straight on the side of the head. The raider’s head snapped to the side and he toppled to the ground, unconscious.

‘Come on!’ Ex urged the three hiding behind the display units. The four of them ran back across the balcony towards Cousin Maggie, Ash, Max and the other raider, who was still lying stunned on the floor.

By now they could hear footsteps clattering up the stairs: more raiders with more crossbows. Ash, Maggie and Max were all standing by the doorway as the first new raider rounded the corner.

‘Go, go, go!’ Ellie shouted, urgently waving everyone out.

They all raced through the door and slammed it behind them before anyone could release another bolt. In front of them was a flight of stairs that led to the lower floor and they started down.

‘Wait!’ Ash cried after the first couple of steps. ‘Arthur! We have to go back and find Arthur!’

‘No time!’ Ex yelled. ‘Just go!’

Ash tried to force her way back up the stairs but with everyone pushing in the opposite direction it was impossible.

‘Arthur!’ she screamed at the top of her lungs back up the stairwell as she was swept along by the others. ‘Arthur!’

Loki was in a gallery adjacent to the Viking Room when the fire alarm went off.

That wasn’t part of the plan, he thought to himself, going to see what was happening. He walked through the wreckage of Viking artefacts and looked out at the commotion on the balcony. He saw the large boy run across and save the little girl. And he saw Ash and Max.

‘I should have known,’ he muttered to himself. ‘The gang’s all here, interfering in my plans as usual.’

He went back through the room, kicking aside glass and rubble and priceless artefacts nonchalantly. He looked down at the still-unconscious Arthur, the pendant glowing brightly on his chest, still protecting the boy.

‘That’s my cue to leave, Arthur,’ he said, even though he knew the boy couldn’t hear him. ‘I’m sure I’ll see you soon. And when I do, you’ll breathe your last breath.’

He turned and walked back out of the room. On the balcony Ash and Max and the others were gone and one sentry was helping another to his feet.

‘Time to go!’ Loki shouted, his voice spreading further than should have been possible. All over the museum, the raiders tied the ends of their black sacks and prepared to leave.

Arthur’s eyes fluttered open. There was a ringing in his ears. No – not in his ears. There was a ringing everywhere. An alarm was going off. Time for school, he thought, but then realised he was lying somewhere uncomfortable and wasn’t at home in bed.

He sat up, confused. Then he saw the Viking shield on the floor next to him and it all came flooding back.

‘Loki!’ he exclaimed to himself. He looked around and spotted the Trickster God on the balcony overlooking the main hall. He was wearing a long green coat now, like something a soldier would wear. As he watched, the god turned and strode down the main staircase.

Arthur pushed himself to his feet with all the strength he could muster. As he stood upright, his head spun and he stumbled backwards. He paused for a second, regaining his balance, his hand braced against the wall beside him. When he felt better, he walked carefully through the carnage Loki had left in the Viking Room. Glass and debris covered every surface.

The balcony area was empty and Arthur, as he looked down on to the room below, could see innocent bystanders evacuating the building through the main entrance below. He spotted Loki escaping in the other direction, through a Staff Only door, his green coat billowing behind him. Arthur ran down the stairs and headed for the door. As he passed through it, he noticed that the security keypad on the wall had been disabled by some kind of blast – a hand-shaped black mark was clear on its surface.

Loki was already halfway down the corridor when Arthur came through the door, striding along behind countless figures in black carrying sacks. There were filing cabinets on both sides of the corridor.

Loki and his gang of raiders turned a corner and Arthur sped up to keep up with them. He wasn’t quite sure what he was planning to do, but he wanted to see what Loki’s next move was going to be. He heard a door slam and rounded the corner to find himself suddenly face to face with the Father of Lies.

The corridor went on further but there was a door here, fitted with fire-safety glass. Loki was standing just beyond it, grinning and waving at Arthur as the raiders ran away behind him. Arthur tried to pull and push the door open but to no avail. It was tightly locked.

Still grinning, Loki mouthed, ‘See you soon,’ and with a last wave he turned and followed his raiders. At the far end of the corridor was another door. One of them pulled it open and daylight streamed in. They stepped outside, bright sunlight swallowing them. Loki went last. And just like that, he was gone.