“The Seal of Solomon,” Sebastian said. We sat around Mike’s table – me, Sebastian, Thruor, Kanesha and Monica. No Clara – she was at a coven meeting.

I nodded. “That would…”

“If we could find somebody who knew the spell, they could bind Tyz’vel for a very long time. And a rabbi would be the most likely.”

I nodded again. “Does anyone know any?”

Was I going to have to search the city?

Monica raised a hand. “I have a good friend who’s Jewish. I could start by talking to her. She’s mentioned kabalism in my presence.”
Which as that was what we were looking for. I let Monica see my smile. She wanted to be useful. If it helped her to feel useful, then good. If she actually was? That was much better. I didn’t…no.

I wasn’t going to coddle her, fake anything, or show disrespect of her decision to forgo chemotherapy. She’d put it pretty straight – she could have two or three months before she got really bad symptoms, then maybe another one or two in the hospital. Or she could have six or even twelve of misery.

I rather thought I’d have made the same choice. So, no coddling. I glanced speculatively at Thruor.

I could almost see a cloud starting to settle around Monica. “Okay.”

She smiled, weakly. “I’ll call her tomorrow.”

The prospect of getting rid of Tyz’vel was…well…it cheered me up no end. “Okay. So, we actually have a plan. Now I just have to dodge fire giants.”

Thruor made a face. “Need me to beat some up for you?”

“Nah. I think I’ll just ignore them for now. Surtur’s going to be the hard nut to crack.”

I was already on the right track. She’d almost implied I’d made the choice I needed to – but I was completely mystified as to what it was.

Oh well. Norns weren’t supposed to make sense, especially the top three. The tip she’d given me had been more plain English than I expected.

Maybe she just wanted Tyz’vel dealt with for some reason of her own. Something he might do if he wasn’t.

Thruor nodded. “Surtur may never give up.”

Which brought me back to killing him. And, given what I’d learned, making it look like an accident. “Well, I’ll deal with him. Somehow.”

“Just be careful.”

“If dragging me back to his cave by my hair would get him what he wanted, he’d have tried it…”

Thruor grinned. “You know that would get him…well…that might start Ragnarok in an entirely different way.”

“True.” If he tried to kidnap me, Loki and Odin might just make up their differences for long enough to rescue me.

“So he knows better. He wants to be able to say you chose him.”

Which would never happen. It was a standoff. I had no clue how to break it.