“So, what did you see?” the traffic cop asked.

 

“Saw the truck start to waver, slowed up, realized it was going to jackknife. Lucky we weren’t closer,” I told him.

 

“You definitely were at that. He had a blow out.”

 

I nodded. Not a surprise. That was what caused things like this. But couldn’t I go anywhere…if it wasn’t mystical shenanigans it was mundane ones.

 

Had somebody Chinese cursed me? I was starting to wonder about it. Surtur might have cursed me or got somebody to. Just something to make my life miserable and keep me distracted.

 

But it could just have been a coincidence. Something which happened every day.

 

I couldn’t escape the feeling, though. That wherever I went I would put people in danger. As long as I stayed on Midgaard.

 

But I was not going with that…that…uncouth fire giant. Even if it wasn’t for everything else, he…

 

…annoyed me. I brushed back my hair.

 

“You look annoyed.”

 

“Just the delay.” I let out a breath. “My vacation isn’t going well. Although not as bad as some people’s.”

 

The poor woman with the burned wedding gifts, for example.

 

“It happens. We’ll have one lane clear in about thirty minutes.”

 

Then he went to talk to somebody else. Just a blow out, not the driver’s fault.

 

Nobody’s fault. Unless it was mine. Well, one way or another, this situation would not last forever. I was determined of that.

 

If I had to beat Surtur up, pin him down and extract a promise to leave me alone under pain of final death, I would.

 

That might even work, I mused. Oaths under duress were not binding, but he might respect me enough to make one anyway. And if it was not my task to kill him, he was certainly making it my task to stop him.

 

“Want me to drive?” Kanesha offered.

 

“If you’re up to it.”

 

The delay made for a late lunch. We decided to just grab snacks and go right through to dinner.

 

But I thought about the woman with the wedding presents.

 

And, oddly, about the fact that, by some miracle, nobody had died.