The Hammer of Thor

Onboard the plane, Sam prepares to fly to Alfheim—realm of the elves. Her flight instructor starts to give safety tips but is possessed by Otis’s assassin. The assassin tells Magnus to come to Jotunheim after Blitz is healed for information on how to stop Loki, adding that he must bring Alex because “SHE IS NOW YOUR ONLY HOPE FOR SUCCESS” (157).

As Sam flies, she and Magnus talk via headset about their next steps. Sam is nervous about bringing Alex, but Magnus thinks they need to give her a chance. Sam is landing the plane in Boston, but Magnus, Hearth, and Blitz are jumping out at Alfheim. Magnus explains to Amir, who doesn’t quite understand, and then the plane just disappears, leaving Magnus, Hearth, and Blitz to free-fall into Alfheim.

Magnus falls, screaming, until they arrive in Alfheim, where his descent slows so he lands gently. Alfheim is the brightest place Magnus has ever been, and Hearth gives him dark glasses so he can see. They walk down a road past fancy mansions that belong to the middle class, the air smelling like “baked hibiscus and crisp dollar bills” (166).

Hearth and Magnus head for Hearth’s childhood home, and Magnus remembers Hearth’s difficult past being shunned for his deafness. On the way, they’re stopped by two elf police officers who got a call about loiterers. The officers insult Magnus’s Boston accent and are otherwise nasty until they realize who Hearth is. The cops are clearly afraid of Hearth’s father and offer to drive Hearth and Magnus to Hearth’s house so they “won’t be our problem anymore” (170).

Hearth’s home makes Magnus’s family mansion look like a middle-class house. After retrieving Blitz from the trunk of the cop car, Hearth and Magnus head up the front walk, where a servant named Inge meets them, overjoyed to see Hearth. The cops order her to fetch Hearth’s father, and as she goes, Magnus notices she has a cow tail. The cops explain she’s a second-class hulder and that, if she hides her tail, they’d arrest her on “charges of impersonating a proper elf” (173).

Mr. Alderman, Hearth’s father, arrives, identifies Magnus as Frey’s son, and welcomes Hearth by sizing him up. The cops are suddenly nice to Magnus, who sees through their act. When the cops leave, Mr. Alderman brings the group inside, commenting that Blitz’s stone state is an improvement. Hearth signs angrily, and his father orders, “none of that ridiculous hand-waving” (176).

Mr. Alderman’s home is beyond opulent, complete with a gleaming white marble floor and rare artifacts displayed beneath glass, one of which is the Skofnung Stone. Over drinks served by a flustered Inge, Mr. Alderman reveals that fresh running water will return Blitz to life but refuses to hand over the stone because doing so would “serve me no purpose” (181). He also reports that after Hearth left home years ago, his mother died, and Mr. Alderman blames her death on Hearth’s absence: After Hearth left, there were rumors about him spending time with questionable characters and studying rune magic, and his mother was so preoccupied and concerned that she distractedly crossed a street and didn’t see the oncoming traffic. Upon learning this, Hearth is overcome with grief and drops his goblet; he had no idea of his mother’s death.

Magnus makes a deal with Mr. Alderman: In exchange for the stone, Magnus will use his status as Frey’s son to bolster Mr. Alderman’s reputation, and Hearth will atone for past grievances. Appeased, Mr. Alderman storms from the room, tossing down his goblet with a flourish “as if he couldn’t allow Hearthstone to have the most impressive spill” (184).

Hearth’s room is an unwelcoming space. Whiteboards line the walls, some displaying rules and others awards or charges for assigned successes or failures. The floor is covered with the headless body of a beast that has a few gold coins sprinkled across it. When Hearth was eight and his brother was seven, they were playing near a well in their yard, and an evil spirit living in the well assumed the form of a beast and attacked Hearth’s brother. Hearth’s back was turned, and he didn’t notice what was happening until it was too late. Mr. Alderman killed the beast and made it into a rug for Hearth’s room. The payment system on the white boards shows how Hearth may earn gold coins to cover the beast, and he’ll only be forgiven for his brother’s death when “not a single hair can be seen” of the beast-rug (189).

Magnus is enraged by what Hearth went through. He wants to cheat, but the payment terms won’t allow it. The only way they could cover the rug before Sam’s wedding in four days is to rob the Careful One, a dwarf living in Alfheim with a hoard of gold. Inge knows how to find the dwarf and is willing to tell Magnus and Hearth “if you don’t mind a fairly high chance that you’ll die” (191).