Feeling guilty and ashamed, Magnus, Sam, and Hearth bring the petrified Blitz to the Provincetown airport, where Sam calls her flight instructor to pick them up for an emergency flight back to Boston. While they wait, Sam does her noon prayer while Magnus keeps an eye out for threats. Magnus is amazed at Sam’s ability to find peace in the midst of everything that’s happened, and though he’s never believed in a god to pray to, watching her makes him wish he “had Sam’s level of faith in something” (152).

Sam’s flight instructor and betrothed arrive. She hasn’t spoken to Amir since Loki delivered the wedding invitations, and the conversation between them is both tense and caring. Amir wants to understand Sam’s Valkyrie existence and makes her promise to tell him everything. Magnus insists that’s good because it means Amir loves her, which makes Sam feel even more guilty for not telling him because she didn’t want to “infect the one normal part of my life” (155).

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.