"It is wonderful to see you again, Lu," I said as we walked up white stone steps towards an upper terrace.

Head turned towards me, he gave me a close-mouthed smile as he inclined his head. "Any way I can be of assistance, Shannon. Was the jade statue to your liking?"

"Indeed. It has a place of honour in the gardens of my Vancouver home, next to a pool and fountains that Aidan particularly likes to play in," I replied as I reached the top step.

"I am greatly disturbed that your son has been threatened in this manner," Lu said, shaking his head with his brows lowering.

Han, Cao, and Lan had already arrived, and together with Lu, would be joining us on the journey to steal the warhead and travel to the gate. The nuclear warhead. Nerves fluttered in my belly at the thought of handling a weapon that deadly, that frightening. It was probably a good thing Loki hadn't warned me ahead of time. The words 'are you insane' had definitely floated through my thoughts numerous times in the hour since he'd dropped that bomb on me.

I winced. Damn. Speaking of poor word choices. Forcing myself to pay attention, I blinked when Lu walked to the pond with cattails and marsh grass and spoke to several white cranes with black tail feathers and long black necks.

"Would you please fly us to Xi'an?" Lu asked.

"Only the four of you today? What about the strangers?" cawed the crane.

"Just the Xian. The strangers have their own abilities," confirmed Lu.

"Good fishing at Xi'an. Yes, we'll take you," agreed the crane.

"Just as the Valkyrie have their flying steeds, the Eight Immortals have their cranes," Loki murmured, stroking his hand down my back.

"They're riding those birds? They must be stronger than they seem," asked Elatha, standing at my other side.

It made me wish he and Loki could communicate telepathically. Why hadn't Loki finalized the soulmate bond with Elatha yet? He'd had the opportunity last night and this morning. Why would he wait when we needed every advantage within Helheim? Yet, it was a decision he needed to make with Elatha... and it certainly seemed to me that Elatha was willing.

"Yes, the birds must be magically strong," I said to both of my consorts, suddenly realizing they were waiting for my reply.

Each of the immortals stood by a crane, then threw a leg over the spindly white birds. Two flew into the air, Lu and Han astride them. Loki shifted into a midnight black raven, feathers gleaming as he rose to join them, while I wrapped cloud and air around Elatha and me, lifting us into the air. Cao and Lan mounted the other two cranes, then flew behind us as we followed Lu and Han.

Leaving the misty-topped mountain and shining white temple, we flew over sparkling blue waters as the late afternoon sun glinted off the wave tops.

Almost an hour later, fields, factories, and roads came into sight on a flat plane. I was disappointed to see so little natural vegetation, but as we flew further, snow-covered mountains and some forests came into sight. It lightened my heart, and I wished we had more time for me to explore these unfamiliar slopes.

We crossed a second mountain range, then followed a river valley that meandered between wide mountains on its northern and southern sides.

"Loki, is this the Wei River Valley in Shaanxi Province?" I asked.

"Yes. It's winter still, as you can see by the snow. The sun will be setting in an hour and we'll be penetrating the military installation west of Xi'an when the darkness will help with our stealth."

"This is a crazy idea. You know that, right? A nuclear bomb?"

"Not the whole bomb. Just the important parts," Loki replied.

"Nuts. Completely bonkers. I'm glad you didn't tell me earlier. It's freaking me out just thinking about it."

"You're scowling," Elada murmured into my ear, his arms wrapped around me. "What are you thinking about?"

"The wisdom of stealing a fucking nuclear bomb," I replied, shivering despite his warmth against me.

"I'm not entirely sure I know what that is, other than it has you sending considerable anxiety down the bond," he said, rubbing his hands over my back and shifting to telepathy.

"I'm sorry. Here..." I sent him some specific mental images of mushroom clouds, nuclear test film I'd seen, and images of victims after the bombs had been used. Stomach churning, I sensed his shock.

"That's... that's... humans really created such awful weapons? And used them on each other? Elada mentioned something fifteen, sixteen years ago... I guess that'd be seventy-five or eighty years ago here... when there was a war involving many human nations. But his descriptions... they weren't as horrific as what you just showed me." His arms tightened around me. "I understand now why the Shen were concerned about us stealing one. Surely Loki wouldn't take chances with such a dangerous item."

Gods. I hoped not. "We're already in the river valley where the gate is, so we don't have to take it far, at least. The sooner we can hand it off to Hela, the better."

Elatha's arms didn't loosen as his hands soothed over my back. "Agreed."

Leading us to a nearby mountain southeast of the urbanized area I assumed to be Xi'an, Lu and Han stopped amongst the gnarled and twisted pine trees. I landed with Elatha, and Loki shifted to himself as he swooped to drop beside me. A few metres away, Cao and Lan set down with their cranes.

"We will not help you steal the weapon, but will observe from outside the facility, then accompany you to Diyu's gate," Lu said, meeting my gaze.

Inclining my head in acknowledgment, I turned to Loki and Elatha. "How are we going to do this?"

"I will put an illusion on Elatha and I to make us invisible," said Loki.

The question in his eyes had me nodding my head. "Yes, I can make myself unseen," I agreed.

"I'll teleport us through whatever doors, walls, or fences we need to get past. Since the base is beside the river, if we get the warhead to the water, can you move that weight through the water, Elatha?" asked Loki.

"How much mass are we talking about?"

Loki thought about it for a minute. "About two hundred and seventy two kilograms for a one megaton nuclear warhead."

"One megaton?" Elatha brows drew down, lines forming on his forehead.

"Five petajoules, or approximately the amount of heat required to raise one point two cubic kilometres of water from zero degrees celsius to one degree celsius," Loki said, waving his hand to indicate his approximation.

"Huh... okay. Yes, that amount of mass is not an issue," Elatha confirmed, slowly nodding.

"Where exactly is the facility?" I asked as I looked down at the valley.

Loki turned and pointed through the sparse trees at a gated complex at the bottom of the mountain, beside the river. Although the sun had set, still I made out razor wire fencing surrounded the installation with a series of large cement buildings. Each one had massive metal doors that opened on the end.

Now that I knew what I was looking at, my mouth gaped. "Do they have mobile missile launchers in there?"

"Yes. It's one of those we are going to steal. Nice and portable for us," replied Loki. He eyed me, then Elatha. "Are you ready?"

Nerves fluttered in my belly, but I inclined my head. As did Elatha. Loki took hold of each of us, and while he and Elatha faded to a watery outline to my sight and invisible to others, I still felt them. Manipulating the air around me, I also disappeared, unable to create selective illusions the way Loki could. A few seconds later, our surroundings changed with a dizzying lurch as Loki teleported us into the complex.

Another disorienting shift and we were inside one of the buildings. Maintaining physical contact, we crept towards the large silhouettes. Elatha scuffed a pebble. My heart jolted, an electric zap of fear lighting up my senses, and I quickly muffled the sound.

"Sorry," he murmured.

"Good thing Scota taught me some of her tricks," I teased, trying to keep my breathing calm.

"None of the missiles loaded into these launchers are nuclear. Look for a secondary cement bunker," Loki murmured to both of us.

With his hand on Elatha's neck, he was able to use his regular telepathy. Again, it made me wonder why he hadn't simply finalized the soulmate bond.

"Over there, in the northwest corner," Elatha said.

Guards walked past, within a few metres of us, and I ensured even the sound of our breathing was muffled as we continued onward. Sweat broke out on my palms. Reaching the thick cement walls, heavy metal door complete with card reader and optical scanner, Loki released us and took a moment to put his hand on the wall, eyes closed. He had to be astral projecting into the space to see if it was what we needed.

"Yes, they are stored in here," he said, opening his eyes and reaching for us.

In the next minute, we were inside dark cement walls with grey missiles sporting a red star stored on heavy metal racks.

"Put your hand on it. I'm going to teleport us right to the river," Loki said as he held the missile at one end.

Elatha gripped the other end, and I grabbed the middle. "I've got it," I told Loki, knowing he couldn't see me.

With a dizzying lurch, we were suddenly in icy cold water up to our waists only a metre away from the shore of the Wei river. Water swirled around the missile, holding it, and I released it into Elatha's power as I allowed myself to be visible again.

"Where is the gate from here, Loki?" I whispered.

Loki turned to the east, down the river, and pointed at the mountain next to where we'd landed. "There. We follow the river, take the tributary up into the mountain, and the gate is near the dam."

Lifting Loki in the water with me and wrapping fog around us, we started moving down the river as Elatha towed the missile in front of us. Behind us, I muddled the water's movements to disguise our position in the darkness of the moonless night. We passed the far end of the military complex, leaving the massive bunkers upriver as we continued to travel downstream.

Grasses on the wide riverbanks and reeds in the water rustled in the light breezes. Muddy with its heavy silt load, the water moved sluggishly as I disguised our ripples. Too late in the year for the mating sounds of insects or amphibians, the drone of cars on the distant highway to Xi'an carried on the cool night air.

Ahead of Elatha, an odd wake in the water moved upstream towards us. Perhaps a large carp? I squinted in the dark to get a better look.

"What is that in the water in front of you?" I asked Elatha.

He leaned forward. "I don't..."

A massive sinuous shape rose out of the water, with two more rising behind, as a white crane carrying a slender man in bright robes landed on the shore. Even in the dark, I saw Cao's head tilted at an arrogant angle and his wide, triumphant sneer.