I stared across the living room at Muninn. "Where'd your better half go?" I asked, squinting suspiciously at the raven perched on the back of my recliner. The avian intruder cocked its head to the side, blinking its black eyes. "C'mon, I know you can talk, so talk. Where'd Huginn go?" I demanded. Still it just blinked at me. "Look, if Odin gets back and discovers I lost his birdie friend, I'm gonna be so screwed."

The damn bird just lifted its wing and began preening. Finally, it looked at me. "Delivering a message," it squawked.

"A message?" I repeated incredulously. "To who?"

"Whom," the pedantic glorified crow corrected. "And it is none of your business."

"Uh, I'm bird sitting. For the Norse god of gods, no less. So yeah, I'd say it's my business," I snapped through my teeth.

Munnin spread his wings and flew across the room. "To your girlfriend's house. To inform her of your infidelity."

"My... Rebecca's house?" I swallowed, reaching for my phone to call her. Hopefully she'd believe me over some ancient black carrier pigeon.

"So," Odin boomed from the entranceway, his great form on the porch turning morning to dusk. "How did they do?" he asked, eyeing me with his gleaming blue eye. I clenched my jaw as Huginn and Munnin flew to his massive shoulders, staring down at me.

"Next time you go outta town unexpectedly, have someone else watch them. Maybe Fenrir would like a snack." With that, I swung the front door shut in his almighty face.