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she said.
    Baldwin rolled his eyes. “Same difference.”
    “Actually, no,” Matt said. “She means
all
the power is out. The cars have stopped. The batteries are dead. Which isn’t simple electrical failure.”
    He looked out at the road, packed with cars and trucks and people shouting, bickering, crying. It was like something out of a movie. The start of the apocalypse.
    Because that’s exactly what it is.
    His gut clenched.
    “What could cause it?” Baldwin asked.
    “Maybe an electromagnetic pulse?” Ray offered.
    “Sounds good to me,” Baldwin said. “Well, it wouldn’t be
good
…”
    “Does it matter what the technical explanation is?” It was Laurie. The first words she’d said since they started their walk. “It’s Ragnarök. It doesn’t need an explanation.”
    As they continued forward, a figure ran from the darkness, and Matt swung up his shield and Mjölnir but it was just a teenage guy. He raced past, wild-eyed, as if he didn’teven see them. Matt watched him tear down the empty road, running toward more empty road, not going anywhere, just running.
    “Monsters chasing him?” Baldwin whispered.
    “Panic, I think.” Matt wrapped his hand around his amulet and closed his eyes as he tried to pick up the vibration that suggested otherwise. The amulet lay in his hand, cold and still. “No monsters detected.”
    Even as he said it, he felt a tickle at the back of his neck, like a little voice saying
Are you sure?
As they kept walking into the city, he clutched his amulet in his free hand, and listened for real screams or shrieks or any sounds of absolute terror or pain. All he heard were the same shouts of anger and confusion. Which meant no monsters.
    Does it?
    He rubbed the back of his neck.
    Owen fell in step beside him. “Trust your instincts, Matt.”
    Matt looked over.
    Owen gave a slight smile. “I know you wish I’d do more, but you’re handling this just fine. You came to Rapid City for a reason. Now you need to find that reason. Keep following your gut.”
    Matt nodded. He tried to focus on whatever he was feeling, but as soon as he did, that weird tingling vanished. When they reached an intersection, instead of continuingon, he stopped and looked at all three options, mentally searching for a sign. He stepped one way. Then another. They felt exactly the same.
    “As soon as you tell someone to follow his gut, he can’t,” Reyna said to Owen. “At least not if he already overthinks every step and agonizes over his choices.”
    “I do not,” Matt said.
    Ray nodded slowly, as if reluctant to be quite so blunt about it. Matt looked at Baldwin, who said, “Maybe a little, sometimes. But that’s a good thing. Otherwise, you’d be like the myth Thor, thundering into battle and getting us all killed. Well, getting everyone other than me killed.”
    “Matt,” Laurie said, getting his attention.
    He turned to her and she walked over, lowering her voice.
    “You were walking straight, right? So just keep doing that until your amulet buzzes or you really feel like you’re going the wrong way.” She turned to Owen with a mock-stern look. “And advice is good, but it needs to be more concrete than ‘follow your gut.’”
    Owen looked confused, but he murmured something like agreement.
    Matt resumed walking. At some point, he turned—he didn’t even consider his choices, just followed his feet as they went down one street and then another. None of the locals paid any mind, which seemed perfectly rational, given the circumstances… until he realized he was striding down theroad with a wooden shield on his back, a hammer in his hand, and a gang of kids following him.
    He slowed and looked around. They were on a quieter street, narrow and lined with homes. He could hear arguing in one house. At another, a couple of younger kids bickered on their lawn. Matt walked toward them. Behind him, the others stayed on the road, all except Reyna, who dogged his steps, whispering, “What