Page 18 of Competing Against Thor

"Your frog is great, I loved the lilypad you made for him to sit on."

My heart skipped a beat at the compliment, even if I wasn't completely enamoured with my own creation. "Thank you. I liked your heron too."

He smiled. "It could have been better, the work on the feathers is sloppy..."

"In six hours, it was excellent," I countered. "I'd normally spend more like six days on a sculpture like that."

"Mmm, fair."

"Which makes you wonder why I thought this would be a good idea," I muttered. I took a sip of my coffee, enjoying the boost it gave me even if it didn't do anything to relieve the worry building within me.

"Because you normally take six days on a sculpture?"

"Exactly. None of what I've made here is actually sellable."

"So see it as practice," he said. "You're thinking on your feet, trying new things, and working with new methods. It's all part of the learning process."

"That's easy for you to say, you've probably been doing this for a few centuries."

"Try a decade," he responded.

"Oh."

"Not what you expected me to say?" he asked.

"Well, no. You're Thor. Or you say you're Thor."

To my surprise, he laughed in response to my expression of doubt, even though it wasn't really real. He'd done enough to prove to me that hewasThor. "You still don't believe me?"

"I do," I assured him. "It's just such a surreal thing to get my head around."

"Well, that's me." He shrugged. "And as for sculpting, I got into it about ten years ago. Now blacksmithing, that's a wholeother story. If this was a forging competition then it wouldn't be fair."

"Something tells me that you wouldn't enter a forging competition." I wasn't sure how I was so certain of that, but I was. There was no way Thor would do something underhanded like that.

"I wouldn't. Unless it was against other gods."

"I bet that show would have ratings through the roof." I'd certainly watch it, and I knew Danny would be tuned in constantly, and probably looking up all the contestants online as he did.

Thor laughed. "Oh, definitely. You should pitch it to Mel next time she comes through here."

"Yeah, because I'm ever going to have a conversation with one of the Muses," I responded. "They're the epitome of beauty, grace, and all that, and I'm..." I waved my hand down myself, trying not to feel too self-conscious while I was wearing old-washed-out jeans and a shirt that had several burn marks on.

Thor looked me up and down, making my body heat more than it should.

"You've got nothing to worry about when it comes to the Muses," he murmured.

I let out a small noise that was very unlike me, but impossible to avoid doing in the circumstances. There was no doubt in my mind that Thor was hot, and here he was acting like he found me more attractive than women whose lives had been dedicated to beauty. Maybe it wasn't the fact that he was Thor that I found surreal, but the fact that he was Thorandwanted to talk to me.

The bell that told us all that filming was about to start went off, and I cursed inwardly at the bad timing.

"Let's go find out what the judges have said." I gestured towards the staging area, trying not to sound too disappointed that our time to chat with one another was already over.

The four sculptures had been brought back into the room, and it was a good chance to look at them properly. I hadn't really seen any of them apart from Thor's heron, and I already knew that one was stiff competition.

Carlos' sculpture caught my attention almost immediately. I wasn't sure how he'd done it, but it almost looked as if the duck was really swimming across the metal and fishing for food. I wouldn't be surprised if it was enough to win himJudge's Choice.

"I hope you're all ready for the judging," Rosie said brightly, not in the slightest bit aware of how tense this situation was for those of us competing. "The judges said that it was a difficult round to judge, with some of the best work they've seen from you all so far."