A vacation in Costa Rica was just what Annabella-Natalie Eltiise needed after three years of constantly working. It was very relaxing to finally lie down, not immensely tired, and maybe tan a bit. Annabella's skin was a very bright white from working underground. A bit of vitamin D was just what she needed and wanted. Maybe a massage or two could be scheduled for later.

And suddenly- poof! Her dream vacation- gone! All because the Necromancy Society was a bunch of half wits who didn't know how to read her file, which declared she was on a well deserved vacation. And her shadow bracelets (why the hell was she wearing those on vacation?) pulled her out from that amazing tanning chair and pulled her into the cold, dark, Necromancy Society.

The half witted idiot who called her in was standing outside of one of the interrogating rooms. He held a file containing a few pictures of where they found the strange man. He shivered. It was his first week here, and he was quickly agreeing with his father that working underground was not fun. But the salary was ten times better than Madrid and Topeka.

The woman he called for appeared, and the man thought she looked, well, it was nearly embarrassing to think about it, but very hot. She was wearing a two-piece sky blue swimsuit, which seriously showed her stomach. He felt her eyes on him, and thought he got a girl to like him with his good looks, but no. This was Annabella Natalie Eltiise.

"Your tie is done wrong, and your shirt is untucked. It is supposed to be made out of linen or silk, not cotton. Your shoes are a fake brown leather and not polished. They are to be made from real black leather. Have you read the manual or not?" she spoke sharply. She caught him off guard.

"I only know how to do this type of tie, and I don't have enough money to buy better clothes," he said sheepishly, his cheeks flaming up. How unprofessional.

"That would be a four in hand knot, not a Windsor. On page 37 of the clothing part of the manual it shows you step by step directions to make a Windsor. On page 38, it tells you the Necromancy Society has a clothing department on the fourth floor. I recommend you go there and tell me why you called me here if I'm on vacation?"

Wait a moment… she wasn't on vacation! He checked- oh gods no, he didn't.

"You were the last name on the list, and everybody was on vacation, ma'am."

"So was I! And if you read the manual, you wold know you choose the person with the smallest amount of time left for their vacation to minimize costs. I had thirteen days left, you idiot!"

He was silent. He had not read the manual. The genius girl caught him red handed and pointed out his mistakes. That's why she was an interogattor.

"Well, ma'am, since you're here, can we get started on the interrogation?"

"I'm wearing a swimsuit!"

"Can you do the fancy snap-your-fingers-and-clothes-appear-trick?" he asked. This would be coming out of his paycheck. Might as well ask nicely to minimize the cost. Luckily, the woman snapped her fingers and a black shirt, combat boots, and black skinny jeans appeared on her body. That was good.

"Okay, so what's the deal here?" she asked. He gave her the file and she looked through it.

"What's your name?"

"Hubert Landager."

"Research these circles and send me the file on Norse gods."

"Norse?"

"You know what? I'll finance one of the more advanced courses on identification by clothing for you. Just send me the file and shut up."


Annabella already knew what the circles were called, and had suspicions on who the man was. She knew the clothing was Asgardian not because she took a special course on clothing identification. She knew that because of her friend in the Scandinavian Magical Society, Kjerstin, an investigator in one of its facilities that barely any of the workers in the main divisions knew about. It was a secret lab right behind the offices. Actually, half of the people employed to work as secretaries were members of it. And what was it?

Inter-Realm Affairs. The IRA. Dealing with real Norse gods. Interacting with them. Making sure there wasn't about to be a huge inter-realm war. They knew more about other realms than, as she hated to admit it, Annabella. So she sought out to get an informant. It was her little birdie, Kjerstin. And every now and then, Kjerstin would slip a bit of information to Annabella. One of the last few bits was a picture of the Asgardian court. And near the unmistakable crossing-his-arms Thor stood his brother, Loki. Stuck out like a sore thumb. Lean, not muscular. A bit taller than average. Colors of sorcery, not strength. Hiding. Staying in the shadows. The outfit the man in the room was a bit different than the one in the picture, but it was still very similar. Made to conceal weapons, not to show them off for all the world to see. The last piece of information was the Bifrost was shattered and Loki, a man in the very room she was going to, fell. Only idiots would do that intentionally. But he wasn't an idiot, or half wit. He clearly was rethinking his life, for the worse. And Annabella wanted a tidbit of information, from what she could build a castle of evil plans.

She opened the door and sat down in the wooden chair. On the other side sat Loki. No time to spare, she though. The faster this is done, the faster I'm back to Costa Rica.

"Hello, Loki. What brings you to Midgard?" she said to the stranger. His jaw unclenched and his face muscles shifted. Hidden surprise.

"Who are you?" he asked her venomously. His eyes began to glare at her.

"Annabella Natalie Eltiise, Aedile of the Necromancy Society. Now that we are done with the formalities, may we proceed? It would be such a waste if this conversation did not profit either of us."

"Necromancy? How peculiar."

"I would agree that is the one word to describe it. To answer the questions you dare not ask, no, I, myself, am not completely human, but my colleagues are. Humans had magic for millenniums. Not only do we have magic, but our intellectual capacity has always been higher than other Midgardians. At first, there was only one type of magic, we simply call it Magik, as it was written in the old spell books, with a k at the end, not c. As mentioned, we were smarter than other humans, so we broke off into smaller groups to spread magic and find better magical conditions, each group with their own copy of a Magik book. From this book, spell books were formed, but each group ended up specializing in a specific type of Magik. I happen to be half-Necromancer, quarter-Sorceress, and quarter-Ice Magician, a late form of Water Elementum. You are know familiar to three of the groups. There are Elementums, Fire, Water, Earth, and Air, which have their own subgroups. There are the Charmers, quite weak yet needed, since the spells they preform are elementary but powerful. We have the Seers, or Prophets, depending on which book you are reading. They are needed greatly, for the simple reason they see the future clearly. There are Sorcerers, native to Scandinavia, Poland, and Germany. In Poland, Germany, and most of Europe, excluding Russia and the British Isles, we find the Elementums, mentioned before. In most of Spain and Portugal, we have Alchymists, which are simply alchemists, though Alchymists is the official name. My main and home group, Necromancers, which are found in only Chicago, Topeka, Madrid, and Krakow, make sure there is order in the Underworld and the spirits do not escape to the ousted world. I hope this clears up any questions you had about how we happen to have magical powers."

Loki was clearly shocked now. He didn't even try to hide his surprise. And Annabella knew that with surprise came curiosity. Curiosity is her advantage.

"May I see this 'Necromancy Society'?"

She can't refuse. Now that she has his interest, her job is too easy.


The Necromancy Society was immense. It was under the Willis Tower (yet no real Chicagoan called it that, as Annabella told Loki) but it was one square mile big, touching Lake Michigan and having a concert hall under Millennium Park. It went down over a mile. Overall, it was a cube box located under Chicago.

Annabella first took Loki to her office. Loki admired the mortal's taste in designing the room. She had a large glass wall (someone could barely call it a window) looking over the Atrium of the Necromancy Society. In the center of the Atrium was a series of high speed elevators leading up to the upper world. In the back of the room stood a dark desk with organized papers and a nameplate. There were diplomas hung behind the desk and pictures underneath them. On the walls where there was nothing stood large book shelves full of books and magazines. In the center of the room, facing the glass wall, was a glass coffee table surrounded by black leather couches. Different than what he was used to, but still amazing.

Loki grabbed the most recent magazine there was on the shelf to learn a bit more about this strange world. To his surprise, Annabella was on the cover, along with a man who shared her eyes, but had blond hair and was about an inch taller. The name of the magazine was The Necromancy Journal. He opened to the page where there was said to be a special on the man and Annabella.

Annabella, as it turns out, happens to have more power than Loki originally thought, and he though she had more than average. According to the article, the man on the cover was her cousin, Augustus Maxwelby, the second Aedile of the Necromancy Society. Augustus and Annabella apparently both finished advanced schooling at age six, making them the smartest children ever. They both knew out thirty languages and had powers of Necromancy, Ice Magic (Loki was quite fond of this), and Sorcery, but Annabella was different. He learned the reason right after checking who Hades was, and Annabella walking in.

She's a demigod. Probably the most important one.

"To the right, you have idiots. To the left, you have idiots who make people into idiots by writing idiotic crap about them. Most call them journalists or something like that. We are heading to the main offices, which is overflowing with idiots who believe anything you put in a magazine or on a notice board. It's quite humorous if you know how to use it to trick them. Want to see something actually interesting that doesn't include as many idiots?"

Apparently, Annabella found everyone to be an idiot. Loki couldn't agree more. He heard a few jokes and glimpsed some some websites (as Annabella would say, 'scarred for life') he agreed with her about human stupidity. It would make his conquest much easier.

He agreed and she lead him to the elevators.

"Well, don't get offended by this, but you can't go outside like that," he looked down at his robes, and he secretly agreed.

"So, I'll teach you a trick. Just think the word 'Haveridan'."

Haveridan, he thought, and his clothing transformed into something more suitable to walk outside in. When he looked at Annabella, her clothes were already changed into a black overcoat and her hair was in a bun.

"That is quite useful," he said.

"I guess since you're from Asgard, you use different spells from ours. If you want me to teach you some, just ask," Annabella walked over to the elevator and Loki followed. This mortal is quite useful, he decides. Maybe he'll let her live.


Annabella looked at her phone and cursed in Latin.

Annabee, Hevvie's is in ashes. The minions are turning.

Just perfect. An attack? Amazing. Her phone beeped again and she checked the new message. From Kjerstin.

Hide everything. SMS is pissed you have Loki. Prepare for war.

Loki looked up when Annabella threw her phone down.

"Spectacular!" she yelled. "Ire mori in foramine, Scandinavia!"

"What is it?" Loki asked.

"Come on," she said, "we're late for war council. Scandinavia declared war on us for stealing their god."


I know, I know. Loki is wayyyyy to calm. But he just found out there's a freaking Necromancy Society and some puny mortals have magical powers, he wants to make the best impression if he wants their help.