A/N:Yay! New story! I know there are a lot of Loki/OC stories floating around out there, so I decided to do the logical thing and write another one. However, there is one main thing that you need to know: in this story, Loki and my character (Astrid) HATE each other. With a vengeance. And... that's about it. Don't worry - stuff happens!

Please read, enjoy and review! If you don't enjoy it, please tell me why. (This is not, however, an invitation for flames).

This starts in pre-Thor, when Thor, Loki, Sif and the Warriors Three are all about eight or nine years of age. Hopefully, this story will progress through Thor and I'll write a sequel about the Avengers.

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Chapter 1
Of Magyk and Secrets

"Are you not coming?" Thor's young confidence ricocheted off the stone walls of the Asgardian palace. The afternoon's light threw flaxen beams into the open hallway and made the ivory pillars glow like white-gold. A moment passed, and Thor raised an eyebrow at his quiet friend. "Well?"

"No," Astrid paused to watch a fluffy cloud drift lazily towards the sun. She stretched out, sunning herself on the warm marble underneath her. "I feel like going... hunting today. I shall join you later, my prince." The lie fell clumsily from her mouth, and she resisted the urge to wince. She was no 'Silvertongue'. That title already belonged to someone else.

Thor frowned, his forehead wrinkling in frustration. "The Swords-master will not like that. This is, what, the third time this month?"

"Fourth." Astrid stood up, yawned. "What can a dusty old Swords-master teach me that the Asgardian forest can't?" She sent Thor a dazzling smile, and he blinked.

"Dignity, honor, justice," Thor paused to think, "duty, responsibility-"

"Responsibility and duty are the same thing, my prince," Astrid interrupted, bored.

"Yes, well, that may be so. But does one not respect their elders - and their prince?" Thor crossed his arms childishly.

Astrid smirked, performed a mock bow. "What are your wishes, oh master?"

Thor's serious face wobbled. "My wishes...my wishes are.. oh, stow you, Astrid," he smiled and chuckled loudly. "You know that Sif, Fandral, Hogun and Volstagg will be there. And didn't you want to fight Fandral yesterday-"

"Yes, actually, I did," she sighed. "But Fandral 'the Dashing', as he is so coyly known, can wait until tomorrow to have his arse kicked."

"Very well. I shall inform the Swords-master that Fandral may live to see another day." He nodded grimly.

"No, do not tell him," Astrid waved a hand dismissively. "That man is as blind as a bat. He won't notice."

"Do you wish to bet on that?"

"Fine. I will wager that the Swords-master never notices that I'm missing from training. If I win..." she ended her sentence questioningly. "What could a prince offer that could interest me?"

"Gold?"

She snorted. "Come, Thor. Really?"

"Toys?"

"I am not a child!" she laughed. Thor raised an eyebrow at her, and she huffed. "I am almost nine!"

"Astrid, you are eight, and only just turned so," Thor said, bemused.

"No, I'm almost nine! There's a difference," she said, squaring her shoulders.

Thor chuckled, "You digress."

Astrid blinked, and cocked her head to the side, "I what?"

"A word I heard Loki say. I believe it's a kind of pudding." Thor explained.

"Oh. Okay," Astrid shook her head quickly. "Back to the subject - my prize?"

"Oh..." he paused, and glanced around the room warily. "I shall allow you to do whatever you wish to Loki - within reason," Thor warned, as he saw his friend's face light up with malicious glee, "-for one whole day. And if I win-"

"I shall apologize to Loki for all his years of 'torment' under me," she grinned, using air quotes.

"It sounds good, this bet," Thor smiled darkly. "Because there is no way you will ever win it."

He turned to walk towards the training hall. Astrid shook her head wryly, and skipped in the opposite direction, eager to go to her little secret. The fact that she had lied to Thor weighed heavily on her heart - the Prince was probably the closest thing to a brother she had. Albeit the brother she had never particularly wanted.

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Astrid sniffed disdainfully as she stepped into the field. It was a cold day, chillier than normal, and the icy wind cut through her thin shift and cloak.

The field stretched for Allfather-knows-how-far all around her. Green grass leaped up around her calves and tickled her legs as she moved forward, deeper into the empty space. Deserted, spacey and quiet, it was perfect. Except for the large puddle of mud that she managed to step and soak her boots in.

Plopping down cross-legged in the grass, Astrid slipped a small book out from beneath her storm-blue cloak and stared at it in disgust. Odin forbid that anyone would ever catch her with a book in her possession. Books were dreadfully dull and silent, and would never spar with you. They were objects to be avoided at all costs.

But... Astrid was curious. She tucked a strand of light chestnut hair behind her ear and opened the book with a pudgy finger. Her young, bright eyes scanned the title page.

Ancient Light: A Young Sorcerer's Guide to Magyk

Maybe this would teach her how Prince Loki could mask himself from others. How he never had to do any work; he disappeared conveniently. How he managed to sweet talk the servants into giving him extra food at meals. How he managed to... be so damn infuriating.

She placed the small book on the earthy ground, flipping through the pages, caring not that her grubby hands made faint dirt marks on the yellowed pages. Boring. Boring. Dull. Drab. Ugh. Too complicated.

Hello - what's this?

Astrid narrowed her eyes and slowly read the spell, her lips slowly mouthing the words.

Invisibility: a cloak for the stealthy. This spell is for beginners, but must be practised many times to be perfected. If wished, the spell may also be used to cloak objects.

Many times to be perfected? She didn't like the sound of that.

As this is stealth magyk, it is a nonverbal spell. To cast this magyk, one must verbally chant: 'Tankasfe helain yvisinyl'.

That was a strange phrase indeed. Astrid cocked her head to the side and whispered, feeling rather foolish, "Tankappe helain yvisinyl."

Nothing happened.

She narrowed her eyes. Why wasn't it working? Stupid magyk. Astrid stood, clutching the book in her hands and rolled her eyes. A little louder this time, perhaps.

"Tankappe helain yvisinyl!" she spoke out. Again, nothing. Astrid growled and threw the book to the ground. "Stupid thing!" She raised her foot to stomp a dirty boot onto the cover, when-

"That book is over a hundred years old. I doubt many would appreciate should you choose to destroy it." The voice came from behind her.

Astrid clicked her tongue in annoyance, without turning around. "What do you want?"

"No need to sound so hostile, Lady Astrid." Even without seeing him, she could sense the dry smirk on his face.

"My prince," she hissed, just to be 'cordial'.

"Wonderful spell you were casting there. Invisibility, if I'm not mistaken. There is a certain level of concentration needed for the spell that I doubt you possess. Also, I do believe that the correct phrase is 'Tankasfe', not 'Tankappe'." The tone of his voice was calm and a drawl.

She snorted. As if he were to be mistaken about magic - the one thing the oaf was good at. Yet she felt a hot blush creep up her neck anyway, and whirled around, hoping the irked look on her face would disguise her humiliation at having him see her 'practicing' magyk.

"As if you could do any better... my prince." No, you idiot, shut UP! You know he can do better. She had fallen prey to one of the world's greatest blunders. The first being never getting involved in a land war in Alfheimr, but the second was never go against an Asgardian prince when disgrace was on the line! But it was too late.

Prince Loki sauntered forwards, somehow managing to look condescending and serious at the same time. "Yes, I could, actually."

Astrid longed to punch that smug look off his face as hard as she could. She clenched her fists. There was no use trying to out-insult him. If she tried to fight him, she would be beaten - he was older (even if only by a few months), taller and already far more adept at the magykal arts than anyone else his age in Asgard.

But there was one way she could hurt him, that no one but he would care about...

She raised her muddied foot slowly.

Loki's eyes widened a second too late; with a triumphant look in her hazel eyes, she brought her foot down. There was a satisfying crunch as timeworn pages instantly gained splashes and smears of mud and dirt, obscuring the elegant script.

Loki was frozen in horror, and to add to the blow, she swivelled her foot from side to side, and a small rip appeared in the middle of the page, beheading the word "helain".

Astrid heard a sharp intake of breath as she glanced up to glimpse the prince's reaction.

"Why would you - that book was - how could you..." he trailed off, knowing the answer. The feeling of hatred was mutual between them; it always had been.

She didn't answer. She didn't have to. But as his dark eyes met hers, she flicked her gaze away uncomfortably as a tiny worm of guilt began to gnaw at her stomach. "If you'll excuse me, I have more important things to do... Prince Loki."

Even as his eyes were trained on the wrecked book, lying wounded on the dusty ground, he managed to utter in a shaken voice, "What could one have to do that is more important than talk to a prince?"

"Mmm... I do not know... talking to the crown prince, perhaps?" Swiping her tongue quickly across her dry lips, she gave a final haughty nod towards the silent boy, turned on her heel and stormed out of the clearing, leaving Loki to stare at the spellbook. The mud had sunk through the many chapters.

Never again would a reader perverse its worn pages.

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A/N: What did you think? Please tell me! The next chapter will be here soon.