The Scent of Magic

by Periwinkle Skittles

Hey, it's your favorite wolf mutant here, Zoey Colt! After that little incident with the Avengers last year, I was hoping to have a somewhat normal life. But nooo! I just have to wind up randomly in Asgard's prison, meet Loki, get chased by guards, and then a whole new adventure. Meanwhile, Madison is stuck on Earth freaking out. Help? SEQUEL TO 'I HOWLED AT THE MOON WITH FRIENDS'

1. Chapter 1

Here it is, The Scent of Magic! The cover was done by Yours Truly (me) and the link to the pic on Deviantart is in my account. Hope you like it!

The title of this chapter is from Eminem 'Without Me'

I don't own Marvel (sadly)

Chapter One

Guess who's back, back again?

"'Cause when you're fifteen and somebody tells you they love you, you're gonna believe them!" Madison yells passionately into the microphone, "And when you're fifteen, feels like there's nothing to figure out!"

Then, she and Darcy both sing/scream at the same time, "Well, count to ten, take it in. This is life before you know who you're gonna be! Fifteen!"

….Yeah, in case you haven't noticed, Madison and I are fifteen now. Well, at least we think I am, since nobody knows when my real birthday is. So we came up with a fake birthday date for me, and it's the weekend after Madison's so we're not too far apart. Also, for the fact that we have two weekends full of partying.

But, honestly, I hate the song 'Fifteen' by Taylor Swift now. Madison has played/sung/screamed it so many times that I have to resist banging my head against the wall every time I hear it.

"And you're feeling like flying. And your mamma's waiting up. And you're thinking he's the one." Madison and Darcy prance around the apartment, singing their hearts out to the Xbox. They're playing another one of those sing-along games where their avatars are dressed up like rockstars on a stage. Meanwhile, I'm watching them from the kitchen, shoving handfuls of bibble into my mouth.

And why am I eating British popcorn you ask?

Well, it's a long story actually.

See, Mom wanted to take Madison and I to Paris for some wine thing that we don't care about. It took three long days to finally convince us to go. Anyway, before we left, Darcy and I were texting and she told me that she was in London for some science thing Eric told her about. She invited us to stay at her apartment (I may or may not have invited myself) while Mom went to Paris. Thankfully, Mom agreed, and after dropping us off in London, she took a bullet train to Paris. Thank God, because I do not want to go there.

….It's not that I don't like Paris, it's just…. I don't like it.

I heard the people there could be really rude. Darcy only confirmed that, telling us about the one time she went to Paris and accidentally dropped her passport. The flight guy right in front of her didn't even move a muscle to pick it up, and you know what he did? He scoffed and rolled his eyes like some spoiled pig. Honestly, who does that?!

Not to mention the meals are tiny and cost, like, a million dollars. Okay, I may have exaggerated a little bit there, but you get the point.

I don't want to go to Paris.

"Your very first day. You take a deep breath, girl. Take a deep breath as you walk through the doors."

I let out a sigh of relief as Darcy and Madison finally finish singing the wretched song. The animated audience on the Xbox cheers loudly and the avatars bow. Suddenly, the doorbell rings, making an annoying 'ding dong'.

"Can you get that, Zoey?" Darcy asks, flopping down on the couch. I shake my head and reply bluntly, "Nope." I shove more bibble into my mouth, savoring its delicious taste. Dang, this stuff is good!

"Zoey." Madison gives me a look and I roll my eyes.

"Fiiiinnnee." I groan, heaving myself out of the backless counter chair. I trudge over to the door, dodging various scientific objects. Pausing in front of the handle, I mentally note that I'm only wearing a tank top and a pair of yoga pants before simply shrugging and opening the door.

I perk up at the familiar face and exclaim, "Ian! Long time, no see, huh?"

'Ian' stands in the hallway, looking confused.

"Uh," he stampers, "I don't believe we've met before…" Ahh, I love his British accent.

I gesture him to come in and say, "I'm Zoey Colt, remember? The one who hired you to work for Darcy?"

Ian raises his eyebrows in astonishment, "You? You're Zoey Colt?"

"Surprised?" I ask, leading him inside. I glance over my shoulder and he replies, "No, well, I… I thought you were older. Don't you have to be over eighteen to hire someone on that website?"

"Yup." I flop down on the couch next to the two girls. Darcy grins and says, "Welcome, intern! How're ya doin'?"

"My name is Ian." he says, but she just waves her hand, "Whatever. Your first job is to organize the science stuff over there." She gestures towards the messy jumbles of scientific equipment scattered around the apartment. Ian looks around uncertainly, and then gets to work, walking into a cluttered room.

Madison giggles and whispers to us in a British accent, "Poor old chap."

I snigger and say, "He has no idea what he's gotten himself into. Try to go easy on him, though, Darcy. Please, he's British."

"Alright," Darcy pouts, "I'll try. Wait a minute, I thought you said that you hired him?"

"I did."

"But you just said 'he has no idea what he's gotten himself into'." she says. I nod and reply, "Well, he and a bunch of other people volunteered for the internship. So, technically, he did somewhat get himself into this."

Madison shrugs, "Yeah, I guess so. But he seems a little new at this."

"Yeah, this is the first time I've actually used him." Darcy says and I raise an eyebrow, "Really? It's been over a year."

"What? I didn't need him before."

Darcy sits up and grabs the Xbox remote. Clicking it a few times, she says, "What other songs do you want to sing?" Groaning, I flop down onto my side. "Nooo," I cover my ears, "No more singing, please?"

Grinning mischievously, Madison stands up, "Alright, why don't we sing 'Love Story'?"

"Nooooo!" I moan louder, "Enough about love! Love sucks!"

"You would know." she snorts, but then cringes at the glare I shoot her. She did not just say that!

"Don't ever bring him up." I growl and she takes a step back, raising her hands, "Alright, alright, sorry, that was mean."

"Bring who up?" Darcy asks, looking between the two of us with a curious expression. Then, she perks up and asks, "Oh oh, is it that Faolan guy you were fussing about last year?" I turn my glare to her, but unlike Madison, she doesn't get intimidated as easily. Instead, she turns around and faces the TV, "Well, are we going to sing or what?"

I sigh, grab the remote, and search through the songs. As I do, my mind begins to wander the male wolf mutant roaming around on an island in the Pacific, staying behind to be the crosslink between humans and mutants. Last I saw him, Kaiser had passed away, due to age, and he was leading the Pack with Esarosa.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I force the memory away and focus on reality.

None of the songs seem very good, but one catches my eye. My lips curl upward in a mischievous smirk as I see a familiar song in the list. Clicking it, I turn to Madison and begin singing.

"They see me rollin'. They hatin'. Patrolling they try to catch me ridin' dirty-"

"No!" Madison screams, covering her ears, "No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no!"

I burst out laughing while she snatches the remote away from me and turns off the song. Gasping, I giggle and wipe an imaginary tear out of my eye, "Oh, you know I had to do that! Consider it payback!"

"I hate you." she sticks her tongue out at me and turns off the TV. Glancing at Darcy, I laugh, "If there's anything you need to know about Madison, it's that she hates rap."

"Aww, but I love that song!" Darcy says, and they we both sing, "Trying catch me ridin' dirty! Trying catch me ridin' dirty! My music so loud. I'm swaggin'. They hopin' they gonna catch me ridin' dirty!"

"Ahh, shut up!" Madison yells, running away. Before she can get very far, though, she trips over some science thing and falls on her face. I snort and help her up. She clutches her nose and mutters, "Ow!"

"Are you bleeding?" Darcy asks, handing her a tissue, "'Cause I really don't want blood on my carpet."

She glares at her and takes her hand away, "No, I'm fi-"

Suddenly, Ian walks back into the room with a beeping device in his hands. We all look up at him as he approaches. "It seems your device is picking up readings." he says, looking down at the equipment in his hands, "Strange, I've never seen-"

Darcy walks over and snatches it from him. She fumbles with it for a few moments, and then starts banging it on the kitchen counter. The device continues beeping.

"Shh!" she hisses at it, "Be quiet! Hmm, it must be malfunctioning."

Looking cautious, Ian suggests, "Perhaps those readings are important to your work? I've seen some of Jane Foster's work, and-"

Once again, Darcy interrupts him, "Good idea, intern! Let's take it to Jane!"

Tilting my head, I ask, "Jane is here too?"

She nods and says, "Yeah, but she's been all mopey ever since Thor left so quickly. She's probably at her mom's house eating ice cream and watching rom coms. Come on, let's go!"

She walks towards the door, but Madison calls after her, "Wait, but we're not even ready!"

Darcy glances over her shoulder and scoffs, "It's just her mom's house, not a fancy restaurant!"

Ignoring her, Madison dashes towards the guest room. Darcy sighs and looks at me. I shrug, "Whatever."

Walking after Madison, I search through my suitcase and pull out a black leather jacket that I got from a London mall. Keeping my tanktop, I put the jacket on and then take out some jeans. Once I'm in those, I put on a belt, and then some black boots.

Standing up, I look at my reflection in the mirror and mentally snort. I've always had a rebellious streak, and I'll admit that I dress boldly. However, lately I've been starting to wear full out punk clothes, but they look really good on me! It must be because of the haircut I got- now I've got loose bangs that start on the left side of my forehead and grow longer as they reach the right side, occasionally dangling over my right eye sometimes. Also, Mom let me get a few piercings to draw the attention away from my shredded left ear (remember last year when I fell off the cliff?) and they make me look way more cool. Not to mention my now badass collar, which I may or may not have had SHIELD change a little bit.

I smirk at my reflection, then grab my phone and walk back to the door.

Ian and I wait for Darcy and Madison to finish changing. When Madison is done, she comes out wearing one of those beige London trench coats and relatively warm colors. She cut her strawberry-blonde hair as well, and now she has a sort of tousled bob hairstyle.

Darcy walks out of her room a moment later, and then notices my appearance and wolf-whistles, "Wow, Zoey, you're wearing all black. Scandalous!"

I grin and say dramatically, "Welcome to the Dark Side."

---

"Don't be rude, alright?" Madison says as Darcy and I hop out of the car.

Turns out, we really did go to a fancy restaurant and not Jane's mom's house. Well, we did go to her mom's, but our little scientist wasn't there. And then her mother told us she was on a date with some guy named Richard.

Boy, did that take us by surprise!

Anyway, right now we're in the parking lot for an expensive-looking restaurant. Darcy and I, being the bold ones of the group, are going to swagger inside of there and drag Jane out. Meanwhile, Ian and Madison, the wusses of the group, are going to stay in the car and be prepared to drive us out quickly in case security guards chase us.

"Promise me, Zoey!" Madison says, holding the door open from the inside. I shake my head and slam the door in her face, "Sorry, I can't make that promise."

"Come on, wolf-girl!" Darcy says, leading the way towards the restaurant. I follow her, and soon we're inside.

Fancy is an understatement. There are a bunch of glass windows everywhere, marble walls and floors, gaudy tables and chairs, and it smells awesome. I look around, trying to pinpoint one of the scents, and then spot a plate of chicken. Sure enough, it looks amazing, but is tiny.

I glance at the menu and shake my head at the high prices. Tsk tsk…

The hostess clears her throat, catching our attention. She looks us up and down, seeming skeptical. After a moment, she puts on a fake smile and asks, "Can I help you?"

"Yeah," I say, stepping forward, "We need to get in there." I gesture to the room with all the dining people. Red rope and two intimidating guards separate us from them.

"Did you make a reservation?" she asks and Darcy speaks up, "Don't worry, we're with friends."

The hostess looks at her papers, "Oh! Are you with the Agnews?"

I nod vigorously and she nods, "Go right ahead."

We quickly walk away and enter the dining area. Once we're out of earshot, Darcy snorts, "Agnews?"

I wave a hand and roll my eyes, "Who cares? Now, we've gotta find Jane before that thing drives me insane." The beeping gadget still hasn't shut up since it started, and I feel my sanity slowly draining away with each annoying beep.

"Hmm…" Darcy hums, standing on her tippy toes to see above everyone. A moment later, she exclaims, "There they are!"

I follow her gaze and spot Jane sitting with some guy at a two-person table. Jane seems to be hiding behind her menu, and her date looks a little awkward. Compared to Thor, this guy sucks. I don't like him. I want Thor and Jane to stay together. They have to! But first, I gotta get this 'Richard' out of the picture.

Before Darcy can drag me over to them, I pull her back. She gives me a questioning look and I say, "We've gotta crash the party at the right time."

"Oh, right," she says, glancing over her shoulder at the two, "But how do we know when?"

"I'll listen." I reply, trusting that she knows that I mean with my wolfness, "You cover me and… just try to look casual."

"Got it." Darcy says, standing next to me and taking out her phone. Glancing at it, I see that she's playing CandyCrush and roll my eyes.

Hiding my face behind her shoulder a little, I cast out my super-hearing senses. It takes a few moments to blur out the other conversations, but I manage to focus on Jane and her date.

"Hi." I hear Richard say.

"Hi."

"So, what's the story with you?"

"Why does there have to be a story? There's no story." Hmm, Jane sounds a little nervous.

"You've spent the first ten minutes of our date hiding behind a menu that has three choices on it. It's either chicken, vegetarian or fish, Jane. I'm thinking there's a story, and the story either involves a guy…?"

I roll my eyes again. Nice start, Richard.

"It's complicated..."

"...Is he still around?"

"No. He… went away."

"I've been there." I mentally snort at that. "The going away part. I was seeing a woman and ah, she took a job in New York. Eventually the distance killed it. And the fact that she, uh, she kept sleeping with other dudes."

I stifle laughter as Jane exclaims, "No!" Darcy looks at me curiously and asks, "What's going on?"

"Now!" I whisper, dragging her over to the table, "Now, now, now!" I half heave half shove Darcy towards them and follow, right on her heels. Richard looks up at us and asks, "Hi, um, could we get some wine please?"

I snort. Do we look like waitresses?

"Sure, I'd love some." Darcy says, and then pulls two chairs over to the table. They make a loud screeching sound and a few people glare at us. Darcy and I sit down and she starts buttering a piece of bread.

Looking shocked, and a bit angry, Jane glances at us and then at her date, "Richard, this is Darcy." She glances at me with a surprised expression, "And, uh, Zoey."

I give a little wave and say, "What's up? It's been a while, huh?" Meanwhile, Darcy glances at Richard, and the looks back at Jane and mouths, "Sweet." with a thumbs up.

"Hi." Richard greets us. Darcy gives him a smile and then starts eating her bread. I notice his gaze lingering on me for a few seconds longer than it should, and I realize that he's staring at my multicolored eyes and the scars on my face from when I fell off a cliff last year. I send him a glare and he looks away.

Oblivious to the eye game her date and I just had, Jane narrows her eyes and hisses, "What are you two doing here?!"

"So, we show up for work at the lab-slash-your-mum's-house," Darcy explains casually, "Fully expecting you to be moping around in your pajamas eating ice cream and obsessing about You-Know-Who…"

Richard nods his head, "Ah."

It takes me a moment to realize that she was talking about Thor and not Voldemort.

"But you're not!" Darcy exclaims, ripping off a piece of her bread and handing it to me, "You're wearing lady clothes-"

"On a date at a fancy restaurant with a Brit." I add, ignoring the look Richard gives me. I take a sniff and say, "You smell good. Did you use, like, BathAndBodyWorks or something?"

Jane gives her date an apologetic smile and then says to us, looking as if she's about to explode, "Is there a point to all of this? Because there really needs to be a point to all of this..."

"I'm thinking Aqua Blossom." I say, still going on about her scent, "I would've gone for Caribbean Escape, but Aqua Blossom's good too."

"Right." Darcy says, swallowing her bread, "You know all the scientific equipment you don't look at anymore?" She reaches into her bag and takes out the beeping device, "You might want to start looking at it again. This is the reason we came all the way out here."

Jane takes the device and looks at it with wide eyes, "It's malfunctioning."

"That's what I said." Darcy says. Jane then thumps it hard on the table, making Richard flinch. I let out an irritated sigh. I really don't like this guy.

"That's what I did!" Darcy says, "But you just hit it a little more scientifically."

I laugh a little and finish my part of bread. Still feeling a little peckish, I grab another piece and start buttering it.

Jane glances at Richard and hands the device back to her intern, "I'm sure it's nothing."

"Doesn't look like nothing." Darcy counters, "Kinda looks like the readings that Eric was rambling about." she turns to Jane's date and says, "Our friend Eric kinda went banana balls."

I snicker and Jane glances at us, "I'm not interested. I'm not interested. Time for you guys to go now."

Geez, way to kick us out.

Darcy looks between the two, and then gets to her feet, "Okay. Let's go, Zoey." I stand up, but before I follow her, I take the rest of the bread and put it in my pockets. Then, I salute and say, "Tally ho."

Turning around, I walk after Darcy. Behind me, I hear Richard mutter to Jane, "Short, but sweet."

"They need help." Jane says and I snort. We need help? No, she needs help. For crying out loud, she's going out with him. She's going to need all the help she can get!

Catching up to Darcy, I ask, "So, what now?"

Without looking at me, she replies, "We wait. Trust me, she'll come."

I nod and take out a piece of bread, offering it to her. She takes it and asks, "Did you bring butter?"

"Nope." I reply, to which she shrugs and takes a bite out of her butterless bread. We walk out of the restaurant together and head towards the car. Madison lowers her window in the back seat and asks as we approach, "Where's Jane? Were you rude?"

"Jane's coming in a few minutes." Darcy says and I shrug, answering her second question, "Depends on how she takes it."

"Oh, God, Zoey. What did you say?" Madison groans as Darcy and I sit down in the front seats.

"It wasn't that bad," I say, glancing back at her, "Look, I brought bread!"

"Is is their bread?" she raises an eyebrow and I smirk, "Maybe."

My step-sister sighs and murmurs, "Oh, Zoey, what am I going to do with you?" I turn back around and reply, "I dunno. Figure it out while I listen to music."

Then, I take out my earbuds and my phone and listen to music. Darcy does the same, playing her music so loud that I can hear it through mine. A few moments later, I spot Jane stomping towards us angrily. Turning off my music, I sit up and say, "Ooh, here comes the dragon!"

Jane yanks my door open and says, "Zoey, in the back." Seeing as it's kind of pointless to argue with her while she's in this mood, I obey without complaining and climb over my seat. She sits down and says, "Man, I hate you two."

"What? I thought he was cute!" Darcy defends, starting the car. Jane shakes her head, "Just shut up and drive." Wow, how ironic. I was just listening to 'Shut Up and Drive' by Rihanna!

Darcy obeys and starts driving. As we pull out of the parking lot, Madison asks, "What'd they do?"

Jane shakes her head, still flustered, "They are so embarrassing!"

Madison gives me a look and I grin sheepishly.

"Keep this up and I'll tell Steve." she says and my eyes widen, "You wouldn't!"

"Try me."

"Who's Steve?" Ian asks, making Jane jump in surprise. "Who's he?" she asks, glancing back at us.

"My intern." Darcy replies, "Remember? Zoey got him for me that Christmas we spent with the Avengers."

"Oh," the scientist says, and then looks down at her phone, "I have to call Eric."

"Avengers?" Ian echoes, and then looks down at the GPS on his lap and says, "Ooh, take a right." The car suddenly jerks to the right, making me slam into the intern.

"Left!"

Darcy swerves left onto the next street. Meanwhile, Madison and I cling on for dear life.

"I have totally mastered driving in London!" Darcy announces.

I roll my eyes, "You wish!"

Zoey and Darcy... I freaking love them! They are, like, mischief buddies! Anyway, tell me what you think about the first chapter! And the next time I update, I might have a pic of Zoey or Madison's new looks.

'Till Saturday!

-Periwinkle Skittles