1

Elizabeth wasn't sure whether it was the noise or the cold that woke her up. Later she would argue that it was the feeling of fear itself that woke her senses but in the moment she was simply startled.

Bolting upright, the first thing she saw was a blinding blue light shining in her window, coupled with a noise she had never heard and would only ever hear once again in her life.

Ignore it Liz. She told herself but she couldn't, because what the hell would make that kind of noise this late anyway? So she sat up in bed, the covers falling away from her thin frame. She was slight but strong, her sweatpants riding low as she walked over to her window and peered outside.

The light had gone away and all Elizabeth could see was darkness. She sighed, shaking her head and turning back, thinking it must have been the neighbors, or maybe just the remnants of some weird dream she had been having. But as she was turning away she saw a flash on the ground.

Elizabeth stepped closer to the glass and squinted at the ground. The moon was reflecting off something small and golden on the ground as it passed through the clouds. She bit her lip and turned away, rushing into the kitchen to grab a flashlight. She stumbled over a shoe in the process, unable to see with the lights all off and the afterimage of the light still in her eyes. Finally her fingers wrapped around the light and she ran back to her room, shining it at the ground.

She drew in a breath. A man lay crumbled on the ground, his eyes closed. The clothing he wore was strange, but in her rush she didn't question his attire. She simply pushed her feet into nearby tennis shoe's and ran outside.

He was still lying there by the time she had made it downstairs. The moon had decided to show its face and she could see him more clearly than she could have before. The strange clothing he wore appeared to be armor, leather and gold that shined together in the light. It was an outfit she had never seen before, but it still rang familiar somewhere in the back of her mind.

Before Elizabeth realized what she was doing, she had knelt down beside the man, putting her hand gently on his shoulder in effort to wake him up. Upon being touched he groaned in pain. His clothing glimmered, a strange golden tone that traveled down his body. Elizabeth backed up, watching with fascination and horror as the armor he wore became a simple green sweater and black pants. His eyes opened and she felt something inside her mind back away, despite being too frightened to move.

"Where am I?" He called out. His voice was soft yet demanding in the same breath. He pushed himself up so that he was sitting, cringing as he did. Elizabeth stood up and backed away toward her house. The man stood up slowly, following her with leisured steps.

"I am Loki Laufeyson, of …" He started, but he abruptly cut off, looking to the side. Elizabeth followed his gaze, but didn't see anything. After a moment she looked back to Loki, watching him as he seemed to go over something in his mind.

"Which of the nine realms is this?" He asked, and Elizabeth closed her eyes. His words confused her. Nine realms? Where the hell was this guy from?

He must be crazy she thought. But her mind flashed back to his clothing shifting before her eyes. It made her question her own sanity.

He was still staring at her, his smile welcome but his eyes cruel. Elizabeth shook her head and began walked away. Before she had made it even a few steps, he had grabbed her wrist and jerked her around painfully.

"Where have I fallen?" He asked, and Elizabeth shook her head. A feral noise came from deep in Loki's throat, and then his hand was around her neck, lifting her into the air.

"I DEMAND YOU TELL ME WHICH REALM THIS IS." He shouted. Elizabeth was frightened, eyeing him up and down and shaking her head violently. Loki squinted at her and seemed to decide that he was done with her. After just a couple moments he threw her back to the ground.

Rocks dug into Elizabeth's back painfully. Her body tensed in effort to brace her but it was too late. With tears of pain in her eyes she watched Loki walk away, fading into the shadows.

Elizabeth lay on the ground long after Loki had vanished, waiting for her pain to subside enough for her to move. Cringing, she finally stood up, limping over to where he had been laying and looking at the ground.

There was a piece of his armor left on the ground where he had landed. Why it didn't vanish with the rest of his armor was beyond her, but she picked it up anyway. It was cold to the touch, covered in a light layer of condensation that confused Elizabeth. She turned back to the apartment, still carrying the armor inside with her.

It hurt to go up the stairs, but she took them one at a time and painfully. When she was finally back in her room she dropped the piece of armor on the floor and crawled into bed, pulling the covers up around her aching body and falling back into a fretful sleep.

2

The next morning Elizabeth woke up covered in more bruises than she was originally aware she had. The shower water stung like venom as it washed over her body, washing out the frigid chill that had come over her. Her throat was the worst, a hand print etched into her skin that was quickly turning a deep purple shade. She got dressed with all of her bruises in mind, wearing a long sleeved tee-shirt and scarf to cover the worst of the damage. Then she was off to school.

The lecture hall gave her comfort as it usually did from her spot in the very back of the room. It was the perfect spot to sit, because she was far enough away that no one would see her, but she could see everything.

But class bored her today, because her mind kept going back to Loki. Her thoughts of him were tainted in red, the pain of all the bruises reminding her to just forget about it. But she couldn't. Because where had she heard the name Loki before anyway?

It sounded so familiar. Elizabeth pulled out her laptop and opened Google, typing in Loki, clicking the first link that appeared.

In Norse mythology, Loki, Loptr, or Hveðrungr is a god or jötunn (or both) The Wikipedia page began. The further down the page she read the more disturbed she felt. Finally she closed her laptop with sigh.

Did I really just get manhandled by a Norse God? She chuckled to herself. There was no way. No way in hell. By the time she finished trying to get over it she stood up because class had been over and the only people left were the stragglers asking questions and she had never been the sort to ask anything. So she gathered her things and went home. She did housework until it was nighttime again. When the day was over she turned off all the lights and walked into her room.

Elizabeth was in the middle of pulling off her scarf when she heard a strange noise behind her. Her hands dropped from her neck and the scarf fell from her hands as she turned in time to see Loki form from darkness in the corner of her room.

She backed up until she was sitting on her bed, and he simply followed her.

"I need your help human." He said, and something in Elizabeth broke. She rolled her eyes and looked up at the ceiling, her long brown hair falling away from her face and neck. Loki's eyes fell on her bruised neck and he seemed to cringe, if only for a second.

"Will you help me?" he asked, but it didn't feel like a question. It felt like a command. Elizabeth stood and tried to walk away. Loki grabbed her wrist, and she turned back. Something in her eyes made him let her go.

"Why won't you answer me?" HE growled. She sighed and reached over to her desk, picking up a whiteboard she had left there. Angrily, she grabbed a marker and bit down on the cap, yanking the marker away from her mouth and writing something. She enjoyed the perplexed look on Loki's face.

Because I can't answer she wrote, and then spit the cap onto the ground, flipping the board around. Loki read it and looked up as if confused.

"You can't, or won't." he asked.

Can't. She wrote down. I can't talk. I never could.

Loki looked at her in confusion, as if he didn't think it were possible.

"So, you are mute?" he pondered, as if something about it interested him. Elizabeth was just frankly tired of his crap.

Yes. Now what on earth could you possibly want with me?

"I need you to help me."

With what? You're a demigod. Help yourself.

"Shield is after me. I need a place to hide."

Who the hell is shield?

"That is not important. May I hide here? I cannot imagine they would look in such an obscure place."

Elizabeth was poised over her whiteboard, prepared to write something else but she stopped because she had learned to not answer out of anger and anger was all she could feel around Loki. So she simply rolled her eyes to the heavens and led him out of her room. He sat him down in her living room and smiled. She pulled out her marker and wrote one word on her hand.

Stay.

He read the word and looked up at her strangely, standing up so that she had to look up to see his eyes. She didn't understand what she saw there, and it made her uncomfortable, so she walked away.

"Tell me your name human." He demanded just as she was about to leave the room. Elizabeth's entire body tensed at the command, because she didn't like being told what to do and it made her want to lash out. But with effort she turned around and grinned, doing a little curtsey before leaving him alone in living room.

She was sure to lock her door before she got in bed, despite knowing it wouldn't do any good.