Part 4
Anna raised her hand to knock on her dorm room's door, but hesitated. Did she really want to do this? Once she went in, there was no turning back.
She glanced over at Loki, who stood beside her. The God of Mischief had changed his appearance before they'd entered the school. To her, he seemed to be wearing a well-tailored suit with a green and gold scarf draped around his neck. She assumed that she was the only one who could see him at the moment though, since no one had noticed him or said anything when they'd walked through the halls. Thankfully, he'd finally taken the handcuffs off her before they'd entered. That would have been difficult to explain.
He raised an eyebrow at her pause. "Second thoughts?" he asked smoothly. The smallest of smiles touched his mouth. She pursed her lips. This was it. She could back down right now if she wanted. Her eyes flicked between him and the door.
"Nope. Let's do this." She turned back to the door, determined, and knocked with three quick, forceful taps.
"Who is it?" A muffled voice called from the other side.
"It's me." Anna answered. "I'm back." She opened the door, walking in. A thought occurred to her as she walked in, and she stopped, not letting Loki through the door. "Is everyone decent?"
"I certainly like to think so," A voice from the left said.
Off to the left, Xandra was laying on her stomach across her bed, a few textbooks splayed in front of her. Her curly brown hair was tied back in a loose bun and her legs were crossed in the air behind her. She was the one who'd spoken. Xandra was probably the most outspoken of all four of them; always ready with a witty comeback. She wore size 10 pants because she was curvy, not overweight – as she was quick to correct any who felt the need to mention it – and had no intentions to change anything about herself anytime soon.
On the other side of the room, Yumi looked up from a large stack of flashcards. Her notes were neatly arranged in front of her with a stack of blank cards to her left and the finished cards to her right. Yumi was tall and slim with long, straight, black hair. She was the quiet, straight-A student of the bunch, highly organized, with strict parents who monitored her grades incessantly. She often tried to help the other three with their grades, but to little success. Xandra said there was no point in even trying to catch up, since Yumi had the unfair advantage of being Asian – which was practically cheating at all things academic. Yumi had simply remarked that doing well had nothing to do with nationality and everything to do with attitude. Xandra'd stuck her tongue out.
In the bunk bed above Yumi's perfectly neat desk, the final occupant of the room sat with her nose buried in a book. Lynn didn't seem to have noticed Anna walking in. Long aqua-blue headphone cords emerged from her loose blonde hair, connecting to the iPod balanced on her knees, and she was singing softly under her breath. It didn't sound like English. Looking closer, Anna saw that the cover of the book read Fils des Brumes: L'Empire Ultime. Lynn had her Advanced French exam coming up in a few days and she'd been practicing through total immersion. They'd been lucky to get an English word from her at all for the past week.
After affirming that everyone was fully clothed, she stepped all the way in, letting Loki slip in behind her before she closed the door. He surveyed the room, making note of its three other inhabitants. Anna suddenly wished they kept their room a little neater. It's wasn't messy, per se, but the beds were unmade and there were some clothes lying about. Loki's face was unreadable. Whatever judgments he made of her and her roommates, he kept to himself.
None of them reacted as he entered, reinforcing her invisibility theory.
Xandra pushed herself up onto her elbows. "What took you so long? You were gone for like an hour." She picked up one of her pencils and threw across the room at Lynn. "Hey, Croissant! Anna's back."
Lynn pulled out one of her headphones, glaring at Xandra. "Laisse-moi tranquille. Je suis en train d'étudier." She looked over at Anna and waved. "Salut, Anna."
"No one can understand you." Xandra said in a sing-song voice, rolling her eyes.
"Je sais. Et je m'en fous."
"Hey, everyone. Or, 'bonjour' I guess for Lynn." Anna said, cutting off Xandra's response. The conversation, if left unchecked, would have no doubt devolved into an argument of which she could only understand half the words. "I need some help. You guys have to promise not to freak out though."
Yumi capped her pen, turning her swivel chair away from the desk. "Help? With what?"
Anna's eyes flicked to Loki for the barest of seconds. He just smiled. "Well, actually, I have a friend who needs help. See, he's kind of in a bit of trouble, and I think there might be something we can do."
"Trouble? Like, with the law?" Yumi looked uncertain. She was definitely a rule follower, and wasn't comfortable with illegality.
"'He'?" Xandra asked, a mischievous smile creeping across her face. "Anna Mitchell, did you bring a boy on campus? Do you have some hot cousin who needs our help?"
"What? Why would you…?" Anna said. She stumbled over her words. "No! He's not my cousin! Well, I mean, I guess I did bring him, but it's not like…." She sighed, shaking her head. "I'm not making any sense am I?"
Loki glanced over at her, amused. "Perhaps it would be easier to show than tell."
Anna looked from him back to her friends, uncertain. Then, she gave the smallest of nods. "Perhaps it would be easier to show than tell." She repeated.
Loki stepped forward, his form shimmering again. The suit changed back into his long Asgardian cloak from before. Presumably he dropped the illusion keeping anyone besides Anna from seeing him, because her friends' eyes went wide all at the same time.