Courtney reread her report. It seemed finished. She didn't see any errors. A yawn interrupted her. She smiled as she tiredly put her paper away. She pulled out her schedule. All assignments were checked off. Courtney could hear the choirs of heavens burst in the Hallelujah chorus. She was finished. She felt so happy she began to dance around her apartment. This was the first joy she had in three weeks. Three weeks!
Courtney could curse Shield to the end of the Earth. They had held her for a full week asking the same stupid questions over and over while she repeated the same closed generic answers over and over. The only respite from the whole stupid thing is that Thor would come in and talk to her. He was no Loki, but it helped pass the time a little. To even get out of that stupid Shield compound she had to sign away her privacy. Her whole room was bugged with cameras and sound devises and there were Shield agents following her now, discretely and at a distance, but she was still watched. To the day, it had taken two more weeks to catch up on all the work from the one week she was held captive.
But now her work was done, dancing she sang, "Celebrate good times, come on! Just celebrate,"
As she neatly put her stuff away. Something caught her eye. Pulling it out, she examined the foreign notebook. Yes, she had many notebooks, but Courtney did not remember having this one. It was made of some harder material, and the color was a vibrant green. It was her favorite shade of green; it reminded her of the trees back where she grew up. But Courtney knew her notebooks and knew that this one wasn't hers.
Murmuring to herself, she muttered, "Must have picked up someone else's, now who do you belong to?"
She opened the notebook. The first page had a large spiral symbol on it. Mesmerizing, but not identification. She flipped to the second page. And blinked when she saw a name.
Courtney
But it was not her hand writing, her was round, small and clean. This was large, flowing calligraphy. Beautiful handwriting, but it was not hers. Why is my name in here? She mused as she read the next few lines.
Greetings, I trust this book is in your hands. I have been watching you. Write back.
Courtney stared. Who was- What on- the - he watching - she stalked - huh - person trust - what? She found that there was a pencil in her hand. Her mind told her this was a bad idea. Something deeper urged her forward. She wrote:
WHO ARE YOU? HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME? AND WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?
Courtney waited. The notebook cover changed to black. Some notebook, she thought flipping it over in her hands looking at it more closely. Then the cover turned back to green. She opened the notebook. There was more calligraphy under the statement she had written.
I? I am a silvertongue, a liesmith, a sorcerer, a shapeshifter, a god of mischief, a god of lies, a god of chaos, a prince of the land of gods, a little brother, a lover, a father of four, a changeling child, an outcast, a monster, a villain, a wayward child, a singer, a master storyteller, a watcher, a stalker, and a merrymaker.
I am Loki.
As for the second question, you told me your name.
As for the third question, I only want for you to accept my deepest gratitude and my most humble apology. The apology is the sin of omission. I didn't tell you who and what I was. The gratitude is for not telling Shield or Thor anything I told you.
Courtney reread the message a few times, thinking carefully at her response. Grinning slowly, she wrote:
You stalker. You stinking little stalker. I have already lost my privacy to my government, now I lose it again to a psychopathic super villain.
The notebook cover turned black once again, and then it changed back to green. The response appeared on the pages on the notebook.
Oh, Courtney. I am hurt. I am not psychopathic . . . Or I don't think I am. Do you truly think I am crazy?
Courtney glanced around. Then she wished that she could take back that gesture. Cameras probably caught every detail of her guilty movement. Courtney sat down at her desk putting the notebook in front of her.
I haven't decided yet. She wrote. You seem mostly sane, but I am not a psychiatrist, so I can't be sure. You seem sane. However as a God of Lies you can lead me to believe anything you want can't you?
It was a longer moment until writing appeared. As if Loki had to take some time to decide what he wanted to write.
Perhaps, but I assure you I consider myself sane. However, I believe that crazy people call themselves sane so that does not help you any.
Courtney pursed her lips. She tried to decrypt this puzzling statement. Then she wondered if she was over thinking the written remark. She shook her head then wrote:
What is this notebook?
Well, it is a notebook bought from a nearby convenience store. However the real question you want to ask is 'what did I do to it?'
Courtney frowned when no more writing appeared. She wrote:
Let me guess, you want me to ask.
Exactly.
Ok, what did you do to it?
One word: Magic.
Somehow that does not surprise me at all.
Pity, that means I am being predictable.
This reminds me of a chat room.
Chat room?
Too long to bother explaining. Though why a notebook?
It was the only way to communicate with you without being observed. You did sign your privacy to Shield. This was a logical way. You write in a number of notebooks, so they will not think about you writing in this one, if they could.
Slowly, Courtney wrote:
What do you mean 'if they could?'
I have enchanted this notebook that no one will notice anything is amiss about it except you. So we can write back and forth without anyone knowing.
I hope you like this chapter. Originally their writing was going to be in a different font but the system didn't like it so I had to use italics and bold. I hope it worked clear enough for you can understand.