I lace my hands together and stretch my fingers out, yawning. Who knew that making pillows was so much work? A few hours, Frigga had said. It's definitely been longer than that, or at least it's felt like it. I look over at Dessa, who is sitting at the sewing machine next to me, dutifully sewing another pillow together. She hasn't stopped for a break once. I don't know how she can do it.

"Oy! What do you think you're doing?" Margaret marches up behind me, hands on her hips.

I quickly grab another pillowcase and stuffing and prepare it to be sewed together. "I was only resting for a moment, Margaret." I explain.

She huffs. "We don't have a moment to spare, Cameron. These pillows need to be done by nightfall. The nobles are grumpy enough as it is since they're not able to take their usual naps."

"What a shame." I mutter under my breath, placing the pillow under the sewing machine.

"I heard that." Margaret says, "Wait 'til you get back to your prince, I bet he'll be in a real grand mood." She moves away to hound someone else.

I roll my eyes. I'm pretty sure Loki can sleep without a pillow. I start the machine and sew up the pillow. Once all together, I throw it in the basket that's between Dessa and I. Eventually someone will come around and collect all the pillows so they can be taken to the embroidery room. Luckily there's magic involved there, so it goes pretty quickly. Dessa had told me that's where she usually works when something like this happens, but I have a feeling she's here to keep an eye on me. I sigh and focus back on making more pillows.

After about my 30th pillow, Dessa speaks up. "You know Margaret didn't mean Prince Loki would be upset because of the lack of pillows."

I glance over at her. She's still working, so I keep working too. "Oh really? Then why would he be upset?"

When she speaks, I can hear a slight smile in her voice. "He would be upset because he has been this long without you."

I stop my machine momentarily, and look over at her, my eyes wide. She is smiling. "Excuse me?"

She stops her machine too, after looking around briefly for Margaret. She leans over closer to me, lowering her voice. "You are his personal servant, after all."

I snort. "Right. Like I've been doing much of that lately." I narrow my eyes at here. "There was something else, though, wasn't there?"

She leans back, still smiling. "Perhaps. But now is not the time to tell you that."

"Then what was the point of all this?" I ask. She shakes her head and starts her machine again. "You can just tell me, you know."

"I will." She says, sewing a pillow together. "But not now."

"Why not?" I lean closer to her. "Is it some sort of secret?"

She shakes her head and throws the pillow in the basket. "It's just that now is a time for working, not idle gossip."

"Why can't there be both?" I ask.

"Because you don't seem to be doing very much work, Cameron." A familiar voice says behind me. I gulp and turn around. It's Margaret again.

"Hi..." I start, then trail off, seeing the stern look she's giving me.

"Dessa is correct, now is definitely not the time for idle chatter." Margaret scolds. I nod, slightly embarrassed, and go to grab another pillowcase, but she stops me, laying a hand on my arm. I look at her, confused. She raises her fingers to her lips and whistles sharply once. I wince, the sound piercing through my ears. Quickly, another servant girl rushes over.

"Yes Ma'am?" She asks.

"What is your station, Bertha?" Margaret asks quickly.

"I run the pillows to the embroidery room, Ma'am." She answers, clearly confused as I am.

"It is no longer. You will be switching places with Cameron here." Margaret tugs on my arm, and I get up, moving out of my seat. Bertha glances over at me, then sits down. She immediately starts making pillows.

"There's a basket full of pillows." Margaret says, letting go of my arm and nodding towards the basket. "Hop to it." She walks away.

Eager to not get into any more trouble, I grab all of the pillows that I can hold and run off to the embroidery room. It's warm in there, and there's pieces of thread flying everywhere because of the magic being used. My eyes scan the room until I see where the incoming pillows go, and I dump them in that pile. I quickly grab two empty baskets and speed back out, dodging bits of thread as I go.

I race off to the sewing tables and switch out two of the baskets and run back. None of the other servants pay me any mind. They don't seem to notice that I'm not who was doing it before. I do this again and again. After a while, I start to become really tired, but I don't dare slow down my pace. I realize now how much of a luxury sewing the pillows together was. It may have been repetitive and boring, but at least I got to sit and rest.

It's happening again. The rooms are starting to blur together. I push against it, determined not to pass out. Not yet. I have to finish. I switch out another basket, this one by Dessa. I have to finish... I take another step, and the world twists sideways. I black out.

I wake up just as we're pulling into the parking lot of the school. Wait... school!? Now fully aware of my surroundings, I look around wildly. I'm back on Midgard. Time had gone so long in Asgard, I had nearly forgotten that I was on my way to school when I left. It's only a twenty minute drive, too. I rub my eyes, yawning. I'm so tired.

"Here's your lunch bag." My dad says, holding it out to me.

I smile and grab it. "Thanks." I open the door and get out of the truck. I sling on my backpack.

"Have a good day!" He calls, waving slightly at me.

I wave back. "You too." I close the door and head into school.

After getting everything I need for my first class, I head there. Why anyone thought having Chemistry first thing in the morning is crazy to me, but it's too late to change anything now. I sit next to my friend Missy.

"Morning, Cameron." She greets, halfway through a yawn.

"Morning." I respond, yawning as well. Yawning is pretty contagious, after all.

She squints at me. "Are you okay? You're normally much more awake in the morning."

I smile at her meekly. "I'm just really tired." I tell her. So tired that I could pass out. Not that I haven't done that before or anything, say like in another realm. I mentally chuckle. If only she knew.

"You seem like it." She responds. "Had trouble sleeping?"

I frown, trying to remember. Last night feels like so long ago. Did I go to Asgard? Probably. Wait... that was when I woke up in the dark room. I smile wryly. "I don't think it went too well, no." I say.

She frowns. "Well I hope you sleep better tonight."

"Thanks." I reply. Just then, our teacher comes in, and I focus back on school.

I go through school in a sort of daze, hardly noticing when Loki pops in to make snide comments in my classes, such as: "You Midgardians have only discovered 117 elements? You've barely scratched the surface." or "Does your race ever learn from its mistakes?"

I learn to just ignore him. Why? Because one, I know he's only joking. (Sort of) Two, if I do react, it gets really awkward, really quickly. I'm not one of those kids who talk to themselves, much less have a heated discussion in the middle of class with thin air about how math is not a bunch of gibberish some old guys made up. Needless to say, I told my teacher my conscious was arguing with me, and he just shook his head and moved on.

I am relieved when school finally ends. I can go home! I drive home with my dad, successfully not hitting anything. Once we reach home, I go straight to my room, throw down my bag, and flop on my bed. I had meant to grab a book or something, but there's nothing I can do as my eyes close, and I fall fast asleep.