"We are not using mice to test them!" Carter yelled at Loki.
The two of them had been tinkering away until they got to a point where it was time to start testing if the portals, or more accurately, teleporters, really worked.
"I'll name the mice! I'll give them all the cutest names and little outfits and you will feel terrible if something happens to them!" I threatened Loki.
"You are supposed to be on my side!" Loki glared at me.
"Well, I'm not. I'm with Carter, we are not using mice to test out if the teleporters work."
"Be reasonable, Sorcha! The modifications we made to the devices mean the effect of travel might not be the same as going through the existing Jotunn portals! We need to discern the effect the teleportation magic has on living tissue!" Loki was visibly trying to control his temper.
"Then use me as your test subject, I can't die anyway!"
"And me," Carter quickly said, "I'm a Bee too. We'll pop back up again, the poor mice won't!"
"Are you two listening to yourselves right now? Who in their right mind volunteers to be test subjects for what is completely experimental magic?"
"Us!" I yelled hotly as Carter nodded along.
In the blink of an eye, Loki was not only completely calm and collected but sporting a triumphant smirk.
"Wonderful! That was easier than I thought it was going to be."
"Wait what?" Carter looked confused.
I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "We walked right into that one didn't we?"
Loki cackled.
"He was never going to use animals to test the magic, that was just to get me to volunteer. He knew I'd come up with about a hundred reasons why it would be dangerous to test on us if he was the first to suggest it. But now I just volunteered us without thinking because I was too outraged," I explained my defeat to Carter.
"You make it so easy sometimes, darling," he giggled.
"Doesn't it annoy you when he does that?" Carter glared at Loki.
"All the time, but he's cute and sexy, so he gets away with a lot more than he should," I admitted as I started grinning despite myself.
Loki's smile beamed smugly around the room.
"Please just test it first on an inanimate object at least," I begged him.
"Of course, that's why I got these," Loki lifted a crate of tomatoes up on the workbench.
"So that's what those are for," I mumbled.
"What? You didn't think I was cooking tonight, I hope?"
"No, why would I think that?" l lied, my hopes dashed.
"Why tomatoes?" Carter asked curiously.
"Because they will give a satisfying splat if things do go wrong. We might as well have some fun with this!" Loki grinned.
"May I remind you that one of the house rules is that if you make a mess, you clean it up yourself?" I reminded him.
Loki looked around the study with its myriads of books and magic items.
"Yes. Well. Carter, let's move the teleporters to one of the empty rooms, shall we?"
Originally, Loki had started out trying to fix the broken Jotunn portals we found. The more he worked on them, the more he realised the old magical portals were broken beyond repair.
Instead, he had used them as inspiration for creating his own devices; two portable disks that could be placed anywhere and should theoretically be able to teleport people and items alike between them.
Carter's internship was only meant to last a few weeks. She had felt she had learned so much from Loki in that short time, however, that she had decided to stay for the summer. Loki would never admit it, but he was glad for her help. Carter was almost as clever as Loki was, and they worked well together.
Loki and Carter spent the rest of the day with the two teleporters and Loki's crate of tomatoes. I decided to leave them to it, if they needed me as a test subject they would be sure to come and get me.
I didn't hear anything that afternoon, besides the occasional giggle from Carter and cackle from Loki when one of the tomatoes met a particularly gruesome end.
When I went to check in on them they were both covered from head to toe in tomato pulp, the room looking like a set from a B-rated horror movie. I was just in time to watch the last of the tomatoes explode.
"Not a success then?" I asked sympathetically.
"On the contrary," Loki's eyes sparkled bright blue in a face smeared with red, "That one made it to the other pad! This might actually work!"
Anthony Ryan was finally starting to make headway with the Jotunn tablets. Now that he could actually read them he had thrown himself into the work of sorting and cataloguing them.
One interesting find was a tablet mentioning the use of the room with the rectangular stone boxes we had found in the hold.
The sarcophagi were neither sleeping births nor burial coffins, but restoration devices, meant to speed up the already impressive healing capabilities of the Jotunn race. With their aid, even mortal wounds could be healed, if treated in time.
Loki had gone from being delighted that the mystery was finally solved to being frustrated with the puzzle that they now posed.
While he now knew their purpose, he had no idea how to make the chambers work.
Loki finally concluded his uncle must have sabotaged them beyond repair. After all, the last thing he would have wanted was for Fárbauti and his warriors to recover from the poison he had dosed them with.
It was again an interesting insight into the life of Loki's people, our people, another piece of evidence they were far from the savage and barbaric people Asgard had made them out to be.
Carter, in the meantime, was just as frustrated as Loki, not with Anthony's find, but with Anthony himself.
Obsessed with his work, he stopped coming to dinner with us, preferring to spend every waking hour with the Jotunn tablets.
"Maybe if I dress up as a Jotunn tablet he might finally notice me again," Carter grumbled when we were alone.
"He's just absorbed in his work," I tried to comfort her. "Some people get like that. There are times when I have to drag Loki off to bed or he'll be up all night reading or tinkering away at something or the other."
"But that is what I mean! At least Loki lets you distract him! Anthony practically pushed me out of his room last night!"
I put my arm around her shoulders and gave her a hug.
"I miss Danny," Carter looked a bit embarrassed by her sudden confession. "He always had time for me, no matter what movie, TV show or comic book he was obsessed with. He just tried to share it with me, he never shut me out."
"You could ring him, or send him a text?"
"I don't know… what if he doesn't like me anymore?"
I carefully hid a smile. During my regular trips to the island, it had become very clear Danny was still pining for Carter.
"You were such good friends before you started dating, I can't imagine him not liking you anymore. I'm sure he'd love to hear from you."
Carter smiled and nodded, then excused herself as she practically ran out of the room.
"I'm starting to think we need to get you a little harp and a halo," Loki grinned as he walked in.
"Oh, shush you!" I grinned back. "I just like seeing people around me happy."
"And what about poor Anthony, when he finally looks up from his work and finds Carter has gone back to her old boyfriend?" Loki teased.
"You snooze, you lose!" I wrapped my arms around his neck.
"It's a good thing I'm an insomniac then," Loki's eyes smiled into mine, "because I'd hate to lose the best thing that has ever happened to me."
"You know that will never happen," I said as I stood on my tippytoes and kissed him.
Sif returned to the hold a few days later.
"Loki Serpent-Tongue!" her voice rang through our home. Loki, Thor and I came running.
Loki got there first, by the time I arrived Sif had her sword against his throat.
"You lied!" She accused him.
"Quite likely, yes. You are going to have to be more specific about the occasion."
Loki's wry smile didn't quite reach his eyes.
"Is there something you know that we don't?" I asked Sif archly.
I liked Sif, but the way she treated Loki or how she kept calling him 'Serpent-Tongue' really rubbed the wrong way.
"Because if there is, please share it with the group instead of coming in here and swinging your sword around. Put that down."
I gathered my anima.
Sif saw the flames forming in my hand and slowly lowered her sword, but kept her eyes on Loki.
"I don't trust you, I haven't forgotten what you did." Her eyes looked straight into Loki's, who lowered his first.
"As to answer your question: Yes, I know something you don't. My accusation is not without a base.
Loki, this is your last chance to come clean. It is clear your wife is a good person who loves you and is willing to forgive you for almost everything. The least you could do in return is be honest with her."
"I…" Loki looked at me, looking as lost and confused as I felt. "I truly have no idea what Sif is talking about. I really don't."
I nodded at him, I believed him.
He gave me a grateful smile in return.
"It is a compulsion with you, isn't it, Loki? You simply cannot be honest no matter what price you'll pay for your deceit. Fine, have it your way."
Sif looked directly at me.
"Loki is lying about Beaumont. He didn't create just one replica. There are more. Before you say anything, there is no use denying it, Loki. I saw this with my own eyes."
"You must have been mistaken. Unless it was one of the times you've seen me with Beaumont. And I have not met with him since you first arrived at the hold." Loki said. "When was this?"
"Right before I killed one of them. The one wearing your face. The one calling himself Beaumont got away."
"What?" Loki frowned and rubbed his chin. "An illusion perchance? Someone glamoured to look like us?"
"Not an illusion, there was a body. It wasn't natural, it deteriorated and turned to dust in a matter of seconds."
Loki stared at Sif in horror. His eyes darted around and he shook his head.
"I didn't make another…" he whispered.
"I almost believe you, but I saw what I saw."
"We made only one!
It was a difficult process, it took numerous exceedingly rare spell components and a not insignificant amount of my life force. Even if I had wanted to, I could not have made a second!
And why would I? Beaumont and I weren't meant to coexist, there was no need for a third body."
Loki was looking as flabbergasted at Sif's revelation as I felt. He shook his head again.
Thor had been quiet throughout the whole exchange.
"If Loki Frankensteined Beaumont, can't Beaumont have Frankensteined another one later on? Or is that stupid of me?"
"Not completely stupid, no," Loki admitted. "If it worked once, why not do it again, just in case he'd face another death?
But even if he did, that body should have been lying dormant in a safe space, not walking around. The only reason Beaumont is awake is that I was clinically dead for a while which triggered the spell."
"I have been dismissing sightings by my informants because I had my eyes on Beaumont," Sif confessed. "But I have spotted a second one since. How many more could be out there?"
"How am I supposed to know?" Loki scoffed irritably. "I was asleep during most of his life, wasn't I? And it is not as if he's confided in me since my awakening.
But to answer your question: not many.
Again, if I may reiterate; the spell components needed are exceedingly rare, and the procedure required so much magic I had to use my own life force. Beaumont does not have any of his own, he shares mine. He should not have had that much life force to spare. He should not have been able to create another, let alone multiples, unless he found a better source of anima."
"What if he did?"
"It is possible, but unlikely he found something powerful enough. Everyone in the Secret World has been hoarding magic items ever since magic on Midgard began to wane."
"What if that's it?" I suddenly asked, hoping I didn't sound stupid.
"What if that's the reason magic on Midgard is waning? What if he's found a way to siphon anima and build an army of clones?"
"An army of Lokis, that's a terrifying idea," Thor rumbled.
"And, I'm sorry to have to say, darling, a ludicrous one. Just think for a moment. How likely am I to follow orders and be a good little soldier?"
"It would be like trying to herd cats," I giggled at the thought.
"Exactly," Loki winked at me.
"But it is likely the two things are connected, aren't they? Magic started to disappear shortly after Beaumont escaped the Illuminati after all." I persisted.
"Just because the timing coincided doesn't mean one is the cause of the other," Loki argued, but he did not sound convinced.
"Perhaps you are forgetting the calamity the Witches of Vanir prophesied?" Sif reminded Loki.
Loki looked down, fidgeting with his hands.
"I had not. But I'd prefer us not to jump to conclusions." he looked up. "The problem with conjecture and guesswork is that we tend to start taking it for fact, leading us to close our minds to other possibilities."
"But it feels right to me," I said softly. "It fits."
"It does," Loki admitted.
"If he isn't making an army, what would he need multiple clones for?" Thor asked.
Loki shrugged. "I'm not certain. But perhaps he got the idea after realising he and I both coexist. I'm clever, cunning, charming, powerful, creative, a shapeshifter and nigh on indestructible. An army would be folly, but a handful of replicas…"
"I wouldn't call the one I killed 'indestructible', he went down surprisingly easy." Sif corrected.
Loki began pacing back and forth, thinking out loud.
"I create Beaumont, with the idea to possess his body after death. This does not work out as planned, and in a twist of fate we end up coexisting. A fact neither Beaumont nor I are aware of until he finds me in slumber a century later.
He tries to enthral me, which ultimately fails. A fact he is aware of by now, no doubt. Both because the news of our marriage spread through the Secret World like wildfire and the fact that I failed to deliver Sorcha to him since. This is the most likely reason he hasn't contacted me, he knows I have turned and meeting with me now would put him in danger of walking into a trap."
Loki stood still and rubbed his brow.
"He creates more replicas. Creating one to have another body to possess in case he were to die makes sense, but why the others? Why make inferior copies?"
Loki began pacing again. The rest of us watched and waited for him to work it out, not able to answer his question.
"To act as decoys!" Loki answered himself.
"He knows Sif is hunting him! And perhaps to distract the organisations as well. They may not have been looking for him before, because I was right there in their sight. But if I turned on him, he can not trust I have not revealed his existence to them.
Oh, it all makes sense now! Whether they wear his face or mine, it matters not! All eyes are off Beaumont thanks to them. Who knows whether you have seen even the real Beaumont since you followed him to South America, Sif?
You could have been chasing down decoys all this time!
We have no idea where he is, he could have been working on whatever infernal plot he has planned all along!"
"I am glad to see you are finally starting to contribute, Loki," Sif said with just a hint of sarcasm. "But what I really need to know is what Beaumont's plan is, and where he is hiding!"
"Beaumont has not given up on his plans of either ruling Asgard, or if he's denied that option, ensuring its destruction. His pact with Halja must be to further his goals. He must see some benefit in aligning with them. I wish I knew what he was up to…" Loki admitted.
"I feel like I'm missing something, a piece of the puzzle that should be obvious to me. He is me after all.
But I don't think the same way he does. Not anymore."
"That's a good thing," Thor reminded him. "You've come so far, you've worked so hard to be the person you are today. You are the better version."
"Perhaps, but I can't help but have a bad feeling about all of this. I agree with Sif, it would help if we had even the slightest inkling of what he was planning."
"Whatever it is, we'll face it together," I said softly, taking his hand into mine. Loki smiled, then started pacing again.
"We keep focussing on Beaumont, but we are forgetting all about his partner in crime, Halja. And her mother, Hel. Despite their troubled relationship, Halja is very much her mother's creature.
Perhaps that is where the answer lies. Whatever they are plotting, Asgard will be Beaumont's promised reward. But what does Hel want?
Hel wishes to rule Midgard, to turn it into a skeletal wasteland filled with nothing but death.
To accomplish this, she needs not only access to this realm, she had that via the portal she created after all, but vast quantities of magic to keep her undead creatures animate…"
Loki stood still again, his hand against his mouth, a look of horror on his face.
"I think what may be causing the waning of magic, and it isn't just Beaumont and his clones," Loki said, his voice faint.
Do you remember the skeletal dragon we fought in Thor's place of power?"
"The dracolich?" I nodded, not quite following what Loki was getting at.
"It drained Thor's Place of Power with the amount of anima that was needed to maintain its existence. Imagine what the creation and maintenance of multiple creatures like that would require."
It felt as if an icy hand was clutched around my heart. Loki's eyes reflected the horror I felt.
"Hel is preparing to invade Midgard. They are creating an army of the undead!" I whispered.
Loki nodded. "And Beaumont is hiding their operation, both from the organisations and from Heimdall's prying eyes!"
"I am going to have to report this to the AllFather," Sif said. "Perhaps there is something he hasn't shared with us that can help us find them."
"And I'm going to have to talk to the Templars."
Loki shook his head.
"They need to know, Loki, this is too big a thing to keep between us," I argued.
"Then I'll come with you."
"No, you can't. They'll want to keep you, examine you, and test you just like they did before once they know the truth. And they'll want to know the exact procedure you used to create Beaumont. I think it is better if that knowledge doesn't get shared. I will take Thor, we can both honestly say we have no idea how you did it."
"And what am I supposed to do? Sit around in the hope Beaumont might still contact me? Because that is getting less likely by the minute!" Loki argued hotly.
I took his hands into mine. I knew it was a hard thing to ask of him, but it would be better if she heard the story from Loki himself.
"You are going to have to talk to Jessie.
Beaumont's clones could easily approach her and trick her into believing they are you. We need to keep her safe.
It's time she knows the truth."