Chapter Sixty-Two: Haunted
Darla awoke that morning feeling paranoid. It wasn't the same borderline compulsive paranoia she typically felt, either. No wondering if she'd left the faucet running or forgotten to lock her front door. The day before, she'd skipped out of work without reporting back to Fury at the end of the day. It's okay, she'd thought as she clicked the unlock button on her fob over and over, he never said I had to.
The rest of her day, after Tony's freakish outburst, had been fun. There was no other way to describe it, and any attempt to elaborate would take from the simplicity of the concept. Bruce continued working, jumping from one project to the next as the mood struck him. He had her help in small ways, holding things steady and noting color changes in chemical reactions. They were all things he could have done himself, or likely had a machine to do for him. In any case, she felt useful and valued and like she wasn't wasting her time. He was nice, as he always was, and she was even able to forget Tony's vile comment for a while. Not ever for too long, her anxiety brought it back up if she got too comfortable.
Bruce went to grab something to eat around three o'clock, and she declined to join him. She had a hard time eating around new people as it was, and she'd sat at breakfast with Fury for so long she must have eaten two full meals. Bruce let her hang out in the lab, saying he'd be back before long, and asking her not to touch anything. While he was gone, she sat perfectly still and was forced to think about what was bothering her.
At first she thought it made sense that Tony was upset and was looking to hurt the people who'd witnessed his pain. The comment seemed far too pointed for that, though. Her skin began to crawl-what had Loki done while he was pretending to be her? She imagined all of the most horrifying things first, having to talk herself down from each and every one of them. Loki wouldn't have gone so far as to flirt with Bruce, would he? Why would he have needed to do that? But while that door was open, she thought-oh god, what if he slept with him? That would explain why Bruce was being so nice to her. Then she got caught up wondering how Loki's shapeshifting trick worked-did he change his body to be anatomically correct? The worst part was that she could never ask. Any sort of leading up to it would only result in more questions-questions she didn't have the answers to.
When he came back, she had worked up into a mental panic but hadn't moved an inch. They went on doing what they had been, except there was a tension there she hadn't felt before those thoughts occurred to her. Does he think he's seen me naked? Have we kissed? And in between these maddening thoughts- Shut up Darla, it's just as likely that nothing happened and he's just a nice person. But if his hand chanced upon hers to guide it into position, she would blush and go quiet like a schoolgirl with a crush.
At the very least, he was right about Marista. Darla caught her staring, eyebrows jammed into a sharp v-shape, time after time after time. She didn't seem to care about Darla noticing her. It was only when Bruce looked up and met her eyes, then waving innocently, that she stopped.
Darla had skipped out without seeing Fury because she had no interest in explaining her day's chain of events to him. She also felt like her more negative thoughts would come up if she could think of nothing else to say. Even though I think Loki might have fucked Dr. Banner while he was disguised as me didn't feel like something that would realistically come out of her mouth, that was a testament to exactly how little faith she had in herself.
She got up, anxious-her permanent state-and thought she should have gotten everything over with yesterday. Now, she was going to have to explain herself when she got there. She'd only delayed her own misery and made no progress dealing with her feelings about it all.
Just as she'd predicted, Fury was hovering by the surveillance room doorway. He motioned for her to follow him the moment she turned into sight, and she trailed him down the hallway with at least eight feet between them. She made no effort to catch up. He took her to his office and shut the door. "You left in a rush yesterday," he said.
"Oh, uh," she swallowed the urge to start making excuses.
"Didn't get anywhere with Stark?"
"He left."
"He does that. So you were assisting Dr. Banner?"
"Right."
"Stark isn't here yet, in fact I'm not sure where he is. Are you alright with helping in the lab again? I heard you did well."
"You did? I did? I did well? I mean, I wasn't doing anything important really, just-did Bruce, ah, Dr. Banner, say that? That I did well, I mean?"
Fury raised an eyebrow. "Why are you so nervous?"
She cracked. "You told me to do something and I didn't do it. I messed up."
"Darla, if I was mad at you, you'd know it. Please don't give yourself unnecessary stress like this. You deserve to roam and get a feel for this place, so if you'd like, please head up to the lab. If at any point you think of something you'd rather be doing, you have my explicit permission to follow your instincts. In fact, consider that my only order for you. Indefinitely."
"Okay. Thank you, sir."
Feeling reassured, she headed to the K elevator and boarded it. Once on the correct floor, she looked for the mosaic. Her steps were solid, more confident than the day before. While walking in between the labs, she peered into the left hand side. The same team of technicians and scientists were hard at work, doing roughly the same things as the day before. Marista watched her walk, and they locked eyes when she reached the doors. Darla held her badge in front of the sensor and it flashed green to admit her into the lab on the right. As she pushed the door open, she flashed the blonde girl a smile.
Elsewhere
Alicia handed them a binder full of available properties and asked them to describe exactly what they were looking for. Since Eve had had no time to think about this, she let Loki do the talking and perused through the collection without hearing a word they were saying. The houses were all beautiful-almost impossibly so. It made it hard for any one place to stand out. She would turn the page and think something like, Oh, only one balcony? The last one had three. Ideally, their place would be the exact opposite of her house in New York. The only requirement there was that it shouldn't have a gaping hole through the center.
"Ah!" She exclaimed, and then thrust the heavy binder down on Alicia's desk. A floral bobblehead wiggled furiously, tick-tick-ticking in plastic excitement. "This one!" It was a two story house, mint green with white trim. The beach was so close that it was visible in the photo-plus it had an enclosed pool and jacuzzi tucked away in a greenhouse-like annex. A rounded tower extended above the second floor, with its own cone-shaped roof. The roof itself was paneled, with a slight angle, and dark grey.
"Rats," Alicia said.
"What?" Loki asked.
"I can find you one just like it, I promise! But this one has been sold."
"Then why is it in your book?" Eve bit her lip, eyeing up the photo longingly.
"It sold really recently. I forgot to take it out. It's a shame, it took a while to get anyone to take it. Not sure why, it's beautiful."
"We can give you more than they paid," Loki lied, testing to see if it was negotiable.
Alicia sighed. "Well now you're just trying to break my heart, Mr. Howl."
Loki snatched up the binder. Eve noted how heavy things looked like they were made of styrofoam when he picked them up, like they were stage props without a realistic weight and he was bad at pretending. He noted the address of the house. "We ought to get going," he said suddenly.
"What?" Eve said.
"So soon?" Alicia objected. "I promise I can find you a home even more lovely than this one!"
"That's quite alright. Come on, Marigold."
Eve forgot this meant he was speaking to her. She was heartbroken about the house, even though it felt foolish to be. She had been so sure nothing would resonate with her, in fact she'd been treating the binder like a chore. Loki stood and stared her down until she mirrored him. Alicia was agitated and experiencing some form of whiplash given the quickness of their visit. Without shaking their hands as they left, she said, "Feel free to come back if you develop a serious interest."
Eve said, "Feel free to take that unavailable property out of your binder."
Out on the street, Eve managed to make it half a block without saying anything. Then she glanced at him and he looked so damn casual.
"What the hell?!"
"Language." He covered Sasha's ears with his palms-which the dog promptly licked.
"Why did we go to a realtor? Why did we leave so quickly?"
"You wanted that house, right? Probably the only property in the lot that was sold so recently-I'm not surprised the most challenging prospect caught your eye."
"Accidentally. I could have found something else."
"I saw the way you looked at the photo. This trip is about wanting things and taking them-so that's what we're gonna do."
Eve raised one eyebrow. "We're going to steal a house?"
"No, not so ridiculous. We're going to make it available."
She stopped walking and he went on without her-so far that Sasha started yipping. "Loki, wait. We're not going to, like, kill them, right?"
"Maybe we shouldn't be so far apart if you're going to blurt out something like that."
She closed the gap between them. "Well?"
"We'll have to assess the situation first, obviously. But it's an option."
Eve shrugged. Maybe, in person, the house wouldn't be worth killing anyone over anyway. Loki got into a car, which turned out not to be a taxi, and willed the driver to take them where they wanted to go. Once there, they stepped out and felt the sea breeze on their cheeks. The un-taxi pulled off, leaving them alone with the chirping gulls and pleasant sun. Sand spun around their shoes on the paved street. The house was in the distance, a long walkway leading up to it with stones placed on either side. There was a slight incline to it as well. It was even more lovely in person, which seemed impossible.
"It's rather nice," Loki muttered and started up the walk.
"It's wonderful," she agreed, matching his pace without question. It wasn't until they were three-quarters of the way through that she wondered what his plan was. With the front door looming so close, it seemed too late to ask, especially after going along with it so easily. At first it seemed like Loki was looking around, getting a better idea of the property. Then he knocked on the front door. Eve's heart jumped. Why would you- why would you-
The woman who answered was short and pretty, but with far too much makeup on. She was blonde, but not naturally, and the yellowish color clashed with her overly tanned skin. She looked straight through them and out into the yard. "Dana!" She called, turning her head briefly back into the house. "You heard that knocking, right?"
"Yep," came a faint voice from another room.
"No one's out here."
"Alright."
The woman, looking irritated, slammed the door.
"You knock this time," Loki said, resulting in a sour look from Eve. "I don't want you to feel like you're not contributing." With a small sigh, she rapped her knuckles on the door.
In a few seconds, it flung open. "Dana! You heard that knocking, right?"
"Yep."
She slammed the door again.
"This woman is so shrill," Loki noted before knocking a third time.
This time, the woman stormed out the front door. Loki and Eve parted to make room for her. Her strappy, gold heels clicked on the path and she looked around furiously. She scoured the front garden and slipped on her sunglasses to gaze out at the street, looking for the children who must be responsible for the prank. While the door was left open, Mr. And Mrs. Howl strolled right in.
Dana, an attractive middle aged man, was lounging on a sectional couch in the living room. He was well dressed and looked bored out of his mind, flicking through web pages on his iPad.
"It's beautiful in here," Eve said and trailed her eyes along the small details that made the place amazing. It was done up in warm, rich colors with dark wood furniture and modern embellishments. She moved from room to room and could have cried with how much she loved every last thing about it. The second floor was the same, with plush, comfortable cushions wherever they fit, bookshelves built right into the walls and a Jacuzzi tub in the bathroom. She moved through the space without worrying if Loki was behind her. He was, with Sasha cradled in his arms. They neared the edge of the floor and came to a door with a long glass panel in the center. Eve stood five feet or so away, staring directly through it. It looked like the rainforest was on the other side.
When she opened the door and passed through, she forgot Loki was with her entirely. She felt his hands on her shoulders and twitched, jolted out of a private fantasy. "Give me a minute," she said.
"What?"
She turned to face him. "Give me a minute alone." He backed up and shut the door, still able to see her through the clean glass.
She was standing on a balcony that stretched out to her left and right, connecting with the walls on either side. There were lounge chairs and small tables and a set of matching Hawaiian print towels hanging over the railing. Underneath her was the pool, and it was closer to a lagoon than anything else. There were plants everywhere, vines that crawled up the sunny enclosure, lily pads in the pool itself. It was shaped like a natural body of water. Lights under the surface, and above it, shone in ambient purples, reds and greens. She could hear birds, though that must have been a recording. It was the most wonderful place she'd ever been. She stood and stared for a while, to the point where the lighting changed with the sunset outside.
Loki was curious, and looked at everything by jumping his sight into the room with her. He was pleased as well, mostly just that she was pleased.
Eve let him in and took his hand in hers. "Look," she returned to the railing, dragging him beside her and smiling. He refrained from telling her he already had looked, and let her be excited to show him this place. "I need this."
"It's all yours."
"What do we do?"
"Well, you wanted to kill them, right?" He smiled.
"Let's make it as clean as possible. I don't want the police snooping around all the time."
For a split second, during which time his happiness was impenetrable, she fooled him. "Let's assess this situation," he responded with a partially deflated grin.
"Oh, you couldn't play along just a second longer?"
"Plenty of time for playing when we get this sorted out."
They headed downstairs, where the couple were shouting at each other in the living room. They lingered in the doorway and listened for a while.
"I don't care if it was just kids, alright?" The woman was shrieking, like her husband was deaf. "You always act like what I have to say is a waste of your time!"
"To be fair, Dana, it usually is a waste of my time." Still, the man looked bored out of his skull. His voice was calm and cool and his eyes still focused on the iPad he was holding.
"Wait-I thought his name was Dana." Eve cocked her head to the side, wondering if she'd heard right.
The woman swat the iPad out of her his grip. It bounced on the carpet but didn't break. "Will you give me some attention, please? Just this once, maybe, you could give active listening a try?" He was staring at the device on the ground and moved to pick it up. "Dana!" She yowled, her horrible voice bordering on animalistic.
"Oh shit, they're both named Dana. Ew," Eve scraped her tongue with her top teeth and grimaced.
The husband picked up his iPad and set it on the table. "I don't want it to get ruined, you see, I'll be the one paying to replace it if that happens. Unless you want to get a job?"
She laughed a forced, low laugh. "Right, because you married me for my work ethic." Both of her hands snapped to her hips. "If I did get a job-and I fucking could, Dana-all it would do is make you feel less necessary. We all know how you hate to be challenged."
"You think you could go out into the world and find a job that pays like mine? With no education? That only proves how little you understand finances. And who is this we? Like I care what you and your homemaker friends think about me."
Eve had been enjoying the petty fight up until this point. Now, when she looked into the wife's face, she saw all the tell tale signs of sadness and hopelessness and felt a sting of pain. "This is bumming me out," she said. Loki acknowledged with a shrug. Eve took a step back and knocked into an end table, jostling a lamp so that it fell onto the hardwood in the hallway behind. Its delicate blue base shattered, making a fake-sounding hollow ceramic noise.
Dana and Dana shot their eyes over to the lamp, the wife gasping as she did. He looked alarmed and she looked scared. Eve stepped out of their line of sight, even though she knew they couldn't see her. She looked to Loki and his expression hadn't changed.
"How did that happen?" The wife was quiet, her forehead furrowed into creases.
"I'm not sure," the husband replied. His tone had changed, like he was trying not to upset her. "Sometimes things fall."
"And sometimes there are knocks at the door and no one is there…"
"Come on, Dana, don't think about it too hard." The husband went back to his tablet, skimming an article about a restaurant opening.
The wife, meanwhile, stared at the broken lamp with unease. Loki dipped into her mind and found superstition after superstition. He peeled the auditory spell off his fingertips and scraped his nails along the wall to his left. Both Dana's twitched.
"Hmm," Loki mused with a smile.
"Do you have an idea?"
"I do. Maybe the reason this house took so long to sell is that it's haunted."
"You believe in ghosts?"
"What I believe isn't relevant." He drew a slow spiral on the wall with his nail. The wife pulled her knees up onto the couch with her and worry lines plagued her face. "I'm thinking about what she believes."
Loki and Eve followed the couple as they moved around the house. The wife was tentative, and didn't head to the second floor at all. She hesitated to leave her husband's side, but hated to look clingy and follow him if he wandered away. He left at one point to get some food from the kitchen, and Loki went with him, leaving Eve behind with the wife. Every time the husband shut a cupboard, Loki would reopen it. The husband thought he was being forgetful, and would close the cupboards more assertively with a puzzled look on his face. He went through the process of making a sandwich, by the time he was done it was loaded up with all of his favorite things. Then, as he put the mayonnaise back in the fridge, Loki snatched it right off the plate and cloaked it, eating it himself.
The wife was tapping her long nails on one of her gaudy costume rings. She kept looking to the kitchen doorway for her husband to come back. The TV was on but provided no distraction for her. Eve almost felt guilty for what they were about to do. Almost. She tried to brainstorm spooky ideas that didn't involve breaking anything. She tried whispering, "Dana," long and drawn out like a ghoul would, then remembered they couldn't hear her. Since she had no control over the auditory spell, they couldn't hear any noises she made. Not even her footsteps. She stood and moved next to Dana, feeling anxious despite there being no threat to her. Impulsively, she reached out and brushed the back of her neck with one finger. She spun around and yelped, covering her neck with her hands in an instant. Within seconds, she was talking herself down, muttering under her breath. "It was just your hair, okay? God fucking damn it, you get scared so easily, Dana, take a breath."
Her husband returned with an empty plate in his hands. "Did you take my sandwich?" He asked as Loki passed by him with it half-eaten in his hand. He offered it to Eve and she took an enormous bite.
"No, I didn't."
"You think you're hilarious, don't you? I know we were fighting earlier, but I can't believe you'd be so childish! What did you do with it?"
"Dana, I didn't take your sandwich, I haven't moved from this spot." She was still shaking from being touched.
"Why do you look so guilty?"
"I thought I felt something touch the back of my neck…"
"Get over yourself, doll." His hunger was not assisting his problem solving skills.
"Probably nothing, but-"
Loki drew one of the curtains open very slowly. The rings holding it up scraped lightly on the rod and the night sky's navy light invited itself in. The wife stood up and ran to her husband, they both stared and didn't know what to say.
"I do not like this," the wife shuddered and clung to his arm.
"It's probably just the wind, dear."
"Oh, for the love of god, Dana, this is how it starts! In every scary movie ever! Up to and including the part where my fucking husband doesn't believe me. There's someone else here with us, I can feel it!"
The husband put his arm around her shoulders and looked into her eyes. "You're just scared, dear. That's what that feeling is."
Eve hated the way he looked at her, like she was a child who didn't know any better. She moved to the curtains and yanked on the fabric, pulling the rod itself off of the wall. Dana and Dana screamed in unison. When their shocked wailing died down, Eve could hear Loki to her left, laughing.
