Chapter 9

Ember spent most of the next day avoiding the mini avengers at school. But considering the fact that she was placed in almost all the same classes as them it was kind of hard. She did her best to avoid the Loki questions when they did talk to her. All and all, she was glad that the day had ended; she hadn't gotten a lot of sleep the night before and so she had been dead most of the day. But when she got home from the bus ride, she soon found out that Niki wasn't home. She marched in and found Loki sitting in the living room, book on his lap and a mug of Earl Grey Tea on the coaster.

"Hey Lokster, where's Niki?" Ember asked, closing the door behind her. He looked up at her, slightly annoyed that this mortal had interrupted his reading. Instead of blowing up though, he sighed. He was going to have to get used to her at some point. "I don't know. She hasn't come home yet."

Ember stopped dead in her tracks and looked at him. "She's not home?"

"That's what I said, are you deaf?"

Ignoring the deaf comment, Ember ran up to her room, swiping the phone off of the charger. As soon as she was up there she dumped her stuff off and dialed her sister's number. Pressing the phone up to her ear, she listened to it as it ringed that irritating monotone ring. Finally after a minute, Niki picked up.

"This is Niki."

"Where are you?!" Ember near shouted.

There was an audible sigh from the other end. "I'm working late tonight so it'll just be you and Loki for a while."

"Are you trying to end me?! He'll kill me before you get home!"

"Ember!" Niki snapped. "He's reforming himself, encourage it! Please child, get along. I've got to go. Bye."

"Wait! Niki!" Ember screamed in the phone but the line had gone dead. "Great… now I'm left alone with the troubled deity with daddy problems…"

Trudging down the stairs and grumbling about something, she walked into the living room where Loki was. "Loki, Niki won't be back until late tonight so it'll just be you and me."

Loki growled and rubbed his eyes with his hand. This is not what he wanted. Ember was annoying to him and he wanted little to do with her. Still… she stood up for him yesterday. Heck, she took on Iron Man and Hawkeye for him. That was kind of her. "Great…"

Ember rolled her eyes and walked over to him. "So what's the matter with you?"

Loki went back to his book, ignoring her question. He didn't feel like talking to her, not wanting to encourage her babbling. Then Ember just plopped down next to him and snuggled up closer. "What are you doing?!" he asked, clearly surprised by her actions.

"What are you reading?"

"Why do you want to know?"

She looked at him and arched an eyebrow, "Okay since you don't want to talk to me then read to me."

"WHAT?!"

"You heard me. Read."

He stared at her and was about to shake his head but something inside him snapped and he sighed. "Fine, but only a chapter."

Niki came home that cold evening, huddled in her big coat. Snow had begun to fall and it was actually sticking to the ground. Her breath was a small puff of grey fog in the air and her cheeks were red. Snowflakes stuck to her eyelashes and hair. Finally, she reached the front door. The drive way was actually a considerable length away from the door. Fumbling to get her keys out of her pocket, Niki realized there wasn't any screaming like she was expecting. That's odd, she thought, I would expect those two to be at each other's throat by now.

The door opened and Niki stepped in, gently stamping her feet on the threshold to get the loose snow off of her flats. Slowly, her nose turned back to its normal color and Niki was de-numbing her fingers over the heating vent next to the door. Where are those two? She wondered. She was at least expecting Ember to run up and hide behind her, away from the wrath of Loki. But that never happened. A little concerned for her little sister and the deity, Niki stepped into the living room and what she found surprised her.

Ember and Loki were sleeping. Not just sleeping but Ember was snuggled up to Loki. Her head was on his shoulder and Loki had a book in his lap and his head was leaning slightly on Ember's. It was cute. Too cute. Niki laughed softly. She decided to be a good older sister and landlord and draped a blanket over the two. And then, she decided to be a naughty one. She grabbed her camera and took several pictures of the two.

Black mail.