Chapter 4: Unfamiliar Surroundings

March 5th 2011

So, I nearly panicked today. I had gone out with Sadie for coffee and to do a bit of shopping which was great actually because I definitely needed to get out and get some fresh air. It was a beautiful day, so why waste it sitting around at home on a weekend? By the time I got home I was in a good mood; I said Hi to my dad and wandered upstairs to my bedroom. I closed the door behind me and what do I notice? The damn drawer to my desk was open and my journal was sitting on top of my desk!

I didn't know what to do or what to think, all I knew was that someone had been in my room and had gone through my things. After I put the notebook away in its rightful place I went downstairs to ask my dad if he had been in my room while I was gone. It was a stupid notion and even he thought it a bit strange to assume such a thing. Of course he hadn't been in my room, he had no reason to.

There is only one explanation, one that I desperately do NOT want to acknowledge. There is no possible reason for my house to me haunted, I have lived here for almost eight years and before last month, nothing even remotely paranormal happened to me.

Maybe Loki is real. Maybe he truly does exist and is having a grand ol' time getting under my skin this past month or so. But why? What is his reasoning? I'll have to try and figure that out the next time I see him, assuming that there will be a next time.

Sadie has told me that I should get back into drawing and draw Loki so that I could show her. She was pretty adamant about it today when I went to go see her, and well, maybe I should. I haven't drawn anything in quite some time so I think it might be time that I get back into it, freshen up my skills a bit. It wouldn't be so bad though if I didn't have to draw Loki, I feel so terribly pressured to do so and it doesn't help that I feel like I'm being watched all the damned time.

Ugh..I need to find my drawing supplies.

Chelsea sighed and closed her journal, placed it back in the drawer and sat back in her seat. She turned around in her chair to take a quick look about her room. It was a bit untidy, no more than usual. Her bed was unmade, the blankets tangled up on top of her mattress. A few of her stuffed animals were stacked up against the headboard, a few others littered the floor along with a few articles of clothing near a stack of books that sat up against her bookshelf.

Her bookshelf happened to be a whole other matter indeed. Old notebooks and binders littered the shelves, each binder full of old school assignments and projects from classes she had in the past. A few were full of drawings she had done, some she was very proud of but have yet felt the need to go through them since sticking them there on the shelf. Chelsea really couldn't remember when the last time she went through them just for the sake of looking through them.

With a gentle sigh she stood up and wandered over to her shelf. She scanned over the binders and various note books she had as she tried to figure out where she could have put her drawing pad. There was one she could remember having, one with sturdy, pristine paper. One that she knew had plenty of blank pages left for her to draw in. If only she knew where exactly she had put it.

Before she got to work, Chelsea grabbed her Ipod, set it on the dock and turned it on, the volume on low. She then began pulling things off of her shelves; books, binders and notebooks. She would go through everything if she truly had to after she threw it all on her bed. And once everything was sitting on her bed she stood to her feet and gazed at all that she had, hands placed firmly on her hips.

"This is insane.." With a light chuckle she got to work, opening each binder and quickly shuffling through the contents. This was absolutely insane, there were notebooks inside folders inside binders, papers strewn about and a good majority of them bent and folded. It took Chelsea about a good fifteen minutes to go through each binder and each folder and by the time she was done she came up with nothing. She nearly collapsed on her bed in frustration when she realized that all she did was for naught. Quickly, she put everything back on her shelf and then went to her closet. She threw open the double doors and began to rummage through a few boxes that sat on the floor.

Chelsea swore she spent most of her night trying to find a specific sketch book, but when she did finally find it she practically rejoiced. Her room was a bit more in tatters now, but she didn't care. She grabbed the box of colored pencils she found in a box inside her closet and sat down at her desk and got to drawing. It was a bit weird at first putting pencil to paper, but just like Sadie had proclaimed, it was just like riding a bike. Everything came easy to her and soon she had a pretty good sketch of Loki's face sitting there on paper.

It was just as she had predicted earlier that day when she proclaimed to Sadie that it would feel very odd drawing Loki. She had felt the familiar tension around her shoulders as she sketched out the God's face, could feel the presence of someone standing behind her, gazing over her shoulder as she worked. And now that the sketch was more or less finished, it felt even more strange as she gazed into those penetrating eyes. It was as if Loki was glowering right back at her.

Chelsea marveled at the detail she added, surprised by how much she could actually remember from just a few dreams. She never really knew why she gave up drawing; it wasn't really like she lost interest. It was more like she didn't have the time or felt the need to even pick up a pencil and a drawing pad. But now…Now that she had reason to draw maybe she could get back into it and advance her skills. Loki could very easily become her muse.

With a yawn, Chelsea placed her drawing pad back down on her desk and stretched out in her seat. Her eyes were growing tired and it was no doubt very late. One look at the clock on her Ipod dock told her that it was nearing 3:30 in the morning. Quickly, she put everything away and tidied up her desk a bit before standing to her feet, stretching out and yawning once more.

The tension in the room was still very much present and Chelsea tried her hardest to ignore it no matter how difficult. She was certain it had to be Loki despite how insane it sounded, it was the only logical explanation she could come up with. She would have to ask him about it when she saw him next in her dreams. Though, when she thought about it, it would be so much easier if he would just show himself to her in person. Maybe then it would be irrefutable proof that her dreams were real and that he was real. There were so many things she wished to ask of him, so many requests…

Chelsea pulled back the covers on her bed and climbed in before reaching over and shutting off her bedside table lamp. She snuggled under the sheets and curled up, sleep overtaking her almost instantly.

The sound of a gentle wind rustling through tree leaves was the first thing Chelsea could recall. She allowed her eyes a few moments to adjust to the darkness and once they had, she could make out the trees that stood towering above her. She gazed upwards and did her best to peer through the rustling leaves above and found that it was indeed still nighttime, the stars above just barely peeking through.

How had she gotten here? Chelsea couldn't at all remember when she climbed out of bed and ventured outside and into the woods, and for what reason? It had to be a dream, besides, as far as she knew there were no woods this dense where she lived.

Taking a few tentative steps, she realized that she was still very much dressed in her pajamas which only consisted of a blue tank top and shorts. Her feet were bare and she shivered when a gust of wind took her. Yeah, this was definitely a dream. She would have had to have been pretty insane to come out here in the middle of night with barely a stitch of clothing on.

Chelsea continued on through the woods, the light of the moon and the stars lighting her way a bit. That was another strange observation she made, the moon and the stars were a bit uncharacteristically bright out for being in the city, or at least close enough to the city. More proof that this was just a dream.

"God…Where the hell am I?" She didn't know how long she had been walking for and she feared that she was lost. As it appeared there seemed to be no end to these woods, not even a small clearing.

Another wind chill shook her and she wrapped her arms around herself as she continued onwards, but a sudden snapping of branches behind her stopped her in her tracks. Chelsea's heart began to beat erratically in her chest as she feared the worst. She wasn't alone in these woods, at least not anymore, there was something in here with her and the presence wasn't at all what she was used to. It was darker, more menacing.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts and to quell any fears she had of possibly be stalking by a wild animal, Chelsea picked up the pace and continued on. She climbed over fallen logs, pushed her way through bushes and low tree branches. She cried out as she tripped over a rock and fell to her knees in the dirt in her haste. She took a moment to catch her breath but the sound of crunching twigs and dried leaves drew her attention and she bolted.

Chelsea didn't know which way she should go to get away from whatever was chasing her, but she knew that she had to find some sort of shelter. She continued to run, her breathing labored and the sound of her heart beat pounding in her ears. There was a loud growl coming from close behind her and Chelsea cursed loudly, her legs working overtime in a failing attempt to keep herself ahead of the monstrous creature that hunted her.

It was then as Chelsea was running for her life that she heard a very strange sort of hum off in the distance that was accompanied by an even stranger pulse of energy. She had no idea what the hell it was, but for whatever reason she knew that it was beckoning to her, telling her – without actual words – to come towards it. Well, if whatever it was helped her find a safe place then she was going to take it.

The creature was gaining on her, she could hear it snarling and growling loudly as its feet pounded into the earth behind her, its hot breath blowing down the back of her neck. With a cry Chelsea pushed forward and shoved everything out of the way until finally she came to a clearing and in the middle of that clearing there sat a door that was pulsing with the energy she felt earlier, the aura green. She hurried towards it, the muscles in her legs aching something awful the closer she got to the door. Once Chelsea finally reached the door she grabbed onto the handle, pulled it open and rushed inside. She slammed the door closed behind her and drew the latch, locking out the monster that proceeded to scratch violently at the door.

Chelsea backed away, her eyes never once leaving the shaking door. She feared that the creature was going to succeed in breaking inside; she feared being ripped to shreds even though she knew this was nothing more than a strange dream and at any minute it would change. However, none of her fears came to fruition. The creature on the outside of the door eventually gave up and wondered away.

Chelsea breathed a sigh of relief and turned around so that she could face the inside of the room she found herself in. And when she did her eyes widened. This room was huge! It was a sitting room by the looks of it; a cabinet full of liquor against the wall to her right, a fireplace surrounded by a couch, two chairs and a small coffee table to the wall on her left. Up ahead stood two very large glass doors that lead outside to some sort of patio or deck and in front of those doors sat a small dining table with two chairs.

The room was quite lovely really what with its shining hard wood floors covered in plush green rugs with gold trim. The fireplace was made of stone and the polished wood – upon closer inspection – had very intricate little details and symbols engraved into it. There were book shelves full of books that lined the walls where ever there happened to be space and there were even more books spilling out onto the floor in piles.

"Wow! Whoever lives here must seriously love books…" Chelsea commented to herself as she took a few tentative steps further into the room. She wrapped her arms about herself and eyed the fireplace, the heat of the fire palpable from where she was standing and without second thought she walked over and sat down on the sofa in front of it.

She closed her eyes for a brief moment and sighed with contentment. The heat of the fire felt amazing, so much better than the cold from outside. In fact, if she felt so inclined she could probably lie down on this sofa and fall into a deep sleep right here in front of this fire. Yeah, that sounded like a lovely idea, but before Chelsea could allow the dream to drift off into something else, a voice right beside her caught her attention, startling her.

"Would you care for a glass of wine?"

Chelsea jolted in her seat, her eyes opening with a gasp as she turned her head to see who was there. The first thing to catch her eye was the offered glass of red wine held out to her; the next thing was the man who was offering it to her. Loki.

"I…" Chelsea took in a deep, steadying breath and nodded her head gently before taking the glass. She held it in both hands as he walked in front of her, taking a seat in the chair to her right. She observed him carefully as he did so, taking note that he wasn't wearing any of the golden armor that she was used to seeing him wear. Instead, he wore a simple dark green robe that was loosely tied at the waist and a pair of black sleeping trousers.

Chelsea's cheeks flushed when he sat down, his legs spread wide and the robe opening up a bit more in his relaxed position, exposing a generous amount of muscled flesh. She focused her gaze on the glass of wine and took a huge gulp of it. She grimaced lightly at the flavor and Loki chuckled. "I assume this is the first time you've ever consumed anything alcoholic?"

She nodded her head and brushed her hair back. "Yeah, it is. I've never really given drinking much thought before." She gave Loki a gentle smile and sighed quietly, her gaze wondering over the room and its entirety. "So, this is new."

"This room?" Loki asked, taking a sip from his own glass of wine before setting it down on the coffee table in front of him. He sat back and rested his hands on the chair's armrests.

"Yeah, where are we?" Chelsea continued to look around, her eyes focused on the details in the Victorian-esque crown molding. It was all so very beautiful, it was hard to believe that her mind alone is capable of producing such detail.

"These are my chambers. In fact, my bed chamber is just beyond that entrance there..." He turned and pointed to the archway directly behind him and to his right. It was draped with a green curtain that was used as a door separating the two rooms.

Chelsea nearly sputtered on a second sip of her wine and looked at Loki in disbelief. "You're kidding right?"

The God shook his head, a grin tugging on the corners of his mouth. "No, actually I am not. However, this is only an illusion." He rose to his feet then and stood beside the fireplace, his fingers tracing the designs etched into the wood. "An illusion depicting what my chambers look like in Asgard; all the way down to the very last detail."

"Impressive." She commented, a light smile on her face. Chelsea took a brief moment to simply observe Loki, to take in every single detail of his visage as she could. She could use all the detail she could get in order to finish the drawing she started and perhaps work on a few newer ones. But, aside from all that, Chelsea couldn't help but to simply admire Loki. With Sadie's poking and prodding, Chelsea couldn't help but notice just how beautiful this man truly was. She never thought that a man could even be beautiful, but here he was, standing before her in all his flawless glory.

"Oh, it's nothing really." Loki turned to Chelsea then with a grin. Oh and that smile… "You have yet to see anything truly impressive."

Chelsea broke eye contact with him and glanced down at the glass she was still holding in her lap. She smiled to herself and tried desperately to hide the blush that was beginning to creep up her neck. She took another sip of her wine – finding that the flavor of it wasn't really all that distasteful – and glanced back up at Loki. "Loki, why am I here?"

"You had questions for me, did you not?" He asked, moving back to sit down in the chair he had previously occupied.

Chelsea blinked a few times in disbelief. "I…How did you-?"

Loki laughed. And what a peculiar laugh it was too. It wasn't any sort of laugh Chelsea has ever heard, no, not with the way his head fell back and his tongue poked out ever so slightly. And it wasn't even the usual 'Hahaha' either; it was more like 'Heheheh'. It was hard for her to describe but all she knew was that she wanted to see more of that laugh. It was real, genuine, and Chelsea got the feeling that it wasn't often that Loki laughed like that.

"Why, your journal of course." He grinned.

Chelsea's eyes widened and she nearly shot out of her seat at that revelation. "So that was you that left my journal sitting on the top of my desk!"

Loki's grin only widened at that and he lifted his hands from the armrests as if in surrender. "Guilty as charged. Oh, and that's not the only way I can get information out of you. Whenever I feel so inclined, I can peer into your thoughts." He winked at her.

Chelsea nearly paled at that thought, her heart stuttering in her chest. She nearly panicked, a wave of uncertainty washed over her as well as the blush that tinted her cheeks. Oh God…Had he heard her thoughts earlier when he was standing right in front of her at the fireplace? She prayed that he didn't, but for whatever reason, the wink that he sent her told her otherwise.

Loki laughed again when she didn't reply straight away. "You fluster so very easily. I find myself rather amused at the fact that I have that sort of effect on you."

Chelsea merely glared at the God as she tried to school her features, to calm the heat currently rising in her cheeks. However, she wasn't doing a very good job at it. "Yes, well, enough of that. Please, I still have questions you know." However, there was a part of her that really didn't want Loki to stop doing what he was doing and that included him suggesting he knew her inner thoughts and the way he would gaze her. And not only just on her face, but also when he first saw her after a short time of being away. He observed her and took all of her in with a sort of appreciation in his eyes. It was a look that had butterflies fluttering in the pit of her stomach.

"Right, of course. Well, please go on. I am more than happy to answer any questions you may have." He sat back in his seat, his arms back to resting on the arms of the chair. His legs deliciously spread…

Chelsea promptly turned her gaze away and focused on the glass in her hands, her fingers tracing the stem. She still had a bit of wine in it, only about a quarter of what she had was left. Had she really drank that much? Well, no matter, for she took another sip before asking the first question that came to mind. "So, the books tell me that you are a master of magic of sorts, and you have demonstrated quite well that you know a great deal of it, but where did you learn it? Were you born with the ability?"

A slight smiled graced the Prince's features. "My mother, the Queen Frigga. She taught me everything I know today. Granted, there are some things that I taught myself with research, great determination and practice, but it was indeed my mother who introduced me to magic." He leaned forward and grabbed his glass and took a sip before answering her other question. "As for whether or not I was born with the ability? Well, some are more open to it than others. I was absolutely fascinated by it when I was little and I begged my mother to teach me." Loki gazed down into his glass and smiled fondly, the memories playing through his mind. Even Chelsea could see that he cherished those moments with his mother.

"What of Thor? Was he ever interested in it?"

"Not much. Our mother tried to teach him at first, but it was hopeless. He didn't have the attention span and concentration to learn. He still doesn't to this day. He would rather use brute strength and Mjolnir during battle."

Chelsea rather enjoyed listening to Loki talk and answer her questions. The sound of his voice, his tone, his damned English accent, the different emotions that crossed over his face as he answered each one. Loki was very expressive, especially when he talked of his mother and of Thor, both of whom were very different from the other. His emerald eyes spoke a thousand words, even when he wasn't speaking a word, his eyes seemed to do all the talking regardless of whether or not she knew what they said.

"What was your childhood like..? The books I have read offer no real answer to that, and given that you and Thor have very different views on what should be used in battle then surely your childhood must have been an interesting one." It was true about the books; there was no substantial information about Loki's childhood, or even Thor's for that matter. In fact, one book in particular spoke about how much of a sexual deviant Loki was. That bit of information alone stuck with Chelsea, a thought she couldn't get out of her head even if she tried. But then again, she also couldn't wrap her head around the fact that the book said he had once had intercourse with a rock.

A light sigh escaped Loki's lips as he stood to his feet once more, setting his glass down on the mantel. "Indeed. It was interesting." Chelsea watched as his demeanor suddenly changed and he crossed over to the shelf on her left, his fingers tracing the spines of the books that sat on it. She didn't press him to enlighten her on the details only because she knew that what he was doing was providing a bit of a distraction. She also knew that he was only biding himself some time, a moment to figure out a way to finish answering her question.

Loki plucked a book from the shelf and opened it, his eyes scanning the pages as if he were interested, but Chelsea was more than positive that he really wasn't interested at all in the contents of the tome. "Thor and I played often when we were children. We had gotten into plenty of trouble as most young boys do, but a lot of it was at my instigation."

Chelsea smiled. "You're known as a Trickster. I am sure you have played countless tricks on people when you were a boy."

Loki grinned. "Of course." His grin faded a moment later as he looked at her, the tome still open in his hands. "Then we grew older. Thor and I didn't spend as much time together as we used to. I still played tricks on others and I had tried often to join in with Thor, Lady Sif and The Warriors Three..." He shook his head and glanced back down at the book, his fingers idly flipping through the pages.

"But…You weren't welcome I take it?"

"No. I wasn't."

Chelsea's heart broke. How could he not be welcome? Surely Thor – being that they were brothers – would have offered Loki to join them on whatever excursions they had planned. Chelsea didn't have much experience with siblings, at all, but she knew that something wasn't right, something didn't make sense. Loki's tone had said it all.

"But, all was well." He smiled, but there didn't seem to be any real joy behind it. "I spent most of my time in the palace library reading and researching all that I could." He set the book back down on the bookshelf and sat down in the armchair.

"Loki…"

"Don't give me that look, Chelsea; I know what you are thinking. I wasn't at all distraught over the matter. Thor is the biggest oaf I know and I would much rather not spend a copious amount time with him anyway, lest he get us all killed." Loki had grabbed a hold of his wine and glared into the red liquid before drinking the last bit of it.

"So, even though you weren't welcome, you would rather spend time on your own?"

Loki nodded his head in response. "Don't get me wrong here, Thor always asked me if I wished to join him and his friends. He still does as a matter of fact. But yes, I would rather much spend time by myself. I am naturally a person of solitude so really, I am not bothered."

He sure didn't sound like he wasn't bothered. "I don't know; I would be." Chelsea finished off what was left in her glass and set it on the table in front of her. She glanced over at Loki to see him looking at her, his eyebrows drawn tightly together, his chin resting in his palm. "I don't have any brothers or sisters. It was difficult for my mother to have children and so I was the only one she had. Unfortunately though she died just after I turned five years old. I don't remember a whole lot about her. So it's just been me and my father ever since." She shrugged her shoulders and took in a deep breath to calm the emotions that had been welling up inside of her. Talking about her own childhood – even the barest bit of it – suddenly brought back all her memories. Over time she had learned to sort of bury the memories and the feelings, but there was always something that reminded her of her mother and the hardships her and her father had to go through after her death.

When a tear had slid down her cheek, Chelsea quickly wiped it away and silently chided herself for letting such emotion show through in front of Loki. She schooled her features and pushed back the emotions and smiled up at Loki. "I'm a bit envious of you, Loki."

The Prince's hand dropped to the armrest. "And what do I happen to have that you are envious of?" He smiled smugly, the tone of his voice telling her that he truly believed that he had nothing that Chelsea could possibly ever want.

"You have a family. You have both of your parents, an older brother. By the sounds of it I am sure you and Thor have fought an awful lot. But, regardless you all still have each other. I don't have that. Sure I have my father, but no brothers or sisters to fight with."

Suddenly, Loki jumped to his feet and took a few steps forward, standing in front of the fireplace. He glared down at her, anger evident in his features. "You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about Chelsea! Do you have any idea what you are saying? You couldn't possibly envy a bloody thing of mine. My father promised Thor and I that we both were born to be Kings. He told us we were destined for greatness. And yet my father chooses him to take over. You don't have to worry about a bloody thing! You don't have to watch your brother be praised for every little thing he does, you don't have to strive for their attention, for their approval."

"Oh, Loki..." Chelsea stood and walked over to him. She wanted to reach out to him, comfort him in some way. She could see the pain in his eyes, could see the anger, the hatred and resentment there. It must be difficult for him to watch his older brother take the throne while he was forced to sit back and watch from a distance, a sort of distance that he didn't enjoy.

"No." Loki held up a hand to stop her. "I don't need your soft spoken words of comfort and I don't need your pity. Now be gone already." He had started to turn around but Chelsea stopped him, her hand laid gently in the crook of his elbow.

"But Loki..."

"No! I told you to leave!" He jerked his arm free and with a quick wave of his hand everything turned to black and he had disappeared. Chelsea awoke shortly after that with a start and noticed she had tear stains running down her cheeks.

PREVIEW!

She was just a human, a normal human girl who didn't belong in his world, who has done nothing to garner his horrid attentions. If he continued to involve himself with her then he was going to risk endangering her and he couldn't have that. The least he could do was to leave her alone for the time being, until he knew that things would be okay, until he successfully gained the respect he deserved. And – the Gods willing – the Throne.