Children often have the trouble of holding their tongue, and it was a flaw of this little girl with black hair and huge grey eyes too, walking along to school by herself. The things Henrietta Knott had said and the knowledge she possessed dubbed her as a witch in the eyes of her classmates, and she was only half-way through seventh grade; high school, which meant survival of the fittest.

Her hair was neat, without a single strand out of place, and she walked with a steady, purposeful sort of step that set her hair bobbing up and down. However, her eyes were always cast downwards, recently, and so she did not notice the man she longed for leaning against a lamppost in disguise, waiting for her. Neither did the less-than-friendly children that rounded upon her when she rounded the corner.

Henrietta looked up. Next thing she knew, someone had shoved her green backpack from behind and she had collided with the floor, all her books spilling out of her hands.

"Nah, you know what, guys," Abigail, a girl with blonde pigtails and a mean mouth said, "She can't be a witch. She would have seen us coming."

"True," Rupert said, kicking all her books away, "I think we managed to stamp it out of her."

Henrietta got up, furious, and pushed him away.

"Get off my possessions, you wastrel!"

The rest of the gathering roared with laughter, kicking her possessions into the bushes. As it was a park, nobody was around to see it.

Rupert shoved her and she landed on her back, dazed. Tears surfaced in her eyes, hot, angry tears, but she scrambled up and started picking them up.

"She's running." Abigail called, once she had finished and made a dash for it. "Let's chase her!"

They tore after her, but not for long. Henrietta turned to see how far behind they were- then collided with somebody again, but she did not fall this time. She was caught.

"Sorry, I-"

She paused, disbelieving. It was a boy, perhaps her age, with brilliant eyes of blue and black hair tied back crisply with a grey ribbon. He was taller than her by about half a head and looked quite different to who he really was, but still, she recognised him. She gasped.

"Here you are." He put a hand on her shoulder firmly and looked ahead, at her pursuers who stopped, smirking.

"Is that her boyfriend?" Said one of the girls in jealous disbelief, eyeing the unknown youth.

"No, it's not." Someone replied. "He probably just thinks he's being hard."

"Give us a go, then." Rupert yelled, seeing only one more before him to push around. "Go on."

"A go?" The boy bent down and planted a delicate kiss on Henrietta's temple. "I don't think so. Turn around while you still can."

Henrietta, although now slightly smug, didn't want anybody dead, and so turned to project that desire to the being with a hand on her shoulder.

"Loki of Asgard-"

"Shh." He put a hand over her mouth gently, then gave a brilliant smile. "Wait."

The pursuers looked at each other and grinned. The boys stepped forward, taking off their bags to bash him with. Thirteen-year old Loki Laufeyson shrugged and chortled.

"Too bad. Well, enjoy!"

They screamed, engulfed in a flash of green light, and when it cleared…

"Squirrels." Henrietta murmured in disbelief. "You've turned them all into squirrels."

Indeed he had. They gave little sounds of chirping as they flashed terrified looks at one another. One of them, the biggest, tried to scramble up a tree. It was probably Abigail.

"You don't look pleased." Loki was back in his original form, tall and stately with his magnificent green clothes and golden armour adorning his being. He turned to her and smiled his brilliant smile.

"Oh, come on. You used to love squirrels."

Hattie couldn't be displeased for long. She engulfed herself in his arms and laughed, but then she stopped and stole a look at him.

She had never felt this before. She was strangely aware of how good he smelled, how protective he was, how handsome, and of the fact that her heart was hammering faster than ever before. It was a beautiful feeling…

"I missed you." She said into his stomach. "You were gone for such a long time."

"Ah, business is pressing, dear Knottie." He bent down, allowing her to kiss both his cheeks. "Such a clever soul as yourself will understand."

Hattie was very red, but completely at ease. She grasped his arm tight.

"Unfortunately, you will have to turn these people back, Loki of Asgard."

He cast a glance over his shoulder, his expression instantly colder.

"Hm. No, I don't think so. They look a lot better as the single-brain-celled organisms that they are."

Hattie laughed.

"You don't do squirrels justice. They are a lot more intelligent than they are. Please do, I don't want them to be in that much trouble, and I think they've already paid-"

Henrietta noticed his hands. Although she had rehearsed her reaction before, she couldn't stop it. His hands were so black and dripped so steadily they were a stream of liquid, now, sloshing down his fingers as opposed to dripping at a very slow rate.

Loki noticed and pulled his arm out of her grasp a little forcefully, looking displeased.

"Don't tell me about my hands, Knottie. I don't like to hear it."

"I wasn't going to." She murmured, then reached for both of them, turning them over in her hands. "I'm looking for a ring." She said, when he knitted his brows together in question.

"A ring?" He sounded nonplussed.

"On earth, when somebody is married, they wear a ring."

His incredulity turned to amusement, his sharp, white smile gleaming as a low chuckle was drawn from his throat.

"How innocent." He whispered, patting her head. "I'm married to both chaos and suffering with an undying fidelity, Knottie. I am Loki the Lie-Smith, the Silver-Tongued, the Truth-Twister, the god of mischief and trickery!"

He raised his arms, announcing himself, making her giggle, then straightened and offered her an arm.

"No woman has ever lasted longer than a mere day in my presence. Come, let's do something together. I suppose you're too old to be wanting to play squirrels, now." He added as an afterthought, although he sounded a little sad at that fact.

"What about the squirrels?"

He rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers. There was a flash and a squeak and five people appeared behind them, two of which fell off trees with a cry.

"One more move, and I'll leave you as bacteria to be trod on, understand?" He called to them, his eyes black and cold.

They burbled something in reply and scrambled away best they could, snivelling and muttering.

"I never liked people who pick on the weaker for no reason. Especially if the weaker are Knottie Knott. So. Where are we off to today? That tall building… What is it called? The Empirical building?"

"The Empire State building." She corrected gently as they started to walk. "And I would love to, but I promised Uncle Haldanson that I would go to school today."

Loki grinned.

"I'm sure your Uncle Haldanson wouldn't bat an eye if he saw who you were with."

Hattie severely doubted this statement, but said nothing.

"But I did promise, Loki of Asgard."

"Do you know what you promised?" He said silkily, pausing and bending to look her in the eyes. "You promised to go to school. At what time and how is another matter entirely. So you will go to school, just a little later."

Hattie was thirteen, and a little gullible, so she smiled and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, that's right. That is what I promised. So as long as I attend, say, the last class, I did keep my promise."

He gave a shrill laugh and patted her on the head once more.

"You're learning quickly, Henrietta Knott."

"And you're a bad influence, Loki of Asgard."

He looked more pleased at that than perhaps he ought to. Still, they walked on, Henrietta rejecting the proposal of summoning steeds in favour of spending more time with him and talking.

"What have you been doing these past couple of years?" She asked him, as they exited the park. Loki looked a little shifty, but anybody less observant wouldn't have noticed he did.

"Business in the palace. You know. Doing what princes ought to be doing in their spare time."

"Like what?"

"Like falling off cliffs and doing things for fate to turn in my favour. No, don't ask me. It is all top secret. Tell me instead what you have been up to. Why did you have to promise to go to school? Have you been skipping classes?"

It was her turn to look a little shifty. Loki grinned and shook his head fondly.

"I can't believe it. You have definitely been breaking the rules, haven't you? Who would have thought I would live to see the day? Perhaps your own hands will be as black as mine soon."

"I didn't mean to." She turned away. "It's just that those horrible people push me around in the playground and I didn't want them to do that yesterday. So I hid behind the school building and read all day instead."

He stopped, his thin eyebrows knitting together again.

"So you ran from them."

"Yes."

He stopped, so that she bumped into him, then crouched down until he was level with her eyes.

"Now, listen here, Miss Henrietta Knott. Running isn't going to get you anywhere."

"Well, it did yesterday."

"And was it fun?" He looked stern as she ever saw him. "Was it fun behind the school building, where it was cold and probably smelled?"

She shook her head slowly.

"Listen to me." He tweaked her nose and smiled, his eyes glittering. "They may outnumber you, but you have something they don't. It's a great thing to have. Priceless, even. Do you know what that is?"

You, she wanted to say, but didn't think it was the answer. She shook her head instead.

He tapped her forehead gently.

"You have a brain. Quite a complex one, too. A lot of wisdom, hidden in there, even though it gets on somebody's nerves a little. You have to be creative, cunning, at times. You are fully capable of it."

"Like you." She finished for him, but a crease appeared between his brows and his lips thinned at that idea.

"No. Not like me." He said, softly, tweaking her chin so that she looked back up at him. "Like the Hattie Knott you are. For me, rules are there to be burnt down. For you, they are there to regulate who you are. At least until you leave school and make your own that you live by. Your code. Those rules, you do not break, for it hurts later when you do."

He looked like the last few statements pained him, but he forced a smile, then straightened and offered her his arm. Henrietta detected something in his face that she had not noticed before, or was not there in the past. It was fear. Pain. Shame, anger, sorrow, desperation. But it was all brushed into his eyes and features so subtly, that it was impossible to detect at most times. Still, she did not forget it, mentioning it only when she finished her ice cream and they both sat on the top of the Empire State building, looking at the view.

He was sitting cross legged with his helmet beside him, staring into the distance with his eyes far away.

"You're sad." She said solemnly, unable to bear it any longer.

He sighed.

"And here we go. What is it about little girls that they care so much about other people's feelings? They're not important, Henrietta. This is important - look at the view."

"I don't care about the view." She said, firmly, sticking her chin out. "Not as much as I care about you."

Hattie couldn't have said a truer thing. She looked for him in everything she saw. She imagined him walking past the classroom and waggling his fingers at her when she was bored. She nodded, satisfied, as she put on a dress which was the exact colour of his sparks, confident and brilliant in her step, just like him. She whispered to him late at night about the things she could never tell Uncle Haldanson, for she knew he would understand, if only he could hear her; understand then pinch her nose and grin, maybe even lift her onto her shoulders like he did that day, those years ago.

"I don't deserve your attention, Hattie." He almost whispered, his words carried far by the breeze. "Don't think about me so."

"That's my choice. It hurts me when you are hurt. Your laugh makes me laugh." She said stubbornly, taking his hand firmly. He managed half a smile.

"Perhaps if you were a little older, I would tell you why I'm not in the best mood. You don't need such pitiful stories to mull over at your tender age. Focus on the butterflies in life. The light and gentle butterflies"

He outstretched a hand. There was a flicker, and a green butterfly was born from his sparks. It fluttered over to her and sat upon her hair, adorning it most beautifully.

"There we go. The resplendent creature graced the little girl's hair with a landing."

Hattie couldn't believe she could love a being with hands dripping with blood so much. She took him around his middle and clutched him tight, afraid to let go, her heart hammering, a deep pit yawning in her stomach.

"Will you be back soon, when you go?" She dared ask, shutting her eyes tight. "Or will it be another few years?"

She felt a hand on her shoulder and a sigh roll through his ribcage.

"I don't know. Time is different on Asgard and in different dimensions. Business is pressing. Very pressing."

"I see." She whispered, letting go. "I wish I could at least send you letters."

She looked up at him. He didn't smile. He looked tired and - although Hattie couldn't name it, yet - lost.

"Me too."

He shut his eyes as she kissed both of his cheeks, as though unable to bear this much almost-altruistic affection in one go.

They reached the school gates as soon as the bell rang for the end of lunch.

"Your call, Hattie. Remember what I told you. Next time I see you, I want this chin up-"

He took her chin and tilted it firmly, but gently.

"-and a huge smile on your face. Show me how it's going to look like, go on."

Hattie tilted her chin up and beamed. He nodded in approval and chuckled.

"Exactly like that." He pinched her nose. "And not an inch lower. Off you go."

She didn't turn around straight away and she stopped when she had walked a few paces.

"And when I next see you, Loki of Asgard…" Hattie called, grinning cheekily, "I want your chin up and a huge smile on your face!"

He swatted the air for her to go, but couldn't keep himself from smiling. Only when she finally disappeared from his sight did he sigh and take off his mask.

"If only it was possible… If only. Hah!"

And he disappeared with a magnificent flourish of emerald green.

"Why are you so late? Ooh!" Anna said, as she came into the classroom. "What's that in your hair?"

Hattie glanced at her reflection in the window. The green butterfly was still there, but it had frozen somewhat like a clip. She took it off and cradled it in her palms, promising she would never love another.