Sorcha's Secret World, Part 2: Mystery and Mischief.

Chapter 9, New house rule

"Wow, so this is how gods live, huh?" Carter grinned as she put down her bags.

"Only recently, our old cottage was a lot smaller!" I grinned back as I embraced her. I had always felt a sense of responsibility for the children of the island, and in a small way, I thought of them as mine. Carter was going to be staying with us for as long as she was doing the internship. While the commute back to her student digs in Oxford wouldn't have been too long thanks to Agartha, it was just as easy and we had rooms to spare.

She was wearing skinny jeans and a baggy sweater and her short hair was a tousled mess.

"This place is awesome!" she proclaimed as I showed her around.

"Just wait until you see the control room, the armoury and the study," I smiled.

Loki, who was supposed to have been at the door with me to greet her, was in the study reorganising his shelves for the third time since we moved in.

"Is that a Sov-Tech Paradox Generator?" Carter asked curiously.

Loki looked up, a surprised look on his face.

"It is, from the early forties or so I believe, I acquired it recently in a sale."

Carter dropped her bags and walked over.

"Man, that is ancient! Look at how clunky it is, they make those practically pocket-sized now!"

"It is, but it is far more powerful than the ones you can buy in Ealdwic nowadays. It is terribly anima-inefficient though, which is what I was trying to correct, If you see here..."

Soon both of them were bent over a workbench taking the generator apart, neither of them noticing I was still standing there.

I shrugged with a smile and picked up Carter's bags. Her room was all ready for her, she could unpack when she had time.

A few hours later I brought them tea and biscuits and knocked on Anthony's door as well. Anthony gratefully accepted the refreshments, he was always painfully polite.

"Why don't you have dinner with us tonight, Anthony?" I asked, not for the first time. "Carter is there too so it won't be just family, and we'd love to have you there. It would give the two of you a chance to get to know each other, we'll all be living under the same roof for the next while."

To my surprise, he agreed. As a matter of fact, he had dinner with us the nights after that as well.

It was a full house but often filled with music and laughter, Loki's wonderful cackle and Thor's booming laugh echoing throughout the hold.

Loki was far more patient with Carter, who was bright and often picked up what he showed her right away. Sometimes I even caught her teaching Loki something new instead!

They were often giggling together in the study while tinkering away, and I was delighted Loki got on so well with his new protégé.

"Can you have a word with Carter?" Loki asked while we were doing the dishes together. "I think something is bothering her, but she won't talk to me about it."

I always insisted on all of us having dinner together, but invariably the others had run out of the kitchen the moment dinner was finished, excuses of "I need to do homework assignments,", "Matt is expecting me for a game,", "I've got more translating to do," flying around the moment I mentioned dishes.

"I need to be in another room urgently," hadn't worked for Loki, and he had been handed a tea towel before he could think of a better excuse. I don't know why they all objected, the dishwasher did most of the work anyway.