Loki and the Kindergarteners Save the World (ONC 2023)

loki, fenrir and jormungandr walk into a school...

"Mr. P, are we going to die?" Deirdre bawled.

"I want my mommy," Alexandre cried.

"I don't want to die," another child, Max, screamed.

"No one is going to die," Will tried to assure them, though his chest was tight and he was having trouble breathing. The end of the world. Impossible. "Right, Loki? Tell them everything will be alright." And, tell me. Tell me we'll be okay.

Loki was preoccupied with barricading the door with whatever he could. Will suspected he kept himself busy because the kindergarten meltdown made him uncomfortable. When Will spoke to him, the Trickster rolled his eyes and shooed Amina and Forest from their desks. Which, of course, brought on a fresh bout of crying.

"If you didn't want to bring about the end of the world, you shouldn't have awakened me." Loki pushed Will's desk towards the door, which scraped irritably against the floor. Black scratches were left on the floor.

"We didn't know that was going to happen," Will snapped. Deirdre clung to him, her face pressed against his pants. Already the fabric was damp from her tears.

"Well, that sounds like your problem," Loki said, eyeing his makeshift barricade. Satisfied, he turned to the class and raised his eyebrows. "Can't you do something about this noise? They sound like wailing banshees."

Will threw his hands in the air as the wailing symphony from his kids grew more panicked. However, the trickster had a point. The kids would draw it in if something was looking to end them. He'd have to deal with Loki later. With Deirdre clinging to his leg, Will shuffled towards his kids, and they huddled around him. He knelt before them, Deirdre sinking onto his legs, afraid to leave his side. Charlie hovered close, tugging nervously on her beaded braids with watering eyes. Unlike the rest of her class, she was watching Loki.

"It's time to listen with your ears," Will began, his voice low and steady. He tapped his ears, and his kids mimicked the gesture. He fought against his own panic that threatened to boil over. The way his hands were slick with sweat, his heart like a hummingbird fluttering against its cage. He waited until the sobs diminished into hiccups and stuttering breaths. Loki had stationed himself beside the window, though Will knew he was also listening.

"I know this is scary," the teacher said slowly, "but I need you to be the big kids you are and listen to everything I say. Can you do that?" Twenty little heads with sticky, flushed cheeks bobbed up and down. "We need to be very, very quiet like little mice. Do you remember what little mice sound like when they want to be quiet?"

"Squeak squeak," the kids whispered, scrunching their noses as if pretending to be mice. Some pretended they had whiskers. Will pressed a finger to his lips, and they fell silent.

"Good. From now on, we want to be quiet little mice," he said. "And if you can listen to me the whole day, we'll have pizza for lunch and watch a movie tomorrow. How does that sound?"

The prospect of tomorrow seemed so foreign. Especially considering Will had no idea what they were involved in. But, when in doubt, bribery always worked.

Twenty pairs of eyes lit up, and they started squealing in delight. Will pressed a finger to his lips, and the class whispered squeaks, nudging their louder classmates. From his perch, the trickster snorted in disbelief.

"Sit very, very quiet little mice," Will said, prying Deirdre off his lap. He grabbed some colouring books and crayons, distributing them among his class. "The grown-ups need to talk."

"I suppose the mice analogy is fitting," Loki said as the teacher approached him. "Considering we'll all be a snack before long."

Will's blood chilled. There was no room for him to panic. He bottled it into a fragile jar and stoppered it with a cork. "What's going on? And cut the cryptic crap."