A Bang and a Whimper

7

By the time Loki begins to walk again, a few steps in his room to the door and back, Jenna is visiting him every other day. She likes to read with him from her mother's books and has insisted on dramatic readings of all her favourite parts.

She shows up to one of her visits with another stack of books in her arms, "You can't keep these here forever. I want them back because I love them even more than Terry. But I think you'll like them, too."

He looks at the cover art, "I've seen this author's name before."

"Yes, you have. He's on 'Good Omens'. He was one of Terry's friends."

"This Neil Gaiman- does he write equally humourous works?"

"No. Darker. Some of it really is quite funny, but there's something more sinister about many of Neil's stories. Mother loved his books. I want to read some of them with you."

"Oh?"

"Yes. We'll start reading together and then you can read whatever you wish between visits, but the book we're reading I want you to wait on. We'll do a bit each time."

"And what book are we to start with?"

She hands one to him, "This one."

"'The Graveyard Book'. Is it about the dead?"

"Yes. And no. And something else entirely."

"Oh my. This sounds complicated."

"Everything Neil wrote is complicated."

"And you wish to read this out loud?"

"Yes. We'll read a bit to each other, switching off."

He shrugs, unsure how this will work, or if it will work at all, and she opens the cover and points to the first page, "There. Start there." So he does. And he finds the language all the more incredible when spoken out loud, even in such a dark book.

Jenna's visits increase to once a day while they are reading. Thor stops by once in a while to check on them and they both give him an irritated look when he interrupts. He is amused that his daughter reacts the same way his brother does.

Sometimes he visits Odin while Jenna and Loki read, but when he does, Odin often tries to warn him about the terrible things that Loki could be doing to her and it takes all his willpower not to let his anger rise. Every time that he walks by the room, they are reading to one another and there is nothing sinister about their activities. They are solely focused on their books, Jenna wedged beside him on the bed, his arms around her as they read together.

Odin does not stop with Thor, though. He warns Jenna of Loki's treacherous nature and, while Thor is holding court, explains to her in detail just what Loki did when he found out he was adopted and where he was adopted from. He tells her of Loki's invasion of Midgard using the Chitauri creatures and he tells her of Loki's actions to take the throne. The conversation leaves Jenna confused and she is quiet when Thor returns. Too quiet. He asks her if she would like to take a walk in the gardens with him and she nods.

Once they are well hidden deep in the garden's labyrinth, she asks, "Is it true?"

"Is what true?"

"All of it. What Grandfather said about Loki? That he tried to kill you and destroyed a small Midgardian town? That he fell from the Bridge willingly? That he tried to destroy Midgard with the Chitauri? That he was brought back in chains to be executed and it was only Grandmother's grace that saved him? That he stole away with you for vengeance but came back to steal the throne and violently overpowered Grandfather to do it?"