Loki's Children

(5) Again?

<<Narvi's POV>>

Again? Really, Vali?

"VALI SIGYNSON." Mother hollered. Oh no, I thought, full name. He's in trouble, again.

Watching from the safety of the living room, I listened as he rumbled down the stairs of our house. Mother hates it when he does that.

Idiot.

"What is it, Mum?" He asked, as if he was innocent. Yeah right. Vali sat down at the foot of the steps, ready for his lecture.

"Our neighbor said somebody left a hive full of wasps by his doorstep. Why would you do that?"

"Why would you assume it was me?" Vali said, mocking Mum's tone. "The bum has always been complaining ever since he lost his hand."

"Don't disrespect Tyr like that! You know well he was trying to catch a beast-"

"Wolf, Mum. He was catching a wolf. It was his stupidity really." He got up and strode over to the kitchen.

Great, here come the wolves. Now here is the thing about Vali: he's brave. No doubt about it. He could take down a Troll without thinking about it- he doesn't think very often, either. You'd expect him to be completely fearless, right? Yeah, no.

Go back a few years to when we were eleven, out camping, having a great time. Vali being Vali, forced his friends and I to wrestle him, and winning. He beat me for the fifth time, and we heard it. We heard a wolf. And of course, daft dignitary Vali decided to wrestle with it. Now it wasn't so much wrestling as it was Vali being mauled, until Mum came and killed the damn thing.

Nightmares. Nightmares that night, nightmares when we came home, nightmares until now. Twenty years old, with muscles and childhood trauma. I felt horrible for him, but 'it was his stupidity really.'

Now, whenever wolves seem to come up in a conversation, he seems to shut down, unable to function. It's become a phobia, and it's gotten bad.

However, he seemed to shake it off this time, took an apple from the pantry and bit it. Vali still looked pale, nonetheless.

Good thing Mum noticed, because she sighed and said, "We'll talk about this later. I'll be out." through clenched teeth.

Vali took another bite of the apple, pleased with himself.

I go back to reading my book. It's this book Uncle Thor got me from his girlfriend on Midgard. It's called I'll Give You the Sun, by Jandy Nelson, and it's about twins! Well, one of them is a girl, so...

"Hey, Narvi! Come over here and help me with something!"

This better be important. I put my book down and walked over to the kitchen.

"Good," he said. "you're not busy. I've been meaning to tell you something. I found the girl from a few years back and-"

"Again?" I interrupted. "Vali..."

"No, no! I swear it's her this time!"

I rolled my eyes at him. We started walking up the stairs to our rooms. I stopped at the frame of the door to his room. "Look brother," I said. "I know this girl has been a big deal for you, and that you really believe she's our sister, but I think it's time for you to move o-"

"She's coming to Asgard." He began rummaging through his mess of a room.

"Wait, what? Nononononono..."

"I've been exchanging letters with her!" Vali explained. He found what he was looking for: a leather bag filled with who knows what. "She should be coming some time today! Isn't that great?"

"No," I spat. "it's impossible. We saw her being banished, remember?"

"Yes, I've thought that through. That's where you," poking my forehead "come in, my innocent idiot. You can use magic, can you not?"

"Yeah, but not dark magic, Vali!"

"Oh, that's fine then." Vali shrugged. "She said she could do it herself."

He stepped past me and headed for the front door. I shut the door behind me, and followed after him, attempting to get him back in the house and out of trouble, again.

"But she must be, like, twelve!"

"Hela has a name, Narvi, and she's fourteen. She's perfectly capable of performing useful magic, unlike you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Telekinesis, or whatever you call it, is overrated, quite honestly."

"Yeah it's telekinesis. And duplication. And transfiguration. What can you do, punch a wall?"

"Telekinesis is still not impressive." we we're approaching the forrest near our house.

"Spell telekinesis."

"T-E-L-E-uh-kinesis! Whatever, Narvi! We're almost there anyway!"

I peered behind me. We were a good mile away from our house, and at the edge of the forrest.

We must have jogged the way , and I didn't notice. Vali tricked me... again.

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Hey readers! Sorry if this chapter is a bit short. I'll update soon!