The Last Shifter (a Loki romance)

Chapter 30

Photo isn't mine.  The dress will be in the next chapter (and if it doesn't show up, remind me, I'll probably forget.)

I had been right.  As soon as my eyes opened, I felt like I had been forced to Shift again.  I could barely move my eyes in their sockets.  The time I had spent making the dress had been like sleep for my body so I wasn't going to get to sleep but I wasn't going anywhere anytime soon either.  I strained to see that the clock on the wall read three am, later than I thought it would be despite the complex patterns and the time required to summon something.  Just as I had predicted, the dress was suspended a foot above the floor and would remain that way, with no energy spending on my part, until I touched it.  Now, all I could do was wait for my energy to return.  However, I was already certain I was going to die of boredom before that happened.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched the second hand on my clock go around and around over a hundred times before I actually had the strength to move my limbs.  Five am.  Ugh.  The ball was tonight.  I was going to have to drag my dress up the stairs of risk passing out from keeping it in the air.  Ok.  Let's do this. 

Ten minutes later, the dress had been wrapped in protective plastic along with my mask and they were with my other things at the Bifrost site. 

"Heimdall!" Nothing happened. "Heimdall, open the Bifrost!" Still nothing.

"He says that the BiFrost isn't strong enough to transport everything you have without the Tesseract.  It's running out of energy."

"Then have him take everything first and I will go next."

"He says that you will have to wait an additional ten minutes for the Bifrost to recharge before we take you."

"Then I will wait."

"My heart will grieve until I see you again." I had wanted him to wait until tonight but I could not deny him this.

"As will mine." I pulled back and the Bifrost activated, pulling everything back to Asgard.  In ten minutes, I would be on my way as well.

After a few minutes of standing and waiting for Loki's message that the Bifrost was ready again, I became aware of a noise.  It began quietly so at first, I thought it was my imagination but when it got steadily louder, I realized that it wasn't.  A motor vehicle was coming my way.  And not just any vehicle.  I would know that motor anywhere.  It was Jane.  She had gone against my wishes and come after me.  I had to get out of here before she saw me.  Otherwise, I would never get back to Asgard in time to make it to the ball.  My only hope of escaping unseen was to sneak around my house and jump the fence on the other side.  I would only have a short window of time to accomplish my task, if I went to early, I would be seen and if I was too slow, Jane would see me.  I would have to time this perfectly.  In my panic, I didn't even bother to try and find another option and began sprinting towards my hiding spot.  I got there just in time to see Jane's van zoom out of sight.  Now was the time.  I had no choice but to shift into a horse, despite the energy it cost me, and make a break for the fence.  Without looking back, I jumped the fence and ran for the town, intent on making it to Jane's lab while she was out and erasing her data.  It was cruel, but I had no other choice.  It was the only way to keep her safe.

When I got in sight of the town, I changed back into myself and high-tailed it for the lab.  I found that in their haste to get to me, they had left the door open so I raced in.  Her computer was unlocked, just my luck.  I wasted no time finding her files on the Bifrost and wiping them.  Knowing Jane, she would have back-up units as well as back-up back-up units.  Those took me a little longer to find, one was hidden in her false kitchen cupboard and the other was in a safe.  The code to which was my 'birthday'.  Once those were properly erased and replaced, I quickly reset her systems so her scanners wouldn't register the Bifrost, and ran for the door only to be stopped by a figure standing there.  Jane.  She looked worse than when I had seen her two nights ago.  She opened her mouth to say something but I cut her off.