Atypical (A Magnus Chase fan novel)

A Big Blue Bird

Hey, just want to dedicate this chapter to @Neeksforevs, please go on over and check her acc, she's awesome and her stories are a serious laugh.

-Magnus-

I had just woken up from dying for the thousandth time. No, actually, I had lost count of how many times I had died. Should I congratulate myself on that instead? Whatever.

     I sat up, my skin slightly tingly from burning to the death this afternoon. Some idiot brought matches and oil to the battlefield today, and me and a few hundred einherjar had been torched in a flash fire. The prankster had trickled the oil in and around a copse of trees next to a fake little village, and ended up burning the whole area. As I have probably mentioned previously, burning to the death is one of my least favorite ways to die.

     A weird cawing sound shook me out of my unpleasant reminiscence. I sat up. It didn't sound like the usual ravens swooping through the corridors. No, this was, if possible, louder than the crows of the black birds. This was a different animal.

     I walked over to get Jack off his hook, and slid him around my neck. Before I could go out to investigate, someone knocked on my door, and I opened it to see a slightly intrigued looking Alex.

     I started, "Hey, you're up early-"

     "Yeah, yeah, did you hear about the new kid?" she cut off. Yes, right now she was female. "On our floor? In our hall! They're not answering the door." I stepped out of my room and was greeted with the cawing sound again, coming from the end of the hall next to the elevator, seemingly from a door that had not been there before.

     To me, it seemed that when someone doesn't open the door they don't want to be bothered, but the rest of my hallmates were waiting for me in front of the new kid's door, knocking.

     "Hey, you in there! Amara!" Halfborn was shouting. I had no clue how he had gotten her name. The plaque on the door only read her initals; A S.

     "How do you know her name?" I asked, but as usual, I was ignored. Though not completely.

     "Sam brought her in this morning," T.J. supplied. "We didn't know until later."

     Mallory was frowning at Halfborn. "Shut up, you oaf, can't you try to be quieter? You'll be scaring the poor girl." But even through Halfborn's efforts, or anybody else's, no one answered the door. The weird cawing sound did though, louder, and it definitely was coming from her room. To be honest, my first thought was that the kid was another child of Loki, that just liked being a bird. And, um, I assumed that we had come to the conclusion that the kid was a she, because Amara was not a guy's name. I would know if it was because Alex would have objected. In case you didn't know, she was touchy about labeling someone's gender.

     "I mean, she's got to come out sometime. Dinner is soon, shouldn't we take her?" T.J. asked. Mallory shrugged and took out one of her knives.

     "Mallory..." I warned. She ignored me and slid it in the lock, effectively breaking it, and pushed the door open with her index finger, smiling slightly at the excuse to use her knives for damage. Her passion for violence was almost amusing. Almost.

     A rush of blue feathers and intense squawking shot out into the corridor like it had been launched. We all ducked, and by we I mean everyone except me. I covered my face with my arms, but still felt clawing like small talons, and something heavy on me. When the rush had stopped, I opened my eyes and my friends stood up. They burst out laughing. As usual.