The Tattletale

Loki was waiting for a juicy story of how she had tried to kill someone. She finally spoke. 'He was a friend. After a while, he was sort of a potential-boyfriend. But then he messed it all up,' Nevaeh said. Loki remembered her parents' mentioning that the instance took place years ago. He pouted in confusion.

'Well, what did you do?'

'I was naturally angry, so I barged into his palace and tried to shoot him with magical balls. Oh, and I forgot to mention, he was the king of his planet at the time. So, I basically committed treason,' Nevaeh finished with a wink.

Loki felt like screaming. He had genuinely felt that she was disclosing the incident he wanted to hear about. 'Just screwing with me, aren't you?' He realised that he was not going to find any luck here. She merely shrugged and puffed on her cigarette in response. 'It's almost dinner time. We should get going.'

Loki was looking forward to their dinner with her parents since his talk with them on Vanaheim. He was keen on learning more. He was filled with uncertainty; Nevaeh had casually mentioned that she had tried to kill him without hinting any signs of doing similar to someone else in her past. He knew for a fact that she was not good at lying spontaneously.

In about twenty minutes, they once again reached the threshold of Queens' Nest. There was a surprise waiting for them.

'Joe, what – what are you doing here?' Nevaeh asked as they walked in to find Joe sitting on the dining table and chatting with her parents. She sharply got up from the chair and marched straight towards them. 'I tracked your phone because you weren't picking up the call! I came over to find that your phone was at home but you weren't! You were supposed to call me!' Joe whispered angrily with wide eyes. She glanced at Loki for a mere second before shooting Nevaeh with an annoyed look.

'I was going to meet you soon! Ask him' Nevaeh pointed a finger at Loki and he nodded in agreement. 'Oh, yes. Absolutely.'

'Nev, we haven't talked since, you know,' Joe once again glanced at Loki, 'your parents said all of you went to Asgard today. Why?'

Judging by her tone of voice, Nevaeh felt pretty sure that her parents' had, most courteously, said nothing about her going away and she shuffled her feet. She took Joe by the hand and steered her towards her parents. 'Is it okay if Joe stays over?' Nevaeh asked as they went in the dining area.

'Sure,' echoed her parents.

'I am staying over?' Joe asked.

'Well, it will take time for us to catch up,' Nevaeh said, sitting herself down. Soon, they started dinner and their plates were full. During their entrees, Joe had deliberately repeated her question regarding their sudden visit to Asgard and Loki quietly watched her as the other three started telling her about Nevaeh's extended education. She was listening to her dad speak of Asgard; about its people, the nature, the peace, but it seemed to Loki as though she couldn't care less about any of that. Joe was eyeing Nevaeh every now and then, which she somehow conveniently never caught sight of, being busy twirling the spaghetti by her fork.

'So it's decided? You are leaving Earth?' hushed Joe.

Nevaeh finally placed her fork down. 'Just for a while.'

Loki was not hungry. After all the troubles since the morning; his encounter with Amora, his energy consuming magic, their tour, his shape-shifting, their private visit to Vanaheim, getting attacked by his former teacher/fornicator, their spontaneous arrival on the rooftop, his worries regarding her parents' talk, Loki had planned on rejuvenating himself in Nevaeh's arms throughout the night, but now it was apparent that it was nowhere near possible in between the girls' sudden, alleged slumber party. He had planned on tricking her parents' into revealing more, but Joe's presence had turned the entire night's atmosphere into a tad tensed one for him.

'I am pretty tired. Joe, shall we?' Nevaeh waited for her to get up. 'Come on, sweetie,' Nevaeh patted Loki on the back and went near the stairs. He got up, as did Samuel. 'Loki, do you have a minute?'

'Yes, sir.' Loki waited in front of the table.

Samuel halted next to him and placed a hand over his shoulder. 'I appreciate you doing everything, son. Since you met Nev, you have been looking out for her. You brought her home. You took us to Asgard, we got to see a different planet! Your people are wise to respect you the way they do. I just wanted to let you know that if you ever need anything, anything at all, I am always here for you. You have my word,' Samuel finished, patting him on the shoulder. Apparently, that was not enough to express his genuineness. He pulled Loki in a hug and patted his back thrice.

'I already know he can do magic and stuff, but, has he voodoo-ed your dad? They are hugging,' Joe whispered sceptically. They were standing mid-stair and watching them with narrowed brows. They resumed their steps as they watched a slightly red Loki trot towards them and they all went to the terrace.

Soon, Nevaeh began telling her the way she'd confronted Loki in his palace, and the events that followed, keeping aside the part where they had planned to move away and that there was no magical school. Nevaeh trusted Joe with her life, but she wanted to avert any possible ramifications that could jeopardize their plans.

Sitting on their usual spot on the terrace's edge, they were watching the distant figure of her parents taking their usual night stroll on the sand, walking hand in hand. A person was jogging towards them from behind. 'Hey! Mister and Missus Queen! Wait up!' they heard the familiar, lazy voice. Nevaeh cursed under her breath. They watched her parents halt and turn around to talk to the boy.

'That looks and sounds like Daniel,' Joe squinted at Loki who had his eyes narrowed. The last time they had been together was disastrous. Daniel was the one to talk and even from the distance, they could see her parents getting a bit annoyed. 'I have a bad feeling about this,' muttered Joe.

Nevaeh nudged Loki, who instantly teleported the three of them on the beach. The three of them briskly walked ahead to catch up with them.

Ariel had a grave expression over her face while Samuel was looking dumfounded, with his mouth slightly open. Daniel was chattering indistinctively and his voice grew louder as they approached them.

'—so, you can understand my concern,' he was saying animatedly. The three of them glanced towards the sound of approaching sand-steps.

'What's going on?' Nevaeh demanded.

'Sweetie, did you try to stab Daniel with daggers while you were at his house party?' Ariel asked, looking at Loki right in the eyes.

Before he could respond, Nevaeh scoffed. 'Is that what he told you?' She gave Daniel a stink eye, 'you are such a liar!' Loki wondered if she remembered the incident correctly.

'Are you kidding me, Nev? What about you, Joe?' Daniel asked.

Silence.

Daniel laughed disbelievingly. 'Did he not threaten me with two daggers?'

'They – they weren't even daggers! It was a butter knife!' Nevaeh laughed.

'A butter knife? You corrected me and told me that they were daggers! Because I first assumed that it was a steak knife!' Daniel told her parents.

'I don't know what he is talking about,' Nevaeh lied through her teeth.

'Girl, what happened to you? You never lied before! And now, look at you,' Daniel said it in a voice which bordered on pity.

'It doesn't matter what kind of knife! Can we please discuss what exactly happened?' Samuel interjected pointedly before Nevaeh could react on his tone of voice.

'It wasn't a big deal!' Nevaeh said suddenly, 'we were just hanging out and then, we had an argument initiated by Daniel himself. This poor boy—'Nevaeh pointed towards Loki, '—he was having some appetizers and happened to have a little, butter knife in his hand. But he didn't even point it in his direction! Let alone try and stab him!' Nevaeh said firmly, pointing her index finger sharply at Daniel.

'He threw those daggers at me!' Daniel bellowed. Samuel patted him once on the back to calm him down. 'They plummeted right towards me, Mister Queen! They could've killed me!'

'Dan, darling, if he really wanted to kill you, you would've been dead before you knew it!' Nevaeh hissed. Joe grabbed her forearm while her mother shushed her. 'Nevaeh, no.'

'My boy. Why did you point – shoot – held the knife before him? It was a party, right? I mean, why?' Samuel asked, laughing faintly, clearly trying to lighten up the tense atmosphere building around them.

'Sir, I –'Loki was again interrupted.

'I told you, we were having an argument! That's it!' Nevaeh raised her voice.

'Yes, but why? Regarding what?' Samuel asked.

'The boy had the guts to—'

'Loki, NO!' Nevaeh snapped neurotically.

Daniel chuckled all of a sudden. 'Loki? What kind of name is that exactly? You can't be high-key, or something?' he snorted. Loki felt like slicing the boy in two, but Nevaeh's urgent whisper had hinted something more interesting, and he, being the God of Mischief, had to put it to test.

'He called her abnormal, in front of everyone,' Loki said, ignoring her warnings, 'and not just once. I couldn't take it. Look around, vermin, who among us looks abnormal?' Loki hissed. His answer was meant for her father, but the boy ratting him out made his blood curdle and he involuntarily took a step towards Daniel. Joe quickly held Loki back because Nevaeh was too distracted staring at her parents' to react at Loki's anger.

A distant, faint crackling erupted in the sky, like some far-away firecracker had gone off, but nothing about it felt merry. Samuel was staring at Daniel with unblinking eyes. His breath was growing rapid and his fingers trembled over the wand he was suddenly holding in his left hand. He pointed it towards his chest, halting it an inch away...