A Stony Threat

As if enough dramatic events hadn't already happened, thought Loki, who was beginning to understand just how despicable that stone truly was. Without giving it a second thought, Loki made the book disappear into thin air, and sighed quietly in relief, running both his hands over his face.

'Are you okay? You look a little shaken.' Nevaeh said apologetically. 'I am so sorry for taking you down there. I have no idea what got inside Grace's head – or stony interior, or whatever,' she tried to make a joke, but he clearly didn't find it amusing. 'Come here. Let me take a look at your head.'

'I feel fine,' Loki said.

'Be that as it may, I would still like to check just to make sure.' She extended her palm towards his head.

'Don't touch me,' Loki backed away from her. He had no idea what kind of twisted magic the stone had fed into his brain; what if she checked his head and discovered all the secrets he was hiding? He couldn't risk it!

'Why not?'

'Because I said so!' he snapped. 'It's late. Let's call it a night, shall we?' He marched off the library without waiting for an answer and headed straight for his room. Nevaeh was a little confused about his reaction, so she internally blamed Grace's tantrum. Before their teleportation, Loki was desperately awaiting their departure from the underground chamber so that he could get more answers from her, but the destination where they'd landed and the events thereafter had completely spoiled his mood. That stone needed to be dealt with.

Next morning came and went, but Loki refused breakfast through a door that never opened. Nevaeh was getting anxious about his silence. She distractedly took her phone in her hand, but remembered that she couldn't give him a call or a text message. She did realise that Joe had tried calling her multiple times during the night and had left innumerable voicemails. After Loki's cold treatment, she had very little patience left within her. Instead of opening her voicemails, she decided to go over Joe's place, and asked Loki to tag along with her. An offer he refused as he had his own plans, and he made sure that she knew nothing about it.

Reaching Joe's, she realised what her fuss was all about. She wanted to tell her how she called their friend Carl to ask him about today's party about which he was utterly clueless. Her hypothesis being; there was no party. It was all Daniel's improvisation because he needed a "reason" to drop by her place. She wanted to go to the party to make sure that there was a party.

After Nevaeh had told her about the night she'd had, Joe's mind was completely taken off of him. She was happy that Nevaeh had finally told Loki about her family, but was upset about Grace's reaction to everything. They couldn't figure out why it reacted the way it did.

Loki, on the other hand, was avoiding Nevaeh purposefully. He wanted her to leave so that he could have the house to himself. To do what needed to be done. He wasn't so ignorant. He knew exactly what the stone was up to. It knew who he was. Of course, it knew! It had conjured his mother's illusion right in front of him with such authenticity that he'd thought he'd felt his mother's touch! It was trying to mess with his head! Quite literally, too, as it shot something inside it, and he needed to know what it had done. The uncertainty was unbearable.

A few minutes after Nevaeh left, Loki found himself bathed in the warm, gold light and standing in front of the stone. 'I have arrived,' Loki opened his arms as though the stone was just dying for him to be here. 'Do you know why?' The stone kept blinking gold amidst the rainbow wall.

'I am here because something awful has happened. I have been vexed. By you,' he pointed a finger towards it, but maintained his distance. He began pacing, never taking his eyes off of it. 'Do you know what happens to the people, or tiny objects in this case, that dare vex Loki? They perish! They get purged! They get wiped off from the face of whichever realm's space they were wasting! That's what happens when people vex Loki!' he thundered. 'This is your first and last warning! If anything happens because of your shenanigans, I shall destroy you! Oh, yes. There would be nothing left of you but little, shiny ashes! I was planning on conquering you, but I have wasted enough time on misbehaving, little punk pebbles on Asgard to do it all over again. When it comes to wielding stones, I prefer disciplined ones. Not crack heads such as yourself.'

Loki waited for a response, or an attack, but none came. 'I understand. You are too scared to respond. But, I can fix that. Give me a sign if what you've done to us yesterday night is going to harm us in any way, or hurt us, or anything unpleasant! And remember, you didn't just attack me, you attacked Nevaeh too; the daughter of the people that have been protecting you. Don't you think you would be in trouble if she got into trouble?' Loki paused to let that sink in. 'On the other hand, do not respond if it was some minor trickery to scare us off so that we may never enter your chamber again, because that's something that I understand, having done it plenty of times to receive some privacy inside my own chambers. You see, I know my way around illusions. Yesterday night, my hand passed straight through the beam. I felt nothing. My head feels normal. You were just all flair and no glare, weren't you?' Loki finished icily.

There was no response till the next half a minute, after which Loki nodded curtly. 'That's what I thought. Remember, I'm not a man to be trifled with! That never ends well! Farewell!'