1-800-CallLoki

Chapter 1

To my Ataraxis friends.

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Chapter 1

Your cell phone... I live like a millionaire thanks to it and that annoying little contract which always costs you more than you think it will. It doesn’t matter which carrier you’re with. They really are all the same for they are owned by one person: me! So, go on, love your cell phone, text away, check your f*******: posts, tweet more, and cry, cry, cry over your bill.

I know you can’t live without it.

Complain all you want, but you’ll renew your contract, you always do. We both know it.

Now that the truth is out, you can stop hating me or start. Whichever, it makes no difference to me. After all, the trick’s on you!

But without cell phones it is a lot harder to know who needs my help.

I am Loki of Asgard, Norse god of mischief, and I am charged with aiding the humans of Midgard against unfriendly transdimensional beings. It is that mission which has brought me to the college campus today.

I watch the pretty blond approach as she talks on her phone. With her school books tucked in the crook of her arm, she fights with adjusting her little black purse while holding the phone between her ear and her shoulder.

Really? I thought every college student had their textbooks on their iPads these days.

She is wearing a denim jacket over a red tee shirt tucked into her blue jeans. She’s slim, slender legs that fit nicely into her black fringe boots. They make her feet look dainty. The color of her hair, pulled back into a ponytail, reminds me of the Valkyries of Valhalla. Loosen the hair, give her a winged helm on her head, a broadsword at her side, the north winds beneath her feet and she would easily transform into one of Odin’s warrior maidens. I wonder if she is a fallen Valkyrie. Of course, if she were, she wouldn’t need my help.

“No, Mom,” I hear her say. “Look, coming to stay at your place for the weekend isn’t going to make things better. It might just make them worse. I know already. I know! God, you just don’t understand. Look, Mom, I’ve gotta go. Yes, class. Love you.”

She hangs up right as I step in front of her. Her armful of notes and books go scattering over the campus sidewalk.

“Oh, I am so sorry,” she says as she bends to gather her items. I stand there watching. “I guess walking and talking is about as smart as talking on your phone while driving. Are you okay?”

“Or texting when you should have both hands on the wheel,” I reply dryly as I take a superficial glance around. There’s something about today. Maybe it’s the warm spring sun on my skin. After the freezing, blustery winter, to see things starting to grow under the melting snow is refreshing. Whatever it is, I’m certainly in a good mood and it feels peculiar and strange.

She glances up at me. Her eyes are blue like a Valkyrie’s. At first, they are confused. Then when the fear enters them, I know what I’d been hearing is true.

“I really am so sorry,” she says again, still kneeling before me. Her hands tremble as she reaches for her belongings. “I should have been watching where I was going.” She is starting to rush now.

I want to rewind the previous moment before she’d become scared, loop it in eternity. I hate the one who had made her into this simpering woman before me. She definitely is not a reborn Valkyrie. I kneel down. “Forgive me, I have forgotten my manners.”

She snatches her books before I could grab them. “No, really, it’s okay. I can get it.”

To think, there are gods and demi-gods who dare to call me a monster!  Oh, yes, Loki’s a bad one and not to be trusted. Silver-tongued devil he is. A criminal passed on to earth to serve his parole.  But if they had to come down here and see this, maybe their thinking would change.

“I am sure you are plenty capable, but sometimes it doesn’t hurt to let people help you clean up the mess you’re in,” I say.

She looks up and her icy blue eyes meet with mine. She has ancient bloodlines, I feel it.  It is almost as if I can hear Freya screaming a war cry that would ignite this woman’s blood. With all of my heart I want her to possess the strength that I knew in the females of Asgard. Would this silent communication be all that was needed to help her? I had to know, to be sure.

“Talk to me,” I whisper.

She draws back. Fear almost breaks the charm spell. I refocus my energy into making her relax. “It’s okay.” Sometimes words help to hold the enchantment.

“He hits me,” she answers, glancing down at her arm.

I reach two fingers up, though I didn’t really need to even physically touch her, and slide back the loose sleeve of her denim jacket to reveal the bruises beneath.

“Who did this? Show me in your mind?” I say. Her thoughts jump to her boyfriend and I see the very image I need, not one of a man, but of a Minotaur. No wonder he is so violent.  With a flick of my wrist, I present her with my card. After she’d seen it, I tuck it into her college book.  “If you see him again, call me right away. If you do, the mess will be cleaned up and you can live a happy life.”

I glance away, breaking the charm spell.  “You better get a move on. You wouldn’t want to be late for class.”

“Yes, I’m late.” Freya’s war cry has drowned under this woman’s fear.  She jumps to her feet and runs down the sidewalk lined with evergreen trees for the two-story brick building.

I turn on the sidewalk, listening to the grating of my Salvatore Ferragamo oxford leather shoes on the cement, and start to walk toward the parking lot.

It is now a race against time. I know the Minotaur and he will soon know me.  She has my calling card. Let the games begin.

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