A Pack of Misfits

Chapter Seven - The Boys are Back in Town

For the rest of the day, I remained in my room. It was for the best, all things considered, as it gave my body a much-needed break to fully heal.

Hours passed without anyone coming to talk to me – not even Sunny. But that was fine, right now I just wanted to be alone. I lay silently in my bed as I scrolled through a manga app on my phone, trying to decide which one of my ten favourites I would re-read to kill time as my muscle ache faded and my body adjusted to this change. In the silence of my room, my ears could pick up on voices talking downstairs. Well, with their volume, it wouldn't take enhanced hearing to easily follow the conversation. I could hear Artemis, vigorously defending her point, almost trying to make an argument that she would make a better Alpha than me, because I was unstable and likely to lash out and hurt any of them.

Untrue.

I could hear Annabelle, adding her own senseless ideas to the fire, fuelling it even further, saying things like "when she realised that Thor was too strong to get killed so easily, she fixed her up and made her a guy as some kind of whacky magical alibi story" and "She'll surely want to finish the job, are any of us even safe here".

I could feel my previously unshed tears flowing back, watering my vision as I tried to read the words on my phone screen.

Jalex barely spoke up during the argument downstairs. I could hear her occasionally make a comment, but eventually I heard her stand up and walk to her room, slamming the door shut behind her. Thor remained seated on the couch, I could only assume, being 'protected' from the madman warlock that was currently resting upstairs. I could occasionally hear her, or his, voice. She kept saying "I don't think Loki would do that" and "I can't really remember, but I don't think Loki was there when I got hurt". However, her uncertainty was enough for Artemis and Annabelle to override her and continue with their insane idea that I had been the one to give Thor that scar – which I could only assume was massive, as the jacket Thor had been wearing covered her now male chest from the collar down.

I could feel tears run down my cheeks, and I sniffled a little, pulling my thin limbs even closer into a ball, curling up beneath my blankets in an attempt to find comfort.

Sunny was defending me, I could hear. She was swearing up and down at the vampire and slayer, telling them off for having so little faith in my good heart, and in the love I held for all of them. "The Loki I know would sooner give her own life than let anything harm so much as a hair on our heads! And you guys know this!" I heard her scream out in frustration.

Thank you Sunny, at least you had my back. Things seemed to quiet down after her outburst and listened to footsteps come up the stairs. I held my breath in apprehension, listening carefully as the two sets of steps approached my room. I shut my eyes and pulled my blanket over my head, but thankfully the door opposite mine clicked open and shut. Annabelle and Artemis must have gone in together, probably to vent about me to each other, since 'no one else was listening to them'.

Electing to not listen in on whatever it was they were going to discuss, I tenderly stretched my magic out, and, as well as I could, formed a bubble around myself, locking me in from the outside world. When all noise became muffled and the only sounds I could hear were of my own breathing and the bedsheets moving around me, I closed my eyes and tried to fall asleep.

My dreams were filled with lightning and noise, and the smell of blood and glowing eyes in the darkness. Twisting and turning for who knows how long, I felt nothing but distress and panic. I could not escape my dreams, and they were doing nothing but plaguing me with my own actions, making me question if maybe I had been the one to harm Thor? The smell of blood, and rain, mud, fear, of the electricity in the air from the storm...and vanilla? I could smell it again, that smell, that sweet, sweet smell of vanilla. A sense of calm washed over me suddenly, and my mind cleared, the dark clouds rolling back like a pond coming to rest from the ripples disturbing the surface. I could feel the ghostly sensation of someone gently stroking my hair as I was surrounded by the smell.