Loki's Apprentice: A Tale Retold

Chapter 17: Praedita

"And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it."
-Ronald Dahl

Chapter 17: Praedita

The door opened easily and without a sound and the smell of crisp pages bounded in leather reached Evelyn's nose and she smiled in contentment.

Her heart jumped with joy when her eyes feasted upon the thousands of books occupying the many bookshelves sprawled about the large room. Her mind was already busy with which novel she wished to up pick up first.

She suddenly remembered why she entered the room when she saw the Beast sitting at one of the large desks. He was leaned over a medium size book and his brow was furrowed as he was lost in thought. He didn't hear her approach and Evelyn wonder what had him so engrossed.

She cleared her throat which made him jump a bit and look up at her startled. Evelyn couldn't help the small giggle that came out of her lips and she tried to hide her smile behind her hand. He glared at her, but more half-hearted than anything, before concern washed over his features. He gestured for her to take a seat on one of the nearby chairs.

"Good morning Beauty, how are you feeling?"

Although his name for her still stung, his soft tone surprised her. "Just a dull ache in my head, but nothing that will kill me."

A small smile tugged at his lips because of her dramatics before he sat back down in his chair and rubbed his tired eyes.

"How long have you been reading?" Evelyn asked as she peered over at the book.

It's binding was beautiful, silver, but the light made colors of the rainbow reflect like the texture of an abalone shell. She was barely able to read the title, sprawled in fancy black writing, before The Beast quickly shut it and hid it away.

Praedita

"That isn't important." He said watching her eyes sneak a glance at the hidden book, "What do you remember?"

Evelyn met his eyes again and sighed, not wanting to remember anything from that night.

The Beast saw the fear in her eyes. "If you tell me everything it will help me figure out what is happening to you."

Evelyn nodded as determination overpowered fear. She would have to face her demon in order to destroy it.

"I saw a man being tortured in the most inhumane way. It was slow and painful and I don't know how, but I knew he was dying."

Tears threatened to spill, but she did not allow them.

"Did you see who he was?"

She shook her head in response and bit her lip.

"All I recognized was his voice."

The Beast arched an eyebrow as his eyes studied her. "You knew him?"

Evelyn began to nod but then stopped herself. "I don't know actually. His voice was very familiar to me and in my dream I felt attached to him but-"

"Dream?" The Beast inquired, interrupting her for a moment.

"I had it on that morning." She said looking down at her hands, his desperate cries of her name ringing in her ears and she felt something pull at her from the pit of her stomach. She gasped and her eyes went wide, until she looked at the Beast and the tug lessened to almost nothing.

The Beast's eyes were widened just as hers did, but his withheld perplexity rather than fear.

"What?" Evelyn asked worried. "What happened?"

The Beast looked away and shook his head, as if to dismiss it, but something had certainly happened.

"It almost happened again, didn't it?"

Evelyn wrapped her arm around her side as if to shield herself from the strange feeling that had tried to pull her away from her body. "I don't like the way it feels."

"Can you describe it?"

When Evelyn looked up at him once again, it was as if he already knew what she was going to say and it did not help shake the feeling that he knew something that she did not.

"Like I'm being separated from my body. Both present now in this moment, but also present in whatever I was seeing."

The Beast abruptly began to pace back and forth in front of where Evelyn sat. His movements and thoughtful expression made her impatient for an answer or anything that could help uncover what was wrong with her.

"What are you thinking?"

His expression was blank as he stopped and said, "It simply must be from the stress of this situation and lack of sleep causing you to hallucinate."

He's lying.

His face wore a mask of calm but his eyes were empty.

You can't fake sincerity.

"You believe me to be crazy?" Evelyn scoffed.

The Beast sat back down at his desk and grabbed a book to begin reading where he left off.

"Crazy? No. Sleep deprived? Yes."

"I believe I would know if it was just a matter of sleep deprivation!"

Dishonesty did not go well with Evelyn.

The Beast ignored her with a sighed before he asked Frea, who had appeared with a flick of his hand, to take Evelyn to her room to rest.

This only seemed to fuel Evelyn's frustration.

"I felt that man's pain. I felt his flesh slowly burn away from his body." Evelyn said putting her hands down on the desk and lowering her head to his gaze. "Tell me how that could possibly be just a hallucination."

"The more sleep and less thought you give to this matter, the best. I promise it will fade away." The mask that he wore melted away and he looked concerned for her sake. The next words that fell from his blue lips almost made her jump back with surprise. "Trust me."

He was no longer lying and he spoke as a weary old man does of his past mistakes, full of regret.

Although the sincerity in his eyes shook her, she still knew he was hiding something. As she nodded and walked out with Frea, she secretly vowed to find out what he was withholding from her.

And she was going to start with the Praedita.

Ooooooh what is the Praedita and what is Loki hiding?!

Please leave construction Criticism if anything is getting old or the dynamic between the two is too dry or cheesy! You will be helping me out more than hurting haha

Hope you liked this update!

God Bless!

-Em