The Last Shifter (a Loki romance)

Chapter 39

Arista's POV
I wasn't sleeping.  Loki thought I was but I wasn't.  There was still something I hadn't told him, something that I couldn't tell him until this was over.  I was putting myself in danger right now.  When a Shifter slept, some of the more powerful ones could reach out with their subconsciousness and make contact with another Shifter.  It was easier if that other Shifter was asleep but I could do it even if Ammon was awake.  It would just be a little harder on me when I let go.  This was the only way he would be able to positively identify me, birthmarks could be faked, as could the eyes as well as the shifting.  Mind readers like Loki would also be able to get ahold of any passwords or identification phrases.  This was the only way I had to assure Ammon that I was really me and that I wasn't someone else in my place.  Even still, this would be a little difficult because when I mated, my magical aura had changed slightly, not by much but he would probably notice.
One of the greatest risks I ran by doing this was him attacking me mentally.  I was prepared to pull away if I needed to but his powers were no pushover, I would still be out of commission for several days.  One of the smaller risks that were on the table was him tracing my location back to Asgard but I would know it if he did and I planned to trace his if he wasn't on Vanaheim. My greatest challenge would be finding him, literally a needle in a ten trillion haystack.  The last time I had contacted him, I had known his exact location and he had been searching for me as well so it had been rather simple to find him.  Now, he had no idea I was looking, he probably wasn't asleep, and I had no idea where he was.  I narrowed my search down to Vanaheim and parts of space that remain untainted by society of any type.  I didn't dare send out a signal in fear that the Enemy would pick it up so I was stuck narrowing my search down a couple dozen at a time.  I was able to rule out all magic-able beings but that got me just about nowhere.  When I was asleep, and especially in this state, my sense of time was warped, all I knew of time in this state was that an hour had not yet passed because Loki yet woken me.  At the moment, I did not know how much time had passed.  It could have been a minute or fifty nine.
My search for Ammon was long and fruitless.  I could find no evidence of my old friend anywhere.  Had the Enemy found him out?  Surely not, he was far to good for that, of this I was certain.  I just had to keep looking.
"Itaria?"
"Ammon."
"What are you doing?"
"I need your help.  Is your leader behind the attacks on Vanheim?"
"Yes.  The purpose of this whole thing was to get the attention of any Shifters that are still alive."
"Has it worked?"
"You are the first responder." So no one else had fallen victim to the trap.  But then again, perhaps we were the only ones left.
"Is he using what I think he is to wreak all this havok?"
"The Soul?  Yes."
"Any chance I could persuade you to give it to me?"
"There's the Itaria I know.  I was waiting for you to ask.  I have an upcoming chance to pass it off to you but we have to be smart and fast about it.  Where are you?"
"I would rather not say."
"Well you have clearly mated and judging by your aura, very recently too."
"If you must know, yes I have but I do not wish to disclose his identity."
"Well I can respect that.  After all you have been through, you deserve happiness."
"Thank you.  So how are we going to do the turnover?"
"Well, it would be far easier to know your location."
"All you need to know is that I have a quick passage to Vanaheim.  I will come alone."
"Good.  There are a few villages that we have not yet contaminated but I will be dispatched within the next few hours to do so."
"Which ones?" 
"The internal ones.  They're very close together."
"But where?"
"The lower diamond.  How quickly can you get there from your passage?"
"I don't know.  We should probably forge a temporary link so that we can communicate when we are awake."
"Alright.  You should know that our artillery has detected huge amounts of Bifrost activity, which means Asgard has an interest in the happenings here."
"I–really?"
"Yes, even my leader is concerned with the amount of activity and how close it is to the villages that are charted to be destroyed."
"Do you think they're onto you?"
"I don't know.  When was the last time you went to the home of the gods?"
"Around the time of the Last Great War, about a thousand years ago, a little more. What are you going to do about their involvement?"
"My leader doesn't tell me anything and he's been keeping an awful lot from me lately and that is usually a bad thing."
"Do you think he suspects you?"
"I don't think so, him keeping secrets means a big plan in the making that he doesn't want screwed up."
"Like moving the Mind?"
"Pretty much.  But in five minutes, I will have to go to Vanaheim."
"Then I'll be in one of the villages ready to receive the Soul."  We forged the bond so we could talk mentally while we were awake.  Once that was done, we disconnected and I fought against Loki's spell and woke myself up.
"Arista!  What did you do?"
"You have to take me to the passage to Vanaheim.  Now."
"Woah, woah, woah.  Slow down, Tiger."
"No time!  You have to take me to the passage now!"
"We cannot leave our posts."
"We're going to have to. I have a way to get my hands on the weapon."
"How?"
"I can't tell you.  The less you know the better until this is all over, then I'll tell you everything you want to know.  But until then you're going to have to trust me.  Leave advanced clones here until you get back."
"But–"
"We don't have time to argue, Loki, I'll answer all the questions I can when I return."