Fear of Losing Control (Book #1 in the Infinity Chronicles)

Chapter 8. Escape

Time whizzed by without us knowing. Odin and I sit, and talk, and read, and sleep. There is nothing else to do.

Loki is a mystery to me. One minute he is soft, the next harsh. I know that one of the reasons he did what he did was to get his father's attention. Yet, there's more. He reminds me of a puzzle. One with a thousand pieces.

Odin sits beside me now, asleep. I'm reading a book.

I've literally read half the library already. Though the books are in the Norse language, I can understand most of them, because I took a class about it last semester.

Speaking of semesters, I have no idea what day or month it is on earth. It could be past graduation for all I know.

A pounding from behind the door, interrupts my reading. I sit up with a jolt, causing Odin to wake beside me.

"What's going on?" he asks sleepily.

"Do you hear that?" I say, listening as hard as I could. Then the thumping comes again.

"It's probably just Loki," he groans.

"Loki is not that clumsy."

We pause for a minute, listening again, as the thumping gets closer, and closer, and closer.

I hold my breath as I hear the lock on the other side of the door being toyed with. Then it swings open.

"Thor!" I say with relief as he, Siff, an the Warriors Three come barging through the door.

"How long have you been here?" Thor asks when he spots us.

"Forty-three days," Odin speaks up, "At least I've been here that long. She's only been here for ten."

"Father!" Thor exclaims as he rushes to his side and breaks the handcuffs.

"Wait, you've been keeping track?" I ask Odin, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"You didn't ask," he says as he rubs his now free wrists.

Thor leans down next to me and rips the handcuffs off.

"How did you find us?" I ask as he helps me up.

"Long story," he says and then leads me to Siff, "Siff, take her to her room and make sure she is cared for."

Siff grabs my hand and pulls me out of the library and into a small, swirling, flight of stairs.

I am well rested now. Siff helped me. I had a nice bath, nap, and dinner. Now I'm on my way to meet with Thor and

the others.

I follow Siff, who now leads me to their council room, down long hallways. I have really got to learn my way about.

She stops at a set of double doors, opens them, and walks in.

I follow her in and find a golden room with a table in the center of it. Thor, Odin, the Warriors Three, and now Siff sit at the table.

"We don't even know what he looks like, how can we find him?" Fandral asks the group.

"Find who?" I ask.

Everyone turns to me and Thor jokes, "You really ought to stop making an entrance with a question."

The group laughs, me joining quietly.

"Yeah, but seriously, Who are you trying to find?"

"Your kidnapper," Fandral says, winking at me.

I ignore his flirtatious gesture and ask, "You mean your trying to find Loki?"

Suddenly the whole table stares at me.

"What?"

"Are you Loki?" Hogan asks, his dark eyes staring me down.

"What? No! Why would I be?" I say.

"Hold on a second," Siff says as she nears me. Uh, oh.

Her hand makes contact with my face, immediately causing pain to come.

"Ow!" I groan when she's done. I'm honestly a little hurt that they didn't believe me.

"No, she's not Loki," Siff says proudly and then sits back down.

"Sorry about that," Volstagg says, "Extra precautions."

After I sit down, I ask, "So what's the plan."

Their stares return to me. This is getting awkward.

"What?"

"You're supposed to have a plan," Odin says, speaking up for the first time.

"Me? You're joking right?"

Thor puts a hand on my shoulder and says, "You're here so you can help us."

"No, I'm here because Loki wanted to create havoc and assume the throne!"

"You're smarter than you think," he tells me.

"Yeah, maybe. But I don't know anything about battles! And plus, you haven't even told me who or what we're up against!"

Everyone's gazes shift to Thor, finally taking their eyes off me.

"Oh," Thor says, "I might have left out that part, sorry."

Siff scoffs, turns to me and asks, "Have you ever heard of the Tessaract?"