Of Numbers and Strange Friendships

Chapter 39

Sigyn laughed at the silly boys. "I'll show your student the gardens, shall I?" Sig asked. The girls would let Loki have his fun. She figured that Wanda wouldn't want to go down to the dungeons and turn criminals into goats. Wanda wanted to see more of Asgard and really had no desire to see the dungeons, so she agreed to see the gardens with Sig.

"If Sif doesn't find you two first," Thor replied with a smirk. He knew something the girls didn't. Thor didn't smirk for no reason, unlike Loki, who seemed to always be smirking.

"Why would Lady Sif be looking for us?" Wanda took the bait and asked the question.

Thor's grin only grew. "Sif wished to goad you into sparring with her. She wishes to see the might of the little lady on our team on Midgard. As well as Loki's protege,"

Wanda raised an eyebrow. "Lady Sif wants to spar me? That hardly seems fair..." Wanda's tone made it clear that she didn't think Sif stood a chance in a fight with her. She had a lot of power and Loki was teaching her magic and combat.

Thor boomed a laugh. "She wants to see the spiderchild in action as well," he explained. Peter shrugged, he was game for sparring with an Asgardian besides Thor and Loki. Thor grinned. "Good, I will let her know," he grinned and headed off to find his lady and give her the good news. And probably make out with her. A lot.

Sig and Wanda waved and headed out to the gardens and Loki led Peter down to the dungeons. He took his friend the long way, giving him a tour of the palace (and letting the annoying little spider take pictures of everything). And they just so happened to make a stop by the kitchens on their way. The two of them quickly came up with a hair-brained scheme involving an illusion, a small explosion, a lot of spiderweb, and a water balloon and left the kitchens with a basket full of pastries, desserts, and meat filled pastries. They left the kitchens laughing like children and continued on their way down to the dungeons.

Loki gave Peter a tour of the dungeons, telling him of the crimes of the criminals they passed as they did. "Choose your victim wisely," Loki warned Peter. "I'm only giving you this ability once,"

"Is it possible to give someone magic?" Peter asked curiously. Damn kid was too curious for his own good. "Someone who didn't already have it?" he pressed when Loki hesitated to answer.

Loki paused. "There are ways to unlock a being's magical abilities. All living things have magic. There is magic in life itself. Only those of us born with seiðr, with traditional magic, ever manifest those powers without external stimulation,"

"Like how Wanda got her powers from the mind stone?" Peter asked too astutely. The boy picked up any piece of knowledge placed in front of him. Or that he wasn't supposed to know. He was like a sponge, especially about magic and science.

Loki inclined his head. "Very much so. She never would have gotten her powers otherwise. She needed that catalyst to unlock her potential. And there is no guarantee it would have worked. Hydra had many experiments that failed before the experiment on Wanda and her brother succeeded. I will not risk your life by experimenting on you," he told Peter firmly before Peter could ask.

Peter hung his head. He had been about to ask. "Alright, Mr. Loki," he replied meekly. This once, Loki knew the old term of address meant that the teen really was taking him seriously.

Loki nodded, accepting that the arachnid wouldn't ask him, and Loki wouldn't do it even if he did ask. "This spell, however, is just to let you borrow my abilities for the length of one spell. You are simply using my power. Now, let's go over the spell," Loki told him and led Peter through some complicated hand movements.

"You're just doing this to make me look stupid," Peter protested. "You don't do all this to turn someone into a goat. Most you do if flick your wrist," he grumbled. He wouldn't put it past Loki to make him do all these stupid gestures.

Loki huffed a sigh and rolled his eyes. "I am a master magician of Asgard. I learned this spell centuries upon centuries ago. I no longer need the silly hand movements to channel the power properly. This is the very first spell you are doing. You need the hand movements," Loki replied and continued his work. "Now, which victim would you prefer?" Loki asked the teen once he had the movements down.

Peter pondered the now terrified prisoners. None of them wanted to be anywhere near Loki teaching magic to someone. From their expressions, this had happened before and the results weren't always pleasant. Peter finally picked someone who'd attacked a village of innocents, slaughtering them until the einherjar had caught him. He was destined for the axe as soon as he could be brought before Odin. Loki kept his hand on Peter's shoulder, feeding him just enough magic as the teen walked through the spell. Loki was also making sure it didn't go wrong and a moment later, the power flowed through Peter to the man and there was a goat in the cell instead. Peter whooped and jumped in joy. "That was amazing!" he moved closer to the goat to get a good look at it. He also snapped a picture. Loki couldn't help chuckling at the spider's excitement.

"Congratulations on a successful first spell, spiderling," Loki told him with a smirk.

Peter laughed and hugged Loki. "I'll never be a master magician like you, witch, but that was fun!"

Loki chuckled. "You're quite welcome, arachnid. I'm glad you're in a better mood. Now let's go find the girls, shall we?" he asked and turned to lead Peter from the dungeons to go find their wayward ladies.