to do to them?" I asked, my voice ice cold.
"Well, nothing. If you cooperate." He still wore that annoyingly cheery smile, and I was convinced he was insane.
"What is it you expect me to do?" I asked watching his face, wary of what he might do now that he had me in this weird limbo world.
"Leave matters alone. This isn't your fight, Bryn. You belong in Midgard, not fighting for the Aesir."
"Have you seen Midgard lately?" I snapped, raising an eyebrow.
Loki didn't reply, just shook his head sadly.
I glared at him. "By the way. How did you get into Asgard?" I was curious and hoped he'd tell me his secret. He'd managed to gain entry to Asgard even when Thor and Fen had conjured magic to keep him out. "How did you get past the wards?"
Loki grinned, then waved away my question. "Those wards are nothing to me. Do you have any idea how long I've had Vanya by my side? That elf has power beyond belief. She's helped me all this time."
Although shocked to know who had been helping Loki, I wasn't surprised since we'd save Vanya from Loki not long ago. Looks like we'd walked right into the Trickster's trap by saving the elf ancient from his clutches. It now made a little bit of sense. Except for one thing.
I shook my head. "I don't understand why Vanya and Nita didn't just leave. What else did you have against them?"
Loki laughed and the sound echoed around us so loudly I wondered how the two women remained oblivious of us. "I did what I'm doing now. Hostages are powerful things. People will do anything for those they love."
"Who do you have?" I asked. If he still held this hostage, Vanya and Nita in Asgard were a bomb waiting to detonate.
Loki pursed his lips. "Nita has a half-human child. Unfortunately, the poor thing has no power or he would have gotten away by now." Loki looked very happy with himself and right now, despite the almost overwhelming urge to punch him, I could understand his satisfaction.
"Why are you doing this Loki? What do you expect to gain from all the havoc you're creating?"
Loki shrugged. "It's just a game, really. And a way to ensure that the forces of the Aesir fail in Ragnarok."
"You've done pretty well to achieve that goal," I said, folding my arms. I was still waiting to figure out what Loki wanted from me in exchange for the safety of both my mothers.
He tugged my arm and took a few steps, and we were back on the clifftop. Loki let go of my arm and began to pace back and forth in front of me.
After a few tense moments, the god cleared his throat. "I don't think I have. You see, I succeeded in getting Odin out of the way but you, Bryn, are causing me too many problems. You need to be removed from the equation."
"Why don't you just kill me, then? Instead of wasting time blackmailing me?" I snapped, glaring at him. At that moment I wished for telepathy so I could tell the warriors back in the palace that I needed their help. If I spent too long out here then Fen would come looking, but there was no way to tell anyone that Loki was here in Asgard right now. "How did you bypass the wards?"
He lifted his face to me, and his expression one of unadulterated excitement. "It was a brilliant thing. Vanya taught me how to manipulate water. To use it as a conduit to project myself."
"So this is just a projection?" I asked dryly, pointing a finger at his chest.
"Nope. Well . . . yes. Kind of. It's a physical projection. It's alive though so you can hurt it if you try, but it won't kill me."
"So all this time you've been wreaking havoc in Midgard while walking the halls of Asgard, listening to everything we said?"
"Sort of. I can only do one thing at a time so when I project I have to concentrate really hard. So it's not entirely like being in two places at once."
This was interesting. Filing that bit of information away, I asked, "So, I'll ask again. What do you want from me?"
"I want you to back off. Stay away from my fight with the Aesir. I have plans for the final showdown. It will happen my way, in a place of my own choosing."
"What do you mean?" I frowned. "The battle was always meant