Page 4 of Thor

He pushed open the glass door and his gut clenched at the sight of red and pink hearts, balloons, streamers, people and more. A light soothing scent her couldn’t place tickled his nose and made him relax a fraction. Eyes turned his direction but then quickly turned away. This was going to be fun. Not.

He walked to the sign-in table and approached Eve. Her eyes widened slightly at the sight of him, and she smiled.

“Has it been six months already?” She handed him the usual paperwork. “Did Frigg or Odin guilt you into coming this time?”

“Mother.”

Eve chuckled. “Well, let’s hope this time you find what you are looking for.”

“I’m never looking,” he said, signing the form.

Eve’s smile didn’t waiver as she handed him his number. “Then let’s hope you find what they are looking for.”

Thor nodded and went to leave but paused. “Oh, I almost forgot, I need one for Loki too. He’s running late.”

Eve rolled her eyes and handed Thor a second number. “When is he not?”

Thor took the number and for the first time in weeks he actually smiled.

* * *

Sutrelle staredinto the café and glanced at the address again. “Are you sure this is where Lady Frigg said we were to meet Loki?”

Val glanced over at her and then at the paper in her hand again before showing it to Sutrelle.

Yup. DeLux Underworld Café was definitely the place on the piece of paper. But it didn’t look like a place to have a business meeting.

“Come on,” said Val. “Let’s get this over with, and then we can go topside again.”

Sutrelle nodded. Val opened the door and the light scent of flowers and vanilla calmed her nerves somewhat. She blinked several times at the bright reds and pinks that decorated the entire café. It appeared to Sutrelle more like Freyja had decorated the place in advance of a mating ritual than a regular café.

A beautiful woman glided over to them and smiled at Sutrelle. “Hello. I’m Aphrodite. You must be new here.”

“Yes,” Val answered stiffly. “We were told to come by Lady Frigg. We have a meeting—”

Aphrodite smiled brighter. “Of course. Lady Frigg sends many customers our way. If you want to go over to the table and sign in with Eve we can get you all set up.”

Val’s eyebrows smashed together. “I... I don’t understand. We were told to be here at 8:00 pm.”

Aphrodite nodded. “Yes. This is the meeting place. As you can see we have a lot of customers so if you sign in we can assign you to tables, and we’ll be starting in a few minutes.”

Val looked from Sutrelle to Aphrodite.

“Thank you,” said Sutrelle. She took Val’s hand and led her toward the table outside a red velvet curtain.

“This is strange,” said Val. “Why do we need to sign in to get a table to talk to Loki?”

“Maybe he has a lot of clients. I’m sure we aren’t the only ones he is helping. I’ll sign in, you have a drink.” Sutrelle threw Val a smile trying to ease the tension in Val’s jaw.

Ever since they’d run from Muspelheim Val had been more on edge than ever. Lady Frigg had taken them in and offered them shelter and Loki finally had the human paperwork needed for them to change their identities permanently. It surprised Sutrelle how many different pieces of identification humans needed to be able to live on Midgard—

Earth.Humans call it earth, she reminded herself.

Living on Midgard the last month had been eye-opening to Sutrelle. The sights, smells, and noise of Los Angeles California was nothing like what she was used to. The biggest thing she’d fought to become accustomed to was the lack of physical pain when she did something that displeased someone. And contrary, the smiles and thank you’s that were liberally aimed her way just for bringing people food and drinks were also something she wasn’t quite used to yet— though they were most welcome.

Sutrelle waited for the two women in front of her to finish at the table. One sported skin the color of volcanic ash and wings that hung from the nape of her neck down to the edge of her heels. The other was completely opposite with skin as pale as alabaster and tiny feathery wings delicate enough to carry nothing more than a butterfly.

The women hurried away giggling and talking animatedly.