Soar, Part 21 - Token

"My name is Vanilla," said Vanilla, smiling sweetly and tilting her head. She was the very picture of an innocent little girl, but the girls knew better than to trust that smile. There was something obviously wrong with the child, and Ma'at seemed to have noticed it too.

"That's weird, I haven't heard of a missing child report for anyone by that name," she said, hands on her hips.

"That's probably because there's no one to make such a report," said Vanilla. Ma'at quirked one perfectly shaped eyebrow.

"Care to elaborate?" she asked. "Are you saying you don't have parents? Guardians? Do you live alone?"

"Of course I have parents! Everyone has parents!" Vanilla laughed. "Haven't seen them in forever though... They're probably dead by now." She shrugged. Ma'at tensed. That had been way too cheerful a tone for discussing dead parents. "I don't really live anywhere right now, I just kind of drift through."

Skye could feel the automatic "I'm sorry" dancing on top of her tongue, but she couldn't make herself say it. There was no regret, no sadness in Vanilla's voice. It sent shivers up her spine.

"Do you have any next of kin?" continued Ma'at. "Someone you want us to notify?"

"Not really," said Vanilla, starting to sound bored. "I don't really care either way."

"You will have to be a bit more cooperative than that," Ma'at sighed. "We need to find out exactly who you are. And if we can't find any family to take you in, we're going to have to put you to foster care."

"Hah, foster care," Vanilla said, her laugh dry. "I've already had one set of adoptive parents, I think they were quite enough."

"Should we notify them? Who are they?" insisted Ma'at. Vanilla tisked and leaned back on the couch.

"As I said, I don't really care either way." She paused. "Although the chances of you reaching them are very slim... Rótafkárr here might be able, as a Valkyrie, and I suppose you do have a higher than normal success rate, being a fellow deity, but I wouldn't really count on it."

Roxie grit her teeth. Her mother glanced at her, frowning, no doubt wondering how the little girl knew her full name.

"So your adoptive parents are Norse Gods?" asked Alex. Vanilla turned to look at her.

"Why do you assume Norse?"

"Well, you said Roxie is your link to the world of the living, and Valkyries can only influence souls that Odin has a claim on, right? That means that if she was able to pull your soul from Limbo, or you were able to pull yourself from Limbo using Roxie as an anchor, that means you are part of the Norse clan, and your adoptive parents are most likely Norse Gods."

Vanilla looked at her for a moment.

"Impressive," she said. "And true. There's no reason to deny it... I am a part of the Norse clan."

"Wait, what's this about Limbo?" asked Ma'at.

"Oh, right, you don't know yet, do you?" Alex said, coming to a realization. "The souls of the petrified people are stuck in Limbo."

"The curse that was used is one that plucks a soul from a body, casting it to Limbo," Anka explained. "As a result of having no soul, the body seizes to function, and freezes. That's why everyone appears petrified."

"Well that's the first good news I've hear all evening," said Ma'at, a smile on her lips. "That narrows the possible curses down considerably, and it also explains why we haven't found anything yet. We've been looking in the wrong place if the petrification is a side product, not the main goal!" She whipped out her phone and started to write a text, her fingers gliding along the screen swiftly. "Anything else you can tell me about the curse?"

"The caster was very skilled," Vanilla said, picking at her nails. "A solid curse, even though it didn't feel very, how to say it... advanced. The distraction spell on the other had was very crafty, even fooling me for a moment. A moment too long, I'm afraid."

"That brings us back to the interesting part though," said Alex, crossing her arms. "You've yet to explained that. You look like you're, what, ten? But you can't be, not when you're this knowledgeable about things like curses and stuff."

"Ah, that," said Vanilla. She hummed for a moment, thinking. "I guess I should tell you. We're quickly approaching the end after all, I wouldn't want to leave any big loose ends."

"O...kay?" said Skye. "So, who are you then?"

Everyone turned to look expectantly at Vanilla. She closed her eyes, seeming to savor the anticipation for a moment before she spoke.

"I'm Loki."

There was a pause.

"Get the fuck out," said Alex. Vanilla laughed.

"But... I thought Loki was a male god," said Skye quietly. "And.. an adult?"

"Shapeshifter," said Vanil- Loki, demonstrating by turning to look like Skye and waggling her eyebrows. "And I prefer not to label myself. Unnecessary restrictions that way."

"So you go around pretending to be a adolescent girl?" asked Alex.

"At the moment... I've had many forms and this just happens to be the one I'm currently in. You have no idea how much fun you can have when you're several thousand years old but look 10." She sniggered.

"I don't think I wanna know," said Skye.

"You're actually the trickster god of Asgard?" asked Anka, his eyes wide.

"That's right," said Vanilla, shooting him a thumbs up. "And you're the token white boy!"

"I... What?"

"Why Vanilla?" interrupted Olivia. "And should we keep calling you that?"

"I like Vanilla," said Vanilla. "And preferably yes, although at this point I'm going to have to come up with a new form either way."

"Well then," said Ma'at, running a hand through her hair. She turned her gaze to Anka. "Now to you."

"Wh-what?" squeaked Anka.

"Who exactly are you and what is your part in all this?"

"Uh," he said. "I'm Anka Wuopio, and it was my father that performed the curse."

"Your father?" she asked. "Were you at the scene of the crime then?"

"Yes," he admitted. "I- He never told me what exactly the souls were for, just that it was very important, and that there was a deadline... Halloween night."

"So, he's going to do something to the souls on Halloween night?" asked Ma'at. Anka nodded.

"Uh, mom?" said Roxie. Her mom turned to look at her. "Halloween night is today."

"Oh, shit, it is," said Alex. "Today is the 31st. Right? I'm not 100% sure, I'm a bit sleep deprived."

"That's right, it is," said Ma'at, tisking. "We're in a hurry then, we need to apprehend him today."

"Oh, um, I notice that you found a button from the scene," Anka chimed back in. He was holding up the photo from earlier. "I recognize it. It's from my father's coat, no doubt about it."

"Really?" asked Ma'at. "Are you certain?" Anka nodded. "Well that makes things easier. If we can place him on the scene we have enough to pull him in for detainment, of questioning at the least. If we keep him preoccupied for the night, he can't finish whatever he's planning and we can figure out the counter curse."

A loud yawn erupted from the corner of the couch and Olivia smacked her lips.

"Can we... go to bed now?" she asked, blearily. The other girls noticed their own fatigue creeping up to them as well and soon everyone was yawning as well.

"Sure," said Ma'at, her eyes gentle as she looked at the tired children. "I'll take care of the rest. You've done good, all of you." She gave a kiss on Roxie's temple. "You can use the master bedroom, there's enough room for everyone there."

"Thanks mom," said Roxie with a small smile, and led her friends to the second floor and to her parents' room. The bed was indeed huge and they all collapsed on it, in a big heap, without bothering with the covers.

They were all asleep in a matter of seconds.
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So. Seeing as you don't want to write anymore, you don't have to. I have the rest planned. It'll be two more chapters, the first one coming this weekend and the other in the beginning on next week (probably).

I've come to realise that this story is much more suited to a visual medium, and I have some ideas about a webcomic, buuuttttttttt I don't have the time or patience to do that right now, so I'm not gonna promise anything. I do still like the characters, and the plot is, ehhhhh, manageable, so who knows. Maybe one day I will have the will power to tackle a large scale project like that.

In the mean time, sit tight and hold on to your hats. It's not over yet.

Pie out.
P.S. You have no right to tell my I'm late this time, I had to finish your last part at midnight two nights ago, and refused as a principal to write yesterday. Also, I might or might not write the next part tomorrow (Friday) because I'm going to Helsinki so I'm gonna be in the bus for 5hours, but idk if I'll manage to do any writing.