Of Thorns and Lightning

by Fiona Price

  "Hey, I can get you a box of your favorite cereal that only you have access to for times like this. How does that sound?"

  "Better than stale cereal. Thanks, William." She said gratefully as she got up and put her bowl in the dishwasher.

  "Of course." He responded as she walked towards the door. They exchanged goodnights and Maize headed back to her room. She swiped her card and entered her room, able to fall asleep now that her stomach was full. Her still-warm sheets welcomed her back to bed and embraced her in a cocoon of comfort, just a little too well.

  Maize had set her alarm for 7:30 in the morning to give her time to shower and dry her hair as she would get ready for her meeting, but she had slept through each round of snooze and was shaken awake at 8:40 by a frantic Meaghan.

  "Maize! Wake up!! Aren't you meeting Thor in T-minus 20 minutes?!" Meaghan asked once Maize was waking up. Upon hearing this, Maize realized that she was right, and she bolted out of bed.

  "Meaghan, what do I wear? I don't have time to get ready-"

  "You brush your teeth and your hair, and I'll take care of your outfit!" Meaghan commanded. Maize followed along and headed to the bathroom while Meaghan headed to the closet. She whipped open the doors and was presented with a multitude of options, and she finally settled on a red blouse, black jeans and white sneakers with gold accessories for her friend to wear. Meaghan knew Maize wanted to make a good first impression with Thor, but she wasn't sure if she was supposed to dress nicely or casually, so she picked a safe middle-ground.

  Maize came back out of the bathroom with her wavy blonde hair tied half up in a bun and half left down, her face adorned with a touch of makeup to make her look alive and she pulled on the outfit her friend had set out for her. She put gold earrings in her three ear piercings in each ear and slipped on her silver and gold bangle bracelets while Meaghan tied her sneakers. They were soon encapsulated in a cloud of scent, since Meaghan doused the both of them in a floral body spray before running out the door with Maize.

  "Where are you supposed to meet him?" Meaghan asked, wanting to get there as fast as possible so her best friend didn't miss anything.

  "Out in the garden!" Maize exclaimed.

  "YOU HAVE ALLERGIES!" Meaghan reminded as they ran down the stairs.

  "I KNOW!" Maize confirmed, not forgetting how severely allergic she was to the pollen that was bound to be everywhere in the garden.

  "Okay, you just need to go out there because if you took anything now it wouldn't kick in and it would be useless. You're going to do great, girly!" Meaghan encouraged as they reached the ground floor and opened the door leading out to the greenhouse and garden for Maize to walk through. Maize entered and the door closed behind her and she went to find Thor.

  When Meaghan turned around, she bumped into Dike who had just returned from an early morning workout, but he looked pristine. Dike placed a hand on Meaghan’s shoulder to steady them both.

  "Good morning, Dike!" She greeted cheerily.

  "Hey, Meaghan. What are you doing down here?" Dike asked.

  "Oh, I just dropped Maize off to have her first official meeting with Thor and I may or may not spy on her as she does so." Meaghan answered.

  "Well, she left us to our privacy so we should give her the same respect. Though, I am curious as to what it'll be like."

  "Do you want to eavesdrop with me?" Meaghan asked slyly.

  "I'm going to forget you said 'eavesdrop' and I'm in." He agreed, staying with Meaghan and trying their best to inconspicuously look through the glass out to the garden where Maize was approaching Thor.

  It didn't take her very long to realize that she and Thor both had their blonde hair styled the same way, in half a bun and half down but she couldn't act on making a change because Thor knew of her arrival before he even had to turn around.

  "Ah, Maize, you've arrived!" He greeted warmly, then turning around.

  "Hello, it's a pleasure to formally meet you. I've heard the last time we saw each other, I wasn't in the best condition." She chuckled.

  "I'm glad to see that you're feeling better. It was never understood or researched what kinds of complications or effects an earth-born legacy of mine would have while inheriting Asgardian powers since you, in fact, are the first. If there is anything you may need me for or need from me in this process, I will not deny you." Thor explained, but Maize was biting her tongue and holding back the first sneeze. She knew that if she began, it would be like opening the flood gates and she refused to have an enormous allergy attack in front of Thor during their first meeting when she was in better condition. She wanted to get off on a good foot with him, and she wasn't going to let anything go wrong at this point. She nodded to show her understanding of what he had spoken to her, but sooner or later she had to let out the sneeze that she had been holding in. It would have to happen.

  But it was her nightmare. She didn't have any tissues and god damn it, she wasn't going to wipe her forthcoming snot off of her face without one.

  "I know we have a lot to discuss and I have much to teach you, but do you have any questions for me that I can answer right now to start things off?" He asked, directing the conversation onto her. It was the worst possible plan for the moment. She had to answer him.

  "Oh, I have plenty of questions, but," she rushed, taking in a large breath of air before the sneezes pushed their way out of her lungs. She held up her pointer finger as a signal to wait as she sneezed uncontrollably into her elbow, trying not to sneeze all over the god of thunder. Meaghan knew it was bound to happen and she laughed; the timing and the scenario just a little ironically funny to her.

  "Child, are you alright?" Thor asked, never having seen this before.

  "Oh yeah, I'm fine, just give me a second." She confirmed though it was a bold-faced lie, and she continued to sneeze. The pollen was already making her eyes swell up and become itchy, and Thor determined that a change of venue was in order.

  "Why don't we relocate to inside, Ms. Leto?" He offered, though it was more of a command than an offering. Nonetheless, it was a command Maize did not hesitate to follow and was grateful for the filtered air indoors. Upon hearing this, Meaghan and Dike shifted so that they were walking down the hall with their backs turned to the other pair, trying to cover up their previous actions and make it seem like they were acting somewhat normal.

  Maize ducked into the bathroom where she blew her nose and fixed her hair, so she wasn't completely matching with Thor before she rejoined him in the hallway.

  "Are you feeling better?" He asked.

  "Very much so, thank you."

  "If you have allergies, why didn't you say anything before I asked you to meet me in the flower garden?" He questioned.

  "I didn't want to be rude, sir." She answered simply, leaving out the fact that her morning did not go as planned.

  "Oh, that's not rude, Ms. Leto. Now, your questions?" He shifted once again as they walked into a common room filled with abstractly-shaped chairs that Thor hesitated to sit in. It was almost as if the concept of a bean bag chair was foreign to him, but none of the chair options seemed better. He slowly sank down to meet the chair, his knees nearly hitting his chest. Maize stifled a chuckle and sat in her own bean bag chair.

  Maize didn't hesitate to ask everything that was keeping her awake at night that she hadn't had the courage to ask or discover the answers to. His answers were direct and concise, though some of his answers alarmed Maize. It was true, she would be given Thor's full responsibilities and amenities. Just the thought of wielding the hammer scared her and that was far in the future, but an entire planet was a different story to her. She didn't know if she'd ever be able to ascend to the throne. Not without Thor.

  It was almost as if Thor read her mind. He looked at her with a warm and deeply compassionate look and genuinely reassured her.

  "Maize, you can do this. I know you can. I have full faith in you and your capabilities. The challenges you will have to overcome are infinite, but you will conquer them
with justice and truth. Even if I had a say in who would follow in my footsteps, I wouldn't have chosen anyone else."

  "Really?" She asked meekly, feeling small in the face of the job ahead of her.

  "Really." He repeated, and Maize ascended from her own bean bag chair to step over to him. Thor struggled to get up from the chair, but Maize grabbed his hands and pulled him up and into a big hug. His large and slightly inhuman frame engulfed her tall and muscular build as if she were the size of a pre-teen, but she felt the most secure and the most confident about her role when his enormous arms were holding her.

  "You're not on your own, Maize. Even when I pass the hammer to you, I will always be there with you." He spoke as they were still in their embrace.

  "And you do know that Dike and your friend Meaghan have been eavesdropping on us the entire time?" He asked.

  She nodded into his chest.

  "I wouldn't expect anything less."

  What’s Gonna Work? Teamwork!

  "What about school? I'm worried about finishing out the year and walking at graduation!"

  ♦️

  Both Maize and Meaghan had settled into their routines of training and schoolwork within a week and had been continuing them for almost three weeks. Maize was so far riding comfortably with her powers. She had been avoiding Talia and only got a slight premonition that something bad was going to happen in the cases of her slipping and falling in the shower and trying to grab onto the water for support.

  Meaghan seemed happier than ever to be training with Dike and things were never going better in her life. She had adapted much quicker and seamlessly fit into her new life, but Maize was just beginning to feel that way. Her routine was important to her; she liked to know when things were going to happen and generally what to expect. She hated it when no one filled her in at the last second about a change in plans and she was caught off-guard. She valued consistency mostly above all things, and she knew that wasn't a virtue in her line of work. She had to be flexible in some way or another.

  Maize had been training with Thor which built some of her lean muscle a little bulkier and Artemis helped her refine her agility. Meaghan was spending all of her time with Dike because only he could be able to teach her how to be him. Her fighting style and physicality was specific to Dike, which is something only he could pass on to Meaghan.

  But Maize suspected it was a little more than that.

  Maize walked into the gym with her headphones in her ears, ready to sweat it out with a high intensity workout, but she wanted to spy on her friend's training session on the other side of the room. It was hard to tell what Meaghan and Dike were working on since Meaghan was doubled over in a fit of laughter and Dike was trying to keep his cool but couldn't. Maize couldn't help but wonder what they could possibly be laughing about when she started her own workout.

  "Okay, alright, alright. Let's get ourselves together and let's run that sequence one more time." Dike instructed with a smile, standing back in his place. Meaghan joined him and they worked on a hand-to-hand combat sequence that Meaghan looked like she was winning at. They threw calculated punches and the footwork seemed choreographed just like a dance. Meaghan had memorized the moves and steps, but Dike was surely leading, which Maize didn't expect. She couldn't see Dike as someone who was particularly dominant, and he surprised her when he made a swift and unexpected move around Meaghan that caused them to go to the ground. Dike pinned her down, though both were out of breath from their workout. Meaghan's chest rose and fell heavily as she stared into Dike's grayish green and steely blue eyes, their bodies mere centimeters away from touching.

  "I think you win this one." Meaghan admitted in a whisper of defeat, but it was a loss she was happy to take. Dike agreed, getting up first and then extending his hands down to Meaghan to pull her up. At this point, Maize wasn't doing a good job of spying and probably gave herself away, since Meaghan walked right towards her once their training session was over.

  "What was that with Dike just now, Meaghan?" Maize asked, not so subtly inquiring. Meaghan blushed.

  "It was nothing! We were just training?"

  "Oh, I'm sure that's all that was. Get real, Meg. How long have you and Dike been flirting like that, because something like that doesn't just come out of the blue. I'm pretty sure he was into it, too."

  "Stop it! It was totally nothing! There's no heat between us!"

  "I didn't say there was, but that didn't look ice cold to me."

  "Fine! Maybe that was nice, but just a little bit, though!"

  "I knew it!"

  "Don't tell anyone, okay! It's a little weird I'm kind of into the goddess who's place I'm taking. We're like the same person. I shouldn't be into him, you know?"

  "Yeah, I get it. You guys are cute, though."

  "You're not supposed to encourage me!" Meaghan laughed.

  "Okay. Finish your workout, and just remember you'd didn't see anything!" Meaghan finished before walking out and leaving Maize by herself in the gym. Maize worked out for about an hour, getting a good sweat on before she decided it was enough and headed downstairs.

  She entered her room and struggled with her sweaty sports bra, tripping over her shoes as she was blinded by the stretchy fabric when she pulled it over her head. Soon she was free, and she tossed her gym clothes in the laundry basket before taking a refreshing shower. She got out of the steamy shower and dried her wet hair, it is becoming surprisingly fluffy. She slipped into a red and blue flannel shirt, ripped Mom jeans and high-top vans before grabbing her glasses and laptop and heading to the library.

  She walked down the bright hallway, the sun coming in through the glass walls and hitting the white and gray color scheme on the inside. Maize swiped her ID card and gained access to the library where she settled herself onto the gray couch with blue and white throw pillows. Her knees were partially tucked into her chest and there she rested her laptop, opening up OneNote to view her schoolwork that was due that evening. She worked until two on AP Government and AP US History, doing chapter notes and a unit test.

  School was one of the last connections she had to her whole life and sometimes it was hard to even look at it since she knew nothing was the same for her anymore. She was taking the same classes as all the other kids, but the ones she had called her friends surely had already forgotten her. She wasn't a normal kid, not by any means, but her AP work was giving her the false perception that she was. And she didn't know exactly why that hurt her so badly.

  When she was finished she exited the library and ran into Jordie in the hallway. She broke into a smile, adjusting her glasses on the top of her head which pushed back some of her hair.

  "Hey, Jordie."

  "Hey, Maize! I didn't know you wore glasses." He pointed out.

  "Oh, yeah. I wear contacts but these are magnifiers. I'm an old lady at heart." She explained jokingly.

  "I like them. They suit you." He complimented with a lingering and tender gaze. She didn't know exactly what that meant but she met his rues the same way and she expressed her thanks. They were heading in opposite directions so he reached out a guiding hand that brushed her waist ever so gently so that they wouldn't stall and not be able to move in their direction.

  Attempting to decode the feeling of that moment, she headed to the kitchen to grab a late lunch. She made herself a turkey wrap and a protein shake and then went to find Thor. He always seemed to have an answer to something Maize couldn't figure out on her own.

  "Hey, Thor, do you have a second?" She asked, knocking at the doorframe of the room he had made into his own space.

  "Of course, come in," he said, though his eyes were determined to finish something on his computer. She sat down in a chair across from him, trying to peek at what he was working on. Her question could wait, since she noticed him struggling.

  "Do you need help?" She asked after he smacked his keyboard with a heavy hand.

  "Yes, very much so. William Townsend sent me an attachment in an email, but I can't open it!
It's saying I don't have something called Adobe Flash player, but I don't care about Adobe! I just want to see William's file!" He spoke, his booming voice becoming increasingly louder as he explained it to her.

  "Well in order to open some attachments you need Flash player."

  "Why!? I don't want it!" He exclaimed, his voice thundering. He wasn't yelling at her, he was just a god.

  "Just... let me handle it." She smiled, and within minutes she had the file presented before Thor.

  "Thank you, Small Thor. It turns out he just sent me something he refers to as a meme, but I don't know why this frog is funny."