A Tale of Two Tricksters

by Debbie Newcomb

  Suddenly, Jenn reached a decision and she felt the two halves of her shift accordingly. No longer was she split into two. Now she was one. Unified, and it must have shown on her face when she opened her eyes.

  Luke grinned widely. “I’ve been waiting for this moment since the night we met,” he told her. “I wanted you to come into your full power, and you have blossomed.”

  Jenn smiled. “I feel different,” she admitted. Her voice sounded different.

  Luke nodded. “That is often the case.”

  “Stronger,” Jenn continued. She looked at Luke. “So, what’s the plan?”

  Luke smiled, leaned forward, and kissed her on the forehead. “Let me lay it out for you.” As he explained the plan, his glow gradually dimmed, until he looked human by the end of it. Jenn looked at him again. His hair was neatly combed down a part, with the longer side carefully held in place with product. Jenn wondered if she would feel it if she ran her fingers through his hair. His beard, although blond, was just dark enough to stand out on his face and gave him an air of masculinity and suavity. He was quite the man.

  Behind Jenn, Julie was picking herself up off the floor. “What happened?” Julie asked.

  “You were tired,” Jenn told her. “You fainted.”

  “You look different,” Julie said, looking up at Jenn’s face.

  Jenn smiled at her. “I know.” She helped Julie stand up. “Luke has a plan.”

  “Really?” Julie asked, her eyebrows going up.

  “Really,” Jenn replied, a bit firmly.

  “Ladies, if we could continue this discussion in the cave?” Luke asked. “My honored guest will be showing up in the few minutes, and we need to be in place when he gets here.”

  “Honored guest?” Julie asked.

  “Odin,” Jenn replied shortly.

  Julie’s eyes went wide. Then three of them walked into Luke’s cave. “What’s going on?” Julie hissed as they fell behind Luke.

  “A lot,” Jenn replied shortly. “Luke wants to make a new world.”

  Julie stopped. “A new what?” she asked.

  Jenn grabbed Julie’s arm and pulled her up near Luke. Luke opened the door to his bedroom and ushered them both inside. He turned to Julie. “We’re going to be changing this world for the better, making it more inclusive, but I need your help. Jenn has the magic, but she needs someone to make a wish to be able to use it.”

  “You know about that?” Julie asked.

  Luke smiled. “I know a lot about Jenn, but I don’t have time to get into everything now. I just need you to trust me.” He looked at Julie’s face. “OK, then trust Jenn. We’re going to be going somewhere else. A different world. When we get there, I need you to make a wish so Jenn can grant it.”

  “What wish?” Julie asked uncertainly.

  “I wish that Luke will defeat the gods now to make his new world a reality,” Luke recited for her. Jenn could tell he had taken some time to make sure this wish went the way he wanted it to.

  “You want to defeat gods?” Julie asked. “What are you talking about?”

  “How much do you know about Norse legends?” Luke asked.

  “A bit,” Julie said.

  “Well, they’re real. Odin is coming here right now and we need to act while he’s still here. We have to go to Asgard to make the wish so he can’t interfere and to give Jenn’s magic the best chance of working.”

  “Asgard? The realm of the gods?” Julie asked.

  “Don’t worry about the specifics,” Jenn told her. “Just trust me. We’re going to come out of this a whole lot better off.”

  Julie looked at Jenn for a moment and Jenn wondered if Julie was trying to read her mind. Then, Julie nodded.

  “Excellent,” Luke said with a smile. “Let me just take us all to the prairie. Odin will be providing our transport.” Both girls set their purses down, although Jenn noticed Julie put the mace in her pocket. Luke wrapped an arm around each girl’s waist and floated up through the hole in his wall. Then he whizzed down the tunnel and out the top and they were in the prairie.

  “How does that work?” Julie asked, staggering a little once Luke set them down.

  “Magic, of course,” Luke replied with a smile. “Now, we’d better hide.”

  The three of them crouched in the tall grass and Jenn could feel something resting on them. It almost felt like a blanket, but there was nothing there.

  On the path just outside of the hole leading to Luke’s caves, there suddenly appeared a man on a horse. Jenn could tell the man was a god because he had the same glow Luke had earlier. That and Julie had passed out again. Jenn looked a bit closer. The man had white, long hair, a lumberjack beard and a black eyepatch. That had to be Odin. Then Jenn looked at the horse. She blinked and counted again. The horse had eight legs. Odin dismounted, looked down at the hole in the ground, sighed, and stepped out over it. Instead of falling, he floated down.

  Eventually, he got far enough away that Julie began to revive.

  “How do you know we can ride his horse?” Jenn asked Luke, as they crept out of the grass.

  “That horse is my son,” Luke replied. He walked up to the horse openly. “Sleipnir,” he greeted it. “My friends and I need a ride to Asgard.”

  Sleipnir put his head down and pawed the ground a little bit.

  “You know you can’t deny me this request,” Luke said with a smile.

  Sleipnir looked up and whickered at Luke.

  “Thank you,” Luke replied, smiling.

  Perhaps it was because the horse had something to do with the gods, but Julie wasn’t back to her normal self. Luke slung her up on Sleipnir’s back and slid in behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. Jenn managed to mount on the back of the horse and wrapped her arms around Luke’s waist so she wouldn’t fall off. She was surprised that all three of them fit on this horse, but if it was Odin’s horse, anything was possible.

  The horse began to walk and the scenery around them changed. Sleipnir was galloping on something wooden. It curved a bit away from them on both sides. As they galloped, Sleipnir dodged what looked like a tall tree growing out of the wood. That couldn’t be right. Jenn’s eyes opened wide as she realized they were riding up the world tree, Yggdrasil. They were really going to Asgard. But how did this work? Were they in space? But there seemed to be plenty of air to breathe. Just before Jenn was going to ask Luke, Sleipnir slowed and stopped. They were now standing in a field outside of a gigantic wall. Jenn looked to the right and to the left, but it stretched as far as she could see in either direction.

  Luke slid off of Sleipnir and pulled Julie with him. Jenn slid off behind them and followed as Luke walked Julie some distance from Sleipnir. Eventually, Julie seemed to revive.

  “Where are we?” she asked, looking around.

  “Asgard,” Jenn replied. “If you want to know what’s going on, it’ll be a lot faster if you just read my mind.”

  Julie looked at Jenn for a moment, and Jenn could feel Julie in her mind. Then Julie nodded and swayed a little. Jenn hoped the effort wasn’t too much for her.

  “Do you see why it’s so important?” Luke asked. “Think of all the people you could help.”

  Julie nodded and smiled. Jenn stepped forward and grabbed Julie’s hand.

  “I wish,” Julie began. Jenn squeezed her hand. “I wish Loki would forget everything about his plan to take over the world and that he would stop trying.”

  With a scream of rage, Luke launched himself at Julie. Jenn stepped between them and grabbed Luke. Julie fell to the ground behind them, and Jenn did her best to drag Luke away. Jenn could feel the power trying to flow through her into Luke but something was stopping it.

  “You bitch!” Luke yelled. “I should have found your bottle and stuffed you back inside! I could have found a way to make you obey me.”

  Jenn gritted her teeth and concentrated on pouring her new-found power into Julie’s wish. Now that she had decided to embrace both her djinn-self and her huma
n-self and let them meld together, her power flowed so much more easily.

  “You think you know rage, Jenn? You think you know helplessness? I caused the end of the world because of what the gods did to me. I’ll do something far worse to you!”

  Jenn grabbed onto him harder and tried to ignore his words. She knew she was screwed if this didn’t work. His threats didn’t mean anything.

  “Not just to you,” Luke yelled. “I’ll come after Julie, and your family. Little Perdita…Your mother.”

  Jenn screamed and pushed him down. She was still hanging on, so she landed on top of him, knocking the wind out of him for a moment. She closed her eyes and became the wish. It had to be granted, it was part of the law of her seal, and it was Jenn’s will. She could feel Luke fighting her, moving this way and take to try to dislodge her. Jenn’s fingers dug in until she cut through Luke’s skin, but she wouldn’t let go. Finally, it was too much, Jenn’s power forced its way through and it poured into Luke.

  The wish filled up every nook and cranny inside of him. She pushed everything she had into him, to make him forget. She had to make him forget.

  Someone was trying to pull her away, but Jenn shook them off and clung onto Luke. Then, a large force ripped her off of him. Dazed, Jenn looked up to find herself confronted by Odin. He was in a fearsome rage.

  “What is the meaning of this?” Odin demanded, shaking them both.

  Luke smiled. “I’m sure this lovely lady would like to explain,” he said. His face went sour. “Because I have no idea who she is.” Frowning, Luke massaged his arms and stared as his hand came away with blood on it.

  “Luke, I mean, Loki was trying to kill all of you. Again,” Jenn said.

  Odin glared at her for a moment and Jenn looked him in the eye. After a moment, Odin sighed and set Jenn on the ground. Jenn staggered and almost fell over. She hadn’t realized she’d used up that much of her strength.

  “He hasn’t forgiven you for what happened before the world ended last time,” Jenn said. “He was going to use me to defeat all of you again, to make the world into what he wanted.” Jenn shivered, remembering how close she’d come to believing him. To believing that he would take that much power and only do good with it.

  “He thought you could defeat all of us?” Odin asked. There was no judgement, just a simple question.

  Jenn nodded. “I am a djinn,” she said. “Well, a djinn and a human.”

  “Is that why you’re able to speak to gods?” Loki asked.

  Jenn ignored him and looked at Odin. “I made him forget everything, but the longer we stand here talking, the more he might remember.”

  Odin nodded, and tossed Loki over to a man wielding a hammer. That must have been Thor. “Take care of him,” Odin admonished.

  “Just don’t do what you did last time,” Jenn said, finally letting herself drop to the ground. “It’s like after World War I and how they punished Germany. That just made Germany start World War II.” She was so tired. She couldn’t make a better case, but she needed to make sure they understood her. “He’s forgotten it all anyway. Just keep an eye on him and know you can’t trust him.”

  Odin crouched down to be closer to her level. “We know we cannot trust him, but we underestimated him. We will not do that again.”

  Jenn nodded.

  “I will return you to Midgard,” Odin said, “brave warrior.”

  “Julie,” Jenn said, looking over to where her friend had fallen.

  “Her as well,” Odin promised. He whistled and Sleipnir came trotting over. Odin tossed both girls on Sleipnir’s back and then mounted behind them.

  Jenn was barely able to keep herself conscious for the ride down the world tree. Odin dropped them off at the prairie. “Please,” Jenn said, “can you take us inside the cave?”

  “Why would you want to go back into Loki’s domain?” Odin asked.

  Jenn wasn’t sure how to tell him that her car was across town from where they were and so was her phone. “Please,” she said, instead.

  Nodding, Odin picked them up and flew them into the cave. He set them both on Luke’s bed. “Rest well, warrior,” Odin told her. “And may you one day fall in battle, so we can toast you in Valhalla.”

  “Thanks?” Jenn asked, as Odin flew away. Now that he was gone, Jenn felt bone tired. She began to relax on the bed. Then she felt Julie move next to her.

  “What happened?” Julie asked.

  “We won,” Jenn said, tiredly. “We’re safe.”

  “You look awful,” Julie said.

  “Thanks,” Jenn replied. Her eyelids were so heavy. She felt Julie curling up next to her, and then Jenn fell asleep.

  **

  When Jenn woke up, Julie was gone and the bedroom door was standing open. For a moment, Jenn couldn’t remember what had happened. She realized she was in Luke’s bedroom and began to panic. Then she remembered why she was there and that he had now forgotten everything, including her. She sighed and relaxed. Jenn stretched and began to get up from the bed, grabbing her phone out of her purse. There was one place she had to go before she went to find Julie.

  As it turned out, after Jenn left the bathroom, she found Julie in the hallway. “I’m glad you’re awake,” Julie said. “I’ve already called off from the diner, but I was going to have to call your mom and tell her not to worry.”

  “How long did we sleep?” Jenn asked.

  “Well, it was Friday afternoon when we went to the boys’ house, and now it’s Saturday afternoon. I’m not sure how long we were in Asgard but… We slept for a long time.”

  Jenn stared at her. “The longest I’ve slept before was twelve hours. This is a new record for me.”

  “That’s what you think of?” Julie asked.

  Jenn shrugged.

  “Oh, I texted my parents and told them I fell asleep in your dorm room.” Julie blushed.

  “Okay,” Jenn said. “They won’t ask my roommate, so that should be fine.” She yawned and stretched. “Is there anything to eat in here?” Jenn asked. “I’m starved.”

  “Not at the bar,” Julie replied. “They’ve just got drinks, but I was looking through the junk room, and I don’t think it’s junk.”

  “Sure,” Jenn replied, following Julie. “It’s antique.”

  Julie shook her head. She opened the door to the junk room and led Jenn over to a small, low table. Taped to it was a piece of paper that said, “Table be set.”

  “Table be set?” Jenn asked.

  Instantly, a tablecloth appeared on the table and all sorts of food until the little table was groaning under the weight.

  Jenn and Julie looked at each other.

  “It might be poisoned,” Julie began.

  “Then I’ll eat something and we’ll see what happens to me,” Jenn said, grabbing a roll from the table and eating it before Julie could object. “I’m half djinn,” Jenn said, around the bread roll.

  “Looks to me like you’re a pig,” Julie replied.

  Jenn grinned and swallowed her food. Then she sat down and waited. After five minutes, she looked up at Julie. “It’s probably fine,” she said.

  “I guess,” Julie said, looking at the table.

  Jenn shrugged, stood up, and began eating. She managed to find an empty plate and some silverware, so she loaded up a plate and began devouring it. After another moment, Julie did the same. No matter how much they ate, the table remained full. Eventually, they stopped eating and put their dishes back on the table.

  “I wonder how we tell the food to go away,” Julie said.

  “Why?” Jenn asked.

  “I don’t want to waste it. And we don’t want to get bugs or anything,” Julie said.

  They looked back at the table, but it was empty again.

  “I guess that takes care of that,” Jenn replied. “I wonder what else is in here.”

  “Should we really be poking around at this stuff?” Julie asked.

  “Why not?”

  “Well, it’s not ours.” />
  “Right of conquest,” Jenn replied breezily. She looked at Julie’s expression. “OK, well. Luke doesn’t remember that any of this is here anymore. It’s kind of like we just found this stuff and have no way to give it back to its owner. Besides, someone needs to make sure whatever magical creatures show up here are taken care of.”

  “You think so?” Julie asked. “Wouldn’t it be better to just let them go?”

  “Go where?” Jenn asked, her mind two steps ahead of her. “They came here because they had nowhere else to go-“

  “-or because Luke made them think that,” Julie interjected.

  “Good point,” Jenn replied. “Still. They don’t think there’s anywhere else to be. Are you going to try to take Achi to your house? You know Katrina is going to try to pet her and slice her fingers open.”

  Julie shivered. “So, we should keep them here?”

  “Until they have somewhere else they want to go. It can be a halfway house.”

  “A halfway house for magical creatures?” Julie asked. “That sounds like a bad movie.”

  “Good thing we’re not in a movie,” Jenn replied. “What do you think? Social workers do something with halfway houses, right?”

  Julie laughed and nodded. “Yes.”

  “And if we’re doing that, then we should know what else is in here. If nothing else, we can get free meals when we’re working here.”

  “Jenn, be honest with me. Did you think of how good this would be for everyone before you started pitching this, or were you trying to convince me so you could take stuff from this room?”

  Jenn thought for a moment. “Can’t it be both?” she asked.

  Julie smacked her and Jenn laughed. “I should have known it’s like this to deal with you,” Julie said.

  “I’m just too great for some people,” Jenn replied with false sincerity.

  Julie rolled her eyes and started looking at what else was in the room. They found a pile of gold rings in one corner, which looked like real gold to Jenn. There was also a stick in a burlap bag, which confused both of them. They tried not to touch the weapons. They weren’t sure what kind of magic might be on them and it would probably be more destructive than some of the other objects. As they were rummaging, Julie suddenly stopped and looked at Jenn.