Down below

Chapter 16.

   They landed in a park, a few miles away from the campus. They timed their arrival late in the evening to avoid any unwanted attention. Loki immediately cloaked them invisible until they checked if anyone saw them arrive. Thankfully there were barely any people around at this time of the hour. It was a mild summer night, the stars hidden behind the clouds.

'Come on! We need to get to my place.' Elianah told Loki.

   He followed her without a sound. She was worried that someone saw the bright outbreak of colors as they landed through the Bifrost and then they would see Loki, who still looked very much like a character in a fantasy novel with his dark green embellished tunic and black leather trousers, despite her advice to dress simply. They passed a young man, wearing a black biker jacket and faded jeans with black boots. He was clearly drunk, because he was wearing a pair of sunglasses despite the late hour, waving at them cheerfully, asking for a lighter. Elianah politely told him they didn't have any while Loki was staring at him curiously. As they were walking away, she saw green light flashing from the corner of her eye. She looked at Loki who changed his clothes to match that of the drunk guy's.

'Loki, you can't just use magic out in the open. I told you about CCTV.'

'We are in a park, covered by trees.'

'You're lucky there aren't any here.'

'How do I look?' he asked her, turning around.

'Age appropriate.'

   Loki let out an annoyed sigh. Elianah knew what he wanted to hear and yes, he looked annoyingly cool wearing a leather jacket and jeans, but she wasn't going to feed his already gigantic ego.

'I know that, thank you very much. Do I look good? Would you ask for my cell number?'

'I guess, but to each their own.' she shrugged, feigning indifference.

'Really helpful, Elianah. Thank you.' he bowed to her mockingly.

'You're very welcome.'

   After ten-minutes walk, Elianah managed to catch a taxi. Loki was staring at the buildings, shops and cars. Humanity did make a fast progress. Last time he visited Midgard, citizens of London emptied their waste on the streets, disease and beggars flooded the cities along with rats and public safety was a myth unless you were one of the nobles and lords or a member of the Royal Family. Now the streets were clean, street lights made sure people can find their way in the dark, public transport and taxis were available.

   They got out in front of a worn down two storey corner building. Elianah opened the front door and they went up to the top floor. Loki looked around as he stepped inside the flat, concerned by the size of the place. He was standing in what Elianah described him as the living loom/kitchen, she then gestured towards a narrow hallway where according to her were the bedroom, the bathroom and the toilet.

'Is that it?' he asked with apparent disbelief.

'Yes. I'm not exactly loaded...pardon, rich like you.' she said, unpacking her things and plugging her phone in to charge. 'And this apartment has access to the roof and there's a fire escape from the bedroom. It also has a basement where we can train.'

   Loki didn't respond, he went to see the rest of the apartment while Elianah turned her laptop on. The toilet was a separate little room, similar to what they had in Asgard, less regal, but at least it seemed clean. He went to the bathroom that had a small window. He noticed that the bath tub was missing, instead it had an enclosed area made of glass with a pipe like thing ending in a wide, perforated cover over the end and a similar smaller one with a flexible pipe. There were two tap like things mounted on the wall. He carefully opened the one saying cold and water started to spray on him from above, so he quickly turned it off. Elianah did mention shower, so he guessed this was it. He checked the white, shabby cupboard and saw towels in all sizes on the top shelves and different bottles in all colors in the bottom drawers. He then went to check out the bedroom. Elianah did warn him about the size of her apartment, but the sleeping chamber was heartbreakingly small. It contained a double-bed with loads of pillows, standing by the window, a cupboard and a chest of drawers by the door, barely fitting in the room. He felt suffocated.