The Child of Many Worlds

Chapter 9: The Norns

Sorry for an author's note, but I was wondering how everyone was liking the story. Is there anything that I can improve or any recurrent grammatical mistakes I'm making? I do really appreciate any constructive criticism, it helps me polish my writing style and give you a better story. Thank you and on to the story.

"You, you.. ha ha, you don't.... he. My dad, bwahh, my dad's Loki, he- he's half Ice giant."

By the end he had just collapsed on the earth, writhing with laughter. I was honestly pretty offended. He dared to sit there laughing. He was one of the few people to laugh at one of my puns and it wasn't even intentional!

I glared at him, but he just kept on laughing. So I waited, and waited.... and waited.

"Ok it wasn't that funny, you really need to stop."

"But... it's too, he ha ha- ironic!"

I gave him my best death glare, but that just seemed to make him laugh harder. He was infuriating and was making me wait too long to ask my questions, so I sent in the big guns, Natasha.

"Hey Nat, I need your help" I said, looking over my shoulder.

With a dangerous smirk she replied "Anything for you Perce." She stalked over to the convulsing boy, who even when facing Natasha was able to continue laughing. An evil grin spread over her face as she reached him. With a strength that didn't match her lithe frame, she pulled Sleipnir up stared straight into his now fearful eyes. She leaned in and whispered something into his ear. After the first few words he had visibly paled and by the end he looked ready to faint.

Happy with her work Nat lowered him back onto his feet. He almost fell as his knees buckled but barely managed to catch himself before he could reacquaint himself with the freezing dirt.

Finding his voice after quite a few failed attempts he whispered, "She is scary."

That got Natasha and I laughing, but unlike Sleipnir we were able to stay standing. When everyone had regained their composure we were finally able to have a serious discussion.

"So you said your name was Sleipnir and since you were a horse, especially one with eight legs, am I right in assuming you are Sleipnir, the steed of Odin? I asked him from my perch on a conveniently placed rock.

"I was, but no longer." He had tensed up at the question, losing some of the light from his mirthful eyes. I decided to wait to ask him what he meant as I had more pressing questions, but I stored his reaction away for later use.

I must have taken too long to pose my next question because Natasha had asked Sleipnir "Since you exist does that mean the Norse pantheon of gods exists as well?"

From his spot on the ground Sleipnir answered, "Yeah they're still around, but they left earth a long time ago. They went to another one of the nine realms, Asgard and besides a few exceptions they stay there," He looked embarrassed and rubbed his neck, "I'm actually not supposed to be here" he said looking guilty "but I wanted to pay my respects to some old friends. They may be dead, but they still deserve to be remembered. After all they were some of the fiercest warriors I've ever met..."

He had trailed off, leaving his thought unfinished and hanging. Before he could actually lose himself to memory I threw a clump of dirt at him. He caught it just before it could hit his face and glared at me, I just sat on my rock looking innocent.

Nat interrupted us before the situation could develop further.

"So onto a more pressing matter, it's obvious Percy is related, if not to the Norse gods, to you Sleipnir. Is there anyway to figure out how exactly?"