Search for the Soul Gem

Chapter Fifty-Seven

     "You will tell me how it was done!" Loki screamed in my face. I shrank away, already crying.

     "I don't know!" I screamed back. He roared in anger and flung his hands out away from him and sending me flying into the wall behind me. 

     "Tell me!" he screamed, his voice so loud that some of the rocks above us tumbled down. I shielded my head from the falling rocks. I let out another terrified sob. 

     "I don't know what you want me to tell you! I don't know how it works!" I cried. He was in front of me in an instant, his hand wrapped around my throat. 

     "I want you to tell me why I cannot hold it?" he hissed. I swallowed hard, breathing heavy. 

     "I was told only those with Asgardian marks can touch it," I whimpered. 

     "I am from Asgard!" he bellowed. I winced away. 

     "I didn't make the rules! They were just told to me!"I cried. 

     "By who,"

     "I don't know! I never saw him," I sobbed. He thought for a moment. 

     "Did he sound like this?" his voice had changed into the deep, instructive voice I'd heard in my head. I nodded quickly. This only enraged him more. He roared in anger, his anger pushing everything from the room out into the walls. I covered my head to shield from flying things and falling rocks, " That fiend! Odin you bastard!" he roared. I could feel myself shaking where I sat, frozen with fear. He turned to me violently, "you will show me," he said through clenched teeth. He stalked over to me and jammed his palm against my forehead. I was violently ripped away from the room and in a louder, more familiar one. I felt pressure on my face and I knew it was Tony, causing my heart to tighten. 

     "Lucy Scaffer. Do not open your eyes, human. Unless you wish them to be burnt from your head. Congratulations human, you are the first one in 8,000 years to have found, translated, and followed the directions we so clearly set before you. Are you scared human?" there was a pause, "Speak!" I felt the fear rise in my throat just like it had then. 

     "Yes," I heard my voice rather than felt it come out. 

     "Good, now listen closely human. There's not much time and while you're not ideal, you'll have to do," the voice began.

     "Lucy, please please look at me sweetheart," Tony's breathy voice stabbed me in the chest and made it hard to breathe. 

     "Puny humans. Always groveling. Now you listen to me closely, for the sake of the weak man in front of you," There was an expectant pause.

     "I'm listening," I heard myself mumbled. I felt Tony's hands on my cheeks.

     "I am about to impart on you one of the best-kept secrets in all of the nine realms. It is the secret of the Soul Gem. It is one of the most powerful forces in the entire universe. The Soul Gem has the power to not only control souls that have already departed this realm for Helheim but also those still who are still in it. It was the ability to return any enhanced individuals to their original selves and control their bodies. It is important that you heed my warning to not let this power control you. This power can get into your head and take you over. It is important that you don't let that happen.

     Now to control this power, you must be of sound mind. This gem is very temperamental and will not work if you are in a rage. And only the person with the Asgardian mark will be able to hold the stone. In order to control its power, you must first realize that it is not like your human electronics. This stone breathes. It feels and thinks. It can act on its own. In order to make it do what you want, you have to make it want to do it too. You must have a desire to do the thing that you are commanding the stone to do. Once you have that desire inside you, all you have to do is hold the stone to the mark and think hard. It is so simple even a human can do it.

     Now, quickly, to find this stone will be tricky. There is a large island in the North Atlantic called Greenland that is under the Scandinavian rule. Deep within the mountains, you will find a hidden cave buried deep in the snow. Hidden within the cave, far away from the rays of the sun is where you will find the gem. It will take more of your wit to solve the problem of getting the stone out. You will have to start in the city known as Scoresbysund to get to the right place in the mountains. Do you understand what I have told you human?" the voice explained all this rapidly.

     "I understand," I heard myself again. The clawing behind my eyes began and I winced in anger. 

     "You must not fail me human. You are the only one who can handle that power now. Don't let me down," 

     Loki pulled his hands away from me, growling slightly. I blinked a few times, trying to readjust to the sudden change. Loki was pacing back and forth in front of me. He was thinking hard about something. 

     "Something is missing," he muttered. He turned to me, "What did you use to lead you?" he asked. I opened my mouth to answer but nothing came out, "Now!" he yelled. 

     "A compass," I squeaked. Loki walked over to me and knelt down in front of me. He ran his fingers across my cheeks lightly, almost comfortingly. 

     "Don't worry," he said, bringing his hand up to my forehead again. Suddenly I was back in the lab away, hiding with Peter bleeding on me. I pulled it off my neck and found a violent corner of the counter. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves before slamming the palm of my hand against it.

     "Four," I bit back the scream of pain and wrapped the compass in my palm. Once it was covered in my blood, I dropped it to the ground. The compass pointed at me though I was not touching it, the numbers on the bottom changed to where the stone was. 

     "Oh you sneaky girl!" he said, drawing me back to reality. I shrank back, "I would be very angry but you just gave me my solution," he said. He smiled at me, sending a short of dread through me.