The cops had a few questions for me. I handed the gun in – I had another, after all. It took some fast talking, though.

“Martial arts” wasn’t an explanation they wanted to hear, but they did at least believe me when I said he’d attacked me and gave a description. I wasn’t worried about him hurting the cops per se. Well, a little, but he wasn’t really competent enough to be a real danger to them.

No wonder Thea found him unattractive. Once I escaped, I headed right home and locked myself in my room for a while. I needed it, and one of the last of the cayenne brownies. They’d vanished remarkably quickly, and I was pretty sure people had been raiding. I didn’t mind so much, not the way I had when I didn’t have money to buy more mix.

I thought of attempting them from scratch, but I did enough food preparation as it was, for myself and other people. Gods did I want to quit that job.

And get out of high school. And…well, I wasn’t sure, then. How could I really make plans when I kept being pulled into fights, in this case other people’s fights?

I wanted to disappear, in that moment. I wanted the normal life I felt had been taken away from me. No. I reminded myself, firmly, that I had never had one, that I was not normal and never could be normal. That I was something else.

But I still wanted that normal life, I wanted what I saw other people around me having. Prue. Barry Clark. They would grow up, get married, have children…and I would, what?

Fight to save the world or to destroy it. I wasn’t even sure which. But I reminded myself that if I wanted anyone to have a normal life…and did I?

Yes. I was jealous, but that didn’t mean I wanted to burn the world. I knew where the thought of burning and fire came from.

Surtur and fire giants. He wanted to burn the world and Loki was tempted. Well, I had a thought on the latter. He liked me, maybe…

I was out the door before I finished the thought. Locking myself in my room might feel good for a while, but it was heading for boredom territory very quickly and I would not wallow.

No normal life, but I thought of Thea, and figured maybe I could try for a fun one.

“You okay, Jane?”

I turned towards Kanesha. “I had to beat up Thea’s wannabe ex again, that’s all. And the cops got involved.”

“Ugh. Well, they didn’t arrest you.”

“I’m more worried about them getting beaten up by him. But no, they believed me. I only roughed him up a little and took his gun.”

“Good work.”

“I had to turn it in, though. Probably for the best.” I flickered a grin at her.

Yeah, it probably was.