The tension in the air grew, and I began to wonder if I was wrong about the explosion having been a bad science experiment. I began to wonder about the rain, too. I glanced upwards. No threat of a storm. Thus, no sign of Thor.

Besides, I didn’t really want his attention right now, not when I was trying to get Loki’s. It wasn’t like they got on.

Was it Loki? It was sort of within his style to make us all stand out in the rain, but no.

This wasn’t anything I knew, this building tension. Going through culprits wouldn’t benefit anyone. Instead, I started to drift back away from the building. People tended to follow, tending to drift away and mill about even further away. A couple of cars pulled up that, no doubt, contained parents. Annoyed parents, likely. The rain fell even harder, and there was something unnatural about it.

“Thor,” I whispered. Maybe I wanted his attention after all, because this might fall within the thunder god’s milieu.

What fell within mine? Nothing, as far as I knew. Thruor saying I would never be her sister, and a sudden feeling of loneliness, uncertainty. Of not belonging.

Then I knew it wasn’t my feeling of not belonging. Instinct made me hit the deck and drag a couple of other people down with me, all I could grab, right as the second explosion blew out the wall.

Not many people were close enough to be hit by it. One of the people I’d pulled down swore profusely.

“The wall was bulging slightly,” I claimed, not wanting to admit that I could feel the perpetrator. Sense them.

Was that something to do with who I was? Or who or what they were.

It wasn’t a ghost. Nobody had ever died at the school.

No. It was somebody with actual real explosives, and then the tension faded. It was over. I knew it was. Except that they were going to hassle all of us until they found the perpetrator. Whoever it was was in deep manure when they were caught. A few people had been hit with bricks, but none seemed seriously hurt.
“Okay. We’re going to send you all home. If you need somebody to call your parents, raise your hand.”

I just shrugged and walked to the gate, but I was determined to find the bomber before they ruined anyone’s life. So far, they hadn’t. It was probably a student, probably somebody angry about their grades or their girlfriend or who was being bullied.

In some ways, it wasn’t my purview. But it was. And until I graduated, I was stuck there. Unless Ragnarok happened, I thought wryly. Or I bailed somehow.

Bailing somehow had a certain appeal to it right now. Kanesha fell in next to me, but neither of us said anything.
We just went home.