Bruce showed up about ten minutes later with hot chocolate…for himself and the worker. Given he hadn’t known I would be there, I couldn’t be annoyed for more than a moment. Probably shouldn’t have been annoyed for a moment, but I was. Hot chocolate would have been nice.

“Jane!”

“Sorry. I’ve been…busy.”

He set down the hot chocolate and offered me a chaste hug, which I accepted. “Which means this probably isn’t a social call.”

“I think a new student at the school may be an untrained witch. Just in case, I was hoping…”

“I can probably find somebody to take her if you’re right. But if that’s all of it…come in back?”

He offered me his hot chocolate. I found the maturity to refuse, but I settled onto one of the mismatched chairs. “That’s all of it. I’ve been busy.”

“And learning.”

“That too.” I considered it for a long moment. Should I tell him who I was? Did he already know? Somehow, I was afraid telling him would put him in danger. But I also felt not telling him was betraying a friend.

“Do you know who you are yet?”

Not telling him when he asked…but I felt myself clam up. There was something embarrassing about claiming it, like admitting to being really good at something; except this wasn’t something I’d chosen. Unless souls chose who they were before they were born, which I knew some people believed.

But no. This was how I’d been made, how I’d come into existence, and nothing could change it. Nothing would, either. I might want it to sometimes, but who gets what they want?

“What’s the matter?”

I laughed. “It’s just…I’m still not comfortable talking about it, that’s all. Even to people I know. Especially to people I know.”

“I know you’re not human, or at least not entirely human.”

I sighed. “Not at all. But don’t worry. I’m not a demon either.”

“I tested that when I first began to realize you weren’t just some kid who lost her memory.”

I looked away from him for a moment. I couldn’t blame him, but he might have told me. “Let me guess, you didn’t want to say anything…”

“I didn’t know what powers were involved.”

“Odin,” I said without looking back.

“…might have known. He’s supposedly got a history of dumping various people on Midgard with no memory either as punishment or for training.”

“More the latter.” I finally looked back at him. “But…I’m…I’m Loki’s daughter.”

“Oh gods.” He studied me. “Sorry…I…but you…”

“I’m not evil. But I didn’t want to tell you because he’s been checking on my friends.”

“And once he’s around, you’ll never get rid of him or, at least, his attention.” Bruce laughed a bit.

“He likes chocolate with cayenne in it.”

Bruce shook his head. “I know that. Everyone who’s had dealings with him knows that. I don’t know what he did before Columbus.”

“Pretended to be an Aztec god, probably.”

We both laughed and the tension went out of the room.