The Bounds of Hel

Loki humored me and gave me enough time to repack a few things into a different, less sandy tote bag and take a quick shower. By the time I was finished he had cleaned any ashes out of the sink and put the dirty dishes back into it.

"Ready?" he asked me.

"Yes," I said, looking around the room. I didn't know when I was going to return to it next and I felt regret that I didn’t have a little more downtime. I felt a little annoyed that I didn't have some down time at home before heading off on this next adventure and very annoyed I was leaving my house in such a mess.

Loki picked up the sandy backpack that I had taken to the beach and put it on his shoulders.

"Why are you taking that with you?" I asked him.

"Because," he stated simply. "It needs to look like you never returned."

“Where are you going to put it? You can’t carry that around with you forever?”



“I’m going to throw it off the edge of the universe!” he laughed. For some reason I didn’t doubt that it was the honest answer. Loki walked to the door and I trailed behind him.

“You decided to keep with the clothing I put you in.” I observed. “Probably a good idea.”

“I’m not inept.”

“I know.”

“Try to keep up, Autumn,” He commanded as he quickened his pace. “I can’t lose you.”

“You won’t. I can see you just fine. You’re tall.”

“I’m not in this for a conversation or an evaluation of how I look or how tall I am.”



“Then why are you even bothering at all?” I snapped, completely annoyed that his tone had changed from compassion to businesslike abruptness in a matter of minutes. Once he had the letter from me, I realized, there was no reason to coax me at all. He knew I had to trust him because there was no hope for me if I didn’t. Dotta was, if what he said was correct, already lost to the inner workings of Hel’s quiet and dangerous system meant to protect it from trouble.

He stopped completely, and turned on his heal to face me. It happened so swiftly that almost walked right into him and only caught myself a few inches away from him. He looked down at me severely, his eyes flashing.

“Do you even want me to bother?” he hissed. “Or do you want me to leave you here to suffer and wither? Because I’m more than happy to do that if you don’t care.”

“Here’s the thing, Loki.” I took a deep breath. “I don’t understand you at all. You could have anything you wanted, everything you wanted, if you are what you say you are. And for whatever reason you decided to walk away from that, or jeopardize it. There are limits to what people and places will put up with and you’ve seemed to push those limits just about everywhere you go. You did that at home and you ended up here in Hel. You do that here just by being here. You’re pushing my limits right now, as we sit on this stupid street talking about this stupid stuff, wearing stupid backpacks and running out of a place that no one but you has ever left, and you can’t even stay away. You don’t owe me anything. I don’t owe you anything. You paid me back with that box for my help. I know everything I need to know about myself.”

He paused, startled by my tirade. Then, slowly, he tilted his head to one side, and smiled widely and laughed. “I will walk slower, Autumn. I promise.”

I was as taken off guard by his laughter has he was by my fury. “That’s not the point, Loki. I may be slow but you haven’t talked about the original question. Why do you bother?”

“Because everything I’ve ever tried has been a failure. I owe it to myself not to fail at something.”

“So taking me out of Hel is a debt you need to repay to yourself? It really has nothing to do with me?”

“Exactly.” he snickered. “I’m doing this simply to prove that I can.”

“That’s stupid.”

“But as a benefit you don’t disappear into nothingness.”

“Good side effect...” I mumbled, trailing off. I caught up to him and began to walk next to him, but he turned his face away from me and simply walked silently on.

We paced forward for some time, side by side, but hardly looking at each other. I wasn’t sure where we were going but I made sure to turn when he turned, walk up the streets he walked up, and finally, stop in front of a thick, oddly sized wooden door in a thick stone wall. It was old, like the neighborhood. Loki took out a key ring from his jeans pocket with only one key on it and put it in the lock. The door swung open smoothly, quietly, which surprised me. I had expected it to creak or at least make some sort of noise as it opened.

For the first time since he had declared his intentions as something selfish he spoke.

“Here we are.”

“I can see that.”

“Go in.” He said, stepping aside for me to enter and I did, hesitating as my eyes adjusted to the softness and darkness. “Welcome.”

“Thanks.” I said, looking around. I was surprised that the door opened straight into a small one room apartment, no hallway, just the room with a worn couch, a narrow bed, and tiny kitchenette in one corner. “What is this place.”

“It’s just a room that I heard about, in a part of the city no one really cares about.”

“Is it your room?”

“Not normally, but it is for today.”

“So how long are we going to stay here?”

“Just until tomorrow. Are you hungry? I can go get us something to eat.”

“Yes. I’m actually really hungry.”

“Ok. Don’t leave this place, Autumn. I’ll be back soon.”

“Sounds good.”

He walked back out the door, letting the sunshine back in, flooding the place with light for just a few seconds before slamming the door back shut again.

I dropped my bag in the middle of the floor and went to inspect the room better. The tiny fridge was on but held nothing, and when I turned the tap on in the kitchenette it sputtered and then ran tepid water with water pressure so high it hit the bottom of the sink and splashed up, getting the counter wet.

The couch was pretty comfortable but not at all attractive, and the bed was the same, comfortable but narrow and covered with thin, inexpensive blankets.

There were no books, no bookshelf, no magazines, not even a TV, which most people in Hel had these days.

I spotted the backpack that Loki had set down neatly in the corner of the room, and walked over to it. I unbuckled the top and started digging through my sandy clothes to the books I knew were still packed at the bottom of the bag. Grabbing a few I pulled them out and set them on the coffee table, deciding to grab a book of short travel stories by one of Hel’s most popular writers.

The couch looked less inviting than the bed but still had some throw pillows that would help me make a little nest on the bed to read in. I walked over to it, pulled them off the couch, and threw them on the bed. Then, I took the covers, tugged them off, and wrapped myself them, leaning up against the pillows with just my arms sticking out to turn the pages of the book and hold it up to read.