"Do it now," Thor whispered. "C'mon, quick!"
From behind the column they were using to hide, Loki wrinkled his nose, scrunched his forehead in concentration, and held his hands out towards the Einherjar standing guard in the corridor, curling his fingers as he cast the spell.
Nothing happened.
Thor thwacked him with the back of his hand. "You said you could make him fall asleep!"
"I said I could maybe make him fall asleep," Loki hissed back. "Mum just taught me, and for your information she had me practice on crickets."
"Why would you need to put crickets to sleep?"
"I don't, but what do you think she's going to do, let me practice on you?"
At this, Thor looked intrigued. "I wouldn't mind, sounds fun."
Loki snickered at the image, but then he shook himself. There wasn't such a big difference between crickets and Einherjar, was there? Okay, well, maybe there was. But he was pretty sure he just needed to make the spell bigger. Which Mum hadn't taught him, but somehow he intuitively knew how to do it.
At least, he'd thought he'd known how to do it. He closed his eyes and drew in several deep breaths. When Mum had started teaching Loki her magic several years earlier, Thor had laughed. "Magic is for girls," he'd said. Loki had waited until he knew enough to get his revenge. Eventually, he'd transformed himself into a snake to trick Thor into picking him up. Thor loved snakes. Once he did, Loki had transformed back and stuck a dagger that he'd nicked from their parents' chambers in Thor's shoulder.
Thor had howled, Loki had gotten in trouble, and as Father had closed the door to his rooms and told him he'd stay there without dinner until he'd thought about what he'd done, Loki had crossed his arms over his chest and decided next time he'd transform the dagger into something else so he wouldn't get caught with it.
Honestly, he hadn't even done a very good job with the transformation. Thor should have known it wasn't a real snake.
"Loki," Thor whispered. "What are you doing?"
Opening his eyes, Loki turned to Thor and said, "Thinking."
"If you can't do it, we'll do Get Help."
"I don't want to do Get Help."
At that moment, the guard's head swiveled and he looked straight at them. They ducked behind the column, but it was no good. His armor clanked as he took a step towards them and said, "What are you boys doing?"
"Loki," Thor said, "do it!"
Something locked into place in Loki's mind at last, like two puzzle pieces fitting together, and he stepped out from behind the column. This had better work, or he was really going to get in trouble. He flicked his fingers, biting down and clenching his teeth at the same time.
The Einherjar dropped like a stone, his armor rattling and his spear hitting the ground with a loud, ringing clang.
Thor poked his head around the column and the two of them stood still for a moment, staring. Loki tasted blood and realized he must have bitten his tongue. "Did you kill him?" Thor asked in a hushed voice.
"No," Loki said with a lot more confidence than he felt.
They crept closer and Loki hesitantly knelt down to see if the guard was still alive. If he'd been locked in his rooms all afternoon and evening for stabbing Thor—and it wasn't even that bad of a stabbing—then he'd be in really big trouble for killing an Einherjar.
For a second, his heart felt like it stopped in his chest. Was the guard breathing? He didn't look like he was breathing, he—
But then the guard let out a snore that was so loud that Loki jumped back, startled. Thor laughed, but Loki could tell it was mostly out of relief. The two of them stood there for a second longer. Loki was so surprised that this plan was actually working that he nearly forgot what they were doing.
"Okay, let's go, before he wakes up," Thor said.
Loki grinned at his brother and the two of them darted down the hallway towards their parents' chambers. "Are you sure they're busy now?" Loki asked as Thor pushed the door open. This whole thing had been Thor's idea. And it wasn't that Loki didn't trust his brother, but when it came to planning things, Loki was definitely better at it. He planned. Thor didn't.
"They were walking in the gardens," Thor said. "It's fine." Loki hesitated, but Thor looked so confident that it was impossible not to trust him.
They slipped inside and quietly shut the door behind them, padding through the sitting room with its huge fireplace to the bedroom. Their parents' huge bed, piled with furs, was in front of them, and there, next to it, was what they'd come for. Loki and Thor looked at each other in barely contained glee and crossed the room to stand in front of their father's spear.
Gungnir. In the frescoes on the ceiling of the throne room, Father was holding it. It was the weapon he used in battle. When he sat on his huge throne, it was always there in his hand. Loki didn't know the extent of its powers, but he knew with absolute certainty that it was the most powerful weapon in the whole universe. It would have to be, since Father was the most powerful person in the whole universe.
For a minute, they just stared at it, glancing at each other every so often. Now that they were standing there, Loki found that he was too scared to actually hold the spear. It seemed bigger than it did when Father held it.
Then, Thor reached out and wrapped his fingers around it, grunting as he lifted it. "Is it heavy?" Loki asked.
"Yeah," Thor said, his voice distracted as he struggled to keep the spear upright. It kept almost over-balancing in his hands, and finally he propped it on the floor to steady it.
Smirking, Loki said, "How are you going to fight with it if you can't even hold it up?"
Thor made a face at him. With another grunt, he hefted it off the ground and grappled with it until he was holding it so it was pointing towards the wall. It still looked too big for Thor, but now that he was at least holding it straight, it was a little more impressive.
"Do something with it," Loki said.
With a glance down at his hands, Thor asked, "Like what?"
"I don't know, make it shoot lightning or something." Feeling braver now that Thor had managed to pick the spear up without anything bad happening, he sidled closer and peered over his brother's shoulder, reaching for it. "It has to do something."
Jerking the spear away, Thor said, "Hey, I'm not done."
"You're not doing anything with it," Loki pointed out, raising his eyebrows.
"Give me a second." Thor studied it, then swung it towards the windows on the other side of the room, nearly losing his balance and toppling over. Striking a pose, he aimed it dramatically at the glass.
And nothing happened. Disappointed, Thor held it out to Loki. "Here. See if you can make it do something."
The weight of Gungnir surprised Loki as Thor dropped it into his hands. His knees almost buckled before he caught himself and straightened up. Wrapping his fingers around it, he found himself staring at his hands, just as Thor had done. Father always said one of them would be king, and only one of them. This spear was a symbol of that kingship. Holding it felt…overwhelming. Suddenly, Loki wasn't sure he wanted to be king. What was he supposed to do with this? If it was a weapon, he didn't know how to use it. What would he do if he was king? If he was in charge of Asgard? Not just Asgard, but all of the Nine Realms? He just liked doing what he wanted to do and playing. And it didn't seem like you could do what you wanted when you were king, despite what Thor seemed to think. It seemed like a lot of work and responsibility, and he hadn't thought about it that way at all until he'd felt how heavy the spear was.
"Are you trying?" Thor asked.
Loki looked up at him. "What? Oh—no. Maybe there's a spell or something."
"Father doesn't cast spells," Thor said dismissively. When Loki looked at him meaningfully, lifting one hand off Gungnir to waggle his fingers at Thor, his brother hastily added, "Not that there's anything wrong with casting spells."
Hefting the spear higher, Loki aimed it straight at the middle of the window and concentrated, trying to imagine energy surging through the spear. For about five seconds, he poured every ounce of his concentration into it, but nothing happened.
With a disappointed look at Thor, Loki opened his mouth to say they should probably go. But at that moment, the door banged open.
Both of them whirled around, Loki accidentally cracking Thor across the stomach with Gungnir. Father was standing in the doorway, looking dark and towering with rage. Loki's stomach shriveled to a small, hard pit.
"Put it down, now!" Odin commanded. In fright, Loki dropped the spear. The ringing clang of it hitting the ground seemed horribly loud. Odin marched into the room and scooped it up effortlessly, his jaw tight, before he planted it on the ground and faced them. "Why am I cursed with such disobedient sons?" he growled.
"We were just—" Thor began.
"Silence!" Odin barked at him. Thor's mouth snapped shut. Their father tightened his grip around Gungnir. "Have none of my teachings meant anything to you, that you would show such disrespect? Do you think holding the throne, holding this spear, is a game?"
Loki swallowed. "No, Father, we—"
Odin turned a fierce glare on him and he stopped talking. "Your behavior isn't befitting of the sons of a knave, let alone princes of Asgard. I'm ashamed of both of you. You would treat Gungnir as a toy when you both know better. But you, Loki." His brow furrowed into angry crags and he grabbed Loki by the arm, pulling him out of the room into the hallway. Thor trailed behind them. As Father pushed Loki forward towards the still sleeping Einherjar, he demanded, "Is this how you plan to use your mother's gifts? I agreed that she could teach you because she assured me you could be trusted with sorcery. This doesn't look like the handiwork of a prince who's worthy of learning an ancient craft. It looks like the handiwork of a child who doesn't understand what he's been taught."
Through this, Loki's breath had come faster and faster, but he was determined not to cry. But now, Father stopped talking and stared down at him, as though he was expecting something. Loki didn't know what though.
"Father, it's not his fault," Thor said in a small voice from behind them. "I told Loki to make the guard fall asleep."
Relief and affection for his brother surged through Loki, but Thor got nothing in return for his bravery but Odin growling, "Hold your tongue." Father gestured to the guard. "You think you're an adept enough sorcerer? Wake him up."
"What?" Loki asked weakly. "I don't know how."
"You don't know how to repair the damage you do with your foolishness, and yet you do it anyway." Shaking his head, Odin said, "Your lessons with your mother are over."
This sent a bolt of such gut-churning dismay through Loki that he forgot to be afraid of being yelled at, locked in his rooms, sent away to be eaten by Frost Giants, every terrible thing that flashed through his mind when Father was angry. "You can't!" he said. "I like it, and I'm good at it, and—and—" And it was the one thing he was good at, the one thing that he was better than Thor, who Loki couldn't help feeling was Father's favorite and always had been. Maybe part of him had thought that if could be good at something too, something that was all his, then Father would love him just as much. And now it was being taken away from him.
The dismay tipped over into bitterness. It had been Thor's idea. And now Loki was being punished for it.
"You've proven otherwise today," Odin snapped. "Now go to your rooms, both of you."
Loki's eyes welled with tears and a lump rose in his throat, but he didn't say anything else. On Odin's other side, Thor opened his mouth and began, "Father—"
But Odin pointed at him and said, "Not another word. I don't want either of you in my sight right now. Go."
The two of them slunk away, slouch-shouldered, and didn't speak as they trudged through the palace towards the hallway where both of their bed chambers were. Loki didn't think he could speak. Father couldn't stop his magic lessons. He just couldn't.
When they reached their quarters, Loki didn't look up. Eyes low, he closed his fingers around the doorknob to his chambers. Then fingers wrapped around his arm and he looked up, startled, to see Thor standing there, staring at him seriously. "Father didn't mean that," Thor said.
For a long moment, Loki stared at his brother, until finally, he said, "Yes he did."
"Mother will still teach you—"
"That's not what you said," Loki interrupted bitterly. "He meant every word. Even if Mother changes his mind, he still meant it." He swallowed hard. "You heard him. I'm not worthy."
Before Thor could say anything else, Loki opened his door and slammed it shut, then locked it, and the other door that adjoined their quarters, for good measure. He thought Thor might knock on the door and try to get in. But his brother didn't. There was only silence outside, and then, after a minute, the sound of Thor's door clicking closed.