Low-Key Loki by Aidan Felt {Inklings Book Contest 2021 Finalist}

 Today we are featuring Inklings Book Contest 2021 finalist Aidan Felt! Aidan finished 5th grade this past school year. His story is called “Low-Key Loki” and is all about Loki, the god of mischief. Enjoy!

LOW-KEY LOKI
By Aidan Felt

“Loki!” A thunderous voice rattled the walls of Loki’s hideout. Inside, the God of Trickery struggled to heft Thor’s hammer. He widened his stance and pulled with all his might, grunting in what would be pain, if he could feel pain. The weighted hammer slowly lifted from the ground. With a burst of energy, Loki brought the tool up and heaved it forward, toward the village of hazelnuts he’d arranged on the table before him. Each nut had a terrified face drawn on it. With a glint in his eye, Loki brought the weight of Mjolnir down on the tiny villagers, pulverizing them with a clap of thunder. Shell, nut, and dust burst out in a shock wave from the impact.

“Ha!” snorted Loki, “I love smiting humans!” He admired the hammer. “This thing rocks! Why does Thor get all the toys?”

“Loki!” Thor’s booming voice was closer. Loki could feel the ground quake beneath him. 

“Better hide this,” he said, dragging the leaden hammer off the table. It crashed to the ground, indenting the ancient wood of the floor. He dragged it, leaving a deep gouge in the wood behind him. He tried to throw it into the fireplace. 

“Nah,” he said. “Too obvious.”  

“Loki!!”  

The windows shook. Loki made for the cauldron in the kitchen. He hoisted the hammer inside. The neck stuck out. Loki frowned. 

“That won’t work, either.”  

He knocked the cauldron over and dragged the hammer to the sofa, still dripping with stew. Heavy footfalls approached. Loki lifted the cushions from the sofa and pulled the hammer up onto it. He repositioned the cushions. Both were askew, unable to lie flat. Of the three hiding places, this was the worst and most ridiculous, but Loki was out of time. He sat down on the cushions, trying to hide the hammer with his body. He picked up a pulverized villager and popped it in his mouth.

“LOKI!! GIVE ME MY HAMMER!”  

The front door fractured against the power of Thor’s rage. Fragments of wood flew into the house, one landing at Loki’s feet. Loki picked it up and looked at Thor.

“Geez, man–tad bit of overkill, don’tcha think? It was unlocked.”

The gleaming palace of Asgard towered behind Odin, the one-eyed God of Knowledge. Loki and Thor stood before him. Thor held Mjolnir close to his chest, like a father cradling his baby, and shot Loki some serious side-eye. Loki stood relaxed, as if bored. Odin was doling out a long-winded, overly intense scolding. Loki could see that Odin’s mouth was moving and some sort of lecture was coming out, but it all sounded Greek to him.

“Everyone’s so serious around here,” Loki muttered. 

He sneaked a glance at Thor, who was fuming beneath his red mane and mouthing a threat at Loki, the veininess of his glistening forehead growing ever veinier. Loki stifled a chuckle. If he looked at Thor again, he’d definitely lose it. He looked back at Odin. The old man’s lone eye was bulging out of its socket as his tirade escalated. 

Hmm, Loki thought to himself, he looks really mad. I wonder…  Loki daydreamed about what sort of animal he could turn into. 1/32-scale walrus? Seven-legged horse? Fire serpent?  The corner of his mouth tugged into the curl of a smile. 

Odin’s eye fixed on Loki, like the Eye of Sauron. His ire spilled over. “You’re AMUSED?!”  

Loki cocked his head to one side and thought about it. “Actually,” he said, “yeah, I am, Pops. This is all hilarious!”  

Odin was furious. Thor raised Mjolnir and moved toward Loki. 

“What’s wrong with you guys?” Loki asked, dodging Thor’s advance. “Dude, this is Asgard! We’re gods! Y’know—rulers of… everything? Why so uptight? Can’t you take a joke? It’s a hammer, dude. A hammer.”  Loki walked away. 

Odin summoned his spear. “LOKI!” he bellowed. 

Loki kept walking, raising his hand dismissively. “Righty-o, Daddy-o,” he said.

Odin struck Loki in the back with his spear, knocking him down. Thor seized the moment and lunged at Loki with the full weight of his Herculean godliness, pinning him down.

“That’s the last time you take Mjolnir!” Thor thundered. 

Loki pretended to struggle under Thor’s weight. 

“Yeah, probably not, bro,” Loki retorted, a twinkle in his eye. “But it’s super adorable that you think so.”  

Loki snapped his fingers and disappeared, leaving Thor flailing face down on the cold, hard stone floor. Thor scrambled to his feet, his blood up. He was looking for a fight and it had Loki’s name all over it. He looked around, his fiery hair flying about.

“Where is he?” Thor boomed. “He has no respect for anyone or anything! He’s rude, hateful, and self-centered!” 

A voice rang out from behind Odin. “Am not!”  Loki poked his head out over Odin’s shoulder and sneered at Thor.

“Father!” shrieked Thor, “DO SOMETHING!”  

Odin spun around. With another snap of the fingers, Loki vanished. Thor grew exasperated. He picked up Mjolnir. 

“When I get my hands on him…”  

As he lifted it, he saw that the head of the hammer was Loki’s smirking face. He throttled the hammer’s neck, trying to erase the mocking expression. Odin raised his spear. A swirling light encircled Mjolnir, trapping Loki. Loki strained to move. He couldn’t change his form or even move.

“Um, I don’t seem to be able to—” Loki started. 

It was Thor’s turn to smirk. “You’ve had this coming a long time,” Thor answered.

“Odin?” Loki tried, looking at Odin.

“Silence!” said Odin. “You stand accused of trickery for your own amusement, disrespect for your fellow gods and goddesses, and lack of basic concern for anyone but yourself.”  

Loki rolled his eyes.  

“I sentence you to Midgard.” 

Odin scowled and raised his spear with the blunt end facing toward Loki. The last thing Loki saw before everything went black was the satisfied smirk on Thor’s perfect, golden face.

Loki felt hard ground below him. It was rough, not like the smooth, cool stone of Asgard. And that stench! What was it? Dust? Dirt? He felt a peculiar feeling in his head, one he had never felt before. It was a throbbing. It…hurt. He blinked against the bright light. As he opened his eyes, he saw the silhouettes of smallish heads and torsos moving in front of the light, backlit by it, then passing away as the sun’s full glare reemerged. An occasionally frigid wind hit him, then died down.  A group of abnormally small beings hovered over him. 

“Who are you?” he asked. “Why are you so tiny? Where am I?”  

One of the beings pointed at him and laughed. Loki felt a little pang in his chest and his face flushed hot. These were feelings he’d never had before. He pushed them aside and realized that he was prone on the rough, dirty ground. 

“Why am I down here?” he asked, scrambling to his feet, trying to clean himself off. “I don’t belong so low to the ground! I’m a god.”  

As he stood up, the laughter spread. Even fully upright, Loki was still merely eye-to-eye with these diminutive creatures.

“A god!” one of the creatures blurted out, bursting into hysterical laughter. “He’s a god!”

How can this be? he thought. These are human children! Villagers to be pulverized at my whim! But they don’t fear me. They’re—mocking me! He tried to change into something more imposing. Or at least bigger. Nothing happened. What is going on??  Then it hit him. I’ve been stripped of my powers! I’m—I’m ONE OF THEM! I’M A LOWLY VILLAGER!

A loud bell shrieked out and the puny villagers scattered toward a building in the distance. Loki didn’t like the look of it. It was drab, brown, and squat, with none of the beauty or grandeur of Asgard. He looked around. He was on a gray, pitted concrete pad adjacent to an overgrown grassy field. There was a metal climbing structure to his left and two large nets on the grass.

These humans have no sense of refinement, Loki thought. I’d line the ground with gold, fluff the grass, and fortify that crumbling garbage structure with grand wooden supports and beams of golden light. I’d make these mini villagers bigger, stronger, and more impressive.

Loki straightened his stance and smoothed his rumpled clothes, which were not his typical godly attire. 

“These garments are flimsy,” he muttered. “Hard to keep warm with so little wool and flax.”  

Loki shivered and tried to regain his dignity. He made for the dilapidated building. As he walked, a putrid smell overtook him. 

“Ugh, what is that?” he asked. He sniffed around a bit. The smell appeared to be coming from him. “Oh, what filth am I! How revolting! The sooner I cast off this mortal body, the better.”

Loki pulled the heavy double doors open and entered the building. A dingy, patterned floor stretched out before him. It smelled like a mixture of industrial chemicals and dirty gym socks. Flickering fluorescent lights buzzed above him. Everything was beige and worn. He saw the last few villagers file through a doorway and disappear. A man stood next to the door with a half-smile. He wore a short-sleeved plaid shirt with a crooked tie, and his hair looked as if it were actively fleeing from his forehead. The few wisps of hair coming from the side of his head were carefully combed over in an effort to make it seem like the top of his head was still fertile.

“Ah, you must be Loki! I am Mr. Baldr, principal of Valhalla School,” said the man. 

Loki burst out laughing. “BALDR?!” Loki retorted. 

Mr. Baldr’s expression darkened. 

“Is that some sort of wombat you’ve got up there?” Loki asked. The principal was not amused.

“Loki, I know you’re new and not familiar with our policies, but we don’t allow teasing here.”

“Hmm, teasing or simple observation?”  Loki winked.

 Mr. Baldr puffed up and leaned in. “Listen up, Loki. That smart mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble.”

“It’s not my mouth that’s so smart,” Loki muttered. 

Mr. Baldr looked Loki hard in the eye. The bell rang and the principal gestured to the door.

The classroom was even more depressing than the hallway. Rigid rows of desks occupied the center of the room. Behind them, a wall of wooden cubbies was littered with backpacks and coats. Whiteboards covered the front wall.  Several villagers from outside were seated together.

“Look!” The boy from the playground who had previously mocked him pointed at Loki “It’s GOD!”  The classroom erupted in mocking laughter. 

“Shut up, Bjorn,” said a girl sitting two desks behind the oaf.  

She looked sympathetically at Loki.  Loki felt something rise up inside him. His jaw clenched and his discomfort grew.  He didn’t know if he was more upset about Bjorn ridiculing him or having to be defended by a weak li’l villager. 

“Settle down.”  Mr. Baldr waited for the laughter to subside. “This is Loki. He is new to Valhalla. I expect you to treat him with kindness and respect.”  He looked at Loki, a warning in his gaze.

“Welcome, Loki!” 

Loki spun around to see a kind-looking man. 

“I’m Mr. Berglund. Welcome to Helheim class. We’re one big, happy family here.” 

Loki doubted that.

Mr. Berglund gestured toward Loki’s new nemeses.  “Why don’t you take a seat between Bjorn and Ingrid?”  

Loki glanced ahead and saw Bjorn sneer.  The desk between them was rickety and worn. Loki passed this Bjorn character on the way to sit. Bjorn hissed at him.

“Your name is Loki? Really? What’s your dog’s name? Odin?” Bjorn looked around waiting for his regular audience to laugh. 

Behind him, several of the villagers snickered. Ingrid, the girl who had stuck up for him, did not.  She rolled her eyes, clearly irritated with Bjorn.  Loki’s face flushed again, and he felt a rush of anger. He tried to hide his embarrassment behind a mask of indifference, but inside, he felt bad, low, and unliked. Loki took his seat, trying to ignore everyone. He stared at Mr. Berglund, but could feel eyes on him from everywhere. 

Loki peeled a banana. He sat in the corner of the chaotic lunchroom, surveying his surroundings. Still smarting from his earlier encounter in class, he fixed his gaze on Bjorn who was sitting on a table in the middle of the room, gesturing wildly, commanding attention for whatever he was saying. Loki squeezed his banana. 

Hmm, he thought, this’ll do. 

He pulled the banana out of the peel and sauntered toward Bjorn. Loki could hear that Bjorn was making fun of someone at another table. Loki didn’t know what a “nerd” was, but it didn’t sound like a compliment. Ingrid sat with her back to Bjorn, listening to his jibes. Her face was contorted into an angry scowl.  Her hands inadvertently formed fists.  Loki assumed Bjorn must have been targeting her. Loki took a bite of his banana and lowered the peel to his side. Just as he passed behind Bjorn, he casually dropped the peel and headed toward the bank of garbage cans along the wall. Loki finished the banana and leaned up against the doorjamb. After a few minutes, the crowd began to disperse. Bjorn jumped off the table and landed on the peel. His foot slipped out from under him and he fell backward onto the hard, checkered concrete floor with a resounding thud. A chorus of laughter rose through the lunchroom. Loki’s mouth turned up into a wry grin and, for the first time since leaving Asgard, he felt like himself.  Ingrid’s scowl softened, but she didn’t laugh.

“My job here is done,” he said and turned to leave, slamming into Mr. Baldr, who had taken up residence in the doorway behind him.

“Loki,” said Mr. Baldr suspiciously, “you wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?” he asked, nodding in Bjorn’s direction.

“Me?” Loki looked Mr. Baldr straight in the eye. “Nah. I was just eating my lunch. Gee,” he added dryly, “I hope he’s okay.”  Loki moved to leave, but bumped into Mr. Baldr again. “Excuse me.”  

The principal eyed Loki, but stepped aside. Loki walked out of the lunchroom and slyly pocketed the wallet he’d just lifted off Mr. Baldr. Filled with exhilaration and self-satisfaction, Loki felt alive. Plans began forming in his head.

Loki arrived at the swim meet just in time for the first race. Swimmers took their places at the starting blocks. Loki stood behind the stands and waited for the buzzer. The buzzer went off and eight bodies dived into the pool. But they didn’t break the surface of the water. They bounced across its surface like stones skipping across a pond. Bodies slipped and slid over the wobbly surface. Swimmers tried to get to the edge, but as they moved, the slimy surface jiggled and gave way, trapping limbs and covering them with gloopy, blue raspberry sludge. Gasps and shouts from the crowd grew louder, providing cover for Loki to slink away, laughing. As he did, several boxes of emptied gelatin fell out of his backpack. 

Loki approached Mr. Baldr’s office. The hallways were empty. He peered around a corner and saw Mr. Baldr storming down the hallway talking on his phone. He looked furious.

“No, I didn’t authorize that charge,” he said. “You didn’t think it was odd that someone ordered a literal metric ton of gelatin? Yes, I know you’re an industrial baking supplier…”  

As Mr. Baldr reached his office door, Loki chuckled and held his breath. Just a few more steps…  

Mr. Baldr grew increasingly frustrated. “I want a refund. I didn’t order—” He put his hand on the doorknob. “No, I can’t return something I didn’t—”

A voice came over the loudspeaker system. “Principal Baldr, report to the pool. Principal Baldr to the pool.” 

“I’m sorry—I’ll have to call you back.”  He hung up. “Now what?” he muttered. He turned away from his office door and stormed off. 

Loki’s face fell in disappointment. Drat! Guess it’ll have to wait.

The soccer field was a ballet of carnage. Players slid across the muddy grass, lost their footing, and slammed into one another. Gangly legs flew, coaches yelled—complete chaos! Loki pulled a handful of sawed-off soccer cleats out of his pocket and surveyed the damage, looking for Bjorn. It was hard to pick anyone out amid the mud, grass, and flailing limbs, but he could just make out Bjorn near the goal. He was sliding toward the net, covered in mud and grass clippings. As he tried to steady himself, he fell forward into the net, face first. Loki raised his arms over his heads triumphantly.

“GOAL!” he yelled. One of the coaches snapped his head toward Loki. Loki winked and slinked away. As he passed the playground, several kids were struggling to lift basketballs off the ground. 

“What’s in these?” one of them grunted. “Concrete?”  

Loki threw his head back and laughed. 

Loki arrived at school early the next morning. He ducked into class and went straight to work, wasting no time in case anyone else arrived early. The bell rang and he quickly stowed his backpack in his cubby. Students filed into the classroom. Several glared as they walked past him. 

“Way to go.”

“Jerk.”  

A steady barrage of grumbling and name-calling came Loki’s way. 

Ingrid cornered Loki by the cubbies. She was obviously upset.

“That was messed up, Loki,” she said. “That was my last chance to qualify for the State Swimming Championships. I’ve been working for years to qualify and I lost my chance because of you.”

“I don’t know what—” Loki started.

“Stop it, Loki,” she said, her eyebrows furrowed, and her jaw was rigid. “People got hurt. Gunnar hurt his ankle.”

“But I—” 

Ingrid held her hand up, stared hard at Loki, and walked away. Loki felt… bad. It hadn’t occurred to him that something he found funny might not be funny to someone else or might even be hurtful. As he watched Ingrid walk to her desk, his eyes widened. 

“Wait, Ingrid!  Don’t—!”  

But it was too late. She sat down. Most of the class was already seated. Loki’s shoulders slumped and he dragged himself to his seat to wait for the inevitable. Against his better judgment, Loki had grown to like Ingrid. She seemed unlike the other puny villagers. If she could be likable, maybe these other subordinates could be, too. 

Loki could feel the eyes of his classmates burning holes in the back of his neck. Any second now, whatever feelings of hatred and anger his classmates already felt toward him would be magnified. He felt sick. Behind him, he heard a chair scoot on the linoleum floor. Uh-oh. The chair scraped the floor again. He heard fabric rip. 

“What the—?”  

Loki’s eyes darted around as everyone turned to see what was happening. He raised his hand quickly and asked to be excused. As he bolted from the classroom, he could hear more chairs scraping the floor and more fabric ripping. The superglue he’d smeared on the seats had cured and everyone’s pants were fused to their chairs. It seemed funny at the time, but…. An angry racket rose around him and Loki couldn’t get out of there fast enough. Loki wished he had his powers back so he could magically fix everything.  His mind reeling, Loki didn’t notice Mr. Baldr’s office door open. A dozen or so adorable, furry chinchillas escaped through the open door and scurried down the corridor. 

An angry Mr. Baldr caught sight of Loki and thundered: “LOKI!”  

The windows in the hallway rattled. Loki’s stomach sank and he stopped. It was as if Thor himself had thundered his name. Suddenly, he understood why Thor had been so angry. It was never about the hammer. It was something more…personal. He spun around to face the music. A chinchilla scampered past him, trying to evade capture.

Mr. Baldr charged toward him.

“Mr. Baldr,” Loki said.

“Don’t start with me, Loki!” 

“Mr. Baldr, wait! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. I just thought it would be funny.”

“Chinchillas? In my office? Jell-O in the pool? Where’s my wallet?! You think this is funny?!”  

Loki flashed back to Odin yelling at him. He felt ashamed. 

The Helheim classroom door swung open and smashed into the wall. Student after student stormed out, their pants torn and shredded. They approached like an angry mob. They might as well have had pitchforks and torches.  

“There he is!” screamed Bjorn. “Get him!”  

Loki panicked but stood his ground. Mr. Baldr put himself between Loki and the class.

“Stop!” he yelled. “I know you’re all angry and upset, but we’re not going to make this worse by flying off the handle and doing something we can’t take back. Hear Loki out. He was just about to explain himself.”  

The crowd stopped advancing but was still seething. Loki looked from face to angry face.  He swallowed against the lump in his throat.

“I like tricking people,” he started.  

“That’s it, get him!” someone screamed.  

Loki held up his hands. “Wait, wait!” he said. “Let me finish.”  

The restless crowd quieted a bit.  

“I always think everything’s a big joke. I never get why no one else thinks it’s funny. But I get it now. I didn’t realize until Ingrid explained how what I did hurt you. Things stop being funny when someone gets hurt. I just…didn’t think. It was never personal to me.”

“But it is to others, Loki,” said Mr. Baldr.

“I know that now. And I really am sorry. I feel terrible about what I’ve done.”  

“You’ve really made a mess of things, Loki.”  

Loki looked at his feet. “Yeah.”

“How are you going to fix it?”

Loki looked around. “I know I can’t undo what I did, but I am truly sorry. If I had thought about how my behavior might affect you, I wouldn’t have done it,” Loki said. “I hope, in time, you’ll forgive me. I understand if you won’t, but I hope you will. I’d like to start over. I actually like some of you.” Loki glared at Bjorn who narrowed his eyes. “Some of you.”

Ingrid stepped up. “You were really horrible, Loki. How can you expect us to trust you after what you did?”

“Well, I can’t. All I can do is try to show you going forward that I’ve changed and hope that eventually, you’ll believe me.”

“You know,” said Ingrid, “aside from losing out on the State Championships, that Jell-O thing was pretty funny.” She smiled. “I forgive you. But I’ve got my eye on you.”  She winked.

Suddenly, a thunderclap and a blinding flash struck overhead. Loki was back in Asgard! Thor was cleaning Mjolnir.  Loki walked up to him sheepishly.

“I’m, uh, s-sorry about taking your hammer.”  

Thor scowled at him.  

“I know it wasn’t really about the hammer. You felt I was being disrespectful toward you.”

“No, Loki,” said Thor. “It was about the hammer. I love this thing. You should get one.”

Loki raised his eyebrow. 

“A different one. This one is mine. Touch it again and I’ll turn you into hazelnut dust.”

“Sure thing,” Loki said, happy that they were back to normal. “You can trust me on this.” He winked at Thor, who rolled his eyes and tightened his grip on Mjolnir.