Chapitre 2: Meeting The Family And School
Entering through the door with the janky old-fashioned key, I carefully wiggled the key out - whereas usually I would've pulled it with a bit more force, I was so conscious of my empowered muscles that I was treating everything like it was made of wet paper mache.
Hanging it on a nearby key holder, I shrugged my jacket off and put it over the bannister that led upstairs, parallel to the stairs themselves.
"I'm home," I called out in Norwegian, hearing a few unfamiliar voices alongside mom's gentle voice. She sounded happy, actually. An emotion I didn't get to hear in her voice much after dad died.
Seeming to hear my call, mom made a little sound that I realised was her getting up off a chair, and her head popped around the frame of the living room door, "Alex, come on in and let me introduce you to the family!" she exclaimed with actual enthusiasm and excitement. Now it was my turn to be confused. Utterly and totally baffled, I made my way down the hallway leading to the living room and peeked my head around the corner only to freeze like a deer in the headlights at what I saw.
Three strangers were in my living room, but the worst part of all was that I actually recognized them. They looked a little different to the actors who played them in the show...but the resemblance was definitely there and it was wholly uncanny.
"This is your boy, Anna? He's gorgeous! He takes after Elias, doesn't he? Though he definitely got your hair!" a short and plump blonde woman gleefully spoke, watching me like a hawk before she motioned me into the room, "Come in, come in! Let your auntie get a good look at you!" she was so insistent that I found myself slowly entering the room with a tentative pace.
She got up off her chair and bounded over to me and wrapped her arms around me in a hug I was sure would've been bone-crushing if it weren't for the fact I was recently given godly powers.
But nevermind that - she hugged me like she'd known me all my life or something.
As she pulled back, she held me at arms length as she looked me up and down with an affectionate smile before she looked over her shoulder at mom, "He might look like his dad but you can definitely see the Norwegian blood in him just based off of his height and build! I mean, what did you feed him growing up, Anna?!" the woman said in mock exasperation and mom practically preened in pride at the compliments(?) I was getting.
"Where are my manners? I'm Turid Seier, your mom's older sister," she explained and introduced herself before snapping to look at the nearest of the other two 'strangers' in the room, "Come and greet your cousin, you two!" she whispered harshly, obviously trying to inject some enthusiasm into who were presumably her two sons.
The one who took the first step toward me was quite a bit shorter than I was. He was about 5'7", with raven black hair and icy blue eyes that contrasted very starkly with his hair and pale skin. He wasn't exactly what you'd call masculine-looking either and had finer, more delicate features than most Norwegian guys I'd met so far. Despite his rather androgynous appearance, he gave off a confident air and seemed bigger than he was because of it - I instantly recognized him as someone who could easily work through social situations.
He flashed me a smile and held out his hand, "Laurits. Nice to meet you. Never knew I had a foreign cousin before today," he smirked, seeming to find amusement in his own words.
"Alexander but most people just call me Alex. Nice to meet you too and likewise, I never knew about any cousins in Edda either," I took the time as I said that to cast a glance at mom who looked somewhat guilty but her smile sent a silent promise to explain all about it when she got the chance, so I let up and turned back to Laurits and then to the second person who awkwardly extended his hand while I was still shaking Laurits'.
Letting go of the shorter man's hand, I took the other's hand and gave it a firm squeeze and shake. Unlike Laurits, this guy was much taller - about 6'0", maybe even 6'1" - with a much stockier build. Broad shoulders, a wide chest and a bit of a chubby stomach but he was by no means fat. He looked like the type of guy you'd want on a Rugby team.
Unlike his brother, this guy had light blond hair like his mother, unstyled and left to hang over his forehead in a fringe. He worse quite old-fashioned glasses with somewhat thick lenses - but they did little to hide the royal blue eyes that peered at me nervously.
"I-I'm Magne. Nice to meet y-you, Alex," he stuttered in places, obviously not much of a conversationalist, but he was sincere in his greeting and that much made me smile.
Nodding, I replied, "It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Magne," I said, giving his hand a few more shakes before letting go and turning to mom, "Where's Liz? Or is the angsty teenager sulking in her room still?" I asked with a teasing tone, knowing for a fact she was well within earshot of what I was saying.
"I'm here, you overgrown bundle of muscle," an annoyed yet melodic voice sounded out behind me and I turned to regard Liz, my younger sister.
While I was 18, she was 16, but you'd never notice that if you didn't really look at her. Aside from slightly youthful facial features, Liz was a rather well-developed 16-year-old - no doubt because she'd followed me around so much as a kid and therefore she got involved in her fair share of sports before settling on football and gymnastics. Unlike our mom and me, she didn't have auburn red hair but instead she'd inherited the black hair our father had but she'd gotten mom's dark blue eyes instead. She was basically the opposite of me - I had mom's hair and dad's eyes, and she had dad's hair and mom's eyes. Alas, she shared the olive tone to her skin that I had, so we at least had that much in common.
"And you're still sulking, I see," I chimed in with a tone I knew annoyed her - an energetic and upbeat tone of voice that grated on her. Especially when she was upset about something. Why was I annoying her? It's my prerogative as her older brother.
She jabbed a finger inbetween my ribs and I let her push me away as I faked a wince of pain, "Ow," I intoned as sincerely as I could. My new durability would easily give me away and I really don't want to explain how I'm now basically a God. Rubbing my side for effect, I smirked at Liz as she passed me, "Is Ms. Popular still upset and putting up angsty snapchat stories?" I asked and she gave me a withering glare before she turned to Turid, smiling and handing her a hot cup of tea.
"They're just like my two," Turid smiled over at mom before looking at Laurits and Magne, "Laurits is always teasing Magne in just the same way," she loving told mom and by extension me and Liz, making Magne look all bashful while Laurits just smiled mischievously.
Mom rolled her eyes, walking over to me and clipping me round the back of the head before doing the same to Liz, "I wish I could see it like you do, Turid, but these two drive me up the wall at times. Why can't you be a bit more understanding of your sister's mood?" she looked up at me toward the end, frowning, before turning to Liz, "And you, stop your sulking and try and look at the bright side of this move. It's like living with a raincloud!" I just smiled at the 'scolding' while Liz rolled her eyes, sitting down on the sofa with her own mug of tea turning her attention to the TV.
Mom and Turid looked at each other after seeing our reactions and in sync, spoke, "Kids," before they began laughing.
It'd been a while since I'd seen mom laugh so sincerely. So fully.
If this move is what she needed, I'm okay with it. I just wish she would've moved us to somewhere else in Norway - anywhere else would be better than this place. Godly powers are a fun concept and all, but the duty that comes along with them is less than fun.
Silently sighing to myself, I turned for the door and walked for the kitchen. I needed some tea.
Just as I put the kettle on, two figures entered the kitchen - Laurits and Magne. Laurits was the one who explained why they were here, "Our Mom wanted us to come and get to know you some more, cousin. So, got any juicy gossip from the UK?" he asked, seemingly genuinely curious.
"Not much," I regretfully informed him, "Though shortly before I left, two girls got caught having a threesome with a teacher. A married female teacher. It caused quite the ruckus," I said, chuckling as I watched his eyes widen a little. Same with Magne. What I didn't tell them was they got caught because they were waiting for me while I went to the toilet. What can I say? I'm lucky at times. Both with women and getting out of trouble.
...Let's hope that luck holds out for more supernatural occurrences.
Laurits chuckled to himself, shaking his head, while Magne just looked at me in stunned silence. The former of the two brothers was the one who spoke first, "A threesome between a married woman and her students? Are all UK schools full of such debauchery?" he jokingly asked and I chuckled at his question as the electric kettle clicked, having sufficiently heated the water inside.
"I'm afraid not, Laurits," I shook my head as I picked up the kettle and poured the boiling hot water into a mug that had a tea bag inside. I failed to mention that not every school in the UK had someone like me who could pull off stuff like that but what he didn't know couldn't hurt him, and I turned to look at him and Magne, "Do either of you want a cup of tea?" I got a shake of the head from Laurits but Magne nodded so I got an extra mug and tea bag and went about making him a cuppa.
I added some milk and put three sugars in mine before turning to Magne. Thankfully he got what i was asking and spoke up, "Milk and one sugar, please," he asked, not stuttering this time, but still speaking in a more subdued tone.
Nodding, I went about finishing his cup before handing it to him. He didn't seem all too bothered by the scorching heat of the brew, so I figured he'd been awakened by Wenche just like I had.
Picking up my own mug, I walked back into the hallway and into another room that wasn't the living room. I decided to leave mom, Turid and Liz to their own devices - they were happily chatting about girly stuff anyway. So I decided to lead Magne and Laurits into the backroom that was adjacent to the living room.
This house was a decently sized one. Nothing big but it had more than enough space for two or three families. With the aforementioned living room and this secondary room that was identical in size to it, you could have a few people in this house and have it not feel cramped at all.
Just like the living room, this backroom had a large sofa with more than enough space for three people, but Laurits spotted a large leather beanbag and plopped down on it with a smile of comfort spread across his face. Magne and I, however, sat down on the sofa a few seats apart.
Picking up the remote for the TV in the room, I switched it on. It was slightly smaller than the one in the living room but that didn't mean it was small. It was about 40-something inches, which meant it was quite sizable. Nonetheless, I switched the channels and looked to the two brothers, "So, any specific movies you wanna watch? TV shows? We can pretty much get all of them," I informed them and they looked at me with muted surprise.
Me and my family weren't rich by any means but I'd definitely say we were on the upper scale of things. From the money left behind by dad and my mom's job as a Neurosurgeon, we had more than enough money to get by and have quite a few luxuries. But at the same time, we didn't take a trip to the Bahamas every year and we didn't have a mansion. We were just well off. Not rich.
After they got their composure back, Laurits began asking me about what shows I'd recommend and Magne seemed intent on just going with the flow as he drank from his mug.
And so, an afternoon went by as I got to know my recently discovered cousins. It was nice.
. . .
"Okay, first of all, we have to give a warm welcome to three new students. One of them being a foreign transfer, so please, try and be considerate!" the man who spoke was a tall blond man who was around my height. He was slender and somewhat lanky, however, not really filling out his figure all too much, "Will you says something, boys? Just something about yourself will do."
He scratched at his bushy beard as he looked to us and the three of us went silent before I decided to be the first to speak.
I plastered a friendly looking smile across my face and I introduced myself to the people who were soon to be my classmates, "I'm Alexander Drakos, but please, just call me Alex. I'm originally from England but my mom's originally from Edda, so we moved here. Please, let's get along," I looked across the people and noted a few looks of interest from a few of the girls - especially a real stunner who had blonde hair and greenish blue eyes.
I knew who she was, as I remembered most of the main cast from the show, but I must admit that she was much prettier than I'd expected her to be. Magne, Laurits and Turid were all somewhat different in appearance, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that this girl is prettier than the original.
She noticed my lingering gaze and smiled widely at me, her expression very inviting.
While I looked at her, Magne and Laurits introduced themselves and the teacher, Erik, began looking for places for us to sit.
Just like in the original, Laurits sat next to Gry and Magne sat next to Isolde at the back of the class while he sent Laurits glares from behind him. Meanwhile, as I was about to make my way to the back of the classroom to set on a table adjacent to Magne's, the pretty girl from earlier spoke up - rather loudly, might I add - to her friend who was sat next to her.
"Hilde, would you mind trading seats with the transfer student? I don't want him to fall behind because we're already so far into the school year and I should help him as the principal's daughter, you know?" she asked, her mouth forming an apologetic smile that looked sincere but absolutely wasn't.
Not like I was going to complain about sitting next to her. I was sure she was planning something - the ruggedly handsome foreigner, seduced by the hot native, maybe - but it didn't mean I had to avoid all contact with her.
I needed to stick close for what I had planned, anyway, so this worked in my favor.
The girl, Hilde, nodded with an understanding smile and collected her things before standing up and walking to the back of the room. Not even a peep or whine out of her - don't know whether to be impressed or scared. That's either an incredible amount of fear or respect...or both. Pushing those thoughts out of my head, I slid into the seat next to the blonde and unpacked a few things.
When I was done, I noticed the outstretched hand toward me and took it, feeling how soft her hand was - but also the underlying strength in it that ordinary people would miss.
"Alexander, was it? I'll do what you asked and just call you Alex," she smiled and gripped my hand in an odd way - it was both tight yet gentle - and continued speaking, "I'm Saxa Jutul. If you need anything - and I truly do mean anything - just ask me and I'll try my best to help you," she gave a flirtatious smile and for a second I was somewhat confused by her behavior. From what I remember, Giants like Saxa usually express disgust at being attracted to humans and flirting is most definitely off the table because of that.
...So, does she have an ulterior motive or am I just that handsome? I'm gonna go with both. Yeah, both seems like a safe answer.
Sarcastic jokes aside, I kept a straight face and nodded, "I'll keep that in mind, Saxa," I said just in time for the teacher to start speaking about Edda and how it was the last of the places in Norway to become Christian and give up the old ways of the Norse Gods.
"You speak Norwegian well, Alex," Saxa whispered over to me, her tone supremely confident even as we were sat at the front, well within earshot of the teacher, "I'm impressed."
Raising an eyebrow at her for a moment, I looked to the teacher and saw he seemed resigned to the fact that Saxa could talk in his lessons - like she'd said, her mom was the principal and she no doubt got a free pass on certain things.
Shrugging, I answered in an equally quiet whisper, "My mom knew the benefits of knowing multiple languages so she put my sister and I into multiple different language courses but I only really got so far into Norwegian because of her heritage and the fact she could help me out with it by conversing with me using her native tongue," I explained and Saxa gave an almost silent 'oh' while nodding her head and looking impressed with mom's long-term thinking.
That seemed to be the end of the conversation but body language was a different thing I was well-versed and fluent in.
She seemed somewhat guarded to me but that didn't stop her from occasionally brushing her leg or arm against my own - and while it could've been an accident the first few times, the ones after that were definitely on purpose. Especially after I saw her glancing at me from the corner of her eye and smirking when I didn't recoil from touching her.
...What the hell is this woman playing at? I mean, she's attractive, sure. But she's also a Giant.
And now that I'm a God, that pretty much makes us enemies at worst, neutral parties at best. Though I suppose she doesn't know that just yet. What she's doing now is probably just base physical attraction and lust - or she's trying to tease me and have the good-looking new guy wrapped around her finger. Wouldn't surprise me if she were into ego-trips like that.
Tapping my fingers silently against the desk, I wrote down notes and went through the things Erik gave me to help me catch up to what he was trying to teach the class. All while, at the back of my mind, I tried to figure out what Saxa was trying to do.
Innocent attraction or evil ulterior motive to kill me? Only time will tell, I guess.
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
VikingRaider
VikingRaider Spoiler (though it isn't really a spoiler) - it's not with an ulterior motive in mind. It's not something like love either. It's just legit physical attraction.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone