Free Valkyrie Rising by Ingrid Paulson Page A

change of plans. Summer school starts in two weeks.” Graham gave Tucker a pointed look. “ Some one skipped too much English class to get credit.”
    “Actually, that’s still open to debate,” Tuck told me. “They have yet to produce a single shred of evidence that I wasn’t there. Everyone knows old Ms. Turner is so nearsighted, she wouldn’t know if it was me or a shrub planted in my seat.”
    “Please tell me you didn’t actually test that theory,” Graham muttered, even as he cracked a grin and headed toward Grandmother’s car, keeping his arm draped over my shoulder.
    “No hug for me, Ells?” Tuck fell into step beside us and tugged at my sleeve like a puppy.
    “How about a hug around the neck with my hands?” It slipped out before I realized how harsh it sounded.
    But Tuck laughed. “Easy there, tiger.” He gave me his flashiest grin. “Save some ammo for later. We’ve got two weeks. And you’re already throwing some pretty heavy shrapnel.”
    After what had happened the night before, slipping back into my routine with Tuck offered the best kind of release I’d ever imagined. It was amazing I’d never appreciated it before, how Tuck could frustrate me and make me laugh all at once.
    Even thirteen hours of airplane travel couldn’t take the shine off him. I had to bite my cheek hard not to smile right back at him as I prepared to fire the winning shot.
    The words never made it past my lips. “Stop,” Graham ordered. “Mandatory truce. Effective immediately.” Then he lifted his arm from my shoulder and took the five remaining steps toward Grandmother alone, crushing her in his arms. As tall as Grandmother was, she looked dainty next to Graham’s broad frame.
    “Mrs. Overholt—or may I call you Hilda?” Tuck said, ramping into overdrive as he gave my grandmother a hug. He hadn’t seen her for more than four years, but Tucker was never one to be shy. “Now we see where Graham and Ellie get their good looks.” He winked at me.
    I rolled my eyes.
    Then I looked at Graham standing beside her, trying to restrain Tuck before he said something even more inappropriate.
    Even though my instincts warned me against it, now that Graham was actually here, it seemed so easy, so logical to tell him what had happened with Kjell in the pub.
    He’d know exactly what to say and do to make Grandmother tell us everything she knew. But that moment of temptation was immediately followed by a horrifying image. Graham staring at me from white-on-white eyes—if that was what had really happened. My memories were still confused, tripping over themselves. All I knew was those girls were dangerous, and knowing the truth about them hadn’t helped Kjell or Sven one bit.
    It was better to wait and watch, and if I ever saw those girls again, I’d keep Graham and Tuck as far away from them as possible. Without either of them ever being the wiser. Because Graham and Tucker weren’t the kind of boys who’d just back down or run away from trouble.
    So I bit my lip, hoping ignorance would be enough to keep them out of the line of fire. Even as the new voice in my head assured me it wouldn’t be.
    W E ATE DINNER early that night, and Tuck and Graham went to bed immediately after. They’d practically fallen asleep at the table. After my own war with jet lag just one short week earlier, I could sympathize, but I still felt a pang of disappointment as Grandmother and I settled down to a quiet game of cribbage—alone. All day, we hadn’t even acknowledged the conversation we’d had in the car, and I wondered if the tension between us was all in my head or if she felt it too.
    At eleven I went up to my room and wrote down everything I’d noticed or overheard about the disappearances and those girls in the bar. But try as I might to find a rational, real-world explanation for everything I’d seen, nothing fit. And a rudimentary search for Valkyries on my phone had led me to video-game blogs and dating websites I’d