Free Valkyrie by Kate O'Hearn Page A

living.’
    ‘What’s Midgard?’ Archie asked.
    ‘This is,’ Freya explained. ‘I come from Asgard. Here – Earth – is Midgard and then there is Utgard, the land of the demons and frost giants.’
    ‘Midgard,’ Archie repeated. ‘What will happen if you are caught out of Asgard?’
    Freya hesitated. ‘Odin will be very angry. It won’t be good.’
    Archie reached out a rubber-gloved hand and touched Freya’s hand. He leaned closer to her. ‘Then you must go back. I don’t want you to get into trouble because of me.’
    ‘He is intelligent!’ Orus cried in shock. ‘Listen to the boy, Freya. We must return to Asgard right now.’
    Freya shook her head. ‘Not yet. Not until I have seen Tyrone’s family and found out how I can help them.’ Her deep-blue eyes settled on Archie. ‘And made sure those boys leave you alone.’
    ‘Don’t worry about me,’ Archie said. ‘I’ve always been picked on and beaten up. It will always be that way, even after you go. But if helping your soldier’s family will get you home sooner, let’s go.’
    ‘You wish to help me?’ Freya asked in wonder. ‘Why would you do that?’
    Archie grinned in excitement. ‘Because that’s what friends do.’

CHAPTER SEVEN
    ‘ B ecause that’s what friends do  . . .’ Archie’s few words affected Freya more deeply than she imagined possible. After spending most of her life looking for a friend, she had found one by complete accident. Archie knew who she was, what she did and where she came from and yet, after all that, he still wanted to be her friend.
    Archie had searched for Tyrone Johnson’s address.
    ‘It’s really not too far from here,’ he said, looking at the map on screen. ‘We could walk there in ten minutes. I bet Tamika goes to my school. I’ve probably walked past her in the hall a hundred times.’ He looked up at Freya. ‘What do you want to do first?’
    ‘I’m not sure. I guess just take a look and see if we can discover what the trouble is.’ Freya pulled on her armour and weapons.
    ‘Are you going to let them see you?’
    Freya shook her head. ‘Not yet. I don’t want to scare them. The moment people see me they think I’m either an angel or the Angel of Death.’
    Archie scrunched up his face. ‘Well, technically speaking, Gee, you are kind of an angel of death. Just one meant for the battlefields.’
    ‘I guess so,’ Freya surrendered.
    The air was fresh and crisp as they walked through the darkened neighbourhood streets. Most of the homes they passed had their lights on and held a warm, welcoming glow. From each home, Freya could feel the emotions of the people inside. She was wearing her helmet, so no one saw her.
    ‘OK, here’s their street,’ Archie said. Most of the houses were dark and many front yards had SOLD signs in them or were boarded up. Two looked as if they had been burned down. It seemed the entire area was moving out.
    They counted down the numbers until they reached one of the few lit houses, right beside a burned-out hulk.
    ‘Number forty-five, here it is,’ Archie said.
    Freya looked up at the house her soldier had lived in with his family. It was a simple, two-storey structure. The house looked like it had seen better days and was in desperate need of repair.
    ‘Tyrone lived here?’ Orus said. ‘No wonder he went off to war!’
    Freya swatted the bird. ‘Be nice.’
    From the street, Freya could hear the sound of a baby crying. ‘That’s Tyrone’s baby daughter, Uniik. He never got to hold her. She was born while he was on the battlefield and he died before he could come home to see her.’
    ‘That’s so sad,’ Archie said. ‘I read that Valkyries can choose who lives and who dies. Couldn’t you save him?’
    Freya removed her helmet and became invisible. ‘He was badly wounded. It was his time to die and I couldn’t change that, even if I wanted to. I brought him to Valhalla but promised to let his family know they were in his thoughts every