Free Valkyrie by Kate O'Hearn Page B

minute.’
    Archie and Freya stood in silence as they listened to the cries of the baby. ‘Stay here. I’ll get in through the baby’s window up there. Then I’ll take a look around. I won’t be long.’ Freya opened her wings and pulled her helmet back on.
    ‘Be careful,’ Archie warned. ‘If the family is in danger, they might have a gun.’
    Freya smiled at her new friend, even though he wouldn’t see it. ‘I’ll be careful.’ She didn’t bother to tell him that while she wore her armour she couldn’t be wounded.
    Freya leaped into the air and flapped her wings. It was a short flight up to the window of the baby’s room. She gripped the sill with one hand and shoved open the window with the other.
    With little effort, she hauled herself inside. Orus returned to her shoulder when she stood. Freya walked over to the crib.
    Uniik was the first human baby she had ever seen up close. She was beautiful. Her dark skin was the same colour as Tyrone’s. She had a head of dark curly hair and a powerful cry, bursting with life. She had kicked off her covers.
    ‘She’s cute, but a little loud,’ Orus complained.
    Wearing her gloves, Freya stroked the baby’s face with a trembling hand. ‘Shhhh, little one,’ she whispered gently. ‘It will be all right. Your father loved you dearly and gave his life protecting you.’
    Suddenly a light came on in the room as a woman’s voice cried, ‘No, please, you can’t take her!’
    Freya’s wings flashed open as she turned and was met by a pleading old woman standing in the doorway. Her dark face bore the wrinkles of a long, troubled life and her body was wasted by age and illness. ‘Angel, take me if you must, but leave my granddaughter alone.’
    It took a moment for Freya to realize that she was still wearing her helmet. ‘You can see me?’
    The old woman moved stiffly as she knelt down before her. ‘Please,’ she begged. ‘She’s just a baby with her whole life ahead of her. If you must take someone, take me. I am old and ready to go.’
    ‘This is not good,’ Orus said. ‘If she can see you, she’s dying.’
    Freya removed her helmet. ‘I’m not here to take anyone. I knew Uniik’s father and promised him I would come. Do not be afraid of me.’ As she helped the old woman to rise, Freya felt pain coming from her. Pain, and something else; something hovering very near. It was a feeling of impending death.
    The old woman squinted up at her. ‘Why, you’re just a child!’
    ‘I am old enough,’ Freya said. ‘I was with Tyrone Johnson when he died.’
    The old woman grasped her chest and staggered back. ‘My Tyrone? You were the one who took my son?’
    ‘I did not want to,’ Freya started as she steadied her. ‘But I had to. It was his time. He was wounded and dying, nothing could change that. All I did was end his suffering.’ She reached into her pouch and pulled out Tyrone’s phone. ‘Your son gave me this. He showed me his daughters and begged me to come and protect his family. He regretted that he never held his new baby and couldn’t say goodbye to his wife.’
    The old woman looked at the phone. Tears rose in her grey-rimmed, brown eyes and her chin quivered. ‘They are united in death,’ she spoke softly. ‘Victoria was killed in a hit-and-run accident almost six months ago, not long after Tyrone died. They never caught the driver.’
    ‘She is dead?’ Freya looked away, unable to understand. She felt her temper rise as she learned of yet more violence. ‘Is that all this world is? Violence and war? People hurting each other for no reason?’
    ‘Sometimes it seems that way,’ the old woman said. ‘But it does have goodness as well.’
    ‘Where?’ Freya demanded harshly. ‘I have yet to see it. All I find is pain and loss. Boys are beating up boys for no reason, and Tyrone’s wife has been killed. It is all so ugly.’
    She balled her hands into fists and crossed the room. ‘My sister tried to tell me that people had