Valkyrie (Kate O'Hearn) - By Kate O'Hearn Page 0,21

pick up the figurines, Freya noticed he was wearing yellow rubber gloves on his hands and extra layers of clothing. The only skin exposed was his face.

‘You said be careful,’ Archie said. He held up his gloved hands. ‘I’m being extra careful.’

Freya was still wearing his gloves and held up her hands. ‘Me too. What is Steampunk?’

Archie picked up a figurine and handed it to her. It was of a woman in a top hat that had goggles on them. She was wearing a long, open coat. Tiny cogs were on the lapels of the coat and in her hands. Under the coat she wore a corset and a long, layered skirt. ‘It’s a kind of style,’ Archie explained. ‘Where people imagine what the world would have been like without electricity, with steam still powering everything. There are lots of cogs and gears and stuff mixed with Victorian styles.’

Archie was speaking, but the words meant nothing to Freya. She continued to explore the room in fascination. ‘So where is your brother?’

Archie dropped his eyes. ‘He’s in jail.’

‘For what?’

‘I bet it was murder,’ Orus said. ‘Looking at this strange bedroom, it has to be murder!’

Freya swatted the raven as Archie said, ‘It was for breaking and entering and auto theft. He’s a thief. He’ll be in jail for another eight months.’ Archie paused and kicked at a spot on the floor. ‘Um, while you’re here, you can stay in his room if you like. I mean, unless you’ve got somewhere else to go. Do they have hotels for Valkyries?’

‘I don’t know,’ Freya admitted. ‘Actually, I hadn’t thought that far ahead. But how would you explain it to your parents?’

Archie wouldn’t meet her eyes. ‘That’s not a problem.’ He paused and seemed hesitant. ‘My father left years ago. I haven’t heard from him since.’

‘What about your mother? Is she here?’

The pause was longer this time. ‘Sort of,’ he said. ‘I mean, she does live here, but she’s gone for a while.’

Freya could feel there was a lot more to this, but she didn’t want to press. Instead, she looked around the room again. ‘I like it here. I will stay.’

At her shoulder, Orus was having a fit. ‘Freya, you can’t stay here! If Odin finds out, he’ll send a Dark Searcher after us! We must find Tyrone’s family and then return to Asgard before we’re missed. It doesn’t matter how much you like this place, you just can’t stay!’

‘What’s he saying?’ Archie asked as he watched Orus rage.

‘Not much,’ Freya answered. ‘Just how much he likes this room. Who is that?’ She pointed at one of the posters on the wall. It showed a squat little girl dressed in the Steampunk style. She had a crooked mouth and jet-black hair with a red stripe. There was an even smaller boy with her. His eyes looked madly demented. Beside them was a brightly coloured caterpillar on a lead, wearing military boots on his many feet.

‘That’s Gruesome Greta,’ Archie said. ‘She’s my brother’s all-time favourite character.’ He crossed the room and reached for a thin book on a shelf. Freya’s eyes glowed as she leafed through the colourful pages, filled with lots of little pictures.

‘This is wonderful,’ she said. ‘I’ve never seen anything like it!’

‘It’s just a comic book,’ Archie said. ‘Don’t they have comics where you come from?’

Freya couldn’t draw her eyes from the pages. ‘We have a few books, but they are all about war. We have nothing like this. May I keep it?’

Archie shrugged. ‘Sure, my brother has lots of them. I don’t think he’d miss that one.’ He stepped closer and pointed at a picture. ‘That’s Greta’s little brother, Scott, and his pet caterpillar, Cecil. I really like Cecil.’

Archie walked over to the closet. ‘I bet you can find some things to wear in here. I mean, if you don’t mind wearing men’s clothes. It might even help hide your wings.’

Archie pulled the long, heavy velvet coat off the door. ‘Here, try this on.’

Freya removed her sword, dagger, gauntlets and breastplate. She folded in her wings as tight as they would go and pulled on the coat.

It hung down past the top of her sheepskin boots and was several sizes too big for her. The arms draped down past her gloved hands. But the fullness of the back fit perfectly over her wings.

‘Here, let me help.’ Archie stepped forward and rolled up the sleeves. Then he lifted the collar so that it stood up around her neck. He stepped back