Valkyrie (Kate O'Hearn) - By Kate O'Hearn Page 0,30

us.’

She lifted her sister from her grandmother’s arms and started to burp the baby. Tamika’s face brightened as Uniik giggled in her arms.

Alma’s eyes lingered on Freya before replying to Tamika. ‘Of course, child, but you know your old grandma won’t live forever.’

‘Sure you will,’ Tamika said. She looked at Freya while gently bouncing the baby in her arms. ‘I didn’t mean to call you Gruesome Greta. Take off your coat – you can stay.’

Freya rose and stepped closer. With her gloved hand, she stroked the baby’s head. ‘I prefer to keep it on, and I didn’t mind what you called me. I like Gruesome Greta. After all, that’s my name.’

Tamika frowned at Archie. ‘You said her name was Gee.’

Archie shuffled uncomfortably on his feet. ‘That’s what I call her. But her name is Greta.’ He focused on Freya. ‘I told Tamika about your problem. So she’s agreed that we can all walk to school together.’

‘My problem?’

Freya could feel a lot of emotion coming from Archie. He was very anxious. He’d obviously told Tamika something about her and was frightened she would say the wrong thing.

‘Yes, Gee,’ he said cautiously. ‘You know, about what happened to your family in Denmark and how you are staying at my house in hiding so the bad men don’t find you?

‘I also told her no one knows you are here and how we’re going to try to sneak you into my school under a different name.’

‘Oh, that problem,’ Freya agreed. Her eyes caught hold of Alma’s and the old woman was nodding. ‘Yes, well, Tamika, I hope you can help me.’

‘Sure,’ Tamika agreed. ‘And I know how you can get into our school without any records.’

Tamika told them about a homeless boy in her class who lived with his family in a shelter. They couldn’t locate his old school records, but the school had to take him anyway.

‘I’ll take you to school and register you on Monday,’ Alma said, forming a plan. ‘I’ll tell them you’re my brother’s niece and that you’ve come over here to spend some time with me and your cousin Tamika.’

‘Will they believe you?’ Freya asked. ‘I have pale skin – we don’t look like we come from the same family.’

Alma nodded. ‘They’ll believe what I tell them. Don’t you fret about that.’ She paused. ‘But we are going to need some kind of birth certificate for you.’

‘I can do that!’ Archie announced. ‘I can easily do that on the computer. I can also make up a doctor’s note that says you’ve got some rare spinal disease and are wearing a big back brace that you’re embarrassed about. So you wear strange clothing to hide it. It would also excuse you from Phys-Ed.’ His eyes grew even bigger as he started to extend his idea. ‘I know!’ he added. ‘We can say that you’ve got a weird skin problem so you can’t touch anyone or let them touch you. That way, you can wear your coat and gloves all day. And, because we’re pretending you’re from Denmark, if we write the notes in something that looks like Danish it’ll be even easier to fool everyone!’

Archie’s enthusiasm was catching as they thought more about how to hide Freya’s true identity. By the end of lunch, they had created a whole story for her to tell the school.

While they used Tamika’s computer to create the false documents, Alma disappeared into her sewing room to work on the cover for Freya’s wings.

When they left the Johnson house in the early evening, Freya felt prepared for her first day at school.

CHAPTER NINE

Freya was restless. It was long past midnight and she still did not feel the need for sleep. Archie had already gone to bed and there was nothing left to do.

‘What are you doing?’ Orus asked as he watched her pull on her armour and gauntlets. Then she attached the sword to her side and walked to the back door.

‘I can’t stay here watching television all night,’ she said. ‘Let’s go for a short flight. I need to stretch my wings.’

‘But it’s raining. We’ll get soaked.’

Freya sighed. ‘A little rain never hurt anyone.’

‘How do you know? This is Midgard rain, not Asgard. Maybe it has something in it that will damage our feathers.’

Freya burst out laughing. ‘Nice try, Orus. Now, come on, you need exercise too.’

Orus ruffled his feathers in disappointment. ‘What about your helmet?’

‘Not tonight. I want to see the city with my own eyes and not have it changed by the