Valkyrie (Kate O'Hearn) - By Kate O'Hearn Page 0,37
breath on her face was making her angrier. ‘And if I don’t?’
‘Then we’re gonna have a big problem.’
‘We already have a problem,’ Freya said. She snatched JP’s hand and wrenched it from her collar. She started to squeeze, using her Valkyrie strength.
‘You run this school?’ she repeated. ‘Not any more. Leo Max, Archie and everyone else in the Geek Squad are now under my protection. Do you hear me?’
JP tried to pull his hand free of Freya, but she only squeezed harder. ‘I have been trained in ways you could never imagine . . .’ Driving him to the ground, a pained look rushed to the bully’s face. ‘I could break you in two without a pause. So heed my warning. You and your gang of bullies are finished at this school.’
JP looked around desperately and called to his gang for help. But when one of them came within her reach, Freya swatted him across the yard with the back of a gloved hand. Then she kicked another away with her boot.
She turned back to JP. ‘Listen to me!’ she cried, squeezing until the bones in his hand creaked. ‘I was raised on the battlefields of war. You can’t win against me. Leave the children of this school alone or I might actually let you touch me – then you’ll discover the true meaning of terror!’
‘Gee, no!’ Archie cried frantically as he ran forward. ‘That’s enough. They get the message. Let him go.’
Freya looked at Archie in disbelief. After everything JP had done to him, he still felt compassion for the bully.
‘Please, Gee,’ he begged.
Freya gave JP’s hand one more warning squeeze before releasing the bully and shoving him backwards. ‘Remember they are all under my protection.’
The bully staggered to his feet as rage rose on his face. ‘This ain’t over, freak,’ he called, clutching his left hand. ‘You hear me? It ain’t over. You and that boy-loving Daisy are going to pay for this.’
Freya made a move as if to chase JP and he started to run away. She looked back at Leo Max. Archie was picking up his glasses and a small skullcap from the ground and handing it to him.
Leo Max pulled on his glasses. He reached for the skullcap in Archie’s hand. ‘Don’t count on it. They’ve been picking on me for years.’
‘Me too,’ Archie said. ‘What’s that for?’
‘It’s my yamika,’ Leo Max explained as he pinned the small black skullcap to the top of his head. ‘I’m Jewish and I wear it as part of my religion. They’re always taking it from me, until today.’ His warm green eyes settled on Freya with nothing less than adoration. ‘Why would you do that for me? You don’t even know me.’
‘I don’t know you, but I do know their kind,’ she said. ‘I have watched others just like them for centuries. Brutalizing people and ruining lives for pleasure or personal gain. It sickens me.’
‘Centuries?’ Leo Max asked.
Archie quickly corrected, ‘She meant it seems like centuries, didn’t you, Gee?’
‘Of course,’ Freya agreed.
Orus flew from Archie’s arm to her shoulder. He gave her ear a soft nip. ‘If I didn’t know you better, Freya, I’d say you are developing a soft spot for some of these humans.’
Freya patted him playfully.
‘Wow,’ Leo Max said. ‘Is that your raven?’
Freya nodded. ‘I don’t own him. Orus is free to go where he chooses. But he and I prefer to stay together.’
‘Cool!’
‘So, how many other kids are in the Geek Squad?’ Freya asked.
Archie shrugged as he started to reel off names. Leo Max added a couple more. In total, including Archie and Leo, there were seven.
Freya considered. ‘That’s enough to start with. Leo Max, I want you to find everyone in the Geek Squad and anyone else who’s been picked on by JP and his gang. Tell them I want to meet them all right here tomorrow after school.’
‘Why?’ Leo Max asked.
‘Because it’s time you all learned to defend yourselves.’
CHAPTER TWELVE
Freya walked back into the school, savouring that same wonderful feeling of success. Saving Leo Max from JP and his gang was almost as good as saving the couple in Chicago.
But those feelings faded quickly as she moved from one class to another and were replaced by a sense of being lost and confused by subjects she didn’t understand.
For her final class of the day, Freya was meant to have Physical Education. But when she presented her doctor’s note to the teacher she