Valkyrie (Kate O'Hearn) - By Kate O'Hearn Page 0,69

cawed loudly. ‘Wake up!’

Dr Taylor tried to shoo him away but Orus nipped him sharply.

‘I wouldn’t try to move him,’ Freya warned. ‘Orus is quite fond of Archie.’

‘That’s because Orus has no taste,’ Grul cawed from Maya’s shoulder and then started to laugh.

Freya held up a warning finger to her sister’s raven. ‘Don’t you start, Grul. I’m in no mood to deal with you right now.’

The raven huffed, but grew silent.

Finally Archie opened his eyes. They landed first on the doctor, then on Maya and lastly they found their way to Freya. ‘Gee,’ he rasped softly. ‘What happened?’

‘JP hit us with a truck. But you weren’t struck very hard. You’re going to be fine.’

A frown knitted Archie’s brow. ‘I don’t remember. Are you OK? Did he hurt you?’

Freya smiled gently on her friend. ‘I’m fine, Archie. But it hurt my wings again.’

‘Guess this means you’ll have to ride with me on Sylt.’

‘Ride Sylt?’ Maya asked. She looked at Freya. ‘Have you been letting him ride your Reaping Mare?’

Freya nodded. ‘Every night. We take her out and go flying together, don’t we?’

Archie nodded. ‘I love Sylt. She is so cool.’ Suddenly Archie’s expression tensed. ‘Gee, where’s your coat? You’re exposed.’ He looked nervously at the doctor.

‘It’s all right,’ Freya said. ‘Mia has enchanted him. He won’t remember any of this when we go.’

Maya looked out the window again. The first streaks of dawn had appeared on the horizon. ‘Speaking of going, we’d better get moving while it’s still dark. Sylt is on the roof waiting for us. She can carry you home.’

She turned to Dr Taylor. ‘Thank you so much for everything you’ve done for Archie. I would ask one more thing of you.’

‘Anything.’ The doctor blushed.

Maya walked closer to him and smiled radiantly. ‘We are going to take Archie with us. Can you arrange it so there are no questions asked?’

‘Of course,’ the doctor said. ‘This is my department. I’ll take care of everything. You just take good care of young Archie here. And maybe . . .’

‘Yes?’ Maya asked gently.

A bright-red blush came to the doctor’s cheeks. ‘Maybe I can see you again?’

‘Perhaps, Peter,’ Maya promised. ‘Perhaps.’

Getting Archie out of the hospital was more difficult than they first expected. Despite the early hour, there were still a good number of nurses on duty. With both Valkyries having no cover for their wings, they had to resort to using their helmets to get Archie to the roof.

‘I hope Odin doesn’t notice,’ Maya said softly as they walked through the hospital corridor towards the stairs to the roof. Freya was holding on to Archie’s arm to keep him invisible with her helmet’s powers. ‘It’s this, or we expose ourselves. We don’t have much choice.’

‘Yes, we do,’ Maya said. ‘We could all go back to Asgard right now.’

‘That’s not an option,’ Freya said as they stepped out on to the roof. When Sylt saw them, she nickered with happiness, and nudged Archie affectionately with her nose.

Archie paused and looked at Maya. ‘Has something happened? Why are you here?’

Freya quickly shook her head as her eyes pleaded with Maya not to say a word about the trouble they were in.

‘Nothing,’ Maya finally said. ‘I just came here to go to the dance with you and my sister.’

‘You want to go to the dance?’ Archie asked.

Maya nodded and gave Freya a pointed, dark look. ‘Why not? It’s probably going to be my last.’

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

The sun was already up when they landed back at the house. By the time they’d settled Sylt in the garage and finished feeding the mare, Archie was already back to his old self.

Seeing his smile as he moved around their small kitchen, making a large batch of pancakes, caused a great pang of sadness for Freya. Archie was running out of time, but he didn’t know it.

‘What day is it?’ he asked as they sat down to eat. ‘I seemed to have lost track of time.’

‘It’s Sunday,’ Freya said. ‘You were in the hospital just over a week.’

‘Really? I don’t remember a thing. Sunday, eh? We’ve only got a few more days to the dance. I can’t wait!’

Freya looked over to her sister, but said nothing.

Later that day, Freya and Archie convinced Maya to join them going to Tamika’s house. Archie wanted to show them he was all right, and Freya wanted to introduce her sister. She also wanted to quietly thank Tamika and Alma for cleaning and repairing her velvet coat. With the bloodstains gone, she didn’t have to