by Kate O'Hearn
‘What’s it like living in Denmark?’ Tamika asked.
Freya shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I don’t live there.’
Archie cleared his throat loudly. ‘What she means is she doesn’t live there any more, do you, Gee?’
Freya had forgotten her cover story. She smiled weakly. ‘Of course, I don’t live there any more. I live here.’
Archie finished, ‘But she told me it’s almost the same as here. Only the language is different. Right?’
‘Right . . .’ Freya agreed absently. She stood up straight and became distracted by something in the air. A feeling of fear. She scanned the direction it came from. ‘Wait here, I’ll be right back.’
‘Uh-oh,’ Orus cawed. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Can’t you feel it? Someone is very afraid.’ She started to run.
‘All I feel is trouble brewing. This is your first day at school. You don’t want to cause trouble.’
‘Gee, what’s wrong?’ Archie said as he caught up with her. Tamika was close behind him.
‘Someone is very frightened. They are being threatened. It is the same fear I felt from you, the first time we met.’
‘Gee, wait,’ Archie called.
But Freya couldn’t be stopped. The fear beckoned her. She couldn’t resist its call. When she rounded the building, she saw the same bullies who’d attacked Archie, pressing a boy to the wall. He was Archie’s age with a similar slight build. He wore glasses, but they were knocked to the ground. He was trembling with fear.
‘Come on, hand it over!’ the bully, JP, demanded. His right arm was in a cast from his first encounter with Freya’s breastplate. But he was still able to command his gang to hurt people. ‘Search him,’ he ordered.
Two gang members raced to follow his orders and rifled through the boy’s pockets. When they found what they were looking for, they shoved him to the ground and handed the money over to JP.
‘Gee, stop,’ Archie called as he caught her by the arm. ‘You’ll only make it worse. They will just take his money and then let him go. He’s one of the Geek Squad I told you about. They pick on him because he’s Jewish and wears glasses.’
Freya looked at Archie in disgust. ‘What does his religion have to do with anything? They have no right to attack him or steal his money. It’s wrong.’
‘Yes it’s wrong,’ Archie agreed. ‘But that’s just the way it is.’
Freya straightened her back and ruffled her wings under her coat. ‘Not as long as I’m here. What’s that boy’s name?’
‘Leo. Leo Max Michaelson.’
Freya lifted the raven off her shoulder and settled him on Archie’s arm. ‘Orus, you’d better wait here. I don’t want you hurt.’
‘Be careful,’ Orus cawed as she stormed forward.
‘Leo Max,’ Freya called. ‘There you are!’ She pushed between the bullies and reached for the frightened boy’s arm. ‘I’ve been looking all over for you. You promised to help me with Math.’
‘Hey, hey, hey, who are you?’ JP demanded, stepping forward.
‘She’s the new girl I told you about,’ one of the boys answered. ‘The one from my English class. What a freak!’ He put on a whiny voice., ‘She needs to sit at the back cos she’s got a bad hunch on her back. No one can touch her or she’ll get sick. She’s been hanging around with Daisy.’
JP approached Freya. He caught hold of her coat lapel with his unbroken left hand and leaned in close to her face. ‘No one can touch you, eh? No way. If I want to touch you, I will,’ he threatened.
If he moved a couple of centimetres closer, his cheek would touch Freya’s face and he would die. Then her mission would be ruined. ‘Back off,’ she warned. ‘Release me now before I lose my temper.’
JP towered over her and his eyes burned with fury. She could feel all the bad things he had done resting behind those dark, hate-filled eyes.
‘Are you threatening me?’ he spat.
Freya leaned further away from him. ‘I don’t make threats. This is a promise.’
‘Look, new girl,’ JP pressed. ‘It’s time you learned the rules here. This is my school and I run things. You’ll do what I tell you. Now, hand over your money and phone.’
His hot 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.
‘It’s over,’ Archie said. ‘I don’t think they’ll bother you again.’
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 was dismissed and sent to join Expressive Arts.
Without Archie at her side, Freya felt alone as she entered the classroom. Even having Orus hidden under her coat didn’t help.
But soon Freya discovered that this was the one subject that she actually enjoyed.
‘Greta, before you sit down,’ the teacher, Mrs Breen, said, ‘I’m going to ask you to sing something for the class. I need to find out what music group you should be in.’
‘You want me to sing here? Now?’
When the teacher nodded, Freya inhaled deeply. She loved to sing with the other Valkyries, but had never sung to living humans before. She closed her eyes, and imagined she was back at Valhalla with Maya at her side. In the next moment, a soft and haunting song sprang from her lips; an ancient song, sung in the tongue of Asgard by all the Valkyries since the dawn of time. It told the story of a great love between a young Valkyrie and a valiant warrior. So beautiful was the warrior’s face that the Valkyrie fell instantly in love with him and couldn’t bear to reap him. So she went to Odin and begged for the warrior’s life. Unable to grant the request, Odin took pity on the lovesick Valkyrie and told her to give the warrior her name before he died. In doing so, they could be joined together forever in Asgard . . .
As the moments passed, her confidence grew and she poured out her heart in the music. When the song was over, Freya opened her eyes. The only sounds in the classroom were gentle sniffs as tears shone in the eyes of most of her classmates.
‘Greta,’ Mrs Breen said softly, hardly daring to break the spell. ‘That was enchanting. What is it called?’
Freya shrugged. ‘It has no name. It’s an old folk song my mother taught me. It’s about a lonely Valkyrie from long ago that falls in love with a warrior she has to reap and the pain she suffers fulfilling her duty.’ She looked around the room and saw, once again, the expressions of confusion. Did no one in this world know what a Valkyrie was?
‘You have the most delightful voice,’ Mrs Breen continued.
Freya looked over the class and saw everyone nodding in agreement. As she walked to her seat, she felt a warmth from the students directed at her.
When the final bell rang, Freya was surrounded by her new classmates, anxious to speak with her. She was barraged with questions about where she came from and how she’d learned to sing so well.
As they pressed closer, Freya could feel Orus squirming under the coat as he was squashed by the clinging students. His soft caws of protest turned to louder curses.
‘I had better go!’ Freya said quickly.
As the girls drifted away to catch their buses, Freya was left in a daze. She was so used to humans being mean to each other, it threw her off balance when they were nice.
‘Let me out!’ Orus cawed.
Freya opened her coat and the raven flew out. He circled the air and landed on her arm. His feathers were a mess and he was panting heavily.
‘I am never hiding in your coat again!’ he cawed. ‘I nearly suffocated under there. And what was going on with all those girls? They nearly squished the life out of me! I was sure I was going to pass out!’
‘Sorry, Orus,’ Freya said. ‘I didn’t mean that to happen. They just came at me. I was surrounded.’
‘Freya, it could have been a disaster if one of them had touched you. You mustn’t let them get that near you again. But then I suppose that’s the price to pay for being popular.’
‘I’m not popular,’ Freya insisted. ‘This is just my first day. They were being friendly.’
‘You had everyone in that class enchanted. Even the boys.’
‘How do you know?’
‘I couldn’t see them, but I could hear them,’ Orus said. ‘You bewitched everyone.’
‘I didn’t mean to,’ Freya said defensively. ‘Besides, it’s Mrs Breen’s fault. She told me to sing.’
‘Hey, don’t get mad at me because they liked you. If anyone has a right to be angry, it’s me, not you. I nearly died in your coat,’ Orus huffed. ‘All I’m saying is, you’ve spent so long hating humans that when they’re nice to you you don’t know what to do. Enjoy this moment, Freya. You know it can’t last.’
‘Why? Are you saying they’re going to hate me once they get to know me?’
‘No, of course not! But soon you will have to leave them to return to Asgard. Just don’t get too attached to them. It will hurt when you go.’
Freya stroked the raven and considered his words. Orus was right. She was only a visitor here. She could not stay. Once Tamika’s family was safe and Archie protected from the bullies, she would have to leave.
At that moment Archie and Tamika came running up to her. ‘So?’ Archie asked. ‘How was your first class alone? Music, wasn’t it?’
‘Fine,’ Freya said, almost too quickly. ‘Everything went fine.
Freya was grateful to finally be able to take off her coat. As she and Archie sat at the kitchen table to start their homework, she stretched out her cramped wings.
‘I’ve never kept them folded for so long,’ she complained, as she massaged an ache in the long muscle of her right wing. ‘If I keep that coat on much longer, I’ll cripple myself.’
‘Not to mention the damage it’s doing to your feathers,’ Orus added. ‘Not that you keep them well preened anyway.’
Freya stuck out her tongue at the raven and refused to tell Archie what he’d said.
‘A few cramps are better than being seen,’ Archie remarked. Then a dark twinkle rose in his eyes. ‘Though I’d pay almost anything to see JP’s reaction if he saw them.’
Freya grinned. ‘Me too. It would almost be worth it to show him!’
Later, while Freya and Orus were tackling her Maths homework, Archie ran back into the kitchen, bursting with excitement. ‘Got it!’ He waved a printed piece of paper in front of her. ‘This is the answer to the Orus situation.’
‘What Orus situation?’ Freya asked.
‘Keeping him under your coat,’ Archie continued.
Orus’s nails clicked across the table and he hopped up on Archie’s arm. ‘Thank you,’ he cawed. He looked at Freya. ‘See? At least someone here cares about me!’
‘Oh, Orus, you know I care,’ Freya shot back. She picked up the paper and started to read:
Definition of Service Animal
Public Act 97-0956 (formerly HB 3826)
. . . The law requires schools to permit a student with a disability and using a service animal to have that service animal assist them at all school functions, whether in or outside the classroom, and whether it is trained or ‘being trained’ as a hearing animal, a guide animal, an assistance animal, a seizure alert animal, a mobility animal, a psychiatric service animal, an autism service animal, or an animal trained for any other physical, mental, or intellectual disability . . .
Freya put down the paper. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘It means,’ Archie said, ‘that since you already have a sick note saying you wear a back brace and can’t let anyone touch you, you can take Orus to school without hiding him under your coat. All you need is a medical note with a forged doctor’s signature – I can do that! We can say that he’s a service animal and you need him to warn you if anyone i
s getting too close to you.’
‘Perfect!’ Orus cawed. ‘No more suffocation!’
Freya reached out and grasped the raven. She brought him up to her lips and kissed him on the end of his sharp, black beak. ‘And no more sharp claws cutting into my side below my breastplate!’
They celebrated with macaroni and cheese . . . again. Freya said nothing, but realized it was one of only a couple of meals that Archie knew how to prepare. He needed someone to take care of him. His mother certainly wasn’t.
As the evening wore on, they sat together watching television. Eventually Archie retired to bed. When he was gone, Freya pulled out her school books and started to study again.
‘No going out tonight?’ Orus asked.
Freya shook her head. ‘I hated not understanding things in school today. I want to learn as much as I can as quickly as possible. If humans can learn this stuff, so can I.’
The next day Orus sat on Freya’s shoulder as they walked into school. They received more than a few stares as they walked through the halls.
‘What’s going on here?’ the school secretary demanded when she saw the raven. ‘You can’t bring that bird into the school!’
‘Good morning, Mrs Bergquist,’ Archie said brightly. He handed over the forged doctor’s notes. ‘Yesterday Greta tried coming to school without her service animal. But she became frightened when some of the kids in her music class got too near. She normally keeps Orus with her to warn of people getting too close behind her.’
Tamika nodded. ‘Yes, our grandmother was going to come with us this morning, but she couldn’t get a baby-sitter for my little sister. But you can call her if you want. She knows Cousin Greta needs Orus with her.’
Freya looked at Tamika in a new light. She knew the girl didn’t like Orus and was frightened of birds, but yet she was speaking bravely on the raven’s behalf.
‘I don’t know about this,’ Mrs Bergquist said. ‘I’ve never heard of a raven as a service animal before.’
Before Freya could speak, Archie pulled out another paper. It was from the Illinois General Assembly website with the statute he’d found on the Internet the previous evening. ‘It says here they have just allowed miniature horses to be service animals. If they can enter schools, so can ravens.’