Alexandra Valkyrie

Chapter 7

“I’m fine, I could come with you---“

But the lady with the spear already turned her back on me. “Miss Cora Hardin, come with me.”

My sister bade goodbye and left with Madame Celeste in a flash of lightning.

“She didn’t even win, yet she still gets all the attention,” I heard Leshia Charm say just before three old ladies came to hypnotize me to sleep.

The following morning, I woke up in my room in Skiferlair, fully healed and with faces and fairies poking from all corners of my field of vision.

“Oh look, she’s awake!” a voice said. When I sat up, I realized it was Seline and my other campmates.

“I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to help you three days ago,” Seline apologized. “I didn’t know that we can’t go back the moment we reach sword.”

I shook my head. “What? I was asleep for three days?”

“Yeah,” said Louise, who was holding a basket of fruits. “Madame Celeste told me to make sure you’re healthy so I brought you these.”

“Our Head-Valkyrie’s so awesome, right?” a girl who I didn’t know, said. “I’m Jedidiah Goshnoodle, by the way.”

I chuckled gently. “What a funny---“

“What a funny name, I know, hahaha,” she didn’t even let me finish. “You can call me Jedi. And oh, my heart was pounding when I watched you being pulled by the—you know. If I was you back there, I would have fallen unconscious just at the sight of that monster’s face!”

“I know, right! It was like a live horror movie!” Seline cut in. “Cora almost exploded into tears when you stopped fighting back. She thought you were gonna---“

“Die?” I said. “Yeah. If I died there, Sigurd’s Redemption could have been banned for a couple of years. I could have saved you from suffering that stupid game for five years.”

“What are you saying?” Seline sounded really hurt. “If you died there, I would suffer for eternity, instead.”

“I’m sorry . . .“ I had the sudden urge to pull her and hug her to my chest. Jedi and Louise also joined in.

That day was also the first time I ever put on the Folkvang Academy uniform: a knee-length bluish-white skirt, chocolate-colored leather combat boots and a navy blue sweatshirt dress with silver trim. The Folkvang Academy symbol, two wings in the shape of the letter ‘V’ was embroidered over the left chest. I then proceeded to the Fensalir with Seline and Jedi.

We were at the mouth of the Skiferlair bridge and right in front of us was Valhalla, the open field that Madame Celeste mentioned. We stopped for awhile and looked around for any signs of attackers.

“What’s wrong, Andie?” Seline held my hand as she tried to pull me into the field. We are standing right before the transition between concrete and grass.

“How did you make it past Valhalla during the past few days?” I asked. I continued to look around. Campers from the other bridges were now walking reluctantly across the field.

“Don’t worry!” Jedi said. She was jumpy for some reason. “Louise told us that there was a secret pact between the camps that the Freshies won’t be attacked until we get our runics.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Runics?”

Jedi shrugged. “I don’t know, either. But I think it’s the magic weapon that all valkyries have.”

“Come on, we’re going to be late,” Seline murmured.

“Okay,” I was still wary, but I jumped into the grass anyway.