Secrets of Valhalla Read Online Free Page B

get home. It’s getting dark, and Grandmother will worry.” Mary jumped to her feet, held up her watch, and turned in a slow circle.
    The watch gave a little beep as she faced one of the lanes that curved off to the left. A robotic voice reeled off a list of directions:
    â€œFifteen Glover Drive. One-point-five miles away. Stay on the path ahead.”
    â€œWhoa!” Buzz scrambled to his feet. “Did your watch just tell you the way home in the voice of Darth Vader?”
    Mary’s expression was smug. “I made it using parts from my dad’s GPS and my cell phone a couple weeks ago. Dad was delighted, obviously.” She polished the face of the watch on the material of her leggings. “It’s still got a couple glitches, butit’s pretty darn impressive.”
    â€œYour humbleness is astounding,” Buzz replied. “Come on, you don’t live that far from me. I’ll show you a shortcut.” He bent down, shoved the soda can he’d been kicking into his backpack, and slung the bag over his shoulder. “I’ll take you through Tangley Woods. Don’t worry, I live in there, so I won’t get us lost.”
    â€œAhem!” Mary gave a theatrical cough. “I’ll draw your attention to exhibit A.” She tapped her watch. “I can’t get lost with this innovation strapped to my wrist. But walk me home if you like. You can tell me what else there is to do in Crowmarsh.”
    â€œSure.” He turned to her as they began to walk. “So, the first thing you to need to know is that there’s absolutely nothing to do in Crowmarsh. The second thing you need to know is that absolutely nothing ever happens in Crowmarsh.”
    Mary laughed. “I’m sure it isn’t that bad! I was born here, you know, but then my parents moved to the States.”
    â€œLucky escape,” Buzz said.
    â€œMaybe. But you get to live in the middle of a forest. That’s pretty lucky if you ask me.”
    â€œProf built our house in Tangley Woods when my sister was just a baby and before I was even born,” Buzz explained as they entered the line of trees that made up the border of the forest.
    â€œProf?”
    â€œIt’s what I call my father.”
    â€œI see,” Mary said, and Buzz had the feeling that she did see a whole lot. He knew it was odd that he called his father Prof, but the title of Dad just didn’t sit right with him.
    â€œProf’s kind of obsessed with this place.” He talked fast to cover the awkwardness. His gaze took in the familiar play of light that slanted through the trees. “He thinks this wood is the epicenter of many key mythologies. A place where people’s beliefs have all converged through the centuries. The Tangley Woods theory is what he’s famous for, why he’s on TV. He just hasn’t proven it.”
    â€œOh?” Mary said. “How long has he been trying to prove it?”
    â€œTwenty years, give or take.”
    â€œThat’s a long time.”
    â€œIt sure is.” What he didn’t say was that by now, most people at the university thought that the Prof was a joke, which is why he didn’t get invited to the annual garden party anymore.
    They were deep in the forest now, the trees silent witnesses to their conversation. The light was gradually fading—the shadows converging—but Buzz wasn’t worried. He knew the woods’ paths better than anyone.
    â€œWow, your mom has got to be the most laid-back person in the world,” Mary said after a moment. “If my dad tried to build a house in a forest so that he could be closer to his work, my mom would go nuclear.”
    â€œThat’s not her way,” Buzz explained. His mum never got angry. Besides, she loved this place as well. She’d crawl aroundon the mossy ground of Tangley Woods for hours at a time, occasionally giving squeals of delight when she unearthed a spongy