Underworlds #1: The Battle Begins Read Online Free

giant warrior women. Their armor flashed under the torchlight like fireworks.
    “This isn’t weird at all,” Sydney said, backing up as far as she could go.
    It got weirder.
    As the three helmets stared down at us, a voice came from the one that covered Miss Hilda’s face. “Three hundred and four!”
    That was all.
    Jon breathed in slowly. “Excuse us, but what about ‘three hundred and four’? If this is a math problem, I’ll need lunch before I can —”
    “The … page … number …” Miss Lillian boomed. “In that book you’re holding, Owen Brown. Read it. Now.”
    I tried to ignore how these three could possibly know what book I had, or even what my name was. I almost dropped the book twice on the floor, flipping to page 304. And there it was, in the Norse mythology section, at the bottom of the page. An entry on …
    “The Valkyrior?” I said.
    “That’s us, dear,” said the lunch lady called Miss Marge. “We prefer ‘Valkyries,’ but please read it aloud. If you would.”
    “‘The Valkyrior — Valkyries — are warlike women mounted on horses and armed with helmets and spears.’” I stopped. “Uh …”
    “They work for Odin,” Sydney continued, taking the book from me. “They choose who will die in battle. It says, ‘Their name means “choosers of the slain.” When they ride forth on their errand, their armor sheds a strange flickering light.’”
    “Just like it’s doing now,” Jon whispered.
    “Doom Rider, I am named!” said the first. “But you know me as Miss Hilda!”
    “They call me Death Maiden!” Miss Lillian said from the depths of her helmet. Her voice echoed in the kitchen as if in a cave.
    The eye slits in her helmet blazing like fire, Miss Marge said, “I couldn’t decide for the longest time. I do like Marge. It’s homey. But in the armor, I call myself Soul Snatcher!”

    “Together, we are the Valkyries!” the three women cried out. “Daughters of Odin. Warriors and choosers of death! Ho yo -to ho !”
    A part of me wanted to laugh out loud. Lunch ladies who work for the Norse god Odin? How could anyone believe that? Then they yanked off their helmets, and their faces were not the plump and pink and happy faces from just moments ago. They were gray, stern, angry … and deadly serious.
    I coughed up the courage to speak. “Are you here because of Dana Runson?”
    “She has been taken to the Underworld,” said Death Maiden.
    My heart sank.
    “No, she was sucked into the floor of our school,” said Jon.
    Death Maiden looked grimly at him. “Two plus two equals …”
    I was scared to say it.
    “You mean the entrance to the Underworld is under Pinewood Bluffs Elementary?” I whispered.
    Soul Snatcher nodded. “One of the entrances.”
    “So Dana’s … dead?” Sydney asked, eyes wide.
    “Dead to you,” said Death Maiden.
    “But how do you know?” I asked.
    “We choose who will die,” said Doom Rider.
    Jon raised his eyebrows. “Is that what the chef’s surprise is all about?”
    “But we did not choose Dana Runson,” continued Doom Rider, ignoring Jon’s comment.
    “So who did?” I asked.
    “That’s what the great god Odin sent us here to find out,” said Soul Snatcher. “He has known for some time that things in the Underworlds are not right. Someone is causing trouble. There is unrest in Hades’ world.”
    I didn’t know whether we should call 9-1-1, run for our lives, or both. Did these crazy women actually know something? Or were they simply lunch ladies who ate too much macaroni special and liked to play dress-up?
    “But what does Odin know about Hades?” I asked. “Aren’t they from different myths?”
    “Everyone knows Hades,” said Doom Rider. “The Greek kingdom of the dead is the largest of the Underworlds.”
    “You keep saying Underworld s , plural,” said Sydney. “How many are there?”
    “One for every branch of mythology,” said Miss Marge. “They share space down below. Sometimes … uneasily.