by Joan Holub
When she started to dance, however, she heard snickers. Whipping around, she saw that Loki was over on the sidelines mimicking the way she was dancing. That meanie. However, it was nice to note that no one else was making fun of her.
Frowning, Skade folded her arms. “If you think I’m so bad, let’s see if you can do any better,” she called out to him loudly. Freya, Sif, and Idun came to stand on either side of her. They also frowned at Loki.
“Uh… um…” Loki shuffled his magic-yellow-shoe-clad feet, looking embarrassed. “I don’t see why I should have to be the first guy to dance,” he whined. Looking at the other boys, he said, “One of you go first.”
The boys all took a step back. Apparently they were willing to practice traditional dance steps in history class—because they had to—but when it came to the more self-styled dancing of a school dance, they were too chicken to try. Who was the scaredy-rabbit now?
“Do it,” Skade told Loki. Then, remembering their unfinished discussion about what he’d done to Balder, she added, “Or I might have to tell Odin about your behavior at the games. Like your admiration of Surt, and the mistle—”
Loki cut her off, saying, “You can’t prove anything. And Surt’s sword is cool, but he turned out to be a drippy wimp.” Then, before anyone could say more, he zoomed away to the snack tables.
“Loki shouldn’t have made fun of your dancing,” Njord said after coming over to stand near Skade. “And you know, last Thursday in history class…I only said what I said to show off. To be cool in front of the guys. I’m sorry I acted mean.”
Skade raised an eyebrow. “Okay.”
Shifting nervously from one foot to the other, Njord asked, “Is there anything I can do to make things up to you?”
Skade considered this. They’d been through so much together the past few days that she thought maybe she really was ready to forgive him for his teasing. Then an idea came to her. Njord looked a little worried at the mischief that lit her eyes when she replied, “Yes.” Then she said, “You can make me laugh. Do a dance so silly that my friends and I all crack up.”
“Um…,” said Njord, looking nervous.
“C’mon. You owe me. Where’s your confidence?” she said to him. Then she raised her gaze to take in the whole room—boys and girls alike. “We want to see all the boys do some silly, goofy, dorky dancing. Right, girls?”
The girls grinned, nodding. The boys, however, shuffled their feet and looked sheepishly at one another. Skade could practically see the emotions warring within Njord. Then he surprised her.
“All right, guys, let’s show these girls we can make ’em laugh!” he declared, stepping up to the challenge. “Since I feel kind of chicken about doing this, I’ll do a chicken dance. P-kawk!” With that, he bent his elbows like wings and jerked his chin back and forth while hopping around in time to the music. He was cluck-dancing! And it was hilarious. So hilarious it actually did make Skade laugh. Her friends, too. Seeing how much fun he was having and how much positive attention he was getting, the other boys joined in, copying him and adding funny hops and spins.
Even the teachers got into the act. Mr. Sturluson tossed his red hat high, then spun around in time to catch it before tossing it again. And the warriors in the wall paintings danced too! Skade kind of wished Odin hadn’t left early. What kind of dance might he have done?
Suddenly Njord danced up beside her. “C’mon,” he said. “Since we didn’t get to partner for the aerial ski tricks event, here’s our chance…to dance.”
He didn’t have to ask her twice. She began cluck-walking and wing-flapping alongside him. When they passed their history teacher, she grinned at him. “That hat dance you’re doing is not at all traditional,” she told him, smiling as she and Njord p-kawked by.
He smiled back. “You’re right. But now that I think about it, all traditions were once nontraditional. New traditions are being made all the time. Like the chicken dance.” She could hardly believe it when he started copying them!
Hearing a shriek of surprise minutes later, she turned to see one of Thor’s pet goats butt Loki’s rear end. This caused him to spill apple juice on his favorite yellow shoes, which the goat began to nibble.
Loki backed away. “Shoo! Shoo!”
“Yeah! That’s right, go for that tasty shoe!” Thor called out to his goat, laughing.
Apparently deciding the yellow shoes were indeed tasty, the goat began chasing Loki all over the Valhallateria. Finally, desperate to keep the goat’s teeth away from his shoes, Loki wheeled around and grabbed the goat’s front hooves so it stood upright as he glared at it.
“Ha-ha! It looks like they’re dancing together!” someone yelled. This idea was so silly that all the students cracked up. Always happy to be the center of attention, Loki began showing off, doing fancy steps with his hairy partner. That was the thing about Loki. No matter how badly he behaved, he could be so much fun at other times that everyone always forgave him.
Skade looked over to see Freya, Sif, and Idun waving at her to come dance with them. Confidence soaring, Skade bounced across the floor to join them and show off her moves. She even added in some modified ski jump stunts with leaps and twists. These moves were unconventional. One might even say they were nontraditional. But so what? Even if those moves never caught on with anyone else, it really didn’t matter. Because she was having fun!
“Can you teach me how to do that?” begged a light-elf she didn’t know well. “Me too,” “Me three,” some students chimed in.
Soon a whole crowd had gathered around her. Some clapped in time to Bragi’s and Fossegrim’s rollicking tunes while others tried their best to copy Skade’s creative dances as she shifted from one novel move to another.
“I’m calling this one my Antler Dance,” Skade told everyone. So saying, she whipped out Ms. Frigg’s antler beanie from her pocket and put it on. Seeing this, those from her ski team did the same. Students without these prized beanies made do by wiggling their fingers up by their ears as they leaped to and fro like deer.
Skade boogied with her podmates, by herself, and with anyone and everyone. She danced by Balder, then by Njord. Did she feel any extra-special excitement when she was around either of those boygods? Hmm. Right then, she decided she liked all of her friends more or less equally, though for different reasons. Like her boots, each had unique qualities. In the future, now and then, she might momentarily get that happy-melty feeling over a boy. But she wasn’t going to worry about crushes. Someday, if one really, truly, finally happened to her, she was confident that her heart would know.
Skade smiled big. Thinking about what Odin and Ms. Frigg had said earlier, she was glad there would be another ski games in their future. Hooray! And in the months to come, she could look forward to more friendship and fun here at Asgard Academy.
As the night came to a close, she and her three podmates hugged one another before exiting the Valhallateria. On their way to the girls’ dorm, she noticed that some students up ahead of them on the path were still practicing her Antler Dance moves. It made her glow with pleasure. It seemed she had started a new dance tradition!
Confidence is key, as Odin had told her. He’d been right!
“Let’s dance home!” Skade suggested to Freya, Sif, and Idun.
“Yeah! Let’s boogie!” her podmates shouted in reply.
Together they created a noisy, silly stomping dance. And they did it loud and proud all the way back to Vingolf. Because, why not? After all, they were the Thunder Girls!
Authors’ Note
TO WRITE EACH BOOK IN the Thunder Girls series, we choose one or more Norse myths and then give them an updated middle-grade twist. After deciding on what elements we’ll include from various retellings of the myths, we freely add interesting and funny details in order to create meaningful and entertaining stories we hope you’ll enjoy.
We also write the Goddess Girls middle-grade series, which features Greek mythology. So why write another kind of mythology now
too? Good question! Our enthusiasm for Norse mythology strengthened after Suzanne began frequent visits to her daughter and granddaughter, who live in Oslo, Norway. There, representations of the Norse gods and goddesses and their myths are found in many museums. Along the walls in the courtyard of the Oslo City Hall, there are painted wooden friezes (by painter and sculptor Dagfin Werenskiold) that illustrate motifs from various Norse myths. These friezes are the inspiration for the Valhallateria friezes that come alive at the end of meals in Thunder Girls!
We hope our series will motivate you to seek out actual retellings of Norse myths, which will also give you more understanding of and “inside information” about characters, myths, and details we’ve woven into Thunder Girls. Below are some of the sources we consult to create our stories.
D’Aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths by Ingri and Edgar Parin D’Aulaire (for young readers)
The Norse Myths by Kevin Crossley-Holland
The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson
The Poetic Edda translated and edited by Jackson Crawford
Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs by John Lindow
Norse Mythology A to Z by Kathleen N. Daly
For more about the art and friezes at Oslo City Hall, visit theoslobook.no/2016/09/03/oslo-city-hall.
Happy reading!
Joan and Suzanne
Acknowledgments
MANY THANKS TO OUR PUBLISHER, Aladdin/Simon & Schuster, and our editor, Alyson Heller, who gave an immediate and supportive yes to our idea to write a Norse mythology–based middle-grade series. Alyson also edits Goddess Girls, Heroes in Training, and Little Goddess Girls, our three ongoing Greek mythology–based series for children. We have worked with her for many years and feel very lucky to be doing all these series with her and the other fine folk at Aladdin. They help make our words shine, design fabulous art to make our books stand out, and make every effort to see that our books reach as many readers as possible.
We are also indebted to our literary agent, Liza Voges. She has championed us in all our joint series ventures and worked hard on our behalf and on behalf of our books. Thank you, Liza!
We are grateful to artist Julio Cesar for his striking cover for this book in our Thunder Girls series.
Finally, we thank our husbands, George Hallowell and Mark Williams, for offering advice when asked, troubleshooting computer problems, and just making our lives richer and easier. During hectic times in our writing schedules they’re always good sports, taking up the slack of daily chores without complaint.
More from this Series
Freya and the Magic…
Book 1
Sif and the Dwarfs'…
Book 2
Idun and the Apples of…
Book 3
More from the Authors
Persephone the Grateful
Clotho the Fate
Keep reading for a preview of
Freya and the Magic Jewel
by
Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams
Jewel
MEOW! MEOW!
“Fly, kitty, kitty!” the girlgoddess Freya called to her magical gray tabby cats. Her long pale-blond hair fanned out behind her as she urged them onward. The red cart they pulled soared a half-dozen feet above the snowy ground, around tree trunks and under branches, sometimes barely missing big, mossy boulders. It wasn’t easy to get this pair of pony-size cats to fly the cart in the direction she wanted them to go!
Upon reaching a familiar forest path lined with ferns, she called out, “Whoa, kitty, kitty!” To her relief, the cats obeyed and set down in the snow. “Good job, silfrkatter,” she said, using the Norse word that meant “silver cats.” “Our first trip together. And we made it!” She leaned forward to pat the cats’ soft fur, and they purred happily.
Remembering why she’d come all this way, Freya jumped from the cart and commanded, “Catnap!”
Plink! If anyone had been watching at that moment, the cats and cart would’ve seemed to instantly disappear. However, in reality, they had only shrunk down to a single cat’s-eye marble. Freya’s twin brother, the boygod Frey, had given her the colorful marble as a gift only yesterday, on her twelfth birthday.
She snatched the marble from the air before it could fall to the snowy ground. Then she slipped it into one of several fist-size pouches that dangled from the nine necklaces of beads, seeds, or metal chain that she wore. Each necklace held one or more items, such as keys, small tools, or special keepsakes.
Nine was a lucky, super-special number. Because as everyone knew, there were nine worlds altogether in the Norse universe. All were located on three enormous, ring-shaped levels stacked one above the other. Vanaheim, the world where Freya lived, was only one of those worlds!
Freya’s breath made quick fog-puffs in the cold air as she crossed the path and stepped into a small hut. It was the home of the old sorceress Gullveig, who she and her brother called amma. That meant “grandmother,” though Gullveig was really their nanny, not a relative. Once inside, Freya saw that the hut was still as empty as it had been for the last five months. Her shoulders slumped in disappointment.
She pulled a walnut-size jewel shaped like a teardrop from another necklace pouch and stared at it. It was pale orange now, which meant it felt unsettled, like she did. While in her possession, it changed colors according to her mood!
“Tell me, jewel Brising, where is Gullveig?” she asked it. “Did she find the gold she was looking for in Asgard?”
Her jewel’s voice came as a low, magical humming sound that only she could hear and understand:
“Gold and Gullveig I cannot see.
But here is the vision that comes to me:
Adventure for you is about to start.
In Asgard you must find the heart.
A secret world there hides away
That holds the power to stop doomsday!”
Startled, Freya stared at the teardrop jewel. “Secret world? Doomsday? I’m not going to Asgard. I’m not! What are you talking about, Brising?” She brought the jewel so close to her nose that her blue eyes almost crossed, wanting it to take back what it had said. It didn’t. Although it had the power to show Freya the future, sometimes it only revealed bits of information. It didn’t always answer her questions, either, so she could never be sure what it did or didn’t know. This time, though, she was positive it was wrong, wrong, wrong. Why would she ever leave Vanaheim? She loved it here!
As Freya stepped out of the hut into the cold air, Brising spoke up again, though she had asked it nothing more. This time it said:
“Five months ago a war began.
Five days ago that fight did end.
Five hours ago your fate was sealed—
Five minutes from now ’twill be revealed.
Oops, make that five seconds from now.
One. Two. Three. Four.…”
Continue Reading…
Freya and the Magic Jewel
Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams
About the Author
JOAN HOLUB is the New York Times bestselling author of over 150 books for young readers, including Little Red Writing, Zero the Hero, Mighty Dads, This Little Trailblazer: A Girl Power Primer, and What Is the Statue of Liberty? Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams coauthor four children’s book series about mythology: Goddess Girls, Little Goddess Girls, Thunder Girls, and Heroes in Training. For fun, Joan does salsa and line dancing. She loves cats, like Freya; enjoys apples, like Idun; can ski, though maybe not as well as Skade; and has amazing golden hair, like Sif. (Okay, so maybe she only wishes this last one were true!) Visit her at joanholub.com.
SUZANNE WILLIAMS is a former elementary school librarian and the author of nearly eighty books for children, including the award-winning picture books Library Lil (illustrated by Steven Kellogg) and My Dog Never Says Please (illustrated by Tedd Arnold) and several chapter book and middle-grade series. Suzanne is excited to be cowriting a Norse mythology�
��based series since she frequently travels from her home near Seattle to the Nordic country of Norway. She loves reading, being with family and friends, walking, and yoga. She isn’t a skier, but she likes snow. And she wishes she could take classes at a school as magical as Asgard Academy. Visit her at suzanne-williams.com.
Aladdin
Simon & Schuster, New York
VISIT US AT SIMONANDSCHUSTER.COM/KIDS
www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Joan-Holub
www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Suzanne-Williams
ALSO BY JOAN HOLUB & SUZANNE WILLIAMS
Don’t miss the latest books in the
Goddess Girls series!
Medea the Enchantress
Eos the Lighthearted
Clotho the Fate
Check out the most recent books in the
Heroes in Training series!
Dionysus and the Land of Beasts
Zeus and the Dreadful Dragon
Hercules and the Nine-Headed Hydra
Read more books in the Thunder Girls series!
Freya and the Magic Jewel
Sif and the Dwarfs’ Treasures
Idun and the Apples of Youth
Be sure to read the Little Goddess Girls series!
Athena & the Magic Land
Persephone & the Giant Flowers
Aphrodite & the Gold Apple
Glossary
NOTE: PARENTHESES INCLUDE INFORMATION specific to the Thunder Girls series.
Aesir:
Norse goddesses and gods who live in Asgard
