Read Online Thor's Serpents by K.L. Armstrong, M.A. Marr - Free Book Online Page A

barely tolerated him. To him, Matt was a screwup. An embarrassment.
    “It’s okay, guys,” Matt said. “It’s my brother.”
    “I guessed that,” Reyna said. “And I don’t care. Either he lets you up by the count of five or—”
    Jake grabbed Matt by the collar and lifted him into the air. “Better?”
    “Can I hit him now?” Reyna asked.
    “You really think you can hurt me, little girl?” Jake pulled himself up to his full height, towering head and shoulders above Reyna.
    “Depends on where I hit you. Now let him—”
    Jake threw Matt to the ground, his chin hitting hard enough for him to nip his tongue. He winced, his eyes tearing up with pain. Then he slowly rose, keeping his back to everyone so Jake wouldn’t think he was crying.
    “Matt?” Reyna said. “Remember what I said about you needing to be less nice? If this is what you’d be like, forget I mentioned it. Nice is good.”
    She walked over to him as he brushed himself off, his back still to Jake. Then his brother grabbed the shield, yanking it off so fast Matt nearly fell again.
    “Hey!” Reyna said, wheeling on Jake. “Can you stop being a jerk for two seconds? I don’t know what your problem is, but Matt came to—”
    “Came to what? Steal something else?”
    Matt turned to see Jake holding out the shield.
    “I shouldn’t be surprised you stole this,” Jake said, “after everything you’ve done, but I still thought you were better than this, Matt.”



“No,” Matt said, as evenly as he could. “Whatever you think I’ve done, I’m pretty sure it’s exactly what you expect. In fact, I’m sure you’re kind of happy about the whole thing. Now everyone else can see what a loser I am.”
    Jake’s face screwed up. “What?”
    “Never mind. I don’t know what Granddad has told you—”
    “Granddad hasn’t told me anything. No, strike that. He’s told us that this isn’t what it looks like. That you haven’t ditched your responsibilities as Thor’s champion, run away to hide, and left the rest of us watching the end of the world come without any way to stop it.”
    “Is that what you think?” Reyna said. “Seriously?”
    “It’s what they expect,” Matt said.
    “Then they don’t know you at all.”
    Jake turned to her, shield still in hand. “I don’t know who you are, but stay out of this.” He glanced at Matt. “And I don’t know what you mean about what I
expect
, but I
expected
you to man up and face this.”
    “Man up?” Reyna said. “Did you really just say that?”
    Jake ignored her. “I expected better of you, Matt. We all did. You might have been scared by what Granddad said, but it was your responsibility to fight. I’d take your place if I could, but I can’t, so you needed to let us help you and train you, not sneak off in the night like a scared little boy, hook up with these street kids—”
    “Street kids?” Reyna said.
    “They’re the descendants of Frey and Freya,” Matt said. “I didn’t run away. I left to do what I was supposed to do—gather the champions.”
    Jake peered over at Ray and Reyna. “If someone told you those are the descendants of the gods of love and beauty, then you’ve been tricked. Or you need glasses.”
    “
Excuse
me?” the twins said in unison.
    “The Brekkes got you into this mess, didn’t they,” Jake continued. “I heard you might have joined up with them. They’re the other
side
, Matt. Loki leads the monsters. Maybe you thought you could… I don’t know, flip them to our team? Avert Ragnarök? You’re just a kid—you don’t understand these things. The Brekkes were playing you all along. Then they dumped you with these two fake—”
    “Does this look fake?” Reyna cut in, swirling fog from her fingertips.
    “No, and it doesn’t look like the work of a goddess, either. You’re a witch.”
    “I’ve heard that before.” She pulled the feathered cloak out of her bag. “Your baby brother—who you think is too
dumb
to spot