Runes #03 - Grimnirs (22 page)

“We’re headed to my place to hang out and watch
Supernatural
reruns,” Kicker said.
“Want to come?”

I loved
Supernatural,
but I didn’t feel like hanging out with them.

“I can’t. I’m so tired I just want to go home and crash.” I waved to my parents who were waiting for me. “If I change my mind, I’ll text you.”

I hurried to my parents, while Kicker and the others headed in the opposite direction.

“You kids were amazing,” Dad said, giving me a bear hug.

I wrapped an arm around his waist. “And thanks for embarrassing me again. One of these days they’ll throw you out for being too loud.”

Dad laughed. “Let them try. It’s my right to root for my daughter.”

“So we’ll see you at home?” Mom asked.

“Later. I promised Raine I’d stop by for a visit.” I searched for Echo.

“When will you be home?” Mom asked.

I shrugged. Raine and I had plans. “I don’t know, Mom. Raine is going to help me with my homework.”

More hugs and they left.

I headed for my car, unlocking it as I got closer. Heart pounding, I opened the door and peered inside. No Echo. Disappointment washed over me.

I hated how my emotions were tied to whether he was around or not. Somehow, they were slow at getting what I already knew. He was not for me. Grimnirs didn’t date Mortals.

“I like your dad.”

I whipped around, almost banging my head on the doorframe. Echo was leaning against the car, arms crossed and eyes on my parents, who were pulling away. He had runes all over his body, so I knew they didn’t see him as they waved. I waved back.

“I didn’t see you inside.”

“I was around. I saw your reaction when you finished the breaststroke and saw the board. How many seconds did you drop?”

I completely forgot about everything else as we talked. He took the passenger seat while I slid behind the wheel. We were still talking about the meet when I pulled up outside Raine’s.

“What are we doing here?” Echo asked.

I shrugged. “I’m going to hang out with Raine for the rest of the day.”

His eyes narrowed. “Why?”

“Because there’s nothing to do at my place but sit around and wait for Grimnirs to attack.”

He chuckled. “I was hoping you’d want to eat or catch a movie.”

My heart leaped at doing something with him. To be able to pretend we were normal, act like young people on a date would be wonderful. No, that was a lie. It would be terrible. He’d look at me the way he’d done earlier, as though he couldn’t wait to devour me, then turn away. I wasn’t strong. One more rejection and I’d crumble.

“I’m not hungry,” I fibbed. “And I really think the less time we spend together the better.”

“Cora—”

“In fact, I don’t need you to protect me here,” I continued quickly. “I’m sure Torin can keep an eye on us for the rest of the day.”

Echo smiled. “Whatever you say, doll-face.”

I grabbed my gym bag and stepped out of the car, feeling bad for turning him down. But it was better this way. I could feel his eyes on me. Goosebumps spread across my skin, yet heat pulsed in my veins. It was peculiar the way I reacted whenever he looked at me. Hot and cold. Angry with him yet wanting him. Pushing him away but longing to hold him closer.

I didn’t look back, even though I was dying to. Raine opened the door before I reached it, and we hugged. I dropped my gym bag by the door.

“Where’s Echo?” she asked.

“Gone,” I fibbed.

She frowned. “Hmm. Okay. How was the meet?”

“We got second place. The boys got third.” Sounds came from the den, her parent’s new bedroom. “We need more serious swimmers. Doc even asked if you’d come back to the team.”

Raine laughed. “With all the stuff I do? I don’t think so.”

I followed her to the kitchen. “I’m starving.”

“We have leftover stir-fry from last night or a sandwich.”

“Stir-fry. I want something hot.”

I got myself bottled water while she warmed the stir-fry. “So what did you find out about our soul?”

“A lot. His name is William ‘Bill’ Burgess. He had a heart attack last Sunday while on his way home from a business trip. He was driving, the poor bastard. He’s survived by three older sons from a previous marriage and a teenager daughter, Victoria, from his second wife, Clare.”

“Clare Bear,” I whispered.

“That’s right. Victoria Burgess is a sophomore at our school.” Raine placed a steaming bowl of yummy looking chicken stir-fry in front of me. “Want to know how I did it?”

“Okay, Sherlock. How?” I got a fork and twirled the spaghetti.

“I started with online obituaries for Bear. Checked Kayville then the county. There was no one by that name who’d died in the last week. I went back weeks. Nothing. Then going by your description, I studied the pictures instead and found photographs of a younger and older Burgess.” There was a pile of newspapers on the counter. She pulled out the one on top. “Dad reads papers from cover to cover. You know, out of boredom. Here’s William ‘Bill’ Burgess.” She tapped at an article.

It showed a picture of the soul from school and the story about the accident. I skimmed through it as I ate. “It doesn’t say where they live?”

“Newfort. I called Defoe Funeral Home and pretended to be a pharmaceutical salesman, a former associate of Mr. Burgess. I must have been convincing because the funeral director told me the wake was on Wednesday night and the funeral was two days ago.”

“Dang! We could have mingled with guests at his wake and slipped the envelope with the safety deposit box info in among the condolence cards.”

Raine pursed her lips in thought. “Actually, this might work better. The man was a salesman. We could say he dropped the piece of paper when he stopped at our house to sell his products and we just heard he’d died.”

The perks of having a brilliant best friend. I grinned. “I like it. Did you get the address?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Great! We can leave after I finish eating. This is really good.” The garlic sauce was creamy. “Torin’s?”

“No. One of Lavania’s special dishes.”

“What does she do when not working with you?”

“She visits Asgard and prepares my lessons.” She rolled her eyes. “Sometimes, I wonder about this seer thing. All I want to be is a Valkyrie, but she keeps saying not yet. Not yet. Not yet. Not freaking yet. I have a feeling she’s getting orders from someone up there.”

“Goddess Freya?” I asked. “She is in charge of that kind of magic, right?”

Raine nodded, grinning. “I’m so happy I can discuss these things with you. I talked to Lavania about your possession issue, and she said I should be able to help when the guys are not around. They use their artavo, like Echo did, and command the souls by calling out their names, while I use incantations.”

I paused in the process of putting a piece of chicken in my mouth. “Like Dean and Sam in
Supernatural
?”

She laughed. “Yeah, except I’ll use the Old Language.”

“Which is what?”

“I don’t know. Old Norse, I guess. Lavania dishes out information like it is a rare element. Maybe Echo might know. You should contact him. We might need him when we go to the Burgesses’ home. Torin and Andris went reaping. Don’t know where or when they’ll be back. I can protect you if we are attacked, but I’m not as skilled as the guys, so you might get hurt. What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I don’t know where Echo is either.”

“Why not? How do you contact him whenever you need him?”

“I don’t. Usually, he just, uh, appears.”

Raine grinned. “Torin, too. He insists he can
feel
when I need him. Obviously it’s the same with you and Echo.”

That would be cool. If we were a couple. “I don’t know about that.”

“Did you see him after the meet?”

“Yeah.” I ate another forkful. “He came here with me.”

“And?”

“I left him in the car.”

Raine’s jaw dropped. “Cora! You should have invited him inside.”

“I didn’t know Torin and Andris were gone. I didn’t think we needed him, and he understood. Kind of.”

“You two fought?”

“No. We are in perfect agreement about everything. He’s here to protect me. Nothing more. Nothing less.”

Raine’s eyes narrowed. “What? So you are not going to be, you know, together?”

“Nope. He’s a Grimnir and I’m Mortal. The two don’t mix.”

Raine sighed. “Torin played that card, too. I’ll be right back.” Raine disappeared toward the front entrance, and I went back to my food. I knew she went outside, and I waited to see whether she’d come back with Echo or not.

The door opened and Echo’s laughter drifted inside.

“Hungry?” Raine asked, entering the house.

He followed her inside. “Famished.”

Our eyes met. I looked away, feeling a little guilty for leaving him outside. Okay, not a little.

“I make a mean sandwich,” Raine said, opening the fridge door. “We have bologna, chicken breast, or beef.”

“Just throw everything in. I’m not picky.” He paused by my stool. “Hey, doll-face.”

“Don’t call me that.” He took the stool beside mine, facing Raine with his back to the counter. He was so close his thigh brushed my hip.

“I forgive you,” he whispered.

“For what?”

“Leaving me.”

I made a face.

“Feeling guilty yet?” he asked.

I was and he knew it. “No.”

He moved closer, close enough I could count his ridiculously lush lashes. I moved back and dropped my arm onto my lap. He chuckled. “So, what’s the plan?”

Refusing to play his childish games, I stood. Raine was watching us with a knowing grin. “I’m going upstairs to change.”

“Why? You look perfect the way you are,” Echo said.

I ignored him, even though the compliment was nice. “Call me when it’s time to go.”

“We are going to the Burgess after this,” Raine told him as I walked away. “Remember the soul that possessed Cora?”

“He’s wishing he hadn’t,” Echo said in a harsh voice.

“What do you mean?” I heard Raine ask.

“There’s this island in Hel called Corpse Strand, where souls are subjected to the most excruciating pain…”

I didn’t hear the rest of Echo’s answer. I grabbed my bag and disappeared upstairs. Echo was angry with that soul for nothing. Burgess had asked if it was okay to possess me, and I’d agreed. Of course, I had no idea what I was agreeing to at the time. Echo and I were going to have a little chat about the guy.

Upstairs, I replaced my sweatpants with skinny jeans, loafers with boots, and my sweatshirt with a long-sleeved flannel top. Mascara and lip-gloss came next. I studied my reflection and sighed. My hair was a mess. Weeks at PMI meant I had serious split ends. Sighing, I brushed my hair then slipped my bag of toiletries back into my gym bag.

Raine walked in just as I finished. “Ready?”

“Yep.”

She picked up her lip-gloss and applied it, but she studied me through the mirror.

“What?” I asked.

She shook her head. “Nothing.”

“I hate when you stare at me like you’re dying to say something but you don’t because you don’t want to hurt my feelings.” I rubbed the moisturizer on my hands and waited. She didn’t speak. “Seriously, Raine. Say it or—”

“Fine.” She finished with the gloss and put it down. “Echo is not exactly what I expected.”

I braced myself to defend him if she said something mean. “What do you mean?”

“He’s charming.”

I relaxed. “He’s not that charming.”

Raine laughed. “He is and you know it. You just hate it ‘cause he gets to you. He does the same with Andris and Torin. Do you know where he was last week?”

“I really don’t care.”

“He was searching for Maliina.”

“Why?”

“I asked, and he just smirked. You should ask him.”

Yeah. Right. We started downstairs. “Where is he?”

“In the car. He insisted. Go and keep him company before Prune Face Rutledge decides to call the police. She was peering at him from the safety of her curtain like he was about to pillage our cul de sac.”

I’d so love to rune Mrs. Rutledge. She had a thing against teens. Or was it younger women? I had a feeling she’d never liked Raine’s mother either. “Okay, I’ll be in the car.”

“No fighting with him,” Raine warned.

I stuck my tongue out at her before closing the door. Mrs. Rutledge watched me from behind her curtain. I waved and gave her a big smile. The curtains fell back. A blast of cold hit me when I opened the car door, and I expected to see a portal to Hel’s Hall in the back of my car again. Instead, Echo sat in the back as though he hadn’t left, the front seat folded to give his long legs more room. Memories of the last time we’d folded that seat had my pulse leaping. His uneaten sandwich and bottled water was on the seat beside him.