Immortals (Runes book 2) (32 page)

“Because you never let fear or anyone stop you from going after what you want. Can you let me go now?” I did, reluctantly. He kissed me again, stood, and grabbed his bag.

Determination coursing through me, I gripped the artavus
. I can do this… I can do this… I can do this…
I looked up to find Lavania and Torin watching me from the kitchen. I glared. “Do you mind?”

They looked at each other and exchanged a grin. Seconds ticked by, my eyes volleying between the blade and my skin, my imagination on overdrive. I saw the tip touching my skin, runic energy sizzling my skin, pain shooting up my arm…

“She’s not going to do it,” Lavania whispered, but I heard her.

“Give her time,” Torin said.

Lavania sighed. “She’s not ready.”

“She is,” Torin insisted.

I wish they could just shut up. Grinding my teeth, I put the blade on my arm and etched. Tears rushed to my eyes at the pain, but I didn’t stop. Blinking hard, I clenched my fist and watched as my skin burned. Then the pain ebbed. The rune darkened, the ends moving and curling under my skin as though they were alive.

Grinning, I lifted up my arm and showed it off. Lavania bowed. Torin just smirked. The rune glowed, growing brighter and brighter. Then it disappeared.

“Now check the book,” Lavania said, walking back to the living room.

I opened the book, and sure enough, Goddess Freya’s rune was sketched on the first page.

“Come with me.” Lavania led me to the mirror at the other end of the room. It was the mirror Andris had brought home the other day. I stared at our reflection. Lavania was still the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen, but I didn’t mind anymore. I had Torin and had no reason to be jealous of her.

“Now visualize the rune you just sketched. Fill your mind with its image and don’t stop until it appears.”

It wasn’t hard to visualize the rune. After an hour of sketching, it was etched in my brain. As the image filled my head, the rune appeared on my forehead. It grew darker in intensity, the ends curling under my hair, a feeling of well-being rolling through me. Once again, it glowed.

“Let go of the image,” she instructed.

I did, and the rune grew dim and disappeared. I laughed. “That was awesome.”

“Happy you think so. Come on.” We walked back to the coffee table. I was so proud of my first rune I wanted to make it appear and disappear again. Seeing it in my book gave me a sense of accomplishment.

“Thor’s rune is next,” Lavania said.

I made a face. “Now?”

“Yes, now, my young priestess. Thor is the protector of all mankind, and we all wear his rune. You did amazingly well and shouldn’t stop now.” Lavania checked at her watch. “We have time.”

My watch said it was almost seven. My lessons ended at seven. Focusing, I studied Thor’s rune. It was simple, which meant the pain might not be too much. My eyes swung from Lavania to Torin’s face. He cocked his eyebrows, his eyes challenging. I made a face and picked up the artavus. This time, my eyes didn’t tear up. I checked my book once the rune disappeared. Two runes, hundreds more to go. Lucky me.

“Now for Odin’s,” Torin said.

“Are you kidding me?” I protested.

Lavania glanced at Torin. “Odin’s? Freya is her protector.”

“I want her to have Odin’s protection, too.”

Lavania shook her head. “Why?”

“The Norns are after her. She will need the wisdom of Odin to guide her.”

Lavania’s expression grew thoughtful. “Have they come back since last week?”

Torin held my gaze, but he didn’t answer. I realized he was waiting for me to decide whether to tell Lavania the truth or not. I couldn’t. Eirik had to decide who to tell about his problems.

“No, they haven’t, but I know they will,” I fibbed and glanced at Torin. He didn’t say anything, his expression unreadable.

“Well, as long as they’re busy with their other charges, we can complete the first part of your training in peace.” She patted my hand and stood. “I’ll see you tomorrow at four—”

“She needs to add Odin’s rune before she leaves,” Torin cut in firmly.

“How many runes did you get on your first day?” I asked, dreading etching more runes.

“Ten? Twelve?” He glanced at Lavania.

“Fourteen, but you were in the middle of a battle and needed to be turned fast.”

Torin glanced at me and smirked. “Think you can beat that?”

“Easily,” I retorted.

“I don’t know.” He rubbed his chin. “I think five is a good starting number for you.”

“Fourteen. If you haven’t noticed, I’m in the middle of a battle with three mean and powerful Norns.”

Torin snorted. “I faced legions of scimitar-wielding, turban-wearing Saracens every day and—”

“Children!” Lavania ordered. “Enough! You,” she pointed at Torin, “out! No. Not another word. And no more interrupting our lessons.” Torin looked like he was about to argue, but she narrowed her eyes and he clammed up. She turned to me. “Raine, you don’t have to add another rune if you don’t want to.”

The look in Torin’s eyes said this was important to him. “That’s okay.” I thought about all the runes I’d studied today. “I’ll add Odin’s and the one for courage, energy, control, honor, victory, strength, and patience because I’m going to need both to deal with some people.” I narrowed my eyes at Torin. He laughed. Even Lavania smiled.

Half an hour later, I was done. It was hard to explain how I felt. Energized. Invincible. Maybe it was all in my head, but I wanted to try making the runes appear and disappear. Could I move at a superhuman speed? Have superhuman strength?

“Ten, wow,” Torin said as he walked me home. “I was just kidding you know.”

I stopped walking and studied him. “You didn’t get fourteen runes on your first time?”

He smirked. “I did, but you didn’t have to try to beat my record. After all, I’m not your ordinary run-of-the-mill guy.”

His arrogance sometimes made me want to knock him down a peg, but at times it was so cute. Like now. “Show off. So can I run at a supersonic speed?”

“No.”

“Have super strength?”

“No.”

“Become invisible?” I said.

He hugged me, chuckling softly. “You have basic runes, Freckles. You need bind runes for the extra abilities.”

“Then why do I feel so energized?”

“New runes do that to you. Each is like an injection of pure adrenaline. You get a courage rune and you feel like you can walk into a burning building and walk out unharmed. Victory runes make you feel invincible. But not until you add the bind runes will you actually be those things.”

“That sucks.”

He chuckled and pressed a kiss on my temple, then waved to Mrs. Rutledge, who was on her porch. “Good evening, Mrs. Rutledge.”

She flashed a beaming smile that could rival the sun. “Good evening, Torin. I heard about the game in Portland. You think the Trojans will win this year?”

Torin chuckled. “I don’t know, but we’ll have fun trying.”

“That’s good.” Then her eyes narrowed on me and grew cooler. “How are you doing, my dear?”

“Much better. Thanks for recommending Dr. Saitek.”

She smiled with approval. “I was happy to help. We all want you to get better.”

“Thank you.” We crossed our driveway and started for my front door. “Prune-faced crone,” I mumbled.

“Be nice,” Torin whispered.

“I hate her. She’s so self-righteous and nosey and—”

“Who is Dr. Saitek?”

I unlocked the door, turned, and spied Mrs. Rutledge still watching us from across the street. Then her attention shifted. Cora pulled into our driveway. From my position, I could only see part of her car. Then an unfamiliar SUV pulled up to the curb.

“Dr. Saitek is the shrink she recommended to my parents because she saw me talking to myself on Saturday night,” I said absentmindedly, my attention on Cora’s car, waiting for her to open the door. She wasn’t alone, though I couldn’t tell who was with her.

“Why were you talking to yourself?”

“I wasn’t. The Norns were invisible when they came here,” I added. The corners of his mouth twitched, and his eyes twinkled. “I swear if you laugh, I’m going knock you flat on your ass, runes or no runes.”

Cora finally stepped out of the car. Kicker came out of the front passenger seat at the same time. The doors of the SUV opened and Jake, Sondra, and Caleb, the three captains of the swim team I’d met with last week, jumped out.

No freaking way. They were not pulling this crap on me.

19.
 
THE VANDAL

Last year, when one of our best swimmers tried to quit the team, the captains and I had paid him a visit and guilted him into coming back. That guy was Caleb. This was not the day to pressure me into rejoining anything. I was on rune overload and worried about Eirik and his craziness.

“Hey, you two lovebirds,” Cora said as Torin turned and stood beside me.

“I’m going to kill you for this,” I whispered in her ear when we hugged. Stepping back, I indicated Torin. “Everyone, Torin St. James. Torin, Amanda, Jake, Sondra, and Caleb. They are on the swim team.”

“Could we talk?” Sondra asked.

I was tempted to tell them no, but I wanted to make my position clear. “Sure. Come inside.”

“I’ll see you later.” Torin dropped a kiss on my lips. He lifted his head, and I caught the devilish twinkle in the depth of his eyes. How I loved that look on him. Made me want to wrap myself around him and never let go.

“I didn’t laugh,” he added.

“Did too, but I forgive you this time.”

He chuckled then turned and strolled away. The others stepped aside to let him pass, all of them turning to watch him walk away. He looked back, ignored them, and winked at me, the wicked smile I loved still curling his lips. I smiled and opened the door.

Inside the house, the guys grabbed the stools at the wet bar while the girls took the sofa. Cora stayed standing, waiting for my wrath.

“Anyone want a drink?” I asked.

I passed out drinks, then gave Cora a pointed look and jerked my head toward the kitchen. She followed me. We went to the farthest end, where the people in the living room couldn’t see or hear us. “You should have warned me.”

“They ambushed me.”

“Sure, they did. Where? It’s after seven, and swim practice ended hours ago.”

She sighed. “Okay. I was at Kicker’s, who’s now a captain, when they stopped by.”

“Kicker’s? You two have become tight.”

“What do you expect? You are became wrapped up in one delicious quarterback and quit the team. And don’t you dare give me that evil look. Last year you ambushed Caleb and convinced him to rejoin the team, and now he’s here for payback.” She grinned maliciously. “Karma is a bitch. Let’s go.”

Pretending to strangle her, I glared at her retreating back. Sighing, I shoved yesterday’s lasagna into the oven and set the temperature to two-fifty to warm it, then followed her into the living room.

“Okay, let’s talk,” Sondra said. “We want to know if you’re coming back to the team.”

“
When
you’re coming back,” Jake corrected.

“Cassie took your spot, but she’s not you, Raine,” Kicker jumped in.

One by one, they heaped praises on me. Even Cora chipped in. I tuned them out a few times. Sure, I’d missed the camaraderie, hanging out in Doc’s office before school, team dinners, and knowing I was part of something cool, but I had no intention of going back.

“I, uh, appreciate the talk and I understand about the team’s needs, but I can’t come back. I don’t even know if I ever will.” They started talking at once, but I raised my hand. “Listen, I’m undergoing physical therapy right now and until my doctor gives me a clean bill of health, I can’t do sports,” I fibbed and hoped no one had seen my run on Saturday. From their expressions, they didn’t believe me. I didn’t really care. My training with Lavania was my first priority now. “In fact I have another therapy session tomorrow after school.”

There were no more protests, and I was so happy to see them leave. Cora came back inside with her laptop. “Are you really seeing a PT or were you just blowing us off?”

I was in the kitchen checking on lasagna. “Yes and no. My head is pretty screwy.” I grinned at the joke, but Cora didn’t crack a smile. “Seriously, I have a few lose titanium screws up here. Want to touch?”

She made a face. “You have such a weird sense of humor.”

“You think I’m joking?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Let me see.”

I pushed hair out of the way and bared my scalp. She touched it, felt around the edge. “It feels weird,” she said and glanced at me. “Does it still hurt?”

“It feels tight sometimes, but I massage it as often as I can.” I pushed my hair back in place. “So can you stay or are you heading to Kicker’s place.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I can stay. Something smells nice.”

“Dad’s lasagna. Want some?”

“I already ate.” She opened her laptop and rebooted it. “Did you hear what happened at The Hub?”

My stomach dropped. “No, what?”

“People went ballistic and trashed the place. It was on the radio a few hours ago. They had people calling in, and some think it’s something in the water making people act crazy. Others insisted the football team is on some new drug since they were at Cliff House when it first happened.”

Frowning, I stopped serving myself and approached her. She was responding to comments on her vlog. “What else did they say?”

“They’re thinking of testing the players for drugs. Apparently, some of them were at The Hub when the fight broke out.”

There was no saying what they might find in Torin’s blood. Years of using runes must have done something to his body or blood. “Can they do that? Test students?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess all they need is parental consent, and I don’t see parents saying no to a drug test.”

The door to the garage opened, and Mom’s laughter, mixed with Dad’s, reached me. Mom saw me first and waved. Dad had on biker shorts and a shirt, which told me he must have gone biking again. He still looked too sickly in my opinion and shouldn’t be pushing himself so hard.

“You warmed dinner. Good. We brought dessert. Hey, Cora,” Mom added, putting down a brown paper bag with a Joe’s Pastries logo.

“Hey. Are you training for the Octoberfest Biker-thon, Mr. C?”

Dad smiled. “No, sweetheart. I don’t think I’m ready for that yet. How are your parents?”

Cora shrugged. “Okay. Busy.”

“I should stop by and get some fresh herbs and fruit. Maybe next weekend.”

“I’ll tell them.”

While Dad disappeared upstairs, Mom poured herself a glass of wine and sat at the kitchen table opposite Cora. She studied her. “What are you working on so intently there, hun?”

Cora gave her a tiny smile. “My vlog. I’m responding to comments.”

“Why aren’t you eating?” Mom asked her.

“I already did.” She closed her laptop and glanced at me again, a weird expression crossing her face. “Did you hear about the football players acting violent at The Hub and Cliff House, Mrs. C?”

“There was something about that on the radio. Why?” Mom searched our faces. “Were you two there when it happened?”

“Not really.” Time to get out of the kitchen. I took my bowl and motioned to Cora. “Let’s go.”

“I was there,” Cora said, not moving. “It was so weird. One minute everyone was having a good time. The next we were pounding on each other.”

“You, too?” Mom asked.

I motioned to Cora again that we should head upstairs. She ignored me and added, “Colleen slapped me for no reason, so I hit her back.”

“That’s terrible,” Mom said. “You should never use physical violence to solve your differences, Cora.”

Cora gave her a sheepish smile. “I know. I don’t know what happened. I hate fighting, but I just had this uncontrollable rage. I had no idea where it came from.”

I loved that Cora was comfortable with my parents and could discuss anything with them, but this was one subject I didn’t want to discuss with Mom. I would have to lie, and she would know right away. “We’ll be upstairs, Mom.”

“Where were you when it happened, Raine?” Mom asked.

“Outside with, uh, Torin.”

“The people who called the radio station think the football players are doing drugs,” Cora added. “I think that’s ridiculous because the cheerleaders and I went after others, too. Even the other rock climbers went crazy.”

I was seriously considering super gluing her mouth. I grabbed her arm and pulled. “Maybe the drinks at Cliff House were spiked with a chemical that caused their reaction,” I said. “Maybe their supplier also sells to The Hub.”

“Spiked with chemicals?” Cora said and guffawed when we reached upstairs. “Not original.”

I shrugged. “It’s the only sensible explanation. What do you think happened?”

“I have several theories.” She showed me her latest vlog entry, which was about the incident at Cliff House. She blamed alien invaders. She had no idea how close to the truth she was.

I half listened to her explain her reasoning as I ate, my attention drifting every so often to the window. I couldn’t wait to talk to Torin. I worked on my homework while eating. Cora joined me after she finished with her vlog.

“Have you talked to Eirik today?” I asked after we finished our homework.

“No. He basically ignored me during swim practice. Whatever.” She shrugged.

I studied her, impressed by how well she was taking all this. The conversation I’d had earlier with Andris flashed through my head. He was so silly. There was nothing different about Cora. The effects of the evil runes Maliina had etched on her never lasted beyond that night. The next day, she’d been back to her normal snarky self.

***

 
“Have you noticed anything to suggest Cora was affected by the evil runes Maliina etched on her?” I asked Torin later that night.

 
“No. I haven’t exactly paid her any attention. A certain brunette occupies my waking moments.”

Just like that, he pushed my concerns about Cora aside. He took over my mind, my body, and my very soul with bold caresses, nips, and licks. All I could do was sigh and go along for the ride.

The tips of his fingers grazed my skin along the area where my pajama top and bottoms met, and heat surged through me. When he slipped a hand under it to worship my skin, his caresses becoming more intimate, I stopped breathing. It was probably stupid, but who needed oxygen at a time like this. I lived and breathed him. When his lips followed his hands, he introduced me to layers of me I never knew existed. It was overwhelming and more beautiful than anything I’d ever felt.

We were so lost in our world and didn’t realize we had company until I heard a loud bump. I froze. Torin didn’t.

Once second he was in my arms; the next he was gone. I dove for the bedside lamp, turned, and found him twisting Eirik’s arm behind him. Eirik looked terrified, his eyes glazed, sweat pouring down his face.

“Let him go,” I said, adjusting my pajama top.

“What’s wrong with him?” Torin asked.

“He’s sleepwalking.” I scooted to the edge of the bed, my eyes not leaving Eirik. I wanted to hug him and make this nightmare stop, but I couldn’t. “Don’t try to wake him up. He may turn on you.”

His expression unchanged and his movements uncoordinated like a zombie’s, Eirik bent down and picked up the blanket he’d gotten from my closet but must have dropped when Torin grabbed him. He walked forward, yanked out the pullout bed, and dropped onto it. He pulled the blanket over him, barely covering himself. In seconds, he was snoring.

“Hel’s Mist,” Torin mumbled.

“Sleepwalking is a symptom of night terror.” I tugged the corners of the blanket and made sure he was properly covered. “He comes here when he can’t sleep. I think my room is like a safe haven for him or something.”

Torin’s eyes swung between me and Eirik. “You’re not scared of him?”

“No. Usually he’s wide-awake. This is the first time I’ve seen him like this.” And I didn’t know what to expect. I glanced at Torin. Last night he’d held me until I fell asleep. Tonight I didn’t want him to leave. “Could you stay a little longer just in case he wakes up or something?”

“You don’t need to ask.” He turned off the lights and we crawled back into bed, but I could feel his tension.

“What is it?” I asked.

He was silent for a long time, and I began to worry he wouldn’t answer. “I was surprised by the pullout bed. I knew he slept here sometimes, but I just assumed you, uh, slept together.”