Immortals (Runes book 2) (44 page)

“That blows.”

“We’re so going to lose.”

“How can he miss the game?”

The coach must have told the players Torin wouldn’t be at the playoff, and bad news spread fast at my school. The worst part was everyone acted like it was my fault. When trying to explain failed to mollify them, I just shrugged. Let them blame me. I didn’t care. I had more important things to worry about—a Norn masquerading as my best friend.

Fake Cora was by the lockers with Kicker and a bunch of girls and guys from the swim team. They wore their swim T-shirts and sweatshirts with the slogan ‘Our Sweat, Our Blood, Your Tears’. Since I was no longer on the swim team, I’d chosen to wear my ‘I See Band People’ T-shirt. We also had sweatshirts with ‘If Marching Band was any easier it would be called Football’, but I doubted anyone was dumb enough to wear one today. In fact, every sports team wore their T-shirts, sweatshirts, or jackets. The students not in sports or clubs wore generic shirts with Kayville High colors. The Kayvees, our cheer squad, pranced around in their miniskirts and got people psyched. The excitement was contagious.

Fake Cora saw me and waved. I pasted a smile on my lips. She ran to give me a hug, playing the part so perfectly if I didn’t know the truth, I would never have guessed she was a Norn. I wanted to choke her, gouge her eyes out.

“Is it true about Torin?” she asked.

I made a face, feigning sadness. “Yeah.”

“Have you talked to him? Is he going to make it to the game?” she asked. The other students moved closer to hear my response.

“He is,” I fibbed.
So he can help me trap your sorry ass,
I added. If I knew trap runes, I would do it myself. I’d never loathed anyone as much as I did this Norn. She even topped Marj on my hate list.

“Let me know as soon as you hear from him, so I can tweet about it.” She pulled out her cell phone and starting typing.

If I listened to her for one more second, I was going to scream. I grabbed my books and started for the stairs, then remembered I had to keep an eye on her. “See you at lunch, Cora.”

“Sure. If you don’t, save me a seat in the gym. I plan to check out which jocks will be in the kissing booths.” The other girls giggled.

I hope she caught mono from kissing someone. Upstairs, Eirik was taking pictures of some cheerleaders. He wore his swim team jacket even though he’d quit the team a week ago. Part of me wanted to warn him about Miss Fake. He’d be devastated to learn that Cora had been in a mental hospital and he never visited her.

Classes were ten minutes shorter than usual to create time for the pep rally, so the morning went by quickly. My thoughts kept drifting to Cora and clues I’d missed about her impersonator. Lunchtime came and went. I sat with her and her swim buddies, faked interest in the upcoming game, made more excuses for Torin’s absence, and tried not to throw food on her face every time she said something the real Cora would have said. I was so happy to leave the cafeteria.

The last fifty minutes of school, students poured out of classes, some running and others yelling as they headed to the gym. The gym was decorated in gold, crimson, and black. Tables were set for those who wanted their faces, stomachs, or chests painted. Fake Cora and her friends giggled as they joined me.

“We saw the guys in the kissing booths, Raine,” Cora said, hugging my arm.

Yeah, bite me.
“That’s great! How much per kiss?”

“Fifty cents. It’s for a good cause, Kayville Humane Society. Are you going to do it?”

I wanted to punch her Cora-like nose and yank out her Cora-like hair. Would she reveal her true self?

“Raine?” she asked when I didn’t respond.

“No way.” I shuddered at the thought. I had no interest in kissing any guy except Torin. “You?”

“I have my eye on Drew.” She glanced to our left where Eirik sat and grinned.

“The cheerleaders plan to have four booths, too,” Kicker said from Cora’s other side. “Some turd was talking about getting tongue-action from Olivia Dunn.”

Olivia Dunn was the same cheerleader who’d asked me to read her future. She was both admired and feared by most guys. “She’ll probably bite off his tongue,” Fake Cora said.

“Or Jake will beat the poor guy into a pulp,” Kicker added. Jake was on the wrestling team. I tuned them out as someone announced that the rally was about to start.

The Kayvees performed several of their dances. Then the five football players and the school mascot followed with a stomp routine that had the crowd laughing and caterwauling. I cheered and clapped along with everyone, but inside my tension mounted. Speeches followed. The flash mob dance was supposed to take place last during the kissing booths fundraiser.

I texted Andris. “Get Eirik out of here after the speeches.”

“I’ve tried already,” he texted back.

I wish Torin were here. He’d just knock out Eirik. What was I going to do? The speeches were almost over when inspiration hit me. If Eirik stayed, Cora impersonator had to leave.

I thought about my father, how my life would be without him. Tears filled my eyes. Treasured memories of things we’d done together zipped through my head, each like a stab through my heart. A sob escaped me, my pain no longer a means to manipulate the Norn seated beside me. It was real and gut-wrenching. My father was dying.

I covered my mouth to block the sobs and got up. “Excuse me.”

“What’s wrong?” Cora asked, standing too.

“I can’t… I have to go.” I started down the bleachers. People stared and moved out of my way. I reached the floor of the gym just as the coach started winding down his speech. The students were getting restless, and the four football players wearing Crimson kissing booths by the entrance paced nervously.

“Hey,” Drew said when he saw me.

I shook my head and kept going.

“Raine, wait up,” Cora called out.

“What’s wrong with her?” I heard Drew ask.

“I don’t know,” she answered. “Probably Torin.”

“Remember, you owe me a kiss,” Drew reminded her, but I didn’t hear her response. I was hurrying across the parking lot separating the sports complex from the school building when she grabbed my arm and forced me to stop.

“What is it? You’re beginning to scare me.”

 
“My father has a brain tumor and… and… he doesn’t have long to live.”

She put her arms around me and instinctively, I stiffened. If she noticed she didn’t show it. “When did you find out? How come you didn’t tell me?”

“I found out two days ago.” How could she look and act like the real Cora, yet be so evil?

“Do you want me to drive you home?” she asked.

Yeah, like I’d ever let her in my house again. I wiggled out of her embrace, and her arms fell to her side. “No. You don’t need to do that.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You know, don’t you?”

“Know what?”

“The truth. Who I really am.” She laughed. “You have no idea how often I wanted to do this.” Her eyes changed and became blue. Her hair lightened as her features shifted as though a sculpture was remolding her skin and bone structure. In seconds, I was staring at Maliina. “Being a Norn has its perks. I can take any form I want, do whatever I want, and wreak havoc and get away with it. Fun, right? This is just the beginning.”

“You bitch!” I fisted my hand and raised it, but she grabbed my wrist.

“Watch it. Eirik will not approve of you hurting his precious Cora.” Her features changed until she looked like Cora again, complete with gray eyes.

Now I understood why I’d taken one look at Ingrid and a memory had flashed in my head. Cora’s eyes were gray. Last night, they’d appeared blue. Maliina and Ingrid had the same color of eyes. “I don’t care what Eirik—”

“You should. Here he comes.”

I turned to see him, Andris, and Roger walking toward us.

“What’s going on?” Eirik asked.

“Her Dad has a brain tumor,” Fake Cora said, ignoring the others and focusing on Eirik. “Did you know?”

“Yes.” Eirik studied me. “Do you want to go home? I can drive you. The pep rally is over anyway, except for the stupid kissing booths. With that lot back there, any girl dumb enough to kiss them will probably end up with mono.”

Andris laughed. He wouldn’t be laughing once he knew about Maliina. “I don’t want to go home. The game starts soon, and we’ll get crappy seats if we leave. Andris, could I talk to you?”

“Oh come on. Not now. I’m so sorry about your dad, Raine.” Fake Cora put her arms around me and hissed in my ear, “If you tell him who I am and screw up my plans, I’ll make your life a nightmare. Don’t worry about seats, guys,” she added louder. “Drew made sure we got the front bleachers.”

We walked as a group toward the field. A few times I tried to catch Andris’ eye, but Maliina made sure I didn’t get close to him.

26.
 
NORNS’ AGENDA

The crusaders were killing us, but I had zero interest in the game. Being humiliated on our field wasn’t something new, but as usual, it didn’t dampen the cheerleaders’ enthusiasm, the band’s tempo, or the students’ spirits. If I didn’t want to kill a certain Norn, I would have soaked it all in, from the shirtless guys baring their painted pasty chests and bellies to the screamers in the back bleachers.

To my far left, Eirik, Andris, and Roger sat on the other side of Kicker and Maliina’s new friends while I was stuck by her side. I’d tried to move away from her, so I could sit by Eirik and Andris, but she’d yanked my arm, almost pulling it from its socket.

I waited until the noise level went down before asking, “Which Norn pretended to be Cora’s mother when I went to her house last week?”

She grinned. “That was all me. Brilliant, wasn’t I? You texted me that you were coming, so I rushed to the farm and made sure her parents were out of the way. I met you outside as her mother, used a portal, and made it to her room before you got there.”

“So you’re an evil Norn working with good Norns now?” I asked.

“Norns are Norns, Raine. Yours, theirs, good or bad are just semantics. We all have one purpose.”

“Screw people’s lives?”

She chuckled with glee. “No, keep the balance. Make sure the circle of life continues. We all can’t live forever. The Norns you’ve dealt with guide Mortals, so you can live your charmed lives while we, their badass counterparts, do what we can to make your lives more, uh, interesting. Life without misfortune and pain is boring.” She blew Drew a kiss then glanced toward Eirik to see if he was watching. He wasn’t. “Is Andris really dating that boy?”

Scared of what she might do, I ignored her question. “What are you planning, Maliina?”

She laughed. “This is my first job as a Norn, and I’m going to make sure no one ever forgets.”

I clenched my fist. “Is Eirik part of your first job? Is he going to die? Is that why you took my dagger?”

“You just left it there in your drawer. Such a powerful weapon.” She cupped her mouth and yelled, “Go, Drew! Woo hoo!” Then she continued as though she never stopped, her eyes following the players. “I saw the dagger in your drawer two nights ago while you went to pay for pizza. I knew I had to take it before you did something stupid with it.”

“I wasn’t going to use it on Eirik,” I retorted. “It was meant for you.”

She smirked. “Then I’m happy I took it. It is one of the few weapons known to kill Valkyries, Norns, and gods. Very fascinating weapon.” She jumped up and cheered with everyone again then sat. “As for Eirik,” she added, “don’t worry about him. No one is touching him tonight or any other night. He gets a free pass.”

I didn’t believe her. “What do you want with him then? Why are you always trying to make him jealous?”

She chuckled. “The Hub and Cliff House were nothing but test runs to see if my runes were working. You see, Eirik is the perfect pawn in the game between you and the Norns. Or should I say between you and anyone who wants
you
on their side?”

“Why would anyone want me?”

She studied me. “You can’t be this naïve. You must know why Norns are after you.”

“Yeah, I can stop them from doing their job,” I said.

She laughed. “This is bigger than saving a few Mortals. You can see them, feel them, and probably hear them if you bothered to listen, and it’s driving them crazy. Stupid crones.”