Runes #03 - Grimnirs (8 page)

“I’ll ask again. How was school?”

I grinned. “Tough, but I’ll be okay.”

Mom’s eyes narrowed. “Your father said the principal acted weird.”

I tasted the batter. Mmm. Good. “He wasn’t acting. He
is
weird.”

Mom pinched my nose playfully. “What a terrible thing to say.”

“Is there cooled pie?” I asked.

“Apple?” Mom teased.

I shuddered. She knew I couldn’t stand apple pie. We ate so many apple products the sight of apples gave me a bellyache. “Pumpkin.”

“Check the fridge. Dinner won’t be ready for a while.”

“That’s okay. I have tons of homework.” I opened the fridge and removed the pie and two cans of pop. Echo had better be upstairs. I cut a huge chunk of pie and got two forks. I slipped one in the pocket of my jacket just in case Mom asked.

“You must really be hungry,” she commented as I walked passed her.

“It was mystery meat today.”

“If you need help with anything, bring it downstairs.”

“Sure, Mom.” I grabbed my backpack and hurried upstairs, my heart pounding. I pushed open my door, peered inside, and sighed with disappointment.

Of course Echo wasn’t in my room. He’d appear when I least expected it. Arrogant reaper.

I did my homework, but I kept checking the clock and my cell phone in case Raine called back. Four o’clock came and went. Five. I put aside my homework and turned on my laptop. Instead of waiting for that flaky reaper, I could do my own investigation, starting with a familiar word—Valkyries.

Females from Norse mythology. Choosers of those killed in battle. The Valkyries walked through the fields of the dead fighters and chose those who lived and those who died. Half of the dead went to the God Odin in Valhalla, while the other half went to a Goddess Freya in Folkvang. The fighters trained daily for the final war between the gods and the evil giants.

The more I read, the more questions I had. Soon I was reading about Norse pantheon, the nine realms, and the gods and goddesses. Hel was the name of the goddess of the underworld. She had a huge hall and watched over those who died of old age and diseases. No wonder Echo kept mentioning Hel’s Hall.

Next, I researched Norns, female deities who controlled destinies like the Fates in Greek mythology. They always appeared in threes. The most famous Norns were maiden giantesses. Their arrival in Asgard ended the golden age of the gods. Norns also arrived when a child was born to determine his or her future. Some were good and protected humans, while others were bad and caused most natural disasters.

I jumped at a knock on my door. Echo? No, of course not. He wouldn’t knock.

Mom stuck her head inside my room. “Dinner.”

“Can I eat up here?”

“No.”

I grabbed my math package and headed downstairs. “I need help with a few math problems.”

It was another hour before we finished dinner and homework. I lingered, needing to ask my mother a few questions.

“You don’t have to do the dishes,” Mom said.

“No, it’s okay. I don’t mind.” I rinsed and put the dishes in the washer. Mom wiped down the counters while Dad went back to his writing. “Mom, can I ask you something?”

“Sure, hun.”

“What exactly did Raine say when she came here?”

Mom rinsed the rag she’d been using and carefully draped it to dry on a peg by the window, her expression preoccupied. “Why? What happened at school?”

“We talked and made up.” Sort of. I closed the dishwasher and pressed the start button. “Raine told me about her father.”

Mom moved closer. “They found him in Central America.”

“I know, but that’s not it. He had, uh,
has
a brain tumor. He’s dying, Mom. Raine found out a few weeks ago.”

“Oh no.” Mom covered her mouth, her expression horrified. She looked toward the alcove, but Dad was already on his feet walking toward us. He put his arms around her. “The poor dear. I feel awful about the way I treated her when she came here. First the accident then this. I thought…” she sighed. “I thought she was caught up in her image and social standing at school, and that’s why she didn’t try to visit you.”

“So what did she say?” I asked.

“She wanted to see you. She didn’t know you were at PMI. I didn’t see how she couldn’t have known. You weren’t in school for over a month and she never stopped by during that time.”

“She told me her parents took her away for two weeks after the lightning accident,” Dad said. “So she was probably dealing with the situation with her father when she came back.”

I only partially listened to Dad. Raine didn’t know I had been at PMI, so she must have seen me at school every day like everyone else. I was back to the astral projection theory.

“How’s she doing?” Mom asked.

“Not so good. Thanks, Mom.” I kissed her cheek. “Goodnight. Night, Dad.”

Upstairs, I entered my room and froze. Echo sat on my writing chair, demolishing the rest of the pie I’d left by my laptop. He pointed at the screen. “Were you reading this inaccurate crap?”

I closed the door. “Where were you?”

“Working.” He swiveled the chair around and studied me. “Miss me?”

“No.”

He chuckled. “Come here.”

I ignored him and put my math folder on the table. “We agreed you’d be home when I got here.”

“No, we didn’t. You ordered me to be home, so I went home.
My
home. Next time,” he pointed the fork at me, “be specific. I was waiting for you. Then I remembered your memories were gone and you didn’t remember our little love nest in Italy. Next time, say your bedroom. Come here.”

I didn’t buy that crap about his home, but I needed information locked inside his arrogant head. “I need information, Echo, so stop playing games.”

He put the bowl down, used his legs to propel the chair to where I stood and studied me with a lost puppy expression. “I’m sorry I was late. I just came back from escorting some souls. Do you know how many people die per minute? Thousands.”

“Are you the only reap—Grimnir?”

“No, but I’m the best.” I rolled my eyes and tried to walk around the chair, but he stuck out his leg. “Not so fast, doll-face.” He pulled me down on his lap and wrapped his arm around me before I realized his intentions. His clothes were cold, his cheek freezing against my arm.

I shivered. “Why are you so cold?”

“Hel is frigid. Nonstop blizzards. No natural light. No amount of clothing stops the cold from sipping under your skin. That’s why I always look forward to coming back to Earth and warmth.” His hands slipped under my shirt.

“Whoa! Your hands are like icicles.” I gripped his wrists, pulled his hands from under my shirt, and trapped them between my hands.

“I need your warmth, Cora.”

If I wasn’t holding his hands, I would have thought that was another cheap come-on. Slowly, I rubbed them. He still wore the fingerless gloves and silver Gothic rings with runic etchings. “You should invest in some serious winter gloves, not these.”

“I can’t. There must be skin contact with the scythe for me to engage its runes and use it.”
 
He slid his hands under my shirt again to warm them against my skin. This time I let him.

“So Hel really exists?” I asked.

“The goddess
and
the place, yes.” He explained who Hel was, daughter of Loki, sister to some serious shape-shifters, and ruler of the land of the dead. “They say her giantess mother is more evil and devious than Loki, and that’s why Odin decided to give Hel a realm to rule so she wouldn’t get into mischief. It backfired of course. Her loyalty is to her father, and she’ll fight with him before the world ends. She even kept Baldur, Odin’s beloved son, after the gods begged her to let him go.”

“Doesn’t that make her and you, by association, evil?”

He chuckled and rubbed his cheeks against my arm. I seriously loved that sexy chuckle of his. “That’s like saying the police and jailers are evil for rounding up scumbags and keeping them behind bars. It’s just a job.”

“I read that you only reap the sick and elderly?”

“And bad people. You know murderers, thieves, and other sociopaths.” He rolled us back to the desk.

“But won’t you be on Hel’s side during the final battle between the gods and the giants?”

“Nope.” He buried his face in my neck, his warm breath teasing my senses. I shuddered. I wanted to hold him longer, but I knew I shouldn’t. He was distracting me from my goal to pump him for info.

I pushed his head away and angled my body so I could see his face, which didn’t help. He really had the most incredible lips ever. Think lower lip and perfectly shaped upper lip. So kissable. The corners of his mouth lifted in a smirk, and my eyes flew to his.

“You keep looking at my lips like that and we’ll be over there,” he nodded at my bed, “making up for lost time.”

My cheeks burned. What were we discussing? Ah, the war of the gods. “So what side will you support?”

“Neither. According to the prophecy, which is annoyingly vague, most of the fighters, the gods, Valkyries, Grimnirs, the Immortals, Hel’s army of misfits, and the giants will die. I intend to survive, so I will fight for me. That’s the beauty of immortality, doll-face. If you can survive getting your head severed, you live to see another millennium. You can fight by my side. I’ll protect you.”

The look in his eyes said he was about to do something outrageous. In fact, his hands were no longer cold. They’d inched up and were busy tracing the edge of my bra. From the sexy, hooded look in his eyes, he wanted to slip under the silk material and caress my chest intimately.

“You are warm now.” I stood and moved away from him, straightening my top. “And shameless.”

“For putting my well-being first?” He picked up the bowl with the pie.

“Among other things.” I went and sat on my bed.

He forked the last piece of pie and ate with utter delight, closing his eyes and humming. His ridiculously long lashes formed a canopy on his chiseled cheekbones, and his shaggy brown hair was carelessly styled. “That’s the best pie I’ve ever eaten. Can I have more?”

I made a face. I needed answers, not to march up and down the stairs getting him food.

“Please.” He picked crumbs with his finger and licked them off.

“Fine, but when I come back, I want to know everything about Valkyries, Immortals, and Norns, especially Norns and what they can do, because nothing that happened at school makes sense.”

“What happened?” He stood and followed me to the door.

“I’ve been gone for weeks, yet everyone acted like I only missed one week of school. How could I have been at school
and
at PMI? My friends talked about meets I attended and teachers gave me back homework I did. I’ve never aced math tests or essays in my English class, but I’m getting A-pluses. History is my worst subject, yet the research paper I wrote covered things I’ve never read. Oh, and I kissed a football player during the last game and he’s not even my type.”

Echo’s eyes narrowed. “You kissed someone? Who?”

He sounded outraged. I laughed. “That’s all you got from what I just said?”

“Who did you kiss, doll-face?”

“Drew.”

“Does Drew have a last name?”

Okay, maybe his reaction wasn’t funny. “Leave him alone.”

“When was this kiss? Where was I? No one is supposed to mess with you except…” He glowered. “No one.”

I rolled my eyes. “Except
you
?”

“That’s right. Just because you don’t remember what happened between us doesn’t mean I don’t. We made a pact.”

“Quit making up things as you go, Echo. I would know if I was no longer a virgin.” Heat rushed to my face when I realized what I had said.

“Sweet-cheeks, you weren’t a virgin when we hooked up.”

For a moment I just stared at him, then anger spread through me like wildfire. “You’re such a jerk. I’ve never been with a guy that way and… and…” I growled. “Stay away from Drew. He’s suffered enough.” I shook my head. “What am I talking about? You don’t even go to my school.”

Echo’s eyes narrowed. “That could change.”

“Well, how about this? I don’t want you there.” I left the room before he could say anything else. I refused to believe I let that arrogant man touch me. Of course, his story about us could be pure fabrication. Or not. Maybe things like virginity didn’t manifest themselves in astral images. How dare he say he wasn’t my first?

Believing in astral projections would have been a stretch, but my perception of reality had shifted when I started seeing souls. I had a smoking hot reaper in my bedroom who had just returned from the realm of a goddess called Hel. Norse freaking gods really existed. Dad would have a field day with that kind information. He could write bestsellers based on just reapers alone.

Downstairs, my parents were on their respective computers. They looked up. Hoping my face wasn’t red, I said, “I need more pie.”

“I told her she’d lost weight, and she said they didn’t feed her at PMI,” Dad teased.