Runes (Paranormal Romance, YA,) (22 page)

“That was an amazing story,” Eirik said when we reached my room.

“Yeah, who knew I almost killed my mother.” I was going to get her something really special on Mother’s Day next year.

“I’m not surprised you defied odds. You are a fighter.” Eirik pulled me into his arms. “Remember how you gave Derrick Gregory a bloody nose in third grade?”

Derrick couldn’t admit a girl had hit him, so he’d lied to the teacher by claiming he’d tripped and fallen. He never called me Freckles again. “He deserved it. Now, stop distracting me. I have homework.”

Eirik reluctantly let go of me, took my laptop, and settled on my bed while I plodded through my homework. I still wasn’t done when Cora entered my bedroom.

“Hey, Kayville’s newest golden couple. Time to go.” She walked to the window and peered outside. “I saw Torin tinkering with something in his garage when I drove up. Should we invite him to come with us?”

“No,” Eirik and I said at the same time.

Cora made a face. “Okay. You don’t have to bite my head off. What are you two doing anyway?” She glanced over my shoulder. “Homework? You’re usually done by now.”

“I have three more math questions.” History would have to wait until later. I tuned out Cora and Eirik, who were having an argument over something online, until she tapped me on my shoulder.

“Come on. It’s seven twenty.” Cora slapped Eirik’s foot on her way out. “Move it, mister.”

Wishing I hadn’t committed to going, I put my pen down.

“You could always tell her no,” Eirik said, scooting to the edge of the bed and picking up his shoes. “I’d rather just hang out here with you.”

“No, she needs us.”

“Why?”

“I don’t like the girl she’s helping.”

He slipped on his shoes and followed me downstairs where Cora was talking to Mom. I got my swim bag from the laundry room. “See you later, Mom.”

“Drive carefully,” she said.

“I always do, Mrs. C,” Cora said.

Outside, we piled inside her car. Eirik sprawled in the back, while I took the front passenger seat. As Cora drove past Torin’s, she pressed her horn. He looked up and waved.

“Hey, guess who’s going to the Homecoming Dance,” I said.

Cora laughed. “You two? Really?”

“Yep. Eirik asked me. Can we go with you and Keith?”

She frowned. “I guess so.”

I nudged her. “Where’s the enthusiasm? You guys are going, right?”

“I don’t know. Keith hasn’t asked me yet.”

I remembered our conversation outside the lockers. She’d hinted they might be breaking up. Not wanting to discuss it in front of Eirik, I dropped the topic.

“Let’s go shopping on Saturday,” she said. “I might not be going, but I want to make sure you make an impression.”

I hadn’t thought about what I’d wear. “Sure.”

In no time, she was pulling up outside the club. In the summer, no one blinked twice at skimpily dressed swimmers parading around the pool or the foyer of Total Fitness Club. In the fall, they were a rare sight. Ingrid, in a skimpy one-piece swimsuit, was pacing and drawing attention when we arrived.

“I thought you stood me up,” she said with a pout, her accent more pronounced once again. “Oh, and you brought friends.”

Eirik, typical guy, ogled her. I jabbed him with my elbow. He smirked. At least he hadn’t brought his camera to immortalize her. After checking in, we disappeared in the women’s locker room while he headed to the men’s. Cora was still spraying leave-in condition to protect her hair against chlorine when I finished getting ready. Ingrid watched her impatiently through the mirror. An insane idea popped in my head, and I moved closer to her.

“How come you’re here alone?” I asked.

She ignored me for a few seconds then shrugged. “I can do things without Maliina, and Andris is gone.”

“Gone where? Hel’s Mist?”

She shuddered. “How do you know about Hel?”

“I’m learning a lot about your world. Maybe you can help me decode some runes.”

She studied me with narrowed eyes. “You’re trying to trick me.” She glanced at Cora and whispered, “We are not supposed to teach runes to Mortals.”

“I’m not like other Mortals,” I pushed, noting that her accent was all but gone.

“Then ask whoever taught you about Hel.”

I was getting nowhere with her. Cora was putting her things away and would soon join us. “You probably don’t know anyway. Well, I hope you and Maliina are happy with what you did to my car.”

Ingrid scowled. “Your car?”

“Yeah, the stupid runes you drew all over it. Now I can’t drive it without worrying. Thanks a lot.” I turned and headed toward the door leading to the pool deck.

Ingrid followed. “We didn’t draw runes on your car.”

“Maybe you didn’t, but I wouldn’t put it past your sister.” I reached the swimming pool and waved to Eirik. He was already in the water. “I bet she’s also the one who caused the blackout.”

 
“She did not,” Ingrid protested. “It was meant to happen.”

“And Kate just happened to wear a dress like mine, had brown hair like me, and was about my heights. Just because she killed someone else instead of me, she had to put a whammy on my car. If anything happens to me—”

“Show me the runes,” she hissed.

I had her. I knelt, dipped a finger in the pool water, and used it to draw the runes on the dry concrete floor.

Ingrid laughed. “Your sketches are terrible, and no, Maliina didn’t do it. Those are protection runes, and she’d never protect any woman Andris wants.”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t want him. Doesn’t that mean anything to her?”

“Then why is he protecting you? We saw the runes at your school. She knows Andris drew them,” Ingrid whispered harshly.

“Him? Why?”

She studied the sketches. “The middle rune is for Goddess Freya. She’s Andris’ protector.”

“Is she Torin’s?”

She made a face as if I was nuts and dived into the pool. I stared after her, mulling over what she’d told me.

“Coming?” Cora asked as she walked past.

I followed her and joined Eirik. I tried to have fun, raced him and goofed around while Cora worked with Ingrid, but at the back of my mind I replayed the conversation I’d had with the Immortal. They were protected by deities, and I shared a protector with Andris. Was that why he’d asked me to join his team?

Screams filled the air, and I turned to find the source. We weren’t the only ones frolicking in the pool. A family with younger and noisier kids was in the smaller, warmer pool the club used for senior therapy. We left the pool for the hot tub.

“I’ll be back,” Eirik said and disappeared toward the restrooms.

As though she’d timed it, Maliina entered the pool deck. Dressed in black skinny jeans, knee-length heeled boots, and a soft-pink sweater, she paused and glanced around. Her eyes narrowed when our eyes met. Then she continued searching until she found Ingrid and Cora. A smug smile lifted the corner of her mouth. She went to the side of the pool to talk to Ingrid, interrupting their lessons, but her focus changed when Eirik entered the pool room.

Still talking to Ingrid, she watched him as though he was her favorite dish and she hadn’t eaten in decades. I clenched my fist. That viper had better not go after him.

“Eirik?” she called out, and he turned around.

My stomach clenched. What did she want with him? I stood and hurried out of the hot tub. I couldn’t hear their conversation because of the noisy kids, but I wasn’t taking chances. Grabbing a towel, I wrapped it around my shoulders and went to join them.

“Maliina,” I said, coming to stand beside Eirik. He put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer.

“I was just leaving, Raine. Catch you later, Eirik Seville.” She turned and sashayed away. I counted slowly from ten to one, but I was still pissed. The girl rubbed me the wrong way.

“What was that about?” Eirik asked.

“I can’t stand her. She came to my birthday party at the club and was a total bitch. What did she want?”

“I’m not exactly sure.” Eirik frowned as we walked back to the hot tub. “She asked me some very weird questions. Do I live with my parents? Was I adopted? Do you remember those weird birthmarks I had on my back?”

I nodded. Pink bumpy marks used to crisscross his back, but they were gone now. They’d disappeared by the time we were in third grade.

“She asked about them. How did she know? And
who
asks such personal questions?”

An Immortal who was up to no good. I glanced back and caught her watching us with a calculating gleam in her pale-blue eyes. Would she hurt Eirik to get back at me? How had she known about Eirik’s birthmarks? Torin knew personal facts about me, too. Maybe they had background info on every member of the swim team.

“She’s weird. Promise to stay away from her.”

He grinned and pulled me closer. “Jealous?”

If playing the jealous girlfriend would keep him safe, then I’d play. “A little. She’s kind of hot.”

“She’s not my kind. Why would I want her when I have you?” He kissed me, taking his time. I poured all my fears into the kiss. When we eased off, I rested my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes, savoring the moment, until I realized he had gone quiet. Eirik was a talker.

I leaned back and caught his frown, so I turned and followed his gaze. Cora was laughing at something Ingrid had said. The two were out of the pool.

“How did Cora connect with Maliina’s sister?” Eirik asked.

I explained the meeting at The Hub as Cora started toward us. Ingrid and Maliina headed toward the changing rooms.

“How did it go?” I asked when Cora joined us.

“Great. She’s really nice. Oh, this feels good,” Cora said, slipping in the churning water.

“Did you tell her it was a one-time thing?”

Cora shrugged. “No. She asked if we could do it again tomorrow. I said I’d call her.”

I sighed. “Cora.”

“I know that her sister is not nice, but Ingrid is different. She misses home. Her sister hangs out with her boyfriend all the time and leaves her alone. Blaine doesn’t have any sisters for her to hang out with.” Her eyes flashed. I knew that look. It meant she was going to be stubborn.

I raised my hands in the universal sign of surrender. “Okay. Work with her, but I’ll be here to keep an eye on Maliina.”

Cora rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to. I mean, she’s kind of mean, but she’s hardly a serial killer. I don’t need you babysitting me.”

“Fine. Have it your way.”

“I always do,” she retorted.

I wanted to shake some sense into her. She could be so annoyingly stubborn sometimes, but this time, she was dealing with forces beyond her understanding. I glanced at Eirik. He wore a puzzled expression like he’d landed in the Twilight Zone.

“What’s going on?” he mouthed.

I just shook my head. “We should go. I still have history homework.”

Tension was heavy in the air as we changed and during the drive home. I hated it. Cora and I were tight and rarely fought. This was the Immortals’ fault. Their presence was disrupting every fabric of my life. I clung to my seat and hoped Cora didn’t kill us.

She careened into Orchard Street without slowing down, totally forgetting the yield sign and almost hitting another car. She jerked the wheel, swerved, and kept going. I held on to the dashboard and opened my mouth to tell her to slow down, but Eirik beat me to it.

“Damn it, Cora!” he yelled. “Slow down.”

“Why? That wasn’t my fault,” she snapped, veering to the left to overtake another car. “Idiot! Slow pokes!” She overtook another, almost colliding with an oncoming truck.

I was queasy by the time she screeched to a halt outside my house, barely missing our mailbox. I stared at her with wide eyes, but she didn’t bother to look at me. “I’ve gotta go, so out of the car.”

“You can’t drive if you’re pissed off about something, Cora,” I said, my stomach still roiling.

“Last time I checked, this was my car, so get the hell out,” she said rudely.

Eirik leaned forward. “Cora—”

“Out!” she screamed.

We scrambled out of her car, and she threw the car into gear. We stared after her as the taillights disappeared around the corner. Cora was usually a careful driver. What had gotten into her?

“What the hell was that about?” Eirik asked. “Did you two have a fight that I missed? Because nothing makes sense. Why was she driving like a lunatic? We almost got into an accident,” Eirik snarled, still freaking out.

I had no answer for him. Instead, I pulled out my cell phone and texted Cora, then glanced at Torin’s. The lights were on in the upstairs bedroom, which meant he was home. He might know what Maliina and her sister had done to cause Cora to act so reckless. She’d almost gotten us killed. “I have to go.”

“Do you want me to stay?” Eirik asked as he walked me to the door, making me wonder if he’d caught the way I’d glanced at Torin’s.