Runes (Paranormal Romance, YA,) (37 page)

“No,” I cried out, tears racing down my face. “Stop this first.”

“We’re not the ones doing this. They are.” She pointed at the portal.

I looked up and tried to see who or what she meant, but I couldn’t see anything beyond the dark tunnel and crackling lightning.

“I don’t see anything. Make them stop.” Even as the words left my mouth, more bolts zipped from the depth of the portal to the pool deck, catching students in mid-run. Bodies were knocked into the air before they fell on the deck or into the pool, the echoes of death horrifying. The lucky ones made it to the bleachers, but I couldn’t see past the flashing lights to see how many survived.

Andris and Ingrid walked among the fallen, collecting souls of the dead. Two other Valkyries were with them. Grief squeezed my heart, knowing the two were Torin’s replacement. At least I couldn’t see the souls.

“Give me your hand, Raine,” Marj urged. “I’ll get you out of here alive.”

The urge to ignore her was there, but I was tired. Defeated. I had tried and failed. My friends were either dead or dying. Wading through the water, I started for the edge of the pool.

“NO, RAINE. DON’T!”

“Mom?” I froze and looked around, frantically searching for her.

“Stay away from her,” Mom screamed.

“Stay back,” I yelled, searching for her at the entrance, where students were huddled together. I couldn’t see her. I had to stop her from coming on the deck. I reached for Marj’s hand.

“No, Raine. Don’t touch her.”

Then I saw Mom walking through the field of death, runes glowing on her face and hands. More were visible through her Bohemian skirt and top. She glared at Marj and snarled, “You have some nerve coming for my daughter behind my back. Leave her alone.”

Marj took a step back. “You’re not supposed to see us anymore.”

“Think again, Norn,” Mom snarled. “A mother’s love and instinct to protect her child is stronger than all the magic and all the powers in the world. I heard her cry for help and came. And I’ll always see your true form no matter what disguise you wear. Now go.”

I didn’t bother to check if Marj and the others left or not. I stared at Mom with wide eyes. “How?”

“We’ll talk later. Give me your hand.”

I blacked out before our fingers touched.

***

Voices filtered through the fog in my head. I was feeling toasty, which meant someone had removed my wet clothes and replaced them with dry, warm ones.

“How’s she doing, Mrs. C?” Eirik asked.

“Good. She stopped shivering. Why don’t you wait downstairs? I’ll call you when she wakes up. If Tristan wakes up from his nap and wanders downstairs, keep him there. I don’t want him to see her like this.”

The click of the closing door followed. I didn’t want to deal with what I knew was coming—more of Mom’s revelations, how many friends I’d lost tonight.

“You’ll have to open your eyes sometime, sweetie,” Mom said.

Sighing, I slowly lifted my eyelids and stared at her. Her hazel eyes twinkled. Only she could still smile in the face of a catastrophe. That was how I saw my life. A huge disaster. I sat up, the covers slipping to my waist. “Why didn’t you tell me you were a Valkyrie?”

“I wanted you to have a normal life for as long as possible. I didn’t know Norns would try to recruit you this early,” Mom said. “You’re not even eighteen.”

“Is that what you call it? Recruit? Mom, they killed my friends and tried to kill me, too.”

“No, no, sweetie. It was your friends’ time to go, not yours. I would have known. Like I told you before, no one can escape death when their time’s up. The Norns just used the opportunity to attempt to lure you to their side. The fact that they didn’t wait until you were a Valkyrie tells me you’re very special, but then again, I always knew you were.” She smiled. I didn’t feel like smiling.

“Is Cora okay?” I spoke slowly, scared to know the answer yet I had to.

Mom nodded. “Eirik said you saved him and Cora.”

I blinked. “I did?”

“You pushed him hard, and he slipped on the wet deck, banged his head, and blacked out. He landed on the dry part of the deck, and Cora stayed with him. The lightning didn’t come anywhere near them.”

I remembered pushing him and seeing Cora cradling him near a wall. I focused on my mother. “Is Dad a Valkyrie, too?”

Sadness tinged her smile this time. “No, sweetie. It was one of the stipulations from the Norns. If I couldn’t follow my destiny and become one of them, I couldn’t turn the man I fell in love with.”

I thoroughly hated Norns. “Stipulations?”

Mom sighed. “There’s no time to give you details of our history. You’ll learn all that in the coming year, but here’s the shorter version. We come from a line of powerful Valkyries. Or maybe I should say powerful spiritual Mortals, who become Valkyries. We even have a few Norns in our family tree. I had started training as a Norn when I realized I was in love with your father and couldn’t imagine a life without him. Norns or would-be Norns are not supposed to fall in love. They’re maidens dedicated to shaping destinies and nothing else. Their duties leave no room for romance, husbands, or kids. So when I chose your father, they stripped me of my powers and bound me to earth. That means I can never go to the Realm of the gods.” She rolled her eyes and shrugged. “I don’t care. I’ve been very happy with your father.”

I could only stare at her. I still couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that my mother was a Valkyrie. I had so many questions. How old was she? How did one become a Valkyrie? “So I wasn’t supposed to die?”

“No, or I would have known.” She leaned forward and added, “I still have friends back in Valhalla, and they would have told me. Come on, your friends are waiting downstairs.”

“But I have so many questions,” I protested, but stood anyway. “Can you explain the mirrors at your store? Are some of them portals? Because I swear I noticed runes on some of their frames.” Another thought occurred to me. “The mirror downstairs is a portal too, isn’t it?”

She chuckled. “Yes, I use it to communicate with my friends. And it’s true. Some of the mirrors at the store are portals. Your father owned the store when we met twenty years ago. In fact, I was his regular customer for a while.” She blushed. “Now I use the business to create portals, which we ship all over the world. With the runes already sketched on frames, Valkyries can use them wherever they are without sketching runes on them.”

Eirik’s parents knew Torin before he arrived in our town, and they had a mirror portal in their old bedroom. “Are Eirik’s parents Valkyries, too?”

Mom chuckled. “Yes, but they don’t reap souls. They have special duties here on earth.”

“So when they told Eirik they were going home, they meant,” I pointed up, “the Realm of the, uh, gods?”

She nodded. “Yes, and that’s why I was surprised.”

Eirik was adopted, so he was obviously human. They must be using him to blend in. “Does Eirik know about them?”

Mom chuckled and looped her arm around mine. “Oh, sweetie, I know you have questions, but there’s just so much I can tell you because of rules and whatnot. When your trainer gets here, all your questions will be answered.”

Trainer? Everything was happening fast, and I wasn’t sure I was ready to start training. “You should’ve told me, Mom, especially when I saw the runes on my car and freaked out.”

She sighed. “I’m so sorry, baby. But like I said, there’s a limit to how much I can tell you. I’d hoped you’d learn the truth about us and your legacy from your trainer when you turned eighteen. As for the runes on your car, I had to protect you somehow when you started driving. You know me. I don’t trust Mortal machines.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. Her aversion to computers now made sense. Then what she’d said registered. “If you sketched the runes last year, how come I didn’t see them until now?”

“Something happened to open your eyes and mind to magic. It might have been a physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual link with something or someone from our world.”

Torin. I’d started seeing the runes after I met him.

“Actually, you started seeing them earlier than normal. You’re not supposed to have the sight until you’re eighteen.”

I frowned. “The sight?”

“The ability to see past the rune veil. It was probably the Norns’ presence,” Mom continued. “They should be ashamed of themselves, trying to lure you to their side when you’re so young and vulnerable.” She chuckled. “But you showed them, didn’t you? Just as I chose your Dad over joining them, you chose your friends and Torin.”

My eyes widened. “You know about Torin?”

“Oh, sweetie. There’s still runic magic left in these old bones for me to know when a Valkyrie moves next door.”

My throat closed, images of Torin flashing through my head. “He found Dad.”

“I know. He’s an amazing young man. He came to the store to get me as soon as he brought your father home. We’ll talk some more later. Right now, go on downstairs and talk to your friends. The longer we stay up here, the more they’ll worry.” Rubbing my arms, she opened the door. “I’ll always be here for you. I don’t know who they will assign to teach you runic magic or when they’ll get here, but keep an eye out for Norns. They come in many forms, but always in threes. They put me through trials worse than a trip to Hel’s Hall to prove I loved your father before they gave up. They’re not going to make it easy for you and Torin either.”

My heart leaped. “He’s back?”

She smiled and patted my cheek. “I should hope so. If he’s your true love…”

“He is,” I said.

“Then don’t let the Norns win. Fight for him. Now go.”

“Love you, Mom.” I gave her a big hug, then raced downstairs. Eirik had his arms around Cora. From her red eyes, she’d been crying.

Eirik cocked his brow when he saw me. “Are you okay?”

I nodded, joined them, and we hugged. “I’ll live. You guys?”

“We were on the dry part of the deck and got lucky,” he said.

“I don’t know if I can take it anymore,” Cora said between sniffles, and Eirik’s arm tightened around her. “So many swimmers dying. I already told Mom I’m quitting the team.”

I rubbed her arm. “No one will blame you. How many died?”

“Eight from the last text we received from Kicker,” Eirik explained. “We just wanted to make sure you were okay before heading to the hospital.”

I looked down at my fleece pants and shirt and fuzzy, bootie slippers. “Can you guys wait for me while I put on regular boots and a jacket?” They didn’t speak, and when our eyes met, they looked uneasy. “What?”

“People are talking,” Cora said, visibly cringing.

“But we don’t care,” Eirik said. “Grab your stuff and let’s go.”

I frowned. “What are they saying?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Eirik insisted.

I ignored him and focused on Cora. “What are they saying, Cora?”

“Um, you knew something was about to happen and warned us,” she said slowly, her face red. “So everyone is really scared.”

I swallowed. “Of me?”

She winced again and nodded. “How did you know something was about to happen?”

“I just did, and now I’m officially a freak.” Mom was right. The Norns let this happen. They could have easily erased everyone’s memory like they’d done before. Cora and Eirik studied me with concern. “Maybe we can tell them something happened to me when I hurt my head and now I have superpowers,” I added flippantly.

Cora stared at me with wide eyes. “That makes sense.”

I threw her a disgusted look. “I was kidding, Cora.”

“No, this is good,” Eirik cut in. “It’s the perfect explanation. Once we tell them about your accident and the superpowers, they’ll stop acting weird.”

I shook my head. “No, don’t. If my presence will bother them, then I don’t have to go.”

“Who cares what they think. You’re Raine. You never let anything or anyone stop you from doing the right thing. If they want to treat you differently, screw them. Powers or not, you’re our friend.”

“Eirik’s right,” Cora added, but I could tell she was uneasy.

“I really shouldn’t go anyway.” I touched my temple for emphasis. “I’m feeling a bit woozy. Come on, I’ll walk you guys to the car.” I sighed with relief when they didn’t argue. As soon as I opened the door, the powerful sound of a Harley reached my ears. My heart pounding, I reached the driveway before Cora and Eirik and stared toward the entrance of the cul-de-sac.

Torin entered the cul-de-sac just as Eirik and Cora were leaving it. By the time he pulled into his driveway, I was crossing our lawn at a run.

He removed his helmet, stepped away from the bike and pushed the lock of raven-black hair away from his forehead. When he turned, I hurled myself at him.

His arms opened and caught me. I wrapped my arms and legs around him, never ever wanting to let go. The feel of his body, his scent, his warmth was heavenly. A delicious shiver rolled through me, and my heart responded to his nearness, leaping and thundering. I leaned back and drank him in, the naughty glint in his brilliant blue eyes, the wicked smile curling his perfectly sculptured lips.