Witches (Runes series Book 6) (29 page)

Eirik smothered the pie with whipped cream. “Okay. Sounds like you know what you want.”

“You’re not going to lecture me about how humans are not important in the final battle? Or what the prophecy says?”

“Nope.” He stuffed his face with pie while I played with my food. I dumped it in the garbage and put the leftovers away. Cora called just as promised, which was a relief. I hadn’t felt like leaving to help her out while Eirik was around, which made me feel kind of bad. “Which side are you on?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know yet. I’m just enjoying watching them squirm.”

I shook my head. “You’d better be on my side when the battle begins.”

He laughed. “The Norns want their dagger back,” he said.

“Yeah, about that. Why did they come to you?”

“Because the last time they saw it, I had it pressed to your throat. They didn’t see me give it to you, so they came to me and demanded I hand it over. I told them I’d lost it.”

He’d slipped the dagger in my pocket the night we battled the Earl. “So you came to my room in the dead of the night to warn me? What happened to stopping by during the day? Texting? Calling? Returning the next day?”

He grinned. “Cell phone reception in Hel sucks, so I dumped mine, and your cat went feral on me that night and became a giant cat. Don’t give the dagger back, Raine.”

“Why do they want it so badly?”

“I don’t know, but the fact they do means it’s important to them, so screw them.”

His sudden show of hatred surprised me. “Have they been messing with you too?”

Pink crept onto his cheeks and his eyes grew fierce. “They’ve been messing with me all my life. They tried to probe my mind to find it, but I surround myself with Witches, some nearly as powerful as you. Anyway, expect them to probe your head.”

I remembered the incident at the stadium when they’d visited me. I’d felt a thick impenetrable shield messing with my ability to link with them. “They might already have.”

“But you still have it?”

“Yes. Onyx is very good at hiding it.”

He chuckled and rubbed his stomach. “Thanks for the food. Let me check something with your father, then I need to hear all about you and Torin.” He picked up his mace, propped his elbow on the table, and said, “Bond.”

The weapon wrapped around his arm. Runes blazing. When they dimmed, his tattoo was back. It looked awesome. He stood and started toward Dad’s room. I was right behind him.

“So how long are you staying?” I asked, dodging his steps.

“A few minutes.”

“A few minutes?” I screeched.

“With your dad. Dial it down a notch there, owl. I’m going to be around.” He knocked on Dad’s door and turned the handle, but I was right behind him. “I need to talk to him
alone
.”

“And I need your cell phone number and how to contact you
before
I let you leave my sight. I’m not buying that cell phone reception crap.”

“I’d forgotten how stubborn you are. I wasn’t lying about my cell phone. Got rid of it a long time ago.” A thoughtful expression settled on his face. “Or was it taken from me? The memories keep merging.” He chuckled, his mood changing so fast I was struggling to keep up. “If you need me, send Onyx. She might not like me, but she knows how to find me. Now can I go?” He didn’t wait for my response, just pushed the door open. Mom, Dad, and Femi were all in the room watching something on TV. But as soon as we appeared, Mom and Femi got up and came to join me.

“You guys were here all this time?” I asked, closing the door slowly, watching Eirik to make sure he was actually sitting down and not disappearing again.

“Let them talk,” Mom said, prying the handle from my hand. She closed the door, took my arm, and pulled me away. “We figured you two would want to catch up without us hanging around.”

~*~

“So did you two cover everything?” Mom asked.

“Some,” I mumbled absentmindedly. I still had questions and so much to discuss with Eirik. That part about his cell phone being taken from him bugged me. Taken by whom? Asgardians or Goddess Hel?

“Like what?” Mom asked. “Did he tell you where he’s living now?”

I stared at her and wanted to smack myself. That should have been my first question. “He mentioned traveling all over the globe, which any of us can do in an hour.”

“Did he say what he’s been doing?”

Another question I should have asked him. The last thing I wanted was Mom grilling me and making me feel worse. “I thought you guys talked. Didn’t you ask him?”

She exchanged a glance with Femi, and then she nodded. “Oh yes, we did, but he was more interested in what we were doing.” Mom glanced at Femi. “Isn’t that right?”

Femi nodded. “He wanted to know about the Valkyrie Council, who was in it, and how long it took them to reach a decision on Svana’s case. Then he asked about my life and Hawk’s and how often I got together with other Immortals. Whether there was an organization of Immortals to keep in touch with the others. He said Witches were very organized.”

“Then he wanted to know if the Norns are bothering you again,” Mom added.

Sounded like he was gathering information, but why? I stared at the den. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap-tap-tap-tap… Mom covered my hand. I’d been tapping on the table. I got up and paced.

“That’s it,” Mom said. “Go to Torin’s.”

I shook my head. “I want to be here when Eirik comes out.”

“We’ll call you when he does. I can’t stand listening to you tap and watch you pace anymore. Go.”

“Mom,” I whined.

“I’ll keep him here, even if I have to sit on him,” she reassured me. “Now, go.”

“Fine. But if he leaves…” I opened a portal to Torin’s. The lights were on and there was something cooking on the stove, but he wasn’t in the kitchen. “Torin?”

An air portal opened from his bedroom and he appeared. “You two done catching up?”

“Getting information out of him is like trying to rob Fort Knox. Frustrating.”

He went back to his cooking. “Talk to me.”

I filled him in on what I’d learned from Eirik. “I have no idea where he lives or what he does, whether he’s going to school or not. How often he visits his mother or Asgard. Or even whose side he is on. He’s so vague.” I looked out the window at my house. Mom and Femi were still in the kitchen. Torin turned off the stove and served the food on two plates. “How come you don’t just eat with the others at the mansion? The housekeeper’s cooking is great.”

“Yeah, the same dishes every week gets boring fast.” He handed me a plate. “I like variety in my diet.”

“Let’s eat at my place,” I suggested.

“Why?”

“I want to be there when Eirik finishes with Dad.”

Torin leaned against the counter, obviously reluctant to go with me. “You think he’ll take off again?”

“Oh yes. He dances circles around Mom and despite changing physically, he’s the same Eirik. Stuffing his face and drinking juice from the bottle.”

Torin chuckled. “Go. I need to see Blaine about something. I’ll join you as soon as I’m done.”

I gripped his hand and pulled him toward the hallway mirror. Unlike him, I didn’t walk around with an artavus, creating air portals wherever and whenever. We stopped by the mirror and I studied his expression. Then something else registered. His chuckle had seemed forced.

“You’re not jealous of him, are you?”

He made a face. “Of Eirik? That show off who appears when we don’t need him, plays the hero, then disappears, making all of us indebted to him when we don’t need to be?”

It was hard to tell whether he was serious or not. “You know, a wise guy once told me only puny minded people are insecure and jealous,” I said.

He ran his knuckles down my cheek. “He’s an idiot.”

Now I knew he was goofing around. “Later, idiot. We’ll talk about the plane crash and Jace later.” I shuddered. “Hopefully that’s the last time I see that particular vision. I got everything I need to… I mean, I have all the info you need.” I went on my toes and pressed a kiss on his lips.

Femi was in the kitchen alone when I entered. “Where’s Mom?”

“She joined Eirik and your father.”

I sat and ate the food I’d picked up from Torin’s, my eyes on the door.

“So our food is no longer good enough for you?” Femi teased.

“It was too early to eat, and Eirik eats enough for five people. I hope there’s some left for everyone else.”

She laughed. “We’ll make do.”

“How long has she been in there?” I asked.

“About five minutes.”

A bad feeling washed over me. I engaged my speed runes and was at the door to the den in seconds. I knocked and opened the door without waiting for an answer. Just as I’d suspected, Eirik was gone.

I was so sure Eirik would be back, but no such luck. I sent Onyx to find him, but the cat came back pissed because she couldn’t.

“He’ll appear when he thinks you need him,” Torin said, and received a glare for his efforts.

He took me shopping on Sunday to get my mind off Eirik. He knew exactly where to go, which shops and restaurants were open.

I got several leather jackets, gloves, and a nice Gothic spiked choker and wristband. I found a present for Torin too and paid for it without him seeing it.

Sunday night after we came back, I knocked on the door to the den and Mom opened it. Instead of letting me go inside and say goodnight to Dad, she stepped outside. I pulled out a scarf I’d bought her and draped it around her neck. She rubbed it against her cheek and smiled. It was pure silk.

“Thank you, honey. Come on. I’m making tea.”

“Is Dad okay?” I asked, peering into the room before she closed the door.

“He’s resting now.” She took my arm, but I refused to move.

“I want to see him, Mom. I bought him something.”

She sighed, nodded, and opened the door. Dad was propped against a pillow. He looked tired. “Hey,” I said.

He patted the edge of the bed and took my hand after I sat. His hands felt warm and dry, his skin paper-thin. “I’m okay,” he said answering my unspoken question.

I studied his face. “You sure?”

He nodded. “Where did you go?”

“New York. We did a little shopping.” I reached inside the bag, pulled out a robe, and shook it. It was fluffy and monogrammed just for him. It was also his favorite color, green like Mom’s eyes. “I thought you’d like this. Oh, and we watched Les Miz. You would have loved that too.”

He chuckled. “I’m happy you get a chance to do things like that. Your mother and I travelled a lot in our days, but we flew.”

I rolled my eyes. His mistrust of the supernatural world started way before I was born. “I wish…” My voice trailed off. “Nah, never mind.”

“No, say it.”

I was going to sound stupid and childish.

Dad leaned forward and tilted my chin toward him. “Out with it.”

“I wish we could visit places together. The four of us.”

“Maybe we will. You never know,” he said mysteriously.

“What about you, Dad? If you were to get one wish,”—I couldn’t bring myself to add
before you die
—“what would it be?”

“That’s easy. To walk you down the aisle and officially hand you over to someone who will love, cherish you, and fill your life with laughter and joy. Someone who will willingly spend sleepless nights worrying about you and get a few gray hairs.” He chuckled. “That would be my greatest wish.”

My throat closed. I’d assumed Torin would propose when I turned eighteen, but that was four months away. Was Dad going to be around then?

“Maybe it will come true. On the other hand, I’m insulted by the ‘hand me over’ part. You raised me to be independent.”

“I know and it’s going to take a special man to appreciate that in you.” He patted my hand and added, “Get your mother for me. I need to rest now.”

I kissed his forehead and left the room. Mom was making tea in the kitchen. “Do you want a cup?”

I shook my head. “He wants you. He looks tired.”

“He’s been pushing himself too hard this past week. He’ll bounce back.”

Somehow, I doubted it. I kissed Mom goodnight and headed back upstairs to run a bath. I had barely sunk into the frothy bubbles when Torin appeared. His hair was wet and he’d changed into his sweatpants and T-shirt. Dad had mentioned graying, but we both knew Torin would never gray, unless he ditched his runes.

I started to sit up, remembered the bubbles wouldn’t cover all of me, and sank back under. He’d seen me naked, yet I couldn’t bring myself to be indifferent to my nudity.

He settled on the edge of the tub. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t think Dad is going to make it to my birthday. He sounded sad and nostalgic.”

Torin took the bath sponge from the edge of the tub, dunked it, and gently washed my shoulder. “What did he say?”

He was distracting me. I struggled to focus on my thoughts and words. “He wants to walk me down the aisle and hand me over to someone else so they can lose sleep worrying about me. Can you believe that? Oh, and whoever I marry will go gray with worry. I guess that means you’re not a candidate.”

He chuckled, not bothered by my words. I didn’t know how to feel about that.

~*~

Torin and I arrived at the school parking lot Monday morning to see Cora talking to the two Grimnirs from the nursing home. Andris stood a few cars away with some girl, but he kept glancing at Cora.

“What’s going on?” Torin asked when he realized I was distracted.

“Those are the two Grimnirs I met at Beau’s. I wonder what they want with Cora. I saw her with them at the nursing home.”

Torin hoisted my backpack to his shoulder. “She’s dating a Grimnir, so technically they’re her people now.”

“Does that make Valkyries my people?”

“No, you are mine. Two different rules. One day, you will be Mrs. St. James or Lady Worthington.” Despite his blasé attitude, he didn’t move away from the bike and was busy sizing up the two Grimnirs. “I don’t like that girl’s body language.”

Cora turned as though to walk away, when all of the sudden the female Grimnir grabbed her by the neck. The male Grimnir clasped her hands together.

“They’re kidnapping her!” I exclaimed.

One second Torin was beside me, the next he was gone. My reflexes weren’t as fast. I looked around to see if anyone was watching, ducked behind the Harley, and engaged my speed runes before following him. Torin yanked the male Grimnir away from Cora while Andris went after the female. Sometimes Torin and Andris forgot that we were still getting used to their world. The force with which they attacked the two Grimnirs had knocked Cora sideways. I caught her before she landed on her ass.

Andris pinned the girl on the ground while Torin had the man against the tree, his feet dangling.

“You okay?” I asked Cora, aware of students walking by and glancing at us. Andris and Torin were cloaked and so were the Grimnirs. Cora and I weren’t. The girl Andris had been talking to remained standing in the middle of the parking lot with a bewildered expression. He really needed to stop taking chances like this around Mortals.

“Get off me, Valkyrie,” the female Grimnir screamed and tried to dislodge Andris who was straddling her and pinning her hands to her sides.

“Come on, sweetheart,” he crooned. “You know having me on top is the closest you’ll ever get to Asgard, so enjoy the moment. Cora, sorry I was late to the party.”

The Grimnir hurled insults at Andris, twisting and bucking.

“Nara!” her partner snapped, and she stopped. She glared at Cora as though blaming her for her humiliating position. Her partner looked down at Torin, violet eyes narrowing. In daylight, those eyes looked even more gorgeous, and I hadn’t noticed the studs on his ears before. “I don’t want to fight you, Valkyrie, so let me—”

“Shut up,” Torin cut him off. Ooh, he was pissed. “Cora. Come here.”

I let Cora go and watched my man do his thing. Torin was a natural born leader and from his expression, he was ready to kick some serious boo-tay.

“Did they hurt you?” he asked Cora.

“No.” She glanced at the woman, Nara. I still didn’t like her attitude. I had warned them to leave Cora alone, I wanted to add, but that would only make matters worse.

“When I let you go, Grimnir,” Torin said calmly, which meant he was pissed, “disappear. If I catch you anywhere near her, you will not like it. Cora is under our protection. You mess with her, you mess with us.”

“But she has a soul that belongs to us,” Nara protested.

We all turned to stare at Cora. She bristled.

“He is under my protection. I promised to help him,” Cora said.

“Dev betrayed our people,” Nara interjected.

“We don’t care,” Torin said. His voice was calm and deadly. “If Cora gave him a promise, she’ll keep it.” He let go of Nara’s partner, adjusted his collar and brushed invisible lint from his duster. Then he added, “Now be a good Grimnir and get out of town.”

The Grimnir didn’t like that. “Others will come for him.”

“We’ll deal with them, too,” Torin vowed, then glanced at Andris and nodded. Andris let Nara go and even offered her his hand, which she ignored.

“We’ll meet again, Valkyrie,” she said through clenched teeth.

“I’m free Wednesday nights,” Andris said, opening his arms. “Don’t bring anything but your lovely self.”

I fought a smile. That was Andris for you. Once the Grimnirs disappeared through a portal, Andris and Torin used the trees to hide as they decloaked. Luckily, the parking lot was empty except for a few late students. No one made a move to leave. I wanted to hear about this soul Cora was protecting. She tried to get out of explaining with the lamest excuse.

“Guys, the bell already rang,” she said.

Andris rolled his eyes while Torin crossed his arms, legs slightly apart. That stance said he wasn’t moving until he got answers.

“School can wait,” he said. “You’re protecting a soul? Why?”

Cora bristled. “He came to me for help, and I promised to give it to him.”

Was this the soul she’d called me about on Saturday while Eirik and I were talking? I opened my mouth to ask, but Torin spoke.

“Is he one of the old people at the nursing home?” he asked. “Why do the Grimnirs want him?”

“Is he someone Goddess Hel wants?” Andris shot at her.

“Does Echo know about him?” I jumped in.

“Okay, stop with the Qs.” She lifted her backpack from the ground and gripped it tight. “We shouldn’t be discussing this now. One of you will have to rune my English teacher, or it’s Saturday makeup class for me.”

We still didn’t move, but I wondered whether I should have sided with Echo and Torin on Saturday. They’d suggested a freeze on helping souls until we took care of the rogue Immortal souls.

“Fine,” Cora said. “His name is Dev. He was once one of them. A Druid. Echo turned him into an Immortal during his rescue mission. Then Dev betrayed them, or they think he betrayed them, and they’re still pissed. Even Echo won’t talk to him.”

“Was he one of the Immortals we fought last week?” Torin asked.

“No. Echo killed him thousands of years ago. He’s, uh, a dark soul.”

Holy crap! Our eyes met and hers begged me to understand.

“I know what you’re going to say,” Cora said.

“No, you don’t,” Torin said.

“Yes, I do,” she shot back. “I can see the disapproval on your faces. I know what I’m doing and why, so just respect that.”

Andris grinned, obviously amused by her bravado. I wasn’t. “Is he the one you were with on Saturday when you called me?”

Cora nodded. “I was careful. I only agreed to help him once I realized he wasn’t after me. And please, don’t tell Echo. He cannot know about this morning with those two. I mean it, Andris. He’s already alienated enough Grimnirs without making things worse.”

I could just imagine Echo’s reaction. He’d go on a rampage.

“What were you doing when she got attacked?” Torin asked. His blue eyes flashed as he focused on Andris. “You were supposed to keep an eye on her the second she left her car.”

“I did,” Andris shot back. “Besides, I was to protect her against
dark souls
, not idiotic Grimnirs. She was done with them and was walking toward me, and that’s when it happened.” He glanced at Cora. “Sorry about that, blondie.”

“No need to be sorry.” She shot Torin a glance. “It’s not his fault. I told him they were Echo’s friends, and I wanted to talk to them alone. I didn’t know Nara would lose it when I refused to tell her where Dev was hiding.”

Silence followed.

“Since he’s not tethered to you, where are you hiding him?” Andris asked.

“What does he look like?” I asked.

Cora just shook her head and clammed up as we entered the building.

~*~

Officer Randolph saw us, and I groaned. How many times had we runed him to make him forget what he’d seen us do? Too many times to count. It started the day he caught me talking to an invisible Torin.

“The bell already rang, and the five of you were just standing there in the parking lot, St. James,” he said, singling out Torin because being the QB who won us state, he could do no wrong.

“There’s a perfectly good explanation for that, Officer Randolph,” Torin said, pulling out his artavus. Poor guy.

While Torin dealt with the security guard, I went upstairs with Cora, cloaked using invisibility runes, and took care of Cora’s teacher before heading to my class.

Amber’s hair was back to normal, and she seemed nicer. Or maybe I wanted to believe that to feel less guilty. Halfway through class, I felt a familiar tug.