Hidden Worlds

by Kristie Cook

  “Counselors will be available to talk to students who need help coping with this loss,” Principal Elliot continued. “Katherine represented the best this school has to offer. She was one of our fastest swimmers. She was also a member of the student council and a regular tutor at …”

  “Cora, I’ll be back,” I whispered. She nodded and leaned against Keith’s shoulder. I’d never particularly liked Keith. He always came across as too standoffish for the fun-loving and sensitive Cora, but I was beginning to see a new side of him.

  “What’s going on?” Eirik asked as he got up to let me pass.

  “I need fresh air.”

  “Do you want me to come with you?” he asked like a dutiful boyfriend.

  “No. Fill me in later.” I didn’t want him following me.

  Outside, the front hall was empty. I checked the wide hallway on the left and right, but no one was there. Where did Torin and the others go? Turning to go back inside the auditorium, I saw them through the corner glass window. They were across street in the eastern parking lot. From the looks of things, Torin and Andris were having a heated argument.

  Moving closer to the window, I winced as their fight became physical. One punch from Torin sent Andris in the air and across a hood into some poor student’s windshield. It cracked as though hit by a demolition ball, but Andris bounced off it like a ping pong ball. He rammed into Torin. The two skidded along the parking lot, leaving a crack on the ground. Maliina and Ingrid moved closer as though waiting for a chance to pounce. Would they gang up on Torin?

  I didn’t want to get anyone in trouble, but someone had to stop them before one of them got seriously hurt or they wrecked the entire parking lot and more cars. I checked around me for security, but the hall was empty. My mind raced with indecision. The fight outside intensified. Andris threw Torin, and he landed on the fender of another car, leaving a dent so huge I was surprised every bone in his body wasn’t broken.

  The decision to find the school cop disappeared when Maliina’s hands moved and light reflected something in them. She was carrying two knives or the weird thin blades she’d used to sketch runes on her skin. They were planning to kill Torin.

  I raced out the door, down the lawn, and across the street. Thuds grew louder the closer I got to them. I also noticed the runes covering every visible part of their bodies. Did the runes give them superhuman strength?

  “Stop it,” I yelled.

  The two guys froze and looked toward me. Not Maliina. She sent a knife sailing toward Torin, who was pinning Andris against a car door.

  “Duck,” I yelled.

  Torin didn’t move. He kept staring at me with a look I couldn’t define. The knife sunk into his chest. I gasped, but he didn’t even flinch. Blood spread on his black shirt.

  “How can she see us?” Ingrid asked.

  “I told you he healed and marked her,” Maliina said with a sneer.

  Without looking down, Torin gripped the handle of the knife, yanked it from his chest, and threw it down. Without missing a beat, he marched toward Maliina.

  “Torin, don’t,” Andris yelled.

  Confused, I watched the red and white blur that was Maliina as she tried to get away, but Torin was faster. One second they looked like the Tasmanian Devil in Warner Bros cartoons, the next he’d grabbed her from behind. He gripped her jaw and twisted, snapping her neck in one smooth move. I opened my mouth to scream, but my throat had seized up. Cursing Torin to Land of Mist, Andris caught Maliina before she hit the ground.

  “Why?” Andris yelled.

  “I warned both of you to leave Mortals alone,” Torin growled as he started toward me.

  I staggered backwards, needing to put space between us, so scared I could hardly think. Pain shot up my arm. I looked down, trying to find its source, and saw the knife protruding from my shoulder. It was a replica of the one Torin had pulled from his chest. Maliina must have thrown both knives at the same time. Weird, I hadn’t seen the knife sail toward me or felt the pain when it pierced my skin. I’d been focused on Torin.

  Tears rushed to my eyes, and wooziness washed over me. I hated the sight of blood, even though only a blot of red discolored my light-blue top.

  “Easy, Freckles,” Torin said calmly. “Let me remove it.”

  My head whipped up. “No. Touch me and I’ll scream.”

  “Don’t,” Torin warned. He spoke with the authority of someone who was used to giving orders, and I found myself obeying and hating myself for being scared of him. What had Maliina meant by ‘he marked her’?

  “I just want to help you,” Torin added softly.

  “No. You’re crazy.” I shuffled away from him. I glanced at the others. Ingrid cradled Maliina in her arms while Andris etched runes on her arm. “You’re all crazy.”

  Torin smiled. “Come on, Freckles. You know we’re not. We are … different. That’s all. Let me remove the knife, so the wound can heal.”

  I shook my head, my heart pounding so hard I could hear each beat on my temple. Worse, the arm with the knife was beginning to go numb. “No, the nurse will remove it and …” The last thing he’d said registered. “Heal? What do you mean?”

  “The runes will heal you,” he said gently.

  “I don’t want—” I looked down and gasped, as a fresh surge of panic rolled through me. Runes inked my skin. Where had they come from? I pushed back my sleeve and saw more. Before I realized his intentions, Torin grabbed the handle and pulled the knife from my arm.

  I flinched, expecting pain. I felt nothing even though blood gushed from the wound and darkened my sleeve. Then it stopped spreading. I stared, too afraid to move or breathe. With a trembling hand, I pulled up my sleeve to reveal where the knife had pierced my skin. The wound sealed until nothing was left. No scar or bruise to show I’d been stabbed. The runes glowed then disappeared.

  Shaking, I looked up at Torin in horror. I was a freak. “What have you done to me?”

  “We’ll talk later. Right now, go back to school.” He shrugged off his jacket. “Wear this to cover your shirt until—”

  “No.” I pushed the jacket away, my stomach churning. “You did this to me.”

  He shook his head. “Freckles—”

  “You marked me.”

  “I didn’t.”

  “Liar. How do you explain the runes or my body self-healing? You’ve turned me into one of you, a freak.”

  “You’re not a freak, and I won’t let you become like me.” He said it like he was something ugly and unpleasant, an abomination.

  I stared at him unblinkingly. “What are you?”

  Blue fire burned in his eyes as though he was struggling with his thoughts.

  “What did you do to me?” I yelled.

  He shook his head and spoke softly. “You would have died on Saturday if I hadn’t healed you, Raine.”

  “You don’t know that,” I said through clenched teeth. His face faded and then zoomed into focus. I was about to faint. Worse, the smell of blood mixed with the shock of seeing the runes on my skin made me nauseas.

  “Look at the cars,” he begged, waving toward the casualties of his fight with Andris: dented hoods and fenders, crashed windows, and broken mirrors. “A kick from one of us can snap your spine in two or crush your ribcage like it did on Saturday.”

  I didn’t want to hear his explanation or forgive him. “I didn’t ask you to heal me, Torin.”

  “I know,” he conceded, sounding so sad, anguish on his face.

  “Then remove them.” I stuck my arms out. “Do something and get them out of me.”

  He shook his head. “That’s not how we do things.”

  “I don’t care how you do things. Find a way to remove them.” I staggered past him then remembered. “And that includes the ones on my car.”

  Confusion flashed in his eyes. “Your car?”

  “Yes, my car. I can’t even drive it because I’m scared it might explode. If she,” I jabbed a finger toward Maliina, “is responsible f
or the blackout and caused Kate’s death, she’d better stay dead or I’ll report her to Chief Sparrowhawk myself.” I walked past him, but he reached for my arm. I jerked away. “Don’t.”

  “Take the jacket, Raine. Or you’ll have to explain the blood to the school nurse and your friends.”

  I hated the fact that he was right. I had a tank top under my shirt, but wearing it would violate the school’s dress code. To make things worse, some of the students had left school and were coming toward the parking lot. I grabbed the jacket from his hand.

  “You’re welcome,” he said.

  “Bite me.” I hurried away, hating the sticky, wet blood on my skin. I yanked the jacket on and didn’t look back until I heard the roar of his Harley. He rode away as though hell was on his heels. Andris was gone, too, but Ingrid was helping Maliina to her feet.

  The evil bitch couldn’t even stay dead. Go figure. Breaking each other’s neck must be part of their daily smackdown. The two women turned to stare at me. I couldn’t see their expressions, but I felt their hatred.

  Yeah, right back at you.

  Ingrid left Maliina’s side and moved from car to car at a super-speed, pausing to mark them with her rune pen. I assumed she was fixing the cracks and dents their men had left behind. Shaking my head, I continued toward the building. I was never, ever going near them again. Next time, let them kill each other for all I cared.

  Students were leaving the auditorium and talking excitedly when I entered the building. I managed to weave my way to the restroom, changed, and stashed my shirt in my locker. I didn’t want the cleaning people finding it in the garbage can. I was already freaking out about what was happening to me without worrying about the school starting another investigation. I hurried to my next class.

  MAKING CONNECTION

  “Do you need to see a counselor, Cooper?” Mr. Allred, my physics teacher, asked. He was the second teacher to ask me that very question since the assembly, and it was becoming annoying. My problems couldn’t be solved by talking to a school counselor.

  “No, I’m fine.” Or I was going to be once I knew how and why my new neighbor had runed me. Marked me. Turned me. It didn’t matter how I said it. I was a freak. The only thing stopping me from a total meltdown was what he had said. “I won’t let you become like me.”

  He’d better keep his word.

  Cora didn’t mention the leather jacket or my tank top after school. Grief-stricken, she barely talked to me before taking off with Keith. Eirik was more observant. Even though I removed the jacket before entering his car, his eyes narrowed on it. He didn’t say anything until we pulled up outside my house.

  “Is that Torin’s?”

  I nodded, feeling guilty even though I had no reason to be. “I had a nose bleed and bloodied my shirt when I went outside during the assembly.” I pulled out the shirt and showed him. He made a face. “I know, disgusting. Torin loaned me his jacket to cover up my tank top. You know school rules. No tank tops.”

  “That explains why you disappeared. I checked the hall, but didn’t see you.”

  Weird. He should have been able to see me through the window. The others, according to Ingrid, were invisible to everyone but me. Yeah, lucky me. “Are you coming in?”

  “No.” He glanced at his watch. “I have my physical in thirty minutes.”

  “For the swim team?”

  “Yep. Want to come and hold my hand?” he teased.

  I grinned, forgetting my problems. “You poor baby. Sorry, I can’t. Mom hasn’t made my appointment yet, and you know how it is. If she’s not there, the nurses won’t let me past the waiting room.” I stepped down from the Jeep and closed the door.

  He rolled down the window. “Listen, Raine. Be careful around Torin.”

  I frowned. “Why do you say that?”

  “I know my parents know his family, but I get weird vibes from him. Just be careful.”

  Vibes didn’t begin to cover it. “Okay.”

  I watched him drive away, then removed my cell phone. I called Mom and reminded her about my physical. After she promised to make an appointment with the doctor, I grabbed a bag of spicy Doritos, soda, a notebook, and a pen, and headed back outside.

  Homework would just have to wait. I needed answers, and since I couldn’t summon the runes to appear on my skin without hurting myself first, that left the ones on the car.

  I sat on the curb and copied the garish writings. The roar of Torin’s Harley filled the air after a while, and my heart leaped. I pretended not to hear it and didn’t glance over when it stopped. I continued to focus on the runes. There appeared to be six of them in a repeated pattern of threes, but the middle one was the same in all of them.

  “What are you doing, Freckles?”

  My stomach did that annoying flip-flopping thing. I wanted to ignore him. I really did, but I just couldn’t. He slid next to me and peered at my book, bringing with him his warmth. It wrapped around me so deliciously I wanted to purr.

  Don’t let him get to you. He was the rude and cocky Immortal with superhuman abilities who’d runed me. He smelled good, too. Okay, so there was something about him that called to me. I could either whine about it or just ignore it. I needed his help.

  “I guess you’re ignoring me now,” he said. “What happened to the gutsy girl who begged me to bite her in the school parking lot?”

  “I did not beg.” Only he could take something said in anger and flip it. “I’m copying the runes before you remove them.”

  He chuckled. “Who said I can remove them?”

  “Me. One of your people painted them.”

  “Why would they do that?”

  “Because she hates me.” I glanced at him and wished I hadn’t. Without his wraparound sunglasses, his eyes drew me in. He really had beautiful eyes and incredibly long eyelashes. My eyes strayed to his chest. He hadn’t changed his shirt from earlier, and the blood from the stabbing wound was still there.

  I pointed at the spot. “Can you get rid of that by drawing runes on your shirt?”

  He glanced down and frowned as though surprised it was there. “Yeah, or I can do this.”

  He stretched his T-shirt so it plastered against his masculine chest, and my inner hound wagged its tail in appreciation. The blood on the fabric quickly disappeared. He grinned, looking pleased with himself. What a show off.

  “How do you do that?”

  “I control the runes on my body; will them to do my bidding. Unlike the others, I don’t need to sketch new ones all the time.”

  Yep, he was definitely showing off. “Can you look at any rune and know what it means?”

  He rolled his eyes as though the task was too mundane for someone with his abilities. “Before I answer that, how are you planning to decipher the codes?”

  “Codes?”

  “The message behind the rune patterns you have so, uh,” he leaned closer, his arm touching mine, “sloppily drawn.”

  I sucked in a breath as I adjusted to the sensations shooting through my body from where our arms touched. My heart pounded. I wanted to move away and break the contact, but I couldn’t. Truth be told, I longed to wrap myself around him and greedily absorb these new sensations. Now if only I could breathe before I passed out.

  Then what he’d said registered. He’d called my sketches sloppy. Somehow my mind tended to process things a lot slower whenever I was around him, and it had to stop.

  “Well?” he asked.

  I exhaled and muttered, “I’ll check online.”

  He laughed, and I wasn’t sure whether he knew the effect he had on me or if my squeaky voice was the cause. Either way, he was laughing at me. Anger boiled to the surface. One minute in his presence and I wanted to deck him.

  “Go away, Torin.” I got up.

  He jumped up. “It amazes me how Mortals think they can decipher messages from the gods.”

  I cocked my brow. “As in I’m the Mortal and you guys are some kind of gods?”

  “Close, but
yeah.”

  I counted backward until I was calm enough to speak without hurling my notebook at his head. “Why are you such a douche?”

  His brow shot up. “Me? I’m the nice one. You’re the … impossible one. One minute you’re thanking me for healing you, the next you’re yelling at me for doing it.”

  “You marked me with your stupid runes,” I said through clenched teeth.

  He pretended to think about it. “If I marked you, Freckles, I’d be under your skin. You wouldn’t think of anything or anyone but me twenty-four-seven.”

  I’d thought of him nonstop ever since we met. Heat warmed my face.

  A low grin spread across his face. “You’ve been thinking about me, haven’t you?”

  “You wish.”

  His eyes twinkled. “Bet you think about me when you kiss Seville.”

  I opened my mouth, then closed it with a snap. I didn’t think I could speak without saying something I’d regret. “I loathe you.”

  “There’s a thin line between—”

  “Leave me alone.” I marched toward the house, trying to escape my feelings.

  “I can tell you what the runes mean,” he said, following me.

  “Yeah, like I’d believe anything you say now.” I opened the door, entered, and turned. “Nice chatting with you, Torin. I’d say don’t ever speak to me again but that would be pointless because you’re always around, stalking me, waiting to play the hero. Whatever game you’re playing, it’s not working. I already have a hero, and he’s … he’s Mortal and amazing. When we kiss, I don’t think. I feel.” I slammed the door on his face and grinned. The grin turned into laughter. The play of emotions on his face as I’d berated him would go down in history. Shock, confusion, and amazement. I’d bet no girl had ever slammed a door in his face.

  I threw out the empty Doritos bag and soda can and headed upstairs. While my laptop rebooted, I settled on the window seat. As though he’d been waiting for me, Torin sat on his window seat and studied me across the space. When he smirked, I faked interest in my computer and clicked on a browser.