Souls (Runes series)

by Ednah Walters

  “All of them,” I countered.

  “One, Cora.”

  “They slashed four of mine.”

  “And Echo and I fixed them at no charge. Tires are expensive, and they don’t have an Immortal guarding them against holes and cuts. One tire and that’s it.” He glanced over his shoulder. “They haven’t found a parking spot yet. Do it now, so they won’t suspect you.”

  “I want them to know I did it,” I retorted.

  His right eyebrow shot up. “And what will that accomplish? Feuding with members of the women’s basketball team?” He glanced over his shoulder. “They’re parking.” He jumped out of the car, came around, and opened the door. “One tire. No need to be petty.”

  “Oh, you suck,” I said and took off. The girl driver was just stepping out. This is for you, bitch. I plunged the narrow blade into the tire. The sound of air releasing from her tire was so loud she heard it.

  “Oh no,” she exclaimed and leaned down for a better look. “I don’t know how to change flats.”

  Her friend, the one who’d called me a dumb blonde, joined her. “My cousin can fix it during lunch. Do you have a spare?”

  “I think so.” She kicked the flat tire and walked to the back.

  Let’s see how you deal with two flat tires. I glanced toward my car to see if Blaine could see me then went after the second tire. I whistled a happy tune back to my car and got rid of the runes. Blaine studied my face, which I was sure screamed guilty.

  “What?” I asked with attitude.

  “How many tires?”

  “Two.” I grabbed my backpack and got out of the car. “You can’t get mad at me. She called me a dumb blonde.”

  Blaine’s eyebrow shot up when he joined me. “Since you’re not, what they think shouldn’t matter.”

  “I know that, but blonde jokes hurt, especially when you happen to suck at math and have a chip on your shoulder.”

  Blaine laughed. Then he tilted his head and studied me, a bemused smile on his lips.

  I bristled. “What?”

  “You’re funny. I never knew that before.” A thoughtful expression settled on his face. “I can definitely see why Echo is crazy about you. You’re brutally honest, you’re crazy as hell, and you’re pretty hot in your own way.”

  I pursed my lips, my eyes narrowing. “Uh, thanks for the backhanded compliments, but you’d better not start crushing on me. First, I have enough on my plate dealing with Drew and his obsession with Maliina. Second, Echo will kill you if he catches you looking at me. Third, I don’t particularly like you.”

  He laughed as though he didn’t believe me. “Everyone loves me.”

  Most girls did, but that was before Torin took over as the quarterback. “Not me. You don’t know how to listen. I told you not to touch my car and let the people responsible fix the tires, but no-ooo. You just had to be the hero.”

  He scoffed at the idea. “I didn’t fix your car. Just drove it to your house when Echo was done.”

  “You shouldn’t have told him.”

  “If you haven’t noticed, it is impossible to stop him once your name is mentioned. I mentioned giving you a ride home and he wanted to know why.”

  We crossed the street and joined the students entering the building. Something else occurred to me, and I stopped. “Did you tell him about the incident with the Grimnirs?”

  “No, but if he asks me, I’ll have to tell him the truth.”

  I sighed. “Like I told the others, I’ll tell him when I’m ready. His meddling might interfere with my investigation.” The smile died on my lips when we entered the building and the first people I saw were Drew and his friends. I groaned and tried to ignore him and the way his eyes followed us.

  “Drew is seriously lusting after you,” Blaine teased.

  “Shut up,” I said.

  “You want me to talk to him?”

  “Would you? Please?”

  “Anything for a fellow Immortal.” He took off while I headed toward the lockers. The basketball players arrived at their lockers across from mine and hardly paid attention to me. They were busy bitching about their flat tires.

  I grinned.

  ***

  I didn’t see Raine until lunchtime. Once again, she was alone. Something was different about her; I just couldn’t put my finger on it. “Please tell me you don’t have to go home or meet Torin for lunch,” I said.

  “I don’t.”

  “Good. You’re coming with.” I slipped my arm around hers. “We’re going to Echo’s for lunch.”

  “Oh. Won’t I be in the way?” She eased her arm from mine to put her books away. “From my understanding, lunchtime make-outs tend to get pretty heavy.”

  Warmth crept up my face. “No, they don’t.” Yes, they did, and I missed them. “Come on.” We headed to the same bathroom I’d used yesterday, but there was a line.

  “We need a portal,” I said. “You can create one from inside the car, right? I’ve seen Echo do it.”

  A perplexed expression flitted across Raine’s face. “Why aren’t we using the bathrooms? Mirrors make the best portals.”

  “I know, but after locking those basketball players from the bathroom, they slashed my tires.”

  Raine stopped. “What basketball players? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I did.” Had she forgotten already? “At first, I thought the Grimnirs did it, then Drew… Poor Drew. This morning, I found out that the basketball players did it. Remember the three girls from yesterday?”

  Raine looked up and down the hallway. “Let’s pay them back.”

  I grinned. This was why she was my best friend. We thought alike. “Already did. I cloaked myself this morning and gave them two flat tires.”

  “Two? Why not all four?” she asked as we continued toward the front of the school.

  “Thank you. Someone who finally gets it. Blaine wanted me to do only one and made a big deal about it. But they also called me a dumb blonde, which rankled, so I went for two.”

  “Want to finish the job?”

  I laughed. “No, I owe it to Blaine to reign in my bitchy side. He’s really a great guy, and I kind of like him on my side. You know, Immortals united and watching each other’s back.”

  Students milled in the entrance halls. Some of the second lunch group, like us, hurried out of the building while the first lunchers sauntered back. We exited the building and headed toward the parking lot.

  “Since when did you become so bloodthirsty, Raine Cooper?” I asked. “What happened to the girl who’d carry spiders outside instead of squashing them?”

  “The Norns happened. You gotta give as good as you get or people will crush you.”

  I didn’t know what to say. She’d been through a lot because of the Norns, so I kind of understood her attitude. I’d just never heard her voice her opinion with such anger or include people in her frustration with the Norns. Or maybe it was a slip of the tongue.

  Inside the car, runes appeared on her skin, making her alabaster skin shimmer. She etched the right runes on the window and door of her car, her hand moving so fast it blurred.

  “Whoa, you’re fast,” I whispered.

  “Not as fast as Torin. He makes everything seem so effortless.” The entire door of the car became grainy then shimmery like the surface of water. It peeled back to show Echo’s living room.

  Raine swung her legs and entered the room. Knowing we’d probably find Echo chomping on a bowl of soup with his feet propped up, I hesitated. Then I berated myself for being chicken. I wanted to see him. He was avoiding me, and it was time it stopped.

  11. FIRST ATTACK

  The house was quiet. Too quiet. A bag from Echo’s favorite restaurant was on the counter. I peeked inside. Soup. The containers were warm.

  I put Mom’s lunch on the counter and headed to the bedroom. His bed was neatly made. He hadn’t slept here last night. He never made his bed, and his cleaners came on Mondays and Thursdays. I picked up a pillow and buried my fac
e in it. His scent brought back memories.

  How is it possible to miss someone this much?

  “Hey,” Raine called from the doorway, and I looked up. “You okay?”

  “Echo and I fought.” She blinked. “I know, shocking.” I led the way back to the kitchen and pulled the soup containers from the bag. “I don’t know if I should really call it a fight. He refused to help me with Dev and I, uh, got pissed.” I handed her a bowl. She knew where the utensils were and got a spoon. “I told him I didn’t want to see him for forty-eight hours.”

  Her eyebrows shot up. “And he listened?”

  “Not really.” I rolled my eyes. “On Sunday morning, he stopped by with breakfast, which was so sweet because unlike your guy, Echo’s completely inept in the kitchen. I kind of reminded him he wasn’t supposed to come near me for two days. I didn’t think he’d take me seriously, the annoying reaper.” I sighed. “I miss him.”

  Raine rubbed my arm. “Once he finds out about what happened yesterday with the Grimnirs, he’ll be here breathing fire and threatening to decapitate someone.”

  I laughed. “He’s not going to find out because Rhys, the walking ad for tats, used to be the third member of their trio and they don’t talk, and you guys are...” I zipped my lips.

  “You’re forgetting the girl.”

  I sighed and put Mom’s pot roast and potatoes in the fridge. “Nara is a pain. Everything about her bugs me.” I fished the cell phone from my pocket. “Dev said she and Echo dated.”

  Raine’s eyes widened. “Oh. I don’t know what I’d do if Torin’s ex appeared. Probably put a hex on her.”

  I laughed. “You wouldn’t. You know he loves only you and you’d ignore her the same way I’ve been ignoring Nara. The problem with her is she keeps saying things that make me want to punch her in the nose.”

  “She’s jealous, that’s all. You have the power.”

  True. If only Echo would come home. I brought the phone to my lips. “Hey, Dev. You there?”

  Raine’s eyes flashed with amusement. “You talk to him on the phone?”

  “He likes to commandeer my electronics to communicate. He’s not back. Come on, let’s eat.”

  We started on our soups, and I remembered something. Raine’s behavior had been off, but between my issues with Echo and Dev, we hadn’t really talked.

  “How are things with you?”

  She shrugged.

  “Not you, too. I have had enough of reading body language, so talk. Watching you do magic is amazing. Does it affect you?”

  “Oh yeah. The rush is off the charts. Scary.”

  “And?”

  “That’s it.”

  She was lying. “There’s a lot more going on with you, Raine. Spill it.”

  “I need to marry Torin.”

  I choked on my soup. She grinned as she thumped my back. “Really?” I said when I could speak.

  “Really. I need him in so many ways it scares me, but,” a faraway look entered her eyes, “marrying him is at the top of my list. It’s the only way we can survive all this mayhem.” She nodded. “We need each other.”

  I was sure my eyes were like saucers. “Does he know how you feel?”

  Before she could answer, a gush of frigid air swept the kitchen and Echo entered the room, filling it with his vibrant presence. I got up, raced past Raine, and jumped into his arms.

  Unprepared for my reaction, he stumbled backward and chuckled, the sexy sound rumbling through me. He wrapped his arms around me until we were tightly pressed against each other.

  “I missed you, too,” he said, laughing.

  I hugged him tight, everything that had been wrong with my world becoming right. He was frozen, from his toes to the tips of his hair. I slid my fingers through his hair. I’d missed him. His scent. His arms. The feel of his body against mine. Even his cold skin after a trip to Hel’s was as normal as breathing.

  I shivered, but didn’t move away. Echo needed my warmth, so I did what came naturally. I warmed him. He lifted me clear off the floor and moved backward, until he leaned against the kitchen counter, his face burrowing in the space between my neck and shoulder. We stayed like that for a while.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, his breath warm on my skin. This time, my shiver was not due to cold.

  “Hmmm-mmm,” I mumbled, turned my head, and squeezed him tight. My eyes met Raine’s. She indicated the deck, where the afternoon Miami sun blazed, and I nodded. I waited until she disappeared outside.

  “How could you disappear on me like that?” I asked, pinching his arm.

  “Ouch! There are more fun ways to abuse my body.”

  My face warmed. I tried to create more space between us, but he wasn’t ready to let me go yet. I managed to lean back and took a proper look at him. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days or shaved. I stroked his chin.

  “You don’t look too hot.”

  “I haven’t slept since Sunday.”

  “Why not? What happened?”

  He shrugged. “Everything here reminded me of you, so I reaped nonstop.”

  I squeezed him tight. “That was a dumb thing to do.”

  “I’ve done worse. Tell me what happened yesterday morning?”

  I blinked. “What?”

  “Two people attacked you. Who were they?”

  Andris and Torin were so dead. I bought time, crossed my arms, which wasn’t easy since his arms were firm around my waist, and thought about a plausible explanation. “Who told you I was attacked?”

  His eyebrows shot up. “Does it matter?”

  Note to self: never share a secret with any supernatural being in a three-mile radius.

  “Who were they? Dark souls?”

  Souls, of course. Why hadn’t I thought of that?

  “No, regular souls. Poor things. I tried to explain to them that I couldn’t help them, but they didn’t want to hear it.” I warmed up to the subject. “In fact, I almost got a tardy slip because of them. If Raine hadn’t come to my rescue and runed my teacher, I’d be spending Saturday making up the class. And FYI, they didn’t really attack me. They became aggressive, but I had the situation under control.”

  Echo’s eyes narrowed, and I knew he wasn’t buying my hard sale. “Can you recognize them when you see them again?”

  “No, Echo. You’re not going on a soul hunt just because I got careless.” I eased out of his arms. “Do you want lunch?”

  “Yes, but I’ll warm it.” He shrugged off his duster and gloves, dumped them on the table, and went to the fridge. “You sit down and give me descriptions.”

  I sighed. “There’s nothing more to say.”

  He removed all the boxes, lined them up inside the microwave, and punched in buttons. “Now you see why I think you should take a break from helping souls. They’re a bunch of self-serving shmucks.”

  “Don’t you mean Dev?”

  “He tops the list.”

  “Tell me about him,” I said, leaning forward.

  Echo glanced over my shoulder and scowled. “What’s there to say? He made a mistake and I fixed it.”

  “No, I want to hear about your childhood. You two were best friends before all the mess with the Romans. Was he nice, sweet, or funny?”

  Echo scoffed at my words. “Nice? Try reckless. Irresponsible. A real pain in my ass. He did things without thinking and then smirked when we got in trouble bailing him out. We’d come up with ideas, but before we could iron them out, he’d attempt them. The idiot.”

  From his voice, he’d enjoyed it. “And Rhys?”

  “Rhys shot down every idea we came up with, which would drive Dev crazy. Nara had to keep peace between him and Dev.” He removed the boxes from the microwave, placed in a tray, and got two sets of chopsticks from one of the bags. “Without her, they would have killed each other.”

  “Nara?” I asked.

  “The only girl in our group—Rhys’ cousin. At first, we barely tolerated her. But when she proved she could out jump, outrun
, and even outthink us, she became my second in command.”

  I’d bet. Not only had he dated Nara, she’d been one of the boys. They’d shared special moments. He regaled me with stories about their escapades, but all I could think about was Nara.

  Raine came in from outside and pointed at her watch.

  “Hey, Raine,” Echo said. “I didn’t know you were there.” He gave her a hug. While they talked, I threw my leftovers away. Lunchtime was over too soon. I wondered if I could skip school and just stay here with Echo. He’d probably love the idea.

  “Let’s agree on one thing, doll-face,” Echo said, pulling me into his arms before we left. “We fight, we make up. No spending nights apart angry. It messes with my head, which affects my job.” He peered at me and ran his knuckles down my cheek. “I probably set a record for the most reaping in the last thirty-six hours, and I wasn’t nice to the souls. I don’t want to be that person.”

  I nodded. The kiss that followed was too brief, but I didn’t mind because I knew I’d see him later. I planned to fix this mess between him and Dev before we left for the prom on Friday night.

  “We’re still going to the prom on Friday, right?” I asked.

  He smirked. “Try to stop me. See you after school. Raine, tell St. James we’ll talk soon.”

  The portal Raine created opened into a bathroom. We could see a couple of girls in front of the mirror. Good thing humans couldn’t see portals. We timed our entry when one left and the other entered a stall. I turned and waved to Echo.

  “I forgot to thank you for breakfast,” I said. “Mom now thinks I’m a gifted cook and whoever I marry will be one lucky man.”

  He smirked, thumbs hooked in the front pockets of his leather pants. “Good thing I’m only interested in your other talents.”

  The portal closed while I sputtered and fought a blush. Raine opened her mouth to comment, and I shook my head. “Not a word.”

  ***

  Echo was waiting for me after school, arms crossed, his back to my car. He made an effort to blend in and had once again traded his leather pants and sailor shirts for jeans and a T-shirt. But he still stood out and students stared as they walked past him. As usual, I doubted he noticed. His eyes followed me and Raine from the entrance of the school.