“That evil bitch,” Raine said.
“I asked Ingrid if she knew anything about them, but she doesn’t. She said something weird though. The night Maliina runed me, she said I’d become useful. Why would she say that? Did she know she’d mimic me? Possess me? Are you guys sure she’s really in Hel?”
“Whoa, slow down,” Raine said, gripping my shoulder. “Let’s not jump to conclusions. The Grimnirs took her after that battle at the mansion. Have you talked to Echo?”
“No. I only found out about this during my drive to school.”
“There you go. Talk to Echo before you start worrying. He, Torin, Andris, and these guys,” she indicated Blaine and Ingrid, who were walking toward us, “have been around and know a lot. I’ve come to realize that when I have a problem or an idea, my first stop is Torin. At times Mom or Lavania. When they’re not around, I go to Blaine or Ingrid. They’re a wealth of info. Talk to Echo.”
She was right. Maybe I was blowing things out of proportion. We got out of the car just as Blaine and Ingrid reached us. Together we entered the boutique. The salesgirl looked up from her phone and was about to dismiss us when she saw Blaine. She turned on a megawatt smile.
“If you need any help, just let me know,” she said, her eyes not leaving him.
I grinned. Once upon a time, that would have been me. I could see Angie through the glass window working on an outfit. As usual, she had a tape around her neck and her dyed red hair was pinned up and away from her face. She was a gifted seamstress.
“We’re here to see Angie,” I said.
The salesgirl dragged her eyes from Blaine, put her cell phone down, and went to get Angie. In seconds, the redhead entered the room with three dresses draped over her arm.
“Cora, I’ve been waiting for you,” Angie said. The hug she gave me was a bit awkward. She only reached my chin. She turned and saw Raine. “Are you also looking for a prom dress, Raine? I hope so because I found the perfect outfit for you.”
Raine bit her lip. “Uh, Angie. I’m not buying anything today.”
“Why not? You’re not going to the prom? Isn’t your boyfriend the handsome quarterback?”
Raine’s cheeks grew pink. “My mother already made my outfit, Angie, or I would have been here weeks ago.”
Nice save. Angie would be hurt if she knew Raine had bought her outfit online. I took the dresses and waved Blaine and Ingrid over.
“We’ve brought you some new customers, Angie. Ingrid and Blaine are looking for something special, too.” A speculative gleam entered Angie’s eyes as she studied Blaine. “For his girlfriend, Jen.”
Blaine scowled. “Jen is not my girlfriend.”
“Could’ve fooled me,” I teased him.
Angie beamed. She’d probably catalogued Ingrid’s designer clothes and accessories and concluded she had a potential wealthy client.
“You’re terrible,” Raine said.
“Just helping the local economy.”
“Spoken like a local farmer’s daughter.”
“Mom’s starting to have a terrible effect on me.” I grabbed Raine’s wrist and pulled her into the changing room. Now, we could talk uninterrupted. I stripped while she got comfortable on the concrete slab slash bench.
“So you’re thinking Maliina never made it to Hel and is trying to use you as a suit?” she asked.
“An Immortal suit, Dean.” Dean Winchester from the hit TV show Supernatural always called the human vessels demons used “suits.” I stepped into the first outfit and pulled it up. “But how did she know she’d one day need to borrow my body?”
“The same way I knew about the seeresses dying. Maliina was a powerful witch and an evil Norn-in-training to boot. She could have seen something. Dark souls are not exactly on our side or on humanity’s side. They do terrible things. That’s gorgeous.”
“Really?” I studied my reflection, turned, and checked my back. “You don’t think it’s a bit too short?”
“No. It’s perfect for the prom theme.”
“All That Jazz” was the junior prom theme. The dusty-rose, knee-length drop waist dress with fringes was so nineteen-twenties. I loved it. It came with a hair accessory—a hair band with feathers—and satin gloves. I adjusted the hairband and studied my reflection again.
“Red lipstick and a fake cigarette folder, and you’re a full-blown flapper girl,” Raine said.
“I love the twenties.” I shimmied out of the outfit and tried the second one.
“I like the first one better,” she said.
“Me too.” The third one was a contemporary also perfect for the senior theme—Midnight in Paris. “I’ll take this one and the first one.”
Scuffles and shouting came from inside the store. Raine pulled her artavus from inside her boot before I could blink. She engaged her invisibility runes and so did I. By the time I pulled out my artavus from the inside pocket of my jacket, she’d etched runes on the door and created a portal. We could see inside the store.
Angie was back in her little office while her salesgirl was behind the desk, her focus on her phone. Blaine and Ingrid were missing.
14. DINNER WITH THE GANG
“Outside,” Raine said, and I followed the direction of her gaze.
Blaine and Ingrid were with Rhys, who was glaring at Blaine as though he wanted to pound his face.
“What in Hel’s Mist is going on out there?” Raine mumbled.
I didn’t bother to change. I grabbed the clothes I’d worn to school, and the first dress I’d tried on and placed them in front of the salesgirl. “I’ll take that one and the one I’m wearing. Tell Angie this,” I touched the one I wasn’t buying, “is just not me.”
She stared at me with round eyes. “But you’re wearing that—”
“I’m buying it, too. Okay? Just wrap those ones up.” I placed my debit card on the counter, waved to Angie through the window, and indicated the dress I was wearing and the first one I’d tried on. She nodded. “I’ll be back to sign the receipt.”
“You can’t leave the store—”
“I said I’d be back,” I snapped and followed Raine outside. Rhys and Blaine turned, and their jaws dropped.
“What? Haven’t you ever seen a girl try on a prom dress before? What are you doing here, Rhys?”
“Call off your Immortal watch dog so we can talk,” Rhys said.
“Watch who you’re calling a dog, Grimnir,” Blaine snapped. “And we’re not going anywhere.”
I sighed. “Blaine—”
“Don’t waste your breath, Cora. We’re not going anywhere, not after what his partner did to you.”
Men! “What is it, Rhys?”
“First, Nara sends her apologies for what happened on Monday.” His eyes strayed to my cleavage, which was exposed by the sexy dress. “She would have come herself, but she had to reap.”
“Then I’ll accept her apology when she says it to my face. What else? And please, my face is up here, not on my chest.”
Blaine laughed. Rhys glanced at Ingrid and pink tinged his cheeks. “I apologize. Um, I’m looking for Echo.”
I crossed my arms. “He’s not here.”
A lopsided smile curled Rhys’ lips, and dimples flashed on his cheeks. “I can see that. Could you tell him he and I need to talk?”
“Why?”
Annoyance crossed his face. and for one brief moment, I was sure he’d said something rude. Instead, he glanced at Ingrid again and said, “The dark souls are restless, and quite a number of them are headed this way.”
My stomach dropped. “How do you know?”
“We reaped a few not far from here. Dark souls are loners by nature and territorial. We saw a group of them. If they’re coming here because of you, Echo is going to need help dealing with them.”
I studied him, not sure whether he was up to something or not. Like Dev, Echo hadn’t spoken to him in years. “Are you offering to help us?”
“Yes. It’s time to bury the past.”
&n
bsp; How convenient. “So this has nothing to do with Dev and the fact that you guys want him?”
“No, but chances are the dark souls followed him here. Dev tended to act without thinking and I’m sure that hasn’t changed.”
I frowned, not liking that one little bit. “Okay, I’ll talk to Echo. How will he contact you?”
“He knows where we hang out.” He frowned. “I hope you don’t hold my cousin’s rash behavior against her. She was distraught over Dev’s sudden appearance.”
Somehow I didn’t see Nara getting distraught or making mistakes. “We’ll see.”
He nodded at me and Blaine, bowed slightly toward Raine, which meant he knew who she was, and he turned toward Ingrid. “It was nice meeting you, uh…?”
“Goodbye, Grimnir,” Blaine said.
Ingrid backhanded Blaine’s chest. “Stop being rude. It’s Ingrid Dahl. Nice to meet you too, Rhys,” she said, sounding so formal.
Those adorable dimples flashed again as Rhys turned to leave. He looked back, his eyes going to Ingrid, before he disappeared into an alley.
I released a breath and glanced at the others. Ingrid wore a look I’d never seen on her. Rhys had definitely caught her interest.
Raine gave me a look that said, “Here we go again.” I wasn’t sure whether she meant another romance with a Grimnir or another horde of supernatural beings gunning for us.
“Looks like trouble is headed our way,” Blaine said, not sounding worried.
I was worried. No, I was petrified. It was the situation with the Immortals attacking our town all over again, except this time we didn’t have a bunch of witches on our side. It was just us. Somehow I had to convince Echo to meet with Rhys and rally up support among the Grimnirs. I pulled out my phone and texted Echo. Hopefully, he wasn’t in Hel.
“I gotta grab my clothes.” I disappeared inside, changed, and paid for my purchases. Outside, I could see the others conferring. Then Blaine and Ingrid took off.
“Don’t drop me off at my place,” Raine said. “Let’s stop at the mansion and talk to Lavania. I’d rather she hears what’s going on from you than me, or someone else.”
I didn’t argue even though all I wanted to do was go home and wait for Echo. My phone didn’t ding either, so no text from him. I wasn’t sure what was worse, texting him and not getting a response, or not texting at all.
“Did you see how the Grimnir, uh, Rhys couldn’t take his eyes off Ingrid?” Raine asked, and I shot her an annoyed look. “Yeah, I know, we have enough to worry about without thinking about romance. But peaceful moments are meant to be enjoyed. Worrying about what might happen will only paralyze us. Torin often says we don’t let our enemies dictate how we behave. Let them come and think we’re not prepared, until they attack and realize we are way ahead of the game.”
I reached out and gripped her hand. “Thank you. I needed to hear that. Oh crap. I can’t believe I forgot to ask Rhys about Maliina.”
“I’m sure Echo would know if she’s on Torture Island or not,” Raine quipped.
“I don’t know. Remember, he never left my side after the battle, and when I recovered, he left with Eirik. The other Grimnirs were envious of his reaping record and hated him. She could have escaped them and they wouldn’t have bothered to tell him.”
“Did you feel anything that could connect the dark soul that attacked you to her?”
“You mean other than the pure evil spewing from her core? No.”
***
At the mansion, we found Lavania in the library. She had a sixth sense or something because she knew right away something wasn’t right. She listened without interrupting. When Torin and Andris arrived, she asked them to join us and quickly explained what I had told her. She didn’t miss a thing. Not the fears and doubts starting to consume me, or the dilemma I was having about helping dark souls.
“You poor child,” she said, giving me a hug.
The urge to cry washed over me. I couldn’t discuss the supernatural crap I went through with my mother, so Lavania and Raine’s mother were often my confidants. When she rubbed my back, it reminded me of Mom. I wanted to bawl.
“Listen to me,” she added firmly. “We’ve faced worse enemies and sent them running. So I don’t want you worrying about these dark souls or doubting your gifts. Okay?”
The urge to cry ebbed. “It doesn’t feel like a gift right now,” I griped.
She chuckled. “I know. Once this crisis is over, everything will go back to normal.”
I doubted that. Besides, her idea of normal was not my normal.
“Now,” she added, her eyes narrowing. “I can’t begin to understand why you’ve decided to help a dark soul, but I’m going to respect your decision. I only hope that if you need to talk, you know I’m here for you.”
I fought tears again.
“Come now. None of that. Let’s talk about medium runes. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of them before, but I’m not surprised they exist. Most Mediums are witches, who use trance magic, not runes, in order to communicate with the dead. Have you guys heard of them?” She glanced at the others, but Torin, Andris, and Blaine shook their heads. Ingrid wore a preoccupied expression as though something bothered her.
“Now I understand why you asked me about Maliina,” Ingrid said. “If she’s the soul that attacked you—”
“No, she’s not,” Andris said quickly. “The Grimnirs took her straight to Hel’s little torture chamber on Agony Island after I killed her. I saw them enter a portal with her.”
“What if she escaped and is here now?” Ingrid shot back, her voice rising.
“Then we’ll deal with her again,” Andris said. “Anyone coming after you or Cora must go through us first.” Sometimes he acted like he might have stronger feelings for Ingrid, and other times, he was a complete jerk to her. He was so unpredictable.
“Andris is right,” Lavania said, rubbing Ingrid’s arm. “But soon we won’t need the boys to protect us. You’ll be protecting yourselves.” She smiled, her glance touching me, Ingrid, and Raine. “It’s time for my great news now that you’re all here. I got the go-ahead to start a new school, a special school to train Immortals and future Valkyries. We should be up and running by fall.”
“I didn’t think they’d go for it,” Raine said.
“Why shouldn’t they? As soon as they learned the idea came from you, they were happy to oblige. I’m still searching for the perfect location and once I find it, I expect you three to be in my senior class.”
Since there was no way in Hel’s Mist my parents would allow me to spend my senior year at some weird boarding school, I tuned them out, my thoughts shifting to Echo. I checked my phone again.
No text.
What was the point of having a phone when he couldn’t take a moment to text me back? Unless he couldn’t. My stomach clenched at the thought.
I made eye contact with Raine and indicated the door with a slant of my head. We excused ourselves. Torin cocked a questioning brow, but Raine didn’t explain.
“I need to check if Echo is at his place and then head home.”
“Let me tell the others.” She walked away before I could protest. I sent Echo another text. A minute later, Raine came out with Torin. Andris, Blaine, and Ingrid followed.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“We’re coming with you,” Raine said. “You don’t think we’re going to let you out of our sight now, do you?”
It was sweet of them, but I just wanted to see Echo. “So if I said no?”
“We’d ignore you,” Andris said and led the way through the portal to Echo’s place in Miami. The house was in total darkness. It was eight p.m. We did a walk-through, but Echo wasn’t there. I started to worry. I sent him two texts, first apologizing for my previous one and then begging him to come home.
“Did your mom bake pies today, Cora?” Andris asked, rubbing his stomach.
“Yeah, I could go for a slice now and a glass of her apple cider,” Blaine
chimed in.
I shook my head. They weren’t exactly subtle. “If you want to continue playing Secret Service, just say so.”
“We want to make sure you’re safely at home, and we do love your mom’s pies,” Torin added.
It was hard to argue with Torin when he wore that look that said he was beginning to worry. An absent Echo when I needed him was a bad sign. We headed back to the mansion, piled up in cars, and drove to my place.
I kept glancing at my cell phone so much Raine offered to drive.
***
It wasn’t often the whole crew gathered at my place, but Mom didn’t seem fazed when we pulled up. The mansion was the meeting place of choice whenever we had a crisis.
Instead of going inside, they decided to sit on the porch after saying hi to my parents. Torin took the swing and pulled Raine onto his lap. She snuggled against his chest. Ingrid sat beside them while Blaine plopped on a wicker chair and Andris leaned against the porch rail. Once I dropped my dresses upstairs, I helped Mom serve homemade apple cider and slices of pie.
“Dinner will be ready in an hour, so don’t take off,” Mom warned us.
I followed her inside the house. “Mom, you don’t have to feed them.”
She chuckled and exchanged a glance with Dad. “What a terrible thing to say. Your friends are always invited here. Dinner will be ready in an hour. Now, shoo. Let me know if they need more cider.”
For half an hour, I half-listened to my friends talk about soccer and US players. The Fifa World Cup was starting in June. I had no interest in soccer or what teams were likely to qualify. Blaine and Torin were typical jocks, but Ingrid surprised me by how much she knew about soccer.
I stared into space and stressed about everything—Echo, dark souls, Dev, Rhys and Nara, and Maliina—my worst nightmare. If she was back…
A hand landed on my shoulder. I jumped. Andris had come to sit beside me on the steps and I hadn’t even noticed. The way the others stared at me said they must have tried to get my attention, too.
Souls (Runes series) Page 18
