“You chose to follow a path we hadn’t set for you, Lorraine. Dealing with him is the consequence of that choice. If you let him win, you’ll lose everything.” Ginger glanced at the other two. Silent communication followed, but I didn’t bother to listen to it. “Leave now, Lorraine. We’ve said more than enough. All the Seeresses will be fine. We made sure of that.”
I frowned as things clicked into place. “You knew this man was going to come after me, and you stopped Valkyries from reaping to save them.”
“Leave!” Ginger ordered.
I didn’t move. “Admit it. You knew. You set events in motion to save them.”
“We took precautions, set paths,” Ms. Hawaii said. “Whether they followed it or not depended on them. These Seeresses proved they were worthy when they risked death to save you.”
“Worthy of what?”
Silence.
“Worthy to become one of you?” Ms. Porcelain’s eyes gave them away. The Seeresses were being recruited to become Norns. “So why save them and not me?”
“They faced him. Why shouldn’t you?” Ms. Hawaii asked. I didn’t like her tone.
“So if I face him and win, I become one of you? And if I don’t, I lose everything?”
Ginger lifted her hand and pointed at me. “Go!”
The door flew open behind me and something pushed me out of the room. The door slammed shut with a bang.
Old farts! I wished I could get in their heads and know all their stupid secrets.
Silly girl, she doesn’t stand a chance this time. I recognized Ginger’s voice.
I could hear her. Cool. Torin appeared by my side, his mouth opening and closing, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. My mind was linked with the Norns. Next second, I was floating away. I think. It felt that way.
She’s not silly, Ms. Hawaii said. She’s smart and annoyingly stubborn. No matter what path they set for her, she always takes one that leads to that Valkyrie.
That’s because she’s more powerful than us and she loves him. I didn’t recognize that voice. Must be Ms. Porcelain, the third Norn.
She is a child, snapped Ms. Hawaii. We can still force her to see things our way.
Force me? Okay. It was official. I hated Ms. Hawaii.
We’ll keep creating new paths until she gives up and joins us, Ginger vowed.
Ginger just joined my most hated Norn list, too.
Why can’t we just leave her alone? She’s made her choice. Ms. Porcelain was nice. She reminded me of Jeanette, my nice Norn.
Don’t ever say that, Ginger snapped.
I’m not the only one who feels this way, Ms. Porcelain shot back. Quite a number of us believe we should leave her alone. She might refuse to offer us shelter during Ragnarok for doing this to her and those she loves.
Shelter? How the heck was I going to do that? I thought I was going to predict when Ragnarok was to start.
It is a chance we have to take to ensure our kind survives, Ginger said. Until her choice is official, she is a fair game. Even the gods protecting her know that. That’s why they’re using her mother. We have the boy. We will not fail this time. His need to protect her will drive her straight to us.
Don’t underestimate them, Ms. Porcelain said. Together they’re unstoppable.
That’s why we’re doing things differently this time, Ginger said. Let’s finish here and move on to the next target.
Silence followed, and I became aware of two things: The floating sensation had stopped, and I was lying on my back. Torin’s face appeared in my periphery. Tension shot from him. He was worried. Or maybe pissed. How were the Norns using him?
“How long has she been like this?” I heard Femi ask.
“Since the meeting with the Norns. I should not have let her talk to them.”
I was home? The floating sensation must have been Torin carrying me to the portal. I’d eavesdropped on the Norns through space. How had I done that?
“We have to go,” I said, sitting up.
“No. You’re not going anywhere,” Torin said. He nudged me back until I rested against the pillows.
His need to protect her will drive her straight to us.
I slapped his hand. “Stop it.” I pushed his hand out of the way and sat up. “The Seeresses are being recruited to become Norns. That’s why they didn’t let you reap. They were waiting to save them. We have to get to at least one of them before they take them all. They wanted to finish before someone arrived.” I scooted to the edge of my bed and looked around for my shoes.
The heels I’d worn to dinner were nowhere to be seen. I reached for the ballet flats I’d left by my bed. “I had a feeling they were talking about the people after us. They know about the man after me but won’t do anything about him. If I face him and lose, I will lose everything. If I win, I kind of become a Norn. I think.”
Three pairs of eyes stared at me with different expressions. Torin looked pissed. His eyebrows were flat lines above his smoldering eyes. Andris and Femi watched me like I’d just told them I was dying.
“They told you all this?” Torin asked
“About recruiting, but I overheard the rest here.” I tapped my head.
“You linked with them telepathically,” Femi whispered.
“Is that good?” Andris asked, looking at Femi.
Femi shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“What is this about winning and becoming a Norn?” Torin asked, his voice a low growl.
“Something that we will never let happen,” I said. “We need to get at least one Seeress who can ID the people after us.”
Torin’s lips pulled back. “I don’t care. You’re not going out there.”
“I do and I am. They are using you. I heard them. They’re using you to push me to their side. Something about you being overprotective.”
He stared at me in disbelief, his eyes a stormy pool of emotions. I could just imagine what he was feeling. Not protecting me went against his nature. He’d already started training me to be strong and fast.
“You’re making that up—”
“No, I’m not,” I said.
He thrust his hand through his messy hair. From the looks of it, it wasn’t the first time he’d done it. “I want to know everything they said. But right now, I need you to find the Seeresses.”
***
We appeared in the hospital hallway we’d visited earlier. I couldn’t feel the Norns, just remnants of their energy. “They’re gone.”
“On to the next one,” Andris said, turning to re-enter the nurses’ bathroom.
“No. Just a second.” Torin switched off his runes and sauntered over to the nurse’s desk. The nurse behind the desk looked up, and her eyes glazed over before he even opened his mouth.
“Hey, luv. I’m looking for my aunt who’s been in a coma the last couple of days.” He gave her the name, his seductive smile at full throttle. The flustered woman hunched over her computer in a matter of seconds.
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “She died a few minutes ago. They just took her body to the morgue. Are you the next of kin?”
“No. A distant cousin. Thank you. You’ve been most helpful.” He moved so fast, beyond the perception of human eyes, and etched runes on her cheeks. Then he engaged his runes.
“She can’t be dead,” I protested as we moved away from the desk.
Torin looked around, his face harsh under the bright hospital light, frustration churning in his eyes. “Norns and Valkyries cover their tracks in two ways. They erase memories or switch bodies. My mother was given a Saracen body disguised as me to bury. Let’s find the morgue.”
“Should we be going after the other Seeresses?” Andris asked, standing his ground.
Torin threw him an annoyed look. “We need to confirm the MO they’re using.”
Andris’ eyes narrowed. “What purpose is knowing this going to serve?”
“It will confirm what Raine overheard,” Torin growled. “If the Norns are recruiting, this ent
ire mess with the Seeresses is a ruse to reel her in. And I’m not letting that happen.”
We found the morgue. A single attendant was filling out the paperwork. There were a few bodies by the door. With his back to us, he didn’t see tags move as we checked them. He happened to turn just after Torin exposed the Seeress’ face.
The attendant jumped up and walked to the gurney. “Hmm, how did you do that, pretty lady?” He studied the dead woman. “Poor thing. So young to be dead.”
“Is that what you guys are seeing? A young woman?”
Torin and Andris nodded.
“With runes all over her,” Andris added.
“What do you see?” Torin asked.
“An old woman covered with runes.”
We left the morgue and followed Andris to several other hospitals. All had Seeresses replaced by dead bodies. Some of the bodies were men. The Norns I’d met weren’t working alone. The energies in each hospital felt different. A lot of Norns were out tonight.
“Let’s find the Seeress’ personal effect,” I suggested after the last stop.
Torin and Andris stared at each other. They didn’t look too happy. I shifted from foot to foot. When their gazes shifted to something behind me, I turned to look, but there was no one there.
Torin took a step back and shook his head. “No,” he said firmly.
“Then how do you plan on finding the people after me? The Seeresses have been taken. And I’m sure the killers won’t go after more or the Norns would know about them. The only connection to them are their personal belongings and what I can see when I touch them.”
“I don’t like what it does to you when you go all golden eyes.” The emotions in his eyes were raw. “You go to places I can’t go, see horrible things, and I’m helpless to help you.”
“It’s not real, Torin. I know that now.”
He lowered his head until we were eye level. “But I’m the one who hears you scream and feels you shake.”
That sounded gruesome. “Listen, if I can stand it, so can you. It’s not real.” I moved closer to him. “You are real. What you feel for me and I feel for you is real. And I want our lives free of evil people chasing me and Norns using you to get to me. We stop these people now and deal with the Norns later.” Once I figured out what they meant by officially making a choice.
He sighed. “I’m taking you home right now. Then I’ll—”
“You know what? I don’t need your permission to find out the identity of the person after me. You’re not the only one who can smile and lie and make people do your bidding.” I turned off my runes and started toward the entrance of the morgue. Personal belongings were sent to the morgue with the bodies.
The next second, my feet were in the air as arms snatched me up and brought me against a solid body. “Engage your runes, Freckles.”
“No. I will not let them use you to get to me.”
He laughed. “Do you know how ridiculous you look floating and kicking in mid-air?”
“Let them think I’m a ghost—”
“Hel’s Mist! I’ll get them.” Andris marched toward the morgue entrance. “When she starts reaping, you two are on your own,” he threw over his shoulder.
I re-engaged my runes. “Thanks, Andris. As for you…” I wiggled out of Torin’s arms and turned to face him. “You’re such a douche. I’m doing this for you. For us.”
He chuckled. “I don’t recall asking you to be my guardian angel.”
“Neither did I ask you to be mine, you jerk. Yet here you are. You were gone for two days trying to find the person after me and came up empty-handed. We’ve spent hours chasing hags all over the globe, and they still bested us. Why are you so afraid to let me use my gift to identify the people after me?” I planted my hands on my hips and cocked my head. “What? Only you get to play the hero and do all the rescuing? Would it put a dent in that humongous ego of yours if I rescued you once?”
He pretended to think about it, head tilted to the side. “I took care of myself for centuries before you came along, and I’m really good at it. So yeah, the day I let a young woman rescue me is the day I stop being a man.”
I flinched, the hurt swift and precise. “You’re not a man, Torin St. James. You’re an idiot, too pigheaded to appreciate anything, too blind to see beyond your bulbous aristocratic nose, and too arrogant…” My voice cracked.
His eyebrows shot up. “Bulbous?”
“You know what? Forget you.” I started toward the bathroom, fighting hard to contain the tears burning my eyes and the ache in my chest.
I pushed the door open, but he zipped past me and had the portal to my room open by the time I reached the mirror. I couldn’t believe he wanted me gone that badly.
I walked right past him, hating that I didn’t have a door to slam in his arrogant face. I turned to give him an evil look, but the portal was closing. Then I saw the smug smile and realized he’d just played me. He’d wanted me out of the way and played me like a fine-tuned instrument. Why?
“Jackass!”
14. RUNNING WILD
The aroma of coffee teased my senses. It faded and then became stronger. “Wake up, Freckles.”
“Go away.” I turned my head the other way.
“Is there a water hose around here?”
He wouldn’t dare. Yes, he would. I flung the covers aside and found him at the foot of my bed ready to yank the covers off me. I gave him a look that would have stopped a lesser man cold in his tracks. Not Torin. He smirked. And he just had to be shirtless. From the sweat glistening on his chest and the scent of clean sweat, he’d been working out.
I threw a pillow at him. He ducked sideways, and it sailed past him.
“What do you want?” I asked in the meanest voice I could master when all I wanted to do was ogle him.
“Nice pajamas. Sexy.”
“Shut up.” I was wearing an oversized T-shirt with a right angle and I’m Always Right plastered across it.
“It’s eleven, Freckles.”
“So?”
He gave me a look that said he was losing his patience. “So what are you still doing in bed?”
“It’s Sunday, and if I want to lounge—
He pulled the covers off me. “We’ve got places to go. I left a note.” He sauntered to the bedside drawers and lifted a piece of paper. His eyebrows shot up. “How fast can you get dressed?”
I snatched the paper from his hand and read the scribbled words. It didn’t say he was sorry. “You didn’t apologize for last night.”
“How does kicking my ass sound for making it up to you?”
Now that was more like it. I grinned. “Okay.”
He chuckled and handed me the coffee. “Bloodthirsty witch.”
“Douchebag Valkyrie.”
He laughed. “Five minutes. Get your running gear; then come find me.”
I took my time finishing the coffee and found my running things. After a brief chat with Femi, I left for Torin’s.
He was seated on the couch in his living room, feet up on the coffee table, and looked up when I walked in. He gave me a slow perusal. My stomach clenched. He seriously needed to stop with the smoldering looks. I was mad at him.
“Nice outfit,” he said.
It was the same as the one I’d worn days ago. Except it was black and hot pink. Nothing spectacular. “Are we going running or what?”
“Woke up on the wrong side of the bed?” He put something down and reached for his sneakers. Then I saw what he’d put down and blinked. His cell phone. The instrument he refused to use no matter how often I begged him.
“You were using your phone.”
He cocked his eyebrow. “Yes.”
“You know how?”
He rolled his eyes. “Engage your runes instead of poking fun at me. I’m not a total Neanderthal.”
He was a Neanderthal. “I was sure you’d either ditched it or remodeled it.”
“I like big things, not puny things that fall apart when I touch
them.” He gave me a slow perusal that said he wasn’t talking about engines. Confirmed it when he smacked my butt as he walked past. “Come on. Catch up, slowpoke.” He took off.
Show off. The Rutledges were coming back from Church, and I decided to pull the move Andris had taught me. The threat of death was a big motivator when it came to engaging runes and moving fast.
I stood right in the middle of the cul-de-sac entrance and waited until the car was a few seconds away then—
Torin snatched me and ducked to the sidewalk, almost wrapping us around a tree. “What in Hel’s Mist was that?”
I pushed him away. “Something Andris taught me. You should try it. It’s all about engaging your runes quickly and exercising your reflexes. It packs quite a punch, too.”
His lips pulled back in a snarl. “I’m going to kill him.”
“No, you’re not. Andris believes in me. He trusts me to protect myself. Try it sometime.” I backhanded him on the chest and took off toward Orchard Road.
Torin raced past me and ran backwards. “I trust you.”
“Doesn’t seem so. Where are we headed?”
“Follow me.”
We took back roads, racing past cars. He leaped over oncoming cars, making Andris look like an amateur. But then again, what did I expect from an adrenaline junkie? A few times, I was sure he’d knock his perfect teeth on the road, but he rolled as he dropped and sprung to his feet.
My heart trembled every time he jumped. Who did he think he was? Invincible Spiderman? I almost snatched him from the path of an oncoming truck. I was shaking by the time we reached the edge of the trees.
“Ready for phase two?” he asked.
I blew out a breath, my heart pounding, while all he had to show for his stunt on the road were smears of dirt on his clothes.
“Freckles?”
“Don’t do that again,” I said.
He frowned, and then it dawned on him. “Nothing is going to happen to me. I’ve pulled that stunt a gazillion times.”
The smirk that curled his sculptured lips only further infuriated me. “I don’t care. I will not…” My voice broke. “I cannot watch you do that again, Torin. Just promise. It’s stupid and dangerous, and I know you can self-heal, but you just cannot do that.”
Seeress: Book Three (Runes Series) Page 21
