Immortals (Runes book 2) (10 page)

“A certain perky blonde would love to be escorted to her class.”

He blinked. “Cora?”

I chuckled. “Why would you think I’m talking about her?”

His cheeks grew pink. “Lucky guess.”

“Admit it. You like her.”

He snorted. “She’s snarky and gets bored with guys too easily. I wouldn’t want to be her next victim. Besides, I have a new motto. No Mortals.”

“Of course. Too bad. I think she likes you, too.” I started upstairs. After a few steps, I realized he hadn’t moved. I glanced back and grinned at his stupefied expression. “Coming?”

“You’re screwing with my head,” he said, hurrying to catch up.

I’d just planted the seed. “Nope. Thanks for the escort.”

“My class is on this floor,” he reminded me, but he wore a preoccupied expression. “How do you know?”

“How do I know what?” I said, faking ignorance.

“That she likes me.”

“I just do. Call it a woman’s intuition. Later.” I watched him walk away and grinned when a group of girls tried to attract his attention and he walked right past them without noticing. Playing Cupid was fun.

The first person I noticed when I entered the class was Torin talking to two jocks—Drew Cavanaugh and Keith Paulson. One sat on my chair, the other on my desk. They were laughing and high-fiving each other.

Torin glanced up as though he felt my presence. My chin shot up, and I tucked my hair behind my ear, my fingers grazing the titanium screws under my scalp. I started to tug my hair to hide the patch then remembered I had cleverly hidden the shorter strands when I’d curled my hair this morning.

Half of the students were already seated, but their stares didn’t bother me. I was too conscious of Torin’s. He had this weird ability to completely grab my attention, making everyone and everything else insignificant. As though his friends realized they no longer had his undivided attention, they followed his gaze and found me.

 
My heart pounded harder the closer I got to them. Keith said something to Torin, but he didn’t respond. Drew did. I didn’t care what they were saying. The admiration in their eyes was all I needed to see. Cora was right. Men were easy. Glam up a little bit and you had them.

“Hey. Um, you are sitting in my chair, Keith.”

“I am? Sorry.” He scrambled to his feet, wiped the chair as though he’d dirtied it, and stood back. “It’s Raine, right?”

“Right.” I sat and put the books and folder on my lap.

“I’ve seen you during home games,” he added. “You play in the band.”

“Yes, I do.” Drew still hadn’t moved from my desk, which gave him a very nice angle to ogle my chest. On a normal day I would have cringed. Today, I was celebrating my curves and hoped a certain Valkyrie notice them. “Can I have my desk back, Drew?”

His grin broadened. “You know my name.”

I giggled, which was something I loathed.
The things I do for you, Torin St. James.
“Like Keith said, I play in the band, and you guys are stars on the field.” They grinned and puffed their chests. Seriously, guys were beyond easy. I didn’t dare look at Torin yet. He hadn’t spoken, though I felt his eyes on me. “So when is the next game?”

“Friday night in Portland,” Keith said.

“Will you be there?” Drew asked.

I wasn’t too crazy about football, but they didn’t need to know that. I gave them a playful smile. “Will you guys win?”

They both nodded.

“Then I might consider it.”

“Guys,” Torin cut in and pointed at the door. “Go.”

The two jocks protested, but something in Torin’s eyes had them moving. Still, they kept whispering and glancing back and almost bumped into two girls in the doorway.

“Idiots,” Torin mumbled, but I pretended not to hear him. I could feel his eyes on me. After a few minutes, I had to know, so I turned.

“What?” I asked with feigned annoyance.

Something flashed in his eyes, but he didn’t speak.

“Uh, you do know it’s considered rude to stare,” I added, starting to feel hot.

He shrugged. “So?”

“So, do you mind?”

His eyebrows shot up. “I’m trying to figure you out, Raine Copper. Do you always go around threatening the entire school to protect your friend?”

I pretended to think about it. “At least once before the first bell.”

He laughed, and Lavania, who’d been talking to some guys, turned and looked at us with narrowed eyes. I pretended not to notice. Instead, I stared into Torin’s blue eyes and pretended our relationship wasn’t over, that he wasn’t a jerk, my silly heart pounding hard like the hooves of a racing horse.

“Whoever wrote on your locker will not stop just because you refused to clean it.”

I shrugged. “Why should we clean them? We didn’t put them there.”

“They don’t bother you?”

Big time. “No. Everyone deserves to be notorious once in their lifetime. This is my moment.”

He snorted. “Liar.”

I hated that he could read me so well. “Not. You can’t force people to act the way you want them to, so why bother?”

He stopped smiling, and I’d bet he assumed I was talking about him. Poor guy. He had no idea he was the exception to the rule. I planned to force him to see things my way.

7.
     
FIRST LESSONS

Nervous energy twisted my stomach into a knot as I made my way to my first lesson that evening. What if Torin was right and I didn’t need to become a Valkyrie to stop the Norns from coming after me? I hated that he’d planted the seed of doubt in my head. Training was the right thing to do. I had to get the Norns off my back, find out why Eirik was in danger, and help him. Then there was Torin. I refused to give up on him no matter what he’d said.

Lavania, dressed in a caftan-like white dress, opened the door with a broad smile. “Come in. This is exciting, isn’t it?”

Yeah, like a visit to the dentist.

“What did the doctor say?” she asked.

For a moment I drew a blank. Then I remembered I’d told her about my appointment with my doctor. “He sent me to see a physical therapist, but my head’s healed.”

I glanced around curiously. Except for the night he’d thrown a party, Torin hadn’t tried to furnish the living room. One brown leather sofa and a coffee table had been it. The night of party, he’d gone all out. Large TV screen like you see at clubs, audio system with sick output, and couches galore. Now, the room was done conservatively in white and grays with framed nature pictures on the wall. An attention-grabbing aquarium took up an entire wall. Myriad fake coral in the tank added splashes of color to the stark room. The house was quiet, the music I’d heard earlier turned off.

“Where is everyone?” I asked.

“Torin is at football practice, and Andris and Ingrid are reaping.”

“How does that work? I mean they’re at school most of the time and people are dying.”

She chuckled. “They do their share of reaping, and there are thousands of Valkyries around the world. Don’t forget healthy people die at a much lower rate than those dying of illness or old age. Hel’s reapers tend to be busier than our Valkyries. Come on.”

She lifted the hem of her dress and kicked off her sandals. Instead of sitting on a chair, she curled up on the plush white rug and pointed at the other end of the table. “Sit, please.”

I toed off my shoes, left my socks on, slipped my cell phone into my back pocket, and joined her. On the table was a pitcher of water and two glasses. There were no books, no writing materials, nothing. The coils in my stomach tightened a bit. I gave Lavania a tiny smile.

“You’re nervous,” she said.

“A little.”

Lavania frowned. “Why?”

I couldn’t tell her the truth. That Torin had tried to talk me out of training and it was messing with my head.

She reached for my hand and sandwiched it with hers. “It’s okay to be scared. This is a big moment.”

I nodded. “Can I be honest?”

“Always.” She let go of my hand, leaned back against the couch behind her, and wrapped her arms around one bent knee.

“What if I’m not supposed to be a Valkyrie?”

She frowned. “Who’s making you doubt your destiny? Your mom? Your dad?”

“No.” I poured water in a glass and guzzled some of it. “I’m just concerned. What if it’s not my destiny?”

She smiled. “Maybe it is, maybe it’s not. That’s for you to decide. Being chosen to become such a powerful being can be overwhelming, and it’s normal to have doubts. Back in Valhalla, we often discuss our first encounter.” She paused to pour water into a glass and took a sip. “It didn’t matter what our trainers called themselves—high priestess, shaman, medicine woman, diviner, spirit-medium, oracle, sibyl, or more ethnic terms like
machi, sangoma, eem, babaylan,
and
mae de santo
—learning who we would become, the power we would wield was scary. Do you know why all Valkyries were women for millennia before men joined us?”

“Men went to war, so the gods needed women to collect their souls and lead them to Valhalla and Falkvang. You only started recruiting men when women became warriors.”

Lavania laughed. “Which one of my boys told you that?”

My boys?
“Torin.”

She chuckled. “I’m afraid that’s my fault. I had to tell them something when I chose them.”

“When you chose… You trained Torin?”

She smiled. “Yes and countless other girls and boys after him, including Andris.”

“You were the angel in the field during the crusade?”

Her smile disappeared. “When did you and Torin discuss how I turned him?”

Warmth spread to my cheeks. “I, uh, overheard him talking to Andris and Ingrid about their first encounters,” I lied and hoped my face wasn’t as red as it felt.

Lavania smiled, a far away look entering her eyes. “For weeks I watched him fight, interact with the wounded, his fellow warriors, his brother. He had an essence I couldn’t ignore, and I had to have him. It wasn’t easy telling him, or others after him, that he was spiritual and more in tune with nature and the cosmos than any young man I’d ever met. Women have always been more spiritual than men, more accepting of their gifts, and that’s why most Valkyries were women for a long time. Occasionally, we get lucky and find a man.”

“Andris is spiritual?”

She chuckled. “Don’t underestimate my youngest. He might be impulsive, but he feels things a lot deeper. He just covers it with smirks and shenanigans. If I’d had more time, I would have guided him more. He definitely needed it. Most of the mistakes he’s made could have been avoided. Torin, on the other hand, always does the right thing.” A thoughtful expression crossed her face. “Sometimes I wish he didn’t.”

Even though he’d refused to make me immortal, he had tried to fight his feelings for me and failed. So he’d bent a few rules. Sometimes I wished he was more like Andris. No, that wasn’t true. I loved that he’d bent the rules just for me.

Lavania was still talking. It was surreal hearing her talk about Torin and Andris as a mother would when she looked around our age. How could she have an affair with Torin if he was like a son to her?

She smiled and sipped her water. “In my day, one started out as a healer, learning herbology and divination. When the high priestess saw that you had talent, she chose you to be her protégé. After more private training, you became a priestess and finally a high priestess like her. Only a select few were chosen to become Immortal. It was a higher calling, an honor.”

“When does one become a Valkyrie?”

“Once you can convince a soul to leave with you.”

I blinked. “What?”

“You think you just stand there and they get up and join you? People don’t like being dead, especially young, healthy ones. They will insist they have unfinished business, beg for more time, try to bargain with you. When that fails, they get angry and run. Where do you think ghosts come from? Silly souls who don’t want to leave with Valkyries. It is a lot easier to reap the sick and the elderly than people in their prime.”

“What about children?”

“Their souls are recycled, taken to a special hall run by Norns. It’s their job to find new bodies for them, which is why they’re always visiting hospitals. Ask Torin about it. Of all my children, he’s the only one with the patience to reap children. I tried it once and hated it. They reminded me too much of my brothers and sisters and how I felt leaving them.”

“Where did you grow up?”

“Rome. I was a Vestal Virgin.”

“Vestal what?”

“Oh, honey, you have a lot to learn. Unlike other cultures and civilizations, where male high priests hoarded power and locked out women, high priestesses in the Roman Empire were revered. We had temples in every major city of the empire. They called us Vestals or Vestal Virgins because we served Vesta, the goddess of hearth, home, and family. But Vesta has been called by many names in different cultures. She’s the Greeks’ Hestia, the Celtics’ Brighid, ancient Egyptians’ Isis, the Ashanti’s
Asasa Ya
, the Yoruba’s
Yemaya
, Babylonians’ Ishtar, Mayans’
Ixchel
, and so on. In Valhalla, she’s Frigg, Odin’s wife. My best friend is Celtic. She told me that her people also openly celebrated the power of their high priestesses. The Druids, as their priests and priestesses were called, were just as powerful as the Vestals. Still, the transition to Immortals and finally Valkyrie was a well-kept secret throughout the world, no matter how advanced the civilization.” She smiled.

I was caught in her narration and got impatient when she paused to pour more water into her glass. My cell phone buzzed. I pulled it out impatiently, saw that the text came from Cora, and turned the power off without responding.

“I find that instrument amazing,” she said, staring at my cell phone. “The advances Mortals have made…”

Was she seriously discussing something mundane like modern technology now? I needed to hear more. I waited impatiently for her to stop gushing over my smart phone. “Why are there no more high priests and high priestesses?”

She sighed. “They are, but newer religions have emerged, and anyone following the gods is considered a pagan. Premonitions, spells, and charms are now considered ridiculous and the practice demonized. It started with “witch trials” and burning high priestesses across Europe, the destruction of the Wu in Mandarin, stumping out the Women’s Mysteries in Rome, and so on. Yes, we’ve gone underground, but we’re still recruiting.”

We were still talking when Torin arrived home. My heart started its crazy rickety dance, and my mouth went dry. His hair was wet, probably from showering at the gym after practice. I wanted to run my fingers through it. Play with the wet strands. He also had a shadow on his chin, which made him look sexier than usual. Our eyes met, and my breath caught. His eyes had darkened to the color of stormy ocean water. What was he thinking? Did he miss me even a tiny bit?

“How was practice?” Lavania asked in an upbeat voice.

He dragged his eyes from mine, mumbled something unintelligible, and continued across the room into the kitchen. I stared after him, my heart aching.

Lavania shook her head. “I apologize for his rudeness. I don’t know what’s gotten into him lately. He’s been such a grouch since I got here, and he’s only getting worse.”

I hoped I was the one who’d gotten into him, despite the crap he’d spewed yesterday. In the kitchen, Torin opened the fridge and got bottled water. Suddenly he looked up, snaring my gaze. I expected him to smile or give me a mock salute. Instead, he twisted the lid off the bottle and chugged.

How could he make something as simple and mundane as drinking water look so sexy? Maybe it was the way he tilted his head. He wiped his lips with the back of his hand and disappeared inside the fridge again. Lavania’s voice reached me as though from afar and forced me to focus on what she was saying.

“We’ll try to cover backgrounds on Immortals, Valkyries, and the major deities this week. Next week, we’ll start on runes. Since the Norns are back already, I’ll see what I can do to speed up your education.”

I heard her, but my gaze kept drifting to the gorgeous hunk in the kitchen. He placed bread, peanut butter, and jelly on the counter. His movement fast and efficient, he made a couple of sandwiches, grabbed a stool, sat, and starting munching, his eyes returning to me, completely distracting me and screwing with my lesson. I bet it was deliberate, too.

“…stop now,” I heard Lavania say. “You’re too distracted.”

Heat warmed my cheeks. “I, uh, yes. I promised my parents I’d be home by seven.” I glanced at my watch. It was a quarter past.

“We can continue tomorrow at the same time.”

In the other room, Torin smirked, looking pleased with himself and confirming what I’d suspected all along. He’d deliberately distracted me. “Could we start earlier tomorrow?”

Lavania’s eyes narrowed. “How early?”

“Four o’clock, so we can be done earlier.”

“Okay.” Lavania escorted me to the door. I stole a glance at Torin behind her back and caught him scowling. He knew exactly what the time change meant. I’d be done by six, way before he came home from practice.

I threw him a triumphant grin. His eyes narrowed, his expression annoyed.

Score!

Smiling, I crossed the lawn to our house.

***

The next day, Drew and Keith were by my math class door talking to some girls. By the time I reached them, the girls were gone. A quick glance inside the classroom told me Torin wasn’t at his desk.