Immortals (Runes book 2) (34 page)

“She’s not the one,” I insisted, sorting my books.

“Of course not.” Torin was staring after Cora. “Andris said you suspected the vandal was a Valkyrie, and she’s definitely not one of us.”

“That’s right
and
she doesn’t hate me.”

20.
 
THE SCARS

Lavania entered the class after the second bell, and Mrs. Bates didn’t reprimand her. Funny how she’d become the teacher’s favorite. I hated suspecting her, but all this mess with Cora and the trapping runes had me worried. Had she poisoned Andris and Ingrid against Cora? Where had she been this morning?

I didn’t see Eirik until lunchtime. Torin and I were on our way to lunch when he came around the corner with two of his new “girlfriends”. He said something to them and stopped while they continued toward the cafeteria.

“You guys are not going to lunch?” he asked, but he didn’t meet my eyes.

“We are,” Torin said, his arm tightening around my shoulders. “Just not here.”

“Oh.” Eirik glanced at me. The lost puppy expression on his face made my heart ache. “Sorry about last night,” he said.

“Don’t be.” I slipped out of Torin’s arm, crossed the space between me and Eirik, and hugged him. At first he stiffened; then he relaxed. His arms came around me and squeezed. I leaned back and studied his face. “Come to the house later tonight. I have lessons then dinner with my parents. We should be home by eight. Eight thirty at the latest.”

He started to shake his head.

“Don’t do that. Be there or… Just be there.” I stepped back then remembered yesterday. “And that crap you told me yesterday wasn’t cool. You don’t push those who love you away, Eirik. It hurts.”

He grabbed his chest and grimaced. “Ouch. Now I have guilt.”

“Shut up. Be there tonight or I’ll come for you.” I pointed at him and added, playfully, “You don’t want me to do that.”

“Now I’m scared.”

I made a face. He could be such a goofball. I’d missed that. “Oh, I tried texting Cora, but she didn’t return my message. If you see her, tell her I’ll talk to her later.”

“Okay.” He glanced at Torin. “Be good, St. James. You hurt her,” he glanced at me then back at Torin and grinned, “and she’ll rip you a new one.”

I rolled my eyes. Torin just laughed. “I can handle her.”

I forgave him the arrogant statement because he was charming and attentive during lunch. The waitresses stared, but I was getting used to that reaction from girls and women wherever we went. He was completely oblivious to them, or if he was aware, he ignored them. Either way, I loved it, and I didn’t want lunch to end. But like most fun things, we had to dash back to school.

“So where was Lavania this morning?” I asked as we walked back to the school from the parking lot. Torin didn’t answer right away, so I bumped him with my shoulder. “She left with the others, right?”

“Yes. You’re worried she might have done something to Cora and caused her to get trapped?”

I stopped and studied him. His uncanny way of reading me was amazing. “Yes, I’m worried about Cora. The runes trapped her by mistake, and now she’s angry and probably scared of me again. She was after the meet incident, but when I came back she’d gotten over it. And yes, I wonder about Lavania. She doesn’t like Cora or that Eirik likes her.”

“I know. I told her you were a good judge of character and wouldn’t be friends with an evil person.”

I made a face. “Thank you, I think.”

“It was a compliment.”

I pouted. “Except for the evil part.”

Chuckling, he pressed his arms on the wall and trapped me with his body. He moved closer, bringing with him heat and temptation. We had a few minutes to kill before the bell went off. “You know you’re quite amazing.”

I slipped my arms around his waist, lifted my chin and gave him a playful smile. “I know.”

“Shameless, too.”

I wrinkled my nose. “I don’t think so.”

“Beautiful, loyal, and stubborn?”

“Those I like.”

We got lost in our little world for a while as he became the master of my senses. Kissing him was like hurtling down a roller coaster at a supersonic speed, thrilling with unexpected jolts to my senses, elevated heartbeat, and danger thrown in because he was so unpredictable.

“School is a place for learning, not foreplay, you two.” Cora’s voice penetrated the sensual haze Torin had created.

I felt Torin smile against my lips. I didn’t want to stop kissing him. Reluctantly, I let him go and glanced at Cora. She grinned and fanned herself.

“The temp in the entire school just shot up a few notches. You do know there’s a make out closet a few feet away.” She pointed at the closed door.

“I couldn’t wait,” Torin said.

Cora laughed. “You’re bad, but in a good way.” She glanced at me and added, “I’ll stop by your place this evening.”

“Sure.” Thank goodness she was no longer pissed at me. If I could make Eirik’s problem go away, my life would be perfect.

***

 
After school, I walked with Torin to the field for practice. Andris and his friend Roger joined me, though they spent part of the time criticizing Ingrid and the cheerleaders’ jumps and kicks. When Torin was detained, Andris and Roger dropped me home early. I had an appointment with my physical therapist that couldn’t wait. Luckily, the guy didn’t bring up the infamous swim meet, but I left the office with a list of what to do and what not to do.

“I think you should be very cautious around your Mortal friend, Raine,” Lavania said as soon as I arrived at Torin’s house. “She hates you.”

She couldn’t even bring herself to call Cora by her name. “No, she doesn’t. I know her, Lavania. We’ve been friends for years. And her name is Cora.”

“There’s something off—”

“Please. Can we, uh, just focus on my lessons?”

Two hours later, Lavania angled her head and said, “She’s here.”

I went to the window, lifted the corner of the curtain, and glanced outside just as Cora pulled into my driveway. She jumped out of the car. I let the curtain fall and turned. “How did you know?”

Lavania shrugged. “I just do. I told you her essence is a bit off.”

I sighed, anger building, but I got a grip on it. “I’ll go talk to her.”

“No, she’ll realize you’re not home and leave.” As though on cue, my cell phone vibrated. I looked at it then Lavania. “Tell her that you’re busy,” she added.

I picked up my phone from the table and read Cora’s message. “Where are you? Your car is here, but your house is in total darkness.”

I debated whether to lie about my whereabouts or come clean.

“This Mortal is only complicating your life, Raine.”

“Coming,” I texted back, then glanced at my unhappy trainer. “I’ll be gone for just a minute.”

Lavania sighed. “Fine. Be careful what you tell her,” she warned. “And don’t stay for too long. We still have an hour of work.”

Argh, she was seriously beginning to irritate me. Cora saw me as I crossed the lawn and got out of her car. “Hey. Did I interrupt you and your gorgeous QB?”

“No. Torin is still at practice. I’m really sorry about the trap near my locker.”

She shrugged. “I forgive you, but if you put your mojo on me again, I will publicly disown you on my vlog and unfriend you on every social website.”

We hugged.

“Coming inside?” I asked.

“Nah, I gotta run.” She glanced at Torin’s. “So, what were you doing over there?”

“I’m tutoring Lavania. She’s been having problems at school, and I offered to help,” I lied, my cheeks warming.

Cora made a face. “Hard to imagine Ms. Perfect having any problems at anything. Anyway, when are you going to be done?”

“Six thirty, then I have dinner with my parents. Today has been such a horrible day.”

“Why don’t we have a sleepover on, uh, Friday? Next week. We have a meet next Saturday. We can have
Supernatural
marathon and ogle the Winchester Boys.”

I grimaced. With Eirik sleepwalking into my room in the middle of the night, I wouldn’t dare have her spend the night at my place. “Round one of state championship starts next week on Friday, and I promised Torin I’d be there.”

“Ah, the dutiful girlfriend.” There was a pinch of envy in her voice. “I heard you’ve been going to watch him practice.”

I bristled at the censure in her voice. When she’d dated a ball player, I’d teased her about attending his practice sessions, yet I was doing it, too.

“I went today for an hour,” I said defensively. “How did you know?”

“Everything you and Torin do is news.”

I made a face. “We could hangout on Saturday evening. Have a late night with the guys.”

“Yeah, Eirik would rather slobber over a bunch of airheads than hang out with me. Can’t we just hang out the two of us?”

I loved falling asleep in Torin’s arms. “I guess so.”

Her eyes narrowed, and I could tell she was hurt. “Forget it.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to hang out. I do, but Torin sneaks into my room every night and holds me until I fall asleep.”

Cora’s jaw dropped. “That’s so romantic. Gah, now I’m neon green with envy. Oh, I want to hear everything.” Then her eyes widened. “Have you done
it
? Do you worry about getting busted by your parents?”

I laughed. “Yes, but he’s so worth it. And no, we haven’t done it, nosey.”

“What are you waiting for? If he were mine, I would have jumped his bones weeks ago. Okay, fine. You’re off the hook on sleepovers, but we’re hanging out tomorrow.” She glanced at Torin’s house. “Are you tutoring
her
tomorrow, too?”

I grimaced. “Until seven.”

She made a face again. “I hope she’s paying you well.”

Becoming an Immortal was priceless. “So we’re on for tomorrow after seven. We can have dinner. You know, order pizza or something.”

“Or eat out. We have to go shopping for Halloween outfits.”

I really didn’t want to go shopping. I’d planned to ask Torin if he wanted to go trick-or-treating with us, but I hadn’t gotten around to it. Cora, Eirik, and I often went together.

“There are a few people throwing Halloween parties on Saturday,” she said. “We could checkout one or two.”

“Drew already invited us to one.”

She grinned. “Let’s talk tomorrow.” She opened the door and paused before entering her car. “Have you seen Eirik?”

“I saw him before Torin and I left for lunch. Why?”

“He left the pool early. He had some weird red marks crisscrossing his back. Someone noticed them and asked him about them. He looked, I don’t know, scared and couldn’t wait to get out of there. He didn’t even tell Doc he was leaving.” She shook her head. “Totally weird. Anywho, see you tomorrow at school at, uh, lunchtime?”

I shook my head, still mulling over what she’d told me. “Torin hates school lunch.”

She rolled her eyes. “Of course he does. Later then.”

As I walked back to Torin’s, images of Eirik’s back flashed in my head. Until he’d turned ten, Eirik had horrible bumpy marks on his back. They looked like strawberry marks you saw on newborn babies, except his had run from his shoulders to his waist.

I couldn’t concentrate, and Lavania didn’t bother to hide her disappointment. “Your association with this Mortal—”

“Cora. Her name is Cora,” I said.

“Your association with
Cora
is affecting your concentration. You need to cut her off.”

“She’s my friend, Lavania,” I protested.

“Then choose what’s more important. Your friendship with her or your training. You can’t have both.” She got up. It was only six. “We’re done for today.” She picked up my runes book and hers and thrust them at me, her disapproval obvious. “Take these and practice the runes on the next two pages at home. You can also take home your artavo. Do not let her see them.”

I just stopped short of rolling my eyes. She was being unfair and dictatorial.

***

I was still pissed when my parents came home, but as soon as I saw my dad, my anger disappeared. He looked pale and appeared frailer than yesterday.