“I need to buy something,” I said. “It’s a surprise for my, uh, Dad. We’ll be there before the movie starts, Cora. I promise.” Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, but she nodded.
How we were going to get to the theater was going to be a problem now that Torin insisted on coming with me. Pig-headed man. Andris stepped out of the car, closed the door, and crossed his arms. He was no longer smiling.
“Okay, you two. The truth or I’m not driving anyone anywhere.”
Torin’s eyes narrowed. “Stop being an ass.”
Andris smirked. “Still not going.”
I closed my eyes in annoyance. Andris was like a child sometimes, and Torin only egged him on. “Fine. The Norns came to my house, and I’m supposed to meet them,” I whispered, looked at my watch, and added, “Like right now.”
Andris shuddered. “Ooh, nasty hags. Good luck with that.” He ran around to the driver’s side and took off.
Torin laughed.
“Did you say Norns?” Eirik asked, stepping out of his Jeep instead of following Andris.
“Yes. I’ve got to go.” I started for The Hub.
“Wait,” Eirik called. “I want to ask them a few things.”
I turned. “No, Eirik. Don’t. Stay away from them.”
He shot me a look that said he was coming whether I liked it or not, but Torin gripped his arm and cut him off. “She talks to them first, Seville. We’ll make sure they’re not up to their old tricks, but you don’t join them until Raine’s done.”
Eirik yanked his arm from Torin’s grip and snarled, “Who do you think you’re talking to, St. James?”
“Ease up, man.”
Convinced Torin would stop Eirik, I raced across the parking lot and entered the video store, almost bumping into a couple standing too close to the door.
“Excuse me,” I mumbled and hurried past them. Not sure where to start searching for Marj and her girls, I looked around. Two lines of customers waited to check out. Directly ahead, a mother was losing a battle against her daughter over cotton candy. Beside them, a couple of girls giggled over the CD cover of their latest idols.
“There you are,” Marj said, appearing beside me.
She was alone. I hated talking to her. I would much rather deal with Catie. “Where’s Catie?”
“Waiting for young Eirik to enter the building. You shouldn’t have brought him with you. Come on. Follow me.” She led me toward the back of the store, where picture books were displayed. It was empty this time of the night. She reached inside her jacket, pulled out a leather sheath, and offered it to me. “Take it.”
My eyes volleyed between the sheath and her face. “What is that?”
“The special artavus we talked about. You will need it.”
I took a step back, anger slamming through me. “I want to talk to Catie.”
“Take the dagger, Lorraine,” Marj insisted. “Young Eirik has darkness inside him that will infect everyone around him and start something no one can control. Mortals will feel whatever he feels magnified. If he’s angry, everyone will be filled with rage. If he’s envious, everyone around him will experience murderous jealousy. His darkness will consume this town.”
I stared at her with round eyes. No wonder the people at Cliff House had gone ballistic. He had infected everyone with rage. Was it because I’d left with Torin or was it because Cora had flirted with the jocks?
“He cannot be allowed to live if the darkness takes over.”
“NO!” I shouted, and a few people peered at us from behind the shelves. I ignored them and leaned toward Marj. “I will never willingly hurt Eirik. I don’t care if he becomes a murderous monster or the devil incarnate. Never. I’ll find a way to help him.”
“Raine! You okay?”
I looked behind me. Torin stood a few feet away, runes glowing on his face and hands, eyes flashing. I nodded, too pissed to answer him.
He extended his hand. “If you want to leave now, we’ll leave.”
“Stay out of this, Valkyrie,” Marj snarled.
Torin’s jaw clenched, but his eyes didn’t shift from me. “Raine?”
“I’m fine. She’s just testing me.”
Torin continued to study me. “Fine, but I’ll be by the CDs if you need me.”
The CDs racks were at the end of aisle and visible from where I stood. Having him that close was reassuring. Marj glared at him as he strolled away. He stopped by the first rack, leaned against the wall, and crossed his arms. His stance said he wasn’t going anywhere.
“Foolish, Valkyrie. He didn’t learn anything when we erased his memories. I should have sent him to Hel’s Hall. Maybe I will if he continues to defy me.”
Panic rolled through me, but I refused to show it to this petty and vindictive hag. “I’m sure he knows just how powerful you are, but he’s more concerned about my safety right now.”
Marj’s head whipped toward me. Her eyes narrowed as though she was trying to see if I was being disrespectful. Cold crawled under my skin, and I shivered.
“This isn’t a test, Lorraine,” Marj said. “Eirik cannot be saved. When the time is right, you will have to kill him.”
“Never,” I said.
Her eyes glowed eerily. “You’re an insolent child. Saving your life was the worst mistake we ever made. A total waste of time and runes.”
That hurt. “So why did you?”
“We thought you’d save the boy, but from the looks of things, you’ve failed.” She shoved the artavus at me again. “Take it.”
I ignored the knife. “How was I supposed to save him? Maybe I can still do it.”
She snorted, and for a moment, I was sure she’d refuse to answer. “It’s too late, but I’ll explain. Eirik comes from a powerful family.”
“I know. He’s Odin’s grandson.”
“Not just that side of the family. I’m talking about his mother’s side.”
“Who is she?”
Her eyes hardened. “It doesn’t matter who she is. Do not interrupt me again,” she snapped. “His mother comes from a dark family, and that darkness runs through Eirik. We saw the future, where he leads the enemies of the gods in the destruction of Asgard and the inhabitant of other realms, including Earth.”
“Ragnarok, the war between the giants and the gods,” I said before I could stop myself.
Her eyes glowed, but she didn’t snap at me this time. “Yes. In our vision, we saw a war started, not by Baldr’s death, but by his child. A boy born to hatred, nursed on anger, and raised in darkness. A boy with a heart so cold even the Norns trembled in his presence.”
No wonder they haven’t tried to take Eirik away. They were scared of him. She looked over my shoulder and grimaced. I turned to see what held her attention. Torin had moved closer, his eyes not leaving us. I wondered how much he’d heard.
Marj continued to glare at Torin, who stared right back. Her eyes acquired that chilling spooky light. “We chose a different path for the boy when we took him from his mother and brought him to Earth to be raised among humans. Instead of darkness, we wanted him surrounded by light. Instead of hate and anger, we wanted him to experience love, find joy and happiness. Warmth was supposed to replace the coldness in his heart. It hasn’t.”
“That’s not true,” I said, my heart pounding with dread. “Eirik is the most loving, giving, and warm person I know.”
“Yet his essence has dimmed since we first made contact with you.”
Maybe it was their fault Eirik was changing. Even as the thought flashed through my head, I knew it wasn’t true. Last year, we’d studied Tempest by William Shakespeare in English lit and discussed what shaped a person’s behavior and character. Heredity and the environment all played a part. Maybe the darkness inside Eirik had been waiting all these years to crawl out. “How can I help him?”
“Catie thinks you can.” She said it as though it was unlikely.
“Catie also thinks someone is helping the darkness.”
“She is wrong
. Just like she’s wrong about you. I don’t think you have it in you to help the boy. Both you and your mother have failed the boy.”
I bristled. “My mother?”
“Despite your mother’s tendency to ignore rules, she’s a very giving woman. Your father has proven himself to be a noble man, too. The plan was to have them be Eirik’s guardians. No one would have thought of looking for him at the home of a fallen Valkyrie. But by the time we arrived, your mother was pregnant and desperate to have you. Losing you would have devastated them, changed them, and maybe even made it impossible for them to want or love another child. So we helped your mother through the rest of her pregnancy and made sure you both survived. We placed the boy with an Immortal couple and made sure they understood he was to be raised as close to your family as possible. The love from your parents to you was supposed to naturally flow to young Eirik.”
Everything made sense now. Eirik living next door to us. My parents’ relationship with his. His parents probably “traveled” a lot so Eirik could spend most of his childhood at our house. I’d just assumed they were cold and indifferent. “It did.”
“So you say,” Marj said.
“You don’t know him the way I do,” I insisted. “He’s going through something right now. That’s all. Once everything is sorted out, he’ll be fine. If something is drawing this, uh, darkness out, I’ll be there to help him.”
“Don’t believe everything Catie tells you. There’s nothing messing with the boy. The darkness is coming out of him like a web out of a spider. But if you want to help…”
“Yes?”
“Prove it,” Marj said.
I blinked at her. “How?”
“You have a few weeks, maybe a month before the darkness consumes him. If you fail, show that you care by giving him a quick death.” She gripped my hand, pulled out the wrapped blade from inside her jacket, and placed it in my hand. “This is a special weapon known to destroy his kind. Use it.”
His kind? I tried to pull my hand from hers, but her hold was firm. Torin! I glanced over my shoulder, but he was already moving toward us.
“Stay back, Valkyrie,” Marj snarled, but her eyes didn’t leave me. “Are you confident you can help him?”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you afraid to take the artavus?” She leaned closer. “Your fear proves you’re not as confident as you claim. That you know you will fail and you’ll have to use the knife. That means you don’t believe he’s good.”
“He. Is. Good.”
“Then take it,” Marj snapped, her eyes glowing.
“Stop pressuring her,” Torin snarled.
“I warn you, Valkyrie,” Marj snapped, her eyes still not leaving me. “You interfere one more time and you’ll be sorry.”
“Leave him alone.” My stomach churned, my hatred toward her threatening to overwhelm me. “I don’t need to prove anything to you.”
“How little you know, you silly girl. You should have joined us weeks ago when I asked you.” She smiled, and it was the coldest, meanest smile I’d ever seen. “You’d be more powerful and better equipped to deal with this now. Take it. You’ll need it.”
Torin growled. I looked over my shoulder, silently warning him to stay back.
“Don’t look at him. He cannot help you make this choice. He’s merely a Valkyrie, someone beneath you and unworthy of your attention. You were born to be a Norn, Lorraine, and Eirik is your first charge. You can control his destiny now. If you need our help…” Her voice trailed off, and she angled her heard, something flashing in her eyes. Fear perhaps. The same cold, stifling sensation I’d felt last night at Cliff House crawled up my chest.
A loud crash came from the front of the store, followed by someone yelling, “That’s what you get for cutting the line.”
“I did not, you son of a b—”
A thump and then a scream split the air. More voices rose, thuds and screams echoing around the store. Torin and I looked at each other.
“Eirik,” we said at the same time and started toward the front of the store.
“We have to get him out of here before things get worse,” Torin said.
Frantically, we searched each aisle we passed. The wave of violence hadn’t reached the back of the store, but not for long. “Where did you leave him?
“In the Jeep. I knocked him out. He’s a lot stronger than I thought.”
“Of course he is stronger,” Marj said from behind us. “He’s the spawn of darkness, bringing out the most vile traits in others. Wives will turn against husbands, children against their parents. Then the violence will spread to neighbors. Before you know it, the whole town will be reduced to chaos. Town to town, state to state, country to country…”
Will she ever shut up? The gruesome picture she painted played in my head. No wonder they were scared of Eirik. Everywhere we passed, people pounded or screamed at each other. Someone crashed into a shelf and sent books flying across our path.
“You don’t need to tell me what movie to pick,” a woman yelled to our right.
“I’m not watching a stupid chick-flick just to please you,” a man retorted.
“You’re such a jerk.” She slapped him, and he retaliated. I winced.
“Let’s split up,” I said. “We’ll find him faster.”
“No.” Torin blocked my path. “Stay by me. He might infect you, or worse, hurt you if you approach him.”
“Look at me, Torin. I’m not affected like the others. That must mean he can’t. Besides, he’s more likely to listen to me than anyone.”
“Take this.” Marj thrust the wrapped artavus into my hand. “You’re going to need it if everything else fails.”
“I told you, I don’t—”
“Over here!” Catie yelled from the end of an aisle and waved frantically. Jeannette appeared beside her. They both looked scared.
I tried to push the weapon into Marj’s hand, but she was gone. She reappeared by her friends. Then, like cowards, they disappeared. I stared at the dagger like it was a snake.
“I can’t…” I whispered.
“You won’t need to.” Torin took the dagger from my hand and put it somewhere inside his coat.
“No.” I tugged at his arm. “We must throw it away. Destroy it.”
“I will. You never have to see it again. Now let’s go stop this madness.”
My insides shriveled and grew cold. “I’m a Norn. No matter what I say or do, I’m one of them.”
“No, you’re not. You saved Eirik’s life before, and you will do it again. Not as a Norn or even an Immortal, but as you, Lorraine Cooper. You don’t need anyone’s help or a stupid special artavus.”
I ended the pity-fest and nodded. Torin was right. I could do this. “Thank you.”
He threw me a grin that was part amused, part annoyed. “For what? Stating the obvious? Move your sweet ass and stop him, because I’ll have no problem using my artavus if he doesn’t stop.”
“You wouldn’t dare.” I tried to glare at him as we sprinted to where we last saw the Norns.
“Try me. I don’t have time for his bipolar, deity, psycho crap.”
We ducked flying CDs, DVDs, and books people were hurling at each other. “How can you be so nice one second and a total jerk the next?” I said through clenched teeth.
“Practice, Freckles. It’s all part of what makes me irresistible.”
We turned a corner and almost bumped into Eirik. He stood in the middle of the chaos, his eyes glazed and a smile of pure delight curling his lips.
Torin backed up. “Talk calmly to him while I come from the other side.”
“Don’t hurt him,” I whispered.
“I won’t, unless he does something stupid.”
I glared at him, but he was already moving around a rack. I focused on Eirik. “Eirik?”
He glanced at me with unfocussed eyes.
“It’s Raine.”
“Raine,” he repeated, tilting his head to the side as he studied
me. His eyes glowed briefly.
I extended my hand toward him. “Yes, Raine. Come with me, Eirik. Let’s go home.”
“Home,” he repeated, then his head whipped to the other side as though he’d sensed Torin’s presence. His eyes narrowed. “Valkyrie,” he snarled and lunged for Torin.
The force of his attack threw them across the aisle and into a shelf. The shelf dragged across the tiled floor, wobbled, and tipped over, starting a domino effect. Shelves toppled over, trapping people underneath them, but the close proximity of the shelves saved them from being completely flattened. Around us, the people punching each other didn’t slow down.
“Snap out of it, damn it,” Torin yelled. He had Eirik pinned to the floor face down with his arm twisted upwards in a weird arm-lock. They both had runes on their faces and hands. Maybe I could reach Eirik while Torin held him immobile. I ran to their side.
“No, Raine. Stay back,” Torin warned.
Ignoring him, I dropped to my knees and peered at Eirik’s face. “Eirik? Can you hear me? It’s Raine. Please, listen to my voice. Look at me.” Our gazes connected, but there was no recognition in his. “I know you’re in there, Eirik. Listen to my voice. Come back to me. Please.”
Once again, his eyes glowed, and I was sure he recognized me. Then they glazed over again. He heaved, almost pushing Torin off him and swung with his free hand. I tried to scramble out of the way, but I was too late. His arm connected with my side and sent me flying across the floor.
I wrapped my arms around my head, leaving my side at the mercy of the impact I knew was coming. My ribs connected with the edge of a shelf, and pain radiated through my body. A cry filled the air, and a roar echoed it. The next second, someone plucked me from the floor.
I opened my eyes and stared into Torin’s burning eyes. “Did you hit your head again?”
“No. Eirik…”
“Screw him,” he snarled. “I told you I won’t put up with his bullshit. He hurt you.”
“He didn’t know what he was doing. Put me do—”
A loud squeak split the air, cutting me off, the sound mingling with the screams and the thumps, which were now fever pitch. Then the shelf I’d hit tipped over and knocked the one behind it. They both went down, merchandize flying every which way. The store looked like it had been bit by a tornado. I turned to find Eirik, but Torin pulled one of his runes-enhanced moves. One second, I was searching the wreckage; the next, he was carrying me through a portal on the glass window.
Immortals (Runes book 2) Page 22