Runes #03 - Grimnirs by Ednah Walters Page A

coloring it with pink.
    “Want to hang out after school?” Drew asked.
    With his leg busted, he wasn’t playing football anymore, which meant he had more free time and no friends to pass it with. I glanced at him and smiled. He was so sweet, just not my type.
    “I’d love to, but I can’t. I have swim practice. Then I promised to stop by Raine’s. Her father had massive stroke and is in a coma.” I stood and pushed the lids back on the Sharpies. “She’s not taking it well.”
    “That sucks. I, uh, I’m thinking of throwing a party for Keith on Friday. It would have been his eighteenth birthday. Can you come?”
    “Sure.” I put my stuff away and picked up my folder. “When and where?”
    “At my place. Come on, I’ll walk you to class.”
    I chuckled. “You do know my first class is English and it’s on the west wing of the school. Upstairs.”
    “I know.” He flashed a boyish grin. “You’d be amazed at what I can do with three legs.”
    “Okay.” But I slowed down to match his gait. I had no idea what he had in the first period, and I didn’t want to ask in case it was something I should already know. Somehow, I must find a way to let him know I wasn’t interested in him. Maybe during his party.
    “Hey, dude, have you seen St. James?” a jock asked Drew as we left the locker area.
    “No. Why?”
    “Coach wants to see him.”
    “That’s terrible about Raine’s father,” Kicker said. I’d completely forgotten her presence. “She must have cracked a mirror or something. First, her father’s plane crashed, then the accident at the pool, which people blamed her for. Then when she came back to school, everyone drew horrible things on her locker and yours, and now this.”
    I stopped walking. “People did what?”
    Kicker’s eyes widened, and even Drew stared at me with a weird expression. Then I realized what I’d said. Dang, another thing I should have known about. Seriously, I should just keep my mouth shut when people talked about what had happened the last several weeks.
    “What? That’s messed up,” Drew said and I realized they were talking.
    “I know,” Kicker said. “I was shocked when she told me.”
    “You seriously can’t remember anything that happened?” Drew asked, staring at me and standing smack in the middle of the hallway. Students were forced to walk around him.
    I shrugged. “The doctors said everything would come rushing back whenever.”
    “It’s my fault,” Drew said.
    “It’s no one’s fault. Things happen.” Especially when the supernatural are involved. “I have to go. I don’t want to be late for class.”
    He grabbed my arm. “You don’t understand. We were, you know, kissing after we won, and I didn’t realize the crowd was surging toward us. One second you were in my arms. The next someone pulled you away while others pushed me down. I tried to find you. I should have tried harder or held you tighter or—”
    “Don’t say that. I’m sure it was a crazy evening, and no one is to blame.”
    “I agree,” Kicker added.
    Drew smiled at her. He walked me to class and somehow ended up inviting Kicker to his party, too. The look on her face was comical. She’d never hung out with football players.
    For the rest of the morning, I searched for the Valkyries and hoped Echo would do his appearing act. I was beginning to worry about him, even though I knew I shouldn’t. He could take care of himself.
    Still, he’d better show up soon. I had enough crap to deal with without worrying about him. When I didn’t see Raine near our lockers, I sent her a text message.
    During lunch, Kicker filled me in on everything I’d “missed” and it wasn’t pretty. My anger shot up as they talked and laughed about someone defacing Raine’s locker and people treating her like crap because she’d known something bad was about to happen during that disastrous meet. Apparently, Eirik and the other me were the only ones who’d stuck by her. That they found