RUNES (A Runes Book 1)

Chapter 10

10.  NORMAL

I’m not going to panic… I’m not going to panic…

I repeated the words during the ride back home, until Torin pulled up outside his house and turned off the engine. Eirik’s Jeep wasn’t parked outside my house, even though I was ten minutes late. I hoped I hadn’t missed him. I needed to see him. Right now, he represented everything sane and normal.

“Thanks for everything,” I said, giving Torin the helmet.

“Any time.” He studied me intently. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know.” I rubbed my eyes, my hands shaking, my mind starting to shut down. “I can’t deal with all this, Torin.”

“I understand. Maybe I shouldn’t have told you the truth.”

“No, I’m happy you did. I just remembered something else. I saw the runes on Andris before you healed me.”

Torin frowned. “You sure?”

I nodded. “That kind of confirms that I was marked before, right?”

“Yes,” he said slowly as though he was reevaluating everything he knew about me, which only made me feel worse. “Who did you meet first? Me or Andris?”

“You.”

His frown deepened.

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

“I was afraid he’d marked you and awakened your ability to see magical runes.”

“And that would be… what? Bad?”

“Maliina is messed up because of how he turned her. He is…” He shook his head. “He’s reckless.”

This was all too much for me to handle. “I have to go. Eirik will be here any minute.”

Something flickered in Torin eyes. Pain? Anger? I couldn’t tell. He recovered and smiled. “Have fun. I hope he knows what a lucky guy he is.”

I was the lucky one to have Eirik, someone I could depend on when my world was crumbling. I walked away and tried not to look back. No matter how fast I hurried, I couldn’t outrun what Torin had told me. Someone had marked me before he arrived in town.

Who? Why? Would I end up like him? Alone? Roaming the world? Recruiting people for some secret organization? Probably. Tears rushed to my eyes. No, I refused to be like him. I was Lorraine Cooper, a normal teenager with a normal girl best friend and a normal boyfriend.

As soon as I entered the house, tears filled my eyes. I leaned against the door and slid down until I sat on the floor.

A knock rattled on my door. “Freckles?”

I ignored him, tears flowing faster and faster.

“Please, don’t cry,” he whispered.

I didn’t know how he knew I was crying. I just wanted him to go away.

“Let me come inside, so we can talk.”

“No.” He could probably use his runes to walk through the door, but I didn’t care. “Go away.”

“I’m sorry.”

Why should he be sorry? It wasn’t his fault. I cried harder. I knew he didn’t leave, knew he felt my pain and confusion on some fundamental level that defied explanation. It was one of those truths I didn’t bother to question anymore. I wasn’t sure how long I cried, but I felt rather than saw him leave. By then I was drained, completely spent.