Born Immortal

Born Immortal Chapter 30

Lucky leaned back against the trunk of the big oak tree behind him, staring off through the trees at the big Georgian mansion. He was too far away to make out any details but he was more concerned with staying hidden than with gathering intelligence. He already knew everything he needed to know about what was going on at the Falkor's house and had already put his plans in motion to get through the weaknesses he had found in Tyr's defenses. Lucky only had to sit back now and wait for the last pieces to fall into place so that he could finally get his revenge.

***

Randy sat in the undergrowth of the thick forest watching his great-grandfather and trying to hold back the low growl that wanted to break free from his throat. He had caught the scent farther out past the river and followed it in when he realized where it was leading. There had been a lot of strange scents in the forests around Frey's house lately and Randy wasn't convinced that they were all part of the group of guards who surrounded the house in shifts to keep watch over Astyr.

When it came to Astyr's safety, Randy was willing to go to extra lengths; staying awake for days on end to check every trail in the woods and going without hunting until he couldn't hold out any longer just so he wouldn't have to be too far away from her. He was convinced that Lucky was going to make his move any day now because he wouldn't want to wait until after Astyr turned sixteen and started the regeneration process. It would be a lot harder to kill her after that and Lucky was clearly getting impatient now to have this done with.

***

Astyr sat on the sofa in the game room upstairs sharing a bowl of popcorn with Hakon. They were squished up close to each other on one end because the rest of the space was taken up by Glin, Jenny, Gunnar and Ginny. Ginny and Gunnar had started to spend more time together when Jenny had deserted her best friend for Glin but they insisted to anybody who asked that they were just friends. Gunnar often drove her home after school and hung out at her house doing homework with her but he didn't hang all over her the way Glin did with Jenny.

The three couples were spending the long President's Day weekend at the end of February having a movie marathon together since Tyr and Frey had put a stop to their plans to go down south to the beach before they could even make them. The extra security was beginning to get a little boring and Astyr was getting more than a little stir crazy being cooped up in the house all the time. She was only allowed to go out for school and that was in the safe and capable hands of Glin, Hakon, and Gunnar. She understood how dangerous Loki could be, but that didn't make it easier to bear the restrictions imposed for her safety or the sitting around waiting for him to crawl out from under his rock and finally make a move. She almost wished at this point that he would just get it over with already so that she could live a normal life for once.

Well, as normal as her life could be, she thought. Her childhood had never been full of regular family moments; most of her foster parents had been only too eager to get rid of her, but she had been a member of the human race at least. Now that she knew the truth about her parents, there was no going back, even if she wanted to.

She most definitely didn't want that, though. Despite the fear of her father's enemy, the stress of waiting for an attack, and the boredom of sitting around with nothing to do but train and practice with her powers, Astyr was actually happy. She spent time with Tyr every day and really enjoyed listening to stories about his life. Also, she got to eat dinner surrounded by people who cared about her, understood her and weren't afraid of her; that was something she wouldn't trade for the whole world.

Best of all, however, was being with Hakon. They were careful not to act too close whenever Glin was around, he tended to be overly aggressive about Hakon, but otherwise they enjoyed a warm relationship. Astyr no longer felt held back by the feelings she had once had for Randy; she had forcibly put her brief time with him behind her, glad that she had found out about his betrayal before she had gotten any closer to him or made any painful mistakes.