“Were,” I corrected him.
“Are. Were. It doesn’t matter. They are not touching you. Right now, I need to locate the person emitting that energy. It’s potent.” He slithered from the radio and stayed with me when I stepped out of the car. Runes erupted on my arms. I recognized them right away. Locator runes.
What was going on? I looked around but didn’t see anything unusual. I didn’t even get the creepy feeling I often associated with someone watching me. Frowning, I indicated for Dev to walk closer. He floated around me and acted like a ninja, moving stealthily, throwing punches and flying kicks. He looked ridiculous.
“Don’t hurt yourself, Dev,” I warned and faked a cough when a few students walked past and glanced my way.
Dev entered my phone the second I entered the school building. “It’s still there, yet I can’t see where it’s coming from. Maybe you should skip school.”
I raised the phone to my lips and faked a conversation. “It might be Eirik watching us from Odin’s high chair.”
“The Boy Scout at the mansion?”
Nice description. “Yes. And that Boy Scout is my brother. I didn’t know he was even though we grew up together. He was watching me from Odin’s chair when he saw the ancients.”
“Why would the ancients be…? Whoa, Odin’s chair?”
“Let’s talk later. I have a class in two minutes, and you need to help the dying and redeem your soul.”
“Forget my soul. I’m not leaving you until I know what we’re dealing with here. If anything happened to you, I’d never forgive myself. Your brother goes to Asgard? What is he?”
“A dragon.” I turned off the phone, grabbed my books, and hurried toward class. Dev insisted the presence was in my class and refused to leave for three periods. In between classes, he grilled me on Eirik and my biological parents. Just before lunch, he claimed the presence was gone. I had my suspicions about the person responsible.
The second I stepped out of math class, I spotted several souls in the hallway. They smiled, but didn’t approach me. They often headed upstairs to the bathroom to wait for me. These didn’t look like they wanted my help, so I ignored them. I got a text before I reached the lockers.
“Come to the mansion for lunch,” her text said.
The souls followed me upstairs and floated through the wall before I went inside. Usually, they lined up outside and waited until I went ahead of them. I told them there would be no lunch session, and it didn’t seem to bother them. I tried reassuring them that no one was after me, but they just stared. Raine was waiting when I arrived at the mansion, along with Andris, Torin, and Ingrid.
“What’s going on?”
“Torin made lunch,” Raine said, hugging me. “I told you we should do lunch.”
“That was Monday, and you stood me up,” I said and pinched her.
She pinched me right back. “Just because you are a goddess doesn’t mean you get to abuse me.”
The others laughed.
“We added more protection runes around your school after Dev stopped by and told us about something stalking you, Goddess,” Ingrid added. “We’ll see what gets trapped inside.”
I loved that soul, but he was such a worrywart. “Thanks for the runes, guys. He also left souls on guard duty.” I pointed at Ingrid and snarled, “Stop messing with me, Blondie.”
“I can’t, Goddess Blondie,” Ingrid said and curtseyed. “Your royal deity-ness.”
I shook my head. “Clown.”
“Own your goddess-ship,” Andris whispered, sliding beside me. “You already have the bearing and the fashion sense.” He removed imaginary lint from my top. “Now all you need is the chair. Come sit beside me so I can find ways to replace Echo in your heart. I’ve always wanted a chair.”
I planted a kiss on his cheek. “You couldn’t handle me, Casanova, and no one can ever replace Echo. How did things go with Jenny?”
“The bullies were forced to go to the principal and confessed everything after we hacked the diary of the head bitch and posted its contents online. They were expelled after they apologized for what they’d done to Jenny and the others in front of the entire school. I made sure the students had their phones ready, and the apology has gone viral. While you’ve been busy discovering your brother, social media made their apologies and humiliation trend.”
“The principal expelled legacy children?”
“Every last one of them. How did he put it? The school had to show the students, the staff, the board, and the alumni that bullying would not be tolerated at McLane Prep. He had no choice because we made an insane donation in Jenny’s name. Her parents have been invited to a gala at the school.”
“Wow. Awesome.”
“Thank you.” He grinned and glanced at the others. From their expressions, he’d told them the story. “I told Syn we were awesome. He disagreed. He wanted the principal to resign for not doing his job. I told him we needed the man at that school where we could keep an eye on him. Syn wasn’t happy, but I can be very persuasive. So now I owe him.”
“Was Jenny happy?”
“As a clam.”
“Thanks, Andris. And you too, Torin.” He’d just placed a steaming plate of stir-fry in front of me. I gave him a hug.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah. Dev worries too much.” I couldn’t tell them my suspicions.
“We can hang around the school until we figure out this new threat.”
“It’s okay. Honestly, I don’t feel threatened at all. Even when Dev mentioned it, I didn’t feel scared.”
“Ah, noblesse oblige?” Andris said.
The others laughed while Torin shook his head and went to join Raine. They fed each other. Marriage agreed with them. She glowed. He was content. I wanted what they had, not all this drama with my birth parents.
“What is noblesse oblige?” I asked.
“It’s French for nobility doesn’t fear anything,” Andris said. “They boldly face all sorts of danger because it’s in their blood to do so. If you are of a noble birth like Sir Anal over here”—Andris indicated Torin with a nod—“or of godly birth like you, you are invincible.”
Ingrid flicked water at him. “Don’t listen to him, Cora. Noblesse oblige means there are certain expectations and responsibilities required of you when you are of noble birth. Not feeling threatened has nothing to do with it, which begs the question, what could Dev have felt.”
I explained about Eirik and Odin’s chair. “He could still be up there watching us. Did you guys know he is a dragon shifter?”
“A what?” echoed around the kitchen.
“A dragon shifter,” I said, grinning at the expression on Raine and Ingrid’s faces.
“That explains it,” Ingrid said and high-fived Raine.
“Explains what, Freckles?” Torin asked.
“The muscles.” Raine lifted her arms and flexed hers while Torin scowled.
“He visited a couple of weeks ago. Raine and I found him asleep on her bed and got an eyeful,” Ingrid said. “I’m not complaining. I was tempted to see if he felt as good as he looked. I mean, the guy is seriously packing.” She kept throwing Torin and Andris side-glances. It was obvious she was deliberately baiting them.
“An eyeful of what?” Torin growled, and Raine shut him up with a kiss.
“I wonder if he was the golden dragon we saw flying around Asgard last week,” Andris said. “He even fought with the Einherjar.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“The warriors preparing for Ragnarok,” Andris explained, and I wondered if Goddess Hel had warriors preparing, too. I was starting to wonder about her and how she treated her reapers. Did she mingle with them, or were they like her servants?
“Do Valkyries mingle with the gods?”
Andris laughed and explained in detail how life was in Asgard. The more I heard about their interaction with the gods, the more I worried about my future with Echo. If Goddess Hel didn’t encourage interaction between her hall and the Grimnirs’, I’d never see Echo.
Chapter 6. Celestia Knows