“Didn’t runes give the Tolberts unfair advantage in sports.”
Dad nodded. “It would have. That’s why they stopped participating in sports as soon as they chose to use runes. We have a strict code when it comes to runes.”
“Any other Immortals I know of?” I asked.
My jaw dropped as they listed more people around town. Storeowners Mom did business with, local businessmen, more farmers with vineyards. Some were kids who’d gone to my school and left for college, while others were still students at Kayville High or the other local high schools.
“What percent of the town is Immortal?”
“About twenty percent?” Dad looked at Mom for affirmation.
“Close to thirty, dear,” Mom said. “Whenever we reinvent ourselves, we tend to stay in touch, so if one person finds the perfect location, the others join them. Those who love the anonymity of urban areas move from city to city, while we rural folks move from small town to small town. We usually prefer struggling or dying towns, so we pour our resources into rebuilding them. We buy the farms and businesses, encourage growth, and boost local economy. We even donate money to fix the schools and offer scholarships to local students. Within a year of taking over a town, we are usually the majority. As the towns do better, more Mortals move back or come looking for jobs, marry, and have babies. Before you know it, we become the minority.”
“Do they realize you never age?”
Mom chuckled. “We move on before they do and reinvent ourselves elsewhere. How long do you think we have here, dear?” She glanced at Dad.
My stomach dropped as my imagination went into overdrive. I imagined coming home from school to finding the farm empty.
“For those who don’t age, another ten years,” Dad said. “But for those like us, we can hang in here for a little bit longer. Maybe another twenty.”
Good. I didn’t want them to move. This was my home. “Don’t you get tired of moving?”
Mom shook her head. “As long as we have a purpose, we don’t. We’ve helped rebuild communities, countries, and civilizations from ravages of wars for centuries. Heck, some of us even fight for our chosen countries, but what we help with is reconstruction after the devastation. We try not to interfere or change the course of history, which is why you don’t see any of our kind in the limelight. We keep to the background. Do you ever see your father go on a book tour?” He had the same picture in the dust jackets of all his books. It must have been taken thirty years ago.
I helped Mom clean up the kitchen and continued our conversation.
“So since you are ancient, does that mean we are rich?” I asked.
Mom chuckled. “We have enough to get by,” she said. “When you live as long as we do, you tend to use several banks in several countries and move your money around according to the shift in political stability.”
“So how come I get a puny allowance and do chores like wash dishes when we can afford a maid?” I asked, dead serious. I hated washing dishes. I was okay with picking apples or collecting eggs from the coop, but dishes were the bane of my existence.
Dad laughed. “I’ll let your mother answer that.”
“Washing dishes creates character.”
My jaw dropped while Echo tried hard not to laugh. “You’re so not funny.”
Mom chuckled. “Appearance, sweetheart. We can anonymously give out scholarships to struggling students, but when it comes to how we live, we have to maintain appearances. How would it look if we send you off to expensive holidays and buy you designer clothes when your father and I are simple organic farmers and bakers of apple pies?”
“But Dad is a successful author,” I whined. “No one will know I’m wearing a couture. I could say they’re knockoffs.” My parents laughed. Somehow, I didn’t think they’d sympathize with my obsession with fashion. “Can I at least have an increase in my allowance?”
“You walk around with a priceless ring on your finger and you own a cottage before your eighteenth birthday. What more could you possibly want?” Mom asked.
I didn’t know they knew Echo had put my name on the title deed of the cottage. I stopped pushing. Echo left to reap and pass on closure notes to Rhys and Nara while I went to bed. Dev still hadn’t come back.
Echo crawled into my bed just before I fell asleep, and I didn’t have the heart to kick him out. He was cold and needed me to warm him. Love had turned me into a total pushover. I wasn’t feeling so charitable in the morning.
“Are we no longer pretending?”
He sighed and gave me the lost puppy look. I resisted.
“Maybe you shouldn’t sleep over here anymore. I’m planning on going to Helheim next weekend, so we might as well get mentally ready for the separation.”
“Okay.”
I gawked at him. He wasn’t even willing to fight for us? What was wrong with him? I picked up a pillow and hit him with it. He caught and gently placed it on my bed without showing any emotions. If he’d shown he was tortured about his decision, I would have forgiven him.
It wasn’t until he left that I noticed my baby blanket had been returned.
I drove my Elantra since Echo had taken his SUV to the cottage the night before. I noticed the increased number of souls the second I stepped out of the house. There were even more in the school’s parking lot. Obviously, reassuring them I wasn’t in danger hadn’t worked. Maybe Echo should talk to them.
Kicker met me by the entrance and yapped on about some TV program while I looked around and tried to find Immortal kids. Kenzie Sinclair and Caesar Alvarez were seniors and orphans according to Mom. Did they know about me? Maybe we should have a huge get-to-know-you party and invite every Immortal in town and their children.
I was happy when we reached our lockers and Kicker went to hers. I checked my phone, but Dev wasn’t in it. The whole day I kept hoping he’d appear. The one time I needed to talk to him and he pulled a disappearing act.
Just before lunch, I got a text from Raine, so I joined her at the mansion for lunch and told her about the blanket. “I’m happy she returned it, but I don’t like the idea that she can waltz in and out of my home whenever she likes.”
“And despite the protection runes around the farm,” Raine added. “She could be an evil Immortal.”
“Maybe she’s not, Cora,” Lavania called out from the table, where she, Femi, and Ingrid were busy shoving letters in envelopes. They were sending out invitations to more potential teachers.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“She could be your mother, the goddess. The Idun-Grimnirs probably told her about finding you, and she came to see if you actually are real,” Lavania said.
“If I heard my daughter was alive and another had lied about being her, I’d want proof, too,” Femi added. “The blanket was it.”
“And she gave Celestia an invisibility cloak,” Raine added. “Chances are she owns a special one, too.”
I didn’t comment on their conclusion even though I agreed with them. I wasn’t ready to confess about my clairvoyance or accuse a mother I’d never met of stalking me. After all, she’d returned the blanket. Had she seen Echo asleep beside me? I hoped so.
“I hope you guys get to meet Celestia,” I called out to the other women. “She is perfect for Eirik.”
“I hope she comes to Mystic Academy,” Raine said. “We could have some fun. Astral projecting to places. Driving the guys crazy.”
“We should invite her and Hayden for a girls’ night out,” I suggested.
“And Trudy, too. They could retrieve your memories.”
“Maybe after Celestia helps Dev, who is still MIA.”
“Help Dev? How?”
I explained what Celestia planned to do while Raine stared at me with wide eyes. “We need to find him and give him the good news, but he’s on a cleansing binge.”