Runes #03 - Grimnirs by Ednah Walters Read Free Book Online Page A

with a frown.
    “You’ve lost quite a bit of weight,” he said.
    “I agree,” Echo said. “I felt it yesterday when I lifted you. I think you were pining for me and refused to eat.”
    Ignoring him was becoming harder.
    “They don’t exactly serve large potions at the crazy house,” I said.
    Dad winced, and I wished I hadn’t brought up the mental hospital. He’d looked uneasy whenever they visited me at PMI. It was probably hard for him to accept that his only child had been institutionalized.
    “Told you those were false memories from the Norns,” Echo interjected.
    I wish I could tell him to shut up. I reached up and kissed Dad’s cheek. “Love you, Dad.”
    “How come he gets a kiss and I don’t?” Echo asked.
    “What was that for?” Dad asked at the same time.
    “For being the greatest dad.” I started across the street, and he fell in step beside me. Echo flanked me on the other side. He was saying something, but I tuned him out. He talked too much. More cars screeched to a stop behind us. I glanced back, recognizing a few. Soon the front entrance would be packed with students wondering where I’d been. Staring. Pointing. My worst nightmare.
    “School,” Echo said and shuddered. “Why Valkyries insist on mingling with Mortals in this cesspool boggles the mind. You swore you wouldn’t come back here either, but since the Norns screwed with your memories, I suppose you don’t remember that.”
    I let my hair fall forward, so Dad wouldn’t see my face, and I glared at Echo. “Just go away,” I mouthed. “Please?”
    His eyes narrowed. Then he sighed. “Okay, but you owe me.”
    “For what?” I wanted to ask, but I didn’t want to know the answer. His crazy stories were adding to my nightmare. I didn’t check to see him disappear, but I knew the moment he was gone. The air was less charged. It was as though he emitted some pulse and I was tuned in to it, which was crazy because every time he appeared, frigid air followed.
    We entered the double doors leading to the front office. The secretary waved us into the principal’s office. I didn’t really want to see Mr. Elliot. A phone call explaining my return would have been enough, but Dad had insisted on talking to him.
    “Mr. Jemison,” the principal said, standing up. He shook Dad’s hand, nodded in my direction, and indicated the chairs across from his.
    “So what I can do for you?” he asked, sitting.
    “My daughter,” Dad glanced at me and smiled, “has missed quite a bit of school, and I’d like to help her catch up. I do not want her to repeat a class or for her grades to suffer.”
    Mr. Elliot smiled and leaned forward. “That’s very admirable, Mr. Jemison. But like I told you in the e-mail, Cora is a great student and will have no problem catching up.”
    Yeah, right. I was going to have no social life for the rest of the year.
    Dad frowned. “You don’t think she needs help? She’s been gone a while.”
    Mr. Elliot smiled. “The teachers will give her packets of missed work, and she can take any quizzes and tests she missed. But I don’t think she’s missed enough for us to worry about. Her grades are good. I checked. If she has problems grasping concepts, the teachers will work with her.”
    I tuned them out and slouched in my seat. Most students who’d missed weeks of school often struggled to catch up. Raine could help me. No, I wasn’t running to her for help. I’d plod through the packets alone. When Dad and the principal stood, I realized they were done talking.
    Outside the office, students hurried past, but no one stared or pointed. Dad glanced left and right before turning to peer at me. He looked worried.
    “Go,” I said. “I’ll be fine.”
    He hesitated. “You sure?”
    “CORA!”
    I turned and was almost knocked over by a dark-haired girl from my swim team. Hanna Jenkins, swim nickname Kicker. We weren’t buddies or even remotely close, so the exuberance was surprising.
    “Where have you