Rumors. I hope they are mistaken, because I need your help, and I’m not leaving until my killers are exposed and stopped.
Her name was Jenny, and she was fifteen, not as young as I’d thought, and she had a lot to say. The more she talked, the more pissed I got. I didn’t realize I was crying until a tear fell on the book. I’d written several pages of everything that had happened to her, including the names and the addresses of the girls responsible.
Anything else? I let the thought drift through my head.
Tell my reaper I would have possessed those bitches and driven them crazy, but I chose to work with you because I knew you’d help me. I’m counting on you, Medium. I want them stopped before they do to other girls what they did to me.
Jenny was bossy, but I forgave her because she’d been through a lot. She and I separated.
“What happened to her?” Andris jumped off the counter and offered me a handkerchief. Only Andris would accessorize his outfit with a handkerchief. Syn was in the process of pulling wads of tissue and stopped.
I wiped at my cheeks. “Jenny was a student at an elite boarding school. Unlike the other girls, she was on scholarship, not one of the paying girls or children of the founding fathers, who bullied her constantly. They called her fat, so she tried to fit in. First, she became bulimic. Then, she ended up being”—I waved toward the skinny girl—“anorexic. All to fit in. They mocked her hair, so she changed it. Or tried to. Her clothes. Everything about her was just never good enough. The bitches did it at school and online. There’s a website where these private prep schools socialize. They posted her pictures there and basically terrorized her. When she thought she was in and started dating a boy at a neighboring school, it turned out it was all a bet to see if he could get her in the sack. He posted intimate pictures of her online.”
“Punk,” Syn ground out.
“The bitches paid him, Syn. They are just as responsible for Jenny starving herself and the prank that ended her life. They locked her in an old building as part of some stupid initiation into a society and left her there for two days. When she tried to escape and found the stairs, she tripped and fell to her death.” From her expression, Jenny was following our conversation. “Jenny said the leader of the pack is a senior and the daughter of one of the founding fathers. The girl keeps an online diary chronicling the things she and her friends do to the undesirables like Jenny, girls who don’t belong in their school.” I gave Syn the pages. “That’s the log-in information. I hate bullies. If Raine were here, we would visit the girls and make them pay.”
“I’ll take care of this,” Syn snarled, folding the papers. He was usually an easygoing guy, so seeing this side of him was interesting.
“I’m going with you, Grimnir,” Andris said. “Making Mortals squirm is my specialty.”
“Jenny doesn’t want to be reaped until this is over,” I said.
Syn looked ready to argue. He beckoned Jenny forward and peered into her face. “We’ll get them, Jenny. Today. And you’ll watch.”
Jenny nodded.
“Just don’t do anything to them that attracts the attention of the Norns,” I said. “I don’t want to be on their radar. Ever.”
“You won’t,” Syn said. “I like computers. There’s so much damage I can do with them.”
“I knew there was a reason I liked you, Nubian,” Andris piped in. “You know, other than the obvious. Life around here had gotten boring since Torin got hitched and we dispatched the dark souls.”
“Uh, that was last week,” I reminded him.
“So it’s been a boring few days. I need to be stimulated. You and I, Nubian, will be vigilante reapers. Blondie can find us victims—or should I call them the perps?—and we’ll finish them off.”
“First, don’t call me blondie. I hate it.” Eirik had used it whenever he wanted to piss me off. “Second, you are not allowed to kill Mortals.”
“I was speaking metaphorically,” Andris said. “We’ll punish them. Make them confess and fix things. Any thoughts on how we can do this, Grimnir?”
“I have plenty.”
While they plotted mayhem, I moved on to the next soul. Halfway through, Andris opened the jar of Twizzlers and offered me some. I munched as I worked.
“That’s enough for now,” I said when I reached the fifteenth soul. Andris had his three while Syn had the rest. “We’ll continue this evening. Tell your friends I’m not quitting,” I reminded the ones I hadn’t helped. Syn and Andris looked at me questioningly. “Almost all of them asked me if I was sick or dying. Strange.”
The Grimnir placed the bag with my lunch and ice tea bottle on the counter.
“Echo said that’s your favorite brand,” he said.
“Thanks, Syn.”
“It’s no problem.” He reached inside his trench coat and pulled out a small sickle. The second he lifted it, runes appeared on his arm, hands, and fingers, and connected to the ones on the sickle. It elongated into a scythe. The souls I’d helped stared at the blade with morbid fascination while the ones who still needed my help disappeared quickly.
Andris stared at the scythe and rolled his eyes without reaching for his artavus. The Valkyries’ artavo had the same effect as a scythe when the light from it was used to control or disperse a soul, but I was finally seeing why Grimnirs used the bigger scythe. They reaped and controlled ten times the number of souls as the Valkyries. Their targets included criminals, who tended to run from reapers. I’d listened to enough of them to know their reason for running was always revenge. I opened the lid of the ice tea and chugged.
“How can you stand eating in here?” Andris asked, looking around.
“I don’t intend to. I’m going to the beach house. Besides, no one dares to use this bathroom anymore.”
“Ah, there are rumors going around your school that it’s haunted. Flickering lights and electronics acting crazy. One even reported a voice on her phone asking her personal questions.”
I grinned. Dev tended to get carried away. “How did you hear about it? Are you dating a student again?”
Andris grinned. “Are you and Dev having fun?”
“Always. Dating a student?”
“Several. Like I said, variety spices life.” He glanced at Syn and sighed. “Fine, sour face. Let’s go cause some mayhem. Like Blondie, I hate bullies.” He threw his coffee cup in the garbage. “Will let you know how it goes. Come along, souls.”
They opened a portal and disappeared through it, Syn leading the way with Jenny and his group of souls following, while Andris took the rear. A few souls wandered into the bathroom while I collected my things, but I shook my head. They understood what that meant, yet they still lingered and watched me. Their presence no longer bothered me. They were here when I arrived and would stay when I left, sometimes refusing to give up their places in line. The smart ones headed to the mansion, where I helped them after school. A few times, I helped some at my farm by the apple trees. It all depended on my mood.
I opened a portal to Echo’s beach house in Miami and waved to the souls staring at me with woeful expressions. The students were right about that bathroom. It was haunted. I headed to the pool deck and lifted my face to the sky. It was going on three, the weather perfect for being outdoors. I settled on a lounge and ate my food. Alone.
I missed Raine. I would have gone to the mansion for lunch if she weren’t on her honeymoon, or we would have come here if she hadn’t quit school. I hated the Norns for forcing her to quit school and to get married secretly. At least they hadn’t come after me.
I had a feeling Echo was responsible for that. He’d shielded me from them so well I was invisible, and I wanted it to stay that way. He was my protector, the one constant person in my life now. Someone I could count on no matter what. I could count on Mom and Dad, too, but they were my parents and keeping an eye on me was their innate responsibility. Echo chose me and adored me despite all my imperfections. It was time my parents knew the truth about him.