"I know it's out there. I can feel it. Get inside my phone and talk to Echo," I said with clenched teeth, frustration and fear colliding deep in my core.

Dev shook his head and floated toward the window. I really needed to keep that window closed or any soul could just float into my room whenever they wanted, despite the runes around my house.

"Damn it, Dev. Come back here."

He didn't look back. Echo stirred again, and I was tempted to wake him up. He could follow Dev and all this would be over. Even as the thought crossed my mind, I knew it couldn't be that simple. Not when dealing with the supernatural. On the other hand, Dev had warned me to be quiet. It was almost as though he hadn't wanted Echo to meet the dark soul, which meant he knew it.

I gripped the iron poker and waited. I fell asleep still waiting for Dev to come back.

CHAPTER 13. MEDIUM RUNES.

Echo was gone the next morning when I woke up.

"Thanks for letting me sleep," his text read. "See why I adore you?"

If only he knew everything. I texted him and got ready for school.

"Are you sure you should go to school today?" Mom asked while I ate breakfast like a starved convict.

I nodded. "After school, I'm going to Angie's to pick up my prom dresses." She and Dad exchanged a glance. "I'm fine. Really. If they serve mystery meat again-"

"I'll file a complaint against the school," Mom snapped in her scary mother bear voice that said she wasn't kidding.

Yikes. "Complaints only work if more than one student is affected, Mom. I won't eat it."

"You got that right," she said. "I'm making you lunch."

I couldn't complain, just sat there while she packed slices of rump roast and baked baby potatoes from last night. I gave her a kiss and hug, and an exuberant thank you before leaving the house.

There were new runes on my car. He must have added them before leaving. I threw my backpack in the back and slipped behind the wheel.

Mom came out of the house and waved. What now? I lowered my window, hoping this wasn't about school lunches or Echo.

"Are you going to the nursing home today?" she asked.

"Tomorrow. Why?"

"I have extra pies if you want to take one to your charges at the nursing home and one more for Raine's family."

"I'll drop them off tomorrow. I gotta go, Mom."

"Love you," she said and disappeared back inside the house.

"Love you, too," I said and backed out. Just before I could shift gears, a gray mass appeared at the corner of my eye and I froze, yesterday's incident flooding my psyche. It moved to the front of my car and sanity returned. It was Dev.

I really needed to get my act together. I shouldn't fear souls, normal or dark. I blew out air, tried to calm my racing heart, and waved him inside. He shook his head.

I had no time for this crap. "You have some explaining to do, so get in before you really, really piss me off."

He imitated death by decapitation.

"You're already dead, Dev," I reminded him.

He pointed at the runes. They were glowing. Weird.

I frowned. "What about the runes?"

He pointed at his chest and imitated an explosion. Oh, that was what they were for? To protect me against dark souls? I grabbed my phone and stuck it out the window.

"Get in."

He slithered inside my phone. I threw it on the tray between the front two seats and stepped on the gas. "Start talking."

"What do you want to know?" he asked.

"Who attacked me? And don't say you don't know because I know you do."

"You did it," he said and laughed. "You convinced him. I should have thanked you last night, but I had to get rid of another dark soul."

"Another one? Are you sure? It felt the same as the other one."

"All souls feel the same," he said. "I remember that from my years as an Immortal."

"No, they don't. Dark souls give out a different vibe."

"Oh. Do I give the vibe?"

"Not really. Maybe it's because you haven't tried to possess me. And FYI, you made the thing with Echo happen. You protected me when the soul attacked, and that's what convinced him you might not be a bad guy."

He chuckled. "You don't see it. If it weren't for you-"

"Thank me later, Dev, after you and your boy reconcile. You're sure the soul from last night is not the same one that attacked me?"

"I'm sure, but word is out about you. Every dark soul out there wants the Immortal with medium runes."

I stepped on the brakes so hard my body jerked forward. "Medium what?"

"Your runes, the same runes every lost soul tries to etch on the Mortals they possess, but fail to because they don't have the right artavus. Have you ever seen Mortals try to cut themselves?"

My time at Providence Mental Institute flashed in my head, and I shivered. "Yes."

"Mortal doctors believe they're mentally ill and cutting is their way of dealing with the pain. That may be true for some, but for others, the souls do it or make them do it. Some are regular souls, who've picked up the nasty habit from dark souls. The others are dark souls."

What he was saying actually made sense.

"But you, doll-face, already have these runes etched on you. Because of them, you can be possessed without the side effects Mortals feel."

A car honked behind me, and I realized I'd stopped too long at the stop sign. I hit the gas. "That's not true. Most possessions drain my energy. There are days when I sleep for hours after a possession-a-thon. And yesterday, I almost slipped into a catatonic state. I don't think I can survive a dark soul possession, Dev."

Silence followed. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," I snapped. "It took me hours to be myself again after you two passed through me." I stopped at the light on Main Street. "How do I stop them from coming after me?"

"Lose the runes. Disappear."

"Very funny. I'm not going anywhere, and I can't lose the runes. No one knows what they are or what they do, except that they attract souls. This is the first time I've heard them called medium runes."

"Only souls who've been around know about them. They're passed down from lost soul to lost soul."

Somehow Maliina had known about them and etched them on me. Why? I pulled up into the parking lot outside my school. "Find Echo, Dev."

"There's your answer," Dev said. "Echo can be your bodyguard twenty-four-seven. Every time a dark soul appears, he can reap it."

If only that were possible. I sighed. "Echo, like the other reapers, has a job to do, and it's not protecting me twenty-four-seven. I'll find a way." I needed a giant iron rod to disperse souls. "Go, Dev. Find your friend."

"Outside your car, please. I don't want to be blown into tiny pieces. Echo used the same runes on his scythe this time. He must be pissed. Bye," Dev added as soon as I stepped out of the car. Then he slithered out of my phone.

I didn't even look his way, my mind racing. What if Echo etched the runes on his scythe on me? I'd be safe from dark souls. On the other hand, I'd also be toxic to other souls, which meant not helping them anymore.

I hurried toward the school building. Would my life become less complicated if I stopped helping souls? Yes. Would I be happier? Possibly not. I couldn't see myself going back to being the old Cora, blogging about hot guys. Plus, I hated the idea of being an Immortal with a hot reaper for a boyfriend and nothing else. It might sound crazy, but I liked working with Echo. We were a team. I had to find a way around this.

Just before I entered the building, the sound of Torin's motorcycle reached me and I turned. Andris, Ingrid, and Blaine were right behind me.

"Why the long face, Soul Whisperer?" Andris asked, dropping an arm around my shoulder.

"Good morning to you too, Valkyrie," I said. "I thought you guys were at a stakeout somewhere in California."

"That's Torin's M.O. He gets chummy with his Mortals. I go along to keep an eye on him for Raine. Those Cali girls are hot and tanned all over. They sunbathe in the nude," he added in a whisper.

I doubted Raine sent him to keep Torin in check. Those two were crazy about each other. "In other words, you've been spending time on a nudist beach instead of working."

"And I have a no tan lines to prove it. Want to see?"

"Some other time." I looked over his shoulder, but Raine and Torin were taking their time. In fact, they were kissing. I noticed they did that more than before. They were also starting to dress alike. Raine wore a leather jacket. Designer. I recognized the brand. And fingerless gloves.

"Okay, something is definitely wrong," Andris said. "She didn't rise to the bait."

"Maybe if you were less obnoxious, she'd tell us," Ingrid said, and my focus shifted to her. Her sister had marked me with medium runes. Maybe she knew something about them.

"She's right, Andris. Try being less obnoxious. Come on, Ingrid." I wrapped my arm around hers and pulled her toward the school entrance. "You really should reel him in."

Ingrid chuckled. "Why? I don't want him."

I loved her Norwegian accent. Even after centuries as an Immortal and living all over the world, she still hadn't lost it. She was a cheerleader, popular, and the combination of pale blonde hair and light-blue eyes made her look like a model. Andris would be lucky to have her as a girlfriend. Or not. He'd mess up the relationship.

"Are you sure?" I teased.

Ingrid rolled her eyes. "Andris has a few more centuries of womanizing before he can be with one woman. I refuse to join his harem."

"I like your attitude."

"Thank you." She waved to some of her cheerleader friends.

We entered the hallway leading to the lockers. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Don't get mad. I know how much you hate talking about Maliina, but I have to know something." When I was desperate for information, Ingrid was the one who'd told me that her sister had runed me. "Do you know anything about the runes she etched on me?"

She stopped walking, and her expression almost made me tell her to forget it. She looked like she was in pain. We were also in the middle of the hallway and students had to walk around her. I pulled her away from traffic.

"I know this doesn't make sense, but-"

"No, she never told me anything," she said abruptly, her accent becoming stronger. "I was her annoying younger sister. She either ignored me or used me. But..." A frown creased her eyebrows. "Just before she runed you, she said something that didn't make sense at the time."

"What?"

"There was the usual rhetoric about making Raine pay for trying to steal Andris." She rolled her eyes. "Then she said that you might become useful. I guess she'd known at the time she'd mimic you."

Or that she'd possess my body. I sighed. "Thanks."

We walked toward our lockers in silence.

"That's not the answer you wanted to hear, is it?" Ingrid asked.

I gave her a tiny smile, not sure whether to confide in her or not. She and I took private lessons from Lavania, but her knowledge of runes was just as limited as mine.

"I wondered why my runes attract..." I glanced around and lowered my voice, "souls. What's special about them?"

She shrugged. "Ask Lavania. She knows everything, and she's back early. We're going home for lunch. She insisted."

"Oh, I missed you, girls," Lavania said, giving us girls hugs. Blaine watched from the sideline. "I have so much to tell you. Come here, Blaine."

"Nice to have you back, Lavania," he said, but he didn't move an inch.

Lavania chuckled, walked to where he stood, and gave him a hug anyway. "As long as you live in this house, you put up with my idiosyncrasies. Where are my boys?"

"StubHub Center," Blaine said, extricating himself from her arms.

"Oh no, not one of the teams," Lavania said. "They're so young."