I studied him, not sure whether he was up to something or not. Like Dev, Echo hadn't spoken to him in years. "Are you offering to help us?"

"Yes. It's time to bury the past."

How convenient. "So this has nothing to do with Dev and the fact that you guys want him?"

"No, but chances are the dark souls followed him here. Dev tended to act without thinking and I'm sure that hasn't changed."

I frowned, not liking that one little bit. "Okay, I'll talk to Echo. How will he contact you?"

"He knows where we hang out." He frowned. "I hope you don't hold my cousin's rash behavior against her. She was distraught over Dev's sudden appearance."

Somehow I didn't see Nara getting distraught or making mistakes. "We'll see."

He nodded at me and Blaine, bowed slightly toward Raine, which meant he knew who she was, and he turned toward Ingrid. "It was nice meeting you, uh...?"

"Goodbye, Grimnir," Blaine said.

Ingrid backhanded Blaine's chest. "Stop being rude. It's Ingrid Dahl. Nice to meet you too, Rhys," she said, sounding so formal.

Those adorable dimples flashed again as Rhys turned to leave. He looked back, his eyes going to Ingrid, before he disappeared into an alley.

I released a breath and glanced at the others. Ingrid wore a look I'd never seen on her. Rhys had definitely caught her interest.

Raine gave me a look that said, "Here we go again." I wasn't sure whether she meant another romance with a Grimnir or another horde of supernatural beings gunning for us.

"Looks like trouble is headed our way," Blaine said, not sounding worried.

I was worried. No, I was petrified. It was the situation with the Immortals attacking our town all over again, except this time we didn't have a bunch of witches on our side. It was just us. Somehow I had to convince Echo to meet with Rhys and rally up support among the Grimnirs. I pulled out my phone and texted Echo. Hopefully, he wasn't in Hel.

"I gotta grab my clothes." I disappeared inside, changed, and paid for my purchases. Outside, I could see the others conferring. Then Blaine and Ingrid took off.

"Don't drop me off at my place," Raine said. "Let's stop at the mansion and talk to Lavania. I'd rather she hears what's going on from you than me, or someone else."

I didn't argue even though all I wanted to do was go home and wait for Echo. My phone didn't ding either, so no text from him. I wasn't sure what was worse, texting him and not getting a response, or not texting at all.

"Did you see how the Grimnir, uh, Rhys couldn't take his eyes off Ingrid?" Raine asked, and I shot her an annoyed look. "Yeah, I know, we have enough to worry about without thinking about romance. But peaceful moments are meant to be enjoyed. Worrying about what might happen will only paralyze us. Torin often says we don't let our enemies dictate how we behave. Let them come and think we're not prepared, until they attack and realize we are way ahead of the game."

I reached out and gripped her hand. "Thank you. I needed to hear that. Oh crap. I can't believe I forgot to ask Rhys about Maliina."

"I'm sure Echo would know if she's on Torture Island or not," Raine quipped.

"I don't know. Remember, he never left my side after the battle, and when I recovered, he left with Eirik. The other Grimnirs were envious of his reaping record and hated him. She could have escaped them and they wouldn't have bothered to tell him."

"Did you feel anything that could connect the dark soul that attacked you to her?"

"You mean other than the pure evil spewing from her core? No."

At the mansion, we found Lavania in the library. She had a sixth sense or something because she knew right away something wasn't right. She listened without interrupting. When Torin and Andris arrived, she asked them to join us and quickly explained what I had told her. She didn't miss a thing. Not the fears and doubts starting to consume me, or the dilemma I was having about helping dark souls.

"You poor child," she said, giving me a hug.

The urge to cry washed over me. I couldn't discuss the supernatural crap I went through with my mother, so Lavania and Raine's mother were often my confidants. When she rubbed my back, it reminded me of Mom. I wanted to bawl.

"Listen to me," she added firmly. "We've faced worse enemies and sent them running. So I don't want you worrying about these dark souls or doubting your gifts. Okay?"

The urge to cry ebbed. "It doesn't feel like a gift right now," I griped.

She chuckled. "I know. Once this crisis is over, everything will go back to normal."

I doubted that. Besides, her idea of normal was not my normal.

"Now," she added, her eyes narrowing. "I can't begin to understand why you've decided to help a dark soul, but I'm going to respect your decision. I only hope that if you need to talk, you know I'm here for you."

I fought tears again.

"Come now. None of that. Let's talk about medium runes. I don't think I've ever heard of them before, but I'm not surprised they exist. Most Mediums are witches, who use trance magic, not runes, in order to communicate with the dead. Have you guys heard of them?" She glanced at the others, but Torin, Andris, and Blaine shook their heads. Ingrid wore a preoccupied expression as though something bothered her.

"Now I understand why you asked me about Maliina," Ingrid said. "If she's the soul that attacked you-"

"No, she's not," Andris said quickly. "The Grimnirs took her straight to Hel's little torture chamber on Agony Island after I killed her. I saw them enter a portal with her."

"What if she escaped and is here now?" Ingrid shot back, her voice rising.

"Then we'll deal with her again," Andris said. "Anyone coming after you or Cora must go through us first." Sometimes he acted like he might have stronger feelings for Ingrid, and other times, he was a complete jerk to her. He was so unpredictable.

"Andris is right," Lavania said, rubbing Ingrid's arm. "But soon we won't need the boys to protect us. You'll be protecting yourselves." She smiled, her glance touching me, Ingrid, and Raine. "It's time for my great news now that you're all here. I got the go-ahead to start a new school, a special school to train Immortals and future Valkyries. We should be up and running by fall."

"I didn't think they'd go for it," Raine said.

"Why shouldn't they? As soon as they learned the idea came from you, they were happy to oblige. I'm still searching for the perfect location and once I find it, I expect you three to be in my senior class."

Since there was no way in Hel's Mist my parents would allow me to spend my senior year at some weird boarding school, I tuned them out, my thoughts shifting to Echo. I checked my phone again.

No text.

What was the point of having a phone when he couldn't take a moment to text me back? Unless he couldn't. My stomach clenched at the thought.

I made eye contact with Raine and indicated the door with a slant of my head. We excused ourselves. Torin cocked a questioning brow, but Raine didn't explain.

"I need to check if Echo is at his place and then head home."

"Let me tell the others." She walked away before I could protest. I sent Echo another text. A minute later, Raine came out with Torin. Andris, Blaine, and Ingrid followed.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"We're coming with you," Raine said. "You don't think we're going to let you out of our sight now, do you?"

It was sweet of them, but I just wanted to see Echo. "So if I said no?"

"We'd ignore you," Andris said and led the way through the portal to Echo's place in Miami. The house was in total darkness. It was eight p.m. We did a walk-through, but Echo wasn't there. I started to worry. I sent him two texts, first apologizing for my previous one and then begging him to come home.

"Did your mom bake pies today, Cora?" Andris asked, rubbing his stomach.

"Yeah, I could go for a slice now and a glass of her apple cider," Blaine chimed in.

I shook my head. They weren't exactly subtle. "If you want to continue playing Secret Service, just say so."

"We want to make sure you're safely at home, and we do love your mom's pies," Torin added.

It was hard to argue with Torin when he wore that look that said he was beginning to worry. An absent Echo when I needed him was a bad sign. We headed back to the mansion, piled up in cars, and drove to my place.

I kept glancing at my cell phone so much Raine offered to drive.

It wasn't often the whole crew gathered at my place, but Mom didn't seem fazed when we pulled up. The mansion was the meeting place of choice whenever we had a crisis.

Instead of going inside, they decided to sit on the porch after saying hi to my parents. Torin took the swing and pulled Raine onto his lap. She snuggled against his chest. Ingrid sat beside them while Blaine plopped on a wicker chair and Andris leaned against the porch rail. Once I dropped my dresses upstairs, I helped Mom serve homemade apple cider and slices of pie.

"Dinner will be ready in an hour, so don't take off," Mom warned us.

I followed her inside the house. "Mom, you don't have to feed them."

She chuckled and exchanged a glance with Dad. "What a terrible thing to say. Your friends are always invited here. Dinner will be ready in an hour. Now, shoo. Let me know if they need more cider."

For half an hour, I half-listened to my friends talk about soccer and US players. The Fifa World Cup was starting in June. I had no interest in soccer or what teams were likely to qualify. Blaine and Torin were typical jocks, but Ingrid surprised me by how much she knew about soccer.

I stared into space and stressed about everything-Echo, dark souls, Dev, Rhys and Nara, and Maliina-my worst nightmare. If she was back...

A hand landed on my shoulder. I jumped. Andris had come to sit beside me on the steps and I hadn't even noticed. The way the others stared at me said they must have tried to get my attention, too.

"May I use your bathroom?" Andris asked.

"Sure. There's one downstairs. I'll show you."

We entered the house, and Mom looked up. I was surprised to see Dad with her in the kitchen. From the looks of things, he was helping her.

"Just showing Andris the restroom," I said.

Andris caught my hand before I could turn and go back outside. "I should be out in five minutes. Ten minutes tops."

"Ew, too much information. Take your time."

He smirked, glanced over my shoulder at my parents, and said, "Keep your parents away from the bathroom, or you'll have some s'plaining to do." He disappeared inside the bathroom.

He was so weird sometimes. I turned around, and my eyes collided with my parents. "Need help with anything, Mom?"

"Maybe in ten-fifteen minutes. Is everything okay?" she asked.

"Yeah."

Mom wiped her hands on a dish towel, her eyes not leaving me. "You know I can tell when you're not okay. Did something happen at school?"

"No." If she hugged me now, I was so going to start bawling like a five year old.

"Are your prom dresses okay? I saw the dress bags, but with your friends around, I haven't really seen them."

"They're beautiful. I gotta go outside, Mom." I hurried out of the house before the tears started. Raine had kicked Torin from the porch swing. In fact, Torin and Blaine were talking by the orchard. She pulled me down between her and Ingrid.

"If anyone can find Echo, it's him," Raine said reassuringly. "Andris has connections in places that would shock you."

"Or make you blush," Ingrid added.

His behavior made sense now. I grimaced. "When he said he'd be out in five to ten minutes, I thought he was just being Andris."

"Nah, we thought Echo was taking too long, and he offered to go look for him."

"I wanted to go with him if he was going to visit a certain club frequented by Grimnirs," Ingrid added and sighed.

"You have it bad," Raine teased her.

"Rhys is gorgeous, but I've met gorgeous men before. I felt something with him, and I just want to explore it without Andris watching. He gets overly protective."

"So how many guys have you dated since you became Immortal?" Raine asked.

Ingrid laughed, drawing the attention of Torin and Blaine. "I'm not going to tell," she said.

"Why not?" Raine asked.

"Because you might think I'm just as bad as Andris."

Raine's jaw dropped. "No way."

"You don't live for a couple of centuries without leaving behind a string of broken hearts." She had our attention. "Or getting your heart broken. There was this soldier I met in France during World War Two..."

Ingrid just went from interesting to super cool in the blink of an eye. She was funny, outrageous, and naughty. I completely forgot about stressing, until Dad came outside and said Mom needed help. Then he went to join Blaine and Torin. Raine and Ingrid followed me inside.

"We girls can use the table and the men can take the stools or sit in the living room," Mom explained. Our table only seated four, which was perfect for my small family, not entertaining.

"How long is that boy going to be in the bathroom?" Mom asked.

I glanced at my watch. Andris had been gone for over ten minutes. What if something had happened to Echo? Rhys could have been lying about wanting to help us. Echo could have walked into a trap. I wish I hadn't texted him about Rhys's offer. Then there were dark souls. I was sure he didn't stand a chance against a horde of them.

"Cora?" Mom asked, snapping me back to the present.

I said the first thing that popped into my head. "Mystery meat."