Raine answered the door when we rang the bell. She didn't mask her surprise when she saw Echo. We hugged. Then she gave Echo a "Hey."

He smirked as though he enjoyed seeing her flustered. "Don't I get a hug?"

She rolled her eyes. "You're carrying pies."

I plucked them from his arm and nudged him toward her. They'd better work on being friends without all this awkwardness. She hugged him. This time, he was the one who couldn't mask his surprise.

Raine swept her hair away from her face, her cheeks pink. It amazed me how she could look incredibly sexy without much effort. Her brown hair had a tousled look as though she'd just gotten out of bed. I'd have to work on my hair for hours to pull off that look.

"Come inside," she said, stepping back.

I glanced around. Her mother was back on Valkyrie duty and was gone, but her father's nurse was always around. "Where's Femi?"

"With Dad." She glanced at Echo. "Are you coming with us?"

"Cora insisted," he said.

I laughed and elbowed him. He was such a liar. Good thing Raine appeared relieved by his response. "I'll put these in the fridge. Two are for your family, and one is for Mrs. J at the nursing home."

"Someone ought to track down her daughter and force her to visit. It's been what? Three months since you started there and she's never visited?"

"The nurses said it's been over six months. Maybe there's something you can do?" I glanced at Echo.

He smirked. "Sure, hun. I can scare Mrs. J's daughter to death, then take her soul to Corpse Strand for being ungrateful."

Raine laughed. "Good one."

I shook my head. "Don't encourage him."

Raine led the way to the mirror portal in the living room. It responded to her and opened to a forest. Cool. She could do surface to air portals now. My attempts were pitiful. I could only do portal-to-portal. We followed her.

"You sure this is the place?" Echo asked, kicking a rock.

Raine shook her head. "I've spent the last couple of hours searching different sections of the forest, but I couldn't see-" She moaned and clutched her stomach.

"What is it?" I asked, rushing to her side. She doubled over again, her face scrunched in pain. "Raine-"

"The trees are dying," she whispered, her breathing shallow.

I glanced around and frowned. What was she talking about? There was not a single dead tree anywhere. It was spring and sunlight bathed the green foliage, casting shadows all around us. I turned to ask her what she meant, but she was already staggering down a path, her runes engaged.

I glanced at Echo. "Do you know what she means?"

"She has elemental magic. Her powers are connected to the earth. If the trees are dying, she'd feel it. Come on." He took my hand as we followed Raine, who was way ahead.

It was nice to have him around, but I didn't want to be selfish. "Shouldn't you be reaping?"

"I'm playing hooky."

"By chasing my friend through an Oregon forest? Is there something you're not telling me?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know. You went to search for Dev and didn't find him. Earlier you mentioned Grimnir Bounty Hunters."

He scooped me up. I smothered a scream and wrapped my arms around his neck. He continued walking without breaking stride, his runes flashing.

"Put me down," I protested.

"When we catch up with her. She's engaged her runes, and you still don't have enough speed ones. What exactly has that Valkyrie been teaching you?"

"Lavania is..." My voice trailed off when we entered a clearing and I saw Raine looking around with her hand covering her mouth. All around us were fallen trees, their leaves withering. Most had been uprooted, a few cracked near the base or split as though someone had hacked them with a giant axe.

I wiggled out of Echo's arms and went to Raine's side. The look in her eyes was hard to watch. Could she really feel the dying trees?

"I hate them, Cora," she whispered, fighting tears. "They could have fixed this, but they chose not to."

I gripped her arm and tried not to cringe at the devastation. It was huge, yet I hadn't heard anything on the news about it. But then again, the area was far off the trail. Most people probably had missed it.

"Can you contact them to fix this?" I asked.

Raine shook her head. "I'm fixing it. It's my fault."

"How do you figure that?"

"It just is." She freed her arms and reached down to touch a tree trunk. Then she knelt near an exposed root and stroked it, her touch gentle. A sob escaped her.

"Raine?" I squatted beside her, but her eyes had changed color. They were glowing golden. I'd only seen them like that once when she'd gotten a vision. Was she getting one now?

Then she did something strange. She pushed her fingers into the soil. Maybe the strength runes on her face and arms made the act seem so effortless. Or maybe she was really one with the earth. Her eyes closed, tears rolling down her cheeks and dropping on the ground.

"Come," Echo whispered, taking my arm.

"She needs me." I tried to jerk my arm away. His grip tightened.

"Not now. She needs to heal them, and you'll only get hurt."

"Get hurt? What are you talking about?"

"You'll see. Come on." He led me to edge of the nearest standing trees, leaned against the trunk, and wrapped his arms around my waist.

Raine was muttering something under her breath, tears still streaming down her face. I wasn't sure what to think. I stopped being skeptical about supernatural abilities the day I learned soul reapers were real. But what could she do?

"What is she chanting?" I whispered.

"Probably apologizing for having ignored them. Her kind doesn't usually chant."

My eyes widened as the fallen trees around Raine slowly moved as though being pushed and pulled by invisible fingers. Their roots sank into the earth. One tree near Raine would have hit her, but it shifted ever so slightly and missed her on its way up. Once upright, the leaves appeared to lose their limpness as though water filled them. More trees rose, the effect spreading from where Raine knelt as though she was the epicenter, and the magic flowed from her fingers.

"Wow," I whispered, awed.

"A Norn's work is never done."

"You call her that again and you won't like the consequences," a familiar voice said calmly from behind us, and we turned to find Torin leaning against a tree, arms crossed, his eyes on Raine. He didn't seem angry, just resigned.

"Still in denial, Valkyrie?" Echo teased him.

Something flashed in Torin's eyes. "Screw you, Grimnir."

Echo chuckled. "Sorry, don't swing that way."

"Thanks." I wasn't sure whether he was still talking to Echo or me, until his eyes connected with mine. "Somehow I knew she wouldn't resist coming out to check on the forest. I'm happy she didn't come alone."

Raine said he could sense when she needed him. He'd probably felt her pain and come running. Echo claimed he knew when I needed him, too, and had proven it over and over again when difficult souls hijacked my body. Each time he smirked smugly. I hugged his arm as we watched Raine practice her elemental magic.

The forest healed. No tree, bush, or vine was left on the ground. Even the ones with broken branches and cracked trunks were whole again. Leaves no longer looked starved for food and water, buds bloomed and even petals on the ground were back on the branches. It was hard to believe my best friend could do something this, I don't know, amazing. Made what I did with the souls and their loved ones seem so unimpressive.

Raine stood and looked toward us, her eyes still glowing. She laughed and turned around with her arms stretched. Hugged a tree. Smelled a flower. Kissed a leaf. A few seconds ago, she'd been performing something only a goddess would do. Now she was acting like a child at a candy store.

"You have a tree hugger for a best female friend," Echo murmured.

Literally. I grinned.

Torin chuckled and walked past us. I didn't hear the exchange between him and Raine, but her laughter rang out. I could swear the trees swayed and whistled back.

"She's a healer," I said.

"A Norn," Echo corrected. "Unless she finds a way to use her powers to her advantage and beat the older Norns at their game, she will leave him to join them."

"Don't say that. He'd be devastated."

Echo shrugged. "He'll get over it."

I glanced at him. "You, my love, have no idea what you are talking about. If you knew how he feels about..."

Jealousy flared in his eyes. "And how do you know about his feelings for her?"

"He told me," I teased him, but it only made him scowl harder. "When his mother used my body to communicate with him, you impossible reaper."

The jealousy melted away. He grinned. "Want to have lunch with me?"

"Will you tell me about GBHs?"

He frowned. "What's that?"

"Grimnir Bounty Hunters."

"Nope." No explanation or excuses.

I studied his expression and saw through his tough exterior. He was mad at himself for not finding Dev. Echo was a hands-on kind of guy who hated depending on others. That he had to use these bounty hunters to find Dev must have been eating at him, and I wasn't going to rub it in. He'd tell me everything when he was ready.

I glanced at my watch. I had several hours to kill before heading to the nursing home. "Okay, let's do lunch, my reaper. Can we ask them to join us?"

"No."

"Echo-"

"I want you to myself, and I know the perfect place to go. First, we have to stop by a sandwich store."

"We're having a picnic? I know the perfect spot not far from here."

He looked around and shuddered. "No. I hate outdoors. Especially forests."

I didn't ask him to explain because I already knew. His people had hidden in the forest while being hunted down by Roman soldiers. I wanted to replace every terrible memory he had. It might take centuries, maybe even millennia, but I wasn't giving up.

I reached up, wound my arms around his neck, and kissed him, pouring all my love, hopes, and dreams into the kiss. He welcomed me as usual, not holding back, taking charge of my senses and owning them. Every shaky breath, every nip, every groan claimed me.

Laughter penetrated the sensual haze surrounding me, and I ripped my mouth from Echo's.

"You guys need the forest to yourselves?" Raine teased.

"Yes," I said, my arms tightening around Echo's waist.

He shuddered. "No. We're right behind you."

I sighed. Some ghosts were harder to run from. The forest could wait, but I wasn't giving up. I would find a way to make those ugly memories go away.

CHAPTER 4. GRIMNIRS.

"Let's hang out, guys," Raine said, her eyes volleying between me and Echo. Was it my imagination or did she seem more energetic than earlier? It was as though healing the forest had sparked something inside her. Torin couldn't seem to rip his eyes away from her.

"What she means is we need to talk, so grab a seat while I make lunch. You forgot to say please, Freckles."

"Like this?" Raine walked to him and kissed him. Not an innocent peck. More like an I-want-to-devour-you, tongue-dueling invasion of the senses. I felt the heat from across the room.

Torin staggered backwards when she finished. "Hel's Mist, Freckles," he muttered then turned and stumbled toward the kitchen.

Raine grinned and glanced at us. "I needed that."

"What happened to you?"

"Using my powers unleashes this thing inside of me, and I just want to-" She blinked as though realizing what she'd said, and color rushed to her cheeks. "Kissing him makes my world right again. Um, come on."