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

watched him look around, I waited for Raine to say something. She was staring straight at him. He walked right across a table and I realized why. It was not Mr. Cooper. It was his soul. No one had told me Raine’s father died. He was always nice to me and often treated me like a daughter.
    He stopped in front of me. Like most souls, he tried to talk, but I couldn’t hear him. I shook my head. He kept talking. My vision grew blurry as tears rushed to my eyes. When I blinked them away, he’d disappeared.

4.   Sad News

    “Are you okay?” Raine asked.
    “Yeah.” I wanted to hug her and ask her to forgive me for refusing to talk to her when she’d come to my house. Raine had been so close to her father. Her mother was great, but she was way out there, a throwback to Woodstock and the hippie movement. Her father, on the other hand, was a down-to-earth guy, and Raine adored him. Now he was dead.
    Not sure how to approach the subject of her father without revealing I could see souls, I focused on my food and didn’t bother to participate in the conversation at our table. Kicker and the others were discussing some popular book. Raine was a serious reader, but she wasn’t obsessed with characters like the other three.
    I couldn’t eat. My thoughts kept going back to Mr. Cooper. Any second, I expected someone from the principal’s office to come for her or the paging system to blast her name and summon her to the office.
    Neither happened.
    “Are you coming to practice today?” Sondra asked. She was the co-captain of the swim team.
    I shook my head. “I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it.”
    “We have a meet next weekend, and Doc will expect you to be there,” she added.
    I frowned. “I haven’t swum in weeks.”
    They stared at me as though I’d lost my mind. Then I realized what I’d just said.
    “Uh, did I miss a meet?” I asked quickly, hoping to distract them.
    “No, but we are going against the Cougars again, and the four of us,” Kicker pointed at herself, me, Sondra, and Naya, “are in the relay. Just like we did before Halloween Invitational. Hopefully this time they’ll catch our bubbles. She hurt her head during the home game and had a concussion, so doesn’t remember some things,” Kicker explained to the others, who continued to stare at me.
    I glanced at Raine. Her eyes volleyed between me and Kicker, but she didn’t say anything. It was obvious something troubled her. She was the best sprinter in the group, yet Kicker hadn’t mentioned her. She must have no intention of coming back to the team.
    I couldn’t ask her about it without revealing my ignorance. Not being sure what I could or could not say was starting to give me a headache. Lunch could not be over soon enough.
      “How’s your mother doing?” I asked Raine as we walked back to our lockers.
    “Good, considering.” She sounded sad.
    “Considering what?”
    She stopped walking and looked at me with shiny eyes. “My dad is sick, Cora. He has this, uh, really aggressive brain tumor. They tried to treat it, but...” Her voice trembled to a stop. “He can die any time.”
    My throat closed, and tears sprung to my eyes. He was already dead. Once again, I couldn’t tell Raine the truth without revealing my ability to see souls.
    “When did you find out?”
    “A couple of weeks ago, but they knew about it before the plane crash and didn’t tell me. It’s the reason Dad went to Hawaii. He was seeing some specialist.” Tears swam in her eyes. “I was so pissed and hurt when I found out. I couldn’t look at them without wanting to… scream and yell at them.” A tear slipped, and she swiped at it.
      “I’m so sorry.” I hugged her, wishing I could tell her the truth about her father. I fought tears and lost. I wasn’t a crier, but shit kept piling on me today.
    People walked by and stared at us. I glared at them, and the few with a sense of decency looked away. The rest of the morons watched us and