RUNES (A Runes Book 1)

Chapter11

11.  BEING IGNORED SUCKED

The beautiful Freya was the goddess of love, beauty, fertility, war, and wealth. She was also the guardian of feminine magic and a patroness of women who attain wisdom and power. She was part of the older Norse pantheon known as the Vanir, while Odin, Thor, and Loki were part of the younger gods, the Aesir. Reading how the Aesir fought Vanir gods and took over reminded me of how Zeus and the Olympians fought the Titans in Greek mythology. The only difference was Odin and the Asgardians embraced the Vanir gods and goddesses afterwards.

Odin might have received magical runes, but Freya taught the gods sorcery, spells, and charms when she moved to Asgard. The interesting part was, when soldiers died in battle, she received half of the dead heroes while the other half went to Odin in Valhalla. These soldiers then trained for the final battle between the gods and their evil enemies, when our world would be flooded and destroyed.

The more I read about the goddess, the more I wanted to learn. I had to remind myself she wasn’t just a mythological goddess. Torin and his immortal friends believed in her and other Norse pantheon, and the runes associated with them gave them real powers.

Remembering Ingrid’s scathing words about my sketches, I traced the two runes associated with Goddess Freya several times in a notebook.

Once again, the lights in Torin’s bedroom flashed. I ignored the signal and crawled into bed. Half the night, my mind went in circles with the things I’d learned.

Mom took one look at me in the morning and frowned. “What happened?”

“I couldn’t sleep.”

“Is this still about Kate?”

“No, homework… tests…” I escaped behind a bowl of cereal before she could question me anymore.

I drove to school without worrying about accidents or something bad happening to me. That didn’t mean I ignored the runes on my car. I planned to find out who wrote them and why they felt I needed protection. After Cora’s crazed driving last night, maybe I could ask whoever it was to protect her, too. Or I could do it myself now that I knew how to sketch the runes. The problem was my runes would freak her out. I didn’t have the invisible ink Torin and his people used, and I had no plan of talking to them or asking them for help.

Lady Luck wasn’t on my side, though. The first people I saw when I arrived at school were Ingrid and Maliina as they stepped out of Blaine’s SUV. Like a magnet, Maliina found me. She said something to Blaine then crossed the parking lot and cut me off.

“Lorraine.”

“Maliina.” I kept walking.

“Do you really think those runes will protect you from me?”

“I try not to think about you, Maliina.”

“You know what they say about keeping your enemies closer? I perfected it. Last time Andris showed interest in another girl, I took care of her.” A cruel smile twisted her lips as she glanced at her sister.

“You turned your own sister?”

“No, but I made sure Andris did, so stay away from him.”

“Only if you stay away from my friends,” I retorted.

She laughed. “Your friend is an idiot, gullible. I hope she had a nice drive home last night.”

“Yeah, thanks to Goddess Freya,” I bragged, lying through my teeth. “She not only protects me. She protects anyone close to me.” The smile disappeared from Maliina’s lips. I wasn’t sure whether it was because I’d mentioned the goddess or something else.