your wings?”
She turned to face him. “No.”
His brows rose. “No?”
“Not yet. I kind of want to keep it to myself for a little while. Is that okay?” It seemed her very life had been a book laid bare for all to see. Having this one thing to call her own, even for a short time, meant more than she could admit.
She saw the questions skate across his face.
“Or will they be able to see them, even if I keep them closed?”
“No, I don’t think they’ll see your wings until you open them.” A frown now accompanied the questions.
“Then I’d like to keep it a secret. Just for a little while.”
He nodded, but his face remained stoic.
“Two days. I promise I’ll show everyone in two days.”
This satisfied him. “Okay, warrior girl. Two days it is.” There was a hint of a threat in his words. He may as well have said, “If you don’t tell them, I will.”
She tried to ignore the fact that he gauged her with untrusting eyes. “I’m not up to anything, Mace. I swear.” Of course, she couldn’t blame him for the suspicion. The last time she was at the house on Pine Boulevard, she’d escaped with the intention to hunt down and kill Damon Vessler.
Yeeaaaah. That’ll cause a lack of trust in a relationship.
“Two,” he repeated as if she needed to be reminded already.
“I promise.”
Nikki settled into her room, the same one she’d stayed in after discovering she was half angel. The few clothes she owned rested in the dresser drawers. She was smoothing the wrinkles out of a T-shirt when someone knocked on the door. “Come in.”
Winter and Vegan burst through the doorway and grabbed her in a tight hug, long arms clamping around her so quickly she barely had time to react. Winter stopped hugging first and her ice-cold skin left goose bumps on Nikki’s arms.
“Hi,” she said.
Winter stepped back a little more. “You’re different.” Her golden eyes narrowed, but the smile remained.
Vegan nodded. “There is something different about you, Nikki. What’s going on?”
Huh, she’d forgotten how sharp these girls were. She concentrated on the T-shirt and tried to smooth the new wrinkles the hugs had created. “Nothing,” she lied. “I’m just … happy to be back.”
Winter crossed her arms over her ribs, her wide gold-and-silver bracelet shining. “Uh huh.”
Nikki blinked. “Really. And there’s Mace.”
Vegan sighed, hand to her heart. “You and Mace make a great couple.”
Nikki bit her cheek. Don’t go there. “Now, you mean.” Oops.
Vegan tilted her head, confusion flickering in her eyes.
Nikki couldn’t stop the words. Fact was, it wasn’t that long ago that these two girls were agreeing with Glimmer that Nikki should go away. “We make a great couple now that I’m a Halfling.”
The girls shared a look.
“I heard you. When we were at Viennesse and Glimmer was going on about how I should just disappear.” Nikki pointed to Vegan. “I thought you’d come to my rescue, but you didn’t.”
Vegan’s face fell. “I should have, Nikki.”
Winter took Nikki’s hand and led her to the edge of the bed. Nikki’s other hand was fisted around the shirt that now had little hope of ever being wrinkle-free again. Winter sat and pulled Nikki down beside her. “We owe you an apology. We were all really scared for Mace, because of the penalty of falling for a human. It wasn’t you, Nikki. We didn’t dislike you.”
She squeezed Winter’s cold hand. “I know.” How could she possibly stay angry at these girls? They’d put themselves between her and harm over and over again. Running into battle to face hell hounds so Nikki could escape. Being angry at them, even for a few minutes, seemed one step beyond petty.
Winter and Vegan waited, as if hanging on her response. That was strange too, because she didn’t feel she’d done anything to warrant their loyalty or their friendship. Yet her feelings mattered to them. She didn’t quite know what to do with that, so Nikki fell back and let her shoulders press against the bed. Her shoulders. Where her wings were. A big part of her wanted to tell them. To show them, snap her wings open and watch their faces. But Vegan interrupted her thoughts.
“I have a present for you.”
Nikki leaned up, excited.
Vegan held out a necklace like the one she’d presented the day they all met.
Nikki’s eyes watered a little. Gah. “Vegan, I lost mine. I’d removed it at Vessler’s house and he must have taken it.”
Vegan smiled sweetly. “I know. I noticed you’d