went into asshole mode; it was the way we dealt with our feelings. I chewed my lower lip, wondering if a gift would make things worse or better now. Did a gift make it seem like I wasn’t worried as hell about our friends back home—even though I was—or would it remind her that we always made it to fight another day…together?
I made an impetuous decision. If I’d chosen wrong, Maddie would understand; I could always count on her to give me the benefit of the doubt. “Do you remember when I said I bought you something? On graduation day?”
“Yeah. So you didn’t hock it for Rafe’s Reliable Automobile Fund after all?” Her lips turned up at the edges.
I raised my eyebrows. “Can you believe he rides a motorcycle when he’s not driving that broken-down Grandma-mobile? It’s like the perfect representation of his two sides. The old stiff and the rebel.”
Rafe broke off from the middle of his argument with Silas to say, “I fucking heard that.”
I touched my fingers to my forehead in a salute. I didn’t care. I didn’t say anything behind anyone’s back I wouldn’t say to their face.
We reached the train station just as the train’s whistle blared down the tracks. Silas swiveled on his heel and faced the two of us.
“I’ve got to change my face,” he said, but his gaze was on Maddie. “I’m wanted.”
“Why didn’t you do that when we first arrived?” Rafe asked.
“Magic detection in the gambling halls,” Silas explained. “They would have noticed I was using magic to shield my face.”
Rafe pointed out, “We could have just avoided the gambling hall.”
“But now we’re rich,” Silas said. “I like being rich.”
“I thought you didn’t care about money,” Maddie said.
Silas didn’t answer, instead running his hand over his face as he muttered in Latin.
When he dropped his hand, the man who faced us still wore Silas’s clothes and had his same tall, slender build. But now he had a mop of dark hair and cold gray eyes in a handsome, hard-edged face. He looked far more dangerous than the ‘innocent’ Silas Zip I knew.
“I hate this,” Rafe muttered. “I hate everything about this world.”
“Oh, just wait,” Silas said.
Maddie and I exchanged a glance as we followed them toward the train, which came to a stop, steam hissing. Silas led us toward a car near the front, and we climbed up to find our private car. There were four reclining seats.
As Maddie sunk into the window seat, Silas and I briefly jostled each other to sit beside her.
I won. I could be ruthless for the woman I loved—even if it was just playfully so.
Rafe raised his eyebrows at us both and took the opposite window seat. He was too grown to throw elbows, or so he liked to pretend. I had my doubts.
Silas threw himself down into the seat and put his feet up on the edge of my seat before I could sit down, and I pushed his boots away as I slid next to Maddie. I leaned close to see the world outside, but I was half-watching out the window and half-watching her. Her eyes were bright with curiosity, taking in this new world.
Silas moved his fingers lazily and muttered a word.
“Now what?” Rafe demanded.
“Just making sure we don’t have anyone listening to us,” he said. “Are we going to talk about Maddie’s power?”
She frowned. “You know I’m good with a spell.”
“That was more than good with a spell,” Silas scoffed. “You beat Catarina. Do things feel different for you? Maybe something changed from…”
He trailed off, and she prompted, “From what?”
He shook his head.
“He’s rebooting,” I said, knowing that dreamy Silas look, even when it came across a different face. “He’s got to mull things over.”
“I don’t actually need you to speak for me,” Silas said, sliding down in his seat. I eyed him skeptically, wondering if I’d hurt his feelings, and he added, “Though I don’t mind, either.”
“That’s what I thought,” I said. Silas and I had grown close over the past year.
For a moment, there was silence in the car. I could tell Maddie was troubled by what Silas had said, and I elbowed her.
When she turned to me, I admitted, “I didn’t actually hock your present. But maybe we should wait for a semi romantic moment.”
“Did you get me something romantic?” She was smiling, but the expression on her face was skeptical, too.
“I did,” I said. “What’s that look for? I can be romantic.”
“You are perfect,” she assured me,