Page 63 of Tracking Snow

The howls of glee and surprise give me time to choke down the rest of my cake.

"Hey, I still might not forgive him," I whine. "A girl has self-respect."

The room falls back into laughs of disbelief except for Aurora, who is smiling but clearly missing the punch line.

"He is a super powerful mage," Ariel clarifies, and Aurora gives a knowing nod, eyes darting to me.

"Hey!" I snap, lightly kicking Ariel’s legs. "I’m not that shallow. There are other things that drew me to him."

Cinder tilts her head. "He is hot in that kind of mysterious bad boy way. Like he wants so badly to keep everyone out that it makes you want to break down those walls and dig your fingers into all his secrets." She claws her hands in the air at the last part.

"Aww, just like my Teddy Bear," Goldie coos, holding her chest.

"Can someone walk through this guy’s deal again?" Aurora says, chin in her hands. "For the people in the back."

I sigh, because I'm weak. "Seven personalities. One body. Different eyes, different powers, different vibes. One has super speed, is an uptight control freak who is kind of hot when he’s wound up. Two phases and is kind of like the bad boy who pretends he doesn’t care about anything. Six can create the most beautiful visual illusions but is incredibly blunt and analytical. Super smart and doesn’t hesitate to say what he wants. Four runs hot, literally..." I zone out thinking about floating with him in the ocean, making out until I was ready to let him do every illegal thing to me.

"And? Go on," Goldie pushes.

"I haven’t met Three or Five yet."

A line of confusion draws between Aurora’s brows. "Didn’t you say there were seven?"

"I haven't met Seven. Not so sure I want to," I say slowly. The rest of them seem...afraid of him. "And he sure as hell doesn’t like me." Or at least I don’t think he does. Though I’m not so sure anymore.

When One was between my legs last night, rocketing me up to orgasm, I could have sworn black flooded his eyes for a moment. But it could have been a trick of light.

A shiver rolls through me at the memory.

No. That was someone else. Not One.

He was there for just a moment, and the sense of fear that prickled the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck told me he was dangerous. Even with his mouth on me, even with my hands in his hair, he held every bit of control.

It could have been Three or Five, but I doubted it.

The way the rest talk about him, I wonder if his magic is some kind of death magic. Like if he touches someone, they just keel over. Though if that really was him last night, maybe not.

"Does he have a job?" Cinder asks.

"Err, I haven’t asked, but I don’t think so."

"Where does he live?" Goldie prods next.

"Um..." I shrug.

"Fae lords, how do you not know?"

"I dunno," I say defensively, frowning. "He kind of just evades those questions. And that’s not what we talk about anyway. I didn’t tell him about where I live, or where I work."

"So this entire buffet of personalities keeps pushing you away," Aurora says, "and you keep going back? Just because he has magic? Because magic isn’t all that great." She picks up a glass of Rose and sips it with a solemnness that wasn’t there a moment ago.

Some of the girls nod in agreement, and I’m too irked by that to protest the part where I was accused of going for The Seven because I have a magic fetish.

"Why is it that everyone I know who has magic doesn’t realize how awesome it is, or how special they are?" I shake my head, and my heart slides down to my stomach as I think of Rosie. She was the same. She didn’t think anything of her levitation abilities, but they were undoubtedly the coolest.

I lose focus on the conversation as I look at each of my friends.

My friends are so unique, special, and amazing that it’s almost impossible not to want what they have.