When the Heart Falls(114)

"What kind of alcohol, mademoiselle?"

"The alcoholic kind, of course." Duh!

I reach for the cold glass he brings. It's iced over and blue. Ice Queen. That's what he brought me. "I'm not an Ice Queen," I tell him. "I'm hot!" I sip my drink, which burns down my throat, and nearly drop it when I look out at the dance floor. "What's he doing here?"

Rodney. Rodney, podney, lodney. Mr. Asshat, Assbat, Assrat. I hate him. That hate burns more than the alcohol. He has red flames around him, burning him up, and he doesn't even know it. I see the monster inside of him.

Fire and ice.

Jenifer follows my gaze. "He's such a jerk. I'm sorry."

"We should kill him." This is, of course, my destiny. I know it now. How silly of me to have never seen it before.

Jenifer chokes on her drink. "What?"

"I want to kill him." I pull my new toy out of my purse.

Jenifer's eyes get big, like a bug. Bug eyes. Bug. Bug. "Wait. Where'd you get that knife?"

I look at the switchblade in my hand. "What? This? I carry it in my purse."

She grabs my hand and pulls it down. "Winter, you need to put that away."

"Okay." I drop it in my purse and pull out another new toy. I have lots of toys. I can use any of them.

"Oh my God!" Now Jenifer has the red face. Haha! "What's that?"

I shake the can in my hand. "Pepper spray."

"Where'd you even get these things?" She's shaking, and grey smoke comes off her skin like she's turning to ash.

"From a giant." I met a giant in Paris. I'll write a book about it someday. Book, hook, nook.

"Winter, focus. What giant? What are you talking about?" She's shaking me now, but I don't want to be shooked. Shaked? Shaken. That's it. I don't want to be shaken.

I point at the giant. He's at least seven feet tall, with muscles everywhere and painted in colorful tattoos. So preeetty. He even let me touch one.

"Winter, we can't hurt Rodney. Put the can away."

I hold the can behind her back. If she can't see it, it's not really there. "What can?"

Her face squinches up in a funny way. "Winter, give me the can."

"No!" I stuff the can in my purse and start running away. She can't have my toys. I need them. To keep me safe against monsters.

I run into a wall. With arms. A wall of sun.

"Winter, hey. You're back." It's Cade. My Cade. "Want to dance?"

My Cade is here. He's warm and smells nice and is strong and safe. "I was just on my way to kill a monster, but it can wait." I wrap my arms around Cade, holding him close. I need to be close, closer, my body needs his, and I'll die if I don't have him.

"Winter, what's wrong?" He tries to pull back, breaking our connection. I want to cry.

Jenifer catches up, out of breath. "Holy shit, you're fast."

Fast at what? "I am?"

"Hell yeah you are." Jenifer frowns at me. "We just ran around this whole place three times."

"We did? I don't remember." That can't be true. I've been with Cade. My Cade.

Cade turns to me, his face worried. "Are you drunk, Winter?"

"No. Noooo. I don't drink. Ever. Ever. Well, maybe that once. But no. I just took a pill Jenifer gave me, and then everything went swirly. Then I could see the real monsters, and I met a giant and started a fire. I'm not an Ice Queen anymore. See?" I hold up my hand to show him the fire in my veins, burning me up from the inside.

He holds my hand, but it doesn't burn him.

He turns to Jenifer. "What'd you give her?"

Jenifer chews on her nails. "Just something to help her relax."

Their voices are floating around me. And Cade. My Cade. My cowboy who smells like hay and sunshine.

"What was—" Cade looks at me. "Are you sniffing my shirt?"

"Of course not. That'd be ridiculous." Weird. Why would I do that? "I'm sniffing your chest."

"Come on. I'm taking you back to the dorms." He guides me away from the bar, and I let him, even though I didn't kill the monster yet. Because Cade is my Cade, and he'll protect me from the monsters.

Jenifer sniffs under her arm. "God. It's like a skunk died in my pits. Gross. I'm leaving with you guys."

My hand slides into my purse. I can help her. "Oh, you want some perfume?" I spray her with perfume, and she screams and covers her face. The words come out of her like snakes with flaming heads.

"Oh God, my eyes!" Jenifer tries to wipe something from her face as she screams some more. "God, they hurt. I need water. Water." She collapses to the ground, eyes closed, face red like mine. "And what idiot turned the light off?"





CADE SAVAGE





CHAPTER 8





SOAPY WATER SPLASHES on to me as I dunk Jenifer's head in the sink again. When I pull her back out, she rubs her face with the towel and cracks her eyes open. The redness and swelling have gone down, but she'll feel this tomorrow, as well she should.

"I feel like a firecracker went off on my face, then someone peeled back my eyelids, ground sand into them, and rubbed." She lifts her long hair, soaked and dripping water, off her neck and pulls it into the towel. "Thank you for your help."