Page 116 of Tracking Snow

He turns away, pulling his hood up. I want to rip it right off again, take away his protective shell that he so easily recedes into.

I grab his sleeve. "Don’t you dare walk away from me."

One looks down at my hand on him. He removes it in such an uncharacteristically gentle way that my heart plummets to the pit of my stomach.

Somehow it hurts worse than when he tries to push me away. Like I’m not worth the energy anymore.

"You love the idea of us," One says.

There’s almost a sadness brimming in his eyes. As if I broke their hearts, when he’s the one breaking mine.

"But you don’t know what lives underneath," he says. "And if you did, you would run because you know eventually my darkness would consume you."

My mouth parts, but he’s gone.

Not walking.

Gone.

I stand on the sidewalk with my hand still raised, my fingers curled around empty air.

Across the street, Lucifer watches me from the dumpster as if knowing this is how things would turn out all along.

Chapter 37

Keep Your Enemies Close, Your Friends Closer

ARIEL

By the time we close Poison Apple, my arms feel like wet noodles and my smile has started sticking to my teeth.

The last customers spill out onto the sidewalk in a glittery, drunk clump. Rap locks the register. And I’ve wiped down the bar with sharp, efficient strokes.

Ryder waits by the front door, arms folded, scanning the street through the glass. Since Snow gets off earlier than me this week, he escorts me home. Dude even has an open-carry license and has been walking around with his piece showing. It feels weird to see it in Poison Apple, a painful reminder that it might be necessary, but to be honest, it also makes me feel safer.

I roll toward Ryder, bag tucked against my side, when I spot white hair outside beneath the streetlight.

Snow stands near the curb in her all-black gear, one hip cocked, daggers strapped to her thighs like a black cat. She almost reminds me of Lucifer sometimes. Though if I told her that, she’d murder me.

Snow lifts a hand and waves without smiling. She’s been tense lately too.

"Snow’s here," I say to Ryder, already pushing toward the door. "Don’t worry about walking me home. I’ll be fine with her.

Ryder looks past me, his gaze narrowing. "Are you sure? I can still walk you both home."

I shake my head, even as I watch Snow shift her weight from one foot to the other as if slightly impatient.

Usually, she’d come right in and wait, but for whatever reason, she’s still poised outside.

Maybe she had another weird fight with The Seven that has left her anxious or pissed off. I’m still not sure about that guy, err, guys? I see how he looks at her. I know he deals with a lot of issues having seven personalities and all, but I’m all kinds of uneasy around him.

I mean, he knows I’m a mermaid now, which feels like letting my roommate’s boyfriend go through my panty drawer. Both violating and unsettling. But there’s nothing I can do. He can’t unsee it, and I just have to trust that he won’t tell anyone. I mean, he has plenty of his own secrets he’s trying to keep on lockdown, which I can relate to.

But the guy is undeniably unstable.

Unlike Snow, I don’t like riding the roller coaster of unpredictability with other people. And as all over the place Snow is, her friendship, her loyalty, and love are rock solid. She’d never let anything happen to me.

"No, we’ll be fine, but thanks, Ryder. See you tomorrow night."