Page 129 of Sweet Nightmare

It looks better than it did in paw form, but I think that’s because something about the magic in the shift helps heal wounds.

Warily, I do as she asks.

“What you did with those asshole cats earlier,” she says as she holds my hand up to right below her face, “it was pretty badass.”

And then she bats her eyes several times until a number of tears run down her cheek and onto my hand. “I don’t do this very often, but…” She shrugs.

At first I have no idea what she means, but then a weird tingling starts in my hand. At first it’s only where her tears touched, but then it’s all the way to the bone. Instinctively, I pull it back only to watch in astonishment as my skin—and the sinew below it—knits back together without so much as a scratch.

As soon as I’m healed, Ember drops my hand before wiping her damp cheek a little self-consciously.

“I don’t understand,” I tell her, still a little shell-shocked at what just happened.

“Phoenix tears can heal a lot of things,” she answers with a little quirk of her brows. “They can’t bring people back from the dead, and they can’t completely reverse mortal injuries, but they do a pretty good job on everything else.”

“Thank you.”

She turns and heads back to the others, all of whom are standing around trading war stories.

Everybody but Jude and Remy, that is. I start to ask where they went, but before I can, the door to the supply closet bursts open and the two of them pile out, their arms filled with whatever Calder Academy uniforms they could get their hands on.

Hoodies, T-shirts, sweats, athletic shorts, socks—all in a variety of sizes and all in bright cardinal red and black. “Well, at least the rescuers will be able to spot us,” Luis comments as Remy tosses him a red T-shirt and shorts.

“True story,” Simon laughs, clapping him on the back.

Jude hands out clothes to everyone else before walking up to me with a black T-shirt and a pair of red shorts. “There are sweats, too, if you want them.”

“These are good, thanks.”

I wait for him to say more, but he doesn’t. Instead, he just kind of stands there and watches me. I start to get annoyed, but then I realize I haven’t said anything to him, either. Not because I don’t want to, but because I have absolutely no idea where to start unraveling the jumble of words and emotions spinning around inside me right now.

Maybe it’s the same for Jude.

So instead of reaching for sarcasm like I usually do, I just take the clothes and start to walk away. Hopefully one of us will figure out the right thing to say sometime soon.

But I’ve barely gone a step when Jude’s hand closes lightly over my elbow. The second his fingers brush my skin, my heart speeds up and my head goes a little dizzy. Which is stupid. This is Jude, just Jude. Only…not.

I force myself to calm down—to take a breath—as I turn back to face him.

He looks the way he always does—eyes serious, full lips pressed into a straight line, face blank. Except then everything softens—he softens—and I feel the tight ball inside me, made up of too much emotion and too much loss in too short a time, start to slowly unwind.

Even before the corners of his lips quirk up in that teeny tiny curve that’s as close to a smile as Jude gets and he says, “Whatever happens, I’ve got you, Kumquat.”

I lift a brow and give him a small smile of my own. And answer, “I think you mean, I’ve got you, Sergeant Pepper.”

And then I turn and walk away before I grab him and kiss him the way I’ve been wanting to since we were fourteen years old.

CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT

IT TAKES TWO

TO TAPESTRY

Luis is waiting for me outside the bathroom when I’m done changing. It’s the first chance I’ve had to talk to him since all hell broke loose. I throw my arms around his neck and hold on tight. When I step back, I can’t stop looking at Luis. His past form is about four years old, completely precocious, and absolutely adorable. No wonder he got away with so much shit…until he didn’t.

“I don’t think I recognize you dry,” he teases.

“I’m trying out a new look,” I say with a huge grin, pretending to flip my hair.

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