Page 68 of Misfit Monsters
He motions to the climbing wall. “Back home, growingup with my shadowkind ‘family,’ I was always climbing trees in the forest around the house. This is the closest I can get to that feeling here.”
I gaze up at the wall with its handholds, wondering how it would feel to haul my pudgier and much shorter body up that expanse.
Jonah’s voice softens. “You’ve already helped people even in the short time you’ve been at the academy, Peri. I know some of the other students have been hard on you, but that doesn’t mean you’ve done anything wrong. I can see how hard you work at looking out for everyone around you. You’ve kept up a positive attitude through so much. It means a lot to me that you trust me after the horrible experience you had with that other sorcerer.”
His reassurance lights a joyful glow inside me. I think it might be glinting out of my hair in cheerful yellow, but I don’t mind him seeing that.
“You’ve looked out for me too,” I say. “I know you’re not at all like that man. You want us to be as happy as we can be, just like I do.”
Jonah’s smile comes back, setting off an even brighter flare of warmth all the way through my body. “That’s true. I’d really like to see you find a place where you can feel free, without having to worry about your powers going wild.”
This conversation makes me think I could. What do Gloss or Hail or any of them know?
As long as I keep my goals in mind, Ihaveto find a way to reach them.
I turn toward the wall, coasting on my momentary elation. “I want to try climbing. It looked exciting, being all the way up there.”
I’m already reaching for the nearest handholds above before Jonah can respond. As I place my feet against a couple of lower holds, he makes a restrained sound of warning. “Thewall’s for everyone, but it can be a little tricky to keep your balance if you’re not used to climbing. Take it slow, and watch out for any shifts in the holds. Some of the ones higher up rotate for an extra challenge.”
“I’m good!” I keep clambering onward, my spirits rising with each short distance I heft myself.
At first I move slowly, remembering Jonah’s cautions. But the climb is easier than I expected. I push myself a little faster, delighting in the extra thrill of the effort radiating through my muscles.
I’m shooting all the way to the top.
“Peri…” Jonah says in a worried tone, and at the same moment, the handhold I’ve just grasped whirls in my fingers.
My hand slips off. My balance wobbles, and I tumble right off the wall.
For a second, all I’m aware of is the air whooshing through my hair and the lurch of my pulse. A yelp breaks from my throat.
Then my body smacks into a pair of muscular arms that reached out to catch me.
I find myself gazing sheepishly into Jonah’s eyes. “Thank you. And sorry. I got too confident—and I should have just jumped into the shadows when I fell.”
Jonah exhales shakily and offers me a bemused grin. He’s so close that his gorgeous face makes my pulse skip again even though I’m perfectly secure now. “I can imagine it’s hard to think logically when you’re in freefall. I’m glad I could jump in there in time.”
My hand rises to his cheek as if of its own accord, following the chiseled angles of his cheekbone down to his jaw. “You look after me in lots of different ways.”
Something shifts in Jonah’s expression, with a waft of emotion that’s as tantalizingly sweet and heady as a Black Forest cake. It sparks a pang between my legs.
His head dips closer to mine, and for a second I think he’s going to bring our lips together in an embrace as delectable as the one I shared with Raze.
Imight have closed the last short distance if Jonah didn’t tense a second later. He sets me down on the mat and backs up.
His face has flushed, but he’s managed to rein in most of the mouth-watering emotion. “I should get back to the school. I’ll see you there in a half hour to reinforce everyone’s commands.”
He strides out of the building before I can say another word.
I stare after him, my own emotions scattered. Was he upset? Why?
Does he have some objection to cakey deliciousness?
I push myself after him—and a massive, sinewy figure emerges from the shadows by the door.
Raze peers at me and then turns his head in the direction Jonah went, his muscular frame emanating aggression. “What doeshethink he’s doing with you?”
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