Page 115 of Cherish

Not as devastated as he would be if something happened to her at the Shadow Court, though, so it’s a trade-off he can’t help but make. No matter how much it sucks.

“What do you want to do first?” I ask as we approach the stage, where groups of people are carrying speakers and cables and other equipment across the platform on dollies.

“I think I’ll help out up there,” Hudson answers, leaping onto one of the lighting ledges in a single bound. Once there, he starts flinging equipment around like it’s nothing, lifting with one hand what it was taking three wraiths to manage.

“I’ve got to say, being mated to a vampire has to be the most badass thing ever,” Heather comments, watching him. “Does he, umm, throw you around like that, too?”

I grin. “Maybe you should find yourself a vampire of your own and figure it out.”

“Believe me, I’m thinking about it.” But then she nods to where Eden and Flint are flying above the stands, stringing fairy lights along the huge scaffolding set up all around the makeshift arena. “Though dragons are pretty cool, too.”

“As are gargoyles,” I tell her, shifting just so the others don’t get to have all the fun.

“Well, obviously gargoyles,” she agrees with a roll of her eyes. “I thought that went without saying.”

“It does,” Macy says as she comes up behind me. “So they’re all showing off how big and bad they are at the moment. What do you think we should do?”

I look around the enormous, empty arena and decide this might be a perfect time to see if I can tempt the old Macy out to play a little bit. “How about we create some ambiance?”

Because I’m watching closely, I see a tiny flicker of interest in the depths of her eyes. “What kind of ambiance?” she asks.

“I don’t know, but I’m open to suggestions. Something that will make tonight feel magical for everyone who shows up?”

She doesn’t answer right away, just thinks for a minute. But then she lifts her hands, swooshing her wand back and forth several times, and says, “Something like this?” Seconds later, thousands of multicolored twinkles come to life, swirling and spinning in the air around us.

“Well, that sure as shit puts their little fairy lights to shame, doesn’t it?” Heather comments.

Macy makes atsking sound in the back of her mouth. “I’m just getting started.”

Next, she does a small, complicated hand spell in the air before throwing her arms out wide. The entire open-air arena comes to life in a burst of sparks in every color of the rainbow.

“Show-off,” Heather teases with a giant grin, but I can tell she’s very impressed.

Macy just blows on her nails and then wipes them on her torn black shirt in the universal damn-right-I’m-a-bad-bitch sign.

Not to be outdone in what has obviously become a competition—at least judging by the way the dragons are now doubling up on stringing lights at the highest heights of the scaffolding—I take a deep breath and reach inside myself for my earth magic.

It doesn’t come. And that’s when I remember I can’t use it here in the Shadow Realm. None of us can use our extra powers—no telekinesis for Jaxon, no poofing things for Hudson, no demigod magic for me. Only Macy has use of her magic because it’s who she is—like flying and shifting are for the dragons and me, or superstrength and speed are for Hudson.

“Well, there goes my plan to decorate with flowers,” I say with a sigh. “I was going to cover this whole place with them.”

“That’s a great idea!” Heather enthuses.

“Yeah, but—” I hold up my hands. “I’ve got no earth magic to make that happen.”

She looks at me like I’m completely out of touch. “Yeah, but there are a ton of flowers in the nursery we walked by on our way out of town. We could just do thehumanthing and buy them.”

I crack up, because she’s right. I’ve become so accustomed to using my powers for everything that I’ve forgotten what it’s like to just do things the human way. Which could be fun now that I think about it—especially since I’m doing it with my best friend.

“Let’s go,” I tell her, because it will give us time to talk. Besides, I spent seventeen years of my life doing things the human way. How hard could it possibly be?

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Vega

Really freaking hard, it turns out. We buy out all the flowers the nursery has, and we even convince them to help us cart them to the arena so we don’t have to take multiple trips. But carrying the bushels of flowers up and down the stage, creating a ring of intertwined flowers all the way around the front of the set… Well, it’s exhausting.

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