The mirror might be broken, but the spell hadn't dissolved.

I knew I was a danger to myself. Hadn't occurred to me I might endanger others, too.

I clenched my jaw to stop my teeth from chattering. I couldn't just sit here. I had to do something. I'd go to Kane and beg. I'd sleep with him or be his slave or spend a hundred years in h.e.l.l if I must. I'd get this cure somehow if it killed me.

Aching, I sc.r.a.ped soaked hair from my face and crept out from my metalclad hiding place. Rough concrete cut my feet. I hadn't been sure he wouldn't see me with his metalsight, but it was the best I could do. It savaged my heart to hide from him after we'd been so intimate. But the mirror still ravaged my sense. If he begged me to listen, I'd crumble.

Our pleasure was a lie. Wasn't it? Until I figured out what was real, I had to stay away from him.

I squinted upward, where the moon glowed through thinning pewter storm clouds in the bright, sad smell of rain. The broken gutter silhouetted, still dented where I'd climbed over. Right up there, we'd made love.

I looked away.

A glint of brown gla.s.s caught my eye, a beer bottle shattered on the ground.

Shiny. Gla.s.s. Mirror.

My heart skipped. I sniffed and wiped my nose, my mind spinning faster. What if the pieces were still here? Big enough to collect? Maybe Kane would accept that. At least Akash or Joey didn't have it.

Hope glowed cautiously in my heart, and I stumbled forward, peering with stinging eyes at rainwashed concrete.

Dirt. Chewing gum, splat. A twist of metal . . . No, that's a rusted tin can. Broken syringe. A bright shard of white-edged gla.s.s . . . Could be a piece. I picked it up, and it sliced my fingers b.l.o.o.d.y. A bit dusty. Probably not. But how could I tell? I cleared my aching throat. "Squidgy? You there?"

No answer.

Despair leaked again into my ragged heart. Just a tiny splinter. Even if it was a part, how could I ever get them all?

Still, I couldn't give up. I eased in a steadying breath, and crept farther into the gloom. Inky shadows grew blacker around me, and the roof blocked my moonlight. Frustration nibbled my toes. I wished I had a torch. A match. Any kind of light.

Flame showered like fireworks against the dark brick wall.

Harsh air scarred my lungs, and my eyes jerked wide.

Huddled in the corner, long pale limbs folded like an insect, dark clothes ripped to show bleeding white skin. Gla.s.sy crimson wings. Firebright sparks spitting like hailstones. Splashing red hair, a narrow fae-sharp face.

I crept closer, my heart thudding. "Blaze?"

He stared up at me, black eyes shinybold. Bruises kissed his pointy jaw, and his mouth bled berry dribbles over his chin that he hadn't bothered to clean up. Broken gla.s.s shimmered in his hair, and his scent reached my nose, no longer fresh and exciting but somehow smudged, like he'd rolled in something ugly.

I sidled, awkward. I wanted to hug him. I wanted to slap his face and run away. "What you doing here?"

"Following you." Bright, unashamed. Like I wouldn't care. He licked his candy lips, blood spreading.

"Where's Az?"

"No idea."

I swallowed. "You okay?"

He laughed. Not the sweet, cheeky laugh I loved. It sc.r.a.ped my ears, jaded and sarcastic. "Yeah, I'm just great. I love being crazy. At least I haven't killed anyone yet."

The hard glint in his eyes showed he'd heard everything. Nausea roiled faintly. Did he watch us make love, hear me say those foolish things?

Embarra.s.sment crawled my skin. I knitted my fingers together, defensive. "Why you following me?"

He spread his hands in his lap, flicking his gaze downward to make me look, and I leaned over into his h.e.l.lish circle of light.

A rusty sphere. Empty petals twisted open and dented.

In his other palm lay three bright fragments of gla.s.s, a rectangle split neatly in a crooked Y shape. Nothing missing.

I gasped.

He grinned, sharp white teeth shining, and crunched his nose at me like he used to. "This what you're looking for?"

Hold still, will ya?" Blaze nudged me with a sharp elbow.

"I am holding it still. Get on with it." I cupped the mirror's case in my hands, the three gla.s.s pieces balanced precariously inside. Moonlight flickered on the raw edges of the cracks, seducing me all over again, and I craned my chin away so I couldn't look, but my eyeb.a.l.l.s kept swiveling back down.

Blaze poked the gla.s.s experimentally with one claw. Plink. The edges touched, and a slinky metal whisper hissed in my ears. "See? It ain't dead."

He could hear it, too. Maybe we played with things best left alone. But relief shook my limbs that Blaze was in this with me, that I wasn't all by myself.

I dragged my gaze to the diamond-starred sky. "I don't care. Just make it look fixed so we can give it to Kane and get our cure."

"Yeah, well, don't blame me if he notices." Blaze dragged sweaty hair from his face and sucked in a deep breath, holding his hand out flat. His fingers trembled, slight but definite.

He was shaking. I could smell it on him, heat and sickness like fever. I swallowed. "Come on, Blaze. You fixed Quang's counter okay."

"That's a chunk of gla.s.s. This is a mirror. It's gotta be all flat and specialshiny and nice. Gimme a sec." He closed his eyes, chewing his lip until it bled, willing steadiness into his hands. Sweat dripped down his nose and plopped on the ground, and he flicked his eyes open. "Okay. Make a pumpkin. Don't move."

My skin swelled tight in antic.i.p.ation. Come on, Blazy. Don't f.u.c.k it up. Come on, Blazy. Don't f.u.c.k it up. I held the sphere as steady and level as I could, my palms slick with raindrops and sweat. He extended one delicate finger and dipped his claw lightly to the gla.s.s. I held the sphere as steady and level as I could, my palms slick with raindrops and sweat. He extended one delicate finger and dipped his claw lightly to the gla.s.s.

Steam hissed, and gla.s.s melted in a tiny golden rivulet.

He traced his claw gently along the first crack. Molten gla.s.s followed, flowing into the gap. He reached the edge and deftly flicked his claw away. Slowly, the gla.s.s cooled, and all that remained of the crack was a thin clear bobbly line.

My chest tightened in disappointment. "It's not shiny."

"Not yet, it ain't." Swiftly he mended the second crack, and the third. Now the gla.s.s was whole, marred by a Y-shaped ridge. Blaze bent closer and exhaled. His breath misted the gla.s.s, heating the whole thing softly with showering sparks, and when they extinguished, the gla.s.s sat sheer and smooth, the sphere's glossy inner surface refracted inside. Mirrorclear. Perfect.

An ethereal giggle swept around me like cold wings and darted away into the dark.

Dread coursed through my blood like cool water. What had we done?

He winked at me, a glint of the old Blaze shining through. "Whaddaya think of that, Spicy?"

I smiled, but tension strained my muscles sore. "You're pretty cool, ya know that?"

"Course. Everyone knows that." He wiped sweat droplets from his face, and his gaze slipped away, uncharacteristically shy. "Look, Ice-"

"Don't wanna talk, okay?" I twisted to push past him, my cheeks burning wet.

But he slipped deft fingers around my wrist, holding me, and urgency cracked his voice with spitting, unignited heat. "I don't like it like this between us."

His touch warmed me, like it used to, sweet and almost forgotten. But too late. I tried to shake him off. "Whaddaya want from me, Blaze? It's over. We ruined it. Just let it go."

He shook his head, just once, fiercely, like he scolded himself. "You're really in love with him, aren't you? You don't love me."

I opened my mouth, and the words stopped awkwardly in my throat. Of course I loved Blaze. Just not like that. We'd hurt each other recklessly, even deliberately. That the mirror set it off didn't change anything.

I swallowed. "Blaze-"

"S'okay. Figures. He's got dignity, I guess. And brains, and a life. But it's okay. It was nice, yeah?" He offered me a crooked Blaze grin, but suspicious moisture jeweled his lashes.

My throat swelled. I squeezed his hand, wishing I knew how to help him. "Yeah, it was."

He hugged me, and planted a steaming kiss on my cheek, his lips lingering shyly. "Once we're done with Kane, we'll go for a drink, just you and me. We'll find you a honeysweet boy who's totally in awe of your awesomeness and mend us that tough little heart of yours. Yeah?"

Tears burned my eyelids, and I hugged him back, clutching the mended mirror on one hand and his hair in the other. My voice choked. "Find you a kick-a.s.s little fairy girl while we're at it. Just try not to f.u.c.k her before you say h.e.l.lo, okay?"

He giggled, rubbing his nose on my cheek, and my weary heart warmed. Just for this one fleeting moment, I felt like everything might one day be okay. He nudged my chin up and kissed me, a gentle chaste kiss of loss and apology, and I let it linger.

"I knew it." Cold breeze ruffled my hair, bitter with jealousy, and a chill razor edge bit the side of my neck.

I sprang back, my pulse sliding cold.

Azure twisted her blade, a long wicked curved thing like a pirate's cutla.s.s. The oblique point stung like Joey's poison, and warm blood trickled down my neck. Her pretty oval face distorted, ugly. "Don't run away from me."

I swallowed, b.u.mps erupting on my skin. "Az, for heaven's sake-"

"Shut up." Her static-blue gaze crackled with envy. Her celery hair fluttered in ratty tangles, and she tugged at her dirt-smeared dress with broken claws, fury mangling her voice to an evil croak. "I knew you two were at it. You lied to me all along."

"That ain't true." I tried to back off, but the wall sc.r.a.ped my wings raw. She poked me, and I jerked my chin away, trying to stop her cutting me. Where did she get that thing? It wasn't like her to be so . . . scruffy. Unkempt. Dirty.

That cursed squidgy had poisoned her, just like Blaze and me. And she wasn't fighting it.

Blaze lifted his spark-jeweled arm to push her away. "Jeez, Az, put that f.u.c.king thing away-"

"Don't touch me." She swung her blade toward him, threatening, and he halted, his hand raised. She sneered. "You're not my friends. You always hated me. Always laughing at me."

I wanted to rub my b.l.o.o.d.y throat, but I didn't dare move. "That ain't true, Az. Listen to what you're saying. You know it's n-"

"I said shut up." She swiped her blade at me, metal zinging. Air swirled around her, alive, dragging her dress hem taut. "I've got a new friend now. A better friend than you. And that shiny belongs to her. Hand it over."

My heart blobbed and sank. Delilah had gotten to her. I clutched the mended mirror tight, and the petals we'd coaxed back into shape snapped shut. "But there's a cure. Kane said so. We can all go together."

"Give!" She menaced closer, blade outstretched. Her sour breeze coated my skin with slime. Anger kinked her pretty mouth crooked, showing jagged teeth, but fear gla.s.sed her eyes blank. The blade quivered, her hand shaking. "Give it to me! You always get everything. If I get it for her, I'll feel better. She promised."

Blaze edged toward her, flames sputtering from his fingers. His voice tremored, fever sweat igniting like fiery trails over his skin. "You know she's lying, Az. Look at me. Come on. It's me. Blaze. We've hung out for ever and ever-"

"Get away from me!" she screeched, and in a fit of what surely must have been instinct, she flung her weapon away and launched herself at him in a flash of wings.

Wrathful wind howled. Storm breeze dragged my hair sideways, catching the edge of Blaze's burning wake, and with a greedy hiss, his innate flames leapt higher.

Horror clutched my lungs tight, and I lunged between them, foul wind watering my eyes. Blaze's fever sweat was laced with his natural incendiary, and Az's angry wind caught it. He dived onto his back in the air, fluttering madly like a drowning insect to drag himself away, but too late. He'd already caught fire.

His wings exploded in flame, the flammable membranes melting to ragged holes. He splatted to the ground, thrashing and yowling in agony. His hair ignited. Skin bubbled on his chest under the fierce onslaught of heat, his shirt already seared away. The black walls around us glowed with h.e.l.lish orange fire.

Azure spun up and away in an angry whirlwind. The stink of burned flesh and hair savaged my nose, dragging sour vomit into my mouth. Blaze thrashed on the ground in flames, helpless, and I tried to leap on him, shower him with water and put the fire out.

But Azure landed between us on crouched thighs, a dirty blue angel, wings folded tight like a striking cobra's hood. She grabbed my throat, and her hot breath burned my face, slipping into my mouth. It tasted odd, of pepper and almonds. My tongue swelled swiftly, stopping my breath. Panic rose like floodwater as I struggled for air. What was that? A drug? Where did she get that?

But I couldn't talk. I couldn't breathe. She grinned, her blue eyes cruel, and before I realized she'd poisoned me, I pa.s.sed out.

25.

Blaze doubles up and rolls over and over on the sodden ground, fighting the excruciating compulsion to scream. Bright agony spreads like a cancer though his burning skin, deep into his flesh where the flamefae fluid is, the feverbright liquid that burns.

If he inhales, he'll set his throat on fire and die.

So he rolls, and sinks bright teeth into his cheek until the flesh rips, but he doesn't scream, and when at last he reaches a puddle of rainwater he thrashes like a bathing tomcat until the G.o.dd.a.m.n flames go out.

He drags in a blessedly cool breath, and at last screeches in desperate agony.

f.u.c.k, it hurts. His skin screams when he tries to move, tight and swollen and sloughed away like wet decay. His ruined wings jerk, melted nerves haywire. He forces his eyes open, and they sting like motherf.u.c.kers, but they still work. His skin screams when he tries to move, tight and swollen and sloughed away like wet decay. His ruined wings jerk, melted nerves haywire. He forces his eyes open, and they sting like motherf.u.c.kers, but they still work.

He flops panting on his face in the puddle, sizzling the dirty rain-water to steam. His claws sc.r.a.pe the concrete weakly. f.u.c.k her. Setting him on fire like that. Christ, he must look a sight. He hurts all over, and he can't tell where the damage is, can't tell if his face is intact or not.

Dehydration already shrivels his guts, all his moisture rushing to weeping skin that can no longer contain it. He laps weakly at the puddle, sc.r.a.ping his tongue on the concrete, but it's not enough. If he stays like this, he'll die.

He closes his eyes, and his glamour pops weakly like a thinning bubble. Without his looks, life won't be worth living anyway. Sad but true.

He laughs, the pain rampant but somehow sweet. Poor Icy. No cure, if there ever was one anyway. And poor Azure, seduced by a demoness, her fragile confidence shattered.

Anger flares hot inside him, whetting the pain sharper, and he groans. If he were whole, he'd chase after them right now and chew that demon b.i.t.c.h's heart out for them. They're his girls. He'd die for them, even though his life's not worth a d.a.m.n. Even though Az hates him, and Ice loves someone else. Dying to save them might make his sorry life worthwhile.

If he were whole.

Cuts fade from inked brown skin in his memory, and hope sparks faintly in his heart. He knows a guy who's into making things whole. Akash, his weird new boyfriend. And he's got something Akash wants. He knows where the mirror is, or at least where Az is taking it.

He promised the creepy f.u.c.ker already, when he thought he'd end up like that poor Indra girl. But he's paid for that favor in full. Surely Akash'll give him one more.