Page 8 of Moonlight Hearts

I nodded.“Yeah.So what is he?”

“A business owner who’s really good at stocking delicious ice cream.”Soyer held up a hand before I could complain.“Right, I know.You’re complaining about me being evasive.Fine.He’s like a plant.He is a plant, but he makes person-shaped things to protect himself, like flowers.”

My jaw dropped.“You’re making fun of me, aren’t you?”

“No.I’d show you, but he doesn’t like people who know him well getting too close to his roots, much less strangers.Hence the spawns.”

“But he looks so normal.Looked.I mean, earlier, with the witch, I saw… He looks really human.”

Soyer had grown very still.He was watching me intently.I was mostly okay, but I got the sense that he wasn’t ever just going to take my word for that.And he was probably guessing—correctly—that having seen the old Lorenzo torn to shreds had been a shock, fodder for nightmares, though nothing compared to the loneliness and isolation I’d felt when the witch had had me.When I’d thought Soyer had forgotten me.

“He does, but he’s not.That witch upset him, sure, but he’s fine.To him, it’s probably no more of a bother than if you cut off some leaves from a houseplant.”

I nodded and went back to the roasted hazelnut ice cream.I wasn’t sure I understood about Lorenzo, and I wouldn’t soon be able to forget what I’d seen in the bodega that day, but this was something to work through, something that put things into a different perspective.

The second escalator came to an end, bringing us to that wide hallway with the high ceiling and beautiful mosaics all around.Soyer and I walked on in silence, sharing our desserts.He didn’t even try the roasted hazelnut, not once.

“How big is all of this?”I asked when we reached the narrower part of the underground, the tunnel that had been turned into a road—a thoroughfare.

“Pretty big.I have no exact numbers, but it’s its own little city.”

“You were going to show me, right?When we first came here.When I, uh, caught on fire.”

“Nasty habit of yours.You’re hot all right, but bursting into actual flames is a bit much.”

He brushed up against me in an attempt to get to the cherry ice cream.His spoon was already scraping the bottom, and I’d only finished half of the roasted hazelnut.

“Maybe I can control it.The burning.I don’t know.Is there a way to find out if you can learn stuff like that?”

He snorted.“I fucking hope not.You’re not allowed to try.”

“I wasn’t going to.Not on my own, at least.Believe it or not, I feel really guilty about burning down the Moonlight.”

“Hmm.”

“Really, I do.But I’m not sorry I burned for you.”

Soyer chuckled.“There it is; the truth of it.”He spooned up some of the roasted hazelnut, a big scoop, and fed it to me.“I’m glad you burned that day, my heart.”

That made me smile a very sappy smile.I didn’t get to say anything back though, because voices came toward us from around the bend in the road we were following, and I fell silent.A few moments later, I was busy trying to not stare at the person who was coming into view.They had two heads—one human, the other looking more like an animal’s.I couldn’t really place it, but they had the most adorable horns.The two heads were talking to each other, discussing something someone called Arick had said to them.

They fell quiet when they spotted Soyer and me, their shoulders slumping.They veered to the side of the road to make room for us, more than we needed, and gave a bow when we passed them.

“You’re all out of cherry,” Soyer said when the area broadened and brightened, and we reached the busier part of the underground I recognized from that first visit.

The fortune teller’s shop was back, rebuilt.I had no idea how much damage the flames had done to it, but all I could see was fresh paint and a little house where the train car had been.There were flower boxes in front of windows painted with arcane designs and covered with curtains.

“You could finish the roasted hazelnut.”

“I don’t like roasted hazelnut.You’re not getting your fortune told, Amory.Stop looking at that damn superstition-monger’s store.”

“What are we going to do, then?Is there more cherry ice cream down here?”

“Depends how far we go.”He fed me another spoonful of the roasted hazelnut.“And that depends on you.”

“I thought you’d never bring me down here ever again.”

Soyer sighed.“I considered it, but people know you’re no longer human now.It’s only right that you know how this world works.And to learn that, well, you need exposure.”