Page 138 of Pixie Problems

"Hawke?"

Wilder pushed out a breath and sat up. "Hawke," he agreed. "He knows he's not the prettiest guy, is convinced she'd never see him like that, and has decided he won't make a move until you do."

"Aspen's good with him?" I asked.

"Aspen thinks it's funny," Wilder assured me. "She said they're a matched set."

My head twitched, because that sounded like a hint. "Rain and Hawke?"

"Mhm."

Slowly, I nodded. "Well, you can tell Hawke I'm not in a rush. The last thing I want to do is pressure Rain, but if he moves in, well..." I smiled. "She likes him. I say that because he makes her blush more than she realizes. It's a good look on her."

"But do you care?" Wilder pressed.

"I do," I admitted. "I care that she's treated well, and I think Hawke would do that. Aspen is trying her hardest, but she has a very good excuse: trauma."

"Then ignore Torian," Wilder said. "Trust me, between that and Hawke making a move on 'your' girl?" He chuckled. "Yeah, that will either piss Torian off or make him wake the fuck up. Either way is a win, as far as I care."

I murmured, thinking about it. "Yeah, I'd be ok with either one as well."

"So." Wilder stood. "My room? Let's make this happen."

I stood, clasping his shoulder as I turned him to the door. "Yep, I think I like plotting with you, Wilder. We should do this more often."

"Definitely. It sounds like something friends do." And he turned, those dark eyes of his hitting mine. "I don't have many of them."

"You have me," I swore. The air tingled with the promise.

Chapter Forty

RAIN

Ms. Rhodes spent the rest of the week testing my shadow to see what it could do. Most days, it came out to cooperate. Today, it didn't. Instead, Ms. Rhodes asked about my stone. When I showed it to her, she said it was coming along nicely - then made me prove I could both give magic to it and take from it.

Ok, the taking part sucked. Even worse, Jack kept shaking his head no. Ms. Rhodes ignored him, though, reassuring me I could do it. And I did! Ok, so it wasn't some impressive pull or anything, but I got some Wild magic out of it. The second time was even better.

Bit-by-bit, I was learning how to control these shadows of mine. Most of my Shadow Magic class was filled with dark shapes running along the walls. Occasionally, I messed up and they burst into the room. The hard part was not laughing when Ms. Rhodes tensed up.

Yeah, it shouldn't have been funny, but it still kinda was. Here was this five-hundred-year-old fae woman, andIcould make her flinch? Talk about crazy! And yet, it made me understand Aspen a little better. Knowing my magic could hurt someone? That sorta changed things, and not in a good way.

So when Ms. Rhodes let me out on Friday, I hurried to Math, trying to think of something sweet to tell Aspen, and hopefully it would make her forget about her magical issues. Naturally, my girlfriend had her own plans.I'd barely sat down when an orange Pixy Styx appeared in front of me. The sparkly green nails on the hand holding it were a new shade.

"You did your nails?" I asked as I accepted the sugar.

"Last night," she admitted, showing them to me. "Well, Hawke did. He's good at it."

"Hawke?" I gaped at her. "He paints nails?"

"Yeah?" She gave me a confused look.

"Just does not seem like something he'd do," I admitted.

"So you should ask him to do yours." She grinned and leaned back. "Or Keir. Orsomeone, Rain. Just because I go see my brother doesn't mean you need to wai - " She stopped hard when the teacher walked into the room.

After a glance our way, the teacher immediately looked at another group talking. That was all the warning we had before an upcoming test was announced. Thankfully, I was doing decently in here. Not good, and my dads wanted my grades up, but still, I wasn't completely lost.

The class dragged on, though. I was frantically trying to copy notes off the board, but I always felt like I was swapping something somewhere. When our teacher explained it, this sounded so easy, and yet my application of the concept never -ever- worked. Fuck, I hated math.