Page 87 of Pixie Problems

"You're being strong for me," she pointed out. "I'm trying to be strong for you, but you know what? You don't have to. I think you need to talk to your dads, ok?"

"Yeah," I mumbled, letting her help me up. "I probably should, huh?"

"You should," she agreed. "Because I know they'll be just as worried as we would be, and that's a lot. But most importantly, you need to talk to someone."

"I'm sorry," I mumbled.

She tightened her grip on my hand and stepped closer. "There's nothing wrong with hating it, Rain. It's how we know we're not the bad guys."

"Yeah?"

She nodded her head slowly. "Yeah, because sometimes, that's the only thing we have left. We hate the things that suck this much, so we can't be the ones causing it. We also don't always have to be the ones fixing it."

"Don't I?"

She shook her head. "This is an entire school filled with magical people. Know what that means?"

"No..."

"That you aren't alone," she told me, pulling her phone out of her pocket and typing a text. "Now let's show you how to sneak around, ok?"

"And not to tell anyone else, right?"

"Exactly," she agreed. "See, more proof you don't have to do it on your own, because you know what?"

"What?" I asked on command.

"I will always be there for you too."

The words were barely out of her mouth when the frame of the bathroom door glowed. Together, we stepped through it.

Chapter Twenty-Five

RAIN

Ok, using a gate was weird. I'd been braced for an experience like in my books. Maybe my stomach would flip, or I'd be stuck in cold darkness for a few seconds, or even my cells being rearranged and then put back together.

None of that happened.

Nope, I walked out of the bathroom like I was headed back into Aspen's room, and stepped into Torian's. Jack followed, flying into the room right between mine and Aspen's heads. Immediately, the four guys turned, and my eyes jumped across all of them, stopping when I hit Hawke - who was standing there with his arms in his sleeves but the shirt still in front of him like he was about to put it on.

"Uh, sorry," I mumbled, feeling my cheeks heating up.

Becausewow. Hawke was built! The guy had abs rippling down his stomach, ripcords of muscles on his shoulders, and yeah, I'd seen his biceps bulging too. And the more I thought about it, the hotter my face became.

"Told you they were coming," Wilder said just a little too casually.

"Yep," Hawke said before pulling the shirt over his head, hiding his rather impressive chest. "And I said I didn't want to stink when they got here. Hi, girls."

"Fuck off," Aspen grumbled, heading over to her brother's bed and dropping down onto it as if the short walk had worn her out. "Nectar?"

"The mug's full of it," Torian assured her, slowly turning so he could see me. "You good, Rain?"

"Yeah," I said.

All four of the guys flinched. "Not even close," Keir told me. "That was one hell of a lie."

"She's going to go talk to her dads," Aspen explained. "I think she'll worry less about saying the wrong thing with them."