A Cute Floating Finger
THE SEVEN - ONE
We walk out of the alleyway with no intention of engaging with the small woman who goggled at us with those bewitching wide blue eyes.
She's just a human.
"Wait, hey, I'm talking to you," she calls after us, running to catch up.
I close my eyes, pushing back the swell of voices competing for dominance in my head, and forge ahead.
"Go away," I say through gritted teeth.
Wait, turn around. I want a better look at her, Four says.
"Whoa, is that how you are gonna treat someone who just saved your ass?" the girl demands.
The genuine annoyance in her voice stops me in my tracks, and turn to face her.
Even though Four is deep in the pecking order of our consciousness, I can feel his attention roaming over her. He soaks in her pulled-back white hair and icy crystalline eyes peering up at me, causing an uncomfortable shifting sensation in my chest.
That feeling would be attraction, dumbass, Four taunts.
I swallow hard, trying to squash the sudden tingling sensation sweeping over my skin and the magnetic pull urging me to get closer.
With such contrasting coloring against her dark skin, I would have thought she might be fae or mage, but no, she's human.
Small, built like a bird, but she got the drop on the big guy, which admittedly surprised all seven of us.
Impressed us, Five corrects.
"Are you serious?" I blink. "You. Saved me?"
She huffs, setting her hands on her hips. "Yeah. I mean, sure, you ended it, but I softened them up for you. Like putting butter in the microwave for a hot ten seconds. We were kind of like a team back there."
Two barks a laugh somewhere deep inside me.
I shake my head. She'd have a couple more holes in her body if I hadn't done something.
"I don't need your help." I begin walking again.
"Whoa, whoa," she calls after me, but I don't slow. "How did you do that though? Is that your thing? Super speed? Is that a fae thing or a mage thing? What kind of magic are you?"
She dogs my heels so closely she smacks into me when I stop abruptly and whip around. My hands shoot out, steadying her.
The soft heat of her bare arms radiates into my hands, up my arms, into my sternum. I break my hold almost as quickly as I formed it.
Oh fellas, I think the control-freak likeys, Four taunts, rising closer to the top of my consciousness.
She is objectively attractive, Six adds. Ever the pragmatic one.
Not helpful, I shoot back at him.
The woman licks her lips, her eyes darting to the center of my chest, and for a moment I wonder if she felt the same charge at our contact.
When she meets my eyes again, her shyness has all but disappeared.
"That's probably a pretty rude question, isn't it?
Let me start again. My name is Snow. I've been told I don't have a lot of tact, but I don't know how to ask the question better.
It's just...I don't have powers or abilities, so I'm curious.
" An impish grin spreads across her face, and I suddenly can’t breathe.
"Why are you following me?" I force out with gruffness.
"I—" she falters, but then her eyes round with an earnest hunger. "—I think what you can do is cool. I just want to get to know you better."
Cool?
She thinks what I can do is...cool?
She doesn't know the half of it, Three says quietly.
You mean a seventh of it, Six corrects.
"Well actually," a sly smile spreads across her face, "I do possess a little magic." She holds her hand up and tilts it to the side. She covers her hand with the other then slides it to the side, and it looks like she’s sliding her forefinger off at the knuckle then back again.
She can’t be serious, Two groans.
Well, that’s kind of cute, Five muses, good-naturedly.
More than her simple, ridiculous illusory trick, the smug grin on her face is too much. Like she’s just pulled off the most amazing feat in all the realms.
This might be the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.
I shove that thought down quick, so none of the others hear it from me.
"This is a human's world. Why would you ever want magic powers? It's not natural."
Her nose wrinkles with confusion. "What makes you think it's not natural? Most kids develop them in their early teens, like puberty, and puberty is normal. I mean disgusting and highly inconvenient, but natural."
Huh, did developing powers at the same time make puberty harder or better?
"I'd think it would be a cool consolation prize, but that might be too many new things at one time. Pubes and powers would be a lot to take in."
This girl is fucking nuts.
Oh I like her kind of crazy, Four pushes back. I like it a lot.
She is very funny, Five says, delighted by our interaction with the weird girl.
I wouldn't say funny, Six says with his usual humorless analysis. Amusing is more the right word.
Well damn.
Shaking off the surprising reactions she evokes in us, I return my attention to her. "I wasn't a teenager when my powers manifested." A bitter taste fills my mouth, causing me to grimace. "I was barely six years old."
Snow's jaw drops open. "Oh holy faefucks. That is wild. I've never heard of anyone developing mage powers that early."
"Yeah, I'm real special," I sneer.
A line draws between her brows, dropping her hand. "You okay? You keep getting this strange look on your face like you're hearing things."
This has to end. Now.
I don't want her following me. This human is of no interest to us, and we need to shake her.
Exactly, comes the deep growl of Seven, causing my spine to stiffen from the force of it. Do what you have to get rid of her.
His direction pushes hard on me, as it always does.
"Go away," I tell her flatly, turning once again.
"But," she says, scuttling to keep up on those short but quick legs, "what if those HAM assholes come back with more of their Human Against Magic buddies?"
"Then you better get home and wrap yourself up safe in bed, so they don't gut you like a pig," I advise.
Why would you say it like that? Five says, his normally light tone suddenly tight with concern.
Is that really helpful right now? Two says with a bored yawn. We gotta ditch the chick.
"I don't sleep." The scowl etched in Snow's voice compels me to glance at her briefly.
A darkness flashes over her features. I roll my shoulders back.
Make her go away, Seven instructs in a low warning that pushes on my sternum with almost painful force. Do it now.
A cacophony of protests and agreements rises as the other six fight in my head over what to do about my little stalker.
Tension wrenches tight behind my forehead.
"Hey, are you okay?" she asks. "You look—"
I whirl around, backing her up in the blink of an eye. Frustration has me pinning her wrists against the wall.
"Leave. Me. Alone."
That little line pulls between Snow's brows again as her bottom lip juts out slightly.
My focus keys in on how her chest rises and falls quickly. I don't know if it's because she's had to repeatedly jog to keep pace with me or because—
The dark pools of her pupils expand until her irises are a thin icy rim around them. The scent of something tart and sugary envelops my senses along with fragrant leather from the catsuit encasing her body.
All the voices inside me go silent.
My fingers close a little tighter around her delicate, bird-like wrists, and suddenly the streets are too quiet.
I’m so painfully present, my own breathing is too loud.
Everything crisps into extra high-definition sharpness, from the rough brick of the building behind her, to the warm filtered streetlights casting a glow on her hauntingly striking features.
It feels like I’m standing on the edge of a moment that could explode into anything. I’m not in control, and any move I make will tumble my world into chaos.
The sudden urge to kiss that pouting mouth grips my entire being before I can stop it. An aching tingle develops in my lips, needing pressure to relieve it. Her magnetic pull has me dipping my head until there are only a mere few inches separating us.
Snow’s expression softens, her mouth parting. Like she wants it too.
I swallow hard.
Don't you fucking dare.
Seven's warning voice shatters the moment, and my spine stiffens.
My jaw tenses then flexes as I fight with everything I have against the unexplainable tide controlling me. "I don't care what you do but stop following me and leave me alone." It comes out as a savage, direct command.
Her eyes go flinty.
I tear myself away, releasing her with effort. This time when I go, she doesn't follow.
When I round the next block, I shove my hands back into the pocket of my hoodie. My breaths come quick and uneven as if I’d just run a mile. I try to inhale deeply even as the riot in my mind becomes a dull roar.
Some of them want me to turn back. To talk to her. To answer some of her questions and ask my own. No one says it directly, but I feel it.
It's Seven's voice I lean on.
You did good. Always walk away.
Because it's he and I who know it's best not to get involved with anyone. It would only complicate things, and the seven of us are complicated enough.