10. Fever Dream Next Door to the Sleeping Klepto
Fever Dream Next Door to the Sleeping Klepto
SNOW
My jaw drops as my body heat skyrockets. My thighs press together on instinct, fighting the girl boner that arises hard and fast.
Like our living room, there are so many fairy lights hanging in my bedroom that it’s unnecessary to turn on a lamp. Their warm light casts an appealing sheen over the hard, lean planes of The Seven’s pale body.
I felt all of that in the water between our clothes, but now it’s all on display. Down to his long muscles streamlining along his thighs, to his bare feet, he is...yummy.
My mouth dries up, and my heart beats in a quick, excited staccato.
Six’s curly hair is heavy and limp, slightly dripping. It hangs in his eyes, and something about that makes my knees turn to jelly. My stomach defies gravity, floating inside me.
What...what is this feeling overtaking me?
The word comes to me from one of the paperbacks dog-eared on my shelf that I picked up at Chapter Three: The Pixie and the Pirate.
Swoon.
That’s the word.
I’m goddamn swooning. I want to run my hands and mouth and tongue all over The Seven.
Six quirks a brow at me. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Like what?" I croak.
"Your eyes are all big, and your body seems...tense."
Because I want to jump your bones so bad my teeth hurt.
"No reason," I lie. I have a feeling Six could easily be spooked, so I wrestle back my every base instinct that commands I maul the magic-wielding hot boy.
He shrugs off my weirdness before walking around my room, studying this new environment with the same attention he gave to the rest of my apartment.
I crawl on my bed and kneel on my zebra print comforter, watching him.
"Do you like it?" I ask, still unable to read his reactions.
"You have...a lot," he says without turning to me, examining the vanity table with all my makeup strewn across it.
"You don’t have a lot of stuff?" I ask, doing my best to mirror back his vibe.
Six touches a soft makeup brush, shaking his head. "No. Three and Five probably like things the most, but they don’t come out much."
"Why is that?"
"Three is shy, and Five’s power is embarrassing."
"What’s Five’s power?" I ask, interest piqued.
Six glances at me. "I also think his power is embarrassing." As if that’s enough of an answer to not answer.
"Where do you live?" I ask, then immediately berate myself for sounding like a creep. Not that I’d show up at his place unannounced...
You absolutely would, my inner voice shoots back. There is a reason One calls you little stalker.
I press my lips together, trying to pretend I’m innocent as can be when I know I’d absolutely track him down.
He doesn’t answer.
"Do you not like where you live?" I ask instead.
Six shrugs, now moved onto the bookshelf with my pile of dog-eared paperback romances. He pulls them out one at a time to look at their covers. "It’s functional. Two says he doesn’t like our bed. Not enough pillows." He glances at my bed. "Not like yours."
"Well then," I say brightly and far too proud, patting the spot next to me. "Why don’t you come try it out for yourselves and see if it’s as comfy as it looks?"
I cringe at my own invitation. I sound like a rapey frat boy trying to sound not rapey. I need to develop some chill...fast.
Six stares at the bed and then at me as if he is working out a math problem. But my numbers must be good enough because he comes and sits next to me. Giddiness rises inside me, though I do my best to smother it down with a pillow.
The scent of my apple soap on his skin is drugging. I curl my fingers into my palm to keep from reaching out and running my fingers over his bare chest.
"What’s your power?" I can’t wait any longer, blurting out the question then holding my breath.
In our short time together, I’ve realized he will either tell me immediately or say nothing at all.
"Illusions. I can conjure up illusions," he says without pause. But then he looks off to the side and frowns as if hearing something.
"What is it?" I ask quietly, again, scared of spooking him.
"Seven isn’t happy I told you. He says I should leave. But I explained our clothes are drying."
"Well, since you’ve already told me, can you show me?" I say almost breathlessly, feeling like I’m walking a tightrope to get what I want.
Six shifts to meet my gaze and our faces are suddenly inches apart. My nails dig into my palms so hard they threaten to break skin.
Don’t kiss him. Absolutely do not kiss him.
Instead, I get lost in those vibrant green orbs, finding the striations complex, slightly moving inside them. I am so absorbed by him, I don’t notice at first.
Something moves at the edge of my vision. I turn. My twinkle lights lift off the wall one at a time and drift up. By the time they stop climbing, they're fireflies, blinking slow and gold over my head.
The vanity mirror stretches and expands until it’s a glistening pool of water.
My pile of dirty clothes swells and unfurls into ferns as tall as I am.
The ceiling opens, and trees come up through where it used to be, trunks wider than my whole apartment, bark wet and ridged, climbing until the tops of them are gone.
Above that, no stars. The dark just closes over.
Massive leaves shift somewhere up in it, rustling.
I gasp and grab his arm, unable to help myself. I am so taken I almost don’t notice him looking at me rather than the room.
"You like this," he states though I feel there is a question underneath it.
"Of course I do," I breathe. "This is amazing."
"It’s just a lie."
I face Six. "A lie? It’s not a lie."
"Yes, it is. I can make you see anything but the truth. It’s a dirty magic. I shouldn’t have it. No one should." There is a bitter darkness in his tone, as he glances about at the gorgeous vista he just made with absolute loathing.
"At least it’s not Seven’s power," he says with a quietude that makes me still. "Nothing is worse than what he can do."
I open my mouth to ask but hesitate. There is a weight in Six’s tone that stops me. Every time Seven comes up, the air seems to thin, like something enormous is pressing down on it from above. I don’t know what Seven can do. But I know Six is afraid.
It takes a few more moments for me to finally find my voice.
"Your power allows people to see what they could otherwise never see. I mean, I’ll likely never get to see a tropical forest like this in real life," I say, looking about the magical land in wonder again.
"But here I am, surrounded, transported, immersed in a world I normally wouldn’t have access to. That's incredible."
A line cuts between Six’s brows as he frowns, but he looks like he’s thinking.
"Don’t you ever think to just use it for yourself? To escape?"
"Escape what?"
"Escape life." To make my point, I guide him so we are both reclining on my bed, back against the wall, legs out. "We can’t stay in our lives all the time. It would kill us. Our brains, our memories, our expectations, they never stop. And if we let them, they can grind us down into little nubs. Everyone needs to escape from their own life to get a break from the bullshit inside of us, to expand and feel what’s possible. That’s why people read books, watch movies, go to museums. This is just a super immersive, cool way to do it.
Like when you’ve had a crappy day, don’t you just conjure up a beach and pretend you are on vacation, relaxing? "
Six doesn’t say anything. My guess is he is processing what I just said.
But I don’t waste the moment. Vines hang low enough to grab.
Moss climbs the nearest trunk in a thick wet shag, and something small scurries up it and is gone.
Something with wings crosses over us and keeps going.
Outside, a car rolls past and rattles a window I can't see anymore. It makes me want to light an earthy-scented candle and turn on some ambient noises to match what I’m seeing.
"Can I kiss you?"
I stiffen. The question is so plain, forthcoming, it kind of shocks me.
Six is staring down at me with a similar blunt expectation.
"Yes," I whisper, anticipation strangling my throat.
Even with fireflies dancing around us, the leaves tossing overhead in a wind that never reaches my skin, I close my eyes as we lean in.
His kiss is soft, experimental. I let him lead, explore as he kisses me a second time, angles his head a different way so our mouths slide hot and perfect against each other. He lifts a hand to my jawline, causing me to melt into an incoherent puddle.
A moan slips free when he latches onto my lower lip, kissing and nibbling with pure focus and intention. A spark shoots through me, causing all my nerve endings to tingle and dance.
The fire of want in my belly grows hotter. I want more. I want all of him, but this is so perfect I can’t bring myself to break the moment.
His power is fantastic.