Page 113 of Tracking Snow

"It’s wrong, Snow, and that’s why he can never come out. Never again. To be safe. To keep everyone safe. To keep the world safe."

The pieces slowly click together with painful finality. "Seven. Seven did something to the cat."

Air rushes past my ears, and my back slams into the brick of my apartment building. My skull cracks against it. His forearm is across my collarbone, and my boots aren't touching the ground. One pinned me here once. That was nothing like this.

The Seven’s eyes flash through all the colors, except for black. As if they are all protecting him, or maybe hiding him.

"You say you want to be like us," they say in a mix of tones and voices, "and you have no idea how fucked up that is. How wrong that is. You can’t love us, not when we are a source of the disease."

Despite the way he has me pinned, I laugh in his face. "What, like you can create more magic? Don’t be⁠—"

I cut myself off. Not only because it makes perfect sense, but because Two has gone white. His eyes are wild, chest heaving as if he's run for miles, and I’m not sure if it’s because he’s angry or terrified.

Chapter 36

The Seven Lives of Lucifer

SNOW

"Seven. Seven can give others magic," I say it so quietly, I’m not even sure I absorb what I’m saying.

I look over Two’s shoulder to where Lucifer is trotting off across the street before he leaps onto a dumpster.

"What happened?" My eyes linger on the cat.

Two's grip loosens on my wrists, but he doesn't step away. "I was five years old. Still...whole." His voice is raw and rough like it hurts to say the words, but he still has to. "Mother was walking me through this neighborhood on the way to one of her fundraisers when I saw a black cat dead by the curb." His throat works. "I touched him before Mother could stop me. He gasped back to life right as she grabbed my arm."

The woman who detests magic saw her son raise an animal from the dead. I wonder if she'd been prejudiced against magic before that or after.

"What did she do?"

"She was horrified." Two breaks away from me to rake his hands through his hair. "I didn’t understand why. I didn’t know magic was wrong yet." His gaze cuts to Lucifer, who hasn't moved off the dumpster.

"I was rushed to a private facility for testing, and so was the cat." He sucks in a sharp breath, as if the memory is physically paining him. "They found out I'd given him the power of revivification. He can't die. He'll just get up again. Indefinitely. "

I shudder knowing there is only one likely way they tested the cat for that.

Two’s mouth twists. "At first, they made me watch."

My stomach drops. "Two."

"They wanted to see if the magic reacted differently when I was close." His gaze stays fixed on Lucifer, but his eyes have gone glassy in a way that makes my skin hurt.

The words sit between us, small and awful.

"How is he just walking around now though? Did they just let him go?"

Two drops his arms and puts space between us, eyes on the ground. "One day, I snuck in and let him out of the cage.”

Holy faefucks, I actually feel bad for the little black ball of hatred.

He should be hateful toward humans. Years of experimentation and torture...not that I think pissing in my boots is a fair response to me, but he terrorizes everyone equally.

"And he came back here," I whisper.

"To the place I gave him magic."

"I..." When he looks up, his eyes are pink. Three, the dream walker. "I felt how miserable he was. I was miserable too, being locked up for so many years and being experimented on."