Page 28 of Tracking Snow

We swim back to shore, the frigid temps replacing the pocket of lovely warm water. My teeth chatter as I reach the shore and wrap my arms around my body.

Six stands next to me, and though I know it’s not possible, he seems a couple inches taller than the rest.

"Why did you do that?"

"Do what?" I ask, teeth still chattering in my skull as I slog up through wet sand back to the sidewalk.

"Jump in the water. It’s cold."

I glance at Six. One thing hasn’t changed. He’s just as attractive as the rest, and there is something very blunt and unassuming about him.

"It is cold, but it was fun. Sometimes I like to surprise myself."

He frowns.

"Yeah," I breathe, "maybe not appealing to someone who gets surprised by the other personalities in his head, constantly."

Six still looks like he doesn’t understand and thinks I’m crazy. But then he puts his arm around me.

"Body warmth is the easiest available warmth for both of us," he explains in a completely unassuming way, though my body immediately sings at the contact.

Should it feel weird? I just met Six.

Maybe, but it doesn’t.

Like Four, it feels like I know him. Or maybe I just want to know him. All of him. I’m desperate for any little new piece of magic, information, or personality I can get from The Seven.

And he clearly is familiar enough with me to wrap his arm around me. "I’ll walk you home."

"So why did Four have to go?" I ask, wondering if Six will be as difficult to get answers out of as reluctant One?

"Seven pulled him," Six says without hesitation. "He’s currently...admonishing Four for his behavior with you."

"Admonishing?" Six seems so blunt, yet he struggled to find that particular word.

Six's brows pull together. He goes still, focus dropping to a point past my shoulder. "It seems the most appropriate word. Seven doesn’t like you. He thinks we all need to stay away from you, and he can exert..." he stops, as if searching for the right word again, "pressure on the rest of us."

"What kind of pressure?" I ask.

"The kind that hurts." Six’s gaze glosses over, and I wonder if he’s witnessing or feeling something from the others. "He can hurt you too, if he decides to. He’s certainly considered it. You better hope he never decides to do it."

Ooookay. Don’t piss off Seven. Got it.

Though I’m not exactly sure how to avoid doing that, seeing as I’m guessing that would mean I have to stay away from The Seven entirely. And I don’t think I can do that.

"Soooo he’s mentally laying into Four right now?"

Six’s gaze flicks up as he considers my wording. "That is not inaccurate."

Double negative? My brain struggles to realize he’s confirming my guess in a roundabout way.

Oof. That doesn’t feel good.

I don’t love the idea of Four getting in trouble or mentally slapped around because of me, but I’m also not sorry. That had been...hot. I was instantly drawn to Four’s heat, both emotionally and magic-wise. We could get into a lot of trouble together. The fun random kind as well as the hot, sweaty, between the sheets kind. A shiver rolls through me at what almost happened.

Six pulls me tighter to his side. "We need to get you warmed up soon. If you die of hypothermia, the others will be very upset."

"But not Seven," I confirm.