Shadowglass

I whirled, my wings jerking tight, and sighed. “Christ, you scared the shit outta me.”

Andy wiped dark hands on his jeans, wings glittering in a shaft of golden sun. “Sorry. Didn’t mean it. You okay?”

My pulse didn’t quiet, and I flexed my shoulders, jittery, trying to calm my flight impulse. How long had he been hiding there, watching me? “What you doing here?”

He fiddled with the bangle on his right wrist, rocking on his toes with a silvery flutter. Awkward, like last night. “Same as you. Came for the mirror. Found him.” He nodded at Danny’s body, and guilt sharpened my blood that I hadn’t covered the poor guy up.

Then again, neither had Andy.

Self-consciousness numbed my skin, and I fingered the pretty diamond bracelet he’d welded for me. “Did you know him?”

“A little bit. Sold him a few trinkets. Peeled his hands off my ass a few times. I’ll miss him.”

“Me, too.” The image of little red Danny grabbing Andy’s ass—on his tiptoes, presumably—frothed hysterical giggles up in my throat, and I swallowed them before I made an idiot of myself. My wing membranes tingled, and it wasn’t just because Andy smelled fantastic, that warm mix of skin and iron that never failed to make me ache.

Unease prickled my fingerpads. No doubt he’d gotten his price from Jinxx. What did Andy even want the mirror for? He’d hinted last night that he knew something. He wasn’t being honest with me.

Not that I’d come clean about what I wanted it for either. Too embarrassing.

Silence lengthened. I squirmed, not knowing what to say. Warmth had flowered between us last night. Today was a whole new game.

Andy folded his wings down along his back with a self-conscious shrug. His gaze slid about, not sticking to anything in particular. He wrapped a black lock of hair around one nervous claw, and his wings flitted loose again. “Look. Um. About last night.”

Metal-fragrant breeze ruffled my damp hair. Warm memory whispered in my blood, and again his strange softness cast a seductive velvet spell, tempting me to respond in kind, tell him it was okay he’d lied to me, that he’d used my desire for him to get what he wanted.

But my heart still tripped, my breath too heavy in my lungs to laugh, and I was too angry that he’d caught me off guard yet again to be nice to him. “That is so typical of a boy, you know that? You’ve hardly said a civil word to me for months, and now we’re standing here with a dead body five seconds after you just scared the tripe out of me, and you want to talk about last night?”

He shrugged, weirdly gentle. “Don’t you?”

My cheeks sizzled. No, I didn’t want to talk about it. I wanted to do it again. Brush my cheek on his and slide my fingers into his hair and pull his mouth down to mine like I should’ve done last night. Stretch my naked body beneath his and purr, like I’d done in my dream, make love to him in the smell of hot metal and sea breeze, a warm updraft caressing my skin, his fingers tangled in my hair. Forget about this damn mirror, and live.

I eyed Danny’s corpse, disquiet rubbery in my belly. “Look, this ain’t the time—”

“I’m sorry, that’s all. About your firefae friend. I shouldn’t have hissed at him. If you two are . . . I mean, I guess it’s probably better . . .”

“I don’t wanna talk about it, okay?” Before he could say, It’s probably better that nothing happened. I’d be expected to agree, and then it’d be over between us forever and ever—and I didn’t want that. But I did want it, too. On-again, off-again Andy wore me out. I couldn’t trust him. I didn’t know what I wanted from him anymore.

“Okay.” He lifted his hands as if to ward me off, and his silvery eyes glimmered golden, so brief, I almost missed it before he looked away.

Dismay crushed my heart tight. If I didn’t know better, I’d think I hurt him.

I shifted, awkward, and searched for something else to talk about. “How come you hid when I came in?”

He blinked at me, confused. He darted his gaze left and right, at the walls, the skylight, the floor, and checked the clock, like he’d forgotten where he was or how long he’d been here. And then he looked at me, curiosity blossoming his pupils black, like he’d forgotten I was there.

“Sorry, what?”

I swallowed, my awkwardness swelling to unease. “When I came in. What, you trying to scare me?”

He snorted, and the old bulletproof Andy was back. “Wouldn’t waste my time. Tried the safe yet?”

Warm dismay flooded my cheeks. A twinge of sympathy, a glimmer of softness so I think I’ve got a chance, and then he smashes me flat again. Conversation over. Inscrutable, infuriating boy. Frustration itched my skin. “What?”

“The safe. I’ve checked the rest. It’s not here.” Slow, simple. Like I was some stupid child.

My wings bristled, and I plonked one hand on my hip, damp hair spilling over my shoulder. “And I should take your word for that why?”

“Think I’d still be standing around in a pool of spriggan blood if I’d found it?”

Good point. I glanced again at Danny’s body and swallowed. “Who d’ya think did it? Gangsters? Boyfriend?”

“Walls of glass, Appolonnia. I’d look a little closer to home if I were you.”

My throat stung. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

An arrogant Andy shrug, so different from the shy one a minute ago. “Mirror one day, dead the next. Doesn’t seem like rocket science to me.”

Guilt razored my skin, and I hugged myself, exposed. “You saying it’s my fault?”

“Are you?” He flicked me a dark question, just long enough to make me squirm before he resumed surveying the room, his stormy gaze sharp and short. “Bit tidy in here, isn’t it?”

Bristle. “Tidy? You kidding? There’s crap everywhere.”

“Yeah, but where Danny left it, last time I looked. If you were hunting something you were desperate enough to kill for . . .”

“I’d make more of a mess.” Curiosity needled my palms. Right, as usual. Nothing overturned, nothing broken. “Maybe it wasn’t thieves after all.”

Andy squatted by the body, wings folding lengthwise like a locust’s, and fingered Danny’s dead hand, which still sported its flashy golden ring. “Yeah. Or Danny handed it over before they killed him.”

“Or they already knew where to look,” I added, inspired. “Maybe a gang puke, someone who hangs out here.”

Or, someone who could find the mirror without looking. Someone who could close their eyes and search the air for a little metal ball.

Someone like Andy...

Blood had clotted on Danny’s forearm, and Andy slid his middle finger through it, delicate, watching the mess smear and collect on his claw. Absent, like his mind wandered elsewhere. Abruptly he looked up, his silvery mouth tight. “I’m sorry. Did you say something?”

I shivered. “Never mind.”

He brushed past me, his wing edge tingling silvery dust onto my shoulder. “Look, it’s still whole.”

Dumb, I followed, around the counter into Danny’s dim office. Plastic chair piled with computer parts, flies crawling on an empty pizza box, an electric motor in dusty pieces on the cracked laminate bench. Oil, spriggan sweat, and beer twisted the air sour. I wrinkled my nose. “Eww.”

Andy poked at a rusty gray shelf near the floor, copper claws clattering on steel. Floor to ceiling with boxes, old televisions, broken computer monitors, and DVD players.

I peered over his shoulder. A scratched gray safe bolted to the floor, bronze combination rings holding fast, the numbers worn off by greasy spriggan fingers.

He tapped at the mechanism, sounding its thickness. “Want a go?”

My belly warmed, and my fingers itched to try, even as I shivered at the thought of actually working in front of him. “Can I? You mean that?”

“Hell, no. Think we’ve got all day?”

My heart crushed flat. I bit my lip, yet another flush wetting my cheeks. He flashed me a little grin, and now I didn’t know if he meant it or not.

I sniffed, hurt, trying to pretend I wasn’t watching like a hunting vampire, already straining my ears for the telltale clinks of tumblers. “Fine. Be like that. I’m not so shabby, you know. See if you can impress me. I’m ready.”

“I’m sure you are.” He clamped his left hand over the door’s edge, and the metal sizzled and melted.

He hissed and yanked back his hand, his bangle jangling. Molten iron dripped on the carpet in a lick of blue flame, and the door fell open, its ragged edge smoking red.

I gaped. I couldn’t do that. Ashley probably couldn’t even do that, not in such a hurry. “That’s cheating!”

“Sue me.” He tugged the door aside, a fine sheen of sweat glistening on his arms, and gave the contents the barest glance. “It’s not here. We should be leaving.”

I barely heard him. Prismed light dazzled me, twinkling like tumbling stars, and my pulse stuttered alive. A tangle of bright jewels, still fragrant with my sweat and a faint ashen stink. My sparklies. Ooh, yes. Mine.

I thrust my hand inside, and diamonds and silver tumbled over my wrist, mixing with my new bracelet and shining in vestiges of sun. My heart flooded with pleasure. One was lovely, but more was better. And Danny didn’t need them anymore. “These are mine, remember? You said they suited me. Which was a real nice thing to say, by the way, if you don’t mind . . .”

But Andy stood and sniffed the air, ignoring me. “Iron blades downstairs. Steel earrings. Something round and tinny with a screw. Someone’s coming.”

He tugged me up by my elbow with sharp blue fingers. I yelped and stumbled, clutching my diamonds to my chest. “But what about the mirror? We haven’t looked—”

“It’s made of iron and lead, Apples. I know what it smells like. Trust me. It’s not here.” He sniffed again, a dark sheen of sweat on his cheek, and his eyes burned red. “Not tin. Brass. That’s Chris Cerulli’s cane. Time to go.”

“Wh—” Now I heard it, too: sly footsteps creaking on the stairwell. Fear hacked at my nerves. I dropped my voice to a whisper. “Cerulli? What’s he doing here?”

“Same as you. Same as me. Time to go.”

“But what—?”

“The mirror’s Jinxx’s. Chris wants it. Simple enough for you?”

“But we don’t have it!”

“Think he’ll care?”

My blood curdled with dismay. That damn mirror again. If it really was Snakeboy Cerulli slithering up those stairs, he had cast-iron balls even coming to this neighborhood, where we all paid the Cruz protection.

And Chris didn’t exactly have a reputation for patience. Which meant he’d be in a fine wing-ripping mood when he found the mirror missing.

Notes

Alright; you guys have out done yourselves...
Here's are treat for you <3

Hope you enjoy!

Stay Weird Baby Bats
- Grimm :)