“No, Grace.” He’s full-on laughing now. “Not like flowers.” He gestures to the three black rocks sitting on the corner of the table. One is round with jagged edges, one is more triangular in shape, and one is square. “Which one do you like?”

“Which rock?” I ask, because once again, Hudson never does the expected.

“Yeah.” He rolls his eyes. “Which rock do you like?”

None of them? I’ve never exactly been a rock girl…which is odd, I know, ’cause yeah—gargoyle. But I can’t tell him that, not when he’s gone through so much trouble to set this up.

“I don’t know. I guess I like the square one the most,” I say, picking it up. I look at it for a few seconds, then plan to slide it into my backpack, but now Hudson is looking at me like he has no idea what he’s supposed to do with me right now.

Which is more than fine with me. I never know what I’m supposed to do with him.

“Can I see it, please?” he asks, holding out his hand.

“You’re the one who said it was for me,” I tell him, even as I place the rock in the palm of his hand.

“It is,” he answers. “Just not yet.”

And then he wraps his fingers around the rock and squeezes as hard as he can. And squeezes. And squeezes. And squeezes.

At first, I think he’s lost it, but as seconds turn into minutes, an idea occurs to me that’s so outlandish, I can’t even believe it. And yet…I pick up another one of the rocks and examine it as I try to remember what my six weeks of geology my freshman year taught me about rocks.

“Oh my God!” I say, eyes wide. “Is this carbon?”

He grins, does a little eyebrow wiggle.

“How is this even possible? I know vampires are strong, but wouldn’t you need your powers—”

“I don’t need my powers for this. I can’t persuade carbon to do anything it doesn’t want to do.” He winks at me.

After another minute of squeezing, he opens his hand and, where there once was a chunk of carbon, there is now a diamond—and not just any diamond. This one has to be at least five carats. It’s beautiful, stunning, and completely incomprehensible to me.

“I thought… I can’t… Don’t they need to be polished?” I ask. “They don’t normally just come out looking like that, do they?”

He lifts a brow. “Like what?”

“Perfect,” I whisper.

He grins. “Yeah, well, giants aren’t the only ones with a little earth magic. Besides, you deserve something perfect.”

And then he reaches over and drops the most gorgeous, flawless diamond I have ever seen right into my hand.

“Happy birthday, Grace.”

“Happy birthday, Hudson.”

He grins, and when it registers what I said, I can feel myself blushing.

“I mean— I didn’t—” I force myself to stop and take a deep breath. Being this tongue-tied around Hudson is not what I’m used to. But it’s hard not to be when that kiss—and everything that’s come after—has completely blown my mind. “Thank you,” I tell him after a bit, then grin up at him. “I feel just like Lois Lane.”

When he doesn’t appear to get the reference, I remind him, “You know, in the movie. Superman crushes coal to give Lois a diamond.”

He raises one brow. “Haven’t seen the movie, but I think we can both agree I could definitely kick Superman’s ass.”

I roll my eyes but giggle anyway. I have the cockiest mate in history. And I wouldn’t change a thing about him. “Well, thank you.”

“You’re very, very welcome.” His grin turns softer, more intimate, more…vulnerable than I’ve ever seen it. At least until he reaches for my backpack and says, “Now, about those Witch Trials…”

67

Who Needs Enchiladas

When You Can Have

the Whole Chimichanga?

I’m done.

I’m done, I’m done, I’m finally done!

I push back from my desk and barely resist doing a little shimmy right there in the aisle as I carry my dreaded—and now fully completed—history final to the front of the room. I drop it on my teacher’s desk with a little wave—no way am I waiting around for her to grade it. I didn’t get an A, but I know I passed, and today, that is all that matters.

Then I turn and walk out the door of the last high school class I will ever have to take.

It feels amazing and strange at the same time.

At least until I look up and realize Flint is leaning against the wall across from my classroom, arms over his chest and a giant grin on his face. “You look pretty pleased with yourself, New Girl.”

“I am pretty pleased with myself, Dragon Boy. Thank you very much!”

“I’m glad to hear that.” He pushes off the wall and falls into step beside me as I turn toward the stairs.

We start walking down the hallway, and Flint nods toward the long row of windows—and the bright-blue sky just beyond. “It’s another gorgeous day. Want to go for a flight?”

My first instinct is to say no—I’m exhausted from too many all-nighters, and the only thing I really want to do is crawl into my bed, pull the covers over my head, and pray I don’t have nightmares about Falia’s cries…which has been happening more often than not since we got back from the Firmament.

But a closer look at his face tells me that this isn’t just about a celebratory flight around campus. He wants to talk. And the thing about friendship is, it’s not always convenient. And it’s definitely not always fun. But it is important—and when you find the people who matter, you take the good with the bad.

So instead of begging off, I say, “Let me run my backpack up to my room and get changed. I’ll meet you by the front steps in ten minutes.”

His relieved smile tells me my instincts were right on. “See you in a few, New Girl.”

“You know we’re graduating in a week, right?” I tell him. “You’re going to have to stop calling me New Girl after I actually get a diploma from this place.”

“I’ll think about it,” he says with a roll of his eyes.

But I just roll my eyes right back. “Yeah, you do that!”

Ten minutes later, I’m back downstairs, feeling a little sick from scarfing down a Pop-Tart so quickly, but fast times at Katmere Academy call for fast measures.

“You ready to do this?” I call to Flint, who is currently cuddled up with Luca on the sofa in the common room. “Or did you change your mind?”

“Definitely didn’t change my mind.” He gives Luca a quick kiss, then bounds over the back of the sofa. “Let’s do this thing.”

As soon as we get outside, my tiredness falls away. And as I grab the platinum string and shift, I realize I’m glad Flint talked me into this. Stretching my wings is exactly what I need to do today.

“First one to the top of the castle gets to pick the movie tonight,” he says, looking up at Katmere’s roof.

“I’m not sure you get to promise that if the others aren’t around.”

“Hey.” He shrugs. “They snooze, they lose.”

“Fair point,” I agree, even though it isn’t…right before I launch myself into the air and race straight for the highest part of the castle—which just happens to be Jaxon’s tower.

Below me, Flint shouts in outrage, “If you think I’m watching Twilight one more time, New Girl—” Then he shifts in a blink and is shooting straight up into the air, too.

He’s about to pass me, so I lay on the speed even as I tell him, “I have never made you watch Twilight!” Macy and I do that alone in our room, like civilized Twihards.

We both make it to the top of the castle in a dead heat.

I land swiftly on the edge of the roof, and Flint shifts back into his human form just as he’s touching down. It was actually a pretty impressive shift to watch, if I’m being honest. I wonder if I’ll ever be as confident in my abilities.

We both sit down on the cold brick, dangling our feet over the edge, and look out across the campus.

“Thirsty?” I ask as I reach into my drawstring backpack and pull out two waters.

“You are a goddess,” he insists as I toss him one.

“Maybe not a goddess,” I tell him. “But definitely a demigod.”

“I don’t know.” He pretends to consider it. “I think you could totally pull off the whole chimichanga.”

I crack up. “I think you mean enchilada.”

He looks mystified.

“The saying…it’s ‘the whole enchilada.’”

“Well, that’s weird.” He makes a face. “Have you ever seen an enchilada? They’re tiny. I totally think you can pull off the whole chimichanga. Maybe even two.”

I just shake my head and laugh, because sometimes Flint is so ridiculous, there’s nothing else to do.

We sit in companionable silence for a couple of minutes, and I can’t help thinking how beautiful the mountains are and how much I’ve come to love them in my time at Katmere. I don’t know what I’m going to do after graduation—besides possibly get imprisoned while also doing my best to stop a paranormal war—but I know it probably means leaving here, and that makes me sad.

When I got here in November, I told myself I could get through anything for six months. And I have. I just didn’t realize how much I would come to love that anything.

I almost say something to Flint, but he’s looking so pensive that I decide to wait. Then he catches me watching him and says, “Sooooooo…” and I know the talking time has arrived with a vengeance.