I sank down onto one of the padded, cherry-red chairs, with Owen still right beside me, holding my hand. He hadn’t let me go since he’d kissed me, and I didn’t want him to.

Jo-Jo washed her hands in the sink, then pulled a chair up to me. She reached for her Air magic, and a familiar, milky-white glow filled her clear, colorless eyes, as well as the palm of her hand. She moved her hand back and forth and up and down my body, looking for injuries, and I felt her Air power prick my skin. But the sensation didn’t bother me at all tonight. I was far too happy to be alive, to be with the people I loved, to care about anything else.

After a minute, she let go of her magic and dropped her hand. Jo-Jo shook her head, making her white-blond curls fly out before they settled perfectly back into place. “Looks like you already took care of everything, darling. I can’t find anything major to repair.”

Finn cleared his throat, and we all looked at him. “Well, if you’re done with Gin already, I could certainly use a caffeine fix.” He waggled his eyebrows at Jo-Jo.

She laughed and got to her feet. “All right, another pot of chicory coffee coming up for you. Gin, everyone else, how about some hot chocolate?”

“That would be great,” I said.

The others murmured their agreement. While Jo-Jo went into the kitchen to fix the drinks, I leaned back in the chair and told my friends everything that had happened since I was arrested at the police station and carted off to the bull pen.

I was just finishing up when Jo-Jo returned with a large tray. She passed out the drinks, handing me a mug of dark hot chocolate piled high with miniature marshmallows and sprinkled with dark-chocolate shavings.

“Just like you like it, darling,” she said, winking at me.

I nodded and held the mug between my hands, letting the warmth seep into the spider rune scars in my palms. Then I slowly took a sip, enjoying the decadent richness of the dark chocolate mixed with the frothiness of the melting marshmallows. The sweet concoction slid down my throat, then spread its pleasant heat through my stomach and out into the rest of my body, chasing away the last of the night’s lingering chill.

Finn slurped down half his coffee in one gulp, then shook his head. “Only you would think of using boxes of frozen peas to survive a fire. And then hiding in that Dumpster, almost in plain sight, while all the cops and firefighters walked right by you.”

“Believe me, it wasn’t by choice,” I muttered. “So what happened on your end? What’s been going on?”

Bria looked at Finn and Owen, then at me. “The three of us were at the station for hours, along with Silvio, Sophia, and Xavier, trying to bail you out, but of course not having any luck. Dobson was nowhere to be found, and Xavier texted me to say that he’d heard a rumor that there was going to be a fight in the bull pen. We all knew it was you. But there was no way that we could get to you, not without getting into a firefight in the middle of the station.”

“Which was probably exactly what Madeline wanted,” I murmured.

Finn shot his thumb and forefinger at me. “Winner, winner.”

“So we were trying to figure out a way around the cops,” Bria said. “Then we heard and felt this huge explosion, and I could sense you using your magic.”

“After that, everything was a mess,” Owen chimed in. “Cops shouting and yelling, and everyone inside the station running everywhere. We’d heard that you escaped, but by the time I got your call, and we drove over to the Pork Pit, the restaurant was on fire, and there was no sign of you.”

His voice cracked on the last few words, and his hand tightened around mine. No one said anything for several seconds.

Finn cleared his throat. “After that, it was a lot of running around and screaming at people. We tried to go into the restaurant to find you and get you out of there. But Madeline and Emery were running the show, and they told the cops to keep us back, even if they had to shoot us. So we stayed by the restaurant all night until . . .”

“Until they brought that body out of the back this morning,” Bria said, her voice dropping to a ragged whisper. “Madeline was all too happy to let us see that.”

“I heard you scream,” I said. “I was right there the whole time, hiding in that Dumpster next to the back door, watching everything through a hole that had rusted in the side. But my burner phone was broken, so I couldn’t text you, and I couldn’t get out of the Dumpster and let you know that I was okay. Not with all the cops around. I’m sorry about that—so sorry.”

Bria nodded. So did the others. They understood, but guilt still filled me that I hadn’t been able to spare them all that pain.

“So what’s your next move?” Xavier asked.

“Yeah,” Phillip chimed in. “Because from what I’ve already heard, Madeline hasn’t wasted any time letting everyone know that she’s the reason why you’re dead.”

“I had a lot of time to think about that while I was waiting in that Dumpster. And I say we give Madeline exactly what she wants. I say we let her keep right on thinking that I’m good and dead.”

“And then?” Silvio asked.

I smiled at my friends. “And then we give that bitch the surprise of her life.”

*  *  *

We worked out a few of the details, most of which we’d have to wait until the morning to actually get started on, then I went upstairs, took a long, hot shower, and put on a blue, fluffy robe that was patterned with Jo-Jo’s white cloud rune.

Most of my friends had left to go back to their own homes to try to get some sleep during what remained of the night, but Owen was waiting for me in one of the spare bedrooms. He’d taken a shower too, and he was lying on the bed, a robe covering his body, trying to relax and recover his equilibrium after all the seesaw emotions of the day. Yeah. Me too.

Owen got to his feet as I entered and shut the door behind me. We stared at each other, his violet eyes locked onto my gray ones, everything so still and quiet that I could hear the grandfather clock in the hall outside tick-tocking off the seconds.

Then, with one thought, we rushed toward each other.

Owen cupped my face in his hands and crushed his lips to mine in a kiss that was even hotter, harder, and more frantic than the one he’d given me in the kitchen earlier. His tongue plunged into my mouth, rough and demanding, while I fumbled with the belt on his robe, yanking it open so that I could touch all of his warm, solid muscles. I raked my nails down his chest, while he sucked at my neck, tearing off my robe as frantically as I had his. I breathed in, letting the rich, faintly metallic smell of him seep deep down into my lungs, imprinting his scent, taste, and touch on my heart.