Chapter 598

I laugh, wrinkling my nose at him. "It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. But she's fine, Jesse. I invited her up tomorrow night for the party." "Really?" he asks, bursting into a smile. "That will be great."

"Yeah," I say with a happy sigh, resting my head back down on his shoulder. “I told her you'd give her a full display of your new magic skills. You'd better start practicing so you can show off."

"No pressure," Jesse murmurs, sarcastic. He raises a hand though, his brow furrowing with concentration, and then softly blows on it. As his breath fills his palm it darkens, taking the shape of a little black cat. I burst into a grin, watching as the cat walks daintly around his hand, rubbing its tail warmly against his thumb.

"It's amazing," I whisper, shaking my head in awe, smiling so hard I'm afraid my cheeks will break, "how good you've gotten at that in like two days."

"It's easier now that I'm not scared of it," Jesse murmurs, making the little shadow cat jump from fingertip to fingertip. "I don't remember who said it - but they really are mine, the shadows. Extensions of me. I can make them do...whatever I want."

“That seems rich with possibilities," I whisper, reaching out a hand and beaming when the little shadow leaps from Jesse's hand into mine. Fascinated, I watch and feel it walk around, half substantial.

"I know,” Jesse whispers. "I can't wait to experiment. Way cooler than your stupid gift.”

"Watch yourself," I growl, concentrating on the cat and tapping into my power, making it puff up into the air in a tiny cloud of smoke. Jesse and I both gasp at the same time, turning our heads to look at each other as we burst out laughing.

"That was so cool," Jesse exclaims, grinning at me. "I felt it - it got all hot -"

"I know!" I squeak, pressing my shoulder warm against his, thrilled.

"Too much fun over there!" Rafe calls, sounding tired and annoyed.

"He's just jealous that we're fun and he is so serious," Jesse whispers, way too low for Rafe to hear, making me laugh again. But, I think both of us deciding not to rub it in, we turn our mutual concentration back to the show and fall quiet, letting Jacks and Rafe work while we relax.

"Up."

Jackson's voice rings out somewhere above me, making me jump awake and, blinking, look around.

et

"No," Jesse groans, "you go sleep somewhere else." Groggy, I turn to see that I'm slumped against my cousin's side and that we've both fallen asleep in the nook watching TV, the empty cookie packet and Tiger laying between us.

"You just come in too," I murmur, reaching out a hand for Jacks. “We're too tired to get up."

Jackson just laughs. "If you don't get up, Jesse, I'll just carry you."

"Fine, sounds nice," Jesse mutters, holding his arms up like a toddler waiting to be scooped into the air. "The kind of life I could get used to, just being carried everywhere like you do with Ariel."

"Sorry, I meant drag you," Jackson says, dry. "By your hair."noveldrama

"Violent," Jesse sighs, pushing himself up and slowly climbing over me and off of my bed, slumping across the room to his own,

protectively patting at his hair liet

he's scared Jacks is going to make a grab for it. "I expect your temper to be much improved in the morning, Jackson. Ariel, you work on that for me."

"You got it, buddy!" I call after him, rolling over into the warm space Jesse left so there's room for Jacks. He climbs into the spot next to me with a happy sigh. But then he goes still, looking down at the bed in horror.

"Ariel, there are crumbs everywhere -"

"My bed,” I say, narrowing my eyes and pointing a finger at Jackson as I gather Tiger close to my chest. "My rules. Besides, Jesse did that, not me."

"Whatever," Jackson murmurs,

collapsing next to me and making

ne

me squeak with joy when he wraps an arm around me and pulls me close against him, dipping his head down and pressing a kiss to my neck. "I'm too tired to complain. I missed you."

“Missed you too,” I murmur, entangling my feet with his, wanting as much of his body touching mine as I can get. "All done planning?"

"As much as we can be," Jackson says with a yawn, turning my face to his with a gentle hand and then giving me a long, sweet kiss. "But as much as I want to tell you all about it, we need rest. Dream state?"

"Dream state," I say with a happy sigh, letting my eyes drift shut. And, curled up close to Jackson's chest, my heart singing with happiness to be there, I quickly fall fast asleep.