Max attempts to push herself up and fails. The effort drains her fast, and I’m at her side before she can try again.
“I’ve got you, little fox.”
Her breath stutters the second my hands find her—one bracing her back, the other sliding beneath her knees. Her fingers curl instinctively over my bare shoulder, gripping like she expects me to vanish if she doesn’t hold tight enough.
I lift her slowly, careful of the slope, careful of her, and she comes up into my arms without resistance, her weight easy to manage even on the incline.
My wings shift behind me in response, and something clicks deeper into place. They’re not new, not borrowed, but undeniably mine—just like the woman I’m holding.
Max adjusts herself instinctively in my embrace, one arm sliding around my shoulders.
“Comfortable?” I murmur.
Her lips part like she’s about to say something back, but her breath falters. Her gaze flicks up to my eyes and lingers there a second too long.
“Don’t get used to me being the damsel in distress,” she says, softer than she probably intended.
“Too late,” I reply, tightening my hold.
Nick groans loudly. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.”
I glance his way. “Problem?”
He gestures wildly between us. “This.Allof this. You’re invisible, you just grew wings out of nowhere, and now you’re—what—sweeping her off her feet?”
Max huffs a weak laugh against me. “You’re just jealous.”
“I amnotjealous,” he shoots back immediately, which tells me he absolutely is. “I just think maybe—maybe—we should take five seconds to question the ghost and his brand new mystery appendages before we trust him not to drop you off into a ravine.”
“Hand Lady over, will you?” Max asks, a touch of humor playing at the corner of her mouth.
Nick passes her the pet carrier and grimaces. “What about your backpack?”
“You’re going to have to carry it,” she says flatly.
Nick’s eyebrows flatten into one perfect, skeptical line. “What am I? A mule?”
“E is already carrying Lady and me, and there’s no room for a backpack when you’ve got wings,” she adds before I can speak.
Nick shakes his head. “You know what? Fine. Great. Love this for you. Truly.”
Max moves nervously in my arms. “Don’t drop us, alright?”
She looks torn between mocking Nick for his outburst and screaming in fear at what we’re about to do.
“Are you afraid of heights, little fox?”
“It’s a perfectly reasonable phobia,” she mutters.
I huff a quiet laugh, the sound carried off by the breeze gathering around us. “I won’t drop you,” I say, more certain than I’ve been about anything since waking up without a past.
She nods quietly at that, and Nick curses under his breath.
“Unbelievable,” he grumbles. “Absolutely unbelievable.”
I walk to the edge again, my wings spreading wider behind me.
“Try and keep up, Bloodsinger,” I quip before taking flight.
