Page 82 of Heart of Mischief

They could do this. They could save this town.

They were halfway to the car when Elias came to a sudden halt.

When she noticed his absence, Charlie stopped and turned. “What’s up?”

“I, um…” Elias looked away, scratching the back of his head. Briefly, she thought his expression was nervous, but that couldn’t be right… could it?

He looked back at her. “I don’t really know how to say this.”

She narrowed her eyes. “I don’t like where this is going.”

“No, it’s nothing bad,” he said quickly. “It’s just…” He frowned, looking genuinely perplexed. Like he didn’t possess the words for saying what he needed to say. “Well. You know my thoughts on things likefeelingandapologizing.”

“You mean… how you’d rather die than do either?”

He pointed at her eagerly. “Exactly. Exactly that.”

She rolled her eyes. “Do you have a point, Elias?”

“My point is that you get it. You get… well, you getme, for lack of a better way to say it.” He frowned even deeper. “You understand how my mind works. You understand it better than I do, sometimes. And I’m…” He scratched at his hairline. “I think I might begratefulfor that.”

Elias said the wordgratefullike a gourmet chef who couldn’t believe he was admitting to enjoying a box of Kraft mac and cheese.

“What a novelty,” Charlie said dryly.

“I’m serious,” said Elias, who sounded bewildered by the fact. “I like having you around. You’re fun, when you aren’t being insufferably irritating. It’s almost like having a… a…”

She leaned forward, waiting. When he didn’t go on, she supplied, “Afriend?”

His forehead wrinkled with distaste. “Gods. Yes. I guess thatisthe word I’m looking for.”

She snorted. “Right.”

“No, I mean it,” he said. “I… I think I might actuallylikeyou, Charlotte.”

Her breath froze halfway down her throat. She worked to keep the surprise off her face, to hide the thumping building in her chest. He didn’t meanlikein that way. He was just throwing around another outrageous, falsely flirtatious set of words, meaningless as confetti.

Still, the confetti did something strange to her. Set off a flutter in her stomach, a tightness in her chest. A bundle of reactions that she wished desperately weren’t happening inside her.

Elias tilted his head to one side. “Are you all right?”

“What?” she asked, the word coming out high and breathy.

“I said, are you all right? Your fear just spikedwayup. It was like getting hit by a tidal wave.” He frowned, glancing over one shoulder. “Did you see something?”

“Um.” Charlie cleared her throat. “No, I just…”

Odin’s dirty stockings, she cursed inwardly.I hate that he can do that.

Think fast.

“I had a flashback,” she said abruptly. “To homecoming. The first time I saw the Fenrir. I mean… the second time, technically, since I saw him out my bedroom window once. I saw his fangs, and his red eyes, and my brother dangling from his claws…” She trailed off, because now she actuallywasstarting to scare herself. The panic was rising within her, clutching at herheart and threatening to make her breathless for a very different reason.

“Ah.” Elias’s face fell. “Right. Of course. That was… well, youdidalmost die that night. It makes sense that you’d think about it from time to time.”

Well, that was blatantly ridiculous. “From time to time?” she asked, incensed. “You think I only remember that night from time totime?”

“I mean, maybe it’s more than that,” he said, shrugging. “I don’t kn—”