Page 97 of Heart of Mischief

She laughed. “Fair enough. Where’s Mason?”

Elias nodded his head over toward the cooler, beside which Mason was sitting and chatting with two junior guys, water bottles in hand. “The same place I left him five minutes ago. After forcing four water bottles down his throat and not allowing him to touch a single beer.”

“That’s… oddly responsible of you.”

He shrugged. “If Rattatoskdoesshow up here, I don’t want Mason shit-faced when he does. It’ll be much harder to save his ass if it’s crack up in the sand.”

“Hmm,” said Charlie, studying Mason. Hedidseem considerably more sober than he had been an hour ago, and for that, she was grateful. “Interesting.” She looked at Elias. “And yes, by the way.”

He wrinkled his forehead. “Yes, what?”

“Yes, I’ll dance with you.” She raised her eyebrows. “That’s why you actually came up here, isn’t it?”

The corner of his lip twitched. “Maybe.”

“Maybe, he says.” She placed her hands on her hips. “That’s hardly an enthusiastic invitation, Elias Everhart. I expected something far more Victorian. Your name signed to my dance card, perhaps, or a flute of champagne on a golden—”

But she didn’t get the chance to finish her sentence, because, without further ado, she was flying.

Not twirling through the air, as she’d expected. Unlike at homecoming, Elias didn’t toss her up and spin her around, dipping and scooping with nothing but his remarkable strength before finally setting her on the ground. This time, she flew clear off the dock—because he pushed her.

She hit the bay, plummeting through the clear, cool water until her toes brushed the muddy bottom. Kicking hard with her legs, she swam until her face broke the surface, gasping and sputtering as she did.

Wiping the water from her eyes, she zeroed in on Elias’s face, which was grinning down at her from up on the dock.

“I’m going to kill you,” she said.

“Good luck with that,” he replied. “Many have tried, but none have succeed—”

Lou had shoved him from behind, sending him careening through the air and into the water with a satisfying splash. He surfaced, coughing up water in surprise.

“Swim time!” Lou hollered. She crouched low and threw herself off the dock in a front flip, letting out a victorious whoop as she did so.

It didn’t take long after that. Lou’s flip set off a general exodus, everyone leaping from the dock without bothering to change into swimsuits. The Gut filled with the sounds of laughter and splashing, of cheers and gleeful yelps whenever someone landed a particularly impressive cannonball.

Charlie turned over to float on her back. The moon was bright above her. The älvor tittered and zipped overhead. A distant part of her mind told her that she shouldn’t be so relaxed. She should be worried about Rattatosk, plotting escape routes and brushing up on her incredibly limited magical abilities. But even knowing the risk… even knowing the danger they could all be in…

She loved it.

Elias was right, she realized.I love this. I love flirting with danger.

And for the first time in her life, she didn’t feel any shame at the idea. She felt only the truth of it, burning in her core like a star on the brink of supernova.

Ever since I believed Sophie had died, I’ve held myself together like a tightly bound fist, she thought.Study close-up magic. Go to school. Attend parties with your friends but don’t enjoy them. Don’t let yourself be free.

Even after she discovered Asgard, she didn’t let herself relish in its magic. In fact, she did everything she could to keep it away. To protect the people she loved, sure, but also to protect herself. To protect herself from the truth staring her so plainly in the face.

“Charlie?”

The sound of his voice brought Charlie rushing back into her body, as if she had momentarily left it to float among the stars and fairies. She blinked several times, then let her legs sink back down through the water, moving her arms in slow circles to keep herself afloat.

When she was finally upright again, arms and legs paddling, head just above water, she found herself staring right at him.

Elias looked concerned. “Are you all right?”

“Perfectly,” she said. “Why?”

“You were just… floating there.” He shook his dark, wet hair. “For, like… five minutes.”