Our gazes meet. I wish he’d tell me how he feels about—
—I’m standing in front of a swing set. The sun is shining so brightly, and I’m glad, I like the sun, but I don’t want to be outside. The doors to the school are locked, though. It’s recess, and I’m supposed to stay on the playground.
My aunt says recess is the best place to make friends. But I already made some. Cole, Jackson, Greg and Robert— everyone has a nickname.
Cole told me to call him Sir, but that’s not happening.
Jackson is Bronx. Greg and Robert are Boots and Ducky.
They’re calling me Frosty.
They see monsters—zombies. To them, I’m not a freak. I’m normal. And they’re teaching me how to fight properly!
I grin, but it doesn’t last long.
My cousin Tomas told Aunt Reba that Cole is the one who punched me in the face. She told me I couldn’t hang out with him, that he’s going to end up in prison. She doesn’t understand. I practically begged him to hit me.
A rock slams into my chest and I stumble forward, looking up to see a kid at the top of the slide. He throws another rock at me, but I duck and it sails overhead.
“Aston is a dumb name.” He snickers. “Are you a dummy?”
The kids around him stop what they’re doing to chant, “Dummy, dummy, dummy.”
A pat on my shoulder startles me. I turn to see Cole’s purple eyes focused on me.
“Ready for another lesson?” he says.
“Yep. I am.”
“Good. I call this one mess with the bull, get the horns.” He climbs the jungle gym with an ease that amazes me and reaches the boy who first called me a dummy. He pulls back his elbow and, boom, drills his fist into the other boy’s nose.
Blood sprays, and the kid drops, howling in pain—
—the workout room comes back into focus. My foot gets tripped up on the treadmill and I propel backward. Frosty rushes over, catching me before I crash. My heart thumps wildly. I’m sweating again, and now I’m more than overheated. I’m breathless and wanting and desperate.
Want me the way I want you.
But he sets me aside and shoves his hands in his pockets.
I rock back my on my heels. “So. Your name is Aston, huh?” What strikes me as strange? I wondered just before our vision. Did I cause it to happen?
“Aston Martin, actually.”
Like the car? “No way. Seriously?” I bark out a laugh. What a perfect fit. Sleek, powerful and fast. But I don’t want him to get a big head. “No wonder you didn’t want to share it with me. I think I’ll stick with Dijon.”
“Sweet pea, I can have you screaming Aston by the end of the day.”
I stop laughing in a hurry. He can. He so can.
The air thickens between us, something I’m growing used to, and I clear my throat. “If you’re here to drag me to the kitchen—”
“No. Forget the food. I’m actually here to chat.”
“About?”
He runs a hand through his hair. “I’ve been watching you practice. We’d already realized the white and red fires are opposites, but I’ve noticed your abilities—those that have remained—are the opposite of Ali’s, as well.”
I ignore a wave of hurt. “You mean she saves, and I ruin.”
“I mean she controls zombies, and you control slayers. Her fire heals—or healed—while yours harms. But don’t get your panties in a twist. I’m not blaming you. Rebecca Smith poisoned you, and for that, we’ll make her pay. Until then... Cole, River and I have been talking, and we’ve decided to try filtering your blood.”
They’ve been meeting in secret, otherwise I would have heard rumors. Irritation has me snapping, “Fine. Whatever. I’ll shower and meet you—where?”
“The basement.”
Where Tiffany has been living? Why let her know what we’re up to? I open my mouth to protest, but Frosty is already gone. I hurry to our room, shower and dress in a tank top, leaving my arms bare for easier blood donation, then I make my way to the basement.
Frosty waits at the entrance. He stretches out an arm, offering me a hand. I’m so surprised, so uncertain about how I’ll react to contact, I hesitate before accepting, and his eyes narrow to tiny slits. At the moment of contact, I gasp, tingles sparking with new life, heat rushing through me.
Is this what Chance experiences every time he touches Love? What Cole experiences with Ali? What Frosty used to experience with Kat?
I try to draw my hand back. I hate the thought of being enraptured by him while he feels nothing for me. But he tightens his hold, surprising me further, and draws me deeper into the basement, a room that has been utterly transformed. Three plush black recliners surrounded by a vast array of medical equipment and several rolling trays.